Blind Panic by Graham Masterton Page B

Schaumberg approached the bed, holding up an ophthalmic scan, even though the president was unable to see it. He was lean and stringy, with a thinning gray comb-over and half glasses and a withered neck like an iguana. He cleared his throat and said gravely, “We have the results of your tests, Mr. President.”
    “Well?” demanded the president. “What’s the verdict?”
    “Mr. President—you have one hundred percent corneal opacification.”
    “What? I have what? ”
    “Your corneas have become clouded,” said Dr. Henry. He was black and bulky, like a retired wrestler, with a bald, dented head that was polished to a high gleam. “In other words, the transparent lens covering your iris is no longer transparent.”
    “Is it permanent?”
    Dr. Henry shook his head. “We don’t yet know, Mr. President. First of all, we have to run a whole series of tests to find out what might have caused it, so we may send you over to the Washington National Eye Center. It’s highly unusualfor corneal clouding to happen so quickly and so completely, and without any warning.”
    Dr. Schaumberg nodded in agreement. “In almost every case of corneal opacification, patients show very obvious symptoms before they lose their sight. For example, with any form of conjunctivitis, the eyes will be pink and sore and weeping for at least five to twelve days before the patient’s sight starts to be affected.”
    “I had nothing like that, no soreness. I just blinked, and the lights went out.”
    “Don’t you have any idea why it happened?” asked the First Lady.
    “Corneal clouding can be caused by a whole variety of different conditions,” Dr. Schaumberg told her. “Conjunctivitis is one of them—but as we know, the president had no ‘pinkeye’ or other ocular irritation before his blindness occurred. A drastic lack of vitamin A can sometimes be responsible, but I doubt very much that the president is subsisting on a Third World diet. There’s Sjogren’s syndrome, which is associated with rheumatoid arthritis, but that’s very rare, and usually found among middle-aged women.”
    “There’s trachoma,” said Dr. Henry.
    “Trachoma?” said the president. “You mean that disease that African children get?”
    “That’s the one, sir. Chlamydia trachomatis. But trachoma usually affects the cornea in several stages, and causes blindness only through a gradual process of repeated scarring and repeated healing. What happens is that—”
    “All right,” interrupted the president, impatiently. “How long are these tests going to take?”
    “At least three days. Maybe longer, depending on what we find.”
    “Okay, then. I’ll have Doug Latterby clear my schedule, and I’ll be back here first thing tomorrow morning.”
    “You’re not thinking of leaving , Mr. President?”
    “Of course I am. I have a meeting in two-and-a-half hours’ time with the president of the Russian Federation.”
    “David,” the First Lady protested. “You can’t meet Gyorgy Petrovsky if you’re blind. Kenneth will have to do it.”
    “Oh, yes? And how are we going to explain my failure to show up at one of the most critical political meetings since the breakup of the Soviet Union? Are we going to tell the media that I’ve had a heart attack? Or a stroke maybe? That’s just as bad as going blind—worse. Or maybe we can announce that I simply forgot that Petrovsky was coming and went fishing instead.”
    “Mr. President, I really have to advise you to stay here," said Dr. Schaumberg. “Your condition came on very suddenly—if we delay treatment it could get very much worse. Not only that, most conditions that cause corneal problems are extremely infectious.”
    Dr. Cronin said, “That’s true, sir. They can be spread by hand contact, saliva or sinus secretions. I don’t think it would help our relations with the Russian Federation if you sneezed on President Petrovsky and he went blind, too.”
    The president laid his hand on Dr.