He cannot give himself to them completely

for they are not prepared for it. During this month, he had plenty of opportunities to observe other kinds of research as well, and he was shocked by the scientists’ irresponsibility — how self-serving their experiments were, or, even worse, how unaware they were of the significance of their work and of all the ways their discoveries could be used. Making use of the pass he received from the head of the research group, which allowed him free movement throughout the university, he sometimes spent entire days there. He sat in on lectures, chatted with university students, and recalled the time when he himself had been a student. Daily contact with students a good ten years younger than himself influenced his own thinking as well, making him more open-minded. He became more receptive, no longer so definite in his judgments. More precisely, he realized that what he had previously thought of as decisiveness was merely a cover for his inability to change; what he had taken for intransigence was actually just a refusal to adapt. Although there was not such a great age gap between them, even his thinking now seemed conservative compared to the views of the students. … He arrived earlier today because he was having lunch with Dr. Yahavi, which the psychiatrist called a work meeting. He was curious to see what the other wanted to discuss with him. Since that incident, when he had persuaded him to jump in as a medium, they had not spoken privately; in fact, he had the feeling that Yahavi had deliberately avoided being alone with him. As if he were afraid he might read his thoughts. Once, he even joked that it must be impossible to fool him, since he could see everyone’s thoughts. He did not want to enlighten him that this ability was, more often than not, only good for confusing us. After all, someone can have negative intentions and positive thoughts, just as one can have positive intentions and negative thoughts. … As he entered the restaurant, a sense of déjà vu came over him, because the psychiatrist stood up from the table and waved at him just as he had a month earlier; in fact, he could have sworn that the furnishings were exactly the same… “With your permission, I’ve already ordered for you… my favorite… but you won’t be disappointed… you know, it’s an old flaw of mine, one that’s caused countless arguments with my wife, that I’m convinced that everything I like or enjoy, others will like or enjoy just as much… so… maybe you won’t be as pleased as I thought.” While the monologue lasted, Dr. Yahavi shook his hand nervously and didn’t want to let go, which he found odd. Had he not known the psychiatrist was a staunch teetotaler, he might have thought Yahavi had had a drink while waiting for him. Finally, Yahavi let go of his hand and they sat down at the table. Only then did he notice that a glass had been cleverly hidden behind one of the candlesticks, so that it could only be seen if one looked closely. “I suppose you know this is a semi-official lunch, a kind of work meeting, and you probably suspect what I want to talk to you about.” He had no idea why the psychiatrist had invited him to lunch, or what he wanted to discuss, so he shook his head. This made Dr. Yahavi nervous, and he began to clear his throat. “Of course you don’t know… how could you? You see, we — the team — meet here once a week to evaluate the results of the research so far. Last week, one of my colleagues, who is responsible for obtaining the images needed for the experiments — often just downloading them from newspaper archives without looking into their background — reported something interesting. At the very first séance, with one of the images, which depicted a cheerful seaside scene, the ‘antenna’ wrote only one word on the paper: death. The colleague evaluating the results couldn’t make sense of it, since the image had nothing to do with death. In the end, he classified it as a negative result. But the guy couldn’t let it go and looked into the image, and an incredible fact came to light. The picture had been used to illustrate an article about one of the country’s worst seaside tragedies, when a giant wave killed an entire family. The picture was apparently taken moments before the disaster… of course, it’s possible that he simply knew the case, since it received a lot of coverage at the time.” “Yes, I knew the case.” “Of course, I should have guessed,” Dr. Yahavi nodded. The waiter brought the food, and as if his tension had only been due to hunger, the rigid mask melted from his face. “May I ask you something?” “About the research?” “My predecessor… the previous medium. Who was it?” Dr. Yahavi put down his cutlery, leaned back in his chair, and carefully wiped his mouth — obviously just to buy time. “Why does that interest you?” “I don’t know… something is bothering me, and I think he might be the answer.” Dr. Yahavi anxiously folded his fingers and propped up his chin. “Well… you surely know that the research has its own rules, and these do not allow us to reveal the anonymity of the participants. Just as you cannot know the identity of the ‘antennas’ — for I can tell you there are several — you cannot know your predecessor either. Even if I were inclined to fulfill your request, the family insists on anonymity.”