rson because I am a biologist and it is
part of my training and specialized skill to achieve a certain rapport
with my surroundings. I first noticed it yesterday. It came suddenly,
without warning, a vague uneasiness, like the feeling when one awakens
from a partially remembered but unpleasant dream. And it has been
increasing ever since.

* * * * *

The principal impressions I received from this initial contact were an
awareness of self and a recognizance of identity--the concept of _cogito
ergo sum_ came through quite clearly. I wonder what Descartes would
think of an alien intelligence quoting his dogma.... I think it is
animal, despite the absence of animal life in this area. The thought
patterns are quick and flexible. And they have been increasing in power
and precision at an appreciable rate. I am sure that it is aware of me.
I shall call the feeling "it" until I can identify the source more
accurately. Certainly "it" appears to be as good a description as any,
since there is no consciousness of sex in the thought patterns. I wonder
what sort of ... and to my surprise I _swore_! I do not ordinarily
curse or use obscenities--not because they are obscene but because they
are a poor and inexact means of conveying ideas or impressions. But in
this case they were particularly appropriate. No other words could so
precisely describe my feelings. Me, a rational intelligence, succumbing
to such low-level emotional stimuli! If this keeps on, the next thing I
know I will be seeing little green men flitting through the trees.... Of
course, this world is unnatural, which makes its effect on the nervous
system more powerful, yet that does not explain the feeling of tension
which I have been experiencing, the silent straining tension of an
overloaded cable, the tension of a toy balloon overfull with air. I have
a constant feeling of dreadful expectancy, of imminent disaster, mixed
with a sense of pain and a lively--almost childlike--curiosity. To say
that this is disquieting would be a complete understatement, this state
of chronic disease, mixed with occasional rushes of terror. I am certain
that my nervous system and emotional responses are being examined, and
catalogued like a visceral preparation in an anatomy laboratory. There
is something infinitely chilling about this mental dissection.

... and after a careful search of the area I found precisely nothing.
You who may read this will proba