"The proper thing was to kill yourself before they got you. Undoubtedly some people did so. Many of the disappearances were actually suicides. But it needed desperate courage to kill yourself in a world where firearms, or any quick and certain poison, were completely unprocurable. He thought with a kind of astonishment of the biological uselessness of pain and fear, the treachery of the human body which always freezes into inertia at exactly the moment when a special effort is needed. He might have silenced the dark-haired girl if only he had acted quickly enough; but precisely because of the extremity of his danger he had lost the power to act. It struck him that in moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy but always against one's own body." Thank you Learned Librarian Patreon: Jon Listen to episodes ad-free and get other benefits on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BayleysBookshelfPodcast You can also support this podcast with a one-off donation at Buy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rjbayley If you’d like to send correspondence for me to read and discuss during an episode, or you would like to talk about me narrating your own audiobook or other voiceover services, you can contact via: Bluesky: @RJBayley https://bsky.app/profile/rjbayley.bsky.social Email: robertjbayley[AT]gmail.com Website contact form at RJBayley.com: https://rjbayley.com/contact/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RJBayleyVoiceArtist/ This book is in the public domain and this production is entirely created and distributed in accordance with local laws. This audio production, however, is copyright to RJ Bayley 2025.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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