On June 7th Dr. MacNare wrote, "Something is developing which I hesitate to put down on paper—for a variety of reasons. Creating Adam was a scientific experiment, nothing more than that. Both the premises on which the project was based have been proven: that the principle of verification is the main factor in learned response, and that, given the proper conditions, some animals are capable of abstract symbol systems and therefore of thinking with words to form meaningful concepts. "Nothing more was contemplated in the experiment. I stress this because—Adam is becoming deeply religious—and before any mistaken conclusions are drawn from this I will explain what caused this development. It was an oversight of a type that is bound to happen in any complex project.
"Alice's experimental data on the effects of opiates, and especially the data on increasing the dose to offset growing tolerance, were based on observation of the subject alone, without any knowledge of the mental aspects of increased tolerance—which would of course be impossible except with human subjects.
"Unknown to us, Adam has been becoming partly conscious during his bath. Just conscious enough to be vaguely aware of certain sensations, and to remember them afterward. Few, if any, of these half remembered sensations are such that he can fit them into the pattern of his waking reality.
"The one that has had the most pronounced influence on him is, to quote him, 'Feel clean inside. Feel good.' Quite obviously this sensation is caused by his bath.
"With it is a distinct feeling of disembodiment, of being—and these are his own words—'outside my body'! This, of course, is an accurate realization, because to him the robot is his body, and he knows nothing of the existence of his actual, living, rat body.
"In addition to these two effects, there is a third one. A feeling of walking, and sometimes of floating, of stumbling over things he can't see, of talking, of being talked to by disembodied voices.
"The explanation of this is also obvious. When he is being bathed his legs are moved about. Any movement of a leg is to him either a spoken sound or a movement of some part of his robot body. Any movement of his right front leg, for example, tells his mind that he is making a sound. But, since his leg is not connected to the sound system of his robot body, his ears bring no physical verification of the sound. The mental anticipation of that verification then becomes a disembodied voice to him.
"The end result of all this is that Adam is becoming convinced that there is a hidden side of things (which there is), and that it is supernatural (which it is, in the framework of his orientation).
"What we are going to have to do is make sure he is completely unconscious before taking him out and bathing him. His mental health is far more important than exploring the interesting avenues opened up by this unforeseen development.
"I do intend, however, to make one simple test, while he is fully awake, before dropping this avenue of investigation."
Dr. MacNare does not state in his notes what this test was to be: but his wife says that it probably refers to the time when he pinched Adam's tail and Adam complained of a sudden, violent headache. This transference is the one well known to doctors. Unoriented pain in the human body manifests itself as a "headache," when the source of the pain is actually the stomach, or the liver, or any one of a hundred spots in the body.
The last notes made by Dr. MacNare were those of June 11, 1957, and are unimportant except for the date. We return, therefore, to actual events, so far as they can be reconstructed.
We have said little or nothing about Dr. MacNare's life at the university after embarking on the research project, nor of the social life of the MacNares. As conspirators, they had kept up their social life to avoid any possibility of the board getting curious about any radical change in Dr. MacNare's habits; but as time went on both Dr. MacNare and his wife became so engrossed in their project that only with the greatest reluctance did they go anywhere.
The annual faculty party at Professor Long's on June 12th was something they could not evade. Not to have gone would have been almost tantamount to a resignation from the university.
"Besides," Alice had said when they discussed the matter in May, "isn't it about time to do a little hinting that you have something up your sleeve?"
"I don't know, Alice," Dr. MacNare had said. Then a smile quirked his lips and he said, "I wouldn't mind telling off Veerhof. I've never gotten over his deciding something was impossible without enough data to pass judgment." He frowned. "We are going to have to let the world know about Adam pretty soon, aren't we? That's something I haven't thought about. But not yet. Next fall will be time enough."
"Don't forget, Joe," Alice said at dinner. "Tonight's the party at Professor Long's."
"How can I forget with you reminding me?" Dr. MacNare said, winking at his son.
"And you, Paul," Alice said. "I don't want you leaving the house. You understand? You can watch TV, and I want you in bed by nine thirty."
"Ah, Mom!" Paul protested. "Nine thirty?" He suppressed a grin. He had a party of his own planned.
"And you can wipe the dishes for me. We have to be at Professor Long's by eight o'clock."
"I'll help you," Dr. MacNare said.
"No, you have to get ready. Besides don't you have to look up something for one of the faculty?"
"I'd forgotten," said Dr. MacNare. "Thanks for reminding me."
After dinner he went directly to the study. Adam was sitting on the floor playing with his wooden blocks. They were alphabet blocks, but he didn't know that yet. The summer project was going to be teaching him the alphabet. Already, though, he preferred placing them in straight rows rather than stacking them up.
At seven o'clock Alice rapped on the door to the study.
"Time to get dressed, Joe," she called.
"You'll be all right while we're gone, Adam?" Dr. MacNare said.
"I be all right, papa," Adam said. "I sleep."
"That's good," Dr. MacNare said. "I'll turn out the light."
At the door he waited until Adam had sat down in the chair he always slept on, and settled himself. Then he pushed the switch just to the right of the door and went out.
"Hurry, dear," Alice called.
"I'm hurrying," Dr. MacNare protested—and, for the first time, he forgot to lock the study door.
The bathroom was next to the study, the wall between them soundproofed by a ceiling-high bookshelf in the study filled with thousands of books. On the other side was the master bedroom, with a closet with sliding panels that opened both on the bedroom and the bathroom. These sliding panels were partly open, so that Dr. MacNare and Alice could talk.
"Did you lock the study door?"
"Of course," Dr. MacNare said. "But I'll check before we leave."
"How is Adam taking being alone tonight?" Alice called.
"Okay," Dr. MacNare said. "Damn!"
"What's the matter, Joe?"
"I forgot to get razor blades."
The conversation died down.
Alice MacNare finished dressing.
"Aren't you ready yet, Joe?" she called. "It's almost a quarter to eight."
"Be right with you. I nicked myself shaving with an old blade. The bleeding's almost stopped now."
Alice went into the living room. Paul had turned on the TV and was sprawled out on the rug.
"You be sure and stay home, and be in bed by nine thirty, Paul," she said. "Promise?"
"Ah, Mom," he protested. "Well, all right."
Dr. MacNare came into the room, still working on his tie. A moment later they went out the front door. They had been gone less than five minutes when there was a knock. Paul jumped to his feet and opened the door.
"Hi, Fred, Tony, Bill," he said.
The boys, all nine years old, sprawled on the rug and watched television. It became eight o'clock, eight thirty, and finally five minutes to nine. The commercial began.
"Where's your bathroom?" Tony asked.
"In there," Paul said, pointing vaguely at the doorway to the hall.
Tony got up off the floor and went into the hall. He saw several doors, all looking much alike. He picked one and opened it. It was dark inside. He felt along the wall for a light switch and found it. Light flooded the room. He stared at what he saw for perhaps ten seconds, then turned and ran down the hall to the living room.
"Say, Paul!" he said. "You never said anything about having a real honest to gosh robot!"
"What are you talking about?" Paul said.
"In that room in there!" Tony said. "Come on. I'll show you!............