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patient has been completed. The equipment and procedure has been thoroughly
tested and the user is completely safe in that there is no physical trauma.
But there is another problem.
 Why am I not surprised? said O Mara. He thought he had been speaking under
his breath, but Craythorne looked at him warningly while Councillor Davantry
pretended not to hear and continued speaking.
 It is this, he went on.  The tapes do not impart only physiological
knowledge; the entire memory, personal and professional experience, and
personality of the entity who donated the tape are transferred as well, and we
know that all too often the top specialists in the medical or any other field
can be aggressive, selfopinionated, and generally obnoxious people, because
that is how most of them rose to eminence. Geniuses are rarely charming
people. So in effect the tape s would-be recipient must subject himself
voluntarily to a drastic but temporary form of schizophrenia because another
personality, an authoritive, forceful, and completely alien personality, is
apparently sharing his mind. If the recipient s mind is not also strong-willed
and well integrated, especially if the tape is in place for several days, it
will feel as if the donor mind is fighting for and perhaps threatening to gain
control over it.
Davantry looked steadily at Craythorne and O Mara for a moment, raised his
hands slightly, then let them fall again onto his lap.
 With the tape donor s complete personalityP he went on,  are included all its
pet peeves, bad habits, and major or minor phobias. For the long-term
recipient, the different food preferences can be a difficulty and, during
periods of sleep, alien dreams, nightmares, and particularly other-species
sexual fantasies can be a real problem, although none of the previous subjects
suffered lasting mental damage. But before your department administers a
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%20General%2011%20-%20Mind%20Changer.txt tape all this must be explained to
the would-be recipient, especially to the first volunteer.~~
There was a long silence. O Mara stared at Craythorne, who stared back at him
for a moment before looking back to Davantry. The major s expression remained
calm, composed, and quietly attentive, but when he spoke his face had
lightened a shade.
 Since my department will be responsible for conducting these mind transfers~
he said calmly,  it follows that I should have firsthand knowledge of the
psychological problems involved so that, logically, I should be the first
volunteer.
Davantry shook his head firmly.  If you insist, you may be the second
volunteer, Major he said,  or preferably the twenty-second. I will need to
demonstrate the mind-transfer procedure to you, and to have your training and
experience available in your own stable and unaltered mind in case something
goes wrong with the subject. I m just a glorified meditech, not a trained
psychologist.
 A subordinate, he added, looking at O Mara,  or even someone from outside
your department is preferable. But he, she, or it must be a volunteer.~~
 With the earlier subjects, said O Mara, looking right back,  what were the
short- and long-term effects?
 Short-term, Councillor Davantry replied,  there was a marked lack of
physical coordination, vertigo, and pronounced mental confusion. Usually the
first two diminish or disappear within a few minutes. The third can reduce or
increase over the space of a few hours or days, depending on the subject s
mental flexibility and strength of will. That s why I want a trained therapist
standing by, in case the subject panics or suffers other emotional problems,
so that the mind tape can be erased without delay.
O Mara s mouth was already opening but Craythorne broke in sharply before he
could respond.
 Think about it for a moment, Lieutenant O Mara~ he said.  You don t have to
do this.
 I know that, sir, said O Mara,  but I will anyway.
Later O Mara was to wonder why he spoke as he did, at once and without any
trace of hesitation. He had always liked trying to understand other people s
minds on an amateur basis, and now he had the chance to look at an
extraterrestrial s mind from the inside. Or maybe it was his new rank and
position, with its responsibilities as well as privileges, that had gone to
his head.
More likely he was just being stupid.
It was too late for him to retract while Councillor Davantry was showing the
major how to adjust the open-mesh lightweight helmet and connections to the
contours of an Earth-human cranium and calibrate the associated items of
equipment that were now winking, clicking, and humming on top of Craythorne s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]