Read The Mind-Twisters Affair for Free Online Page B

the Fort Wayne airport yesterday. We'd like to know why he changed his mind so suddenly."
    "Oh, you're the ones. I couldn't tell you why he changed his mind; he called me yesterday afternoon and said he was going, and then this morning he showed up here, ready to go to work on his latest project. I will say, though," the voice took on a formal tone, "that I quite surprised when he informed me that he was with you. He has spoken of U.N.C.L.E. recently, not at all favorably."
    "Has Dr. Armden been acting normally today? His wife said he was acting rather strangely last night."
    "You've spoken to Mrs. Armden, then?"
    "Only indirectly, but -"
    "I'm afraid that's all the information I can give you." Kilian's voice became even more formal. "When I see Richard, I'll tell him you were here. Now let me speak with the guard again."
    Napoleon frowned slightly and obediently handed the phone to the guard, who listened silently for several seconds and hung up with a crisp "Yes, sir."
    "I have the feeling we're about to be ordered out," Napoleon remarked to Illya as he watched the guard turn toward them.
     
    "Ah, the two spies again! How nice to see you." Sascha Curtis bustled around his desk and held out his hand. "What can I do for you today?"
    "We have a new problem for you," Napoleon informed him. "If you can spare the time from your survey."
    "Certainly. I don't have another class for an hour. What sort of problem did you have in mind?"
    "Dr. Armden," Napoleon informed him. "Yesterday he decided to visit Dr. Morthley in New York. We got him as far as the Fort Wayne airport, where he disappeared. Somehow, he got back here to Midford 1ast night. His wife said he was acting strangely."
    "Strangely? How?"
    "He walked in the door last night and went to bed with hardly a word. Then this morning he was up earlier than usual and off to Falco almost an hour early. Apparently he simply ignored her questions."
    Curtis looked thoughtful. "Very interesting. That, plus the apparent personality change, points to some type of schizophrenia."
    "Would a split personality really explain all his actions?" Napoleon asked.
    "It might. Secondary personalities are often not fully developed and seem very dull when compared with the primary personality. However, only the most spectacular schizophrenics develop true split personalities. Most simply have a fixed delusion on some subject."
    "Such as thinking U.N.C.L.E. is an international Communist plot?" Illya inquired.
    "That could well be one aspect," Curtis said. "There would almost certainly be others, though."
    "He's decided that charities are either useless or criminal," Napoleon offered.
    Curtis nodded. "Any radical change from his former personality could be a part of it. I don't know what his previous feelings were about charities, but judging from your description, his present feelings are a bit extreme."
    Illya frowned. "But schizophrenia isn't contagious."
    "I had always assumed it was not. But, then, until yesterday I always assumed that stories of entire towns suffering personality changes were nonsense. Now..." Curtis shrugged. "We'll see what the survey has to say about it. Incidentally, I've been talking to a few of the faculty since Saturday. It isn't Gaspar and his memo that are anti-U.N.C.L.E. Half a dozen of the instructors practically had apoplexy at the mention of U.N.C.L.E. I told them a year ago that swilling all that pop and coffee would rot their brains as well as their stomachs - that was when they put those infernal vending machines in the Student Union. But nobody listens to a psychologist. Anyway, there is also a small but vocal group of students who have been orating against U.N.C.L.E. and international plots in general. Oddly, these aren't the type of students who usually go in for this sort of thing. Not an intellectual - genuine or phony - in the lot. In fact, a good many of them were attending summer school this year to make up courses they flunked last spring."
    "And the most