[Shadowrun 05] Changeling by Chris Kubasik (Un

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.You were scheduled to go home before the riots last night.Everyone else is being moved out to secret locations.They’ll be cared for.Or so I’ve been told.But the administration believed they couldn’t put the other patients at risk of being killed by fanatics.”“So they’re dumping us out into the street.”“Not quite.But your anger is valid.”“I’m not angry,” Peter said reflexively, though he knew he was.“Whatever you say.”Thomas’ reply made him angrier.“I’m not.”“And the orderly you kidney-punched yesterday isn’t going to be on disability for the next three weeks.”“What?”“Relax,” Thomas said with a hand on Peter’s shoulder.“I mention him only to illustrate that something is going on inside you.And you’re not doing anyone any favors by denying it.As for the orderly, he’ll be fine.Things like that happen in this ward.It’s part of the job.”They came up to the elevator bank.Arrows on the buttons pointed up and down.A map hanging on the wall next to the elevators showed each floor of the hospital, with small icons for the various wards.The third floor was highlighted, so Peter assumed they were on that floor.He saw four small faces at one end of the map.Two broad faces with big teeth for an ork and a troll, respectively, a narrow face with long, pointed ears, representing an elf, and a face with a beard, meaning a dwarf.The pictures looked ridiculous, simplistic to the point of childishness, but without the energy a child would bring to the enterprise.The elevator door opened.Standing inside was an attractive woman with a little boy in her arms.She eyed Peter with suspicion as Thomas wheeled him in, but tried to conceal her fear.Then just as the door was about to shut, she rushed off the elevator still carrying her son.Peter’s chest tightened.“Don’t worry about it,” said Thomas.“It’s just fear.”3Thomas wheeled Peter out across the parking lot up to a large black Volkswagen Superkombi III van.When they reached the door on the passenger side, Thomas stepped around and opened it.Peter stood up carefully, but he still didn’t have his balance and fell forward.Grabbing frantically for the heavy door jamb, he managed to steady himself.Then he turned his head suddenly, catching his reflection in the door window.No one at the hospital had shown him a mirror, and now he knew why.His teeth were huge—two massive canines protruded from his lower gums and overlapped his upper lip.He had enormous yellow eyes and a monstrous head with large, pointed ears.Peter’s mind could not accept that he was looking at himself.Try as he might, he couldn’t get past the notion that the glass was some sort of optical trick.“Well,” said Thomas, beside him.“There it is.You ready? Let’s get going.” They worked together for several minutes, and soon Peter was inside the van.It immediately struck him that few cars were spacious enough to comfortably seat someone like him.Thomas loaded the wheelchair into the back of the van, then climbed into the driver’s seat and started up the engine.He said nothing, and Peter was content to remain transfixed by his reflection in the glass.He was pulled out of his thoughts only twice, when groups of people spotted him and threw bottles and plasticans at the van.“I think I was safer in the hospital.”“Well, this is why nature gave you such a thick hide.So you can take it.”“Why should I have to take it?”“Maybe you shouldn’t have to take it.But you will.You’re in this world, you play by the world’s rules.World says there are stupid people.There it is.”“Don’t we make our own rules?” A word came back to him: laws.“I thought that was the point of laws.”“Well… First, who makes the laws, Peter? People.People make the laws.So you don’t escape the world hiding behind the laws of men.Nature’s still there.She said, ‘I’ll let there be stupid people,’ and the stupid people can make a law just as well as a kind person.“Second, even good laws can be ignored.You can’t legislate intelligence.You can’t legislate kindness.There have always been stupid people, and I think there will always be stupid people.”“My doctor said he thinks people will get smarter.”“He may be right.I might believe the same thing someday.I’m only as old as I am.I’ll change, I’ll learn more.Who knows?”The van pulled into a driveway, which led up to a small, old-fashioned house, built of wood and ornate metal.Peter didn’t recognize it.“Is this where I live?”“I think so…” Thomas pulled out a book whose many worn pages were covered with notes written in a tiny scrawl.“This is the address they gave me.It doesn’t look right?”“No, I’m sorry.This is where I live.I forgot.We only moved here three weeks ago.Or, I guess, seven weeks ago.For my father’s job at the U.of C.” He raised his hand to his head.“I’m so stupid now.It’s like thinking through cotton.”Thomas turned to Peter and narrowed his eyes.“You don’t sound stupid to me.What makes you say that?”“Well, I’m a troll.I’m stupider than I was before.”“Peter, your brain rebuilt itself along with your body.It’s different.And yes, to put it bluntly, trolls do tend to be mentally slower than pure humans.But when you were a human, you”—he flipped open the book again—“you pulled an IQ score of 184 and a GPH of 18.We don’t know what you’re like yet.You won’t be as smart as you were, but we still don’t know the whole story.”Thomas’ words disturbed Peter.He had begun to take comfort in the notion of his stupid mind; he wouldn’t have to expect much from his life or his future, and this matched his father’s outlook.Unpleasant, perhaps, but certain.“Now, you’ve got two choices.You can think you know everything there is to know about yourself.Or you can live, observe, and discover.” Peter remained silent.“It’s not a decision you have to make right now.It’s one of those life things.” Thomas winked.As Thomas helped Peter up to the house, a few of the neighbors came out to stare in awe at the troll walking up the front path [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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