Read Online Night Lamp by Jack Vance - Free Book Online

done, and what will you do?”
    “I don’t know that either.”
    Dame Wirtz carefully controlled her voice. “Then why go to such lengths if you don’t know what you are doing?”
    “I know well enough.”
    “Tell me how you know, if you please.”
    “Because of things I hear in my mind! Please don’t ask me anything more!”
    “I want to get to the bottom of this. Are you telling me that you hear instructions when you dream at night?”
    “You have it all wrong! They are not instructions, and I don’t hear them during dreams, and not always at night. Now please, may I go?”
    “Yes, Jaro—after I find out what is going on. This is not at all normal! You hear voices which give you directions?”
    “They don’t give me directions. There is just one voice and it frightens me.”
    Dame Wirtz sighed. “Very well, Jaro. You may go.”
    But Jaro, aghast at what he had let slip, lingered and tried to convince Dame Wirtz that nothing really serious was going on, and that, truly, he had everything under control, so that she was to ignore what he had told her.
    Dame Wirtz smiled and patted his shoulder, and said that she must give the matter thought. Jaro slowly turned and went his way.
    Althea was busy in her office at the Institute. The communicator on her desk sounded a chime. Glancing at the display, she recognized the nested blue and red rectangles of the Parnassian Club. A tap on the desk brought the face of Idora Wirtz to the screen.
    “I’m sorry to call you, but something has come up which I think you should know.”
    Althea was instantly alarmed. “Is Jaro all right?”
    “Yes. Are you alone? May I speak freely?”
    “I am alone. I suppose Hanafer Glackenshaw has been acting badly again?”
    “As to that, I can’t say. In any event Jaro simply ignores him.”
    Althea’s voice rose in pitch. “What else could he do? Call the Glackenshaw boy a bad name in return? Attack him with his fists? Kill the boy, perhaps? We have taught Jaro to avoid rough and competitive games, which encourage bellicosity and which in fact are small wars!”
    “Just so,” said Dame Wirtz. “But that’s not why I called. I fear that Jaro is suffering nervous problems, which may well be serious.”
    “Oh come now!” cried Althea. “I can’t believe this!”
    “It is true, I’m sorry to say. He hears inner voices which give him directions—probably to go out into space to perform some adventurous deed. I extracted this information only with difficulty.”
    Althea was silent. For a fact Jaro had recently made some very odd remarks. She asked, “What exactly has he told you?”
    Dame Wirtz reported what she had heard. When she finished, Althea thanked her. “I hope you will say nothing of this to anyone else.”
    “Of course not! But we must set things right with poor Jaro!”
    “I will see to it at once.”
    Althea called Hilyer and repeated what she had learned from Idora Wirtz. At first Hilyer was inclined to skepticism, until Althea insisted that she herself had heard similar statements, and that there was no question but what Jaro needed professional help. Hilyer at last agreed that he would make relevant inquiries, and the screen went blank.
    Half an hour later Hilyer returned to the screen. “Health Services speaks well of a group called FWG Associates at Buntoon House in Celece District. I called, and we are to go out immediately for an interview with their Dr. Fiorio. I take it that you can getaway?”
    “Of course!”
4
    Mel Swope, Director of the Institute Health Services, had informed Hilyer in regard to FWG Associates. The senior staff consisted of three notable practitioners: Doctors Fiorio, Windle and Gissing. Their reputations were good; they were said to be solidly based in orthodox science, but willing to consider innovative procedures, if need arose. Away from Buntoon House, all three enjoyed high social status, and their clubs were havens of high comporture. Dr. Fiorio was with the Val Verde; Dr.