Titans of Chaos

Vanity looked a little miffed that Victor had acted without waiting for orders, but she didn't sayanything aside from, "Can you fix him?"

"Let me look." And the azure beam played over the young man's face for many minutes. "Leader,I have been instructed, programmed, in a science called cryptognosis, which involves themanipulation of the nervous system on a fine structural level. There is nothing physically wrongwith his brain. If it is a spell, anything from Quentin's paradigm, I should have been unable toundo it."

Vanity said, "Should have been?"

Victor said, 'The proper stimulation sequences are occurring, but the synapses in certain brainareas will not fire. I can detect the microvoltage changes on the dendrites, which should triggercorresponding actions in the axons, but nothing happens. There are no proteins that wouldattenuate the signals in operation."

"Amelia, report."

I said, "Something is lowering the utility, the usefulness of his brain cells to him. I see moralconnections running into the past and future. There is a confusion of time-energy. There issomething, some awareness, which is in the future, that reacts to changes in Mr. Finklestein here.

Its interior nature is watchful and stern, but it has no free will. Its moral stance, um, changed,when Victor negated all the magic in the patient. I don't know what I am looking at. It could benatural. It could be artificial."

"Can you do your monad thing?"

I reached into the man's nervous system and straightened what I could. "Leader, I don't see achange. It is like it is something he's doing to himself, maybe? If he's not really hurt, could it behypnosis? He has free will; he is just not using it."

Quentin said, 'This sounds like it is up my alley, Leader. An enchantment, something that boundhis will. Maybe he ran into a bad elf in the swamp? I suggest we retire to the graveyard across thestreet and let me try something. I know the formulae to summon and command the Great Kingand President called Zagam. He will appear at first in the form of a bull with gryphon's wings. Hehas the power to make fools witty. I need but a drop of blood from the patient."

I reached into a cabinet one floor down and several yards up the corridor. Quentin looked startledwhen my hand turned red and vanished and reappeared. "Sterile lancet?" I offered. "This is ahospital, you know."

Vanity unbuttoned her sea-coat and pulled her necklace out from her sweater. She was sweating.