Counting Heads by David Marusek

Author:David Marusek [Marusek, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765317544
Publisher: Macmillan

BECAUSE OF HER duty with the death artist, Shelley was a minor celebrity at APRT 7. Admirers on the Stardeck stopped her every few meters to offer comments about her client, Judith Hsu. After a year of remission, Hsu’s condition had recently taken an aggressive turn, and her viewership had increased accordingly. Hsu’s skin had become hidebound with scar tissue, and she could barely move at all. Her skin was so fragile at her elbows that bending her arms could potentially split it and expose her joints. And the poor woman’s pruritus was unbearable. She couldn’t stop clawing at herself. The jenny nurses had to tie her hands in soft restraints to keep her from scratching herself to shreds.

Shelley acknowledged her fans’ attention, but it was clear to Mary that she did not relish it.

The Stardeck was a killing field. People wielded shoes, pocket billies, and wine bottles in their slaughter of the small, black defenders of cellular integrity. Foolish revelers climbed on the balcony railing to reach them, unmindful of the three-kilometer drop. Steves took advantage of their extraordinary height to fling slugs off the walls with spoons into the waiting clutches of tipsy, oxygen-deprived berserkers. “Heave ho!” the steves cried each time they flung one. “Heave ho!”

Incongruously, other people stood patiently in an orderly queue beneath a slugway and waited for unsuspecting slugs to exit the building. After a quick look around, Mary and Shelley joined the end of the line.

Shelley seemed to walk with a limp, but Mary didn’t mention it. Instead, she said, I’m thinking of retraining.

Oh? Shelley said. In what area?

I looked up the stats to find which female type has the widest duty opportunities. You know which it is?

Shelley scratched her throat and said, The jennys I would suppose.

Close; they’re second. It’s actually the juanita/janes. There will always be houses to tidy, you know, and drinks to fetch, and pillows to fluff. The best employment security and the lowest pay scale.

Little by little, the two evangelines advanced to the head of the line. When it was their turn, and a slug came through the slugway, Mary and Shelley just stood watching it slither up the wall, neither of them making a move.

“It’s getting away,” said someone from behind.

“Catch it!” Mary said.

“You!” said Shelley.

Soon the slug was out of reach. The evangelines laughed and left the queue. They went to sit at a table in a quiet corner, away from the bedlam.

Shelley eased herself carefully into a chair. “So, you’re thinking of taking up Domestic Science?”

“Right.” Mary laughed. “Even better—this morning I took an intro course in Cake Design.”

“You’re kidding.”

Mary shook her head. “But seriously, don’t you think we should be qualified for something?”

Shelley scratched her arm thoughtfully. “I hope so. I’m thinking of retraining, myself.”

“You? You’ve got it made!”

Shelley sighed. “I don’t know how many more of these deaths I can take. Remember the last one when my hair fell out? Well, look at this.” She unfastened her sleeve and exposed her arm for a moment.

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