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Show 15 "Good doggie," she murmurs, and she rubs the underside of his neck, just for a moment, before she puts the head restraint on him. Finally, when the restraining collar is in place and his head is secured so that he cannot move it, she plugs the wire leads into the pedestal in his head. She stands back, checking: Mustard is strapped firmly in position, unable to move anything except his right foreleg and his tail. "Good doggie," she says to him again. He is the cleverest of all the dogs. "Do a good job, Mustard, and you'll be the first one through. She hesitates, suddenly aware of her own words, and looks at Boaz. He looks back, as if to call her bluff. She takes it. "Do a good job, Mustard,1:' she repeats, "and you'll be the first one to get your head cut off." Boaz smiles into his papers, and Maia closes the inner door of the box. Mustard barks, but the sound is very flat, muffled by the door; after Maia has.closed the outer door, she can hear nothing more. She looks in through the triple-thick window; Mustard, she can see, is still barking, but the straps are holding well. She turns to the control panel; it is all set and she flips a single switch. The two tape reels at the top of the recording apparatus begin to turn, in unison, and the conditioned stimulus, a single clear tone, sounds. Then there is a clicking noise, the noise made by the bar as Mustard lifts his leg, and finally the rapid clatter of the printer, recording the data of the trial. |
