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.They were in one of the unused shielded R & D labs for the weapon test.Liv dialed the device to will, the setting that should affect Marcum’s ability to Travel.“Okay,” she said to him.“I’ve decided to try to repeat what Elachai did to Jordan and lock you out of Travel.I think it’s the safest thing to start with.”“And then free me to Travel again, right?” Marcum looked supremely unconcerned, but he had to be at least a little nervous.It was one thing to potentially jump into a world where the atmosphere would flay your skin off, but entirely another to let someone mess around with your mind.She knew firsthand.“Of course, that’s the plan,” she said.“General, we’re ready.”“All nonessential personnel to the observation room,” General Mace said while motioning everyone out.“We’ll be watching on the camera,” Jordan said at the door.Then he was gone and she was alone with Marcum.She smiled brightly.“Ready?”He grinned in what he probably considered a rakish way.“Yes, ma’am.”She rechecked the brain ray’s settings one last time, pointed it at Marcum, and depressed the trigger.Nothing happened.“That was a little anticlimactic,” Marcum said.“It’s working.” The indicator on the side showed that it was finding the requested mix of neurochemicals in his brain.When it hit zero, it beeped, letting her know it had released the microsecond burst of radiation targeting those cells, although it was nothing either of them could feel.“You will not be able to Travel unless I tell you you may.”“Whatever you say.”“Did you feel anything?” Liv asked.“No.”The Medicals entered the room and swarmed toward the lieutenant, checking all of his vitals, drawing blood, and generally trying to decide if Liv’s brain ray had done any damage.After a minute, one of them turned to her, and she recognized Dr.Brown.“We’re all set here.He looks fine.Are you sure that machine does anything?”Liv took a deep breath.“We’re about to find out.”The Medicals trooped back outside, and Liv said, “Okay, the real test.Can you Travel?”“I dunno.”Liv gritted her teeth.She’d always wondered how jumpers did what they did, but in Marcum’s case at least, it was quite clear: he simply wasn’t smart enough to grasp the terrible danger of being the first to a new world.“Try.”“Where should I go?”“Anywhere!” Check that.“Anywhere already explored.”He smiled his rakish smile, then swirled and disappeared.Liv’s heart sunk to her shoes.Shit! After all this, it didn’t work!Seconds later, Marcum returned.She already knew it was a failure, but she had to follow through, figure out why.“Where did you go?”“Blue Beach.” Apparently everybody liked it there.“And?”“And what?”“Was it normal Travel, harder to get there, anything different at all?”“No.It was just like always.”“All right.Thanks.”Her team filed in, General Mace along with them.“What went wrong, Dr.Greenwood?”Jordan spoke before she could.“Wait a minute, Liv.Maybe it didn’t go wrong, sir.”She didn’t see how he could be right, but she felt a tiny spark of hope.Jordan had that effect.“What are you talking about?”“Your wording may have invalidated the experiment.”Now she felt a spark of anger.“What are you talking about?”“You said he couldn’t Travel unless you told him to, but then you told him to.Maybe it worked and you just reversed it because of the words you used.”“So what should I say?”“I think it would be better if someone else entirely ordered him to Travel.”She turned to General Mace.“He has a point, sir.”General Mace nodded.“Try it.”Jordan turned to Marcum.“Lieutenant.Go back to Blue Beach.”“For how long?”“The same as before.”The infuriating man swirled in a whirlwind of color and disappeared.Jordan leaned close.“Do you think jumping makes their brains dull, or is that just the preferred mentality for a jumper to have?”She grinned, but didn’t answer since Marcum had reappeared.Jordan nodded at her.“Try the gun again.”She was loath to waste another shot on the useless test, but it didn’t matter if the stupid gun didn’t work anyway.Connor said, “Clear the room again.”“Actually,” Jordan said, “I think I should stay.”Connor gave him an exasperated look, and he said, “No, listen.If we test this in the field, and find out that it works on everybody in the area, we might not have enough shots to put all of us back right, and we wouldn’t be able to Travel away if Liv stops us.We need to know now.”Liv hadn’t thought of that.“He’s right, sir.”General Mace said, “All right.On your head be it.”Everybody else left and Liv was alone with Jordan and her subject.“Is this directional, Liv?” Jordan asked.“I really don’t know.I wouldn’t think so, although the back of the discharge module is shielded, so maybe.”“Then I should stand in front of it.”“No, you should stand back here.I’d rather confirm that I won’t affect what’s behind the shielding than confirm that I can get multiple targets in front of me.We can use the demon trials for that.”“Okay.” Jordan remained at her side.“All right, same as before.” She lifted the gun, pointed it at Marcum, depressed the trigger, and waited for the beep.Again, nothing seemed to happen.“You will be unable to Travel until I tell you you may.”He looked at her, clearly questioning whether it had worked.Again, the Medicals swarmed in, did their exam, pronounced him well, and left.Jordan said, “Okay, Marcum.Travel to Blue Beach again.”Marcum nodded, then just stood there.“Go ahead,” Jordan said.“I’m trying.”The expression of intense concentration on his face made him look like he was straining to do something else entirely, which made her laugh.She tried to cover it by turning to Jordan [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]