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disposable, like rabid dogs to be put down.
Interviewer: Do you have actual statistics on the number of Gorgons killed by
law enforcement?
Perseus: It's difficult to obtain concrete numbers. Police officers are not
required to report such incidents. But I have heard from the People all over
the world. In some parts of the United States, for instance, I've been told by
eyewitnesses that cops use us as target practice. They organize "Gorgon hunts"
when they feel we've strayed too often outside of our boundaries.
Interviewer: What do you make of the Centers for Disease Control's quarantine
order surrounding U.S. Glass Cities in Chicago and LA? These are medical
experts saying that Gorgons are infectious diseases that need to be held
inside their cities by force, if necessary.
Perseus: I am not a disease. Nor are my people. The CDC was responding to
political pressure by two city officials extremely hostile to the People's
presence. It is important to note that the CDC did not require similar
measures in the other U.S. Glass Cities in New York or Washington, DC. Both of
which have a long history of good relations with the People.
Let us also be clear on one thing: there has never been any study showing that
"Gorgonism," if I must, can be transmitted through touching one of the People.
The only known transmitting agent is the Medusa glass itself.
What's happening in Chicago and LA is criminal. We should not be penned up
like animals. The People there are starving. If it were not for the
intervention of Amnesty International, which has organized food drops, the
People would have died of starvation. Nothing, as you well know, grows in the
Glass Cities. We must forage outside of the cities for our food, often eating
what humans throw out in their garbage.
Interviewer: What solution do you propose? You can't expect regular people to
pay to subsidize the Gorgons' existence.
Perseus: Actually, my proposal is much more radical. Allow us to pay for
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ourselves.
Interviewer: What? How are you going to do that?
Perseus: There's no reason we couldn't hold jobs, pay taxes, and live like
normal people.
Interviewer: Leave the Glass Cities? And live with us?
Perseus: Not necessarily. But there is one of the People who lives in
Amsterdam who is currently working. He has a job delivering newspapers. He's
very good at it. The humans there have no objections. In fact, he's become a
bit of a sensation. There are plenty of jobs that are quite suitable to the
People's sensibilities.
Interviewer: Aren't you selling out your People by suggesting we give them all
the menial jobs?
Perseus: One step at a time, my friend. If we can but first be accepted into
these sorts of roles, perhaps we will eventually be allowed elsewhere. I see a
future with the People working as doctors, lawyers, maybe even serving in
political office.
Interviewer: No Gorgon would live long enough to finish medical school.
Perseus: The People learn very quickly. An accelerated program would suit us
well. I myself have learned to read and write several languages something
previously unheard-of among the People.
Interviewer: What do you say to claims that you're a human masquerading as a
Gorgon to get the sympathy vote?
Perseus: No human would choose to live as I do, believe me.
Interviewer: I see you're already practicing the martyr shtick. Well, folks,
that's all we have time for tonight! Thanks for joining us for another episode
of Know Your Messiah!
Chapter 9 Michael
I'd taken Amariah upstairs to use the bathroom. Now I waited just outside the
swinging door of the washroom for her to finish. In the main hall Deidre
directed traffic. Uniformed soldiers rushed past me carrying boxes loaded with
blankets and bedding. A woman with an Uzi under her arm handed kitchen
implements to a black-robed Druid, who tucked them into a carrying case.
Despite the frenzy, it was silent. Sure, boots padded up and down the hall,
pots clanked, and boxes thudded. But no one spoke. They'd practiced for this
contingency so often that everyone knew the parts they had to play.
The soldiers who had come past before returned to take up positions near the
window at the end of the hallway. They carefully pushed open the double-hung
window and removed the screen. One of them knelt and rested the barrel of his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]