Victorious failure

With good reason, Professor H. Klauson hesitated; his wife's arms were holding him with a strangely insistent urgency and fear. He tried to disengage himself, but not with much enthusiasm. Although he had not admitted it to anyone but the Presidium's psycho-medic staff, he was afraid, too. Desperately and helplessly afraid.

"Howard, please." Her pale blue eyes were wide, staring into his with that intimacy only someone loved completely and without compromise ever sees. "Don't go back to the Laboratories, Howard. Don't ever go back again."

He smiled, unsuccessfully. He had never been able to hide anything from Lin.

"But, dear, this is ridiculous. We're scientists! We're not frightened by vague, intangible fears."

Her hands tightened on his shoulders. "We're scientists; so let us admit the obvious. Something doesn't want you to ever complete your research, Howard. We've worked together for ten years, and now you're right on the verge of discovering the secret of life itself. And it means more to humanity than anything else in the history of mankind. But I'm afraid, Howard, and so are you. Whatever is against us stopped you before. Your mind almost broke. It will try again, and this time your mind may not recover."

He managed to push her from him, and immediately he felt lonelier, isolated. His faint laugh sounded foolishly insincere.

"Lin, for the love of science! You sound like a mystic. Any mind is liable to become unintegrated. You talk about invisible, intangible forces. These things can only be in men's minds, dear. No mentality is immune to disorientation."

She sobbed, her head swung back and forth hopelessly. A cloud of lovely hair glinted liquidly in the shifting light from the harmonics glowing from the transparent walls of their apartment. He couldn't leave her in this state.

"Lin, darling, listen to me. I can't abandon my life's work. Particularly something so profoundly important to humanity. One more projection, and my 'closed system' principle will be concluded. After that, think of it, Lin! This is really the one thing mankind has been seeking. All his other activities are only bypaths. With eternal life possible, mankind will have a real reason for struggling onward. Lin—"

"No, Howard," she was saying, brokenly. "There isn't an argument. To me, your mind is more important. Why did your mind black out just before you could finish your last experiment? Why, the whole magnificent psycho-medical staff at the Presidium couldn't find a reason. All the charts show you to be amazingly normal. There is something bigger than our science, Howard. It doesn't intend for you to ever finish your research."

"A woman's intuition?" he said sardonically.

"Not a woman's," she corrected. "Ours. Because you feel it the same as I do."