Turning Back the Sun(22)
Soon afterwards the garrison commander, a taciturn major, invited him for a drink. He accepted half-heartedly. The infantry company was a patchy unit, whose soldiers had occasionally been jailed for brawling. He found himself in an ambience of bored masculinity, at once harsh and puerile. A few officers were downing beer or whisky in the major”s married quarters. Ivar was not among them, and the only women—a pair of sad-faced wives—soon disappeared. Rayner knew that he had not been invited casually, and he was not surprised when a shifty-faced lieutenant of Intelligence prevented him from leaving.
“The commander has a favor to ask,” he said. “In a way it”s a formality.”
As the other guests left, the major opened a door and beckoned Rayner into a spare bedroom. The lieutenant followed, saying, “Captain Gencer assured us we could count on your discretion.”
Rayner disliked being compromised by Ivar this way. The bedroom was bare except for basic furniture. As they entered, a small, sallow-skinned man, whom Rayner recognized as the company”s medical officer, jumped to his feet and half saluted. How long he had been sitting there was a mystery.
The lieutenant began with absurd delicacy. “The commander has a condition.”
Rayner suddenly knew what was coming. The army doctor was picking tensely at his lapels. The major sat down on the bed and started unbuttoning his jacket. One of the buttons pattered onto the floor.
“The commander …” The lieutenant went on speaking for him as if the major were some god or mute. The subaltern”s mouth did not seem to belong to the owner of his cold eyes. It enunciated nervously under a thin, charred-looking moustache. “The commander wishes to know if it is similar to the disease which is spreading in the town.”
The major was lying on the bed now, stripped to the waist, and watching Rayner through watery eyes. In his big, almost hairless head all the features looked incidental, like flaws in stone. It was a strong face, but tired.
“I”ve given the commander a check-up,” the army surgeon said. “But we”ve had no experience in the army with this … epidemic.” He looked abject, as if he were personally responsible for the major”s disease.
But Rayner, leaning over the patient, saw at once. Down from his left collar bone and delicately circling the nipple, the rash curled in a malignant-looking river to the base of the rib cage. It followed the same route as it had in the eleven-year-old girl, but whereas it had lain on her skin with a shocking clarity, on the forty-eight-year-old major”s it moved across a blemished patchwork of hair and fat lines and freckles.
Rayner examined the man”s eyeballs, the insides of his mouth, but knew the answer already: nothing. The major”s stare never left him.
The lieutenant said, “The commander wonders if the rash is similar?”
“Yes, identical.”
The major spoke for the first time. His voice, for so big a man, came small and tense. “What is this disease, doctor?” And Rayner, looking at his eyes and sucked-in lips, recognized the sound for what it was: the fear of death.
He said, “The truth is, major, we don”t know.” But he saw in the man beneath him—in his practical, unreflecting face—a kind of resentment. Whatever the propaganda about his key military post, he was a man in his late forties occupying a dead-end job in a provincial town, and Rayner thought he could hear anger inside that stone carapace of a head. Was this all there was to be?
He felt sorry for him. “As far as we can tell, the infection limits itself.” He tapped the major”s chest. “Initially the skin pigment changes, but then it stops. There”s no development. And the blood shows nothing. At the moment the municipality is trying to trace a common source of infection. In these near-drought conditions, the obvious culprit is the water supply. Tests here haven”t yielded results, but samples have been sent up to the state laboratories in the capital, and we”re awaiting a verdict.”
As he was speaking the major repeated, “… limited infection … no development … samples to the capital …” Rayner wondered how stupid he was. The major grabbed at the information as it flew by, then docketed it away, shorn of complexities.
Rayner asked: “Is there anything you can help me with? Anything unusual you might have shared with other people recently? Food, perhaps, or anything new?”
The major slowly shook his head. “Only the air coolers.”
“Air coolers?”
The lieutenant said, “They”re a new invention, doctor. They keep premises cool by some method … changing the air. They”re better than fans.”
The major sat up and ran his hands cautiously over his chest. “We”re the first to get them. In the barracks.”
So they offered no solution. Rayner asked the major, “Is there anywhere perhaps you”ve been?”
The lieutenant tensed. “I don”t think that”s a proper question, doctor.”
The major had revived now and was pulling on his jacket. “What do you mean?” He looked angry.
Rayner burst into laughter. “Good god, I didn”t mean to imply …!” His embarrassment detonated round the room. “No! Hahaha! I know there”s a lot of gossip in town about … hahah … but this disease can”t be sexually transmitted …” He clapped him on the shoulder. “You can go anywhere you like, major!”