Youth Without Youth Page #3

existing today

on the face of the earth.

Come, have your chicken.

All the medical schools

in the world

would like to study you.

As a sort of guinea pig.

- Professor.

We are doing all we can

to prevent that.

Professor, ahem,

in your office,

you must come.

Please, professor,

immediately.

We are disturbed over your level

of cooperation, Herr Professor.

As you see, your government

has instructed you

to relinquish

the patient

and all relevant files

to our custody.

I'm sorry, I cannot

comply with this one.

"Cannot comply"?

I will not turn over

the patient himself.

As his doctor,

his condition won't allow

transfer at this time.

I'll return

with a German doctor.

Good.

You're behaving as you should

in order to create

the necessary confusion.

The double.

He always answers the questions

I'm ready to ask.

Like a true

guardian angel.

Now that's a correct

and useful formula.

Are there others?

Many.

For example?

Along with angels and guardian

angels, there are powers:

Archangels,

seraphim, cherubim.

Intermediary beings

par excellence.

Intermediary

between consciousness

and unconsciousness?

Well, of course.

But also between

nature and man,

man and the divine,

reason and Eros.

Feminine and masculine,

darkness and light,

matter and spirit.

So it's come back

to my old passion again:

philosophy of religion.

Yes,

for you it will always

come back to that.

But I can't believe

in the objective reality

of the person

with whom I'm conversing. I-

I can only think of him

as my double.

Well, in a sense,

that's what he is, but...

that doesn't mean

he doesn't exist

in an objective way

independently.

Oh, I'd like to be convinced,

but-

In metaphysical controversies,

empirical proofs

lose their value, but...

wouldn't you enjoy receiving

a few fresh roses

picked from the garden?

I've always liked roses.

Well, where would you like me

to put them?

Not in the vase,

at any rate.

One right here

in my hand...

as I'm holding it now, open.

And another on my knee?

The third rose.

Where do you want me

to put the third rose?

Let's see.

Things are more serious

than we thought.

We know now why the Gestapo

will try anything,

anything, in order to get

their hands on you.

Why?

Among the intimates

of Goebbels,

there is an enigmatic

and ambiguous person,

a certain Dr. Josef Rudolf.

Dr. Rudolf believes that

electrocution by a current

of at least a million volts

could produce

a radical mutation

of the human species.

Word of these experiments

has reached the ear

of Adolf Hitler,

who has become personally

interested in your case.

Attention!

The experiment begins!

They want

us to lend you to them

for a period of time.

God help me.

Time, Dominic,

we are running out of time.

Austrian-Swiss

border. Passport control.

Please disembark

with all luggage.

An order has just come in

from Vienna

that certain nationals

will be detained.

But why? I have

a valid passport and visa.

Please take a step back.

Go on!

My cooperation with the Nazis

is only symbolic.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Geneva.

1941, May the 7th.

Dominic Matei, dictation.

The documents in the Geneva

safety-deposit box

summarize my life,

which was profoundly changed

in the spring of 1938,

in front of the Gara de Nord

railway station

in Bucharest.

My first experiences

were described and analyzed

by Professor Roman Stanciulescu,

in reports which were

confiscated by the Nazis.

The war rages around me.

I am a fugitive

in neutral Switzerland,

encircled by the Axis powers.

My Romanian homeland has

made a pact with the devil,

Adolf Hitler,

and may soon be under siege.

I've lost contact

with my dear friend,

Professor Stanciulescu,

which could mean

that he's been killed.

I live in fear,

dreading what awaits

in the alleyways.

Eluding capture by my wits,

moving from hotel

to rooming house,

always working on my book.

November the 30th, 1941.

Zurich. Dominic Matei.

I have explained

in portfolio B

how I instinctually

found the talent

to preserve myself.

Living like a secret agent,

I discovered abilities

to forge documents,

change addresses

and prepare disguises.

Shortly before he disappeared,

Professor Stanciulescu

arranged a bank account

for me in Geneva

under the name

of William Pedersen.

Now, without him,

these funds will be depleted.

Oh, good morning,

Mr. Pedersen.

And I will have

to find other means.

February the 20th, 1942.

Bern.

I must face the undeniable

and chilling truth,

that I am a mutant.

Like a character

in a science-fiction novel,

I am a strange superman

of the future.

I have access to knowledge

unavailable to mankind.

Powers I don't fully

understand.

Despite this, I try to behave

as an ordinary intellectual,

working to complete my book,

documenting the origin

of language

and human consciousness.

I began to realize that

with any text I had before me,

if I wanted to know

the content,

I simply... knew it.

Lake Campione.

October the 23rd, 1942.

I found I could augment

my income.

Winning just enough

not to arouse suspicion.

No more bets.

Nothing is as it seems,

I am the proof of that.

We've got a winner.

Dominic Matei?

Dominic Matei.

I trust no one.

Look at these.

See? These were taken

at the clinic

of Dr. Stanciulescu...

in 1938.

And to think, 10 months ago,

on January 8th,

you turned 74 years old.

Eleven again.

You're trying

to look older too.

Those glasses aren't

even prescription.

I still don't- Thank you.

I still don't know

with whom I have the pleasure

to be speaking.

Ted Jones, Jr.

I'm a correspondent

for LIFE magazine.

Listen.

Switzerland is entirely

surrounded by the Axis powers.

I'm cashing out.

Thank you.

I'm on special assignment

for the United States.

I really think you're

confusing me with someone else.

We can protect your identity,

completely.

I have a very powerful

organization behind me.

I know I can be

of some service to you.

We can pay you, or we can make

some arrangements for you,

anything that might help you.

You know,

your English is perfect,

but you're not saying anything.

I'm afraid I must remain

neutral in all of this.

Now, if you'll excuse me.

If someone were to tell me

that there exist among us

authentic magicians, saints,

bodhisattvas,

or anyone endowed

with miraculous powers,

I would believe them.

In a certain sense,

what you say is true.

But you've attained

the freedom to accept

or reject

these new conditions

to use them to finish

your life's work, or not.

Have you decided?

To use them for good

or for evil.

Have you decided?

Despite my precautions,

I was afraid

I would inadvertently

give myself away

conversing with professors

and colleagues

at the university.

I knew more than any of them

and understood things

they never even

suspected existed.

I know you're

a good friend

of the Romanian

Professor Stanciulescu.

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