Elvissey Read online

  "Vacation's done," he said. "What if I am redeemed? It's obvioused they can't change me, whatever we do. We'll all be gone, once all's regooded." He stopped; mouthed soundlessly as if he was stroked, holding his hands out before him, waving them as if to swim. "It's halflife here, Iz. The feel's unbearable."

  "John," I said, entwining my fingers with his; shuddered, feeling his grip clamp as if onto a trapped animal. "Ours is full life if you allow it. Please allow." Seating myself in his lap I embraced him, feeling once again the chill he'd had before we left, the icy distance; no sooner did he begin to warm than the phone rang. Sighing, I switched on the remote. "4370," I said, spilling our number and no more across the room and into the speaker.

  "Isabel," Leverett said, bellowing his voice through our quarters. "Recovery's complete, I'm informed."

  "Not entirely." I stood, although he couldn't see us; we'd disabled the screen the day the phone was installed. "Any answers yet?"

  "At any moment," he said. "All's being processed. Your success has doubled my workload, I've been end-overend-"

  "What's wanted, then?" I asked.

  "Meet me at Montefiore at morningside," he said. "There'll be a car for you."

  "I meet Madam at ten," I said. "My return day's tomorrow. "

  "She's been awared of our needs, Isabel," he said. "It essentials. Ten-thirty-"

  "I was claimed our assignment's done-"

  "Your assignment continues shortterm. Details tomorrow. Tally-H."

  As he clicked off I heard behind me a splintering sound, as of a falling limb. My husband stared at the wedge of table-top he held in his hand. Dropping it he stood and walked out, his face unmasked, if emotionless. I laid aside my disc-player, and gazed windowways, skywatching for shooters plummeting earthward.

  Only after my discharge was I told of E's state: his splintered ribs and collarbone, his back's torn muscles, his wounded hand's suppuration. John had so remodeled him as to leave his head little more than a skull with flesh bagging over its bone, and following his initial repairs the specialists began plasticking a new look for him. Our air poisoned him, as feared; he soaked in its bugs as if he were a sponge. His cold drained into flu, and then into pneumonia; allergies swelled his face prior to its restructuring, appearing it-I was toldas a red, featureless balloon.

  E's room was on our Montefiore wing's highest, sealed floor. When I arrived the next morning Leverett stood outside, conferring with whitegowned figures who must have been medicis; I marveled, seeing them semblanced in human form. "Isabel," he said; the others scurried off when they saw me, as if light startled them. "You're aglow with health."

  "Why am I so essentialled here, Leverett? Matters need discussion-"

  "We'll have the time to talk en momento," he said, smiling and sweeping a shock of gray from his forehead. "The situation demands your presence, Isabel. You're uniquely positioned to assist as the E project progresses."

  "What's meant?"

  "He's disconcerted, now that he's on recovery road. He deafens himself to our words and shrivels at our touch. Your name liptrips from him hourly. In dreams he begs for you-

  "He'll beg on," I said. "He tried rape and pillage on me. Berated and degraded and caused my husband to mindlose."

  "You're our icebreaker, Isabel. He demonstrates a fondness for you the docs perceive as curative. A short confer, no more. The human touch essentials."

  "Leverett, I'm to return to Madam this morning, to my standard position-"

  "Would that our jobs ended at five," he said. "See this as an aspect of your ongoing special task. An unexpected aspect, yes, but the able goflow when called."

  "The special task's completed, I was led to understand-"

  "Your safety's secured," Leverett said. "A brief meet to comfort, no more. It may not essential again, not immediately. What's replied?"

  "Is he comprehending his surroundings yet?" I asked, refusing to respond. "I confabulated all that I told him, and John-"

  `John's tales plainfaced the subject, as it were," Leverett said, regarding me with dying-calf eyes. "Regrettable, truly-"

  "Something contraindicated his treatment," I said. "He reacted as trained. You've been awared, and naught's been done. These investigations-"

  "Are ongoing. Mind, Isabel, I'm faultless in this. Moreso, I assured his continuing salary. Defended his actions, even as circumstanced. Some insisted he be ..." Leverett paused, allowing his pridebeam to outshine anger or remorse. "It would surprise you, what was said by some. Who said what would surprise you more. But I deflected all. Later, I'll detail-"

  "Do," I said. "What of E? Is he recovering? Truth me-"

  "It's iffed. He's incohering. Beset by deliriums and fever dreams, muttering senselessness full of thunder. Your name solely softens his roar." Leverett paused; eyed E's door. "What are Dero?"

  "People who live in caves and in the pits of elevators," I said. "Once we seized him-"

  "After John beat him," he said, interrupting.

  "He believed us Dero," I continued. "Thought we'd come for him."

  "You had," Leverett said, nodding to himself. "Usable, perhaps. Communication's been impossible since he cleared. Mayhap he thinks we're all Dero. How'd he so notion such a concept?"

  "He reads science fiction."

  "Contributes nothing to the image," Leverett said, his eyebrows lifting. "Another untoward habit to break. Still, it'll ease your explanations if you employ that. Put fact in fiction's terms."

  "My explanations?" I replayed. "I'm to explain his state to him-?"

  "Isabel," he said, taking my arm. "Let's visit."

  Fingertapping the door, Leverett awared it of our pres-

  ence, so that it might slide away. Within a small antechamber were two guards, unweaponed and plainclothed; their unemotioned features revealed their provenance. The inner door opened; I blinked at the brightness within the windowless room. E lay bedded and bottlefed, bulwarked by machines, netted with wires. Bandages swathed all of his face but for his eyes; his neck was collared, placing his bones as he healed.

  "You've a visitor," Leverett said, seating himself across the room as I approached E's bedside. "As promised."

  "Isabel," he said. "They told me you were comin' but I figured they lied."

  "That's unfigurable," I said. "Here I am."

  "Where you got me?" he asked. "One a your caves?"

  "You're hospitaled," I said. "It's not evident?"

  He shifted his head on his pillow; stared at me from beneath his wraps. "How can I know for sure it's you?"

  "What proofs required?" I asked, thinking it unconscionable, how I wished that he'd died in the wreck. "I'm not Dero and I'm not gaming with you, Elvis. I'm as you see me. Content?"

  "Your eyes're different." I'd not replaced my lenses, and no longer colored my hair. During each daily appointment the clinic dosed me with Melaway, though I'd tossed my own pills away the day I went home; I suspected Leverett of being the one insistent on my remaining unhued, and reminded myself to find out why. "Turn a little to the right." I did, presenting my profile. "It's you all right. I'm glad t' see you."

  "You're recovering?" I asked.

  "I hear nurses but don't see 'em," E said. "Where're they hidin'?"

  "They're shielded for your protection," Leverett said, interjecting. "Assuring rest-"

  "Who's he? Sonofabitch's been in here ever day, bullshittin'. He's your leader?"

  "Call him Dero dad," I said, stonefaced. "We're people, Elvis. Different people, that's all." From my jacket I removed my wallet; opened it to reveal family pics and ID. "Look. That's John and me ten years ago," I said, pointing out a shot of us standing before the razorwire surrounding our old apartment house, in the Upper East Zone. "My sister-inlaw's daughter. We're people like you, truly-"

  "I wanta go home."

  "You're home now," Leverett said, interrupting again. "You're familied here traditionally and spiritually-"

  "What the hell's he talkin' about?" E asked me. "This s
upposed t' be torture or somethin'?"

  "Not deliberately."

  "Not at all-" said Leverett.

  "Excuse me a moment," I said, turning around. "Leverett. A word without, please."

  "Talk, talk. We're secretless here," he said; after a moment, reconsidered and stood. "Of course, Isabel. Pardon us, Elvis."

  The door closed behind us as we stepped back into the antechamber. The guards stared on as if they'd not noticed that any neared, offering threat solely by their presence. "Quit thieving my lines," I told Leverett. "You're acting as if I'm not even there."

  "I can assist in guiding the dialogue-"

  "I'll guide or I'll go," I said, lowvoicing so much as I could. "Agreed?" He nodded, lifting his hands as if to protect himself from my charge. "Now level. Has he any awareness of why he's here or what's being done to him?"

  "Not as such," Leverett said. "Mind, Isabel, he's only been online since yesterday. We've concentrated on assuring viability, not information."

  "So that I could inform," I said. "Let's go back. Keep tightlipped."

  One of the guards sat leaning forward, handclasping; as we turned to reenter E's room I noticed a spittle-thread hanging from the guard's lower lip, and wondered if at intervals maintenants came round to dust them.

  "We're back-" I said, returning to E's bedside.

  "Y'all gonna talk about me, you best do it to my face."

  "Our talk concerned unrelated matters," I said. "You're not all we talk about."

  "How come those niggers're sittin' out in the hall?" he asked. "You all catch 'em and bring 'em down from up above?"

  "Hear me," I said, leaning across him; if I was to teach, I'd discipline as well. "That word's unusable here. Never say it again. Understand?"

  "What's with you?" he asked. "I was just wonderin' why they were out there, that's all. Damn, Isabel-"

  "They're certifying your safety."

  "Safety from what?" E asked. "The anointed never fear."

  "Excuse?" I asked; as expected, he didn't clarify.

  "You say you're not Dero. You told me you were in the music business."

  "That's one of our many fields."

  "Remember what you were tellin' me? When do I get outta here and start livin' the high life like you were talkin' about?"

  "All'll occur in time."

  "Dero always lie," he said. "That's a fact. I'm not gonna listen to you." E shifted so much as he could, resting his wrapped face against his pillow. "I'm tired, Isabel. Leave me alone awhile."

  "As you wish-"

  "Fine, fine," Leverett said, rising. "As much alonetime during recovery as desired. Come, Isabel. She'll be back, don't fear."

  "Get outta here."

  I looked at him lying there as Leverett drew me away; he'd placed his free arm over his eyes, appearing to see us no more than I wished to see him. We passed the guards, and stepped back into the outer hall.

  "Discussion now," I said to Leverett, catching him before he could rush away.

  "Of course, Isabel. What's troubling?"

  "Him, for one," I said. "He's flipping. I'd not give him half a month."

  "That's why your assistance is demanded," he said. "You're a preventative, it seems. He hears, when you speak. The project needs you, more than before-"

  "Our assignment was to end upon our return," I said. "My job with Madam awaits. My work-"

  "Your job there'll await you still, once we're done," he said. "You've proved your potential, now live up to it. A shortterm responsibility, nothing more-"

  "What's timeframed for project completion?" I asked.

  "No more than a few days, if lucked," Leverett said. "Week, possibly two. Time enough to ground him. Not overlong."

  "If I agree," I said, "will that reinstate my husband any sooner?"

  "Sans doubt," he said. "Dependent upon final decisions, of course. Isabel, mind his behavior. Interaction was to be minimalized, and in that regard he not only slipped but plunged-"

  "He preserved us all by plunging," I said.

  "There's no excusing what he did to our subject, his suspicions notwithstanding," Leverett said. "I'll word well all the same. The means are almost justified. If you'll assist freewilled I'll certify his clearance, topspeeded."

  "Agreed," I said, and lifted my arm to his eyelevel. "What of this? The clinic tells that I'm to stay white until they're instructed otherwise. Why's it essential I stay bleached?"

  "Isabel," he said, lowering his voice, "you heard him word as he did toward the guards. The mindset's plain. Imagine if he was to see you as you are right now. Imaginable, isn't it-?"

  "Understood, but undesired," I said. "He'll have to know, Leverett. I want off it, I'm awared there's an addictive factor and my sicknesses linger-"

  "Only for a short time longer. Allow him regooding time. For all of us? Please? You lull him so well, Isabel, and he'll be traumaed otherwise."

  "It's my skin-"

  "The color becomes you," he said. "Be thankful it did. We're undertaking study of your reports, and the surviving materials you brought back. The discoveries and inferences pertaining to that world overwhelm. They aren't as we are, Isabel."

  "Known," I said. "I was there. That phrase of his, `the anointed.' What's meant?"

  Leverett frowned, appearing thoughtful. "Some subcultural reference, mayhap. I hoped you'd know; it's not the first time he's used it. Take this," he said, handing me a thin yellow folder embossed with our company's grin. "Initial conclusions and inferrals regarding the shadow world's recent history as per the text you obtained. Deconstruction of his Bible is proceeding-"

  "His magazines told of Dero."

  "They crumble, under touch, as does the newsheet. The transferral process adverses woodpulp paper. We're seeking archival matches presently."

  "It's essential I meet Madam, Leverett," I said. "Excuse me-

  "With your help, Isabel, we'll cream this skim milk nicely. I'll schedule you for daily visits to our boy. Return this afternoon. Visit again. One on one him."

  "Schedule-?"

  "I'll have it by day's end. Mindful, Isabel, it's shortterm. I swear it."

  "This wasn't contracted," I said, reminding him. As he loosed himself from me, he sidled down the hall, keeping his back wallways.

  "The capable adapt, Isabel. The rest-" He shrugged, and walked away.

  Judy and I met in her office for lunch; neither of us ate. I'd not seen her since our return, although she'd phoned several times. Her suite's redecoration was complete: drapes cloaked sunlight, chairs gathered dust, cameras onscreened visitors and monitored hallways, every bibelot was placed and forgotten. Her assistant's office, secluded beyond the reception area, held only an empty desk and its accoutrements; I wanted nothing more than to sit there and work.

  "Iz," Judy called out through her open door. "Come here."

  I walked into her office; she sat there staring at a chart unrolled across her desk, held down at one end with a brass paperweight. She rose as I approached and embraced me for several minutes, rocking with me forthback as we stood there. "It's good that you're back, it's so good," she said. "I feared you wouldn't return, however I assured us."

  "I'm here," I said, releasing myself from her grip.

  "Did what I give you assist?" she asked, lowvoicing.

  "That's what returned us," I said. "Otherwise-"

  "As told. Here, Iz. Eye this."

  "Eye what?" I asked, looking down at the map on her desk. Isobaric lines overlay an unspecified area's geographics. "A weather map?"

  "From the twenty-first," she said, tugging one edge of the chart, unfurling it further. "On the twenty-second, a Bowl reclamation facility was to be dedicated here, in Illinois. An environad was to be created overhead to suitably sendoff. Study the lines. Hot air mass atop the region, cold front coming. TV weatherpeople could forecast this likelihood. Our manipulations only intensified the effect. The resulting tornado killed or injured all present and caused ten million dollars damages to the new fac
ility." As she released her hold on the map, it snapped up as might an old windowshade. "Leverett's decision to go-ahead."

  "You can't oversee all," I said. "We've headrammed that timeover."

  "When all others guide what's run groundways, it's essential that someone tries. He's irrepressible, and since you returned successed, Seamus deafens to all concerns save Leverett's E project. All else is waysided. That's why you're not here, now. Leverett sent word he still needed you, and my needs were overruled."

  "How's he wording Mister O'Malley-?"

  "He can write Ambient, if not speak it," she said. "He sends it direct sans blockage by Alice. So, until his project croppers-

  "What if it works?" I asked.

  Judy downcast her look; then, eyed me as if my having had the notion was a betrayal. "You're set in either instance, don't you think?"

  "Working here's what's wanted," I said. "I'm being bound with E against reason and desire."

  "Is he still so stable as I'm told?"

  "You've not seen him direct?"

  "I've seen the invisible man, bedded atop Montefiore. Aren't appearances supposed to deceive?" she asked. "I know my eyes well enough not to trust them."

  "All signs contrary Leverett's opinions, whatever he's told," I said. "E's looned. All this is only worsening him."

  "I'll lunch with you often enough to hear truth, so long as you'll tell it."

  "Why wouldn't l?"

  Rather than answer me she sat back down in her chair, and studied the fogged skyline as it showed through her window. I took a seat on her desk's far side. "This project rolls with its own momentum now," she said. "Momentum carries off all before it, however all might wish to stay placed. You may be wishing, but you're as well in its way. I know you, Iz, you'll not be crushed." When she turned to face me I untensed, seeing her features soften. "Until he fumbles there's naught to be done," she continued. "Is the ruling against your husband impacting your judgment?"