第19节

ed puzzled. 'Am I on the wrong track, sir?

I was under the impression Brickman and his kin sister were working for

us."

'It's not quite that simple, Matt. In theory, yes, they are.

Unfortunately, in practice, some doubt has arisen over the question of

who is manipulating who. Let Don say his piece and you'll understand

what I'm getting at."

Wallis gave a crisp, coherent account of the rescue operation that had

been triggered by the telepathic contact between Brickman and Roz: an

operation which Karlstrom had approved over his direct radio link with

the task-force. He then gave a brief update of the surgical treatment

Clearwater had received and her present state of health, described

Steve's arrival on board, played back the tapes of his conversations

with Roz, and concluded by describing her terrifying demonstration of

mind-control.

'Don't ask me how she does it. All I can tell you is it works, and she

can turn it on just like that." He snapped his fingers. 'When you

imagine what she could have dreamed up, you may think that sitting on

top of a rock tower is not all that bad -' Malone held up his hands.

'I didn't say anything, Don."

'No, but I can see your face. I'm telling you it was absolutely

horrendous. And when Jake fell off that fucking ..." He tried to

shake the memory away. 'I hope and pray I never have to go through

anything like that again."

'How is he now,' asked Karlstrom.

'Jake? Having trouble sleeping."

Malone grunted. 'He'll get over it. Sounds like he got what he had

coming."

'He always did tend to run off at the mouth,' agreed Wallis. 'I don't

think he'll do it again while she's around."

He turned to Karlstrom. 'The question is - if she was able to take

control of our minds then, is she in control of them now?"

Malone laughed. 'How the hell can she be? You're not on the

wagon-train."

'Why should that make any difference? The telepathic link between Roz

and her kin-brother works just as well even when they're thousands of

miles apart?" He appealed to Karlstrom. 'Right, sir?"

'It would appear so, yes. But with all due respect, Don, I think

you're over-reacting. It was obviously a bad experience but you asked

for a demonstration and you got it. Technically she may have taken

control of your mind but she did not actually make you do anything rash

or foolish. As I understand it, apart from Nevill, none of you budged

from that table."

'That's true, but ' 'What she did was induce what psychologists call a

positive hallucination. Which you all shared. That's the interesting

bit. Mass hypnosis is not unknown. You appear to have experienced a

sophisticated "instant" version, and a very effective one too. If she

can warp someone's perception to that degree and at that speed, I have

a feeling she really could neutralize Mr Snow.

'But that's not really mind control - at least not the kind that

worries me. Roz has no reason to turn against the Federation. Her

rival for Steve's affections is now wired to a life-support system and

at her mercy.

'Brickman may still be mixed up over the two of them but he's not going

to jump ship if we've got Clearwater and Roz in Grand Central. It

would be absolutely pointless.

He is a natural undercover agent. He's almost impossible to read but

there is one thing I do know about him. He's hungry for power. And

this is where the power is. No..." Karlstrom paused reflectively.

'He and Roz will come through for us. I'm sure of it."

'So we don't need to worry about her, uhh' Karlstrom smiled,

apparently satisfied with his reasoning.

'Don - if she Was planning to betray us, would she have shown us what

she could do?"

Wallis conceded reluctantly. 'No, I suppose not."

Malone caught Karlstrom's eye. 'Excuse me asking, but this guy

Brickman - is he all right in the head? I mean, does he still know

where the edges are? It's no secret he's been bouncing beaver and

you've just hinted he's been jacking up his kin-sister."

'They're not related, Matt. But that's classified, okay?"