All the Colors of Time Read Online Free PDF

of
tuna.
    “No. The patented Magda Oslovski ‘I’ve come to a definite
decision and God help you if you try to change my mind’ look. So, what’s it
going to be, Saint Mag of QuestLabs: Courage or Serenity?”
    “Our courage, their serenity. Before I tell you what that
means, answer a question: Can you hypnotize someone to make them think they’ve done something they haven’t
done?”
    “Can I, personally?”
    She nodded.
    “Ye-es,” he said slowly. “Given the right environment. It
depends a lot on the magnitude of the suggestion and the natural resistance of
the subject. Some individuals require a little help—sodium pentothal or
Ephkal-A.”
    “Ephkal-A—that was developed here, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.”
    “You’ve worked with it, then.”
    “Yes, I have. It’s been very helpful in handling the
endorphin imbalances that contribute to nasty conditions like schizophrenia.”
    “In other words, it helps you adjust someone’s attitude.”
    Vance shook his head. “Not quite. It helps the body adjust
its own attitude. There’s a difference.”
    “Okay, distinction noted. But it makes this hypnosis thing
doable?”
    “Oh, it’s doable. But it’s also undoable. The effects have
been known to fade.”
    “Fade? Over how long a period?”
    “Years, months. But real memories tend to do the same thing.
Even things I did—oh, last night, say—tend to take on an aura of . . .
fantasy.” He gave her a provocative look.
    “I love you, too,” she said. “But couldn’t this fading be
counteracted with a regular regimen of Ephkal-A?”
    He sighed. “We put schizophrenics on Ephkal-A boosters. It
keeps their moods balanced and helps them to retain positive memory
associations. It can be taken orally. Where’s all this leading, Mags?”
    “I’ll tell you. But I want you to be quiet until I’ve
finished. Take notes if you have to. Then I want to hear what you think. Then I want to know if you’ll help.”
    oOo
    She was back in O.R. an hour and a half later, her face
flushed and a mad gleam in her dark eyes. She called her Team away from their
calibration routines into a pow-wow.
    “Okay, here’s the new Phase Five game plan. The object of
the experiment is to send Toto back one day to another location here in the
Emerald City. Specifically . . .” She tapped out something on
her handcomp and handed the unit to Shiro. “These coordinates.”
    The younger woman glanced at them, then looked up puzzled. “These
are right downstairs, aren’t they?”
    Oslovski nodded. “They are indeed. Directly below us, as a
matter of fact.”
    “That facility is identical to this one, isn’t it?”
    “Right again. I just notified Admin that we’re going to be
making use of it for some very delicate and oh-so-top-secret work. Peter was
ecstatic. It’s one more thing he can add to the DOD tab. Phase Five now goes
something like this. We send Toto down and back to ascertain we can hit the
precise coordinates. Then, we’re going to incorporate a little bit of Phase Six
into the plan: We’re going to bring in our animal friends. First, the mice,
then, if they survive, we’ll send Q-Bert with a full medical array. And if he
makes it through all right, it’s onward and upward.”
    “You mean we’re going to go to a human subject?” asked
Trevor.
    She nodded. “Except that for the first-round human Shift, we’ll
just send someone downstairs in the same temporal range, just to make sure they’re
okay.”
    “Teleportation?” George looked both eager and concerned.
    “What about Temporal Spectrum Shift? We’ve never tried
moving an object along the same wave band. Theoretically, I’m not sure it would
work. We can’t put someone through solid walls.”
    “But we can use the Temporal Spectrum to move them from one
place to another,” said Shiro. “We can shift back, change the location on the
Spectrum, then shift forward again.”
    “Ah!” George nodded. “Ah, yes! Sort of like a knight in