1269_UgliesFreeBook

272 Scott Westerfeld
Az smiled. “We didn’t have much to compare our fellow
citizens with, only a few colleagues who seemed different
from most people. More engaged. But that was hardly a
surprise. History would indicate that the majority of people
have always been sheep. Before the operation, there were
wars and mass hatred and clear-cutting. Whatever these
lesions make us, it isn’t a far cry from the way humanity was
in the Rusty era. These days we’re just a bit . . . easier to
manage.”
“Having the lesions is normal now,” Maddy said. “We’re
all used to the effects.”
Tally took a deep breath, remembering Sol and Ellie’s
visit. Her parents had been so sure of themselves, and yet
in a way so clueless. But they’d always seemed that way:
wise and confident, and at the same time disconnected
from whatever ugly, real-life problems Tally was having.
Was that pretty brain damage? Tally had always thought
that was just how parents were supposed to be.
For that matter, shallow and self-centered was how
brand-new pretties were supposed to be. As an ugly
Peris had made fun of them—but he hadn’t waited a
moment to join in the fun. No one ever did. So how
could you tell how much was the operation and how
much was just people going along with the way things
had always been?
Only by making a whole new world, which is just what
Maddy and Az had begun to do.