Thoughts passed like anemic, dying sparks behind her eyes.
“This is the Politico channel!”
“It is?”
“Yes!”
“Amazing!”
The doorbell rang.
“Well,” Dodd said, “the guests are here. Time for the TV to go off anyway.” He shut it off, and reached behind to pull out a few signal cables just in case Denise mindlessly walked over and tried to turn it on. Sheila made protesting motions that Dodd ignored. He answered the door and welcomed the Recents inside, smiling and happy. They walked in like robots, motions stiff and uncomfortable. Denise’s skin was a ghastly pale. She immediately went to the television to turn it on, and the giant screen filled with static.
“What’s wrong?” she said, concerned. “Did I push a wrong button?”
“No, it’s been acting up. I’ve got to have a repairman out here, huh Sheila?”
“What?”
“First it would change stations at random, and now it doesn’t pick anything up at all.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said vaguely.
“How awful,” Denise said, with feeling.
“It was a mess,” Dodd told her. He was staring, shocked at how thin she looked. Sickly thin. He walked over to Sheila and took her by the arm, leading her to the dining room table as Bob and Denise followed. He had it all set up with his finest bone china, made in the American state of Brazil, and had the gold electroplate flatware arranged perfectly on the thick white cloth napkins. No one complimented him on his table, they just sat down, bored expressions on their faces. They didn’t even notice that there were no places set for Toby and his family. Dodd had to point it out to them, and explain what was going on. They muttered regrets automatically, on cue, but showed no real concern for Toby’s daughter. Dodd let it pass.
“Dinner’s going to be ready in just a minute or so,” he told them. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and walked into the kitchen, dodging the robot arms and checking the condition of the food.
Rabbit Rizzo in white cream sauce, with cheese vegetable and baby potato rehydrated in the finest grade ersatz soy butter … it smelled delicious. “Is it done?” he asked the kitchen control. It indicated an affirmative, so he and the robot arms began dishing it up. He brought it out to the table with two shades of wine on a roll-away tray, served everyone, then sat himself next to Sheila to dig in. Dodd was pleased to see the rich flavor bringing everyone to life. See! he thought. See, you morons, there’s more to life than Travels!
“This is really good,” Bob said with food in his mouth. He looked surprised, as did the two women.
Dodd glowed. “Glad you like it.”
“This is really good,” said Denise.
“Why, thank you.”
“This is really good,” she said again, not being able to get over the shock.
“It tastes better than Travels?” Dodd asked.
“What?”
“Are you sure it’s not too rich? I put in extra butter and cheese.”
“No, it’s really good.”
Bob gave him a funny look. He had caught the remark about Travels, but didn’t say anything about it. “So, what do you think about this second coming?” he asked Dodd.
“It’s going to be the end of the world.” Dodd took a bite of the potato – yes, yes it was good. He had out-done himself.
“How do you mean?”
“What?”
“You said ‘end of the world.’”
“Oh, exactly that. I think that if the Savior returns then the world will end.” He smiled at their decidedly blank expression. “What do you guys think?”
“I think it’s a crock,” Bob said, dismissing it. It was obvious he was sorry he brought the subject up.
“I think it’s a crock,” Denise said, nodding.
“Really?”
She nodded her head, stuffing more food in her mouth.
Dodd turned to Sheila. “How about you?”
Her eyes were brightening, as if atrophied brain tissue was struggling back to life. “I think it’s exciting.”
“Do you really?” he said, encouraging her.
“Yes, it could be … it could be a whole new beginning.”
Dodd was proud of her for having a thought all on her own, despite its simplicity. “What good things might come from a new beginning?”
She pondered this. “They can get rid of the euthanasia centers.”
Now Dodd was really proud of her. She was recovering! “Is euthanasia bad?”
“Yes, Dodd, you know it is.”
He smiled at her.
“That would be a good thing,” Bob said, pausing with a fork before his mouth. “I hope that comes about.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s not right. The planet’s not overpopulated anymore, why are they still around?”
“I don’t know,” Dodd said, urging him to continue. “You tell me.”
“Well, it’s too convenient. The courts send prisoners there, it’s easy for them to do. People kill themselves there without someone to try and talk them out of it.” He put the fork of food into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
Denise was looking back and forth between Dodd and her husband with an anxious expression. “I think it’s wrong, too,” she said.
“Why do you think it’s wrong?”
“Well, you know.”
“Do you think it’s wrong for a person to decide not to live anymore?”
“Yes, it’s … yes.”
Dodd leaned forward. “Why?”
Denise’s face twitched. She looked away from him, down at the plate, around the table. She couldn’t come up with an answer.
“A person is given a life,” Bob said, coming to her rescue.
“It’s a shame to waste it, you only have one.”
“They’re getting very close to being able to back up all the knowledge in a person’s brain,” Dodd said. “If you could back up your brain, Bob, and store it on a computer, then load it into a new body when yours gets too old to continue living, would that new body be you or would it be your child?”
“It would be another body.”
“But it’s cloned from your DNA. It has your memory RNA in it.
Your memories are fed into it, your attitudes, everything you know. It will think it is you. Will it be you, or not?”
“It would be another body.”
“So you would have died?”
“Well, no, I guess not. Maybe it would be me. Why are we talking about this?”
“I personally believe that this new body will not be you. I think that death is death, and I agree with you about those euthanasia centers.”
“Oh.” Bob shrugged, but Dodd could tell the man was pleased to have someone agree with him. Dodd wanted to encourage that, because he wanted to keep everybody talking. All of them, the Recents and Denise, seemed to have forgotten how to talk to each other in just a short period of time. It was only now, with all of them at the table in the same condition, that Dodd finally realized it was more than his imagination. Something was happening to these people. It frightened Dodd. They were all growing mentally weak, and Denise was physically so.
The end of the world, he thought. Here was proof. He wanted to broach the subject to them even though he knew it would ruin the evening, but before he had a chance the phone rang, and it was Toby.
“Hello, all,” he said through the screen to everyone. “Dodd, I need your help.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Savina got away from the Medical Authorities. My child ran away.”
“What!”
“For some reason she is protecting the boy who raped her. She told us a story about not being raped, said she was pregnant and knew it. I do not know what to do, Dodd. Will you help me?”
“Sure I’ll help! When did this happen?”
“Just now. They just found the intern unconscious, and their security computers spotted her leaving the hospital.”
“She knocked out an intern?”
“Yes. That’s what they tell me.”
“Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“And this just happened, what, a minute ago?”
“About five minutes, yes.”
“Did the police ask you for the number of her moneycard?”
“No, they did not.”
“Well, they will. I don’t know if she knows it or not, but most fugitives are caught when they use their moneycard in a cab or a restaurant.”
“Savina is smart, I think she will know.”
“Then I bet you that the first thing she’s going to do is try – she’ll want to get cash from her account before the police put a trace on it. Find out from Information where the nearest bank is around there, and I’ll meet you there. Maybe we can find her before the MA’s do.”
“Okay. I knew I could count on you!” Toby rang off.
Dodd dialed Information himself, searching for the spot to meet his friend.
#
Savina had walked a couple miles before she felt safe enough to slow down and catch her breath. She was exhausted. Just ahead there was a subway terminal with a throng of people, the last wave of the rush hour, the entry way choked with bodies entering and exiting. She ducked off the sidewalk into the alcove of an old building, leaning up against a rail of some low steps and stood there thinking. Her excitement was a physical thing, an electricity running up and down her legs and arms. Freedom, she thought. Freedom is an incredible feeling. She put her hand against the lower part of her stomach, feeling the firmness.