The Ungoverned by Vernor Vinge

Author:Vernor Vinge
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

There were dreams. In some he could only see. In others, he was blind, yet hearing and smell were present, all mixed together. And some were pure pain, winding up and up while all around him torturers twisted screws and needles to squeeze the last bit of hurt from his shredded flesh. But he also sensed his parents and sister Beth, quiet and near. And sometimes when he could see and the pain was gone, there were flowers—almost a jungle of them—dipping near his eyes, smelling of violin music.

Snow. Smooth, pristine, as far as his eyes could see. Trees glazed in ice that sparkled against cloudless blue sky. Wil raised his hand to rub his eyes and felt faint surprise to see the hand obey, to feel hand touch face as he willed it.

“Wili, Wili! You’re really back!” Someone warm and dark rushed in from the side. Tiny arms laced around his neck. “We knew you’d come back. But it’s been so long.” His five year-old sister snuggled her face against him.

As he lowered his arm to pat her head, a technician came around from behind him. “Wait a minute, honey. Just because his eyes are open doesn’t mean he’s back. We’ve gotten that far before.” Then he saw the grin on Wil’s face, and his eyes widened a bit. “L-Lieutenant Brierson! Can you understand me?” Wil nodded, and the tech glanced over his head—probably at some diagnostic display. Then he smiled, too. “You do understand me! Just a minute, I’m going to get my supervisor. Don’t touch anything.” He rushed out of the room, his last words more an unbelieving mumbling to himself than anything else: “I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever get past protocol rejection.”

Beth Brierson looked up at her brother. “Are you okay, now, Wili?”

Wil wiggled his toes, and felt them wiggle. He certainly felt okay. He nodded. Beth stepped back from the bed. “I want to go get Mom and Dad.”

Wil smiled again. “I’ll be right here waiting.”

Then she was gone, too. Brierson glanced around the room and recognized the locale of several of his nightmares.

But it was an ordinary hospital room, perhaps a little heavy on electronics.

… and still he was not alone in it. Alvin Swensen, dressed as offensively as ever, sat in the shadows next to the window. Now he stood up and crossed the room to shake hands.

Wil grunted. “My own parents aren’t here to greet me, yet Big Al is.”

“Your bad luck. If you’d had the courtesy to come around the first time they tried to bring you back, you would have had your family, and half MSP waiting for you. You were a hero.”

“Were?”

“Oh, you still are, Wil. But it’s been a while, you know.” There was a crooked smile on his face.

Brierson looked through the window at the bright winter’s day. The land was familiar. He was back in Michigan, probably at Okemos Central Medical. But Beth didn’t look much older. “Around six months, I’d guess.”

Big Al nodded.

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