Elvissey (22 page)

"Ten oncoming," he said, slumping down in the seat,
allowing himself vision enough to see through the spokes of
the wheel. "Hold on."

He floored us, tearing across the field; I thought of the
people beneath our tires as we inflicted one last indignity
upon them. Hearing gunfire and the ring of metal hitting
metal I trembled; felt a cold, flat roundness in my palm.
Fingerclamping tight, I brought out the compact. Bullets
beat against the car, sounding as a thunderstorm, a rain of
metal frogs. "They're trying to take out the tires," John said,
wheeling rightways. "They've encircled. What've you got?"

"Release," I said, breaking off my nails against the compact's rim; the seal seemed airtight. My hand so shook I
could hardly hold it.

"Together, Iz," John said, slowing the car as the rear
window shattered. The gunfire ceased, and I heard shouts.
"We'll go together-"

"Agreed," I said, flipping open the compact's lid as something heavy thudded against the hood of our car. Glass
rained over me as I thumbed the pad's center, counting off
ten seconds. Looking above my head I saw a uniformed arm
passing through the broken windshield, aiming a gun at my
husband. Then the car's interior whitened with light; all
sound tuned out but for my husband's scream.

"Hold me," John said; I clambered onto the front seat
and held him down against its fabric before he could be
drawn out of the car. A policeman was slipping away from
our vehicle, appearing to swim backwards, mouthing words
sans sound; as he glided into absence his colors became
translucent, and his dissolving form pinpointed as it
blended into the whiteness. As I braced one arm against the
dash, holding fast to my husband's legs with the other, I
sensed myself drifting toward the opened windshield; had I
slacked my arms I surely would have slid through, transversing the glass, losing myself in the space beyond.

There was a moment more of motionlessness, floating in
that timeless freeze; then at once we reentered our world as
if slapped awake by an intruder. Our sun, carcinogenic and
welcoming, pricked us with hot needles. I looked through
the windshield, seeing that we'd come to rest on several lanes
of concrete; two multistory glass towers trellised with brown
vines from ground to roof stood opposing, on either side of
the road.

"Iz-! "John shouted as we were broadsided. Our world's
freeways were not so expansive as theirs had been; our cars,
nonetheless, sped nearly as fast. Most of those oncoming
missed us; the one with which we collided had slowed
enough to prevent our outright exing. We had emerged at
a right angle to the road, blocking two lanes. John sustained
full impact; our car pinwheeled down the highway, goosing the rear of one of our fellow travelers before caroming
through the guardrail down a low embankment and coming
to rest in a kudzu bed. The car didn't fourth-of-July on
impact; I gathered that nothing of mine bled overmuch. I
didn't fight to remain conscious, now that it no longer essentialled. Before fogging I recalled glancing through the unglassed windshield at the vine-entwined buildings
overlooking us; around the cornices the foliage was chopped
away, that nature, least of all, should hide Dryco's logo. E
was viable; his screams assured me. As I looked over at my
husband lying red amid our wreck, I wondered how much he
regretted surviving. It didn't take our company's reps long to
find us.

"Inhale." I did as demanded. "Exhale."

Dryco's clinic tables were so chilled after our return as
they'd been, predeparture; the overheads blinded as before,
the familiar odorless stench permeated the air, and my
medicis evinced the same warm concern which I'd come to
expect. Outpatienting, nonetheless, didn't inflict so much
trauma as was sustained during their treatments. Following
a week of isolate, intensive care, I was released; afterward
naught essentialed but my whiling an hour in their bondage
daily so that they might chart my recovery rate.

"Circulatories, normal," my nurse said, tallying. "Endoc-
rinations, uninterrupted. Neural charges, steady. Respiration, acceptable. Lymphatic conversion, responsive-"

We'd returned a fortnight before; the New York observers,
eyeing our dot on their screens as we reappeared, worded
south to assure that, minutes later, our overt damages were
being treated in Mississippi. Copters came and medevacked
us direct, and an hour after our pickup we were each singlebedded in the Bronx, in Montefiore's Dryco wing. That eve ping I wavered momentslong into consciousness, unconcerned by my strapped limbs or my wired head once I realized where I was; I felt tubes inserted into my neck, and I
puzzled over why they were there; once I recovered I accessed a library text and comprehended that my blood had
been vacuumed from me so that it could be supplanted with
a purer vintage. As I considered my state, startled to still be
alive, a nurse noted my wakefulness and sedated me anew.
My physical injuries were slight: a concussion, sprained ankles, contusions and a fractured knuckle, sustained when I
hit my husband.

"No infective signs," concluded my doctor. "Melaway
treatment ongoing as required."

"I want my color back," I said; they ignored. "Why is
treatment ongoing?"

"Addictive factor of Melaway demands a three-week withdrawal program, once treatment is deemed inessential."

"Who essentials it?"

"Inapplicable question unanswerable by this department's representatives," said the nurse. "Silence, please."

John, too, had been released; only E remained in hospital,
secured on the wing's uppermost floor, still sealed away
from all eyes save those of his doctors, and Leverett.

"Detail troubling symptoms, if any," my doctor said.

"Headaches, as told before," I said. "Of lowgrade intensity and unceasing."

"Accounted for by concussion's lingering effects. Continue."

"I want magnetic resonance to certify. Cat me."

"Clinic policy cost-inhibits use during outpatient period
unless circumstances warrant, as explained," said my doctor.
"Unwarranted here. Detail other symptoms."

"Nausea upon rising," I said. "A prolonged bloat, and
menstrual abeyance."

"Believed to result from prolonged usage of Melaway.
Conclusive results regarding remaining related tests will be available to you tomorrow morning between eleven and
twelve, Lab Five, Desk Nine, Patient ID 74651135-"

"I'll not recall," I said, interrupting her reel. The machine
nearest the table vomited from its slot a printout sheet.

"Use directionals supplied to locate. Present yourself at
Lab Five, Desk Nine, between eleven and twelve tomorrow
morning."

"Update concluded," said the nurse. "Report here at ten,
morning. Rise."

"Which test results remain?" I asked, directing my question to the corner intersections of wall and ceiling from
where their voices issued; again, no response. I loosed my
robe, letting it fall floorways; eyed the flashings of machinelights as they blinked on and off, poxing my goosebumped
skin with spurting reflections. My skeleton semblanced in
greenline upon one screen's black field, duplicating my
structure's shifts as I moved. I'd not noticed before how
unerringly its blended dots mimed me; placing my stance
before the screen, I drew up my arms and flexed my legs so
that I could watch my inside at play.

"Refrain from gesture stylization, please," my doctor said,
startling me by returning so unexpectedly. "Move normally
while clothing yourself."

"What's wanted?" I asked, pulling my shirt over my head,
fitting its collar around my neck. "Why?"

"Self-conscious motions pattern falsely, throwing the observers' controls."

"Observers?" I replayed. "Who-?"

"Medical observers from appropriate fields," said my doctor. "Incognitoed, as awareness of presence inevitably affects patiental behavior."

As I backed against the table's cold edge I tugged my shirt
down over my hips. "I'll not be eyeraped!" I shouted, uncertain of who stared where; wondered how long and how often
I'd been onceovered. "Why are you watching me?"

"Observation assists research needs," she said. "Research
purpose is inessential information."

"It's invasive," I said, forcing my feet through my trouserlegs so quickly as to nearly rend the inseam.

"Patiental commentary inessential," said my doctor. "Silence, please."

Retrieving my shoes and underwear, I rushed out of the
room, not sliding the door closed behind me, knowing I'd
never return after the next day, when I could gather my test
results; results for tests whose purpose remained enigmaed.
I shamefaced as I halled myself, forbidding tears, guilting
sans reason as I always had whenever another assaulted me,
as I'd done after unblanking my memory of the patrolman's
probing; as when John went missing while we made love, or
as Judy had known me before she knew me. But the rape for
which I blamed myself most was the one that never occurred.

Late that afternoon, unenjoying my remaining moments of
unscheduled time, safe from any eyes but those I desired
might stare, I studied the disk I'd purchased at the fetal art
exhibit. When I looked again upon the pieces they reentered
my head half-forgotten, as if I'd seen them years, and not
weeks, before. I studied their holoed images, reappraising
my first looks, deciphering subtleties too cloaked to grasp
even after years of study. Tanya's voice audibled clear over
the unit's phones as I allowed all mundanities to slip from
my mind, losing myself in her work.

"Violence against another is doggerel, not poetry, however developed its structure, no matter the comforts of its theory, " she
said. "But there inheres to the aesthetic of violence against oneself
an unassailable truth, that the greatest art bestows upon its onlookers, and its artist, the sublimity of pain. "

"Iz?" I heard John say.

"What, sweetie?" Switching off the unit, I freed my ears to
better hear my husband. He'd suffered greater injury than I had in the smash; still, much of what was harmed was partially if not totally artificial, and so his recovery progression
had matched mine. He trod catfooted upon his improved
leg; his freshest scars were unbasted several days before. His
Krylar implants secured his innards so well as shielded, and
though he'd taken full impact he'd sustained only minor
internal damage. In rebuilding his bone-shattered arms his
doctors strengthened their lengths and joints, restringing
new tendons so that both his fists might sound fortissimo
chords, if he was ever again allowed to play.

"I've interrupted," he said, readying to exit. "Forgive-"

"Stay and speak," I said, patting the chair next to me. He
sat himself with caution, slowing his motions so as not to
harm what remained to be healed. "What's troubling?" I
asked. "You've medicated?"

"I singled at half past." He lifted his head, revealing his
oldest scar, one gained in teenage; a whitened furrow usually
hidden within his neck's folds, close to but not touching the
carotid. "I can't doubledose, Iz," he said. "It blanks me.
That's life sans life-"

"It's essentialled," I said. "That's known."

"It's undoable, whatever's demanded," he said staring at
dust-motes aglitter in the room's fading sunstream.

"They unanimoused, John. It's temp, all the same. A
shortterm requirement, we were assured-"

"Retirement doesn't become me," he said. "I can't regood, Iz. I should have stayed-"

"That's not our world, John," I said. "It momented pleasant to you in some ways. At the end it was prepping to
swallow us both. You weren't you, there."

Through my window I saw an adblimp sail by, puttering
toward Jersey; bedecked along its bulges were all the marks
of Dryco. From its fins a banner fluttered, iterating the
company motto in letters twelve meters high. Leverett, fulfilling Dryco's promise, had had our salaries doubled after
assuring that we'd not only met our goal, but returned with him. Debriefing our overseer two days before, I'd detailed
the ensuings of our travels; demanded as well explanation
for why my husband's medication hadn't acted. Leverett
guaranteed a full investigation, and sent me homeways; that
afternoon John was notified by nameless ones deep in Dryco
that, for contrarying against regooding regardless of cause,
he was suspended with pay for indefinite duration.