CHAPTER THIRTY
"When terrorists knock down buildings, when drought wipes out our farmers, when the economy threatens to come to a halt, even those who are ideologically hostile to the government turn to it, both logically and reflexively, for help." - Jacob Weisberg, the New York Times Magazine, October 21st, 2001
The shower inside the Nest was no sanitizer; just a pipe with tiny holes drilled on one side, producing a steady waterfall of the liquid most necessary for survival. Harry found the result invigorating, but offering only temporary relief for his battered and burned body. Water alone was not enough to remove the sticky sludge. Some of it had burned deep into his skin. It seemed the burning would never cease.
"Here, use some of this," Carlos said. Although bruised and battered, amazingly, he looked much better after his ordeal. He tossed him a bar of a white waxy substance. "Just get it wet and rub it on your body until it suds up. It'll help remove the tar."
Harry put it up to his nose and sniffed. The bar had an unusual but not unpleasant odor. He touched it to his tongue. That was a mistake. How awful! He sputtered and spat several times, then tried to rinse his mouth out before he retched, all the while Carlos laughed.
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," Harry said sarcastically. "What is this stuff?"
"Don't you know? With all your historic trivia, I thought you'd known soap if you saw...er...tasted it." Carlos grinned and for the first time he seemed more of a friend than a captor.
"Soap?"
"Soap. For cleaning only, not eating."
"It seems to be working."
Carlos tried to be serious and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll survive. We always do."
"Ow! Ow!" Harry cried out as he rubbed soap onto one of his abrasions.
"Oh, you big baby," Carlos laughed. "I'm sorry, I can't help it. You look so pathetic."
"Gee, thanks," said Harry, not at all amused.
"It's just soap. It'll cleanse your wound. It'll only sting for a minute or two."
"Thanks. Guess it's for my own good."
"Listen. On some things here, it's okay for you to be in charge of your own 'good.' Thought you might like to know..." he said as he grabbed a towel hanging outside the shower spray.
He turned back to Harry with a smile. "Oh, by the way, this is a community shower. It might get a little crowded in here in a minute or two. We don't like to waste our precious water."
Not wanting to give up this hedonistic pleasure, Harry finished his shower with one last luxurious spray into his face. "You forget," he said, "we Touchables don't mind crowds. I'm just about finished anyway."
As he stepped out of the shower, Carlos handed him a towel much too small to dry his entire body.
"Stand over by that vent."
Harry let the whoosh of warm air dry his back and hair. Almost as invigorating as the sanitizer at home.
"Primitive, I know, but we do the best we can with what we have."
"With SensaVision," Harry pointed out, "you can be anywhere—enjoying tropical breezes if you like—although this surely does the trick. How can you do this to the pipes and the vents, and not have the maintenance cyberts disrupting your...er...home?"
"We purify and recycle the water, and get it back in the pipes before there is a significant drop in pressure. The maintenance cyberts would notice that."
"What about that pipe we broke in the tunnel?"
"Oh, they'll fix those, but don't worry, the cyberts won't connect it to us. They're task-specific."
"You mean, they're only programmed to troubleshoot and repair, not determine the cause of damage?"
"More efficient that way. Unless breakage becomes a pattern which up 'til now, it hasn't and, hopefully, it won't. At any rate, we can't use that passage for a while."
"I don't think I'd want to." Harry couldn't help but relive the intense fear and pain associated with that passageway. And seeing death so close up and real...
"If you think this is bad, you should see our other way in and out."
Harry looked a bit worried.
"I'm kidding," Carlos continued. "Just a few bugs and nasty vermin out the other way. They aren't nearly as big as that croc."
They laughed as well as anyone could laugh whose body had just been burned, broken, battered and bruised. It was a painful laughter at best, but proof that they had truly survived.
"Now let's take care of your wounds," Carlos said. "Follow me."
"Shouldn't I get dressed first?"
"No, it'll be all right. Trust me," he said dismissively. "Seriously..." He led Harry to what appeared to be bathing area with several tubs instead of showers.
"I just had a shower."
"This isn't to get you clean; it's to help heal your wounds."
"But..." protested Harry.
"Look at me. Do I look like I did when you brought me in?"
"Well, no, you don't." Carlos was right. He certainly didn't look like he'd just wrestled a giant sewer mutant. But, how?
"Sit down in one of these tubs. It's a little cold at first, but then the gel changes to agree with your body temperature and it feels wonderful."
Harry did as he'd been told. "What is this stuff?" He was wrinkling his nose at the feel of thick gelatin.
Funny, Carlos thought, everyone does that at first, but later when they hurt themselves they stand in line anxiously waiting their turn.
Harry sat down in the tub, letting the gelatin form around his body, covering it all except his head without a surface ripple. He leant his head back.
That's right, Harry, a voice tells him, let the gel do its job. He was a feather floating on a cushion of air. Who needed SensaVision? "This is great! What is it? Where'd you get it?"
"Hey, not so fast. Not so many questions. First, honestly, we don't know what it is. We found it."
"You found it? You don't know what it is and I'm sitting in it?"
He started up, but Carlos waved him back down.
"We disrupted a small factory with about a hundred of these tubs and vats. Like most things we find, we study and experiment with them until we find some use for them. We found it soothes what ails you. Seems to have remarkable healing properties. We've even stored cloned parts in there and were able to transplant them days later in perfect shape."
"This is indeed a treasure. I think...I...uh...uh...help!" At that moment his repose ended as he found himself slipping and sliding all the way under the gel. Carlos made no move toward him. He even seemed to be helping.
"Stop struggling you'll be fine," he said, smiling at Harry's troubles. "It also makes a great lubricant."
Harry would later compare his dilemma to an insect in amber, except he could hear Carlos perfectly. The words weren't distorted at all by the gel like they would be in water. If anything, the words were clearer. Had he really heard Carlos? Or were the words and voices in his mind?
Air? I need air, he thought, but his body didn't seem to be objecting to the containment. No, I don't, he answered himself. He wasn't breathing, at least, not in a usual sense; unbelievably, he felt no urge to breathe."
"You don't have to breathe. Your body is absorbing all the oxygen it needs from the gel. It's a perfect conduit."
After making sure Harry had enough time in the gel, Carlos reached down with both hands, grabbed him by the head and pulled him up. Harry was smiling as expected.
They all do the first time they use it, thought Carlos. In some ways it was the best kind of drug, he considered. It had no addictive properties other than increasing a desire to be free of pain and enjoy the sensation, and at that moment, there seemed to be an unlimited supply. The only downside, it seemed, was that it couldn't re-grow muscle and bone.
"That stuff is amazing. I feel great!"
"Good. Now, that's enough Rejuv for you. Get out. Here's your towel. Go rinse off in the shower."
"Rejuv?"
"Had to call it something. Don't worry, it doesn't actually make you younger, but it does take aw
ay pain and make you feel better. It won't put muscle on you or take fat or wrinkles off, but it's necessary. You've seen how rough life can get Outside."
Harry was himself more confident and poised for action; he already felt almost at home in the Nest.
Carlos found himself liking and admiring Harry, but couldn't help feeling he was making a mistake by letting this stranger into their midst. Something did not seem right.
As Harry stood, the gel slid willingly off his body, a few drops here and there clung to his body hair. He found his way back to the shower. The gel dissolved easily in the water. As he started to wrap the towel around his waist to collect the water running down his back, a naked and fit Kieran appeared in the doorway, smiling. She handed him his Touchable clothes that apparently had been cleaned and folded for him in gratitude for his brave act. As he reached for them, his own towel fell from his waist. And when he scrambled to pick it up and wrap it around him again, he dropped his clean clothes onto the wet floor. He heard giggling all around him, but it was Kieran who helped him pick everything up and arrange himself.
In such close proximity to female nudity, he found it difficult not to be aroused and was thankful that before he could say anything to Kieran, or she to him, several men and women entered the shower area, each unabashedly finding a place in the shower and beginning to wash. Harry sighed, feeling more comfortable with the community shower than being face-to-face with Kieran.
He looked back admiringly at Kieran's muscular backside. Fit, very fit, he thought. But then, this wouldn't be the place for soft women—or soft men for that matter.
He brushed aside his momentary embarrassment as he remembered his first encounter with the Touchables. He had been uncomfortable then until he had realized he had never felt more at home while he was Inside. This place, this Nest as they called it, was gloomy at best, but it felt alive nonetheless with the unity of goodwill among all who lived there. Inside, he had always felt alone.
Here he was experiencing the camaraderie; these were the comforting Shadows. He remembered the love and respect he had felt for the unselfish, perpetually curious and naïve Touchables, and his eyes welled up with tears. Then the tears suddenly stopped flowing.
Carlos had said it, hadn't he? That they had no time to mourn? Could it be he had no tears left?
Perhaps it was his own recent near death experience, but there was one other possible reason: he was becoming a true Outsider who understood the necessity of taking action. He had felt the pain of all Outsiders in the tunnels. Trapped, yet free to die fighting. Humans were meant to be free, he thought. Humans, not Bios. Had he changed that much already? The real question was whether he was a Touchable or a Shadow at heart - or maybe something else. The 'something else' part disturbed not only Harry, but all those he'd met.