Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman

Author:Joe Haldeman [Haldeman, Joe]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science fiction, Adventure, General, Fiction, Space Opera, Short stories, Science, Juvenile Nonfiction, Fiction - General, Life Sciences, Body, Mind & Spirit, Aeronautics, Astronautics & Space Science, Technology, Parapsychology, ESP (Clairvoyance, Precognition, Telepathy), Evolution
ISBN: 9780893661434
Publisher: Ultramarine Publishing
Published: 2010-01-21T15:55:40+00:00

30 - Nine Lives

(From Mlndbridge: A Preliminary Evaluation, Jameson et al, AED TFX, Colorado Springs, 2052:)

The first experiments with the Groombridge bridge ended in tragedy; the second series began without tragedy.

The second Groombridge expedition brought back eight untouched bridges. We had assembled twenty-three people who were among the most gifted psychics in the world: their control scores on the standard Rhine tests averaged from 413.7 to 499.9.

This last score belonged to the amazing Jerzy Krzyszkowiak, the only person in history who could reliably perform feats of telekinesis. In our laboratory he was able to exert several grams’ pressure on the pan of an evacuated analytical balance, for hours at a time, the balance being out of his sight in an adjacent room.

The twenty-three psychics had chosen seven of their number at random to be privileged with the experience of primary contact (all having agreed that Krzyszkowiak should be among the “lucky” eight). Eight more were chosen for secondary contact.

These sixteen entered the Groombridge chamber at 14:36 on 27th November 2051.

Within seven minutes, half of them were dead.

( see attached graph1.jpg )

Every person who experienced primary contact was killed by it. None showed any symptoms of distress until the first died, little more than a minute after touching the bridge. All experimenting stopped while the two attending physicians went to his aid. Then the other primaries died, one by one.

Analyzing the tapes of the tragedy, we found a direct relationship between the individual’s psychic ability and the length of time he or she survived after primary contact. The accompanying table and graph illustrate this relationship.

The first person ever to make primary contact was the Tamer Hsi Ch’ing, who survived for three hours and forty minutes. If we assume that his Rhine score was 100 (there are no data), then his death agrees with this exponential curve.

Secondary contact proved to have no ill effects, as was also true in the first set of experiments.

Several theories have been advanced to account for this “reflex killing” on the part of the bridges. In the previous section we described the unfortunate demise of Robert Willard, and the bridge’s attempt on the life of this author when we tried to dissect the creature prior to its “slingshot” transformation. The reflex in this case is understandable in terms of self-preservation. But it is less easy to explain the reflex killing of primaries, and the obvious relationship between time-lag-to-death and Rhine potential.

A theory first advanced by Hugo Van der Walls takes into account the fossil evidence of . . .

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