He cursed himself for his mind's illogical processing of data. Perhaps this was her get-out, her escape route from actions she could neither control nor tolerate. Or could it be Terri herself, half-crazy with guilt, perhaps even schizoid? Wyatt remembered thinking to himself that she was taking all of this very well. But if he was here, and if he knew what was going on, why didn't he just come right on out of the woodwork, free Garrison and make an accusation? He could be here right now, looking after his master's interests as always. He could have gone to Germany, turned around and flown straight back. Koenig? The German manservant seemed most eligible, Wyatt had to admit. The sin itself might be forgotten, but the darkness, the stifling closeness, the Scuttlers in the Shadows - these things he remembered. The cupboard under the stairs, the spiders which he had known inhabited that place, the unknown or forgotten sin (against what or whom he could not say) which had prompted his punishment. He remembered it now, remembered how it frightened him. They seemed almost to shut him in.īut between times, in the room of the machine.Īs a boy he had been shut in. They seemed to weigh on him with the weight of the Universe. Not before that time and never since, until now, had Garrison suffered claustrophobia. Then, leaving the room, he padlocked the door and pocketed the keys. Wyatt returned to the machine room, gave Garrison an opiate booster, turned up fear-stimulation to the full and jammed the controls firmly in that position. He had not noticed the missing milk or sandwiches. And after that, if he found nothing and no one - which he suspected would be the case, for if there were a human adversary at work here he must be extremely clever and unlikely to let himself be discovered - then Wyatt must simply deny him access to the room of the machine, which he could do easily enough.īy 5.15 A.M. One sure way to check for outside interference would be, quite simply, to search the house from top to bottom. It seemed that Psychomech could only help him - and conversely that he could only help the Machine - in a real crisis.
And at 6.30, after a hot shower, he allowed himself to fall asleep for two hours, only waking up at Tern's insistent ringing at the doorbell.ĭraining feeling which came whenever the Machine suffered a power loss and he had been powerless to do anything about it. Psychomech would do the job, he was sure. he felt an almost irresistible urge to check Garrison's condition, but somehow managed to fight it ?off.
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