“What makes you say that?”
“Because you missed something, Pelazi. I almost missed its significance myself, until just yesterday. It’s the something we started while you were busy buying up everything in sight. You’d have bought this, too, but it wasn’t in sight. It was secret, and quiet, because it’s one of the biggest things to come along in years.”
“So?”
“So this. You’ve hit the Vikes hard, and they’re all lying in their own vomit and wishing they were dead. A lot of them are dead, Pelazi, and a lot of them are cracking up and not caring whether they’re dead, alive, or something in between. That’s bad; it’s bad because defeat is contagious. But so is victory.”
“You’re talking drivel,” Pelazi said. He seemed annoyed. “I...”
“Drivel, maybe. But just listen to this. This thing we’ve got is the biggest thing on the scene. I’m producing it myself, so I don’t need any big company to bother with — any big company which you undoubtedly own. I’m producing myself, with my own money, and I’ll distribute it myself — and when this thing hits the market, you can take your rejuvenated Ree society and stick it right up your nose. Just remember that, Pelazi.”
“I don’t see how...”
“No? Then I’ll spell it. The Vikes are flat on their backs. They think every other Vike in the country is also on his back. And then along comes something that’s more Vike than anything they’ve ever seen before. It’s bigger Vike and better Vike, and they’re all going to sit up and say, ‘By God, there’s life in the old boy yet!’ It’ll be a shot in the arm for them, Pelazi, like morph or herro, a shot that’ll shove them back on the road. And then, brother, beware.”
“And that’s why you came here?”
“I came to tell you your enjoyment is short-lived, and I came to tell you to make the most of it. Remember that, Pelazi, and enjoy yourself — because you’ve got one foot in the grave and the other on a grapeskin.”
Pelazi’s face became a little sad. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.
Van smiled. “I can bet you are.”
“I had hoped we could get together. I had hoped...” He shrugged.
“Together? Ree and Vike? Hah!” He looked at Pelazi contemptuously. “You mean you hoped my scribes would turn out the Ree junk you’re dying to put on the market again. Well, they won’t, Pelazi. They won’t because what I’ve got is going to take all the starch out of your little coup. You’re going to be right back where you started. Only this time, we’re going to be more careful. We’re going to watch you this time, Pelazi, and there’ll be no mistakes.”
Pelazi sighed. “Do what you must do,” he said softly.
“I’ll do it, all right. I just wanted you to know, so that you won’t sit up here and gloat all day. I wanted you to worry a little, Pelazi. I wanted you to know that life is short, no matter how sweet. I’ll leave now, but you’ll be hearing from me.”
He turned and headed for the door.
Behind him, Pelazi said, “Good luck, Branoski.”
He gave his plan to Hayden Thorpe.
Hayden surprised him. He’d been a Corradonict for as long as Van Brant could remember, but he’d shaken the habit in a matter of hours. He tried explaining the synthetic nature of the drug to Van, and the fact that a counter-drug, both harmless and legal, was available. Van listened to this enviously, still tortured by the private hell that attacked his mind and body at irregular intervals. He was shaking his habit the hard way, and Hayden had snapped out of it almost instantly. The contrast was a disappointing one.
But Hayden was enthusiastic about the plan. He told Van that the Senso was about ready to can, and as soon as they got the moo for the ballyhoo, they could hit the market. Van started looking for Deborah.
He couldn’t contact her; she was nowhere to be found. He tried her old apartment, and was greeted at the door by a long-faced Ree, who promptly withdrew, offering no information.
Van figured she’d moved in with Rog Moore, and he checked the directories for Moore’s office address. He found it, and went there, only to find the office space occupied by a doctor named Adair.
He brought the bad news back to Hayden, and together they began scouring the city, anxious to find Deborah, because the stone she’d promised would be enough to put the show over and smash the Ree uprising. They had to work fast. They had to get the moo, and pop the show on the public. They had to do it at once, because the feeling of defeat was spreading. They had to blast through the miasma that had settled over the city like a plague of locusts. They had to announce the new Senso in a matter of days, hours if possible.
It took Van three days to find her. The tracking was not easy, especially with the drug taking a reluctant leave of his blood. He was still not rid of it, and he’d have preferred spending the time in bed. But she had to be found, and when he finally located her, she was working hard, her hair trailing over one eye, her face sweated.
She looked very tired, and her pregnancy was an obvious thing now — or perhaps he only noticed it more than he did last time. She was wearing a nurse’s frock, which was in perfect keeping with her surroundings because she was in a clinic.
“Deborah,” he said, “I’ve come for the money.”
She didn’t stop working. They stood in the antiseptic halls, with the biting smell of the hospital around them. She was banking plasma row on row, turning to pick up the mud-colored jars, then stacking them neatly on the white shelves.
“The what, Van?”
“The money; the stone you promised me. Remember? That night at your party? When you told me...”
“Oh. Yes. Yes, I remember now.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. A speaker on the wall broke the silence. “Calling Dr. Unstedt. Dr. Unstedt wanted in Emergency.” Deborah put another jar of plasma on the shelf, and it clinked solidly against the one beneath it.
“Well?” Van asked. “Can I have it?”
Deborah didn’t answer. A nurse hurried by, pushing a long, wheeled table. Her heels clacked on the white marble floors of the corridor.
“I said...”
“I heard you, Van.”
“Well?”
“No.”
Van blinked. “No? What do you mean? You promised me, Deb; I went ahead with plans because I was counting on that moo. Honey, if ever you wanted to help someone, this is...”
“It’s not a question of wanting to, Van. Believe me, I do want to help. I simply haven’t got that much money.”
“How much do you have?”
“Two thousand at the most. And... and we’ll need that, too.”
“But for godsakes,” he pleaded, almost wanting to weep, “what did you do with the money? Where...”
“The clinic,” she said; “it’s Rog’s, you know. We... we’re going to be needed, Van.”
“Deb,” he said. “Deb, Deb.”
“I would help you if I could, believe me. But you can’t imagine what this abrupt change is doing to people. Rog has his hands full already, and there’ll be more. It’s going to take work, Van, hard work. Rehabilitating the addicts, and then rehabilitating the sick minds.”
“What?” He looked at her, dazed. “I’m sorry, Deb; what did you say?”
“We’ve got to find a meeting ground, don’t you see, Van? That’s the hardest job ahead, and that’s where every psych is going to be valuable. A meeting ground, somewhere in the middle.”
“What do you mean? Somewhere in the middle of what?”
“The middle of Vike and Ree. Neither is healthy, Van — and I think both factions realize it.”
“Realize it?” He was suddenly angry. “Sure,” he said, “start talking like a goddamn smug Ree tramp. Build a cozy clinic for your shack mate and then start spouting pretty phrases. Well, you don’t know what the hell you’re chopping about. You think this Ree business is going to last? You think the people are going to turn back to all that junk? We’ve been Vike for a long time now; we’ll never go back to Ree.”