Mindbend

Although the sails were luffing, the strong trade wind continued to push the boat through the water. Adam held on to the mainsail halyard and was dragged behind like bait on the end of a fish line. He could feel his right eyelid swelling, but worst of all, there was trailing warmth from his nose, which he guessed was blood. He expected his legs to be snapped off at any moment. Hand over hand, he frantically pulled himself back to the boat. On the trampoline Alan was still shrieking in pain. Adam grabbed a pontoon and started to scramble out of the water.

The snapping of the uncleated mainsail sounded like rifle shots. The boat had rotated to windward, and suddenly the boom wildly traversed the back of the boat, slamming into the side of Alan’s head and pitching him face downward onto the trampoline.

Adam hauled himself out of the water and, watching out for the swinging boom, approached the man uneasily, half expecting him to explode anew. But Alan was unconscious and breathing deeply. Steadying himself on the bobbing boat, Adam felt Alan’s head for a fracture. All he found was an actively swelling egg-shaped lump.

Carefully Adam rolled Alan over, wondering what had possessed the man. He’d been so peaceful until that terrifying moment. Adam noticed that one of the sutured incisions had pulled open, and suddenly he guessed what might have happened.

Scrambling back to the stern, Adam grabbed the tiller and then pulled in on the mainsail tackle. The boat responded and the sails filled. Falling off the wind, Adam headed for the shore. He now had another, unanticipated problem. He had no idea what Alan could be made to do. Adam shivered, more from fear than from the chill of his damp clothes.

• • •

Edgar Hofstra glanced up at Dr. Nachman, whose eyes had become blood red. The man’s lower lids hung away from his globes while he bent over Hofstra’s shoulder, staring at the computer screen.

“I can’t be one hundred percent sure that the electrodes responded,” said Hofstra, “but that was the strongest signal I could send at the moment. If you give me a couple of hours, I will be able to increase the power.”

“Well, see if you can speed things up,” said Dr. Nachman.

“And maybe you can remember if any of our early experiments with monkeys gave us clues as to how the subject will respond.”

“I hate to tell you,” said Mitchell, “but in addition to destroying everything around them, the monkeys in such situations ended up killing themselves.”

Dr. Nachman got up and stretched. “Listen, that may be the good news.”

“I’ll have to take the whole system off line while we work on it,” said Hofstra.

“That’s OK,” said Dr. Nachman. “At this hour I can’t imagine anybody wanting to send instructions to any of the

‘controlled’ doctors.”

“Too bad the patient hadn’t at least been conditioned for the self-destruct mode,” said Dr. Mitchell.

“Yeah, too bad,” agreed Dr. Nachman.

• • •

By the time Adam got within a hundred feet of shore, the night had become significantly darker. He turned the boat to the west and paralleled the island while he listened carefully to the waves crashing on the shore. He hoped that the type of sound would enable him to guess the composition of the beach. With the heavy surf, he was afraid of coral.

Alan had moaned a few times but had not tried to get up.

Adam thought that he was either still unconscious from the blow to his head or in some kind of post-ictic state from what had been a seizure of sorts. In any case, Adam hoped that he’d stay quiet until they reached the shore.

The sound of a dog barking against the noise of the ocean caught Adam’s attention, and he strained his eyes shoreward.

He could make out, nestled among the graceful trunks of a forest of coconut palms, a group of dark houses. Thinking that they were a good indication of a sand beach, Adam shoved the tiller over, ducked under the jibing mainsail, and headed the boat toward land.

Although Adam let the sail out and was spilling the wind, the boat seemed to be flying. Holding the tiller with his leg, he reached up and let loose the jib, which began to flap angrily in the wind. Ahead, he could see where the waves were cresting, a white line of foam against the blackness of the island.

The closer they got, the louder was the noise of the breakers pounding the shoreline. Adam prayed silently for a sand beach, although at that speed even sand would be trouble. A huge wave passed under the boat, then a larger one built behind. The Hobi rode up the face of the wave, and with terror, Adam thought they were about to flip end over end.

But the boat righted itself as the wave rolled under. Looking behind again, Adam saw another wave bearing down on them. It looked as big as a house. Its upper edge feathered against the sky, suggesting it was about to break. Adam saw the top begin to curl. Holding the tiller with one hand and the side of the trampoline with the other, he closed his eyes and braced himself for submersion.

But the tons of water that Adam expected didn’t come.