Wild Cards [08] One-Eyed Jacks by George R.R. Martin Page B

laughed, a spontaneously explosive snort that caught them both by surprise, then turned somber again: "Why did you go haring off like that?"
    "Impetuous broad, that's me. I gather you got my message."
    "Brad Finn came over to the precinct in person. I just missed you, evidently. Captain Ellis had squad cars cruising Jokertown looking for you. We heard the report of a shot fired at Carroll Street..."
    " ... and then I heard your outcry."
    "Thanks for listening."
    He turned to face her. "You don't understand. In a city this size, a telepath has to maintain. fairly strong shields simply to keep from being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of psychic `noise.' I have to be attuned to a person to `hear' them; that almost never happens after a single, casual encounter."
    "Perhaps it wasn't so casual, then."
    "Apparently not."
    "Tachyon, whatever the reason, I'm grateful for it."
    "In time-fairly short order, actually-we won't resonate on quite so common a frequency. I'll still be unusually sensitive to you, but it will take a conscious effort to scan your thoughts."
    "Over what range?"
    "To be honest, I've no idea. This has never happened with anyone, in quite the same way. I'm sorry."
    "For what, saving my life?"
    "I created that monster. Those poor women Sludge slaughtered, their deaths are on my conscience."
    "Welcome to the club."
    "You don't understand."
    "I'm a surgeon. I spent three years as a combat cutter. I do understand. So what?"
    "It's my responsibility."
    "Fine." She deliberately took him by his maimed right arm. "Be responsible. You can't change the past, any more than I can resurrect the patients I've lost--or the people I've actually killed. Yeah"-she nodded-"there's blood on my hands, too, it was a war, it came with the territory. And if there's a hereafter, maybe I'll get to deal with it then. Who cares? It's done. But at least I've come to terms with it. Taken my terror out of the closet, where I've been denying it even existed, and hung it out in the open with the other nightmares, where I can get a good look at it, see it for what it is-and me for what I am. Doesn't mean that doesn't hurt, and won't for a long time yet to come. But it's there. I can deal with it. Try that yourself, might be in for a surprise."
    "You're needed, Cody," he said simply. "I'm a doctor, Tachyon, not a crutch."
    He half raised his stump in its sling, then let it fall, his shoulders slump. "So you'll be going, then," he said. "Gotta find someone to look after the ranch---couple o' guys I know in Colorado, vets, could do a fair job, give 'em a call before I fly out spring the news on Chris, pack up the place, find a decent rack here in town." He looked at her in amazement, not altogether sure he was hearing right. "Assuming, of course"-the deliberate seriousness in her voice belied by the lop-sided smile at the edge of her mouth-"we can agree on a salary"
    Tachyon had the decency to cough. "I'm, ah, sure we can work something out," he hazarded.
    "Let's not presume too much, shall we?" Cody said, giving the smile full rein.
    She held out her hand.
    And Tachyon, his own smile a match for hers, took it.

    Nobody Knows Me Like My Baby
    by Walton Simons
    The left side of Tachyon's desk was littered with charts and paper. The right was almost bare. Jerry was trying hard not to look at the prosthetic hand, but his perverse side demanded a glance or two. Tachyon hadn't caught him at it. There was a visible hardness to the plastic that was out of place on the alien, and the color was a flesh tone or two off.
    "How is your adjustment coming, Jeremiah?" Tachyon looked at Jerry and then glanced out his office window into Jokertown.
    "Fine. I mean, there's rough spots here and there." Jerry smiled. Tachyon looked even more tired than usual. His already pale skin had less color and his red hair was dull and poorly kept, at least for Tachyon.
    "You're sure. You seem a bit... withdrawn."
    Jerry always felt as transparent as Chrysalis' skin when talking to