F Paul Wilson - Novel 05 by Mirage (v2.1) Page B

that three-and' a-half-pound lump of
gray cheese inside our skulls produce a mind? The philosophical debate gets
politicized, but scientifi' colly, we're closing in on the nuts and bolts of
the process. And it does appear to be a process rather than a state. The latest
work from Llinds and others points to a 40 cps binding wave moving front to
back across the cortex — one pass every 0.025 seconds — that links up all the areas of the cortex and conveys their
information to the thalamus.
                 — Random notes: Julia Gordon
     
    1
     
                  As
soon as she got back to the inn, Julie placed a call to New York . It was a little after
eight there now. They should all be hard at work. She was glad to hear Dr.
Siegal's voice.
                 "Yes,
yes. The proposal and protocol are coming along fine, just as you laid them
out. Now, tell me about your sister."
                 He
was sympathetic and as baffled as everyone else after she filled him in on the
medical details of Sam's condition.
                 "I
don't understand. You're sure there's no toxin?" he said.
                "They ran a complete toxicology
screen — all negative."
                 "Julie,
no toxicology screen is complete. They can't possibly screen for everything.
They screen for the usual."
                 "But
even if there is some unknown toxin at work, if it's potent enough to put her
in a coma, wouldn't it affect the EEG?"
                 "Not
necessarily. The EEG registers cortical activity. So what if your sister has
been exposed to a toxin that affects sub-cortical activity?"
                 "I
hadn't thought of that. Is there such a thing?"
                 "What
do I know from toxins? Nothing. But I do know from unconscious. And with an
unusual case like your sister's, maybe we should go back to basics and ask
ourselves, What is consciousness? Neurologically speaking, of course. We're not
interested in epistemology at the moment, so maybe I should rephrase: What does
the brain require to be conscious?"
                 "A
functioning cortex, of course," Julie said. "And the arousal
mechanisms of the reticular activating system ..."
                 "And communication between the cortex and the RAS."
                 Julie
considered that. The reticular activating system wasn't an anatomically
discrete organ; it was a functional unit spread out through the upper brain
stem. So there was no single connection.
                 She
said, "So what if Sam's cortex and RAS aren't communicating — no anatomical lesion, just a functional block between the
two? What sort of clinical picture would you have?"
                 "You'd
have an unarousable, unresponsive person with a completely normal neurological
exam."
                 "Right!
Which describes Sam perfectly," Julie said. They were onto something. She
could feel excitement beginning to percolate through her. "How do we
confirm it?"
                 "I
haven't the foggiest," Dr. Siegal said. "It's a hypothetical
condition. If you had some history, someone who was with her before she passed
into unconsciousness ..."
                 "No
good. She locked herself in her room."
                 "Then
I'm afraid you'll have to wait until she wakes up to ask her."
                 "No
one's sure she will wake up. She . . ."
                 Julie's
voice trailed off as an idea burst in her brain with the force of a bomb.
                 "Julie?"
Dr. Siegal said. "Are you still — ?"
                "Ask her!" she cried.
"God, I'll ask Samantha!"
                 "That's
the spirit. She should come around soon and — "
                 "No-no.
In her memoryscape. I can go into her memoryscape and find out what happened
during that lost week."