She finished it for him. "A brain in a jar, kept alive by pumps and
blood-conditioners and electronic impulses. I'm here to try to keep you
sane."
George was silent, thinking now in visual images instead of words. A
brain in a glass jar, surrounded by fantastic machinery to perform the
functions of the human body. And a woman's voice being piped in to him,
to keep him from going mad. He'd read about it somewhere--that it had
been tried, and was successful up to a point. But the patient had died.
He didn't want to die.
_I'll try_, he thought loudly. _I'll try like hell!_
* * * * *
George Jameson, or the part of him that was in the jar, learned
quickly. It was two days before he had thoroughly mastered the knack of
thinking to himself, and sub-vocalizing only to others. On the third
day he asked Karen for a description of his surroundings.
"You're in a glass jar, about the size and shape of a normal human
skull case. Leading in through the sides of the glass are several
plastic tubes, a jumble of wires, and a thermometer. Attached to all of
this is about a hundred pounds of machinery, gauges, and such."
_I must be quite a handsome cuss._
"Oh, yes," she laughed. "Quite colorful, in fact. With those
chrome-plated fixtures, you cut quite a figure."
_You're talking to me, Karen, and you can't hear me. Tell me, is this
being broadcast all over the place, or is it strictly a personal
conversation?_
"George," she said, "you're somewhat of a novelty. The electrodes that
pick up your tiny nerve impulses--the sub-vocalization--feed the signal
into a computer-translator sort of thing that changes it into words.
Your voice is purely mechanical. It comes through earphones from the
translator. Of course, everything we say is automatically recorded."
_Is what I think--to myself, that is--is that recorded, too?_
"No." Her voice had that same gentle, understanding quality. "We
respect your privacy."
_Thanks. I don't guess there would be much I could do about it if you
didn't, though._
"I'm proud of you, George. You're taking all this quite calmly."
_What have I got to gain by getting excited?_