What's to stop me from having you erased right here and now?
John Rainbird My word - that I've already made certain provisions that should I "disappear", The Shop will cease to exist within six weeks. And within six months, you will stand in front of a judge awaiting sentence for crimes serious enough to keep you behind bars for the rest of your life.
When we find out all we need to know from her...
John Rainbird When you give her to me.
John Rainbird John, the friendly orderly, will come in. He will greet her, talk to her, get her to smile... John, the friendly orderly, will make her happy because he's the only one who can. And when John feels she has reached the moment of her greatest happiness, he will strike her across the bridge of the nose, breaking it explosively and sending bone fragments into her brain. It'll be quick. And he'll be looking at her face at the time. He will know her power. And when he dies, which I hope is very soon, perhaps he can take that power with him... into the other world.
Where's my father?
He's fine. He's happy, and he sends his love, and he wants you to cooperate with us.
You're a liar!
Now, what kinda talk is that from a nice little girl like you?
GO TO HELL!
Doctor Joseph Wanless Ever since this child was born, her father has been trying to inhibit her use of those powers. But what if his control had weakened now?
Why would he lose control, now, after all those years?
Doctor Joseph Wanless Ask yourself this question. How exhausting must it have been for Victoria and Andrew McGee when this child was an infant? The bottle is late, the baby cries, and at that moment, one of her toys right there in the crib beside her bursts into smokey flame.
Joe, she's just a little girl. She can light fires, yes. But you're making her sound like Armageddon!
Doctor Joseph Wanless Yes!... and that's what it might well be. Suppose lighting fires is just the tip of the iceberg?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Doctor Joseph Wanless I am talking about a talent that is directly linked to this child's pituitary gland; undeveloped pituitary gland. What happens when she becomes adolescent and that sleeping gland wakes and becomes, for 20 months, the most powerful force in the human body? Suppose we have a child here who, someday, is capable of creating a nuclear explosion simply by the power of her will?
Doctor Joseph Wanless Is it? Is it? Then allow me to progress from insanity to utter lunacy. Suppose there is a little girl out there, somwhere today... this morning!... who has within her, lying dormant at present... the power someday to crack the very planet in two like a china plate in a shooting gallery?
[Captain Hollister is silent]
