Lifeforce by Colin Wilson Page B

pirate who was born at about the time Columbus discovered America. In 1513 and 1528, he drew two maps of the world. Now, the amazing thing is that these maps not only showed North America — which Columbus had discovered — but South America as far as Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. And these countries had not been discovered at that time. Even the Vikings, who discovered North America five centuries before Columbus, never got beyond North America. But that isn’t all. Piri Reis’s maps also showed Greenland. That was easy enough to explain — the Vikings were familiar with Greenland. But in one place, Piri showed two bays where modern maps showed land. That seemed worth investigating, so a team of scientists made seismographic measurements in Greenland. They discovered that Piri Reis was right, and the modern maps were wrong. It wasn’t land — it was a thick sheet of ice that now covered the bays. In other words, Piri Reis’s map showed Greenland as it was before the ice covered it — thousands of years ago.” He looked around the table; everyone was listening intently, even Fallada. Jamieson said: “We now believe that Piri Reis based his maps on much older maps — maps perhaps as old as this one, or even older.” He tapped the map on the table. “And these maps could not have been made by human beings on earth. They were not advanced enough.” He turned to Fallada, and his gaze was almost hypnotic. “Would you not agree that it is possible that those old maps were made by these same alien creatures that you call vampires?”
    Fallada hesitated, then said: “Yes, I suppose it is.”
    “So it is possible that these creatures have visited earth on at least one, and possibly two previous occasions, without doing any harm?”
    Fallada, Carlsen and Bukovsky all began to speak at once. It was Bukovsky who made his voice heard. “…what I find so difficult to understand. Surely there can be no justification in taking such risks? Even if it was only a million to one chance that these creatures are dangerous, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. It would be like bringing a deadly unknown germ back to earth.”
    Rawlinson said: “I’m inclined to agree with that.”
    Jamieson smiled at them, unperturbed. “So are we all, my dear fellow. That’s why we’re discussing it now.”
    Bukovsky said: “Would it be possible to hear what Dr Fallada has to say?”
    “Of course!” The Prime Minister turned to Fallada. “Please, Doctor.”
    Fallada, finding all eyes on him, removed his glasses and polished them. He said: “Well, briefly, I have established beyond all doubt that these creatures are vampires — energy vampires.”
    Jamieson interrupted smoothly: “If you’ll excuse my saying so, you don’t have to establish that. We all know what happened to that young journalist.”
    Fallada’s temper was visibly wearing thin. He made an obvious effort to control his irritation. “I don’t think you quite see what I mean. I have developed a method for testing whether someone has been killed by a vampire. Quite simply, I have developed a method for inducing an artificial life field in the body of a creature that has recently died. Now, when a body has been drained by a vampire, it won’t hold a life field. It’s like a burst tire — it runs out as fast as it runs in. You see…
    He hesitated for a moment, giving Jamieson a chance to interject: “And when did you make this discovery?”
    “Oh… er… two years ago.”
    “Two years! You’ve been working on vampirism for two years?”
    Fallada nodded. “In fact, I’ve written a book on it.”
    It was M’Kay who interrupted this time. “But how could you write about vampires before this happened? Where did you get your material?”
    Fallada said earnestly: “Vampirism is commoner than you think. It plays a basic part in nature, as well as in human relations. There are many predators that drain the life field of ther prey, as well as eating their bodies. And