Lifeforce by Colin Wilson

violently that it destroyed her capacity to hold a life field. You could compare her to a tire with a thousand punctures, so that it can no longer hold air.”
    Carlsen found he had to overcome a strong inner resistance to ask his next question. “Are you sure there’s no other way it could have happened?”
    Fallada said sombrely: “I know of none.”
    There was a silence. Grey said: “What happens now?”
    Fallada said: “Now, I think, the hunt begins all over again.” He laid a hand on Carlsen’s elbow. “Let us go back to my office.”
    Grey asked: “What do you want me to do?”
    “Continue the tests. I would like to know whether the pressure on her throat was enough to kill her.”
    Back in the office, Carlsen took up his half-finished drink. Fallada dropped into the chair behind bis desk. He pressed the switch of the telescreen. A girl’s voice said: “Yes, sir?”
    “Get me Sir Percy Heseltine at Scotland Yard.”
    He turned to Carlsen. “This is what I expected. I must admit to feeling a certain grim satisfaction to know that I am right.”
    “But are you sure you’re right? Look, I saw what happened to young Adams. She drained all the life out of him, and he turned into an old man. Did you see the body?” Fallada nodded. “Now, this girl doesn’t look in the least like that. She looks to me like the victim of an ordinary sex attack. Surely there could be some other explanation for this ruptured life field?”
    Fallada shook his head. “No. You do not understand. To begin with, it is not a question of a ruptured life field. What is ruptured is whatever holds the life field. No one knows exactly what that is — I even know biologists who think that man has a nonmaterial body as well as a physical body, and that the life field is a function of the atoms of this body — as magnetism is a function of the atoms of a magnet. Think of the flesh of an orange. The juice is held in tiny cells —”
    The telescreen buzzed. He said: “Hello?”
    The secretary said: “I’m afraid the Commissioner isn’t in at present, sir. He’s in Wandsworth. He should be back in about half an hour.”
    “Very well. Tell his secretary that I’ll be coming over there in half an hour. Say it’s urgent.” He rang off. “Now, where was I?”
    “An orange.”
    “Ah, yes. I was saying that if you allowed an orange to dry out, and then left it to soak in water for a day, it would regain its old shape, would it not? But if you crushed the juice out of the orange in a vice, nothing could make it return to its old shape. All the cells would be ruptured. It is the same with a living body. If it dies normally, the life field takes several days to disperse. Even if death is due to violence, it still takes a fairly long time, because most of the cells remain intact. The body is like an orange with a bad bruise, but dehydration still takes a few days. Now, that girl’s cell structure had been destroyed like the orange in the vice. And there is no normal way in which this could happen. Unless she was burned to a cinder, or fell from the top of this building.” He paused to empty his glass. “Or was cut into pieces by a train.”
    “But would a train have destroyed the structure?”
    “No, I was joking. But it would have made sure that no one bothered to take a lambda reading.” He crossed to the cupboard. “Would you like another drink? It is early, but I think I deserve it.” Carlsen emptied his glass and held it out. For several moments, neither of them spoke. Carlsen observed that although he had drunk two whiskies, he still felt cold sober, without even a glow of exhilaration.
    Fallada said: “Tell me something. Did you really believe she was dead?”
    Carlsen shook his head. “No, I didn’t believe it. And if you want to know the truth, I didn’t want to believe it.” He felt himself flushing as he said it. Again, it had cost an effort to force himself to say the words.
    If Fallada was surprised, he showed no