The Mdina Touch by Edward J Kelly

PROLOGUE

The injection he had just been given caused a delicious warm glow to flow through his veins. Then his head began to spin. His heartbeat became audible as his pulse drummed in his ears. Clenching his fists and straining against the bonds made the sinews in his arms stand out like cords through his aged, parchment-like skin. He rotated his wrists until the skin smeared away and the nylon straps dripped, saturated with his blood. He tried to use the pain to focus his mind.

The lights from the lamp above seemed to revolve faster and faster and the operating table he was secured to started to sway. He closed his eyes to shut out the sickening hallucination but the feeling of movement increased and made him nauseous.

He had a burning desire to answer their questions but a strong assurance deep inside strengthened his resolve and he remained steadfast in his silence.

A face loomed nearer and crowded his vision. The eyes, dark and penetrating, looked into his and then beyond into his mind. A voice that seemed a million miles away spoke to him.

‘I am sure you already know that the Ancient Egyptians regarded the brain as merely an organ of thinking. A person’s soul was in their heart and this was preserved and returned to the body after embalming. The brain, of course, was removed and discarded. It was no longer required. Do you know how they accessed the brain, Stewart Henlaw?’

‘Yes,’ he replied, weakly.’

‘Yes! Of course you do. They made an opening in the sinuses through to the cerebral cavity.’

Summoning his last reserves of energy Stewart Henlaw strained against the bonds that held his body fast to the operating table and his head clamped firmly in a brace.

‘You know that your efforts are wasted. It’s clear to me that you will not voice the answers I want with your own mouth so I will obtain them directly from your mind,’ he paused for a moment, perhaps for effect, before continuing. ‘I only need to insert this probe into the Frontal Cortex of your brain and I can open every door in your mind,’ he said, holding up a stainless steel lancet that was twelve inches long and the diameter of a large bore hypodermic needle. ‘In most cases the Ancient Egyptians were dead when this procedure was performed on them. Unfortunately for you, you will not be dead… Do I have your attention now, Mister Stewart Henlaw?’

A high pitch whine invaded the room and grated on Stewart Henlaw’s nerves. A device that looked like a dentist’s drill passed in front of his eyes. The instrument attached to it was much longer than anything a dentist would use.
A fine pink mist hung in the air momentarily before the evacuation pump was switched on and Stewart Henlaw screamed once before a gag was jammed into his mouth. His mind was in turmoil, his sanity torn in two and a solitary tear ran down his cheek.

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