Phase I: Terminal

Doctor Alan Monroe sat behind his desk and looked at Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

"I know how hard it must be to accept the news about your son, and there are no words I have that will match the grief you must feel."

Three days before the tests had removed the last doubt: the brain cancer was spreading. Their son had at most weeks to live. The doctor paused to see how the parents were reacting. If they seemed very upset or angry, then there was no point in going further. However, they both nodded.

"Sometimes what helps a terminal patient feel better is to feel useful, to feel that his experience can help others. Your son is a prime candidate for an experiment I would like to try.

"Your son is one of a great many patients who can't communicate their thoughts or desires, and that is upsetting to the patient and their families. I am trying to come up with a procedure so we can tap the patient's thoughts directly when they can't communicate through any of the normal channels.

"This involves a surgical procedure where we would implant electrodes in your son's brain. Then a volunteer would wear a headset attached to those electrodes, and we would see if the volunteer could receive any thoughts.

"This won't do anything to extend your son's life. In fact, there is some risk associated with the surgery. The hope is that someday this could help other patients to communicate. Any thoughts?"

The husband and wife looked at each other. Mr. Smith then said, "It sounds good to me. I think Carl would want to help others."

Mrs. Smith said, "You say it might actually shorten his life?"

"It's possible, but he doesn't have long anyway."

"And would he feel pain, with electricity in his brain?"

"Ah, yes, good question. These electrodes are used for measuring what's going on in his brain, not changing it. So there would be no current going into his brain. We're just listening in."

They looked at each other, and Mrs. Smith shrugged her shoulders.

"Let us think about it overnight," said Mr. Smith.

It took them two nights to think it over, but they agreed.

Dr. Monroe checked to see that the "halo" that received the electromagnetic patterns was securely seated on Meredith's head. Med students were encouraged to volunteer as research subjects as part of their education, and Meredith was the fourth to try to receive signals from Carl's brain. The first three hadn't been able to detect anything.

Carl Smith was paralyzed except for his eyes. They moved, and the doctors had determined that he did have thoughts. He could answer simple questions by looking to the right for "yes", and up for "no", at least some of the time. As best they could tell, he had consented to the surgery after having it explained to him.

For the present purposes, what mattered was that he could tell what number, color or shape he was looking at.

He sat propped up on his hospital bed, wires coming out of his shaved skull to a machine beside the bed. At the foot of his bed was the chair where Meredith sat facing him, wearing the halo which received its signals by radio.

"Now, Meredith, I will give you two choices. Tell me which one you think Carl is looking at." A monitor was in front of Carl so he could see it but Meredith could not. It was slightly to the side, so he could also see Meredith.

"Red or green".

"Umm, I have no idea."

"Just guess -- sometimes the effects are subtle."

"OK, red."

The square on the monitor was green.

He changed the image. "Once again?"

"Green."

The square on the monitor was green.

"Square, or circle?"

"Gee, I don't know. Circle, I guess." It was a square.

On and on the test went. Meredith got just about half of the answers right, exactly what you would expect by chance alone.

"One line, or two?"

Meredith didn't answer.

Dr. Monroe looked up to see her shifting in her seat.

"Meredith?"

"Oh, um, two."

The next picture came up on Carl's screen. "Again, one line or two?"

When she didn't answer again, he looked up to see Meredith's legs apart. She was wearing black nylons under a gray skirt, and in her current position both he and Carl had an unobstructed view right up to her white panties. Meredith was an attractive young woman, her dark hair held back with barrettes. Her breasts beneath her white blouse were of an average size, and she was slim. Her face was really quite beautiful, Dr. Monroe thought, featuring big brown eyes and an elegant ski-jump nose.

Meredith looked at the doctor, then restored her feminine decorum by putting her legs together again and smoothing her skirt down.

"Oh, um, one."

But she stared at Carl as she opened her legs again and pulled her skirt halfway up her thighs, then her eyes went wide.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is quite distracting," she said and blushed, pulling her skirt down once more.

"Can you tell me what you are experiencing?" Dr. Monroe asked.

"It's kind of embarrassing."

Dr. Monroe took a deep breath. "I noticed you had your legs apart before, which didn't seem like what young women usually do --"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Meredith said, blushing.

"Well," said Dr. Monroe, smiling. "I doubt Carl minded, and I certainly didn't," he said, "but anything unusual you are experiencing under these circumstances is of great interest."

"Oh, um, could I have a word with you in the hall?"

There were still a dozen more questions for her to answer, but the results to that point were not in the least bit promising, and this seemed more important.

Dr. Monroe showed Meredith out through one anteroom into a second beyond. Meredith blushed and looked down to the side. "I was getting something from him, I think, but nothing about squares or red and green. I think he felt some, um, sexual excitement when I was being less than modest."

"Oh," said Dr. Monroe, trying not to laugh at this fanciful idea. He wondered if this young woman was especially frustrated sexually. "That is surprising. How do you know?"

"I'd rather not say." She straightened and looked at the doctor. "But we want our patients to be open about sexual matters so we can treat them properly, right?"

"Of course."

"So if my sexual reactions are relevant to science... ?"

"Yes, then it would be very helpful to hear them."

She looked to the side as she spoke. "The reason I think I was getting his sexual arousal is that I felt sexual arousal when I did those things, and I assure you I wouldn't ordinarily feel that way. Am I correct in thinking that a man might feel arousal from looking up a woman's skirts?"

"Well, I can't speak for all men," said the doctor, looking away. He was trying hard to maintain a professional demeanor, "but my understanding is that would often be true." He paused, then decided to make her a little more comfortable by revealing a tiny bit about himself. "It often is for me."

When he looked up he realized she had been teasing him. She gave him a sweet smile and continued. "Could I try some more, um, experiments?"

"OK," he said, unsure what to expect.

Back in the room, she sat in the chair again without the halo on and opened her legs, then lifted her skirt, and said, "Nothing."

With the halo back on, she repeated those procedures and gave a little moan.

She looked at the doctor. "Could I do some more experiments, just the two of us?" she asked.

"Protocol doesn't allow me to leave you alone with a research patient," he said, feeling confused.

Her eyes fixed on Carl, she thrust her chest out and ran her hands over her breasts, moaning again.

"Meredith," he said, uncertain. "This isn't at all professional behavior!"

"Oh, doctor," she said, looking at Carl hungrily. "It could be an important discovery, right? Why don't you just leave us alone in here?"

This was crazy, he thought. The medical school could have his head if this got out. On the other hand, if she was somehow getting sexual thoughts from the patient, that was extraordinary. Whatever unseemly activities Meredith engaged in, Carl wasn't going to tell, and Meredith would have many reasons not to advertise it either.

"Um, OK," he said, retreating to the anteroom.

There was a video recording everything that went on in the room, and he immediately started watching in fascination.

Meredith unzipped her skirt and let it fall to the floor before peeling off her nylons and panties.

He could just barely make out on the sound feed, "Oh, my God," she moaned. "You really like this!"

With a few deft motions she removed the sheet and pushed Carl's johnny up to reveal his genitals. His penis was largely erect, and with a few deft strokes of her hand it became fully hard.

"Oh!" she gasped. And with that, she knelt above him, guided his cock to her pussy, and plunged down on him. Dr. Monroe's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Oh, my God, oh no, oh God, Oh!" Meredith gushed, trying to keep her voice down. From her sudden relaxation, it appeared she had just experienced an orgasm.

She lifted off of the paralyzed patient and sat on the bed next to Carl. Seeming to come back from a faraway place, she looked around. "Oh, shit," she said, suddenly seeing the video camera. She turned her nakedness away from the lens.

The doctor could only imagine the thoughts going through her head. A video had just been made of her raping a paralyzed teenage boy.

The boy's cock was softening gradually, and a fresh little pearl of semen appeared at the tip.

The doctor was amused to see her remove the halo, get dressed in record time and look around frantically for wipes to clean up the evidence on Carl's penis, then close up his johnny and put the sheet back on him.

She pulled the halo off, then seemed to pause a moment before opening the door.

"Um," she said as she emerged. "That video camera wasn't on, was it?"

"Yes," he said, "and I was watching." At that point he couldn't maintain his composure completely and laughed, shaking his head.

"Oh, no," she moaned plaintively. "Oh no, oh no," and started to leave, bright red.

"Don't go anywhere, Meredith," said the doctor. "Don't panic. I'm not going to tell anyone."

"You won't?" she asked, looking up at him with hope.

"No, and I'll hide that video file in a safe place. Look, we share a little secret. We both have a strong incentive not to tell anyone else what happened in that room. For me to allow what just happened would put my reputation in serious jeopardy."