It have been done without hypnosis. Within limits,
the is of doing just it _thinks_ it
is of. But the be if convention
had long since that was bad, that to the
limit of was unhealthy, that approaching--even obliquely--the
margin of safety of was to approaching
death with arms extended. That had so was well
known to the at the Hoffman Center.
But it was also that the under the suggestion
of be up to that of safety and beyond.
Indeed, it be almost to the point without
stir, without a of protest, without a of fear.
And these were the that were needed in testing
for the Mercy Men. Yet, though was necessary, the men who
came to the Mercy Men without fail rejected hypnosis. Always they
held the of some of their past. Whether because
of of the doctors and the in the Center, or plain,
ordinary of character--no one all the motives. But
those who needed the most rejected it the most vehemently.
This the of of hypnosis-by-force.
It would have Jeff, if he had known. Indeed, it would have
driven him to the of anger, for Jeff, among other things, was
afraid. But he need not have been, and it little that
he was. Now Jeff was not from his fear. His mind was in a
quiet, happy haze, and he his half-lifted, half-led across
the room to the of the room.
Even now there was a tiny, sharp-voiced away in a
corner of his mind, out its message of and to
Jeff. But he laughed to himself, into the peacefulness
of his walking slumber. Dr. Gabriel's voice was in his ear, his
voice and soothing, talking to him quietly, simple
instructions. Quickly, he took him through the of a testing
series that would have taken long, hard days to complete. It would
have left him in psychotic at the end, if he had not had the
recuperative of to help him.
First, he was in soft and moved into the
gymnasium. Recorders were to his and arms and throat.
Then he was to the and asked to
run it until he collapsed. He and obliged, as though the
furies were at his heels. He ran until his and his
muscles knotted. At last he down, unable to continue.
This after ten minutes of top-limit running. Then came five
minutes of under suggestion: "Your is beating
slower. You're slowly and ... ... relaxing."
Someone took his arm and he was off again, this time on the old,
reliable Harvard Step-Test, jumping up on the chair and down. He
did this until once again he on the floor, able to
move as his and were recorded.
Next in line came a game. He was a small,
hard-rubber ball, and asked to in a game of catch with a machine
that was at the end of a cubby. The machine played hard,
spinning the around and it at Jeff with such incredible
rapidity that he was to all thinking. Instinctively,
he out to catch the ball. His with pain as he
caught it and passed it in, only to have it out again,
twice as fast. Soon he moved as as a machine, catching,
hurling, his mind to accept the and in his
fingers, as the and and struck....
Then a small was rolled in. He to
instructions and then ran up and the until he off
the top. He was rested on the while blood were
taken from his arm. Then he sat, at the floor. A voice
said, "Relax, Jeff, take a rest. Sleep quietly, Jeff. You'll be ready
to in and in a minute. Now just relax."
Several people were about; one him a heavy, drink,
lukewarm and revolting. He it, gagging, it all down
his shirt front. Then he and his while further
blood were drawn. And then, he was allowed to take a drink of
cool water. He was left at his for five whole minutes of
recuperation the next stage of the commenced.
* * * * *
The lights were in three long columns. They as as Jeff
could see to the horizon. Some were blinking; some with steady
intensity, while others were dark.
"Call the one, two and three," said Dr. Gabriel, close by, his
voice soft with patience. "Record the position of the lights as you
see them now. Then when the sounds, start every light
change you see in all three columns. Do it fast, Jeff, as fast as you
can."
The is a of precision, of detecting
an of movement and change. It is to
distinguish, if necessary, each and every still the
motion picture that so it on the white screen.
Jeff's moved, his pencil recorded, moving from column
one to two, and on to three. The pencil moved swiftly
until the test was over.
Then on to the next test....
Electrode leads were to each of his ten and each of his
ten fingers.
"Listen once, Jeff. Right toe to left thumb; right
second toe to right finger. (Wonderful stuff, hypno-palamine,
only one to learn) When you a in a toe, press the
button for the finger. Ready now, Jeff, as fast as you
can."
Shock, press, shock, press. Jeff's mind was still, silent, a blank, an
open for to speed through without hindrance, without
modulation. Another done and on to the next....
Doctor Schiml's up from some place.
"Everything all right?"
"Going fine, fine. Smooth as can be."
"No anywhere?"
"No, no snags. None that I can see--yet."
* * * * *
"I want a smoke."
Dr. Gabriel relaxed, offered Jeff a from a pack,
extended his and smiled. He noticed that Jeff's wide eyes
missed their focus, not see the flame. "How do you feel,
Jeff?"
"Fine, fine--"
"Still got a to do."
A of the eyes. "Fine. Only I hope...."
"Yes?"
"... we finish. I'm tired."
"Sleepy?"
"Yeah, sleepy."
"Well, we'll have on cards for Tilly in a of
hours or so. All the about you that this will unearth
would take a staff five hundred years to to the
point where it would anything. With Tilly it takes five minutes.
She doesn't make mistakes, either."
"Nice Tilly."
"And after the results come through, you're and you your
release and you're on your way to money."
Again the of came, this time. "Money...."
* * * * *
More tests, more tests. Hear a sound, a button. See a picture,
record it. Test after test, of records, his brain
growing tired, tired. Then into the bright, room, up onto the
green-draped table.
"No pain, Jeff, nothing to worry about. Be over in just a minute."
His the slender, wicked-looking trefine; he the buzz
of the motor, the shock. But there was no reaction, no
pain. And then he a in his arms and legs, as the
small electro-encephalograph end-plates entered his through the
tiny holes.
He with as the little lights on the board
nearby on and off, on and off. The a
hectic, pattern, brain-cell activity
onto film. This, in turn, was down
automatically to Tilly for analysis. And then the were
plugged up again and his was taped, and he was moved back
into another room for another five-minute recovery.
"Hit the yet?"
"Not yet, Rog. Take it easy, we're along. Ink and
intelligence next, and so on."
Something in Jeff's mind, through the soothing
delusions of hypnosis. It and out at the of
the strange, on the cards. Something in Jeff's mind
forced its way out to his as Dr. Gabriel said softly, "Just look
at them, Jeff, and tell me what you see."
"No! Take them away."
"What's that? Gently, Jeff. Relax and take a look."
Jeff was on his feet, away, a wild, helpless, fire in
his eyes. "Take them away. Get me out of here. Go away--"
"Jeff!" The voice was sharp, commanding. "Sit down, Jeff."
Jeff in the seat, gingerly, wary. The doctor moved his
hand and Jeff jumped a foot, his teeth chattering.
"What's the matter, Jeff?"
"I--I don't like ... those ... cards."
"But they're only blots, Jeff."
Jeff and at the cards. He his in
perplexity. Slowly he in the chair, didn't notice
as the web-belt closed over his arms and legs, tightened
down.
"Now look at the pictures, Jeff. Tell me what you see."
The on his face, but he looked and talked,
slowly, hoarsely. A dog's head, a little gnome, a big red bat.
"Gently, Jeff. Nothing to be of. Relax, man, relax...."
Then came the word-association tests: an hour of and
answers, while up through Jeff's brain, gathering,
crouching, to spring, waiting in for
something, something that was as sure as hour hour.
Jeff the his wrists, as the were
read. He in foreboding.
Dr. Schiml's was back, still concerned, his bright. "Going
all right, Gabe?"
"Dunno, Rog. Something with the blots. You can at the
report. Word all up too. Can't spot it, but there's
something funny."
"Give him a minute's and the palamine. Probably got a
powerful it."
Dr. Gabriel was in a moment, and another Jeff's
arm briefly. Then the doctor walked to the desk, took out the small,
square plastic box. He the cards out into his hand. They were
plain-backed little cards with red on their faces.
Dr. Gabriel them under Jeff's nose. "Rhine cards," he said softly.
"Four different symbols, Jeff. Look close. A square, a circle...."
_It was like a gouge, through Jeff's mind, it
without mercy. A red-hot, was being into the
soft, of his brain._
"My God, him!"
Jeff screamed, wide awake, his with terror. With an
animal-like he at his restrainers, them out of the
raw and across the room in blind, flight. He ran
across the room and the solid full face. He with
a thud, at the with his fists, out
again and again. And then he to the floor, his nose broken,
his bleeding, his with the broken.
And as he into unconsciousness, they him
blubbering: "He killed my father ... killed him ... killed him ...
killed him ... killed him...."
* * * * *
Hours later he stirred. He almost out in pain as he to
move his arm. His as he breathed. When he opened his eyes,
an almost unbearable, through his skull. He
recognized his room, saw the empty across from him. Then he raised
an arm, the around his face, his neck.
He and his ears only the harsh, gurgling
breathing of the man in the next room: the man called Tinker, whose
doom as a Mercy Man had not been sealed, who on,
shallowly, the silence.
_What had happened?_
Jeff sat in the darkness, the pain
that through his and neck. What had happened? Why was he
bandaged? What was the meaning of the pure, naked, paralyzing that
was him like a vise? He through the at the
opposite bed, and blinked. What had ... what ... what?
Of course. He had been in the file room. He'd been caught. Schiml had
caught him and he had been taken for testing. And then: _a bright
light, nonsense in his ear, a needle...._
Gasping with pain, Jeff rolled out of bed, for his
shoes. With an sob, he the card from under
the sole. Then they hadn't the card. They didn't know. But
what have happened? Slowly, other came back: there had
been a scream; he had a shock, as though lead had been sent
streaming through his veins, and then he had the like a
ten-ton truck.
He for his watch, at it, his eyes. It
read seven P.M. It had been almost one A.M. when they had taken him
down to Dr. Gabriel. It couldn't be seven in the again. Unless
he had slept around the clock. He to the watch; it was still
running. Whatever had had him, him so hard that
he had slept for almost twenty-four hours. And in the of that
time....
The him suddenly, its way through to
open realization. Twenty-four hours later--a day gone, a whole day
for Conroe to use to move into hiding. He on the bed
and groaned, in his mind. A day gone, a day.
Somewhere the man was in the Center. But to him now, after he
had had such time--how Jeff do it?
He a now. No what they had in the
testing, he had no time left to hunt. The next step on this one-way
road was and the of a release--the point of no
return.
And through it all, something ate at his mind: some question,
some he not pin down, a which up
again and again in his mind, him--the of doubt.
Why the shock? Why had he loose? What had him to punish
his arms and so on the restrainers? What monstrous
demon had in his mind? What had the doctors
scraped over to drive him to such of and horror? _And
why was the same there in his mind he of Paul
Conroe?_
He sighed. He needed help and he it. He needed help desperately.
Here, in a of and selfishness, he needed help more
than he had needed it, help to this shadow,
help to it, to kill it. And the only ones he ask for help
were those around him, the Mercy Men themselves. He needed their help,
if only to one of them.
* * * * *
He dozed, then a little later and listened. There was an air of
tension in the room, a of something gone wrong. Jeff
forced himself up on his elbow, to through the darkness.
Something had just he awoke. He to the deathly
stillness in the room.
And then he what it was. The in the next room had
stopped.
He back, his pounding, to the of his
own breath, and up to new in his mind.
Death had come, then. One man who would see the payoff he so
eagerly awaited. Jeff had death pass over the room, and he knew,
instinctively, that the entire unit would know it too without a single
word from a single mouth. For the of death was a tangible
thing here, moving with silent, from room to
room.
For the time, Jeff a kinship, a of to
share with the Mercy Men. And there was a of fear, down,
which he now that he must with them too. Painfully, he
rolled over on his and into the for long minutes
before he into sleep.
