Isaac Asimov: Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain

"And you don't think we should go faster?"

Paleron shook her head firmly.

Half an hour later, Paleron pointed and said, "There we are and we have the breaks. The Swedish plane is in early and has landed."

She stopped the car, pressed a button, and the door flew open on his side. "You go on alone. I don't want to be seen, but listen -" She leaned toward him. "My name is Ashby. When you get to Washington, tell them that if they think it's time for me to get out - I'm ready. Got it?"

"I've got it."

Morrison got out of the car, blinking in the sunlight. In the distance, a man in uniform - not a Soviet uniform, as nearly as he could tell - waved him forward.

Morrison broke into a run. There were no speed limits on running and though he could see no one in pursuit he would not have been surprised to see someone rise out of the ground to stop him.

He turned, waved a last time in the direction of the car, thought he saw an answering wave, and continued to run.

The man who had gestured to him advanced, first at a walk, then at a run, and caught him as he all but fell forward. Morrison could see now that he was wearing a European Federation uniform.

"May I please have your name?" said the man in English. His accent, to Morrison's infinite relief, was Swedish.

"Albert Jonas Morrison," he said and together they walked toward the plane and the small group waiting to check his identity.

Morrison sat at the plane window, tense and exhausted, staring downward at the land fleeing east. A lunch, consisting largely of herring and boiled potatoes, had soothed the inner man but scarcely the inner mind.

Had the miniaturized trip through the bloodstream and brain yesterday (only yesterday?) twisted him forever into a mental attitude of apprehension of imminent disaster? Would he never again be able to accept the Universe as friendly? Would he never walk through it in serene consciousness that no one and no thing wished him harm?

Or had there merely been insufficient time for him to recover?

Of course, common sense told him that there was reason not to feel completely safe yet. That was still Soviet earth under the plane.

Was there still time for Konev's ally in Moscow, whoever he might be, to send out planes after the Swedes? Was he powerful enough to do so? Would Pharaoh's chariots take to the air and continue the pursuit?

For a moment, his heart failed him when he actually saw a plane in the distance - then another.

He turned to the stewardess, who sat across the aisle from him. He did not have to ask the question. She apparently read his anxious expression accurately.

"Federation planes," she said, "as escort. We've left Soviet territory. The planes are Swedish-crewed."

Then, when they passed over the English Channel, American planes joined the escort. Morrison was safe from the chariots, at any rate.

His mind did not let him rest, however. Missiles? Would someone actually commit an act of war? He tried to calm himself. Surely no man in the Soviet Union, not even the Soviet Executive himself, could make such a move without consultation and no consultation would take less than hours or perhaps days.

It couldn't be.

Still, it wasn't until the plane had landed on the outskirts of Washington that Morrison could allow himself to feel that it was over and that he was safely in his own country.

It was Saturday morning and Morrison was recovering. He had attended to his creature needs. He had had breakfast and had washed. He was even partly dressed.

Now he lay in bed on his back, arms behind his head. It was cloudy outside and he had only half-clarified the window because he wanted a sense of privacy. In the hours after he had disembarked from the plane and had been rushed to his present place of concealment, there had been enough official crowding around him to make him wonder a bit if he was any better off in the United States than he had been in the Soviet Union.

The doctors had finally finished their probing, the initial questions had been asked and answered, even during dinner, and they had finally left him to his sleep in a room that was, in turn, inside something that resembled a fortress for the depth of its security.

Well, at least he didn't have to face miniaturization. There was always that thought to comfort him.

The door signal flashed and Morrison reached over his head, feeling the bedboard for the button that would clarify the one-way patch on the door. He recognized the face that appeared and pushed another contact that allowed the door to be opened from the outside.

Two men entered. The one whose familiar face had been at the one-way patch said, "You remember me, I hope."

Morrison made no move to get out of bed. He was the center now around which all revolved, at least temporarily, and he would take advantage of that. He simply raised his arm in casual greeting and said, "You're the agent who wanted me to go to the Soviet Union. Rodano, isn't it?"

"Francis Rodano, yes. And this is Professor Robert G. Friar. I imagine you know him."

Morrison hesitated and then courtesy swung his feet off the bed and lifted him to his feet. "Hello, Professor. I know of you, of course, and have seen you on holovision often enough. I'm pleased to make your personal acquaintance."

Friar, one of the "visible scientists" whose photographs and HV appearances had made him familiar to most of the world, smiled tightly. He had a round face, pale blue eyes, an apparently permanent vertical crease between his eyebrows, ruddy cheeks, a sturdy body of average height, and a way of looking around him restlessly.

He said, "You, I take it, are Albert Jonas Morrison."

"That's right," said Morrison easily. "Mr. Rodano will vouch for me. Please sit down, both of you, and forgive me if I continue to relax on the bed. I have about a year's relaxation to catch up on."

The two visitors sat down on a large couch and leaned toward Morrison. Rodano smiled a bit tentatively. "I can't promise you much relaxation, Dr. Morrison. At least for a while. Incidentally, we have just received word from Ashby. Do you remember her?"

"The waitress who turned the tables? Yes, indeed. Without her -"

"We know the essentials of the story, Morrison. She wants you to know that your two friends have recovered and are apparently fond of each other still."

"And Ashby, herself? She told me she was ready to leave if Washington thought it best. I reported that last night."

"Yes, we'll get her out one way or another. - And now I'm afraid we must bother you again."

Morrison frowned. "How long will this keep up?"

"I don't know. You must take it as it comes. - Professor Friar, won't you take over?"

Friar nodded. "Dr. Morrison, do you mind if I take notes. - No, let me rephrase that. I am going to take notes, Morrison."

He plucked a small computer keyboard of advanced design out of his briefcase.

Rodano said mildly, "Where will these notes go, Professor?"

"To my recording device, Mr. Rodano."

"Which is where, Professor?"

"In my office at Defense, Mr. Rodano," Then, with some irritation under the other's continuing stare, "Into my safe in my office at Defense and both the safe and the recording device are well-coded. Does that satisfy you?"

"Proceed, Professor."

Friar turned to Morrison and said, "Is it true that you were miniaturized, Morrison. You, personally?"

"I was. At my smallest, I was the size of an atom while part of a ship the size of a glucose molecule. I spent better than half a day inside a living human body, first in the bloodstream, then in the brain."

"And this is true? No chance of an illusion or trickery?"

"Please, Professor Friar. If I were tricked or hypnotized, my testimony now would be worthless. We can't proceed unless you recognize the fact that I am in my right mind and can be relied on to report events that correspond reasonably well with reality."