Gravity Wells (Short Stories Collection)

'SA stands for Serpentine Analogue?' McCarthy interrupted.

'Yes. The name comes from the outdated belief—'

'That some people have snakes in their bloodstream,' McCarthy interrupted again.

'That's correct.'

'Do some people have snakes in their bloodstream?' McCarthy asked.

'Snakelike entities,' another senator corrected…probably a Democrat.

'Serpentine analogues are not present in anyone's bloodstream,' Julia said. 'They don't appear until blood is exposed to air. It's a specialized clotting mechanism, triggered by an enzyme that encourages microscopic threads to form at the site of an injury—'

'In other words,' McCarthy said, 'SA-positive blood works differently from SA-negative. Correct?'

'In this one regard, yes.' Julia nodded.

'Do you think SA-positive blood is better than SA-negative?'

'It provides slightly more effective clotting at wounds—'

'Do you admire SA-positive blood, Doctor?'

Julia stared at him. Mentally, she counted to ten. 'I am fascinated by all types of blood,' she answered at last. 'SA-positive clots faster…which is useful to stop bleeding but gives a slightly greater risk of stroke. Overall, I'd say the good points and the bad even out. If they didn't, evolution would soon skew the population strongly one way or the other.'

McCarthy folded his hands on the table in front of him. 'So you believe in evolution, Dr. Grant?'

'I'm a scientist. I also believe in gravity, thermodynamics, and the universal gas equation.'

Not a man on the Committee so much as smiled.

'Doctor,' McCarthy said quietly, 'what blood type are you?'

She gritted her teeth. 'The Supreme Court ruled that no one has to answer that question.'

In sudden fury, McCarthy slammed his fist onto the table. 'Do you see the Supreme Court in here with us? Do you? Because if you do, show me those black-robed faggots and I'll boot their pope- loving asses straight out the window.' He settled back in his chair. 'I don't think you appreciate the seriousness of your situation, Dr. Grant.'

'What situation?' she demanded. 'I'm a medical researcher—'

'And you've developed a new drug, haven't you?' McCarthy snapped. 'A new drug. That you want to set loose on the public. I wonder if the person who invented heroin called herself a medical researcher too.'

'Mr. McCarthy, trisulphozymase is not a narcotic. It is a carefully developed pharmaceutical—'

'Which encourages miscegenation between Papists and the Redeemed,' McCarthy finished. 'That's what it does, doesn't it, Doctor?'

'No!' She took a deep breath. 'Trisulphozymase combats certain medical problems that occur when an SA-positive father and an SA-negative mother—'

'When a Papist man sires his filthy whelp on a Redeemed woman,' McCarthy interrupted. 'When a Papist fucks one of the Saved. That's what you want to encourage, Doctor? That's how you'll make the world a better place?'

Julia said nothing. She felt her cheeks burn like a child caught in some forbidden act; and she was infuriated that her reaction was guilt rather than outrage at what McCarthy was saying.

Yes, she wanted to say, it will make the world a better place to stop separating humanity into hostile camps. Most people on the planet had no comprehension of either Papist or Redeemed theology; but somehow the poisonous idea of blood discrimination had spread to every country of the globe, regardless of religious faith. Insanity! And millions recognized it to be so. Yet the McCarthys of the world found it a convenient ladder on which they could climb to power, and who was stopping them? Look at Germany. Look at Ireland. Look at India and Pakistan.

Ridiculous…and deadly, time and again throughout history. Perhaps she should set aside SA compatibility and work on a cure for the drive to demonize those who were different.

'A doctor deals with lives, not lifestyles,' she said stiffly. 'If I was confronted with a patient whose heart had stopped beating, I would attempt to start it again, whether the victim was an innocent child, a convicted murderer, or even a senator.' She leaned forward. 'Has anyone here ever seen an SA incompatibility reaction? How a newborn infant dies? How the mother goes into spasm and usually dies too? Real people, gentlemen; real screams of pain. Only a monster could witness such things and still rant about ideology.'

A few Committee members had the grace to look uncomfortable, turning away from her gaze; but McCarthy was not one of them. 'You think this is all just ideology, Doctor? A lofty discussion of philosophical doctrine?' He shook his head in unconvincing sorrow. 'I wish it were…I truly wish it were. I wish the Papists weren't trying to rip down everything this country stands for, obeying the orders of their foreign masters to corrupt the spirit of liberty itself. Why should I care about a screaming woman, when she's whored herself to the likes of them? She made her decision; now she has to face the consequences. No one in this room invented SA incompatibility, Doctor. God did…and I think we should take the hint, don't you?'

The sharp catch of bile rose in Julia's throat. For a moment, she couldn't find the strength to fight it; but she couldn't be sick, not in front of these men. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to breathe evenly until the moment passed. 'Senators,' she said at last, 'do you actually intend to suppress trisulphozymase? To withhold lifesaving treatment from those who need it?'

'Some might say it's a sign,' McCarthy answered, 'that a Redeemed man can father a child on a Papist without complications, but it doesn't work the other way around. Doesn't that sound like a sign to you?'

'Senators,' she said, ignoring McCarthy, 'does this Committee intend to suppress trisulphozymase?'

Silence. Then McCarthy gave a little smile. 'How does trisulphozymase work, Doctor?'

Julia stared at him, wondering where this new question was going. Warily, she replied, 'The drug dismantles the SA factor enzyme into basic amino acids. This prevents a more dangerous response from the mother's immune system, which might otherwise produce antibodies to the enzyme. The antibodies are the real problem, because they may attack the baby's—'

'So what you're saying,' McCarthy interrupted, 'is that this drug can destroy the snakes from a Papist's bloodstream?'

'I told you, there are no snakes. Trisulphozymase temporarily eliminates the extra clotting enzyme that is present in SA-positive blood.'

'It's only temporary?'

'That's all that's needed. One injection shortly before the moment of birth—'

'But what about repeated doses?' McCarthy interrupted. 'Or a massive dose? Could you permanently wipe out the SA factor from a person's blood?'

'You don't administer trisulphozymase to an SA-positive person,' Julia said. 'It's given to an SA-negative mother to prevent—'

'But suppose you did give it to a Papist. A big dose. Lots of doses. Could it destroy the SA factor forever?' He leaned forward eagerly. 'Could it make them like us?'

And now Julia saw it: what this hearing was all about. Because the Committee couldn't really suppress the treatment, could they? Her results were known in the research community. Even if the drug was banned here, other countries would use it; and there would eventually be enough public pressure to force reevaluation. This wasn't about the lives of babies and mothers; this was about clipping the devil's horns.

Keeping her voice steady, she said, 'It would be unconscionable to administer this drug or any other to a person whose health did not require it. Large doses or long-term use of trisulphozymase would have side effects I could not venture to guess.' The faces in front of her showed no expression. 'Gentlemen,' she tried again, 'in an SA-positive person, the enzyme is natural. A natural component of blood. To interfere with a body's natural functioning when there's no medical justification…' She threw up her hands. 'Do no harm, gentlemen. The heart of the Hippocratic Oath. At the very least, doctors must do no harm.'

'Does that mean,' McCarthy asked, 'you'd refuse to head a research project into this matter?'

'Me?'

'You're the top expert in your field.' McCarthy shrugged. 'If anybody can get rid of the snakes once and for all, it's you.'

'Senator,' Julia said, 'have you no shame? Have you no shame at all? You want to endanger lives over this…triviality? A meaningless difference you can only detect with a microscope—'

'Which means they can walk among us, Doctor! Papists can walk among us. Them with their special blood, their snakes, their damned inbreeding—they're the ones who care about what you call a triviality. They're the ones who flaunt it in our faces. They say they're God's Chosen. With God's Mark of Blessing. Well, I intend to erase that mark, with or without your help.'

'Without,' Julia told him. 'Definitely without.'

McCarthy's gaze was on her. He did not look like a man who had just received an absolute no. With an expression far too smug, he said, 'Let me tell you a secret, Doctor. From our agents in the enemy camp. Even as we speak, the Papists are planning to contaminate our water supply with their damned SA enzyme. Poison us or make us like them…one way or the other. We need your drug to fight that pollution; to remove the enzyme from our blood before it can destroy us. What about that, Dr. Grant? Will your precious medical ethics let you work on a treatment to keep us safe from their damned Papist toxins?'

Julia grimaced. 'You know nothing about the human metabolism. People couldn't 'catch' the SA factor from drinking water; the enzyme would just break down in your stomach acid. I suppose it might be possible to produce a methylated version that would eventually work its way into the bloodstream…' She stopped herself. 'Anyway, I can't believe the Papists would be so insane as to—'

'Right now,' McCarthy interrupted, 'sitting in a committee room of some Papist hideaway, there are a group of men who are just as crazy as we are. Believe that, Doctor. Whatever we are willing to do to them, they are willing to do to us; the only question is who'll do it first.' McCarthy settled back and cradled his hands on his stomach. 'Snakes all 'round, Dr. Grant. You can make a difference in who gets bitten.'

It was, perhaps, the only true thing McCarthy had said since he'd started speaking. Julia tried to doubt it, but couldn't. SA-positive or negative, you could still be a ruthless bastard.

She said nothing.

McCarthy stared at her a few moments more, then glanced at the men on both sides of him. 'Let's consider this hearing adjourned, all right? Give Dr. Grant a little time to think things over.' He turned to look straight at her. 'A little time. We'll contact you in a few days…find out who scares you more, us or them.'

He had the nerve to wink before he turned away.

The other senators filed from the room, almost bumping into each other in the hurry to leave. Complicitous men…weak men, for all their power. Julia remained in the uncomfortable 'witness chair,' giving them ample time to scurry away; she didn't want to lay eyes on them again when she finally went out into the corridor.

Using trisulphozymase on an SA-positive person…what would be the effect? Predictions were almost worthless in biochemistry—medical science was a vast ocean of ignorance dotted with researchers trying to stay afloat in makeshift canoes. The only prediction you could safely make was that a large enough dose of any drug would kill the patient.

On the other hand, better to inject trisulphozymase into SA-positive people than SA-negative. The chemical reactions that broke down the SA enzyme also broke down the trisulphozymase— mutual assured destruction. If you didn't have the SA enzyme in your blood, the trisulphozymase would build up to lethal levels much faster, simply because there was nothing to stop it. SA-positive people could certainly tolerate dosages that would kill a…

Julia felt a chill wash through her. She had created a drug that would poison SA-negatives but not SA-positives…that could selectively massacre the Redeemed while leaving the Papists standing. And her research was a matter of public record. How long would it take before someone on the Papist side made the connection? One of those men McCarthy had talked about, just as ruthless and crazy as the senator himself.

How long would it take before they used her drug to slaughter half the world?

There was only one way out: put all the snakes to sleep. If Julia could somehow wave her hands and make every SA-positive person SA-negative, then the playing field would be level again. No, not the playing field—the killing field.