Ubik

Joe realizes that his people are tired even when they’re nearby other inertials. He asks Pat why she hasn’t used her ability: “Do what you did when I first introduced you to Runciter” (159). She claims that she hasn’t been able to use her power since landing on Luna. A cop pulls Joe over and gives him a citation with a special note on it that reads, “You are in much greater danger than I thought. What Pat Conley said” (161). Joe reads further and sees mention of Archer’s Drugstore. He finds out that the drugstore has been closed for a while. When he approaches it, the building oscillates between different forms—one of the past, one of the future: “A shimmer, an unsteadiness, as if the building faded forward into stability and then retreated in to insubstantial uncertainty” (163).

Joe chooses the past form of the building to enter. He approaches the druggist and asks for Ubik. The druggist explains that it’s expensive, $40. Chip just wants to look at the bottle. The message from the citation continues on the bottle. The message tells Joe that Pat’s claim about not being able to use her ability is a lie. Joe returns to the hotel. Another inertial, Don Denny tells him about Edie: “We found her…[a]nd it wasn’t pretty, not pretty at all” (167). Edie Dorn is dead. Pat approaches the two men. They show her the citation and accuse her of lying to them. He accuses her and Ashwood of working for Hollis and infiltrating Runciter Associates. He asks, “Is this what really happened to us—not the bomb blast but you?” (169). Pat smiles. A bomb in the lobby detonates.

Denny leaves to go get a doctor. Joe asks to be taken to the elevator to go back up to his room. He wants to be alone. He feels tired and now looks like Edie Dorn when she died. Pat brings Joe to the elevator, showing no remorse for what’s happening to him. He feels compelled “to stretch out, on his back, alone, upstairs in his hotel room” (172). The elevator, however, reminds him of the one Al saw, so he takes the stairs.

Joe struggles with his disintegrating body on the staircase, again feeling compelled to be alone. Pat, however, enjoys watching him suffer. She admits to working with Hollis and Ashwood to bring down Runciter and his team. She says, “you are dying off, one by one” (175). Joe continues to struggle up the stairs, and, once he’s reached the top, Pat gives him the keys to his room and leaves him to die. Inside, Joe sees Runciter seated in a big chair. Runciter He holds up an aerosol can of Ubik and sprays Joe with it. “It should work on you right away,” Runciter says, “you should already be getting a reaction” (181).