Beyond Bedlam

Finally she said desperately, 'Captain Thiel, how is it pos-

sible for a body to change as much from one ego-shift to an-

other as it does between Susan and me?'

'There isn't all the change you imagine,' he said. 'Have

you had your first physiology?'

'Yes. I was very good...' Mary saw from his smile that

her inadvertent little conceit had trapped her.

'Then, Miss Mary Walden, how do you think it is possi-

ble?'

Why did teachers and medicops have to be this way?

When all you wanted was to have them talk to you, they

turned everything around and made you think.

She quoted unhappily from her schoolbook, 'The main

things in an ego-shift are the two vegetative nervous systems

that translate the conditions of either personality to the blood

and other organs right from the brain. The vegetative nervous

systems change the rate at which the liver burns or stores

sugar and the rate at which the kidneys excrete...'

Through the closed door to the other room, Mrs. Harris's

voice raised at the visiophone said distinctly, 'But, Mr.

Walden..:'

'Reabsorb,' corrected Captain Thiel.

'What?' She didn't know what to listen tothe medicop

or the distant voice of Mrs. Harris.

'It's better to think of the kidneys as reabsorbing salts

and nutrients from the filtrated blood.'

'Oh.'

'But, Mr. Walden, we can overdo a good thing. The proper

amount of neglect is definitely required for full development

Of some personality types and Mary certainly is one of

those....'

'What about the pituitary gland that's attached to the brain

and controls all the other glands during the shift of egos?'

pressed Captain Thiel distractingly.

'But, Mr. Walden, too much neglect at this critical point

may cause another personality to split off and we can't have

that. Adequate personalities are congenital. A new one now

would only rob the present personalities. You are the ap-

pointed parent of this child and the Board of Education will