The Bladerunner

by Alan E Nourse

  And then, three years ago, he had found Doc, and things were suddenly different. Doc could spot contaminated surgical packs from a mile away, and either did his own boiling or turned them back, with short shrift for Billy and the supplier. “Tabletop surgery is bad enough without making it any worse than necessary,” Doc had said angrily. “The patients are paying me for sterile packs, and that’s what I’m going to get them, or your supplier can go whistle.”

  It had been a novel attitude, in Billy’s experience, almost an amusing attitude until it finally dawned on him that Doc was no greenhorn in underground medicine, and really meant what he said: that he wouldn’t take or use inferior supplies; from that point on it became a matter of pride for Billy to find him good supplies, and his search for a reliable supplier had become a major quest. Money wasn’t the issue; Doc didn’t mind paying premium coin if the supplies were good. Doc never argued a price hike with Billy, and soon, to his own surprise, Billy was no longer overpricing the goods to Doc so badly. And then he had heard of Parrot, who allowed no gouging whatever, and who was fussy which doctors he supplied and which bladerunners he dealt with. After long negotiations Parrot had finally, reluctantly, agreed to supply Billy and Doc, on the strength of Doc’s legitimate reputation as a topflight Hospital surgeon, and Billy’s reputation as a runner who kept his nose clean. There were certain conditions, however. The first was that no one except Parrot did any price gouging, and the second, even more stringent, was that no one dragged a dead fish across Parrot’s trail for anything.

  All of which explained why, on this particular evening and under these particular circumstances, Billy Gimp turned his back on the ground-cabs lingering outside the heli-cab station and proceeded on foot to find Parrot, to arrange for two T&A packs for the evening’s work and to find out what, if anything, Parrot might have to say about the bug in Billy’s room. Billy worked his way through the light foot traffic, picking down-ramps and elevators that carried him down from the Upper City of high-rise apartments, green-belt parks and swift monorails and heli-cabs crisscrossing the sky to the Lower City of darkened streets and alleys, tenements and cheap storefronts. Ground-cabs whispered by him on the ragged, pot-holed Lower City streets; in some places he was the sole pedestrian. And as he walked he kept a close watch to be as sure as possible he was not being followed.

  At last he arrived at the place he sought: a narrow, decrepit building around the corner from a main Lower City arterial, with the crowded and dusty window of an antique shop facing the street. Inside, a single customer was poking around in the dusty rubble; Billy feigned interest in some ancient vases and pewter cups until the customer gave up and left. Immediately a wizened granny popped up from behind the counter and peered at Billy through cataract lenses. “Late tonight, eh?” she said finally. “Thought you weren’t coming.”

  “I got stalled,” Billy said. “Is Parrot around?”

  “He’s down in the shop.” The old woman brought out a pad and pencil. “Got an order for me?”

  “Yes, but I need to see Parrot about it.”

  Granny wrinkled her mouth. “Pretty fussy these days, aren’t you? Well, go on down, just don’t waste his time with complaints.”

  Billy pushed aside a doorway drape, and hobbled down a narrow stairway into a subcellar below and to the rear of the storefront. Suddenly the shabbiness of the upstairs was gone, and he entered Parrot’s warehouselike workroom, fastidiously clean, with shelves piled high with green surgical packs, a huge central worktable surrounded by instrument bins, and a bank of autoclaves hissing steam along the back wall. Within half a minute a short, fat man with a doughy face and grotesque little half-glasses came out from the back room. Parrot beamed when he saw Billy; except for his huge curved nose and a hint of wariness about his eyes, Parrot seemed the epitome of the jovial fat man. “So you walked tonight, eh, Billy? How come? Doc forget to pay you?”

  “Doc never forgets to pay me,” Billy said.

  “Ah, that’s very good. Then we can settle accounts for last night.” Parrot paused, punching at the computer console on the table. “That’ll be two hundred in markers or four hundred in legal credits.”

  “Markers,” Billy said. He pulled a handful of red chips from his pocket and piled them on the worktable. Parrot picked them up, dropping them one by one through a coin scanner. Then he pocketed all but one which he left lying on the table.

  “You’ve got a bad one there, Billy.” Billy replaced it with another. As he reached for the rejected marker, Parrot flipped it deftly into his own hand. “Wouldn’t want it to get back into circulation, would we, Billy?” he said. “No, not so good, that. Now, then. What’s for tonight?”

  “Two T&A sets,” Billy said. “And a can of ether. For some reason, Doc wants to use ether.”

  “For tonsils?” Parrot clicked his tongue. “That’s a little odd.”

  “I don’t argue,” Billy said. “Those were Doc’s orders, so that’s what he wants. Just give me the locker key and see that the stuff is there by nine o’clock.”

  Parrot looked up over his half-glasses. “You’re very sharp with me tonight, Billy. Something wrong?”

  “You’d be sharp too if you woke up with a bug in your room.”

  “I see.” Parrot pursed his lips slowly. “Well, now. A bug, you say? Now that is very interesting.” He motioned Billy to a seat. “Tell me about this bug.”

  Billy told him. Parrot listened intently, scratching his chin, his eyes half closed. Finally Billy finished and Parrot looked at him.

  “Anything in addition to the bug itself?” Parrot asked.

  “Not that I could see. I didn’t try the phone or the computer to find out.”

  “That was very wise. What about a stakeout? Anybody following you? Mail tampered with recently?”

  “I don’t get mail,” Billy said.

  “Then what about other things? Doc having trouble with his cases lately?”

  “Not much. Doc doesn’t usually have trouble, and when he does he takes care of it.”

  “Yes, of course, your Doc is one in a thousand. And nothing has changed? Doc’s nurse? The anesthetist?”

  “The nurse is okay. The anesthetist is drunk about half the time, so Doc and I have to pinch hit sometimes. But where do you find an anesthetist who doesn’t get drunk? Nothing different there.” Billy paused. “Of course, somebody else could have fingered me.”

  “Ah, yes,” the fat man said. “Like me, I suppose.” He shrugged, chuckling. “But if so, I would hardly tell you about it, would I?”

  “No,” Billy said sullenly.

  “Nor would I want you to be coming around again either, eh? No. Well, you add it up, Billy. If I ever wanted you to be nailed you wouldn’t be coming around, you’d be nailed. So let’s forget about me fingering you. The real question is, is Health Control really after you, or is this just a screening check that you happened to get caught in?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Billy said. “If it’s a routine screener, I could at least use my phone. Until I know, I’m cut off from everything.”

  “Well, maybe we can help you find out,” Parrot said. He reached forward and pushed an intercom button on the worktable. “Phil? Why don’t you come out here.” Parrot looked up at Billy. “You know Phil Hawk, don’t you? Runs blades for Doc Gentry out of Hospital Number Eight. He’s not feeling so good, got that Shanghai flu that’s going around, so he’s holed up here where I can keep an eye on him.”

  A door at the back of the shop opened, and an extremely thin, pinch-faced youth of fourteen emerged. He gave Billy a wan smile. “Hi, Billy. How things going?”

  “Not so good,” Billy said. “But you don’t look so hot either.”

  The youth sat down, visibly shivering in a long, ragged bathrobe. “Don’t get too close to me,” he said, “there’s been lots of this going around the last week or so.” He looked up at Billy. “You got troubles?”

  Parrot nodded. “Tell him, Billy.”

  B
illy told the youth about the bug in his room. Phil Hawk listened, then looked over at Parrot. “You see?” he said. “I told you something funny was going on.”

  “What do you mean?” Billy said.

  “I mean you aren’t the only one,” Phil replied. “I had the same thing last week, and so did my buddy Max — you know Max? They even hauled him in for a bunch of questions. But mine must have been a screening sweep, because two days later it was gone.”

  “Anybody else you know of?” Parrot said.

  “Not personally, but the place I hang out there’s a lot of talk.”

  “It’s more than talk,” Parrot said. “I know of twenty-five cases in the last month for sure, and they couldn’t all be screening sweeps. And it’s not only bladerunners, either.”

  “Then who else?” Billy asked sharply.

  Parrot smiled. “Like me, for instance.”

  “You mean you’re bugged right now?”

  “For the last two weeks, to be exact.”

  Billy half rose from his chair. “You could have said something — ”

  Parrot laughed. “You’re not talking into a bug right now, if that’s what’s worrying you. Bugs can be spoofed if you know how. The thing is that the bugging has been getting much heavier in the past few weeks, and it’s Health Control that’s doing the snooping. A couple of odd things, though: I haven’t heard of a doctor being bugged during this period, and I haven’t heard of a single arrest. A couple of guys like Phil’s friend Max have been hauled in for questioning, but they’ve all been released without any charges. Right, Phil?”

  The youth nodded. Billy blinked at them. “Then why the snooping?” he said.

  “If we knew, we wouldn’t have to worry,” Parrot said. “All we know now is that something’s going on. The next step is to find out what. Well, maybe we can. I have eyes and ears. I have some people in the clinics, and even a few contacts in Health Control administration.” Parrot looked at Billy over his half-glasses. “Suppose I do a quiet check run on you and your Doc, your nurse, the anesthetist, your whole setup. If Health Control is really interested in you, then one of two things will happen. Either we’ll push them to move, or we’ll find out why they’re onto you without pushing. Either way you’ll be ahead.”

  Billy studied the man for a long moment. Then he nodded his head. “That sounds good,” he said. “How long will it take?”

  “By the time you’re back tomorrow to pay for the T&A sets I should know something. Meanwhile, step very quietly.”

  “As quietly as I can,” Billy said. “Doc’s got these cases tonight, and I think something lined up for Thursday. I’ll be back in the meantime.” He stood up to leave. “How soon can we get those T&A packs?”

  “They’ll be in the locker within two hours,” Parrot said. “The truck’s about to go out now. You’ve got the key. Put the used packs back in the locker, and bring me the key again tomorrow along with the money. Three-fifty in markers, or five hundred in credit. Either way.” The fat man paused. “Do you know where Doc’s case is tonight?”

  “Trenton Sector, I think. Why?”

  “I’ve got another call for him.” Parrot opened a card case, handed an address card to Billy. “This just came in a few minutes ago. I thought of Doc because it’s near his Hospital.”

  Billy frowned. “Doc isn’t looking for more business right now, he’s got more than he can handle as it is.”

  “I’d like your Doc to see this one just the same. It’s an emergency, a very sick kid. Headache, high fever, stiff neck — just like a number that have been turning up lately, with some of them dying. Ask him to make it if he possibly can.”

  “Well, I’ll ask him,” Billy said. “Maybe when he’s finished with these tonsils — ”

  “Good,” Parrot said. “See you tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll get to snooping some myself.”

  Most of the lights were out in the antique shop above as Billy passed through, but the aged woman was waiting to lock up behind him. Out on the cold street he hesitated, then turned in the direction of his flat. He was thinking of food, a change of clothes and preparations for the night’s work, and he did not notice the cream-colored ground-cab that whispered past him on the street and turned onto the main Lower City thoroughfare ahead.

  III

  It was well past 9:00 in the evening when Billy Gimp stepped down from the monorail two blocks from the Health Control Hospital No. 7 and made his way on foot through the thinning Upper City crowds toward the cavernous hospital entrance. Back in his room he had found that the bug was still there, and decided against spending any more time there than was necessary. After a quick shower and change of clothes he checked to be sure he had Parrot’s locker key in his pocket. Then he headed for a nearby Lower City bar and grill for dinner.

  Two other bladerunners were just leaving as he reached the place, and they paused to talk a moment, but neither of them had been bothered with bugs and neither of them was aware of any special increase in Health Control alertness. Once inside with a hamburger and French fries in front of him, Billy turned his conversation with Parrot over and over in his mind as he ate.

  There was no reason to doubt what Parrot and Phil Hawk had told him — yet the information made no sense to Billy. If more and more bladerunners were being bugged for some reason, then why were there not more arrests? The Health Control laws, passed almost twenty years before, were perfectly explicit. All forms of legal health care were provided in the government-operated Hospitals, Emergency Rooms and Outpatient Clinics, and only those patients who could qualify under the Eugenics Control laws were eligible for health care at all. The whole vast underworld of black-market medicine, of which bladerunners like Billy were such an integral part, had grown up in the wake of those Eugenics Control laws, bringing totally illegal health care services to the multitudes of people who could not — or would not — qualify for health care on a legal basis. Hardly a doctor could be named who had not taken a hand in underground medicine at one time or another, despite the watchful eye of Health Control police and the heavy penalties that could be levied when a physician or a bladerunner was caught and convicted — yet Health Control, to date, had been able to curb only a small fraction of the total amount of illegal medical practice. There were occasional arrests, widely publicized in the press and on TV, and even occasional convictions, but the Secretary of Health Control himself made no pretense that the practice of illegal medicine was declining.

  Considering all this, it was not surprising that Health Control police might be engaged in an increasing pattern of screening sweeps in search of new evidence of illicit medical activities. Nor was there any better way of gathering such evidence than by bugging bladerunners. No one was more deeply involved in all the illegal aspects of underground medicine; indeed, without bladerunners the whole intricate system of illicit medical practice would fall apart at the seams. The Health Control snoopers knew perfectly well that a bladerunner caught and hung with a transponder, so that he was continuously spied upon, was a bladerunner — and a doctor — out of the business of underground medicine, at least for a while. But if arrests were not being made, what was the purpose of the increasing surveillance?

  It made no sense to Billy, and he finished his meal in a gloom of depression. He could not throw off the premonition that there was more to his own bugging than met the eye, that dangerous trouble was somehow impending. Yet he stubbornly refused to allow it to worry him into immobility. It was, after all, as much Doc’s worry as it was his, and Doc had a case tonight and required Billy’s help. Maybe he would have some idea what had brought the bug about, or what Billy might do about it At any rate, until he saw Doc, his evening’s work was cut out for him. Checking the time, he paid his bill with a legitimate credit card and stepped out on the street to hail a ground-cab.

  The procedure he followed was so familiar that he could have done it in his sleep. At his direction the ground-cab found a nearby Lower City arterial and began working its way up ramp
s and viaducts into the heavy Upper City traffic. Catching a north-south freeway, the cab sped northward to a Center City heli-cab station, as Billy kept a watchful eye out the back window. Satisfied that he had not been followed, he paid off the cabbie at the passenger loading ramp of the station and made his way back to the banks of twenty-four-hour baggage lockers. Here he inserted Parrot’s key unhesitatingly into a locker near the floor and drew out the small blue flight bag he found inside. He did not know precisely how Parrot got the surgical packs transported from his shop to the baggage lockers, and he did not care to know; Parrot never failed to provide them on time by this indirect means, nor had he ever failed to pick up the used instruments Billy would leave there when the surgery was over. This was the way Parrot chose to work, and the less detail he knew about it, Billy thought, the better. With the flight bag securely under his arm he had walked outside the station, crossed the freeway on a pedestrian ramp and caught a southbound monorail for downtown and Hospital No. 7.

  It was getting late, and he had been moving briskly, but now, half a block from the Hospital entrance, he slowed up and peered ahead. The sidewalk and street in front of the Hospital were filled with a milling throng of people, and a block away Billy could hear the shouted slogans and sing-song chants of a demonstration going on. Several dozen people were crowding the street and blocking traffic, their heads and beards half shaved, placards waving, long flowing robes sweeping the ground. Some of the demonstrators were stopping passersby, handing out literature and calling attention to their placards. DESTROY THE CLINICS!!! one sign said in vivid orange letters. DOWN WITH HEALTH CONTROL! another implored. TRUST NATURE, NOT DOCTORS. As Billy approached, a wild-eyed man in a ground-length robe bore down on him, thrusting a wad of printed sheets into his hand. “No medicine is good medicine, brother!” the man shouted. “Boycott the doctors now!”

  At the Hospital entrance a handful of Health Control guards stood by with tear-gas guns at ready, keeping the crowd of demonstrators out of the Hospital doorway by main force and watching for any disruption that might spark violence. Billy ducked past one of the guards and walked into the main lobby of the Hospital building. It was a huge concourse, with admission offices to one side and several banks of elevators to the Hospital inpatient rooms and outpatient clinics against a far wall. Most of the lobby, however, was filled with chairs and benches, as droves of potential patients stolidly waited their turn at the authentication desks. Occasionally white-coated doctors or nurses with tip-tilted caps passed through; an elevator opened to discharge a man in a wheelchair into the lobby, followed by an attendant. Billy crossed the lobby to an alcove where magazines and books were for sale and began leafing through a paperback as he kept his eyes on the bank of elevators.