Chapter 7 Chapter Six

Turk told Thomas about Liz.Kim Eun.Talked a little bit about how they hit it off when they were stuck in the mountains; about how he couldn't forget her, even when they returned to civilization, even if she didn't return his calls; about how they left together during the fallout. Thomas listened in his battered easy chair, sipping beer from a green glass bottle and laughing quietly, as if he had found a calm place in his head.It sounds like you don't know this lady at all. I understand everything I need to know.Some people, it's not hard to see if you trust them or not. Trust her, do you trust her?

yes. Thomas covered the crotch of his baggy jeans with his hands.This is what you trust!You are a sailor through and through. not like this. It's never been this way, but it always will be.So why are you driving here and telling me about this woman? Actually, I was thinking maybe I could introduce you to her. introduce me?I'm not your father, Turk. No, but you're not who you used to be. I don't see how this has anything to do with the matter. Turk was careful to say it in the most tactful way he could: Well, she's curious about fourth-years. Oh my gosh.Thomas rolled his eyes.curious?

She has a reason. So you're going to serve her this dish from me?Exhibit A or something? no.What I really want to do is get her to talk to Diane.But I want to hear your opinion first. ☆ Diane, the Western doctor (or nurse, as she insisted on calling herself), walked from some outback village to Shipbreaking Beach to treat Thomas's cut arm. Turk was suspicious of her at first.In Equatoria, especially in this remote wilderness, no one would check anyone's medical license.At least that was his impression.All you need is a syringe and a bottle of distilled water to call yourself a doctor.The shipbreaker's boss would naturally support any doctor who did his work for free, even if he called himself a doctor, whatever he wanted to do.Turk and Thomas sat in an empty room, waiting for the woman to come.This hut is built with local branches that are round, stripped of bark, and knotted like bamboo, and covered with a flat tin roof.The room smelled of stale cooking, mixed with the smell of tobacco and human sweat.It was hot inside, but every once in a while a breeze would blow in through the grilled doors.Turk would chat with Thomas once in a while, until the old man finally fell asleep, blood still oozing out of the makeshift bandage.

As the sun went down, the doctor finally came.She stepped up the wooden steps to the plank floor and pushed the screen that kept the bugs out of the way. She wore a tunic and slacks of a fabric of the color and material of denim.She's not a young woman, far from it.Her hair was so gray that it was almost transparent.Which is the patient?she asked squinting.And, light a lamp, please.I can't see at all. My name is Turk.Finlay.Turk said. Are you a patient? not me Take me to see patients. So he turned on the wick of an oil lamp and led her through another screen to a yellow mattress.In the twilight outside, insects are brewing a chorus.He had never heard a sound like it before, but he could tell it was insect chirping, that determined, staccato hum.From the beach came the pounding of hammers, the clattering of metal plates, the popping and booming of diesel motors.

Thomas was snoring and sleeping on the mattress.The doctor (that was Diane) looked at the bandages on his arm with disdain.How did this happen? Turk told what had happened. So he died for you? At least one arm was sacrificed. You are very lucky to have such friends. Wake him up first, then tell me if I'm lucky She pushed Thomas on the shoulder, and he opened his eyes, cursing immediately.Old-fashioned, Creole-Louisiana-style swearing, as spicy as okra.He tried to sit up, then changed his mind.Finally he turned his attention to Diane.Who the hell are you? I am a nurse.calm down.Who put the bandages on you?

A guy on board. Badly wrapped.let me see. Hey, I guess it's his first time doing this kind of thing too.He!God!Turk, is this really a nurse? Don't be a child, Diane said, don't move.If I can't see what's wrong, I can't help you.There was a pause.Well, you are lucky, you didn't scratch the artery.She took a syringe out of the first aid kit and injected it with some kind of medicine.This can relieve pain while cleaning the wound and suturing. Thomas protested, but only for a moment.He looked relieved when the needle went in. The cabin was narrow, and Turk stepped back a little to give Diane more room to do things.He imagined the lives of shipbreakers: sleeping under tin roofs, praying that they would not be injured or killed before their contracts expired and they received their promised wages.Salary is a year's wages plus a bus ticket to Port Magellan.There's an official camp doctor here, the shipbreaker boss explained, but he only comes in twice a week, usually to fill out forms.Diane does most of the general cuts and stitches.

Turk watched her work on the wound, the candlelight casting her silhouette on the thin insect screen.She was thin and moved with the measured caution of an old man.But she's also strong.She works carefully and neatly, and occasionally mutters to herself.She might have been Thomas's age, and the sailor looked sixty, seventy, maybe older. She was buried in her work, and Thomas was restless, cursing now and then, but sluggish from the drugs.The room smelled of disinfectant.Turk walked out of the house, and it was getting dark. It was his first night in the new world.Not far away was a flowering bush, he couldn't name it, but saw the six-petal leaves swaying in the sea breeze.The flowers are blue and smell like cloves or cinnamon, or some kind of Christmas food spice.Farther on, on the industrial beach, lights and fires flickered like fuzes lit.Beyond, the waves heaved in a pale green phosphorescence.And those stars in other worlds slowly turned and turned into a big circle.

☆ Complications are possible.After treating Thomas' wound, Diane said. She came over and sat with Turk on the wooden platform, the floor of which was about thirty centimeters above the ground.She cleaned and sewed vigorously while she wiped her forehead with a handkerchief.Her accent is American, Turk thought.A little bit of a Southern accent, maybe Maryland, or something around there. He asked what possible complications there might be. With luck, it's not serious.But Equatoria is a whole new bacterial environment, you know? I may be stupid, but I'm not ignorant. She laughed at the remark.I apologize.What's your surname, sir?

Finlay, but you can call me Turk. Your parents named you Turk?Turk mean? No, that was a nickname because my family lived in Istanbul for a few years when I was a kid and I spoke a little Turkish.You just said that Thomas may have contracted some local disease? There are no aborigines on this planet, no hominins, no primates, nothing remotely like us.We won't run into most local diseases.But there are some bacteria and molds that thrive in moist, warm environments, including the human body.There's nothing we can't adapt to, Mr. Finlay Turk, and there's no deadly or contagious disease that's ever returned to Earth.Still, it's not a good idea to go to the New World with a faulty immune system, or in Mr. King's case, an open wound bandaged by an idiot.

Can't you give him some antibiotics? I gave.However, local microbes may not respond to standard agents.Don't get me wrong, he's not sick, and nine times out of ten he won't be, but there are certain unavoidable risks.Are you a good friend of Mr. King's? Not really.But as I said, he was injured because he wanted to save me. I hope to keep him here to observe for a few more days, is that okay? I can, but you may have to convince Thomas.He is out of my control. where are you going?If you don't mind me asking. Head south down the coast to the city. Is there a special address?Or can I reach your phone number?

No, I just got here.But you can tell Thomas that when he gets to Port Magellan, I'll meet him at the Union Building. She seemed disappointed.oh. Or maybe I can call you? She turned around and stared at him for a long time.Rather than staring, it is better to look carefully.Turk began to feel a little embarrassed under this merciless gaze.Then she said: OK.I will give you a number. She found a pencil in the first-aid kit and scribbled the number on the back of a Coast and City ticket. ☆ She is evaluating you.Thomas said. I know. Intuition is strong, that woman. yes.That's the point.Turk said. ☆ So Turk found a place to live in Port Magellan, and spent some time relying on his savings, occasionally going to the Seamen's Union to find Thomas.But Thomas never showed up.At first it didn't worry him that Thomas could be anywhere.For all he knew, Thomas might want to cross the mountains.So Turk would go for a meal, a drink, and forget about his meal buddies.But a month later, he found the ticket stub and dialed the number written on it. What he heard was an autoplay notification that the number was no longer in use. This aroused his curiosity and sense of responsibility.He was running out of money and was about to sign on for pipeline work, but instead he hitchhiked north along the coast, walked a few kilometers to the shipbreaking site, and started asking people.A shipbreaking boss remembered Turk's face and told him that his friend was sick, which was really unfortunate, but they couldn't let sick sailors take up everyone's time and attention, so Ibudian and a few minans The fishermen of Jiabao Village dragged the old man back to their village. Turk ate dinner at a tin-roofed Chinese restaurant at the intersection, then hitchhiked further north up the coast to a horseshoe-shaped bay.In the long equatorial twilight, the bay transforms into dazzling colors.The driver, a salesman for some West African import company, pointed to an unpaved road and a sign in a squiggly script Turk didn't recognize.Minangkabau village goes from there, he said.Turk walked a few kilometers through the forest, and just as the stars brightened and the insects began to bother him, he found himself in front of a row of houses with cornices.There was also a lighted grocery store with men in baseball caps drinking coffee at little tables with cable spools.With his nicest smile, he asked a local how to get to Dr. Diane's clinic. The man smiled back at him, nodded, and shouted towards the coffee shop.Two burly young men hurried out and stood on both sides of Turk.We take you there.When Turk made the same request again, they responded in English.There was a smile on his face, too, but Turk felt uneasy: they looked polite, but they were actually trying to monitor his every move. ☆ When you finally saw me, I was a mess, right?Thomas said. Do not you remember? I don't remember much. Yeah, said Turk, you sucked! ☆ Terrible.Thomas lay sick, emaciated, panting in the back room of the big log building Diane called the clinic.Turk looked at his friend with an expression that bordered on horror. God!What happened to you? calm down.Ebdian said.Eevee is what the villagers call her.He guessed it was a title of honor. Is he dying? no.On the contrary, he was recovering. Was it all because of the cuts on his arms? Thomas looked like someone had put a tube down his throat and sucked his guts out.He had never seen anyone thinner than him. It's much more complicated than that.You sit down and I'll explain. Outside the clinic window, the village of Minangkabau is bustling in the dark.Lanterns hung from the eaves, swaying in the wind; music jingled from the streets.Diane makes coffee with an electric kettle and a French grinder: nice, strong, hot coffee. Diane said the clinic originally had two real doctors.One is her husband and the other is a lady from Minangkabau village, but both have recently passed away due to illness, leaving only her.Her only knowledge of medicine was learned as a nurse, but it was enough to keep the clinic running.This clinic is an indispensable resource, not just for this village, but for half a dozen nearby villages and poor shipbreakers.Anything she couldn't handle, she referred to the Red Crescent clinic up the coast, or to the Catholic Charity Hospital in Port Magellan, which was too far away.So things like cuts, simple broken bones, and general discomfort, which she was able to handle, were left here to heal.She regularly consults a patrolling doctor from Hong Kong City. The doctor understands her situation and will provide her with basic medicines, sterile bandages and other items. So maybe you should send Thomas to the south coast.Turk said, I see he is very ill. The cut on his arm was minor.Did Thomas tell you he had cancer? God!No.cancer?Yeah? We brought him back here because he had an infected wound, but the cancer was detected with a simple blood test.I don't have any diagnostic equipment here, but I have a portable imaging device, which is ten years old and works well.It confirms the diagnosis, but the prognosis is very poor.Cancer is not a disease that cannot be cured, but your friend has been avoiding medical treatment for too long.It has shifted too badly. So he was definitely going to die. no.Diane paused.She stares again with that gaze, serious and somewhat inscrutable.Turk tried not to avert his gaze.It's a lot like staring at a cat, trying to see who can't take it and avoid it first.I suggested an unconventional remedy to him. Like what, radiation therapy or something? I suggest turning him into a fourth year. For a moment, he was too terrified to speak.The music outside the house continued, low and unfamiliar xylophone music, transmitted through a cheap loudspeaker. He said: Can you do it? I would, and I did. Turk wondered what situation he was being pulled into, and how he could most effectively get out of it.uh i guess that sort of thing isn't illegal here you guessed wrong.It's just that it's easier here.We have to be careful, extra decades are not something to be advertised, Turk. Then why are you telling me? Because Thomas will need some help during his recovery, and I think I can trust you. how do you know? Because you came here looking for him.She smiled, which startled him.You could say I'm guessing from experience.You know fourth-year therapy isn't just about prolonging life, right?The Martians have been ambivalent about modifying human biology.They didn't want to create a group of powerful old men.Fourth-year therapy gives you something and takes something away.It gives you an extra thirty or forty years of life, I'm the best example, if you haven't already guessed, but it also reorganizes certain human traits. characteristic?Turk said, parched.As far as he knew, he had never spoken to anyone in the fourth year.And this woman is what she calls herself.How old is she?Ninety years old?One hundred years old? Am I that scary? no, absolutely not, but Isn't it even a little scary?Still smiling. uh i I mean, Turk, as a fourth year, I'm much more sensitive to certain social and behavioral cues than most unreformed people.Usually I can tell when a person is lying or dishonest, at least when I'm face to face with him.But I'm not immune to an honest lie.I'm not omniscient, I'm not particularly smart, and I can't read people's hearts.The most you can tell is that my lie detector was turned up a notch or two.Any fourth-year group is bound to be mobbed, either by the police or by criminals, so it's a useful skill to have.No, I don't know you well enough to say I trust you, but I can feel you clearly enough to say I want to trust you, do you understand? I think so.I mean, I don't have much animosity towards the fourth year.For better or worse, I never thought much of it. This comfortable ignorance is over.Your friend isn't going to die of cancer, but he can't be here, and he has a lot to get used to.I want to leave him in your care. The lady, uh, Diane.First, I had no clue about caring for a sick person, let alone a 4th year person. He won't be sick for long, but he will need a friend who understands him.Would you like to be this person? Well, I mean, you know, I'd love to, I think.But maybe other arrangements are better, because I am also in a difficult situation, financially and all If I could think of a better way, I wouldn't ask you either.You were lucky to get here in time, she added, and it would be hard for you to find me if I didn't want to be found. i called but I have to deactivate that number.She frowned, but made no attempt to explain. So then, fuck!he thought.I don't think I'm going to chase a stray dog ​​out in a storm. Her smile bloomed again.I think so. ☆ I'm guessing you know a little bit about fourth year people from then on.Thomas said. I don't know, Turk said, you're the only close enough sample I have.Honestly, not inspiring. Did she really say that?What the lie detector said. Roughly so.What do you think, Thomas, is it true? Thomas' recovery from the illness, and so to speak, from the genetic reconstruction that constituted the fourth year of therapy, was as swift as Diane had predicted.But psychological adjustment is another matter.He originally came to Equatoria to prepare to die, but he found that he had thirty or forty years to live before him. He never thought about this, nor did he want to. Physically, though, it was liberating.A week after his recovery, Thomas looked like someone much younger than him.His edgy walk became more mobile, and his appetite suddenly felt like a bottomless pit.It was so strange that Turk couldn't face it, as if Thomas had shed his old body like a snake's skin.Fuck, that's not me.As long as Turk was uncomfortably aware of the distance between the old Thomas and the new Thomas, Thomas would say so.Thomas is clearly enjoying his newfound health.The only downside, he said, was that the treatment removed his tattoos.Half of his personal history is written in those tattoos. Are you saying I have an enhanced lie detector, is that true?Well, it depends on who is watching it.It's been ten years, Turk.What do you think? We haven't talked much about it. I'll be happy to keep it that way. Someone is lying to you, can you see it? There is no medicine that can make a fool smart.And I'm not a particularly smart person, nor am I a lie detector.But when someone is trying to convince me of something, I can roughly see it. Because I think Liz has been tricked.She didn't use illegal methods to find the 4th year guy, but I think she was being used.And she had some news that Diane might like to hear. Thomas was silent for a while.He tilted his beer up, downed it, and set the bottle on the folding table beside the chair.He gave Turk a look uncomfortably reminiscent of Diane's scrutinizing gaze. You are in a difficult situation.He said. I know.Turk said. It can be dangerous. I think that's what I'm afraid of. Can you give me some time to think about it? Well said Turk. good.I'll go ask someone else.Call me in two days. Thank you so much!Turk said, thank you. Don't thank me first.Maybe I'll change my mind, says Thomas.