Antiviral Page #4

No, I guess not.

That would be for the best.

Don't look so worried.

You're a commodity.

This is it.

Shortness of breath?

No.

Nausea?

Yes.

Ringing in your ears

or auditory hallucinations?

No.

No delusions of grandeur?

You know, towards the end

of my grandmother's life,

she imagined the entire world was

operating exclusively with her in mind.

I was only a child at the time,

but I remember once I got off the toilet

and she asked me what I had intended

to communicate to her.

It was later discovered

she had a brain tumour.

I've been told that Hannah's illness

can produce florid hallucinations.

Ah, there he is.

I think that virus destroyed my console.

The virus was designed with

a security measure to prevent analysis.

It took a little effort,

but I was eventually able to bypass it.

- Designed?

- Yes.

I'm afraid you've become involved

in something sinister.

Go inside and take a seat.

Who are you?

I'm Syd March.

We met at the Mayerson.

Mm.

Yeah, Dev told me you were coming.

Have you started bleeding yet?

Bleeding?

From your mouth.

That's good.

I don't mind the sight of blood.

It just...

...collects in my throat at night

and I have suffocation dreams.

So I've mostly stopped sleeping.

It's terrifying, really,

when you think about it.

The death is a cover story,

but she is dying for real

and we still don't have a cure.

We have reason to believe that her

infection was an assassination attempt,

and we felt this was the best way

to prevent a second attack.

This is all very unlucky for you,

but I'm hoping we can help each other.

The disease wasn't built from scratch.

It's a modification of something

we sold to your clinic three years ago.

We assume someone at Lucas created this,

and if you can find out who,

it might be the first step

towards finding a cure for Hannah,

and for yourself, of course.

She looks frail.

She needs your help.

I have a burned-out ReadyFace

at my apartment.

It might be useful

if I could get it working again.

I'm sure we can find you

whatever you need.

- How do you feel?

- Tired.

That all?

I have a headache.

Last night...

Hannah had a mild psychotic episode.

For one hour she insisted that I was

her late publicist, Maynard Welsh.

This has been in some ways

an uncomfortable experience for me.

My interest in her, of course,

is more than professional.

Here. There's a company in Munich

where they make these.

They're skin grafts,

grown from celebrity skin-cell samples.

This one here, this one is Hannah.

You know, I'm not a spiritual man.

A belief in God, it's always struck me

as a sign of dangerous infantilism.

But you will forgive me if I tell you

that with each of these patches,

my world has become more charged,

that there is a power,

something in the thrall

of the collective eye

that can be consumed and appropriated.

You play the sceptic,

but I don't believe it.

Surely you could have stolen Hannah's

blood without injecting yourself.

Why did you do it?

Maybe you feel what I feel.

Or maybe you're really just another fan.

Well, now you share a death with her,

and that's a powerful bond.

I don't wanna die from this.

Of course.

Uh, here.

Two, three times daily.

What are they?

Antivirals.

They should help

slow the infection down.

You're an absolute disgrace.

Where you been, bud?

- I was sick.

- Dorian's in a rage.

You're making Mercer look good

these days.

I had to pull a favour

to keep you from getting fired.

Thank you.

I need someone nonresponsive to talk to

and you're cheaper than my therapist.

I gotta say, it doesn't look like

your little vacation did you much good.

- Hi, Michelle.

- Hey, Mercer.

Ask me if I'm looking forward to Timothy

Stanton's molluscum this afternoon.

- Timothy Stanton is impotent.

- It's on his shoulder.

You can get molluscum anywhere.

He has an infection to sell every time

he gets a divorce. It's uncanny.

He's holding a competition

throughSpot Magazine.

The winner gets to infect him

with their next cold

and they get a free sample

after he gets sick.

- Are you entering?

- No, I don't get colds.

Catch you later.

Welcome back.

Anything else?

I was wondering

if you could look something up for me.

Yeah, sure thing.

What is the recent sales history

for Hannah Geist sample S-888?

- How recent?

- Last two months.

Uh, S-888 is the Bermuda flu

which we phased out

when we got Paris Honeymoon, so...

- Right.

- It's been taken out once since April.

- By who?

- Um... Derek Lessing.

Thank you.

- See you tomorrow.

- Yeah.

I've got more of my blood here

if you want it.

You kind of caught me off guard.

What was Derek Lessing working on?

Well, that's hard to say.

Derek was into some weird pathology.

I thought he was one of your people.

He hasn't sold me anything

for over a year.

Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it.

I wanted to keep things civil with us,

but Levine can be hard to manage.

He's starting to get out of hand.

And that blood you gave him

fried his rig.

None of those samples

lasted more than a day.

What is going on with you, man?

Whatever it is you're into,

it's attracting

a lot of dangerous attention.

So here's what.

I'm gonna give this back to you

and you're gonna stay away from me.

I refuse to be pulled into a crazy mess.

Mr Lessing?

Mr Lessing, is that you?

Hey, what, you just getting home?

I've been having some trouble at work.

Did you catch any of the funeral?

The whole thing, yeah,

it was live on 503.

- I must have missed it.

- Yeah.

It was a beautiful service.

But sad.

For someone like that to die so young.

She was an extraordinary woman.

And absolutely gorgeous.

I cried all the way through.

Oh, that man Portland,

he was here again.

He left you a package.

Thank you.

Insiders say she had the flu

for two weeks before passing away,

but they were totally unprepared

for the dramatic turn the illness took

just as it seemed she was recovering.

I spoke with the Geist family earlier

and they were absolutely devastated,

like any other family, really,

who have experienced the loss

of a daughter or a sister,

staying together and supporting

each other through this difficult time.

Well, that's really just it.

A death in the family

will affect anyone the same way,

whether you're the Geists

or the people next door.

You can see that

in the outpouring of sympathy

from her fans during the funeral.

Absolutely right, and many

feel a personal connection to Hannah,

which I think says so much.

One crying fan today told us her love

for Hannah actually saved her life.

She had all but given up on the world

after a spiral of depression

and drugs eventually...

Hello, Derek. Great to see you again.

What else are you feeling?

I can really feel it

coming on now.

It's right in my cells.

I'm tired all the time.

I can't move or think properly.

I'm only approximating myself.

I passed on your findings

to an old colleague of mine, Agna Hahn.

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