Orpheus and the Pearl & Nevermore Read Online Free PDF Page A

about mindlessly like a puppet or an automaton.
She has all her faculties of speech, reason, thought, and emotion.
She is active, deliberate, mentally aware, and therefore, I
believe, fully human and alive, even if she lacks some of the
incidental, physical qualities of what we label ‘life.’”
    As in their previous conversation, Dr.
Wallston’s explanation had come closer to putting his wife’s
condition into normal, understandable human categories of thought
and analysis, but it was still far wide, to say the least. “‘Some
physical qualities,’ doctor? I dare say most of us consider
breathing a little more than ‘incidental’ to life, wouldn’t you? I
don’t know how to comprehend or deal with what you are presenting
to me.”
    “ I know, doctor, I know,
and I apologize again. But there is nothing I can do at this point.
My wife is now what she is, and I hope you will still strive to
treat her.”
    Catherine pursed her lips. “You know I will.
It is my duty and, I hope you realize, an all-consuming passion to
which I have devoted my life.”
    “ Yes, and I hope you know
how grateful I am.”
    She paused, then pursued her investigation
to understand, as calmly and clinically as she could.
“Circulation?”
    He shook his head. “No. None.”
    “ If there’s no
circulation, how do the chemicals get through her
system?”
    “ Partly, the chemicals’
effects are carried along the nerves, the way pain or any other
information is carried through the nervous system. Also, it is why
she has to soak for such a long time, to let the chemicals
penetrate the tissues adequately. That’s another reason the
chemicals are so dangerous to handle: the molecules are so rarefied
they penetrate most anything.”
    Catherine felt her stomach briefly convulse.
She did her best to keep down the bile and hide any sign of her
discomfort. A walking corpse was unnerving enough, but the idea
that the poor woman was pickled daily was somehow much more
nauseating. After a brief pause, she asked, “Body temperature?”
    “ Exactly equal to her
surrounding environment. We have had to keep the house quite warm
in the winter months, lest the cool temperature inhibit her
functions, the way it would any cold-blooded animal. I am very much
looking forward to the spring and summer to alleviate this. She was
always so vibrant and lively in the summer months.”
    “ Digestion?” She
remembered thinking how perfectly shaped Mrs. Wallston’s body still
was, even in her unnatural state. Other than the pallor, she looked
like the beautiful, well-fed, pampered young woman that she had
been in life.
    “ Oh, my,
yes. That is another of her urges I don’t fully understand.
Victoria is consumed with an overwhelming hunger, and for the
most robust fare.
Since she doesn’t metabolize like we do, I knew her needs would not
be nearly as much as a grown adult, but I had anticipated that she
would need a small amount of nutrition in order to sustain her
bodily motion and to repair damaged tissue, so I had thought to
feed her simple foods, as you would a small child. Cooked
vegetables and breads and cereals. These meals caused some of the
first violent outbursts from her, and since then she has demanded
nothing but barely-cooked steaks and room temperature
scotch.”
    “ Scotch? Is that a wise
addition? What are its effects on her?”
    “ None. Without
circulation, it never reaches her brain, or liver, so there’s no
danger of any of the usual damage from alcohol. There are not even
any signs of intoxication. She says she just likes the taste, but I
suspect it’s more recalcitrance, as though she enjoys the sheer
naughtiness of drinking something so unladylike, as strange as that
may seem.” Catherine didn’t think this sounded the least bit
strange, unlike everything else she had heard. “It’s the steak
that’s the real problem. We try to keep the quantities as small as
possible, but the nearly raw meat is hard for her to digest, since
she