"Not here. There simply aren't any at all."

"I like something, but then if it isn't there, I don't miss it."

"All right, Barton," Von Ulrich would say after giving Barton more brain-wave tests, word-association tests, and making him look at ink-blots until his eyes turned red. "See you in a few months."

"See you, sir," Barton said.

And sure enough, as though he had never really been away, Von Ulrich would show up again, with his testing devices, his cages of mice and guinea pigs, and his intense searching eyes. He had a folder of pictures and after ink-blot tests, he had Barton look at the pictures, like the one of a man in deep shadow standing over a sleeping kid.

"What do you see there, Barton?"

"A guy standing over a kid."

"What's he doing there?"

"I haven't any idea."

"Is the child sleeping?"

"Maybe it's just pretending."

"Pretending what?"

"Or maybe it's dead."

Von Ulrich's thin face frowned intensely. "Is the child pretending to be asleep, or is it dead?"

"Maybe it isn't a real kid. Maybe it's a dummy."

Von Ulrich's face reddened. "What's the man thinking?"

"How should I know, sir."

"You don't care?"

"No, why should I give a damn what he's thinking?"

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