Future Surgery
The twenty-second century is not all bad. Sure, you don’t get to live past the age of twenty-one, but on the other hand, surgery is freely available. And since everyone is under twenty-one, there’s not much demand and so no long lines. Not to mention the technological advancements:
“With its infinitely adjustable lasers it could lay back the flesh surrounding a single nerve and lift out that nerve without nicking the sheath. It was as precise as a diamond cutter and as unemotional as a vending slot.”
Death to Doyle
Doyle is an important character overall, but his actual physical presence in the story is painfully short. Literally: he is savagely attacked by a gang of teens hopped up on goofballs:
“The man’s face was a mosaic of blood and bone-ends; his mouth moved convulsively.”
Runners
The story begins by pitting Sandmen against Runners. As members of law enforcement, the Runners are naturally outgunned by the Sandmen. And so in order to even attempt a successful run, one must do what all those do who successfully get away with criminal acts: outwit the minds holding the gun and outrun the gun being held. One is easy, the other not so much:
“He was smart. This was no frightened psychotic who’d come unhinged the moment his hand blacked. He’d dodged and shifted like a chess player, calculating each move.”
Darkness
Darkness began rising to the top of the list of the metaphorical hit parade sometime in the late 19th century. By the middle of the next century, the horrors of the Nazi regime had ensured that darkness was to be the defining metaphor of the modern age. A century or so later, according to the vision of history in the book, it will still be going strong as that definition:
“Logan felt a darkness sifting down. A darkness within himself; a darkness from the heavy sky above him; and a darkness from a man who wore it. Wore the darkness.”
Ballard
Throughout most of the book, a character named Ballard is mentioned by name, but exists only as a rumor or myth or hope or desperate dream. And then a good chunk of the narrative of Logan’s run with Jessica is fueled by the belief that he does exist and he must be found. And then, well, there he sudden is, in the flesh; a quite unexpectedly saggy and aged flesh:
“The shadow figure in the doorway moved. A forty-two-year-old man faced them. His lined face held a double lifetime; his hair was streaked with gray. A legend. A myth. A nightdream come alive.”
