of ochre," Rebecca snapped, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it. This time Kumi's smile completely fell. Sometimes Rebecca could be her own worst enemy. "Listen," she said, "I'm sorry. The stress of everything, you know? Maybe we can continue my re-education program or something."
"Reintroduction," Kumi corrected.
"Right." Rebecca stepped over to the table and snatched up the scanner that Kumi had left on the table. "So are you going to tell me what all those numbers and letters meant?"
"What numbers?"
Rebecca stared stone-faced. So it's going to be that way, she thought. "The numbers assigned to my organs. I'm sure you know what they meant."
"Not really." Kumi shook her head rapidly as she stepped over and tried to snatch the scanner back. But Rebecca pulled it away and turned. "They refer to ownership and a transmittal number. Without a computer, I can't tell who they belong to."
Rebecca shuddered and made a face.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Rebecca said, returning the scanner. "I don't really feel like I own my own body anymore. It's a weird feeling to be free, but only on the outside. Very strange."
"I know what you mean."
"Do you? Who owns your organs?" Rebecca asked.
"No one. Mine aren't worth anything," Kumi said, her voice so low that Rebecca couldn't help but feel bad for the woman.
Were useful organs a sign of status in the world? What had Kumi said earlier about Rebecca's organs? Something about how they were unspoiled by toxins. Did that make Rebecca special? She kept her face impassive, but her insides squirmed with the irony of the situation.
"No one as in no one wants your organs?"
"I grew up in Sri Lanka," Kumi said as if in explanation. She quickly changed the subject. "But you asked about your organs. Nothing I saw was out of the norm, except that all of your organs have been levied."
"That's not the way things usually are?"
"Not really," Kumi admitted. "Most people have one or two organs that have been cataloged and found to be valuable, but you, probably because of your incarceration and solitary confinement, have almost perfect organs. All of them have been levied, and although I don't have the codes, I can tell that some very high prices have been bid."
"Wait. I can get paid for these?"
"Of course you can."
"So if I need the money, I can sell my liver?" Rebecca asked.
"You need your liver to survive," Kumi said flatly.
"Oh."
"But you could sell your spleen," she added.
Rebecca shook her head as she imagined selling her spleen for the price of a new car. "What does a spleen go for nowadays?"
"Based on your readings? You could get somewhere around a hundred thousand for it," said Kumi.
"For my spleen? But it doesn't do anything. Who would pay that much for a spleen?" she asked.
Kumi shrugged. "Lots of people. Chinese herbalists pay a high price for healthy human spleen."
Rebecca remembered that Chinese specialists in Eastern medicine used to deal in bear bladders and elk hearts. They'd always been into special body parts. She'd remembered running across an online network back in her information warfare days. When she'd gone to jail, hunting those animals had been illegal; but then so had been the harvesting of human body parts for sale. She supposed the natural evolution was to the human spleen—whatever it did.
"So what you're saying is that I could go into a hospital, have them take out my spleen, then walk out with a bundle of cash?" Rebecca almost laughed. The entire idea was ludicrous. Selling off part of her had never crossed her mind. She reminded herself that the whole idea had made her ill when she'd first heard it, now here she was contemplating the possibilities of a get-rich-quick scheme. How easy it was for crazy things to become normal.
"That's about right. There isn't any cash though. Everything is electronic now. Your account would be credited."
"Do I even have an account?" Rebecca asked.
Suddenly Kumi smiled. "Yes, you do. I don't know why I didn't mention it earlier. You have quite a significant amount of money in fact."
"What? Where'd it come from? I didn't have any money when I was arrested."
"Besides the computer equipment that was confiscated at your arrest, you had a home and some furniture. According to the records, no one came to claim your property, so the state sold it at auction. At the time of your incarceration, after paying court costs and fines, your net worth was $23,000."
Rebecca felt a pulse of excitement course through her