Fortunately for everyone, Mindi was right. Once Howie made up his mind that psychic contact was necessary, things became easier. After a few tries, Mindi was able to make brief contact with a very pale Howie. He all but collapsed back against his pillows as he pushed Mindi away. They were both breathing a little heavily.
"Twenty seconds," she panted. "Not bad."
"How long am I going to have to hold it?" Howie groaned.
"About five minutes."
"FIVE MINUTES!!!" they chorused.
"How is that going to be long enough?" Kevin demanded.
"I don't know if I can hold it *one* minute," was Howie's breathless protest.
"We'll work on it." Mindi asured him, grim determination filling her voice and posture.
"But five minutes?" Kevin persisted. A.J. had learned to trust Mindi in these matters and Brian was having trouble stringing a sentence together, but both looked interested in her reply.
"You're working at the speed of thought," she reminded them, slightly exasperated. "If you're in there much past five minutes, it's pretty much a lost cause."
"Oh." All four group members deflated a little at that thought.
"Look, you're starting to get wound up over this," Mindi pointed out.
"'Starting to'?"
"Alex, you're *not helping*. Look, we can't do this until after evening rounds. Both of you get lost 'til then. Go call your wife or something."
Chastened, both men slunk out of the room. A.J. didn't even pause to point out that he had no wife to call. Mindi waited until the sound of Kevin's crutches had faded away before speaking again.
This time her voice was more gentle, "B-rok?" Brian raised his head to look at her. "Holding up?"
He shrugged, as if supporting a heavy weight. "It's hard. I keep reminding myself that Nick's depressed, not me. But...don't let me up on the roof."
"You're fighting it the wrong way," she advised. "Cheer him up. Keep letting him know you're there. Tell him things will be okay. Let him know exactly who's coming."
"Thanks."
"He's suicidal?" Howie was horrified.
"Not really." Brian struggled to explain. "He feels pretty hopeless, bleak. It's tempting to just...make all that go away."
"I warned you it would mess you up." Mindi reminded him.
"I know. It was worth it to.. the look on his face when he understood it was me, that I *wasn't* going to hurt him. I'm hanging on to that picture."
"Howie, are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine. Don't send him away." Having Brian around made him feel safe; if Brian could get inside Nick's head and come back, maybe they all could.
"Okay then, let's try this again.."
An hour later, A.J. interrupted yet another attempt at contact with a sharp rap on the door. "Heads up peeps! MDs on the move!"
"Was that in English?" Brian wanted to know.
"Doctors' rounds." Mindi checked her watch. "Well Howie, you may pass out afterwards but that was four minutes and thirty-two seconds."
"The doctors aren't going to be happy," Howie observed with a wan smile.
"Oh they'll be fine. Your ribs are healing nicely," she patted his knee and stood up. "We're not here. We left a while ago."
"Uh... Okay."
The doctors walked in, Mindi grabbed Brian and coolly walked right by them. Not a single physician seemed to notice.
"Neat trick," A.J. commented, falling into step. "Teach me?"
"Like you ever wanted to be ignored," Mindi scoffed.
"Downstairs..." Brian got confused, stopped and started over. "Nick, when I came to see you the first time, Mindi, Jacob and Lina were guarding you. I think they were doing the same thing she just did here."
"Right," she nodded, skipping over the fact that Brian wasn't speaking to her directly. "Power of suggestion. Works on just about anyone. All you have to do is project a very strong general, "Everything is normal here" feeling and people will see what they expect to see. The more bizarre the thing you're hiding, the easier it is -- denial is most people's first answer to any problem."
"A... " Brian hesitated, "a SEP field? That just popped into my head."
She chuckled. "Jacob says that's what Nick calls it. You're getting some more specific feedback from him - like how you knew Jacob and Lina were helping me with it in the ICU. Glad we're going to do this soon."
Check out Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series to find out about a SEP field.