he’s clunking along like Frankenstein’s monster. He’ll never make it up that ladder without their help.
As if he could read Grant’s thoughts, Karlstad said, “The deal our woeful master made with the test controller is that if he could get up the ladder unassisted, he could go into the tank and participate in the sim. Otherwise, no.”
“As if the simulation controller could say no to him,” Grant sneered.
“During the sim, the controller is god almighty. If he says no, it’s no. Doesn’t matter who he’s talking to. He’s the absolute boss during the simulation.”
“And afterward?”
Karlstad shrugged.
Wo stood uncertainly at the base of the ladder and took a deep breath. Grant felt almost sorry for the man. It had taken all his energy to make the few steps from his chair to the ladder. Surely he won’t be able—
Wo suddenly seized the rungs of the ladder and pulled himself up, hand over hand, his legs dangling uselessly. Grant could see sweat break out on the man’s face, see his snarling, teeth-gritted determination. He made it to the top of the ladder and swung his legs over the edge, letting his feet dangle in the water.
Two of the technicians swarmed up the ladder behind him, carrying his face mask, air tank, and weights. In minutes they had Wo properly rigged. He pushed himself off the edge of the tank and splashed awkwardly into the water. One of the technicians started to applaud, but when he saw he was alone he froze in midclap, a mortified look on his face.
Wo sank to the bottom of the pool and swam easily to the control panel, taking his station between O’Hara and Muzorawa.
“You’ve got to admit that he’s got guts,” Karlstad said reluctantly.
Grant agreed with a nod.
“You’ll never see me getting into that fish tank,” Karlstad went on.
“But aren’t you part of the mission?”
“Me? Don’t be ridiculous!”
“But I thought…”
“Wo put me on the team, yes,” Karlstad admitted. “I’ll be one of the monitors in the control center when they go. But that’s all! They couldn’t get me into that death trap unless they put a gun to my head. Maybe not even then.”
THE WRATH OF WO
It was boring and fascinating at the same time, watching the three of them going through the simulation. Grant kept telling himself that he should get back to his work, he shouldn’t be wasting his time this way, but he could not take his eyes from the wallscreen.
Wo was clearly in charge, and enjoying it. Instead of remaining anchored at the instrument panel as O’Hara and Muzorawa did, he pulled his feet free of the floor loops and floated easily, almost lazily in the big tank. Hovering over the other two, drifting slightly from one side to the other, Wo gave orders and did all the talking with the test controller.
“He’s enjoying himself, isn’t he?” Grant asked rhetorically.
Karlstad hmmphed. “First time he’s been able to get around without his chair since the accident.”
“No wonder he likes it.”
“He also likes the feeling of power, don’t forget that.”
“He gets that all the time,” Grant countered. “He’s got more power around here than God… just about.”
“There are different kinds of power, Grant. Right now, in that tank, he feels
Grant felt his face flush again and Karlstad snickered at him. “Hit a nerve, did I?”
“You can be pretty crude sometimes.”
With a tilt of his head, Karlstad replied, “Why not? Sticks and stones, you know. Words can’t hurt you.”
“I thought the biochips short-circuited the sex drive,” Grant said.
“Who told you that?”
“Lane.”
Karlstad’s knowing grin turned into a smirk. “The chips don’t do anything about the drive: That’s in the head, in the brain.”
“But—”
“They apparently shut down all the sensory nerves in the groin, though,” Karlstad went on. “That must’ve been Wo’s brilliant idea.”
“Why would he do that?” Grant wondered.
“The crew on the deep mission will be cooped up in that saucer for weeks. Wo doesn’t want any of them distracted by human frailties.”
Grant nodded, thinking, He’s taken away the sensations but left the desire. That must be as close to hell as a man can get.
“I’ve got to get back to my work,” Grant said, surprised to hear his own words.
“You don’t want to watch the rest of this?”
“It’s not all that interesting.”
“Watching luscious Lainie in that skintight suit? That’s not interesting?”
Grant turned back to his desktop and commanded the computer to bring up its active screen again. The screen saver’s fractal pattern disappeared, replaced by the same graph Grant had been working on when Karlstad had interrupted him.
“Or maybe,” Karlstad said with a wolfish grin, “watching Lainie is
Grant snapped, “I have too much work to do to sit around watching—”
“Hold one!” the simulation controller’s voice called out. “Medical hold.”
The three people in the tank looked up reflexively, bubbles rising from their masks.
“Dr. Wo,” said the controller, “we’re getting a sharp rise in your blood pressure readings. Your pulse is starting to spike, as well.”
“It’s temporary. Monitor and—”
“Test procedures call for a halt when a subject exceeds the preset medical parameters, sir,” the controller said, his tone respectful but firm.
“It’s temporary, I say!”
O’Hara and Muzorawa had stopped their work at the instrument panel. Glaring red lights were blinking along the panel, casting shimmering highlights in the water.
Even more reasonably, the controller said, “Dr. Wo, I have no choice but to shut down the simulation.”
“Not necessary!” Wo snapped, flailing his arms.
“But the safety protocols—”
“This is the medical officer,” a woman’s voice broke in. “This simulation is terminated.”
Karlstad, still sitting beside Grant, broke into a low chuckle.
“What’s funny?” Grant asked.
“Several things. First, seeing Wo’s macho act collapse around his tiny little ears.”
Wo was still arguing with both the controller and the medical officer. But now all the lights on the panel were a steady glowering red.
“Second, knowing that his blood pressure is going up even higher because he can’t get his way.”
Grant didn’t think it was funny.
“But the funniest thing of all is the medic,” Karlstad went on. “Old Woeful can’t muscle her.”
“The medical officer can’t be overruled?”
“Not this one. She’s due to ship out on the next supply craft. And she’s got a full residence at the university
