DARK RECESS

By George O. Smith

(author of "The World-Mover")

FEATURE NOVEL OF COSMIC SECRETS

Clifford Maculay was the one man who could explain the curious shift in the universe, which was far more than the academic matter it seemed to be. But Maculay had been "cured", and was no longer interested....

There are two basic ways to treat personality difficulties. One: change the personality. Two: remove the psychic blocks which are at the root of the trouble. The first method may be simpler, in some cases, and may be accomplished without apparent harm. But what if an individual's worth to society is so entangled with his personality troubles that when you change the latter, the former disappears, too?

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Future combined with Science Fiction Stories July 1951. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

Clifford Maculay reacted instantly to the doctor's question; he became half-angry, completely indignant.

Doctor Hanson smiled. "You're not angry at the question," he said quietly; "you're not even surprised that a man of seventy should ask such a question. What you are indignant about is that your mind denies such a need. Cliff, you're trying to run your body with your brain."

"Naturally. So what has my love life—?"

"You've got glands too," remarked Hanson. "And some of them are damned important to mental balance."

Maculay sat forward on the chair, tense and alert. He was not accustomed to being browbeaten; Maculay gave the orders and other people jumped. Now that he was on the receiving end of the deal, he was preparing for the battle of wits. But Hanson had seen many such men in forty-odd years of medicine. Hanson did not see Maculay the Mind; he saw a man of thirty-eight, soft from lack of exercise, underweight from the constant burning away of nervous energy. He saw a fine physical machine being run into an early grave or a sanatorium, because the mind behind those sharp blue eyes was too damned ignorant to understand that it could not trade the worn-out body for a new model with white sidewall 

  P 1/45 next