the Wayne-control endnote: Wayne's hand on Hal's autonomics
Whether in singles against him or doubles alongside, when Hal is on-court with Wayne he always gets the creepy feeling that Wayne has control out there not just of his voluntary CNS but also of his heartrate and blood pressure, the diameter of his pupils, etc., which feeling is not only creepy but distracting, adding to the tension of playing with Wayne.
Context
An authorial endnote to scene 179 that belongs squarely to the body-thread: on court with John Wayne, whether as opponent or partner, Hal "always gets the creepy feeling that Wayne has control out there not just of his voluntary CNS but also of his heartrate and blood pressure, the diameter of his pupils." The will-driven Canadian is so total an instrument that his mastery seems to leak past his own nervous system into Hal's involuntary one — the automatic-beauty body of 065 taken to its unnerving limit, a machine so complete it feels as if it could run yours too. The dread is a tennis dread: it keeps "adding to the tension of playing with Wayne."