After a while, Joanne ignored her, and returned to her contemplation of herself in the mirror.After a while, Joanne ignored her, and returned to her contemplation of herself in the mirror. Joanne studied her own reflection; no matter how hard she tried, _something_ was wrong with her pose. Something was still missing. Vivienne Moriat removed another cigarette from the pack, but not before casting an irritated glance at the self-preoccupied Joanne for not offering. She lit it herself, peeved at being ignored by her partner. It felt so right, the cylinder between her fingers, the sucking action. A toss of the head, a purse of the lips and -- exhale. Dr. Moriat looked at her cigarette for a moment. It was brown, but she needed a _real_ smoke. Just like one of the boys. *** Wilbur awakened and snapped to an amazing lucidity almost instantly. Smoke was thick in the room, and he panicked, thinking that the building was on fire and he had been left to burn. He moved his head, and then saw both Joanne Weber and Dr. Moriat standing at the mirror, smoking. The sight of the newcomer's posture, short, dark hair and slim physique broke a piece of his earlier dream off to float to the surface of his thoughts. Wilbur Cross' first word in two weeks was "Lucy." [At this point, the output amplifier level was 52% of design maximum, and rising. Still, no one noticed. Joanne and Dr. Moriat were apparently trapped in Wilbur's dream world, and the monitoring technicians were not available.] [We think they were napping after having played rabbits in the cooling room.-AW] Day 4, 0451: Dr. Moriat and Nurse Weber left the room, Joanne's entire pack of cigarettes gone in less than three hours. The powerful craving lingered, for the women left the building and went to the parking lot. Joanne simply retrieved another pack of cigarettes and returned; Dr. Moriat did not. [She did not return for several hours. |