'It's a fate worse than death', Xanthia quoted, as they walked across the university lawns.
- I didn't really mind the pain, said Peter. 'But I'm still getting nightmares about death... once, but never again.. what am I saying? Just the twice will do me fine, thank you very much...'

'The waiting really got to me... just when I'd gotten over one agonizing spasm of pain, instead of feeling relief I was steeling myself for the next one... no breathing space at all, and I just knew that the next one would be worse. My blue tunnel, though, had lots of twists and turns in it. If I wasn't walking through it so slowly, it'd be a great rollercoaster ride...'
- Well that's a renal colic for you. And if you think of it, we got off lightly with just dying. I suppose the real crux is whether it's Heaven or Hell for you. Wouldn't put it past the bastards to build a taste of Hell into the program to 'enhance our empathic mechanisms'....
'I've got my doubts about this empathy thing anyway', Xanthia said. 'After all, if I ever meet a patient with a colic I'll probably get a flashback which will put me as a vomiting green heap of misery on the floor. I don't see how that's going to help anybody. Wouldn't it be better if we just expressed our empathy with total conviction? Or skip the emphatic bit altogether and just stick some endorphins into the poor bastard on the trolley?

The two medical students continued their journey home discussing the possible aspects of a Hell experience. Would it be a 'room 101' type thing, an individualized immersion into terror and pain or is Hell a democratic experience with an assembly line of slow-roasting racks not unlike your local Chicken Treat? It took them well into the night before they agreed to differ.

Like many before and after them, they privately wondered if they'd made the right choice in becoming doctors. After all, it was the neurontologists and biotechists who did the actual curing. Those without a mathematical bent wouldn't even get into the course. But many, especially the older patients, were quite willing to pay extra for the 'human touch'. And even the flashest computers always seemed to be faking sympathy. Much like the old-style doctors, before care and cure became separate fields of study.

9/2001