Slowly, he inched to the edge and looked down. Below him was a scene straight out of a science fiction horror film.
The area under the skylight was an enormous operating room, but instead of being staffed with doctors and nurses, it was fully automated. Two patients were being worked on at once by robotlike machines with long flexible arms.
On the far side of the room several patients were lying on a conveyor-beltlike system, their heads locked into stereotaxic vises. At present, there were only four, but Adam could see that the system was designed to accommodate at least a dozen at a time.
Adam remained glued to the skylight, mesmerized by the sheer scope of the horror. One of the patients on the belt began to move forward and was fed into a large CAT scanner, which started to rotate around the patient’s head. When the rotation was complete, the machine paused while robotlike arms extended and incised the patient’s head at the same points at which Vandermer’s scars were made. A small amount of blood appeared and pooled below the patient’s head. Other arms appeared and smoothly bored into the patient’s skull.
Adam could hear the whine of the drill through the skylight.
Then the scanner began to function again, while a third set of arms extended and pushed into the patient’s brain. Adam guessed that the system was inserting the controlling electrodes into the patients’ brains using the CAT scanner to ensure proper placement.
A movement at the left of the room caught Adam’s eye and he pulled back. Behind a leaded-glass partition, a group of people were seated at a control panel. They would have had a clear view of Adam if they cared to look up. Adam lay down.
He could see in by peeking over the edge of the skylight, but was pretty sure now that he couldn’t be seen.
He saw Dr. Nachman reach out and slap Dr. Mitchell on the back. One of the patients had been completed and was being moved off in preparation for the next. Adam thought he was going to be sick. MTIC-Arolen was definitely planning psychosurgery on a massive scale.
After ducking away from the skylight, Adam climbed to his feet and crossed the roof to the access door. Luckily, it was not locked. He entered a stairwell similar to the one he had used to reach the roof of his building. Except for a steady hum of the automated machinery from the OR, everything was quiet. Moving quickly, he descended to the second floor and carefully opened the door. As he had expected, he was just beyond the conditioning room. He looked down the hall into the darkened ward. The only light came from the glass-enclosed nurses’ station on the opposite side of the ward. The nurse on duty appeared to be eating. Beyond her were two immobile orderlies sitting in straight-back chairs.
Staying close to the wall, Adam moved into the ward and ducked down behind the first bed. In the half light he caught a glimpse of the patient’s face. To his surprise, the man was awake. Adam waited, wondering if the patient would sound an alarm, but he just lay still, his unblinking gaze fixed on Adam.
Taking a deep breath, Adam began to crawl the length of the ward under the beds. When he got to the second from the end, he raised his head to look at the nurses’ station. He was surprised how close he was to it. The nurse was still working on her sandwich, and the two orderlies hadn’t moved.
It was now or never for his plan. Adam turned to the patient on the bed above him. Alan gave no sign of recognition.
“Alan, I want to take you out of here,” Adam whispered.
“Can you make it?”
There was no response. Adam might as well have been talking to the IV pole. Alan didn’t even blink as Adam carefully undid the tape that held the IV in place and pulled out the catheter.
“If I get you up, do you think you can walk?”
Again, there was no response.
Grasping Alan’s covers, Adam was about to yank them back when he saw a flashlight beam dance across the ceiling of the ward. Looking at the double entry doors, Adam saw the nurse pressing her thumb against the scanner. As the doors hissed open, Adam slid to the floor and ducked under the bed.
The nurse walked up the center aisle, shining her flashlight at each patient. Adam held his breath as she passed Alan’s bed, hoping she wouldn’t spot the detached IV.
She didn’t pause. Adam could see her feet move to the end of the ward, pivot, then return. The double doors hissed open, and the nurse went back outside.
Guessing she wouldn’t be back for a while, Adam felt it was an opportune time to make his move. Pulling back Alan’s covers, Adam grabbed him by the arms and eased him over to the side of the bed. Then, as gently as he could, he lifted Alan’s torso and lowered the man to the floor. There was a slight thud when his legs hit the floor, but no one at the nurses’ station seemed to hear.
“Can you crawl along the floor?” Adam whispered in Alan’s ear.
There was no response.
Refusing to give up, he grasped Alan’s hand and began to pull him along the floor. To his surprise, Alan responded and soon began to crawl on his own. It was as if he couldn’t act unless he were shown what to do.
They made it to the end of the ward. When Adam looked back, all was quiet at the nurses’ station. The next fifty feet were going to be the most dangerous. Leaving the protection of the beds, they crawled down the hall toward the stairs. If anyone looked in their direction, they would be seen. When they reached the door, Adam opened it a few inches and was alarmed when light spilled out from the stairwell.
Holding his breath, he opened the door wider and urged Alan through. A moment later they were safe.
Adam stood up and stretched. Then he bent over and lifted Alan to his feet. He was unsteady at first but regained his balance after a few seconds.
“Can you understand me?” asked Adam. There was a suggestion of a nod, but Adam wasn’t sure. “We’re getting out of here!” Taking Alan by the hand, Adam led the way up the stairs. Alan walked as if he had no idea where his feet were, but by the time they reached the third floor his movements became smoother. It seemed that the more he had to do, the easier it became. By the time they got to the roof, Alan seemed to be operating under his own power. Such rapid improvement made Adam think that Alan had been receiving a small but constant dose of tranquilizer through the IV. When they emerged onto the roof, Alan seemed almost awake, and Adam noticed that the pupils of his eyes were no longer fully dilated. But there still seemed no way Alan would be able to climb the rope three stories to the outer building. Adam wasn’t sure he could even do it himself and cursed his lack of foresight in not planning better for their escape.
Looking at the landscaped space between the hospital and the next building he knew they could probably go down easier than up, but he suspected there was no way of escaping from the enclosed garden.
Afraid Alan’s absence would be noticed, Adam realized he had to act. For lack of a better idea, he took the end of the rope and tied it under Alan’s arms. Then, grasping the rope, Adam began to pull himself up the side of the building. The most difficult part was at the top when Adam had to let go of the rope and grasp the top of the wall. His feet flailed in the air as he tried to get purchase on the sheer concrete.
Finally, he made it onto the roof.
After catching his breath, he bent over the wall. Alan was still standing with his back against the side of the building.
Adam tensed the rope but was only able to lift Alan a few inches. He realized he needed more leverage. Suddenly, he remembered seeing pictures of Egyptian slaves hauling stones up the pyramids. They’d held the ropes over their shoulders like beasts of burden. Adam decided to do the same. Straining forward with all his might, he staggered back to the far wall and quickly tied the slack onto the same pipe where the rope had initially been fastened. When he ran back to the side, he saw Alan dangling about a third of the way up.
Adam repeated his maneuver three more times. On the fourth tug the rope stuck, and when Adam looked, he saw Alan was caught directly under the lip of the wall surrounding the roof. Reaching down, he pulled the doctor sideways and got hold of his legs, and with great effort, he heaved him over.
The two men fell onto the roof.
When Adam got his breath back, he untied the rope and stuffed it into his shoulder bag. Then he helped Alan up.
There was an angry abrasion on the man’s right cheek, but otherwise he seemed to have weathered the
