didn’t, and she was sure then that he wasn’t going to.
“I programmed them,” he repeated. “I started with my simpler computer first, about a year ago, experimenting with mice.”
“And it worked?” Penny heard her voice sounding almost like a screech. She repeated her question, more softly. “It worked?”
Jonny nodded. “It was a long time before I started to get results, but I had the mice lifting stones five times their own
weight.”
Penny gulped. “Lifting stones? How?”
Jonny grinned proudly. “First, I took two mice, fastened the electrodes onto theirbodies, then, little by little, I began feeding information into the computer.”
“What kind of information?”
“Formulas. I took the color graphics program and set up a model of the human body, showing all its muscles.” His face beamed.
“Then I programmed the voice commands to send electrical vibrations out through these tubes to whatever muscles I highlighted
on the screen. But I had to do it in steps, and each step was a separate formula which was able to work only when done in
the correct sequence. Follow me?”
Penny’s forehead was already knitted. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “What about the mice? What did you do with them after
you stuck the electrodes onto their bodies?”
“I placed hunks of cheese inside a two-inch-square box,” Jonny explained. “Then I laid the stone on top of the box and just
waited for the mice to get good and hungry.”
“And?”
“Well, I experimented with each one separately, to see if the reactions would be the same. And they were. When the mice got
good and hungry, they lifted the stone and got the cheese. A stone five times their own weight.”
Penny stared at him. The ice around her spine had melted. But she was still cautious, wary. She still could not make herself
trust him one hundred percent.
“What happened? Did the mice start bulging with muscles?” she asked, curious.
He chuckled. “No. They just got strong. Their muscles simply became like steel.”
“That’s why no one could tell that the girls had changed by just looking at them,” Penny observed.
“Right,” said Jonny.
“But it affected their minds,” she said. “Their behavior. How come?”
Jonny shook his head and looked away from her. “I’m not sure. All I can think of is that the change in their bodies caused
by the computer must have also created a reaction in their brain waves. I don’t think it’s anything damaging, or permanent.”
He started tapping the edge of the computer table nervously with his fingers.
“But you’re not sure.” It was more a statement than a question.
“Not completely, no.”
Penny shook her head, incredulous. “But you must have seen a change in Shari’s behavior, Jonny. And in Karen’s. Why didyou continue with your experiment? Why?”
He shrugged. His face began to look pale, drawn. “I wasn’t worried about their behavior. Not at first. I just thought it was
a normal, unimportant side effect.”
“‘Normal? ‘Unimportant’? You must be kidding!”
“No. I figured it was just tied in with their physical change. That it was just a temporary thing.” He met her eyes squarely.
“Penny, don’t you understand? I was so surprised that the experiment worked I didn’t give much thought to the girls’ emotions!
I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true! I really didn’t think the experiment would work!”
Penny sucked in a deep breath, let it out, and went on quietly, “Shari was the first girl — victim — you tried it on. Didn’t
you explain the experiment to her? What might happen to her if it worked?”
“Of course, I did! I explained it to all of them!”
“But none of them — including your own sister, Karen — was a bit worried? Not one bit?”
Jonny shrugged. “Well, Shari was a bit cautious at first. But I picked her because she’s a jolly kid. And daring. She wanted
toknow what the experiment would
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