"Walter Jon Williams - The Bob Dylan Solution" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

8
Brenner's voice comes cool into Robertson's ear. "The PR's going out. We're the top story on all the
radio networks."

"Good."

"Any news from the doctors?"
"Looks like it's not fatal."

"I'll put that on the five o'clock bulletin. That'll get us on the early evening TV news broadcasts."

"Good." Robertson clears his throat and wishes he had his atomizer. "Make sure to have that package on
my desk, okay?"

"It's already there."

"Thanks. You have no idea how relieved I am at how this turned out."
9
"I hope and trust that Sorrel will be back in the studio in a matter of weeks." Robertson gives the vidcams
a hesitant smile. "More than that I can't say. It's just too early."

He turns from the cameras and steps into the intensive care ward. Velda is there, sucking one of the
smokeless cigarettes they sell in the hospital gift shop. Above her, familiar-looking X-ray negatives are
displayed on a light board. Two doctors are pointing with their pencils and talking.

"The left cerebral cortex shows no sign of electrical activity," says one. "The right is damaged also, but to
a lesser degree." His eyes gaze firmly into Velda's from behind steel-rimmed spectacles. His voice is
cool, dispassionate. He might be talking about the weather in Fresno.

The other doctor sucks on his cheeks. "We can expect, at best, only a slight recovery from Mr. Sorrel's
eyes. He will only be able to see dimly, if at all. When the shards from his sunglasses went in, they
created massive damage. Both eyes may still have to be removed."

Velda toys with her cigarette. "Thank you, gentlemen." She nods.

"Be brave, Mrs. Sorrel." This from the second.

Velda nods. "I will."

After the doctors leave, Robertson takes Velda's arm and leads her away. Velda licks her lips. "They say
the centers of personality and memory are gone," she says.

"He's a vegetable?"

"In the left hemisphere, anyway." Annoyance flickers across her perfect face. "He turned his head just
before the impact, damn it. All the damage was on the left side."

"Couldn't be helped. That was one of the things that we couldn't control."

"That's why his neck snapped. He'll be a quadriplegic."