"If you do?" prompted Ann.
"If I do," smiled Rich, "then I can tell you exactly what will happen. Under hypnosis, you understand, the patient has no mind or will of her own. She is a machine. A zombie. A walking corpse, under my direction. But—"
"Yes?"
"When she is ordered to pick up that revolver and shoot someone she loves, then she will balk. Even in anguish she won't be able to do it. Powerful as my influence is, it can't get past the barrier in her subconscious mind. But when I order her to take the dagger and stab someone, she will strike without the least hesitation. Because her subconscious mind knows that it's all a game."
Again there was a silence.
"Well, Captain Sharpless?" said Rich. "If I succeed in doing that, will you own yourself convinced?"
"I don't like it!" said that young man abruptly, and jumped to his feet.
"You don't like it, Captain Sharpless? But you were the one who suggested it."
"Yes, but I didn't know what you were going to do. I didn't know you were going to do this.”
"I think it's the most thrilling thing I've ever heard of," declared Ann Browning.