Doctor Who_ Psi-Ence Fiction - Chris Boucher [30]
'It does remind you of one of those Egyptian tomb things,' Ralph agreed.
'The ones they put the mummies in.'
'A sarcophagus,' Meg said.
Ralph said, 'Are you sure about that? Final answer?'
Josh closed the cover again. 'It better be,' he remarked. 'If she's got to phone a friend she's pretty much buggered.'
Oh why's that?' Ralph asked absently. He tapped a spot on the side of what looked like a very large and slightly flattened grey cocoon. It was about nine feet long by six feet wide by five feet deep, and it was resting on series of low, shaped trestles. A pair of yellow and green hoses linked it to the laboratory's main sink.
'He's suggesting I haven't got any friends,' Meg explained slowly and deliberately as if she was talking to a small child. Duh!"
'I thought that went without saying,' Ralph said, tapping another spot and getting the same almost complete lack of acoustic resonance. 'This thing is really well damped and insulated.'
Barry Hitchins came out of the monitoring suite uncoiling connex and fibre-optic cables. 'It's top-quality kit that is,' he announced. 'None of your Jap-crap, we are talking the BMW of sensory-deprivation tanks here.' He reached the tank and began to plug the cables into the sockets of a small control box in the base. 'You put water in the reservoir – you make it two feet deep give or take - just about enough to float in comfortably.' He patted the side of the tank. 'It's triple-skinned. The outer layer is full-spectrum sound and temperature insulation, and then between the inner two layers there are heating elements and thermostats. The temperature of the water inside is automatically brought up to 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit, and maintained at that. Blood heat, yes?' He pushed the access-hatch cover all the way open so that the inside could be seen more clearly. 'As you will see,' he went on, 'the access cover moves on double bearings. It closes snugly but it cannot be locked and it can be opened with the slightest pressure from the inside or from the outside. So there's no chance of being trapped in there or anything like that, and claustrophobia shouldn't be a problem.'
'I am still not going in it,' Josh said. 'I still say it is a bloody great coffin.'
It was going to be a major disappointment to Barry if the person who could still turn out to be the best of his test subjects set his face against using the one piece of apparatus that might finally unlock his full potential. When Barry had first assessed him Josh had shown unmistakable signs of paranormal powers. The other seven kids he had found were promising -
there were flashes of latent talent there; results that were statistically significant; certainly more than mere chance - but Josh Randall had been something else again, something altogether more significant. Unless Barry had got it all wrong. Josh hadn't shown much sign of anything since that original survey. The others had. Not Josh. But it was there. Barry knew it was there. He tried not to sound too desperately eager as he continued with his upbeat introductory patter. 'The subject climbs in and lies in the water, naked except for light-excluding goggles.'
'Job for the girls then,' Josh said.
'What a little chuckle-bunny he is,' Meg commented to no one in particular.
'I'd like to volunteer to be the towel boy,' Josh continued, 'and general dogsbody.' He looked hard at Meg. 'Oh no. Dog's Body - that would be you of course.'
'Laugh?' Meg said. 'I thought I'd never start.'
Barry pressed on. The hatch is then closed, and we run some standard tests for the telepathy and distant viewing series. Could be quite interesting.'
Josh said, 'I always piss in Jacuzzis and swimming pools. Would that affect things do you think?'
Meg pointedly ignored him. 'You think by neutralising the physical senses you're going to get heightened psi effects?'
'I think it's a possibility which is worth testing. Don't you think so?'
'And you monitor the results how exactly?' Ralph asked.
"There are four cameras and three mics inside the tank itself.'