Escape. The word and the hope tormented through sleepless, endless days and nights.
Escape. A mocking fantasy in that silent world where the only vision was the maddening sight of the indicators.
For two days John had been a part of the machine. The impressed directions were terrifying at first; they poured like a swarm from the tape readers to his brain. But there had been no pain. After the first fear it seemed more like some tantalizing melody that cannot be forgotten. Neuron chains within his brain passed those instructions on to the thousands of control points in the great plant.
It brought a new and greater dread. He sensed the time could come when every neuron chain would d be commandeered by these unbidden pulses. His own area of thought would be driven into ever narrowing areas
