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“
Absolutely. Get me through this, and we
’
re done. Let
’
s get on with it. I
’
ll put you to sleep here, we can wheel you straight down.
”
He smiled, never his best gesture, but there was no more
time
for words. And there would be violence later when Billy Boy awoke with his head on fire. But that Trude decided, could be faced in its proper time. The stun pellets had been effective before,
never on one of Winslow
’
s power, true, but there was no reason to assume they would fail totally. He smiled again.
“
Shall we begin?
”

“
If you
’
re lying, I
’
ll tear your arms off.
”

Trude
managed to hold on to his smile
…

***

“
Dear Lord, he
’
s a mastodon,
”
Beulah said as the nurses rolled Billy Boy into the Infinity Room, Trude a step ahead of them.

Trude
immediately busied himself with the box of toys.
“
We had a fabulous preparation,
”
he said.
“
Each time it gets better.
”

Beulah glanced at his watch. It was already well after midnight.
“
How long will this take?
”

“
With the kind of good luck we
’
ve been having, we should be finished by dawn.
”

“
Dawn!—
“

Trude
whirled on Beulah—
”
This is not the Automat in here— you do not put in a quarter and get a piece of pie—I am a surgeon of the brain and this is my operating room—!
”

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
R.E.L. Beulah muttered.

Trude
continued
on
the attack.
“
No, I do not think you are at all sorry. I think you are like everyone in government, you want it yesterday. I cannot work in an atmosphere of hostility. It
’
s damaging to me and mostly to the patient.
”
He looked at the nurses who had transferred Billy Boy to the couch.
“
I don
’
t want to do this but I must cancel tonight
’
s journey.
”

“
I truly am sorry,
”
Beulah said, his voice soft.
“
There is no hostility emanating from me, son, I assure you. And I
’
ve got to be back in Washington tomorrow so let
’
s get on with it.
”

Damn, Trude thought, as he said,
“
Much the best to do it now.
”
He gestured for the nurses to leave the room. He had spent the last minutes carefully planning the regression—a spectacular display was his main hope; if they did not make contact but the regression was in itself of sufficient interest, that might keep things on track for a while, perhaps enough for the next contact to be made. When the nurses were gone
Trude
turned to Beulah and Kilgore:
“
Of course you
’
re familiar with regression techniques.
”

They were not.

“
Tedious stuff, but we must get through it, please bear with me.
”
He walked close beside the giant. The breathing was deep and even.
Trude
gestured to the control room and there was more
wind. Then he took his penknife with the honed blade, asked Winslow for his hand. When Winslow lifted it,
Trude
took it and jammed it deep under the fingernail.

Billy Boy did not move.

But Kilgore did—he jumped backward, said
“
Holy shit,
”
then
“
Fm sorry, Leo, forgive me.
”

R.E.L. Beulah stood where he was, his unlit pipe between his teeth. He looked mightily unimpressed.

Trude
began the regression then, first taking Billy Boy to his fifteenth birthday, because at an earlier session he tried fifteen and found that Winslow had raped the neighbor girl in Waukegan and it was very sensual, listening to him describe the way she tried resisting.

Kilgore seemed fascinated.

Not so R.E.L. Beulah.

Trude
hurried on, hitting all the best moments, the changing meaning of the word
‘
orange,
’
the changing occupation of Ronald Reagan from President to star of
Bedtime for Bonzo
the time his name was, for a period,
“
Keef,
”
the baseball glove, the teddy bear.

Kilgore was standing next to the couch now, transfixed by what he saw.

Trude
concentrated very hard on his labors, but when it was safe, he glanced toward the aged southerner.

No question, he was bombing.

“
Ahhhh-
boo
,
”
Trude
said, tickling Winslow
’
s stomach.
“
Ahhh-
boo
.
”
As the giggling began
Trude
felt a sense of relief because it was
so
strange,
so
remarkable, this Neanderthal murderer kicking and giggling and shrieking with joy that you just
had
to be enthralled with it.

“
Ahhhh
-
boo
!

Ahhhh
-
boo
!!

Ahhhh
-
boo
!!!”

“
It
’
s incredible,
”
Kilgore said.
“
Absolutely extraordinary.
”
He turned to Beulah.
“
Have you ever seen the like?
”

“
I suspect I would laugh if you tickled me under similar circumstances. Doctor
Trude
, this seems to be enough preliminaries; I
’
m here for the main event, if you don
’
t mind.
”

Trude
snapped,
“
I told you this was tedious!
”
He signaled for the nurse with the light brown hair and when she entered with the
warm prosthetic breast, he took it from her, inserted it immediately between the lips of the giant, waited for the sucking to be done, put the breast down with the other toys.

And a few moments later, Billy Boy was back again, back between creation and birth.

Breathing ever more deeply
…………………………………

………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………..

“
How long
’
does this shit go on?-
’
R.E.L. Beulah asked.

“
Shhh.
”
Trude
put his finger to his lips.

Beulah looked impatiently at his watch.
“
How much longer do we have to wait before contact?
”

“
Almost there,
”
Trude
said, keeping his desperation behind his eyes.

………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………..

“
Far be it from me to invade the mighty realms of science,
”
Beulah said.
“
But surely there must be some way to hurry things

“
This is all still experimental,
”
Kilgore tried helpfully.
“
Everything
Trude
does is being done for the first time, more or less.
”

Beulah scowled, stared at the sleeping giant, stared at his watch, walked around in a circle.

“
We know certain things about contact,
”
Trude
explained.
“
At least these are the suppositions we
’
re working on. It
’
s best if the parties are in the same city. It
’
s best if they
’
re the same nationality. It
’
s best if it
’
s the same day, the same time of day. But most important is this: Contact is most easily achieved during a crisis time.
”

“
Explain that
”

“
When we first reached Duncan he was having a crucial sex act —he was open, he was vulnerable, he was receptive. It was a time of sensitivity, of crisis in his life, if you will. You can
’
t just say,
‘
skip a week ahead, go back a month!
’
—you take what contact you can get when you can get it.
”

And now the giant was trembling, his clothes suddenly soaked with perspiration.

“
There, you see?
”
Trude
said excitedly—
“
we
’
re almost there.
”

………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………..

At four in the morning, a surly Beulah began to talk.
“
When I was a child, we used to have snipe hunts. Some idiot, often me, would be sent out into the woods holding a sack while my so-called friends would supposedly flush a snipe from his hiding place and my job was to catch it in the sack. Night after night I foiled and they would say, my friends,
‘
Okay, Bobby Lee, one more chance but that
’
s it
’”
He looked at
Trude
now.
“
I am too old to be left holding a snipe sack;
you
have one more chance. And that
’
s it.
”

The giant began to groan softly.

“
I assume that
’
s another wondrous sign for our cause,
”
Beulah said.

“
He
’
s in some pain, that
’
s all. Not that he minds it, but for reasons we don
’
t quite understand, it
’
s not altogether without some discomforting moments.
”

“
I am at this time rather discomforted myself,
”
Beulah said.
“
And don
’
t give me any lecture about spreading hostility, we
’
re past that. I am very hostile and with good reason. I
’
m an old man in a dry month waiting for rain.
”

Trude turned away.

Beulah walked after him.

Kilgore began to scream in panic—

—because then, right then, with no warning, William
“
Billy Boy
”
Winslow sat suddenly erect. And he spread his arms. And his eyelids parted. But his eyes were high up in his head. So only the whites showed.

And from these whites flowed tears.

“
CRI-YUNNN!
”

Trude whirled, faced the giant, stunned, because this was a different sound, this was no dead rasp constantly weakening. No. This was
thunder.

“
CRIII-YUNNN!

CRII-YUNNNH

WON
’
STOP

CRII-YUNNN!
”