DAY 7 6:12 A.M.
Things happened faster than I expected. I could hear them running toward me down the corridor. I hastily hid the jug1, then ran back and continued crossing the fabrication room. That was when they all came after me. I started to run. Vince tackled me, and I hit the concrete floor hard. Ricky threw himself on top of me after I was down. He knocked the wind out of me. Then Vince kicked me in the ribs2 a couple of times, and together they dragged me to my feet to face Julia.
“Hi, Jack3,” she said, smiling. “How’s it going?”
“It’s been better.”
“We’ve had a nice talk with Mae,” Julia said. “So there’s no point in beating around the bush.” She looked around the floor nearby. “Where is the jug?”
“What jug?”
“Jack.” She shook her head sadly. “Why do you bother? Where is the jug of phage you were going to put in the sprinkler system?”
“I don’t have any jug.”
She stepped close to me. I could feel her breath on my face. “Jack ... I know that look on your face, Jack. You have a plan, don’t you? Now tell me where the jug is.”
“What jug?”
Her lips brushed mine. I just stood there, still as a statue. “Jack darling,” she whispered, “you know better than to play with dangerous things. I want the jug.” I stood there.
“Jack ... just one kiss ...” She was close, seductive.
Ricky said, “Forget it, Julia. He’s not afraid of you. He drank the virus and he thinks it’ll protect him.”
“Will it?” Julia said, stepping back.
“Maybe,” Ricky said, “but I bet he’s afraid to die.”
And then he and Vince began dragging me across the fabrication room. They were taking me to the high mag field room. I began to struggle.
“That’s right,” Ricky said. “You know what’s coming, don’t you?” This was not in my plan. I hadn’t expected it; I didn’t know what I could do now. I struggled harder, kicking and twisting, but they were both immensely strong. They just dragged me forward. Julia opened the heavy steel door to the mag room. Inside, I saw the circular drum of the magnet, six feet in diameter.
They shoved me in roughly. I sprawled4 on the ground in the room. My head banged against the steel shielding. I heard the door click and lock.
I got to my feet.
I heard the rumble5 of the cooling pumps as they started up. The intercom clicked. I heard Ricky’s voice. “Ever wonder why these walls are made out of steel, Jack? Pulsed magnets are dangerous. Run them continuously, and they blow apart. Get ripped apart by the field they generate. We got a one-minute load time. So you’ve got one minute to think it over.” I had been in this room before, when Ricky showed me around. I remembered there was a knee plate, a safety cutoff. I hit it with my knee.
“Won’t work, Jack,” Ricky said laconically6. “I inverted7 the switching. Now it turns the magnet on, instead of off. Thought you’d like to know.”
The rumbling8 was louder. The room began to vibrate slightly. The air grew swiftly colder. In a moment I could see my breath.
“Sorry if you’re uncomfortable, but that’s only temporary,” Ricky said. “Once the pulses get going, the room’ll heat up fast. Uh, let’s see. Forty-seven seconds.” The sound was a rapid chunk-chunk-chunk, like a muffled9 jackhammer. It was loud, and getting louder. I could hardly hear Ricky over the intercom. “Now Jack,” he said. “You have a family. A family that needs you. So think about your choices very carefully.”
I said, “Let me speak to Julia.”
“No, Jack. She doesn’t want to talk to you right now. She’s very disappointed in you, Jack.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“Jack, aren’t you listening to me? She says no. Not until you tell her where the virus is.” Chunk-chunk-chunk. The room was starting to get warmer. I could hear the gurgle of the coolant as it went through the piping. I kicked the safety plate with my knee. “I told you, Jack. It’ll only turn the magnet on. Are you having trouble hearing me?”
“Yes,” I yelled. “I am.”
“Well that’s too bad,” Ricky said. “I’m sorry to hear that.” At least, I thought that’s what he was saying. The chunk-chunk-chunk seemed to fill the room, to make the very air vibrate. It sounded like an enormous MRI, those giant pumps. My head hurt. I stared at the magnet, at the heavy bolts that held the plates together. Those bolts would soon become missiles.
“We’re not fucking around, Jack,” Ricky said. “We’d hate to lose you. Twenty seconds.” The load time was the time it took to charge the magnet capacitors, so that millisecond pulses of electricity could be delivered. I wondered how long after loading it would take for the pulses to blow the magnet apart. Probably a few seconds at most. So time was running out for me. I didn’t know what to do. Everything had gone horribly wrong. And the worst part was that I had lost the only advantage I ever had, because they now recognized the importance of the virus. Earlier they hadn’t focused on it as a threat. But now they understood, and were demanding I hand it over. Soon they would think to destroy the fermentation tank. They would eradicate10 the virus very thoroughly11, I felt sure.
And there was nothing I could do about it. Not now.
I wondered how Mae was, and whether they had hurt her. I wondered if she was still alive. I felt detached, indifferent. I was sitting in an oversized MRI, that was all. This big terrifying sound, it must have been how Amanda felt, when she was in the MRI ... My mind drifted, uncaring.
“Ten seconds,” Ricky said. “Come on, Jack. Don’t be a hero. It’s not your style. Tell us where it is. Six seconds. Five. Jack, come on ...”
The chunk-chunk-chunk stopped, and there was a whang! and a scream of rending12 metal. The magnet had switched on, for a few milliseconds.
“First pulse,” Ricky said. “Don’t be an asshole, Jack.”
Another whang! Whang! Whang! The pulses were coming faster and faster. I saw the jacketing on the coolant beginning to indent13 with each pulse. They were coming too fast. Whang! Whang!
I couldn’t take it anymore. I shouted, “Okay! Ricky! I’ll tell you!”
Whang! “Go ahead, Jack!” Whang! “I’m waiting.”
“No! Turn it off first. And I only tell Julia.”
Whang! Whang! “Very unreasonable14 of you, Jack. You’re in no position to bargain.” Whang!
“You want the virus, or you want it to be a surprise?”
Whang! Whang! Whang!
And then abruptly15, silence. Nothing but the low swoosh of the coolant flowing through the jacketing. The magnet was hot to the touch. But at least the MRI sound had stopped. The MRI ...
I stood in the room, and waited for Julia to come in. And then, thinking it over, I sat down.
I heard the door unlock. Julia walked in.
“Jack. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No,” I said. “Just my nerves are shot.”
“I don’t know why you put yourself through it,” she said. “It was totally unnecessary. But guess what? I have good news. The helicopter just arrived.”
“It did?”
“Yes, it’s early today. Just think, wouldn’t it be nice to be on it now, going home? Back to your house, back to your family? Wouldn’t that feel great?”
I sat there with my back against the wall, looking up at her. “Are you saying I can go?”
“Of course, Jack. There’s no reason for you to stay here. Just give me the bottle of virus, and go home.”
I didn’t believe her for a second. I was seeing the friendly Julia, the seductive Julia. But I didn’t believe her. “Where is Mae?”
“She’s resting.”
“You’ve hurt her.”
“No. No, no, no. Why would I do that?” She shook her head. “You really don’t understand, do you? I don’t want to hurt anybody, Jack. Not you, not Mae, not anybody. I especially don’t want to hurt you.”
“Try telling that to Ricky.”
“Jack. Please. Let’s put emotion aside and be logical for a moment. You’re doing all this to yourself. Why can’t you accept the new situation?” She held out her hand to me. I took it, and she pulled me up. She was strong. Stronger than I ever remembered her being. “After all,” she said, “you’re an integral part of this. You killed the wild type for us, Jack.”
“So the benign16 type could flourish ...”
“Exactly, Jack. So the benign type could flourish. And create a new synergy with human beings.”
“The synergy that you have now, for example.”
“That’s right, Jack.” She smiled. It was a creepy smile.
“You are, what? Coexisting? Coevolving?”
“Symbiotic.” She was still smiling.
“Julia, this is all bullshit,” I said. “This is a disease.”
“Well of course you would say that. Because you don’t know any better, yet. You haven’t experienced it.” She came forward and hugged me. I let her do it. “You have no idea what’s ahead of you.”
“Story of my life,” I said.
“Stop being so stubborn, for once. Just go along with it. You look tired, Jack.” I sighed. “I am tired,” I said. And I was. I was feeling distinctly weak in her arms. I was sure she could sense it.
“Then why don’t you just relax. Embrace me, Jack.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”
“Yes, I am.” She smiled again, ruffled17 my hair with her hand. “Oh, Jack ... I really have missed you.”
“Me too,” I said. “I missed you.” I gave her a hug, squeezed her, held her close. Our faces were close. She looked beautiful, her lips parted, her eyes staring up at me, soft, inviting18. I felt her relax. Then I said, “Just tell me one thing, Julia. It’s been bothering me.”
“Sure, Jack.”
“Why did you refuse to have an MRI in the hospital?”
She frowned, leaned back to look at me. “What? What do you mean?”
“Are you like Amanda?”
“Amanda?”
“Our baby daughter ... you remember her. She was cured by the MRI. Instantly.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Julia, does the swarm19 have some problem with magnetic fields?”
Her eyes widened. She began to struggle in my grip. “Let go of me! Ricky! Ricky!”
“Sorry, hon,” I said. I kicked the plate with my knee. And there was a loud whang! as the magnet pulsed.
Julia screamed.
Her mouth was open as she screamed, a steady continuous sound, her face rigid20 with tension. I held her hard. The skin of her face began to shiver, vibrating rapidly. And then her features seemed to grow, to swell21 as she screamed. I thought her eyes looked frightened. The swelling22 continued, and began to break up into rivulets23, and streams. And then in a sudden rush Julia literally24 disintegrated25 before my eyes. The skin of her swollen26 face and body blew away from her in streams of particles, like sand blown off a sand dune27. The particles curved away in the arc of the magnetic field toward the sides of the room. I felt her body growing lighter28 and lighter in my arms. Still the particles continued to flow away, with a kind of whooshing29 sound, to all corners of the room. And when it was finished, what was left behind—what I still held in my arms—was a pale and cadaverous form. Julia’s eyes were sunk deep in her cheeks. Her mouth was thin and cracked, her skin translucent32. Her hair was colorless, brittle33. Her collarbones protruded34 from her bony neck. She looked like she was dying of cancer. Her mouth worked. I heard faint words, hardly more than breathing. I leaned in, turned my ear to her mouth to hear.
“Jack,” she whispered. “It’s eating me.”
I said, “I know.”
Her voice was just a whisper. “You have to do something.”
“I know.”
“Jack ... the children ...”
“Okay.”
She whispered, “I ... kissed them ...”
I said nothing. I just closed my eyes.
“Jack ... Save my babies ... Jack ...”
“Okay,” I said.
I glanced up at the walls and saw, all around me, Julia’s face and body stretched and fitted to the room. The particles retained her appearance, but were now flattened35 onto the walls. And they were still moving, coordinating36 with the movement of her lips, the blink of her eyes. As I watched, they began to drift back from the walls toward her in a flesh-colored haze37. Outside the room, I heard Ricky shouting, “Julia! Julia!” He kicked the door a couple of times, but he didn’t come in. I knew he wouldn’t dare. I had waited a full minute so the capacitors were charged. He couldn’t stop me from pulsing the magnet now. I could do it at will—at least, until the charge ran out. I didn’t know how long that would be. “Jack ...”
I looked at her. Her eyes were sad, pleading.
“Jack,” she said. “I didn’t know ...”
“It’s all right,” I said. The particles were drifting back, reassembling her face before my eyes. Julia was becoming solid, and beautiful again.
I kicked the knee plate.
Whang!
The particles shot away, flying back to the walls, though not so swiftly this time. And I had the cadaverous Julia in my arms again, her deep-set eyes pleading with me. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out one of the vials of phage. “I want you to drink this,” I said.
“No ... no ...” She was agitated38. “Too late ... for ...”
“Try,” I said. I held the vial to her lips. “Come on, darling. I want you to try.”
“No ... please ... Not important ...”
Ricky was yelling: “Julia! Julia!” He pounded on the door. “Julia, are you all right?” The cadaver31 eyes rolled toward the door. Her mouth worked. Her skeleton fingers plucked at my shirt, scratching the cloth. She wanted to tell me something. I turned my head again, so I could hear.
She breathed shallowly, weakly. I couldn’t catch the words. And then suddenly they were clear.
She said, “They have to kill you now.”
“I know,” I said.
“Don’t let them ... Children ...”
“I won’t.”
Her bony hand touched my cheek. She whispered, “You know I always loved you, Jack. I would never hurt you.”
“I know, Julia. I know.”
The particles on the walls were drifting free once more. Now they seemed to telescope back, returning to her face and body. I kicked the knee plate once again, hoping for more time with her, but there was only a dull mechanical thunk.
The capacitor was drained.
And suddenly, in a whoosh30, all the particles returned, and Julia was full and beautiful and strong as before, and she pushed me away from her with a contemptuous look and said in a loud, firm voice, “I’m sorry you had to see that, Jack.”
“So am I,” I said.
“But it can’t be helped. We’re wasting time. I want the bottle of virus, Jack. And I want it right now.”
In a way it made everything easier. Because I understood I wasn’t dealing39 with Julia anymore. I didn’t have to worry about what might happen to her. I just had to worry about Mae—assuming she was still alive—and me.
And assuming I could stay alive for the next few minutes.
收听单词发音 |
1
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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10
eradicate
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| v.根除，消灭，杜绝 | |
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11
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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12
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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indent
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| n.订单，委托采购，国外商品订货单，代购订单 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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dune
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| n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘 | |
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28
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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whooshing
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| v.（使）飞快移动( whoosh的现在分词 ) | |
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whoosh
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| v.飞快地移动，呼 | |
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cadaver
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| n.尸体 | |
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translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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coordinating
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| v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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