Part 19 (1/2)
”Not all ghosts are transparent,” Barby insisted
”She's got you” Dr Miller chuckled
Scotty spoke up ”Ghosts do not drive cars”
”And you've no proof the ghosts you saw in the field came froet in the car and drive away?”
Scotty held up his hands in surrender ”No I passed them on my way back from the car”
”Evidence not sufficient,” Dr Miller said with a grin ”The ghosts may or may not be human Your first fact needs ht I'll start over again First, we have uncovered ces that contained radioactive ore, pulverized into a fine dust
I'll as contain a sives so they were once full of such ore”
The group laughed ”Now you're on the beam,” Dr Miller approved ”State only what you know as fact and identify what you infer from the facts as inference or speculation”
”Glad you all approve Second, we believe the FrostolaScotty carried It is a fact that e returned fro that we put in the trash can, and the ces we left where we found them, had been removed Because of the Frostola s”
Jan Miller giggled ”You sound like a lawyer”
”I feel like one,” Rick returned with a grin
”Third, the Blue Ghost led Scotty andinto the quarry The facts are that the ghost soue whether or not a real ghost could have set off a purely physical, nonspiritual alarm”
Barby nodded soberly, but there was a twinkle in her blue eyes
”Continuing with the facts of that incident, the ghost stayed ahead of us without difficulty A real ghost could have done that, I suppose, but so could any person in reasonable physical shape who knew the terrain
Now, the ghost's light went off as he reached the edge of the quarry, or soe”
Rick looked at his sister ”I will stipulate that a real ghost need not have any reason for his actions But a person iht in order to go around the quarry, otherould have seen that he ht over the quarry”
”Ghosts do float,” Barby agreed solemnly
”Uh-uh Since this one did not, and since it reappeared--or the light did--on the opposite side of the quarry, we believe there was a deliberate attempt to lead us into said quarry”
He paused and took a deep breath ”How a, coach?”
Dr Miller nodded approval ”Fine See how easy it is to separate fact and conjecture?”
”So what do we conclude from this one event? We conclude it is reasonable to believe that a person, and not a spook, triggered the plane alarm and led us to the quarry We speculate that the person did not know about the alar the plane, since we see nothing to be gained by sabotage We speculate that the chase was to frighten us, not prihost during the ghost act and are therefore potentially dangerous We reach this conclusion because the ghost picked a side of the quarry where ould land in the water, which is plenty deep by the way, and not on the rocks”
”Okay Scotty, take over I'rinned ”Lack of practice, I'ht precision in our speech s could be avoided”
”I don't knoe can say,” Scotty objected ”We have few facts We have only some observations We can try to interpret our observations, but we can't prove theiven a bath of so by the Blue Ghost that seemed to freeze our faces There is the fact that the Frostola ht a quantity of methyl chloride There is the fact that methyl chloride could have produced the effect we felt But how can we say that it's a fact that the Frostola man somehow doused us with chereed