She called it "477C". It was developed in a small laboratory, hidden in a high security area of MESCo, a military contractor. As in the case of many important discoveries, Dr. Karen Moberly was working on something else when she discovered it.
"Doctor Moberly?", The voice had asked. "Would you hold please for General John Sorenson, calling from the Pentagon."
It wasn't really a question. The name was not unknown to her but she had no idea what he did or why he was calling her.
"Doctor Moberly", he began, "I've been following your work with mentally disturbed people and I want to commend you for your dedication as well as your successes."
"Thank you, General," she responded, wondering where this build up was going to lead.
"Doctor, our country's continued peace depends on our relative strength as compared to those who seek to dominate the world, including us! That strength depends on the best input from many different people, experts in their fields. As such an expert there is a way that you can contribute to that strength and I'd like to have the opportunity to discuss it with you, and frankly, solicit your help."
It wasn't until she had accepted his invitation to meet in his office that she found out any more than that the work she would be doing might lead to something of great value to the military establishment of this country in a time of real need. She wasn't really enthusiastic about abandoning or making a break in the work that she had been dedicated to for the last five years. Her last romantic relationship had been during the early days of Medical school, not from a lack of opportunity, there had been plenty of those.
Thirty one years had changed Karen Moberly from a cute baby into a beautiful woman. Her dark hair and dark complexion gave her an almost Latin look, unusual in one as tall as she was. Her five foot eight height had come early. It was considerable relief to her when she had stopped growing upwards and her figure started to develop her present very feminine curves. Her lack of romantic involvement was only the result of the priorities that she had established for herself. She just wasn't willing to share her life with anyone yet.
Her flight from Boston to Washington had been arranged by General Sorenson, as had the hotel accommodations in Washington. An escort had been provided to get her from the hotel to the Pentagon and into the General's outer office. There had been no delays, no sitting in the outer office while the General kept her waiting, he received her immediately as she arrived. "I'm getting the royal reception," she told herself, "He must want something pretty strongly!"
Sitting in the General's office she participated in the conventional social amenities, then listened to his proposal, "I want our High Command to be able to create a special force of really dedicated men who will carry out a preplanned operation precisely, regardless of consequences. I think their mental condition is the key to that, and that's where I think you can help!"
Sorenson pointed out that good training and strict discipline had created highly successful assault groups in the past, generally using volunteers from regular units. He wanted more than that, a singleness of purpose, a willingness to follow instructions regardless of what was involved.
Dr. Karen Moberly had become well known because of her success in working with disordered minds. First, using animals she had probed the chemical and electrical activity which occurred in various parts of the brain, charting responses, seeking confirmed results before attempting treatment on human subjects. Her methods and techniques were so dramatically successful in restoring near normal mental health to severely deranged people that General Sorenson, reading of her activities in the newspaper, had his sudden thought. Why, if Dr. Moberly's techniques could change the mind of a deranged man to near normal, couldn't the process be reversed and his mind be modified in some way to dampen or remove those inhibitions and concerns for self preservation and moral judgments that would make the control of his special force so difficult?
Now, hearing the General playing on her scientist's natural interest in expanding knowledge of the function and control of the mind, as well as the necessity for the Military to have these kinds of special purpose forces, Karen felt that she had to consider his request. It was two meetings later that she told him that she would undertake the project.
The work that she had been doing was engrossing and successful. It was only the thought of the promised unlimited resources and a free hand in direction of her own efforts that finally convinced her that she should take the offer and move into a new, secret laboratory, hidden in the recesses of MESCo and off limits even to MESCo employees. She was committed to make the results of her work available to General Sorenson. That part of the arrangement bothered her some but like many scientists the need to expand knowledge, to push back the limits of man's abilities was paramount, it prevented her from asking some of the questions that would come to her later.
The move to the small town in New Hampshire presented only one significant problem, finding an apartment. That was made easier when Forrest Stratton offered to help. That offer came during the first meeting that Karen had with the MESCo officers, making plans for the completion of the laboratory, buried in the corner of the manufacturing plant and under the special security system that the General had ordered.
Forrest Stratton was the Engineering Vice President for MESCo, previously married but divorced for more than two years. He got a pleasant surprise, maybe even a slight shock when he was introduced to Karen Moberly. The image of the doctor that he had in his mind was nothing like what he saw when he walked into Bill Wright's office to meet Dr. Moberly. He had been enjoying the freedom from the pressures of his previous marriage so much that no woman had started that little feeling of excitement, the attraction and faint stirring of desire that might have brought him out of his solitary life style. Perhaps it was the shock that made him less reserved in his frank appraisal of this surprising doctor in such an attractive package. His gaze moved from her brown eyes downward, missing nothing of the femininity apparent in spite of the business-like suit that she wore. When his gaze returned to her face he saw the amused smile that she wore, "I'm sorry, Doctor," he said with a little laugh, "I was expecting something quite different."
Perhaps it was his boyish frankness that kept her from being offended and made her accept his offer to help in locating an apartment. She made few friends during her first months there, it was mostly her work that took up her time. She and Forrest had hit it off well and after several dates had fallen into a pattern of dating that had gotten comfortable and routine. With him she could forget the laboratory and the animals and the unsuccessful compounds that she had tried, even forget the impatience of General Sorenson and the way he pressured her for details about the work.
"Bill Wright and I, with a couple of other electronic engineers, started MESCo with a few good ideas, a lot of hard work and some luck in getting the first contract for our new concept in fire control systems," Forrest told her on one of their early dates. "Even burying the cost of your laboratory in our product costs, we are making a nice profit and the company is growing."
The dates with Karen had developed a closeness between them that permitted talk about almost everything. They talked about his previous marriage and his divorce, but as if by common consent the talk of her current work was guarded and sketchy. Freely she talked of her schooling, the years in research and her success in finding a key to improved mental capability for many types of mentally impaired people. Forrest was a good listener and she found that sharing with him the stories of her successes in helping people helped her own mental attitude in continuing this program that had to date shown no sign of progress. One evening the talking had continued so late that by mutual agreement he didn't go home. A key to her apartment came not long after that.
The animals were vital her work. She an Jill Aragon, her assistant cared for them and knew their reactions to various chemicals from the many experiments. Most of them she liked, some more than others. There were one or two of the monkeys that were practically pets. Old George, on the other hand, was about as unfriendly as he could get. He particularly disliked the injections and when she went to his cage to give him a shot, she found that it was necessary to hide the needle and make a pretense of some other activity or she and Jill could hardly get him out of the back corner of his cage where he crouched with teeth bared, growling in fear and anger.
Some of the reactions to the various chemicals and dosages were so indicative of side effect problems that they were dropped almost immediately, but Karen continued with her experiments, gradually building a base for understanding of the processes within the brains of those animals. Nothing that she tried seemed to move her in the direction that General Sorenson wanted and his reaction to her reports seemed to be indicating more than a little bit of impatience when, after almost a year of effort, Karen could give him no promise of ultimate success.
It was compound 477 that gave her the first clue that she had something new on her hands. It wasn't what General Sorenson wanted but it was different from anything that she had seen before. Old George was the one who first showed it. Karen was usually the last one out of the laboratory in the evening and that evening was no exception. She knew she couldn't stay long, she had a date with Forrest for dinner, but she always took a few minutes to review the day's activities.
Compound 477 was the result of some brainstorming that she and Jill had done the week before. It was in a new direction, not supported by any particular previous work, just one of those "What if we tried this..." comments. It had been put together and tried on her least favorite monkey, Old George. He had had an injection of 477 about an hour earlier and Karen, reviewing her calculations at her desk across the room, decided that it had been less than it should have been to be effective. Still looking at her notes, she had just decided that she would give him another injection of the same size when she heard an angry growling from across the room. Looking at his cage, she saw Old George in the back corner, hanging on to the bars, teeth bared in anger.
Karen stared at him, wondering what had caused him to react this way. Looking around the room, she saw nothing that could have frightened him. No one else was in the room and all the other animals were quiet. She thought again about the violent reaction she could expect from the monkey if she tried to give him the injection without help from one of her assistants and decided against it. It could be done tomorrow after any possible effect of the first injection had worn off. Still looking at Old George she saw him relax and move away from the corner of the cage.
Dr. Karen Moberly was a careful scientist, she made detailed notes of what she had just seen. She wouldn't let herself think about the implications. This was not what she had been looking for but it was certainly an interesting reaction and should be followed up in the interest of pure research. Closing the laboratory she went home and tried to forget work for the night. The dinner date with Forrest made it a little easier while she was with him, but when he left her at her apartment her thoughts were still on the strange reaction of Old George. What could have caused him to suddenly act as if she were threatening him? Had she moved unconsciously in his direction? Had she made a noise or verbalized her intentions in any way? She didn't think so. Anyway, it would have to be checked out before she could stop thinking that there may have been a connection between his reaction and the injection of compound 477.
Karen's first thought on arriving at the lab the next morning was to review her notes of the evening before. Her plan to give Old George another injection of 477 she put aside. Before she could discuss this with anyone, even Jill, she had to try the same sequence and see if she could see a repetition of the monkey's action of the night before. All day she was tempted to discuss that reaction with Jill but resisted it. If compound 477 had had an effect on Old George it was obviously the wrong one! Rather than make him less concerned about his comfort and safety it may have made him so extremely sensitive that .... but Karen wouldn't even let herself put that thought into words in her own mind.
About an hour before Jill left, Karen had her help put another injection of compound 477 into Old George. His reactions were normal as Karen and Jill went through their deceptive approach to his cage and immobilized him for the shot. He objected vocally as Karen carefully completed the injection. He was still growling as they put him back in his cage.
After Jill had left the lab for the night, Karen sat at her desk reviewing some of the results of previous experiments. None of the compounds had produced results in the direction that General Sorenson desired. An hour went by, then another and there was nothing but quiet from Old George. Karen turned and looked at him. He was at his food dish but had turned to look at her. He watched her as she wondered what to do next to see if the injection of compound 477 had had any effect at all. I won't know she thought, unless I give him a larger dose. I'll give him another injection. Immediately Old George screamed and ran to the back corner of his cage, turning to her he bared his teeth and growled. The action seemed to solidify the thoughts that Karen had been unwilling to formulate into words. "He can read my mind", she thought! Obviously old George had not been able to tell that he was going to get a shot when earlier that afternoon Karen and Jill approached his cage. Not until they had immobilized him had they produced the needle and gotten his usual reaction. "Well, that means that he doesn't get another injection now", she thought. The monkey came out of the corner and visibly relaxed from his defensive posture. Karen laughed, "What have I got here", she said.
It was late that night before Karen checked out with the security guard and left the building. Other tests would have to be devised to develop the depth of the capability that the drug had apparently given to Old George. Here was an effect that was obviously not in line with the objectives for which her program was set up and financed. To continue in research into this new phenomenon would take time and would reduce the effort which could go into the main objective. Should she file her notes with the others and go ahead with the main research or should she report the incident to the General and request additional personnel to pursue this new and intriguing possibility?
"I would like to talk it over with Forrest", she thought. "but he doesn't know the real objective of the program." There seemed to be no way for her to resolve the question in her own mind so she put it aside. The only decision that Karen made was that her notes would be removed from the laboratory and kept in her own apartment. That way she could observe Old George for a few more days and make a few more tests, keeping the results out of the laboratory records and postponing the decision about revealing this new development to the General.
Forrest Stratton had been open and honest with Karen. She was the type of woman that he had hoped his previous wife could have been, one who could recognize the importance of a career and status in the field of micro-electronics. While Forrest had not put it into words, he felt that Karen realized that he was in no hurry to be married, in fact he was quite comfortable with the arrangement that they had now. He was sure that Karen was too. He knew that she enjoyed the acclaim that had come to her for her accomplishments in the field of mental health. That certainly was an indication that they could share life together, she enjoying the recognition and fame that came from her continuing contributions and he for the development of new and better designs of micro-electronic circuits for the military and possible commercial applications.
"I'd like to be well known in my field, "he told Karen one evening, "As you have been in yours. We've had some electronics engineers that have made names for themselves, not to mention making a bundle of money. Look at Steve Jobs, for example!"
Little things that Karen said during their months of dinners and weekend trips had gradually given Forrest enough clues to let him guess the type of research that she was doing. He knew that the military wasn't financing a pure research operation, it had a goal! Just what that goal was he could only guess and he did some of that. The knowledge of her accomplishments in the field of study of the mind made it easy for him to guess that the goal was to develop a chemical means to modify the human mind in some way. Obviously that modification would have a value to the military. Also obvious was the elimination of the desire to make a sick mind well, Dr. Moberly had already demonstrated the effectiveness of her methods in that area. Therefore the research goal was aimed at developing the capability to change normal minds in some way that would be beneficial to the Military, not the man.
On Sunday Karen and Forrest were in his cottage where they came occasionally for relaxation and walks along the shore of the lake. They had lunch and went for their usual walk. After two days of indecision, Karen had decided that she would discuss the situation with Forrest. She could use very general terms and try to get his thoughts about her disclosure to General Sorenson of an interesting new avenue of investigation.
"I had some interesting reactions to a test the other day", she said, not intending to describe either the department's basic goal or the nature of this new reaction to one of her experimental compounds. "Since they are almost in direct opposition of the objectives of our experiments, I don't know how I should proceed. One part of me says that I should file the notes and get on with the basic program for General Sorenson, another part of me, the scientist, says that here is new knowledge, something that the world has sought since Eve bit into the apple and that I must go ahead and unlock that secret, regardless of that commitment to Sorenson"
"Can't you do both?" Forrest asked.
"I don't know. I'm not sure how I could keep the pressure on the basic program, not only from Jill, if she saw the direction the new work was going, but for myself. This new thing might become so engrossing that I couldn't give time to my main job."
"How long have you been aware of this new development, whatever it is?"
"Just two days," Karen said. "I saw the first sign about two hours before we had dinner the other night."
"Well, now I know why you seemed so different then. I thought something was bothering you or that you were frightened about something."
"I probably was, only it wasn't until the next evening that I had confirmation of what I saw! I am frightened by the possibilities for misuse of the capability that I saw exhibited in one of my animals. Mankind has been wanting to do this or pretending to do this for all time."
"Can you tell me about it?"
"I think maybe I need to know more about it myself before I talk about it, it's just that I don't know how to deal with the conflict. I find it almost impossible to turn my back on the potential discovery and yet I know that General Sorenson's project is important, maybe vital to him and possibly to our country!"
"Then you'll just have to create a way to find out more about your new discovery before you make your decision about telling Sorenson."
Karen agreed with that without the enthusiasm that she usually exhibited, and they walked in silence for a while, each deep in thought. Karen thinking of ways to continue with both investigations and Forrest wondering if he was on the right track in the guess that he had made about her discovery. He tried to recall her words as she told about her animal's new-found capability. "Something that man had wanted to do or pretended to do," she had said. She might just as well have spelled it out to him. Forrest's mind raced ahead to some of the possibilities that such a capability would provide. If he had what he thought that she had found then he could know what she was thinking right now. It was staggering. He could use it in advancing his career, in fact if he had that capability and used it right, he wouldn't need a career!
On Monday Karen made more of the compound that she had called 477 and then changed the laboratory records to show that 477 had been tested and the results were disappointing. Jill was busy testing other compounds as Karen again approached Old George and managed to give him another injection of 477. This time she wanted to see how quickly the compound became effective. Also she wanted to see if fear was the only reaction that she could count on to indicate whether or not he was sensitive to her thoughts. Karen had deliberately left his food dish empty and now as she sat at her desk watching him, she let herself think about putting food in his cage. For a few minutes Old George continued climbing aimlessly about his cage, then turning and looking at Karen he jumped down and sat expectantly by the food dish. No more than ten minutes had passed since the injection. Karen was elated. Carefully she recorded the detail of the test in her separate set of notes. Those notes and the larger supply of compound 477 she took home that evening.
So many things needed to be done. Time should be scheduled on the new scanner so that she could get pictures of the brainwave activity during the time that compound 477 was creating this sensitivity. Other tests should be devised and other animals tested. She needed to know how long the effect lasted and what was the proper dosage. Could the compound be administered orally or could it's effect be made permanent? There were so many questions that demanded answers! Other humans should be used in the link to eliminate the possibility that it was with her only that Old George was sensitive. Finally, the compound should be injected in a human for the ultimate test!
Karen outlined these tests in her private notes and checked them off one by one as she could get them accomplished. Late nights were the rule, weekends with Forrest became shorter or were missed completely. Her notebooks at home became more and more complete and she thought less and less about giving up the research under any circumstances.
"If General Sorenson found that so much of my time was going to this new project he would probably get someone else to take over the laboratory", she thought. Karen was convinced by this time that what she had discovered was a highly dangerous thing. Better to find out all she could about it before deciding what to do with the knowledge after her tests were finished.
In her meetings with General Sorenson, Karen limited her reports to the results of the work done by Jill and herself that related to his basic project. Nearly a year had gone into the work with no positive results. Other than to state that research takes time and that many avenues must be eliminated, Karen could not give the General a promise of early success in getting a compound that would meet his requirements. All they could do was to keep trying.
Weeks of injections of compound 477 had apparently been harmless to the several animals that Karen had used in her continuing tests. This led to her finally making a decision to use the compound on a human. But what human? The need for secrecy narrowed the field to one! Not only was she the only candidate from the secrecy standpoint, she needed a detailed and precise description of the effects of taking the injection and the capabilities that resulted. It had to be herself who took the first step!
The weeks of Karen's intense concentration on her work had reduced the time that she and Forrest had together. He had occasionaly spent the night after a dinner date and had been given a key to the apartment months before. It was still a surprise to Karen to find him waiting for her at the apartment when she came home from the lab late one night. He was sitting in the living room with an open bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice.
"Well, hi," she said. "What brings you here tonight?"
"I had the Security Guard call me when you left the lab," Forrest told her. "You need some relaxation."
"I'm too tired to relax," she said as she walked across the room to give him a kiss. "But maybe some of this will help."
Karen took the glass of champagne that he offered and settled herself on the couch beside him.
"You've been working too hard," he said. "I think that you and I should take a long weekend at the lake and do nothing. You could take a couple of books and just relax, forget both of the programs for a while. They will still be there when you get back."
Karen had planned to make her first test of 477 on herself the next day, hoping that if there were any bad reactions, the weekend would give her time to recover. Taking the weekend with Forrest came as a welcome excuse to postpone the test.
What Forrest didn't tell Karen was that he had been in her apartment for hours. He had set his telephone on call forwarding to Karen's apartment and had asked the Security guard to call him when Karen left the lab so that he could read her notes without fear of interruption. He now had a clear picture of what she had disovered and the tests that she had made to confirm the effectiveness of compound 477. He now knew that the animals would be sensitive to thought patterns in about ten minutes after the injection was given and that it took three to four hours for the effects to disappear.
Forrest also read with interest of her efforts to get the same results with orally administered variations of the same combinations of chemicals that she had used in compound 477. So far, her notes indicated, there had been no success in that direction. He read that part of her notes with a little bit of disappointment.
Forrest Stratton had a problem. All these weeks since Karen had given him enough clues to guess what she had discovered, he had spent hours speculating what he could do if he had the ability to read other people's minds. In his imagination the possibilities were limitless, he could be first in anything, obviously he would be the world's best negotiator. The more that he let his imagination wander among the many possibilities the more he wanted to have that compound or the ability to produce it.
The problem that he faced then was one of timing. Her notes had told him that Karen would give herself the injection as the first human experiment with compound 477. What if she came to him under the influence of 477, would he be able to mask the thoughts that were so strong in his mind? Would Karen be able to sense that he was hiding something?
So the week end trip was necessary. He and Karen would be together and the test would be postponed. Next week she would probably do it and he would definitely be out of town. Her notes would be available to him later so that if she maintained her silence about the work he could still find out how it went.
Monday was a busy day for Karen, Jill had some promising results from one of her tests and they spent most of the day analyzing the things that were done and the apparent results. One of the young monkeys had shown positive results after Jill's injection of a new compound. He had seemed to have no fear at all in the standard test that usually terrified him. Under the influence of this drug he had obeyed commands that violated all his prevously established inhibitions. Jill was excited and wanted to give General Sorenson a call to announce that at last they had made some progress. Karen's more conservative thinking prevailed and they ended the day with a plan for more tests tommorow.
After Jill had left, Karen sat at her desk, looking across the room at Old George. This grey whiskered old monkey had experienced something so different and so amazing and yet he moved around in his cage just as he had done almost a year ago.
"What will happen in my life," she thought,"if I go ahead with this injection as I have planned? Will I be living the same life, loving Forrest, trying to develop the techniques that General Sorenson wants?"
Karen usually saw only one person as she left the laboratory to go home at night. That would be enough for the test that she wanted to make. If she could sense the thoughts of the security guard as he logged her out of the building, the first test would be a success. That assumed that no side effects occurred and that the brain scan that she would give herself the following evening was normal. She had four charts from previous scans to use for comparison. No change had ever been noted on the scans of Old George and the other monkeys so she had little worry on that part.
After making a careful entry into her note book as to the time and the size of the injection, she closed the book, prepared the compound 477, took the needle and proceded with the injection. Looking at Old George she said, "Well, old fellow, you and I have one more thing in common now."
Waiting for some feeling of difference, some change in perception, some indication that the shot was effective, she felt a sense of disappointment. Nothing happened. She looked at the animals, they were doing the things that they always did. She put the equipment away, picked up her notes and left the laboratory. Walking down the long hall to where the Security guard kept watch in the lobby, she wondered,"Is this an adequate test? Will he be paying enough attention, will he be so bored with the job of sitting in this empty lobby that he has no thoughts at all?"
That question was soon answered. Suddenly it was as clear in her mind as if she was hearing him speaking. "Wow, what a figure, Boy wouldn't I like to go to bed with her!" Karen felt herself blushing but managed to say,"Good night, Frank." Continuing on toward the door, she realized that his answering "Good night, Doctor," was the only message she was receiving. She looked back over her shoulder as she reached the door, "What a cute little butt," came to her as clearly as if it were written on the wall. She smiled at the guard and went through the door. Outside she laughed aloud, this was definitly the first time that those glances and stares that so many men had given her had actually been converted to words in her mind!
Dr. Karen Moberly, discoverer of compound 477, the first to break that barrier that mankind had been pushing at since time began. "Oh, What a feeling." Karen walked to her car feeling the flush of success. The urge to share the joy of success was great and she felt herself regretting that Forrest was out of town. Then she imagined what that meeting might be like. "I would know what he thought about it," she said to herself, "not only what he said about it!"
At home she sat at her desk and added to the notes she started at the lab. Nothing unusual had been apparent to her about either her mental or physical condition after the injection of 477. If her reaction to the chemical was to be anything like that that the animals had experienced, the effect would be long gone before morning. Deciding that she would wait a week before another test on herself, she made an entry in her notes to that effect.
Forrest Stratton hadn't gone far. He called Karen from the cottage on the lake on Tuesday, "Just to see how you're doing," he said. He found Karen at the lab, relaxed and cheerful, a change from the tense and serious person she had been for several weeks.
"We've had a bit of a breakthrough with the General's program," she told him. "Not only that but I'm at a point of leveling off in my other research. I feel good that I have gotten as far as I have without seriously affecting the basic project."
Karen accepted his congratulations and they said their goodbyes, promising to spend the weekend together. She had to prepare for a meeting with the General and wanted to have as much to report about the apparent breakthrough as possible. That promised a busy week with Jill and the animal that she was using.
Forrest left the lake cottage and in less than an hour was at Karen's apartment. It didn't take long to read the latest entries in her notes and he congratulated himself on his foresight in being out of town when Karen made the test on herself. He would be embarrassed for her to know that he had read her notes.
On Wednesday morning the lab was quiet when Karen arrived. Jill was bending over the still form of the young monkey that had given her the thrill of promised sucess. Now Karen could read the sadness in her face. Taking Jill's arm she said, "Get your notes and the formula you used, we'll try to see what could have caused this." Karen had hoped to test the latest variant of compound 477 in capsule form that afternoon, but spent the day with Jill instead. Together they went over the possible causes of the death of the little monkey and made a plan for a modification to the compound that Jill had used. Jill would start more tests on that tommorow. Even though the monkey had died, Karen decided that it would be appropriate to request a special meeting with General Sorenson to review with him the early reaction to the injected compound and what was actually the first indication that his goal might yet be attained. She asked Jill to plan to attend that meeting with her.
The meeting with General Sorenson was set up for Monday afternoon in Washington. A morning flight would get Karen and Jill there in time, so Karen planned to spend the week end working. By Friday noon she had determined that her capsule of the modified compound 477 was non toxic and apparently just as effective as the injections had been. She called these capsules 477C. Jill was preparing a summarized history of the relevant experiments for presentation to General Sorenson at the meeting on Monday and the lab was quiet. There was no reason that Karen could see why she shouldn't continue with her own testing of capsule 477C. There were questions that could be answered, using Jill and the others here in the lab as test subjects without their knowledge. Questions of effective range, selectivity and direction were uppermost in her mind.
In the cafeteria, after she finished her lunch, Karen quietly slipped a 477C in her mouth and swallowed it with a drink of water. By the time she got back to the lab she was already getting indications that it was working. One of the questions was answered quickly. Just as she had only recieved the second message from the security guard when she turned and looked at him, it was only those who were directly in her line of sight that she was able to read. There was a message waiting on Karen's desk. General Sorenson was in the building and was having lunch with the company President. Instead of the Monday meeting in Washington,he would be in her office for the review at one thirty. For a moment Karen was startled, regretting the caps477C that she had just taken. A few moments of thought though convinced her that there had been nothing in her reactions to the previous injection that would preclude her having a normal meeting with the General. The testing could wait.
Jill was ready and waiting with Karen in her office when the General arrived. After the preliminaries, Karen watched Jill confidently present the sequence of developmental work that had led up to the first indication that what the General wanted might be possible. Karen suddenly realized that what she was hearing Jill read from her summary was being supplemented by Jill's memories of the actual animal experiments. When she came to the report of the death of the little monkey who had bravely ignored the very things that had frightened him so, Karen saw the sadness in Jill's mind that wasn't even hinted at in in her reading of the report.
Turning to the General as Jill finished reading that portion, Karen flinched at what she saw in the General's mind. His face showed only continuing interest as Jill went on with the planned modifications to the formula, but the General's mind was saying to Karen, "I'll use this formula the way it is. If these people can improve it, fine, if not it seems that I would get at least two days out of the men who took it. They will be done and I'll be through with them in less than two days!'
Later, Karen tried to recall how she ever got through the rest of that meeting. Partly, she knew, by staring at the floor, blocking out any images from the General while she thought of the awful callousness of the General's thinking. If she had continued to look at him she might have caught a glimpse of something even more startling that he had let pass briefly through his mind.
That Friday night was a sleepless night for Karen. Forrest had not returned or she probably would have been unable to keep from discussing the specific goal that the General had set for her research. How could she tell him of her knowledge of the General's willingness to use a deadly injection on his own men to accomplish his purpose? Was she ready to tell anyone of 477C and it's effects? Desperately she tried to separate the two discoveries in her thinking, examining the possible uses to which each of these compounds would be put. She found herself more and more uncomfortable with her own role in the development of something that would meet General Sorenson's desires. Why had she let herself be convinced that such a modification to a man's mind could ever be justified? Was it like climbing a mountain "just because it was there"? Well, if climbing that mountain opened the way for as much potential harm to mankind as this compound could, maybe it shouldn't be climbed!
But was it too late? Was the "mountain climbed" already? If there were a way to reverse Jill's partially sucessful experiments, would she? What would Jill's reaction be to abandoning the project and refusing to renew the effort for the General. There was little doubt that Sorenson would continue the project if she abandoned it and returned to her previous activities. The reports that he had received would be useful in starting a new program with other scientists. If he could convince Jill to stay on, then the program would hardly be interrupted by Karen's departure.
Karen knew that the project was hidden, not only physically in the depths of the MESCo plant, but also disguised in all records as part of MESCo's micro-electronic research. Did any one other that the General ever see the reports? Suddenly it seemed to Karen that she had been blind to the obvious. Nothing about her operation went through channels. "Secret", the General had told her. Indeed it had been, there weren't even any of the General's aides in any of the meetings that she had had with him. Could this be a one-man show? How could he have put this in operation without some one in MESCo helping?
Through the night Karen wrestled with these questions, gradually becoming more and more convinced that the project must be aborted and the results to date destroyed along with anything that would help get back to the place it was now. The knowledge that she was the only person in a position to try to stop the project prevented her from even thinking about walking away in disapproval. Her departure would only mean that the General would get from Jill everything that he wanted.
Toward morning Karen accepted as fact that she had to take action to abort the project and began to think of the problems that faced her in actually doing it. Jill would have to be convinced to forget all that she had learned. That was a problem that might have to be faced later. Destroying the compounds that Jill had made and the records of how to make them was something that should be done right away. But what would prevent General Sorenson from starting a new project with a new team. Using the reports that he had as a starting place, they would find the same thing that Jill had found very quickly. If only she felt more freedom in talking with Forrest about it. "Why don't I?", she wondered, "We've practically lived together for the last year, but how well do I know him?"
A pattern finally estabished itself in Karen's mind. She had to find out if the project was authorized by anyone other than the General and she had to find out if others in MESCo were part of his plan. How else could he have gotten the lab hidden in MESCo's operation without some question being raised? Forrest could certainly help there but ....??
The thought sickened her, "What if Forrest is part of it?" She had to know for sure before she sought his help. The only means that she could use to find out the things she needed to know had been in the background of her thinking for hours, now she formulated it into a positive statement, "I will use caps477C wherever I can to find out as much as I can!" With that decision made she drifted off into sleep at last.
It was ten o'clock when the ringing of the phone woke her. It was Forrest, calling from the lake cottage.
"Are you awake?, " he asked.
"I am now", she laughed, "I guess that I was just getting caught up on a lot of lost sleep. Where are you?"
"I'm at the cottage, can you come up or are you still buried with work?"
"I'll be there by lunch time," she replied, "the work can wait!"
On the drive up to the lake Karen decided that she would use 477C immediately on her arrival and move the conversation to the General's project early. If Forrest were a part of it she would want to make an excuse for not staying and get back to her own apartment. "Not that I think he would hurt me in any way," she told herself, "but I surely wouldn't be comfortable staying with him if I thought that he was sympathetic to the General's project!"
In the bathroom, on her arrival at the cottage, Karen took a caps477C. Forrest had welcomed her warmly, telling her that he had missed seeing her during the past week. It was during the lunch that he had already prepared that she began to feel the capability to read his thoughts come to her. A little flush of plesure came over her, "He wants me," she thought. Indeed it was only a moment or two before Forrest came to her and suggested that the bedroom would be a good place to spend a little time.
The communication was so real and the expressions of love so clear that Karen didn't know whether they came from his words or his thoughts. Afterwards as they dressed again for a walk along the lakeshore she wondered how she could ever have thought of him in league with General Sorenson. Still, she had to know for sure.
"I need to talk to you about the project," she said. "Tell me all you know about General Sorenson."
Looking intently at Forrest she was sure that if he had a relationship with anything that the General was trying to do she could see some indication of it in his thoughts. Instead she saw something else. A sense of relief that she had not asked about caps477C. "How did he know about that," she wondered while listening to him tell how little he knew about the General but how much he had guessed about the objectives. He went on to explain that Bill Wright, president of MESCo had had the original meetings with General Sorenson and that as far as he knew there had never been any other official knowledge of the laboratory or it's purpose.
Karen told Forrest of her fear that the project was unofficial and that Sorenson had a personal objective. She told of the apparently successful test with the monkey and it"s death just two days later. She mentioned that her impressions at the meeting were that the General was more pleased with the uninhibited responses of the monkey than he was dissapointed at the subsequent death.
Watching Forrest, she saw the question forming in his mind, "Was Karen using 477C during the meeting?" and immediately another question, "Is she on it now?"
There was a visible nervousness about Forrest and Karen looked away. "I need some time to think," she told herself, and they walked a ways in silence. After a bit she turned to him and said, "I don't know how you know about caps477C but you do, and yes, I am on it now. I saw your dismay at the thought of using Jill's discovery on men when their death was sure to follow."
"Yes, I was also on 477C when I talked to the General," she continued. "I saw in his mind the thought forming 'They will be finished and I will be through with them in two days.' The picture of many men in death was as clear to me as you are right now."
"I want to abort the project and destroy any work that has been done that would help anyone start it again. I'd like to have your help, but first, tell me how you knew about caps477C and why you didn't let me know that you knew."
Forrest was taken aback by Karen's frank revelation and hardly knew how to respond. That he was caught in the unspoken lie was obvious. He looked at Karen, remembering the months that they had been together, the closeness that had come to mean more to him than he had expected and realized that he was losing something of more value to him than the gains he had imagined could be his through the use of mind reading. He found it difficult to speak as these feelings of loss flooded over him. As he struggled to say ,"I'm sorrier than I can say, Karen," she stopped him with an upraised hand.
"Tell me how," she said. "And when."
Karen let him recite the story of his accurate guess, and his ambitions to use the capability to further his career. He told of the visit to her apartment and reading her notes. Forrest left nothing out, not consciously aware that she was following the thought formations of his story even before the words came.
He stopped when he had told the whole story, his mind continuing to dwell on the loss that he would feel now that he had destroyed what should have been the best relationship that he could ever have.
"Let's go back," she said. They walked back to the cottage in silence. Karen digesting the things that she had heard. Trying to put herself in a position similar to the one that Forrest had found himself in. "Would I have acted differently?" she asked herself.
Arriving at the cottage she said, "What do you think is ahead for us?"
"I wouldn't blame you if you said there was nothing ahead for us, but back there I saw that I was losing something that means so much more to me than any thing I might have gained by using your formula."
"I know," Karen said.
"There can be a lot of love ahead of us, "Forrest said simply. "I want not only to help you end this misguided project, I'd like to help you back into the kind of life you had before, only with me in it this time."
"Whoa,there, one thing at a time. Let's have dinner, a good nights sleep and tomorrow we'll do some planning."
They started their planning at breakfast. Quite casually Karen said, "I haven't used 477C, Forrest"
. "I'll never know, will I."
Her silence seemed to confirm his perceptive remark. Would she use the capsule to answer any doubts that she might have in their personal relationship? She had, of course, but that had started for an entirely different reason. She didn't know how to answer his question, leaving it hanging between them until Forrest said, "Well, let's see what we have to do and where we can start."
There were three separate problems, they thought. First was Jill. If she could be shown the awful possibilities, she would probably agree to forgetting the discovery and help in the destruction of the records. Karen thought that she could handle that successfully, using caps477C so that any mental reservation on Jill's part would be apparent to her.
The second was the records themselves. Forrest agreed that he could authorize removal of material from the laboratory and from the plant. Karen could see that the material included all significant files and records that could be of future help in restarting the project. Forrest would have the records brought to the the cottage where they would burn them and any remaining compounds.
The third and hardest problem was the General. If as they suspected, the operation was not approved by higher authority, then General Sorenson would have a strong personal interest in starting it again for the same reasons that caused him to start it the first time! How could they prevent that?
At lunch time they were still pondering that problem. Forrest summarized where they were, "We have two things to work with," he said. "First, the probability that this is a personal or very limited conspiracy, not in the interest of the country. Exposure is a weapon that we might be able to use. Maybe even the threat of exposure would prevent his reestablishing the program."
"Second, your caps477C and the capability it would give you to get more information. Now how can we use those things?"
"I doubt that the threat of exposure would do more than temporarily inconvenience Sorenson," Karen said. "He has put a lot of effort into setting up this part of his plan, no telling what else he has going on. I think we have to find out if exposure would damage his image or cause his removal from the Service. If so, then we must do it, not just threaten. We could find our threats countered by some action on his part, maybe to our own detriment."
Inaction was hard to accept but both Karen and Forrest were in agreement that they could do nothing before Monday. Then they could find out more about General Sorenson's project! Was it official or was it personal? If it was official, how high did the knowledge of it go? They could make plans about exposure if they knew the answers to those questions. Since the only chance for a quick answer was to get it from the General himself, Karen would try to set up another meeting. Using caps477C she would look for an opportunity to move the conversation into areas that she hoped would get the General's mind thinking about things that might threaten the program. Hopefully, this would give them an indication of where they might safely start the exposure.
Forrest could try to get information from Bill Wright. After all, it was through him that the project got implemented with nothing showing outside of the company. Internally the records were showing only activities related to the development and manufacture of micro-electronic circuits. Was there a possibility that he was being other than patriotic in helping General Sorenson? Forrest decided that he would approach this very carefully. Better to draw a blank than to reveal his suspicions and possibly close off a future avenue of information.
Neither Forrest or Karen spoke of the thing that both of them were thinking. If they had been on 477C they each would have seen in the other's mind the thought, "This is a job for 477C." Forrest, out of a feeling of guilt for his betrayal of Karen's love, would never suggest that he should use the thing that he had coveted so strongly as to cause that betrayal. Karen, wondering how she would react to being exposed as others had been to her, likening it to walking down the street naked, reluctant to open herself to the possibility that Forrest, on 477C would see her innermost thoughts as she had seen his.
It was at dinner on Sunday evening that Karen gave Forrest one of the capsules. The had driven both cars down from the lake and stopped at one of their favorite dinner places. "This may help in your investigation," she said. "Take it ten or fifteen minutes before your meeting. Look at your man and you'll get a clear image of his thoughts. Be prepared to keep any surprise from your face if he tells you one thing with his mouth and another with his mind!"
Karen decided against talking with Jill before she had the meeting with General Sorenson. If there was to be another meeting that included Jill, it might be difficult for her to conceal her feelings. Also, if Jill decided that her loyalty was to the "official" program, she might try to communicate with the General and tell him of Karen's concerns.
What was needed was a reason for the General to come to the laboratory or for Karen to go to Washington and his office. If that reason also threatened the security of the program, then Karen might be able to discover something that would show the way to kill the project for good.
It was Forrest who suggested a logical reason for the meeting. Karen called the General and made arrangements to see him in his office early Wednesday morning.
Tuesday was the first time that Forrest had an opportunity to meet alone with Bill Wright. He took the caps477C an hour early, nervous about using it and wondering if it would really work for him. It did, his test on his secretary was successful. A little deflationary to his ego, but it did build up his confidence in the capsule.
Forrest kept his questions 'low key', starting by asking if, since the laboratory costs were buried in the cost of the product, wasn't the performance of the company affected negativly and shouldn't we try to get rid of it? It was a logical question to ask but when Forrest mentioned getting rid of it he got the first reaction that he was looking for.
"Sorenson told me we've got to keep this thing cool for a few more weeks." MESCo's president was thinking.
Aloud he said, "Those costs are built into the price we're getting, Forrest. We're not losing anything."
"But aren't we risking losing the contract if someone really checks what is going on in that lab. How did we get talked into taking this on anyway?
That question really put Bill's mind in a whirl. Forrest tried hard to remember all the thoughts that were coming at him. He would be glad when he was back in his own office and could make some notes of what he had received.
"You know that General Sorenson appealled to our patriotism, Forrest. You and I and the other officers talked this over when we first got the contract. You know that the lab was tied into it, so now is not the time for you to get all nervous about losing the contract. General Sorenson will see to that."
Forrest left for his own office feeling elated that the capsule had worked so well and that he had confirmed one important fact, the program was not official. Exposure was going to be easier. Locking his door he made notes of the things he had learned so that he and Karen could go over them together.
Karen took a flight to Washington that evening so that she could be in Sorenson's office for her early morning meeting.
"It's just as well," she told Forrest when he called to suggest they go over his notes. "This way I'll have a clear mind and we can review each other's findings when I get back."
As usual, General Sorenson was alone in the office when she was shown in. Karen, already sensitive from the 477C that she had taken, was not surprised at the strong question that she read in his mind, "What is this going to be about?" he was thinking.
The preliminaries were brief and the question was asked, "What brings you here,Doctor?"
"General, I know that this is a secret operation, but I'm wondering if there isn't a leak somewhere."
"Forrest was right," she thought as immediately there flashed through the General's mind two names.
"And what makes you think that there is a leak?" he asked.
"As you know, General, I had a great deal of publicity about the work that I was doing before taking on this project. When I dropped from sight, apparently someone wondered why. I've had two phone calls from a man named Haverly. He knows that I have the laboratory in MESCo. He says that he has been doing some digging and has found that I am on a project for you and wants to know what it is all about. When I avoided answering he got a little close with his guesses."
As Karen mentioned MESCo the name of Bill Wright came into the General's mind again, stronger this time than it had been the first time with the others. "Could that S.O.B. have been talking?" he was asking himself.
Karen sat quietly, as if waiting for the General to carry the conversation. In fact she was receiving a constant stream of questions from the General's mind.
"Could I shut up this man Haverly?
"Should I tell Johnson?
"Could I get enough of the compound as it is?
"Why not do the job right away?
"Do I need the lab and these people any more?"
The final question nearly destroyed Karen's outward calm. Not wanting to stop the flow of thoughts that coming to her as the General pondered his options, she waited for him to restart the conversation.
"Did you find out who this man Haverly works for?" he asked.
"No sir, he only said that he was a reporter."
Karen again saw the General's mind turn to Johnson. Clearly he was a civilian and would be asked if this called for a change in plan.
"Thank you, Doctor, for bringing this to my attention. I'm sure that we can find Mr. Haverly and convince him that the security of our nation would be compromised by his persistence. Please let me know if you have any further contact with him."
Karen said goodbye and left. On the flight back from Washington she wrote as complete a record as she could of the meeting and the revelations that the General had unconsciously made to her. She and Forrest would go over that record later and plan their next move.
Karen called from the airport and asked Forrest to meet her for dinner. They were limited in their conversations during dinner in the restaraunt but afterward in Karen's apartment they went over each other's notes.
"At least we know that we're dealing with a crook, not some sinister plot of the government," Forrest said.
"Who is this man Hiram Johnson?" Karen asked. "I think it is clear that he is at the top, or bottom of this thing, depending on the way you want to look at it!'
"You see in my notes that Bill thought of Johnson and bars of gold when I asked him how we got into this in the first place. I looked through all the 'Who's Who' books that I have and I think I found him. There is a Hiram Johnson in charge of the Philadelphia Mint."
"Well, Johnson seems to be the the planner, Sorenson set the lab up to get a way to control men's minds, with Bill Wright as a necessary link in the lab set up. I wonder if he has any other function."
"I don't know about you," Karen said, "after all the General doesn't see you in the lab, but I'm a little worried. His thought that he didn't need the lab and me and Jill sounds sinister to me. What do you think he might do if he could get enough of the compound that Jill is working on?"
"That's hard to say, we don't know how much he needs or what he is going to use it for. I think that it is time to get some help in this. We might be 'way over our heads!"
"I don't doubt that we are," she replied. "But what do we have to go on except the misuse of Government funds? And maybe even that would be hard to prove."
Karen was not willing to disclose the discovery of caps477c to anyone else and she let Forrest know it. "Isn't it probable that Bill Wright is the weakest link in the chain? I'll bet that he knows enough about the plan to get the FBI interested. Could we find a way to confirm it without exposing that we used the capsule to get the information?"
Forrest agreed that Wright was probably the weakest link and might be the key. He also agreed that it was Karen and Jill who would be in danger if the General felt threatened. After the revelations of his callous thoughts there was little doubt that he would be capable of arranging to dispose of them if it suited his purpose!
It was five o'clock in the morning when Forrest shook Karen awake. "I think I know how to do it," he said.
"Do what? What time is it?"
"It's five o'clock and I know how to get Bill Wright to help get the FBI involved and us out of the whole mess."
"Sounds to good to be true, are you awake or dreaming?"
"Get up, Lazy, and make us some coffee, I'll tell you all about it."
It was almost eleven before the right man from the FBI was on the phone with them. "If what you say about malfeasance in office and misuse of government funds on that scale is true, of course we're interested." A meeting was set up with an agent who worked in that area. Forrest's office was selected as the proper place. An agent would be there by late afternoon.
"Bill, I've got something going on in my office that I know you'd be interested in sitting in on," Forrest told Bill Wright on the phone. It was mid afternoon, Karen and Forrest had each taken a capsule of compound 477C. A tape recorder was capturing every sound in the room.
As Bill walked in to Forrest's office Karen was saying, "and I heard the General clearly." She stopped as the president closed the door and took the other chair in front of Forrest's desk.
"There's been a leak," Forrest said. "As you know, I'm not supposed to know anything about the purpose of the lab that Karen is running or the real reason for it."
Both Forrest and Karen were getting the thoughts that flashed through Bill's mind.
"That's the reason he was in my office asking questions.
"How the Hell did he hear.
"The lab objective could have come from her but...
"How much does she know?
Aloud, Bill was saying, "Karen has always known the purpose of the lab. As to the real reason we can only guess what the Military has in mind."
"You didn't understand me," Forrest said. "There has been a leak, both the General and Johnson have been compromised and the plan put at risk!"
At the name of Johnson, Bill's mind went racing again, "It is true, there has been a leak. I wonder how many other than these two know."
Karen took the lead, "I know that the General was talking to Johnson when he said that it had to come from MESCo. He doesn't know yet that Forrest and I know anything about it."
"That leaves you, doesn't it Bill?" asked Forrest.
A sense of despair was evident in the thinking that Bill was doing as the others sat quietly, looking intently at what was obviously a desperate man.
Through his mind they saw first the sense of loss of a golden opportunity for great wealth, then the increase of fear as an image of a ruthless General Sorenson came into his mind.
"How do you know about all this?" Bill asked, looking directly at Karen.
"We know about Johnson and the mint and the gold and the General and his plan for use of the compound that Jill has developed," Karen said, "Never mind how. We also know that we have to tell someone before our lives are in danger"
"How the Hell did you get involved in this, Bill?" asked Forrest. "We're talking to you first because I can't forget the struggles we had together to get this business started. Now, as Karen said, we know things that some one wishes we didn't. We must do something to protect ourselves. I think from what Karen overheard, that you should too!'
Bill's acceptance of the truth of their story became obvious, both in his mind and in his sagging body.
"Sorenson got the contracts for us, the lab was the price I paid. I didn't know till later how far he was willing to go to get the gold, Then it was too late to do anything but go along. I'm not the leak, but I don't know how to convince Sorenson. What are you planning to do?"
"We have the FBI due here in less than an hour," Forrest said. "I think that they would be interested in any help they could get to stop this before a lot of people lose their lives."
"So far, you have been guilty of defrauding the government," Karen reminded him. "If Johnson and Sorenson run this plan there will be people killed. The penalties for murder are a lot worse"
Karen and Forrest watched the struggle in Bill's mind, the effort to find a safe way out, even the question of the practicality of silencing Forrest and Karen. Nothing that he could come up with satisfied him. They saw his mind form the thought of a prison sentence, and then the fear that Sorenson may already have sent someone to kill him.
"I want to think about this for a while," Bill said. "I'll just sit here if you don't mind"
"Sure, Bill," said Forrest. The three of them sat in silence for twenty minutes or more. Karen and Forrest seeing that Bill was only repeating his questions and fruitless search for an out, looked at each other.
"I think he will still be here when the FBI comes," Karen formed the words in her mind. Forrest nodded. They communicated this way for the first time.
"Just think," Forrest sent the thought clearly, "We still don't know what the plan is or how Sorenson was going to use the compound"
"No, maybe we never will,"she replied silently, "And I think I don't want to know!"
Forrest's phone rang. It was his secretary, announcing the arrival of two FBI agents.
"Bill, the FBI is outside, what do you want to do?
Bill Wright, President of MESCo, asked his Vice President for permission to use his office to talk to the FBI.
The minister was gone. The witnesses had had another glass of champagne and left. Bill Wright and Jill Aragon were getting the message that it was time for them to leave these newlyweds alone.
In the weeks that had passed since Bill had turned himself in to the FBI, the agents had found his help to be the key to putting General Sorenson and Hiram Johnson both under indictment. Their bold plan to loot the mint might have succeeded because of it's very audacity, according to the FBI agents. Bill was also under indictment on a lesser charge and was waiting trial.
"I want to thank you two," Bill said as they moved to the door. "I wish you well in running MESCo, Forrest. I might be back looking for a job when I get out. If I'm not too old." He laughed.
Turning to Karen, Bill said,"A kiss to the bride for luck. Forrest is a lucky guy....and you're a doll"
"I'd love working with you again," Jill told Karen as she kissed her goodbye. "Maybe next time we can discover something that we won't have to forget about."
The breeze from the lake came in the open window, gradually clearing the room of the smoke from burning paper. Some of the compounds had made a peculiar odor but that was gone too.
"What will you be called, Mrs. Stratton or Doctor Stratton?
"When I have a laboratory I'll be Doctor Stratton, When I'm keeping your house and raising your children, I'll be Mrs. Stratton."
"Hold out your hand. No, the other one."
Forrest placed on her wrist a lovely bracelet. "This is a little wedding present from me to you."
"Oh! It's gorgeous." Karen admired the bracelet and gave him a big kiss. "I'll thank you better later! Now, I've got something for you"
Karen went to the bedroom and got from her purse two capsules.
"You told me once that you would never know if I was on 477C or not. I think I understand how exposed you must have felt. The formula was in the papers we burned and these are the last two caps477C in existence," she said. "Here is one for you and here is one for me."
"So now I will have a little sword hanging over you and you will have a little sword hanging over me and if I ever want to know what you're thinking, I can use the capsule, right?"
"Right!"
"I'll bet you my pill against your pill that you can tell what I'm thinking right now, without any capsule."
"You win, Dear," Karen said, handing him the pill.
Forrest walked to the fireplace and carefully deposited the last two caps477C in among the burning logs. Returning he picked up Mrs. Forrest Stratton and carried her to the bedroom, saying, "Happy Wedding Day, Darling!"
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