"FWLS37" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

trying to lug this guy down to my car and drive him out here at
breakneck speeds, homing maybe you could revive him or, I don't
know, SOMETHING--"

"He's alive. And he's not. Look, it's just really hard to
explain," Terry was saying, taking her stethoscope off. "It's
strange. No pulse, no breathing, no heartbeat, but he's still
warm, and has some REM going. Some life signs say he's in
perfect health, and others say he's deader than a doornail. This
is a new experience for me, treating a partially dead patient."

"Can't you just scan him or something? Terry, I know you,
you're supposed to be one of the best of the cheap, no questions
asked medics around--"

"I HAVE scanned him. He's normal. Sort of. Just weird. I
think we ought to sedate him a bit, see if the signs go back to
normal. It's hard to tell, I've never seen an undead patient
before."

I wasn't happy at all with this. Step one, figure out if
The Twink was dead or not. If dead, step two, mourn. Step
three, sue the pants off of that arcade, beat up the manager,
burn it down. I was still shaking off the bizarre emotion bursts
I had gotten in the game, and wanted to punch my fist through
SOMETHING.

"Alright. Sedate him, do whatever you docs know how to do,
and call me the MINUTE his condition changes."

"You're the client, Chuck," Terry sighed. "I don't know
what I can do, really..."

Terry prepped an injection, as I was stepping for the door.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Something's wrong," Terry said. "The needle is hitting
something. I mean, the skin's okay, but there's like a bone or
something where there shouldn't be... Chuck, he's not bleeding."

"So he's dead?"

"No, he's not bleeding... look. It's like a rip in the
skin, just no vessels, no clotting... good lord. Gimmie!"

"What? What? Gimmie what?"