"I mean that, the retinal scans, the ultrasound, the brain evoking stimulator tests all confirmed the same thing..." Eckmiller continued, frowning slightly as his graduate student stood behind him, looking perplexed.

"What thing?" Rollie suddenly joined the conversation again, the air coming back into his lungs as he tried to grasp the reality of his situation.

"The thing is that you should be able to see fine, Mr. Tyler. There is no damage to the retina, no delay in neuro-electrical activity between the retina and the brain. Your ultrasound shows no retardation or atrophy of rods and cones. The only thing that I did see was the diode that was implanted on your retina in each eye. The diodes have malfunctioned at this point, but it wouldn’t have made a difference as far as I can tell, for the only function that I can pick up from the variant signal responses from the brain evoking stimulator, indicates that it was an infrared signal pattern buffer for your brain. In other words, the only thing that was placed in your eyes was this infrared diode for night vision enhancement," Eckmiller exclaimed, grasping his hands together and looking up at Angie with concern.

"But! Brabon put a nuclear implant, like a generator in each eye that would be able to run the diode and the function of the intraocular cameras in my lenses. What about them?" Rollie asked, confused and shaking his head.

The diode has a tiny bit of uranium in it, yes- but there are no intraocular cameras in your lenses much less any surgery that was performed on lens tissue," Eckmiller answered, and looked to Angie who was trembling slightly.

She was incensed. Rollie had been some sort of human guinea pig for Brabon, obviously. And apparently, Michael had been unaware of the deception as well.

"But Michael, he had some sort of instrument that shut off the diode, disabling it in the hospital?" Rollie added, "what kind of logic is that?"

"Mr. Tyler, I have a feeling that from what you have told me, there a quite a few operatives as you call them that have been duped into believing they were blind and that these diodes implanted have some other function that we do not yet realize. The implants in your eyes are definitely defunct. I think that they should be removed, of course. We can certainly do that but as for your blindness, I think it is safe to say, based on your trauma with this abduction you were involved in- that you have what is known as a post-traumatic stress conversion reaction. That is, you have been told you are blind, and you are now blocking out painful events you are not willing to ‘see’ right now," Eckmiller continued, patiently, trying to get Rollie to understand his diagnosis.

"That’s bloody bull!" Rollie answered, indignant as well as angered. Angie was quiet as she thought about what Eckmiller had been trying to get across to Rollie.

"So, are you saying that for the short time Rollie could see in the hospital, it was because he was telling himself he was cured from the operation and then, willed himself to see?" Angie asked, her mind racing.

"Yes, something like that...I have seen quite a few cases of conversion reaction blindness, especially in war veterans and prisoners of war. I think you should think about this tonight and once you have gone over it, I have some names of some very excellent psychiatrists in the states that can help, really!" Eckmiller told them as Rollie made a face and stood up, his anger still quite evident as he slammed into a chair and reached out for Angie.

"I don’t need a bloody shrink, I need someone who will tell me the truth, the real truth. How do I know you aren’t one of them as well? Just feeding me a line, more delusions. Maybe you are a debriefer as well? I’m getting another opinion, come on Ange!" he said, his words heated.

"Mr. Tyler, I can only suggest and I welcome you to get another opinion- truly. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to help you further. Please, seek out your own help then, if you don’t wish to use the professionals I know. Just remember that the longer you wait, the longer the therapy necessary, in my opinion. I am sorry that you feel this way. I wish you and your wife only the best."

The professor had stood up, his face slightly reddened as Angie walked over to him and shook his hand, tears welled in her eyes as she believed the doctor and knew her greatest battle lay ahead in convincing Rollie.

Rollie was silent in the cab on the way back to the Astoria. He again went through a routine of popping his knuckles and mumbling to himself. Angie didn’t try to say anything at this point. She knew better. Once inside their room, she would try to get him to at least consider her thoughts about what Eckmiller had told them.

Lucinda had barely put Aidan down for a nap when Tony Alvarez began making an incredible amount of noise. He was drilling small holes in the plaster casts of faces he had created for masks that would be used on the next movie- "Derni Magic". Lucinda could see the plaster dust rising in the loft, spreading to the living area as she marched down the stairs, hearing Aidan start to wail in response to the noise.

"Do you mind?" she shouted, putting her hands on her hips as he looked up at her and pulled up his goggles, shutting off the drill.

"What?" Tony looked at her with a bothered expression, his mind still on Angie and how he could get her to see what a loser Rollie and his friends were. He had become incredibly bold lately, almost as if he couldn’t control himself much longer. He had gone to the school library and rented a dozen movies that Tyler F/X had done and laughed himself into hysteria that night, telling himself that he could do better in his sleep.

"You woke the baby with your noise and you’re getting plaster everywhere!" Lucinda said, coughing and fanning away the rising cloud of dust around them.

"I have to get these masks done. Those are my orders from my boss. I take my job assignments from her, see. After all, I am sure it won’t be too above you to dust the place a bit. Idle hands make for an idle brain."

Aidan could be heard from upstairs, his fury at being startled and wakened from his sleep apparent. Lucinda was about to give the young, smartass his comeuppance when she made a growling noise in the back of her throat and ran back upstairs to Aidan. As she shut the door to his nursery, she picked him up and tried to rock him back to sleep. Somehow, some way, she was going to fix Tony Alvarez’s little red wagon but good! She would just need to have Aidan out of the way for a bit, to do it.

She smiled suddenly, as Aidan’s cheek rested on her shoulder and she looked over at his small, rosebud mouth that was slightly open and watched as his eyelids fluttered toward sleep.

"Yes sir, Master Aidan Tyler, we are gonna put on a ‘really big shew...!" she told him in a whispered, Ed Sullivan voice.

"Hey," Angie said, softly rubbing Rollie’s shoulders as he sat down in their hotel room. He had calmed down but she knew he was thinking all his options, that he was also thinking about the two of them as well and what would happen to his family.

"How much in savings do we have left?" he asked, his voice low, barely audible.

Angie’s fingers gripped Rollie’s shoulders as she sighed softly, knowing this question would be coming sometime. She had hoped for better news and that the mention of an empty bank account wouldn’t be taken so hard.

"Nothing...it’s all gone. I couldn’t work the last month, on bedrest and Tony certainly couldn’t do the rest of the movie. I’m sorry, Rol. I guess I made a disaster of the finances."

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just lowered his head as he pulled her arms lower over his chest, grabbing her hands, feeling for her wedding band. It was still there and he smiled; his head raising as he said;

"For richer or poorer..." he said.

"Oh yeah, in sickness and in health..." she answered.

"Well, good thing we didn’t have those vows at the wedding, eh?" Rollie asked, rolling the ring around her finger.

"Yeah, well- we had better ones, Rol. The path we are taking is pretty torturous right now but we have Aidan and he is healthy. I would like to see you healthy as well…" Angie replied, her voice trailing off as she felt him stiffen.

"Angie, this is not in my mind! Remember- both Brabon and Michael said that I could not be debriefed- that the dreaming was interfering with the mind control. So what’s with saying that I gave myself this blindness? It’s total rubbish! There is something wrong here!"

Angie could see his watering eyes and she kissed the top of his head and came around in front of him. His hands came around her hips as she held his face against her.

"Rollie, I wish you would get those things out of your eyes. Maybe that will help! Maybe there is something in those diodes that are interfering, no matter what Eckmiller says…"

"Yeah, well- I plan on that much. I’m going full hilt on another specialist in the States and I have another specialist of sorts I want to talk to as well."

"You mean, a psychiatrist?" Angie asked, almost hopeful that he had come around and would just try to see one.

"What? No! I want see Mangela. He can tell me what really is going on here, Ange. I trust him the most."

"He’s not exactly board certified, you know," Angie commented but chuckled slightly as Rollie sighed deeply and pulled her into his lap, as she held on to him like a small child.

"Angie, you need to think about whether or not you should stay…" but his words were interrupted by her fingers to his lips.

"Don’t go there, Rollie. I got through five months without you and nearly died. I brought your son into this world and by God, you better not think about just slinking off and feeling sorry for yourself."

"I was going to say," he reiterated, "maybe you should go home, be with Aidan and I see about finding Mangela."

"Oh…nope- that won’t do either!" she retorted, "Mangela will come to us. I’ve got a feeling."

"Seriously?"

"You bet, now how about getting those things out? Can I call Eckmiller and at least let him take them out?"

Rollie gave her his give-in, semi-smile as he nodded his head from side to side, "Okay- I will let him take the bloody things out!"

Angie smiled, picking up the phone. She had been holding his card since they had left his office at the University.

The next morning, as a deep fog enveloped the Bonn riverbanks, Angie and Rollie headed for the University Medical Center. Through Dr. Eckmiller, surgery had been arranged with little consequence. Angie had worried about insurance problems being in Germany but Eckmiller had assured her that all would be worked out. With that stress out of the way, they arrived. Angie waited dutifully in the ambulatory surgical waiting room, not hearing a single word of English for two hours. She looked at magazines and walked the hallways several times an hour. She had called the loft, only to find Tony saying that Lucinda had taken Aidan over to Mira’s for a visit.

Tony had sounded on edge and Angie had reassured him that they would be home within a couple of days and she was expecting masterpieces when she got back. She didn’t even notice the change in his voice when he said that he had missed her, for Dr. Eckmiller was coming out of the surgical suites and she told Tony a rapid goodbye, hanging up the phone.

"Well, we removed the implants. Strange looking things, I must say…I wonder if you would permit me to keep them and study them?" Eckmiller asked her as he reassured her. Rollie had done well under the anesthesia block that had kept him awake, but had regionally anesthetized his eyes. He had talked through most of the surgery.

"He was a virtual, how do you say it?…blabbermouth!" Eckmiller said, chuckling.

Angie smiled; "You need to ask Rollie about the implants, doctor. I have a feeling he may want them studied down the atomic level, if you know what I mean?"

Eckmiller smiled. He was happy that Rollie Tyler had decided to have the implants removed. He hoped for a conversion experience similar to the one he had in New York, where his blindness dissipated once he was in the recovery room.

Angie was brought into the recovery room area to help Rollie with getting dressed and having a small snack to eat. He was a bit woozy from the narcotics that had helped him relax during the surgery, but all in all- steady enough to walk with her.

"Rollie?"

"Yeah Ange," he replied as they got into the cab to take them back to the hotel, "you really okay? I thought maybe you were just being very careful with what you said after surgery."

"I’m fine, really. Can’t see, if that’s what you are wondering. No change there and I know, you and Eckmiller thought I would have some sort of revelation and miraculously see!"

Angie squirmed in her seat. His voice was bitter. She worried that it was a warning of things to come.

Rollie lay on the bed in the hotel room, listening as Angie talked with Lucinda and then with Tony. When Angie had asked if he wanted to talk to Luce, he had feigned tiredness. He knew that unless he talked with Mangela, his future was doomed. He could feel it in the air and he silently concentrated, listening for the chorus as he tried the dreaming again.

He was startled by the bright, warm colors and the ocean of endless blue-green that he saw in his dream, as he seemed to float effortlessly in the middle of it. The chorus of aborigine voices surrounded him with challenge and support. He felt needed and strong within their circle. He could see the wise, old face of Mangela now as he came closer and closer toward him.

"I need to see you, mate!" he heard himself say to Mangela.

"Your songline is torn, my boy," Mangela replied.

"What will make it whole again?" Rollie asked, his voice suddenly echoing against walls only four feet in any direction and he panicked, his heart pounding into his throat.

"Do you see the light?" he heard Mangela ask him distantly and then heard the laughter, like the chimes of a thousand tiny bells.