2010 Odyssey Two

THE TRIAL Chapter 5: A CHILD OF THE STARS Chapter 31 Disneyville
A fin-de-siecle philosopher had once remarked - and been roundly denounced for his pains - that Walter Elias Disney had contributed more to genuine human happiness than all the religious teachers in history. Now, half a century after the artist's death, his dreams were still proliferating across the Florida landscape.

When it had opened in the early 1980s, his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow had been a showcase for new technologies and modes of living. But as its founder had realized, EPCOT would only fulfil its purpose when some of its vast acreage was a genuine, living town, occupied by people who called it home. That process had taken the remainder of the century; now the residential area had twenty thousand inhabitants and had, inevitably, become popularly known as Disneyville.

Because they could move in only after penetrating a palace guard of WED lawyers, it was not surprising that the average age of the occupants was the highest in any United States community, or that its medical services were the most advanced in the world. Some of them, indeed, could hardly have been conceived, still less created, in any other place.

The apartment had been carefully designed not to look like a hospital suite, and only a few unusual fittings would have betrayed its purpose. The bed was scarcely knee-high, so that the danger of falls was minimized: it could, however, be raised and tilted for the convenience of the nurses. The bathroom tub was sunk into the floor, and had a built-in seat as well as handrails, so that even the elderly or infirm could get in and out of it easily. The floor was thickly carpeted, but there were no rugs over which one could trip, or sharp corners that might cause injuries. Other details were less obvious - and the TV camera was so well concealed that no one would have suspected its presence.

There were few personal touches - a pile of old books in one corner, and a framed front page of one of the last printed issues of the New York Times proclaiming: US SPACESHIP LEAVES FOR JUPITER. Close to this were two photographs, one showing a boy in his late teens; the other, a considerably older man wearing astronaut's uniform.

Though the frail, grey-haired woman watching the domestic comedy unfolding on the TV panel was not yet seventy, she looked much older. From time to time she chuckled appreciatively at some joke from the screen, but she kept glancing at the door as if expecting a visitor. And when she did so, she took a firmer grasp on the walking stick propped against her chair.

Yet she was distracted by a moment of TV drama when the door finally opened, and she looked around with a guilty start as the little service trolley rolled into the room, followed closely by a uniformed nurse.

'Time for lunch, Jessie,' called the nurse: 'We've got something very nice for you today.'

'Don't want any lunch.'

'It will make you feel a lot better.'

'I won't eat until you tell me what it is.'

'Why won't you eat it?'

'I'm not hungry. Are you ever hungry?' she added slyly.

The robot food trolley came to a halt beside the chair, and the transport covers opened up to reveal the dishes. Throughout, the nurse never touched anything, not even the controls on the trolley. She now stood motionless, with a rather fixed smile, looking at her difficult patient.

In the monitor room fifty metres away, the medical technician said to the doctor: 'Now watch this.'

Jessie's gnarled hand lifted the walking stick; then, with surprising speed, she swept it in a short arc toward the nurse's legs.

The nurse took no notice whatsoever, even when the stick sliced right through her. Instead, she remarked soothingly, 'Now, doesn't that look nice? Eat it up, dear.'

A cunning smile spread across Jessie's face, but she obeyed instructions. In a moment, she was eating heartily.

'You see?' said the technician. 'She knows perfectly well what's going on. She's a lot brighter than she pretends to be, most of the time.'

'And she's the first?'

'Yes. All the others believe that really is Nurse Williams, bringing their meals.'

'Well, I don't think it matters. Look how pleased she is, just because she's outsmarted us. She's eating her food, which is the purpose of the exercise. But we must warn the nurses - all of them, not just Williams.'

'Why - oh, of course. The next time it may not be a hologram - and then think of the lawsuits we'll be facing from our battered staff.'