“Thats Arthur’s explanation of what happens when one of your inner people comes out into the reality and takes over. It’s like a big spotlight, and whoever steps on it holds the consciousness. Just close your eyes and you’ll see it.”

Harding held his breath as Billy closed his eyes.

“I can see it! It’s like I’m on a dark stage and the spotlight’s shining on me.”

“All right now, Billy. If you’ll just step to one side, out of the light, I’m sure Arthur will come on and talk to us.”

“I’m out of the light,” Billy said, and his knees stopped jiggling.

“Arthur, Billy needs to talk to you,” Harding said. “I’m sorry to disturb you and call you out, but it’s essential to Billy’s therapy that he know about you and the others.”

Harding felt his palms moisten. As his patient’s eyes opened, the expression changed from Billy’s frown to Arthur’s heavy-lidded haughty gaxe. And out came the voice he had heard the day before: clipped upper-class British speech out of a tightly clenched jaw, lips barely moving.

“William, this is Arthur. I want you to know that this is a safe place, and that the people here are trying to help you.” Instantly Billy’s facial expression changed, eyes opened wide. He looked around, startled, and asked, “Why didn’t I know about you before?”

He switched again to Arthur. “It was my judgment that it would do you no good to know until you were ready. You were very suicidal. We had to wait until the right time before you were told the secret.”

Dr. George watched and listened, awed but pleased as Arthur spoke to Billy for nearly ten minutes, telling him about Ragen and the other eight people and explaining how Dr. George’s job was to bring all the minds together into one to make him whole again.

“Can you do that?” Billy asked, turning to Dr. George.

“We call it fusion, Billy. We’ll do it slowly. First Allen and Tommy because they’ve got a great deal in common. Then Danny and David, both of whom need a great deal of therapy. _ Then we’ll merge the others, one by one, until you’re whole again.”

“Why do you have to fuse ’em with me? Why can’t you get rid of ’em?”

Dr. George put his fingertips together. “Because other therapists have tried that in conditions like yours, Billy. And it doesn’t seem to work. The best hope you have of improving is to bring all these aspects of yourself together, first by communicating with each other, then by remembering everything each of them is doing, getting rid of the amnesia. We call that co-consciousness. Finally, you work at bringing the different people together. That’s fusion.”

“When you gonna do this?”

“Dr. Wilbur is coming to see you the day after tomorrow, and we’re going to have a presentation and a discussion with most of the hospital staff who work with you. We’ll show the videotapes to help some of our staff—who have never experienced this mental condition—to help them understand you better so that they can help you.”