Page 124 - Astounding Pulp V2

125
G~AY LENS1IAN
124 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION
room. The an;esthetist approached the Arisia who can operate on my mind."
table and Lacy was stunned at a thought \Vorse! came. "Sleep, m y friend,"
from Kinnison. he commanded, gently but firmly.
"NeYer mind • the an..esthetic, Dr. "Sleep prefoundlyf body and mind, with
Lacy. Y 9u can't make me unconscious no physical or mental sensations, no con-
without killing me. Go ahead with your sciousness, no perception even of the
work. I'll hold a nerve block . while ·· passage of time. Sleep until someone
you're doing what has to -be done. I having authority to do so bids you
can do it perfectly-I've had lots of awaken." .
practice." And Kinnison slept; so deeply that
"But we can't, man!" Lacy ex- even Lacy's probing Lens could elicit
claimed. "You've got to be under a no response. ,
general for this job--we can'.t have you "He will stay t!1at way?" the surgeon
conscious. You're raving, I think. It asked in awe.
will work, surely; it al\\"ays has. Let "Yes."
us try it, anyway, won't you?" "For how long?-''
"Sure. It'll save me the trouble of "Indefinitely. Until one of you doc-
holding the block, even, though it won't tors or nurses tells him to wake up, or
do anything else. Go ahead.''. until he dies for lack of food or water."
The attendant physician did so, with "Vv e will . see to it that he gets nour-
the same cool skill and to the same end ishment. He would make a much bet-
point as in thousands of similar and ter 'recovery if we could keep him in
successful undertakings. At its con- that state until his injuries are almost
clusion: "Gone now, aren't you, Kin- healed. \Vould that do him harm, think
nison?" Lacy asked, through his Lens. you?U
"No," came the surprising reply. "None whatever."
"Physically, it worked. I can't feel a Then the surgeons and the nurses
thing and I can't move a muscle, but went to work. Lacy was not guilty of the· nurse went on. "I know that you
mentally I am as wide awake as I ever exaggeration when he described IGnni- up She . had fought for the privilege; can't talk to me-we can't unbandag,e
·
· It and then
was." son as being a "ghastly mess." He was first claiming it as a ng 1 h . ntil next week-and you can t
.
·t
"But you shouldn't be!" Lacy pro- all of that. The job ,vas long and" hard. threatenmg to conmu may hem upon t e your Jaw u -
think at me, either, because your new
.
tested. "Perhaps you \\·ere right, at It was heartbreaking, even for those to pe·rson of anyone else who dared even 't come yet But I can talk
that-we can't give you much more ;with- whom Kinnison was merely another to think of doing it. t,· Lens I 1asn · . ,
nd you can listen. Don t be
a
cl
out danger of collap,se. But you've got case, not a beloved pe_rsonality. \Vl~at " \tVake up, J."-1111, ear, " she w 1s- to you , 1 •
TT '
discouraged, Kim. J?on t et it get yotl1
to he unconscious! Isn't there some they had to do they did, and the white · · over now.
pered. "The worst o f 1t 1s down. 1 love you 3ust as much as
way in which you can be made so?" marble chief nurse carried on through You are getting well." . d'd and as soon as you can talk
,
· t ntly
"Yes, there is. But why do I have every soul-wrenching second, throu~h The Gray Lensman came to ms a ' ever 1 , . I am going
, going to cret marned.
to be unconscious?'' Kinnison asked every shocking, searing motion of 1t. in full command of every faculty, know- we re o ,,
cu1iously. She did her part. stoically, unflinch- ing everything that had happened up tf to take care of you- M " 1 .
'
I c ear me,
"To avoid mental shock-seriously ingly, as efficiently as though the pa- the instant of his hypnosis by Wors~ · "Don't 'poor ac, 1e 111-
damaging," the surgeon explained. "In tient upon the table were a total stranger He stiffened ready to establish aga 1 11 terrupted her with_ a vigorous thought.
"You didn't say 1t, I know, but .you
. •
your case particularly the mental aspect undergoing a simple appendectomy and the nerve block agamst t 1e 111 • 1 cl
'
I • tolerab e
is much graver than the purely physical not the one man in her entire universe agony to which he had been s ubJecte. were thinking it. I'm not half ~s help-
one." suffering radical dismemberment. Nor so long but there • was no need. H~ less as you think I am. I can still com-
"1faybe you're right but you can't do did she faint-then. body w~s for the first time in unto d mtii1icate, and I can see as well as I
1
1 xe
'
it with drugs. Call W orsel; he has done reons, free from pain; and he re ru ever could, or better. And if you think
it he(ore. He had me unconscious most BACK in Base Hospital, then, time blissfi.tlly, reveling in the sheer comfort that I'm going to let you marry me to
of the way over. here. except when he wore on until Lacy decided that the of it. . ., take care of me, you're crazy."
natl to give me a drink or something to Lensman could be aroused from his "You're raving! Delirious! Stark,
eat. He's the only man this side of trance. Clarrissa it was who woke him "I'm so glad that you're awake, Km,,