He glanced around. "Uh-huh.... Dome at the bottom of an ocean basin
wasn't at all a bad headquarters under the circumstances. What put you
and Dr. Ben to sleep was light-shock." He handed her the glass.
"Light-shock?" Arlene repeated.
"Something new," Harding said. "Developed--in another security island
project--for the specific purpose of resolving hypnotic compulsions,
including the very heavy type implanted by the rogue. He doesn't seem
to have been aware of that project, or else he regarded it as one of
our less important efforts which he could afford to ignore for the
present. Anyway, light-shock does do the job, and very cleanly, though
it knocks the patient out for a while in the process. That side effect
isn't too desirable, but so far it's been impossible to avoid."
"I see," Arlene said. She took a cautious swallow of the whisky and set
the glass down as her eyes began to water.
* * * * *
Frank Harding leaned back against the table and folded his arms. He
scowled thoughtfully down at her.
"We managed to get two persons who were suspected of being the rogue's
unconscious stooges to the island," he said, "and tried light-shock out
on them. It worked and didn't harm them, so we decided to use it here.
Lowry will wake up in another hour at the latest and be none the worse.
Of course, neither of you will remember what happened while the rogue
had you under control, but...."
"You're quite wrong about that," Arlene told him. "I don't remember
all of it, but I'm still very much aware of perhaps half of what
happened--though I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer to forget it. It was
like an extremely unpleasant nightmare."
Harding looked surprised. "That's very curious! The other cases
reported complete amnesia. Perhaps you...."
"You've been under a heavy strain yourself, haven't you, Frank?" she
asked.