"Kelley Eskridge - Alien Jane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eskridge Kelly)

see the ties because they were the flesh of ]ane. jane was screaming around a rubber mouthpiece that
showed tan and wet from her saliva every time her lips pulled backтАФnot terror screams but more like
some giant grief, some last precious thing taken away. The room was full of her smell.

I couldn't go in. I stood at the door and I couldn't step into what I saw in that room. Everyone except
jane had stopped in mid-motion; they stared at us with the glazed otheqplace look of peopl" caught in the
middle of some terrible thing like rape or butchery, the kind of act
88 . Nebula Awards 3r

so horrible that while it is happening the doing of it removes you from all human space. I tried to turn
around, but Rousseau was right behind me with her hands braced against the door frame, leaning into it
like she would push the whole thing down. Then there was nowhere to go but ahead.

"Goddammit, goddammit," Rousseau was muttering as she moved in behind me.

"What are they doing, what are they doing to Jane?" I said, but she didn't hear me. Novak came over
and stood in front of us like he was tDnng to keep us from coming in any farther.

"Jesus Christ, what is happening here? I told you to stop the goddamned test until I could get back."
Rousseau's voice was low. I felt squeezed between her and Novak.

"Calm down, nothing h"ppened, she's just upsetтАФ"

"She's still my patient. You had no right."

"Nobody has done anyhing to hurt her. Christ, Elaine, I'm a doctor, I don'1тАФ" Jane stopped screaming,
sudderly, like a light turnittg off. Spit ran down her chin. The machines buzzed and the paper strips
whispered onto the floor. A woman with a needle stepped over the coiled electrical cords toward ]ane,
and I could feel myself tense.

"It's okay, Rita," Rousseau said. "f'll get someone to take you back to the ward."

"No." I pulled out from between them, went toward |ane. Behind me I heard Rousseau start in on
Novak. I felt proud of her again, fighting for Jane; then I was standing in front of the woman with the
needle and she turned toward me. "Leave her alone," Rousseau said, and the needle went away. |ane
saw me and tried to move. I didn't hrow if she was tDotg to get away or get closer, and for a moment I
remembered the Jane who didn't want to be touched in love, the Jane who would rather stay different in
her wires and straps, apart from people, alien fane; and the Rita who always reached out with hurting
hands. Then I unbuckled all the straps and put my arms around her, and she didn't pull away.

The other people in the lab began to move then, but they didn't seem to know what to do or where to go.
I didn't want them to touch |ane but they did; they took the wires off her head and peeled them off her
legs. They had to reach under me to get to her arms and chest.
Alien Jane ' 89

There was a piece of metal under one white bandage on her arm. They took the metal and left the
bandage. They took the mouthpiece, but no one wiped her wet chin so I dried her with the corner of my
robe. There was a funny smell about her, something burning; fear sweat, I thought.

Rousseau came over, with Novak following. They squeezed around me. jane closed her eyes.