The nurse who fed Judy breakfast the next day said the doctors would be in to see you around 10:00.

Judy was watching television as the assembly of doctors trooped in.

"Good morning," she greeted them.

They muttered their hellos and good mornings. The spokesman of the group stepped forward and introduced himself.

"My name is Dan Becker and I represent the Youngman Psycho-Physio Kinetics research group from Caltech. We are working on a remarkable breakthrough in Medical Technology and we think you could be an ideal person to assist us in our research, with your permission of course. We are working on the way of alleviating most of the problems associated with being bedridden. Problems such as bed sores that he is too sensitive for contact with a bad general discomfort and such. Part of our research is stymied because practically all quadriplegics also lose their sense of feeling and we really can't analyze how well our research is going without sensory input from the patient. Burn victims are usually too infection-prone to have a bunch of us fooling around by them all the time. We think you would be an ideal subject. If you agree to work with us on this, it might make many lives much easier.”

"Well, what exactly are you working on?"

"Our device is a thought-actuated bed. This bed goes far beyond any normal up-and-down hospital bed. The main feature is the mattress-like structure under the patient. The mattress material is the closest to human tissue science has ever come. By electrical and hydraulic stimulation, it can change contour work and density. It can remove itself from under you, it can gather under you to support you. It can encircle parts of you if need be. And, most important of all, it can sense the changes you would like by tuning in on your brain wave patterns. Even people such as yourself, who cannot at present move, can be sure of the optimal bed configuration for comfort. This unit will even sense comfort needs while you are sleeping. We think our prototype will even be capable of turning you over.”

“has anyone tried it yet?” Judy asked.

"No, we just finished our work on it last night. You'll be the first if you want to"

"Any risks"?

None of that we can foresee. It seems very safe. Part of the brain wave sensor has a pain detector to stop everything if anything hurts.

"Let's try it," Judy said.

"Great," he said, "we have four days before the Dr. from L.A. gets here to see if an operation can restore your spinal column. That should be plenty for us to get a good start.”

Without wasting any time, they lifted Judy onto a gurney and wheeled her into a basement laboratory. In the middle of the floor was the bed. It looks very much like a hospital bed, except for the maze of electronics on the headboard and the mattress. The mattress looked like nothing Judy had ever seen. It was beige and looked like soft baby skin. The doctors picked her up and placed are in the middle of the bed.

The bed felt warm to the touch. Soft and gentle. It reminded her of the times she snuggled arm in arm with her girlfriend. It felt very reassuring. Judy had a great dislike of being flat on her back. She thought about asking the doctors for a pillow. No sooner had the thought come together in her mind than the head of the bed gathered itself and formed a small protrusion.

"Wow! What did you do?" the Dr. asked

"Thought about asking for a pillow."

“Remarkable. We thought we would need to tune the receiver to your particular brain waves. Apparently, it will work on whoever is in contact with the mattress. Do some more, please."

Judy pondered for a few seconds and decided the side of her right arm needed to be scratched. Quickly, a small finger grew from the mattress and rubbed the exact spot she had in mind.

"Hey, that’s great,” she said.

"Ask it to roll you over."

Judy thought about how she wanted it done, and soon the bed began to undulate and roll in small waves. In short order, Judy was on her side, then her tummy, then the other side, and then on her back again.

"I can't believe it works so well, so soon," said the Dr.

"I want it," said Judy. It was the most comfortable she had felt since she woke up in the hospital. The bed seemed to cradle her perfectly.

"Will you take the bed to my room, or will I move down here for now?" she wondered.

"We'll leave you down here for a while today while you get used to it, and probably move things around tonight. We were going to break for lunch soon. Would you like someone to stay down here with you?"

"No, I'll be fine," Judy said. "I am ready for a nap anyhow."

“OK, see you in a little while.”