F. Wilson - Dydeetown World

Her unbridled enthusiasm did not keep my stomach from lurching as I saw my own blood start to well in the lengthening incision.

"Could you turn off the monitor, please?"

"Sure."

A hand disappeared from the field and then the holochamber went blank. Couldn't understand why some people like to watch. Looking at the blank ceiling now, I heard my voice yammering on. Usually I let other people talk, but I was nervous, shaking inside, feeling cold and sick, and it seemed to help to talk.

"You do this often?"

"No. Hardly at all. I used to put in a lot of wires when I was back on the island. We refer all our button jobs there. You really need a team of two to do an implant right. These little branch offices don't have the volume to warrant two techs."

"Didn't look that way this morning."

"Those were special orders." I heard her shift position. "Okay. We're ready to dewire. Last chance: You sure you want to go through with this?"

"Absolutely…I think. But what if I feel I'm starting to go crazy after the wire is gone?"

There was a pause. "I think we can help you."

"Yeah? How?"

"You've heard of NDT, right?"

"Of course."

Had forgotten what the letters stood for but knew it was a neurohormone — NeuroNex marketed their own brand under the name that had become generic for the stuff: BrainBoost.

"Right. Well, new research indicates that NDT might prove to be of some benefit in the button withdrawal stage."

That was good news. Anything to ease the withdrawal would be a blessing. Tried some NDT in my younger days to help me pass the investigator's exam and hadn't been too impressed. NDT was the last thing I would have expected to help.

"Isn't that for memory and the like?"

"Right," she said. "There's some perceptual enhancement, but basically it's a cognitive booster. Better recall, heightened deductive and analytical capabilities."

"That's what I thought." Students used a lot of it, so did business people for meetings and negotiations, and so on. "So how's it going to help me?"

"It appears to concentrate attention on the congnitive functions and distract it from the vegetative-reproductive areas. In other words, you're still withdrawing but you don't notice it as much."

Just then a disturbing thought struck me.

"By the way, what did that guy just ahead of me want to 'donate'?"

"NDT."

"Afraid you'd say that. Not exactly anxious to have any of him floating around in my brain."

She laughed, a deep chuckle. "Don't worry! By the time we finish concentrating and distilling our NDT, it is pure. Not a trace of contaminant."

"Sounds like it's worth a try."

"Oh, it's definitely worth a try. In fact…" She hesitated here and I wished I could have seen her face. "There's a special high-potency NDT that would be perfect for you It's a new synthetic."

"Thought the synthetics weren't worth the trouble."

"They weren't. But this is something completely new. Unfortunately, it's not officially on the market yet."

"Too bad."

"I could get you some, but I can't sell it to you through the usual channels, if you get my meaning."

Got her meaning, all right: a barter deal.

Very interesting. NDT was growing in my mind as a two-edged sword: It could get me over the hump of withdrawing from the buttons, and it would give me an excuse to keep coming back here until I found a connection between NeuroNex and the snatched urchins. If indeed there was a connection.

"What's so special about this synthetic?"

"Super high potency."

"Why not just take more of the regular NDT?"

"Because there are only so many receptor sites in the brain available to regular NDT. Once they're all engaged, that's it — you've got your maximum effect no matter how much you pour in. The super NDT has quadruple the bioactivity of regular."

She did a little more fiddling around on my head, then said, "That does it. The wire's out. Now…I can either close you up tight or implant a membrane patch so you can put NDT to use on a regular basis."

"How about a free sample of the super stuff? If it helps, I'll come back for the membrane and you'll have yourself a regular customer."

Didn't want to trade one dependency for another, but if NDT would help me over the rough spots, I couldn't pass it up.

There was a pause, then, "Sounds fair. I'll get some."

She left me alone. If not for my open scalp, it would have been a perfect opportunity for some quick snooping. Stayed on the table and waited.

"I'm going to add a ten-nanogram dose of NDT suspension directly into your CSF and then — "

"CSF?"

"Cerebrospinal fluid. The juice your brain floats in, so to speak. Then I'm going to close you up. You'll get a short, quick, intense reaction to the NDT. It lasts much longer through a membrane patch."

"This is the super stuff you're giving me? On the house, right?"

"On the house."

It didn't hit me until I was off the table and thumbing my bill in the outer office. Suddenly noticed that colors seemed brighter, clearer, objects more sharp-edged. Was aware of all my nerve-endings, could feel the scanner read the processor in my thumb and deduct the unbuttoning fee. Felt the blood racing through my capillaries, felt the slow coiling peristalsis of my intestines, the microturbulence of the air currents in my lungs, the electric currents arcing along the walls of my heart. If this was the effect of super NDT, I could see how it would make it easier to forget how lost and alone you felt without your button collection.

The NDT I'd had in the past had never been like this. Super NDT…nordopatriptyline…everything I'd ever learned, ever read, ever heard about it came back to me and swirled with my latent thoughts and questions about the snatched urchins, living and otherwise. And suddenly it was all clear. All the pieces fell together into a seamless could-be that needed only a few more facts to make it a must-be.

"Of course!" I heard my own voice mutter as I withdrew my thumb from the payment slot. "That's why you snatch the urchins!"

"What did you say?" the tech asked with suddenly narrowed eyes.

"Nothing." Loose-lipped idiot!

"No, you said something about urchins." Her smile had shrunken to a tight thin line, her cherubic face had settled into a petrous mask.

I didn't hesitate a microsecond. "'Luncheon.' I said, 'I still have time to make a luncheon.'"

"Oh," she said and nodded, but I knew she didn't believe me. Got out as fast as I could and headed for Elmero's, hoping Doc was there.

"Seems kind of a waste to me," Doc said, his black face gleaming in the bright lights of Elmero's office. "I mean, we've already been into Central Data once and found nothing useful in the p-m report. Why go back?"

"Because I don't think we asked the right questions."

While I argued with Doc, Elmero was already at his console, working his jacking procedure. The super NDT was still buzzing through me. My thoughts were flying.

Doc shrugged. "Well, it's your money."

"Right. So tell me: Is a cerebrospinal fluid analysis done on a routine post-mortem?"

"Of course. Protein, glucose, chlorides, bacteria, viruses, toxins, and other sundry things."

"Neurohormones?"

"Hell, no!"

"Why not?"

"Be like checking for subcutaneous fat on your ass: Everbody's got it to varying degrees. Why should they check for neurohormones? Everybody's got those. Besides, those assays are expensive. You'd have to expect a problem along those lines before trying to justify that kind of expenditure. Certainly wouldn't do it on a John or a Jane Doe that's undoubtedly an urchin."

That was what I had figured.

"How long do they keep tissue samples in the coroner's dept?"

"Depends. On a Doe case, probably a month, tops."