Only then did I get it: alcohol. Yesterday’s lightning flashed: the stone hand of the Benefactor, the unbearable blades of the laser beams, but this time, instead, it was her in the Cube, with her head thrown back—body outstretched. I winced. “Listen,” I said, “you must know: anyone who poisons themselves with nicotine and alcohol, in particular, will be shown no mercy by the One State . . .”
