A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2)

by Kim K. O'Hara

  She knew why the tiny figure of herself was screaming. She knew it in the way that one knows things in dreams, knowing without experience or words to learn by.

  She was screaming because…because Jored was gone.

  She watched as Kat’s Uncle Royce came and calmed her down. She watched herself fall asleep and watched the other three back away and talk, concern etched on their faces.

  She turned her focus further on that line, watched herself meeting with Lexil on a street, in his home lab, in the moonlight. She recognized that scene from the dream she had recounted to Kat.

  How odd, to be remembering dreams in a dream.

  If this was a dream.

  She tore her focus away from the ribbons and thought back. She remembered falling, being weightless. She remembered Althea’s panicked expression.

  She remembered hitting bottom. The jolt of that memory yanked her out of the ribbon world. The bright colors washed away until all she saw was blackness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Instability

  COTTAGE #5, Blake Island, WA. 0700, Saturday, September 16, 2215.

  The viewwall flickered and flooded the dark room with color and noise.

  The prisoner groaned and rolled over. All night long, for the last three nights, the viewwall had interrupted his sleep at irregular intervals. He had no way of timing the intervals or the duration, but the interruptions to his sleep cycle were taking their toll. He suspected his captor had set it to come on every time he was about to slip into deep sleep.

  He was exhausted.

  “You’re awake. Good.” The familiar face filled the screen. Noise at night, dialog by day.

  So that meant it was morning, and he had another sixteen or seventeen hours to get through before he’d be permitted to sleep again.

  “Yes, I’m awake. Or as close as I can manage.”

  “I have a special treat for you today. How would you like to see your daughter?”

  An impossible mixture of longing and dread filled his heart. It had been so many years! But he couldn’t forget the earlier promise of suffering. “What have you done?”

  “It was unfortunate. She had a little accident. Oh, don’t worry. She survived.”

  A hologram popped up in the center of the room. The scene was a cutaway view of a clothing store. The perspective was from slightly above eye-level, looking down at a young woman in an anti-grav tube.

  She had grown up to be so beautiful!

  Smiling, having fun, she waved toward the camera. The hologram had no sound, but she mouthed words that looked like a countdown from five to one. And then, with a nod, she swiped at the panel. She and the camera dropped simultaneously, but the floors flew by too fast. Her carefree expression changed to a look of alarm. The motion slowed, and then it sped up again. In the course of the next few seconds, the floors jerked past erratically as the anti-grav field was interrupted in a pattern that he recognized. Electromagnetic interference, he was almost certain.

  It crossed his mind briefly that the other tubes in the cluster would have been similarly affected. Others might be plummeting too, just out of his line of sight. But his eyes were on his daughter.

  His daughter, who was clawing at the walls of the tube, trying to find something to hold on to.

  There would be nothing, he knew with agonizing clarity. Anti-grav tubes had to be perfectly smooth for safety. Unless the field stabilized, she would land hard. He hoped the safety bag at the bottom would save her life.

  It was almost more horrific without sound, as she hit the ground and crumpled into a meager excuse for a cushion.

  The hologram cut out. His heart ached to see her again. To be there in person. To gather her into his arms. He had to trust that someone else was there to step in and take care of her.

  His captor had said she survived. He clung to that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Infirmity

  NEW HARBORVIEW HOSPITAL, Seattle, WA. 0215, Friday, September 15, 2215.

  “Ah, you’re awake.” The nurse scanned Dani in one motion from her collarbone to her left ankle, and then he moved the scanner to her right ankle and scanned up to her waist. He made some notations. Then he scanned both arms from wrist to shoulder.

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re at New Harborview. They brought you in late last evening. You had a nasty fall when an anti-grav device malfunctioned at The Float.”

  “Althea?”

  “Yes, she’s here too. Wasn’t hurt quite as badly as you were, though. I’ll let her fill you in on her own status when she’s released. Should be in a few hours, when the morning shift starts and the doctor has seen her. You’ve had some other visitors too. I told them we had to do some scans first, and you were due for some procedures. I encouraged them to go home and come back tomorrow.” He shrugged. “It didn’t look like you were going to wake up tonight anyway. You should try to go back to sleep. It will help you heal faster.”

  Her brain was foggy. It would be easy to drift back down into blissful unconsciousness. But she struggled to stay awake, to understand. Visitors. “Who was here?”

  “There were several, in and out. Let’s see.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Earlier, you had a boy and his mom. They waited a long time, but she said they needed to go, that it was past his bedtime. Oh my, how he protested! It wasn’t until his mom promised him they’d get up early and be back that he was willing to go. Part way through that, an impatient young man arrived, and later, a woman who said she was your boss. They stuck it out for a long time, but finally went home. Don’t fret about your visitors. We need to focus on taking care of you.”

  “Okay.” She felt numb. It was nice to know that everybody had come to see her, but honestly, it was a relief to not have to have a conversation right now.

  Her body ached all over. She wondered what kind of healing she was going to have to deal with. The nurse had said Althea would be kept till morning and her injuries were less that Dani’s. How many days would she have to be here?

  She struggled to find the words. “Is anything…broken?”

  “I’ll let the doctor fill you in on that. She should be here in a few hours. For now, you should try to rest. Sleep helps.”

  Dani nodded and then she closed her eyes. She knew she’d been unconscious for hours already—and she remembered every detail of that strange dream—but for some reason, instead of feeling rested, she felt drained and spent, as if she’d been awake for days. Fall asleep? No problem. That was the easy part. At this point, she didn’t think she could stay awake if she tried.

  NEW HARBORVIEW HOSPITAL, Seattle, WA. 0625, Friday, September 15, 2215.

  “Good morning.”

  Dani opened one eye a slit and then the other. She blinked against the bright lights.

  A friendly face hovered over the bed, surrounded by a halo of tight black curls. “I’m Dr. Benson. How are you feeling?” The white-coated doctor checked her tablet for updates. A brief frown crossed her face before she looked up.

  Dani tried to collect her thoughts. “Better than last night, I think.” She tried to shift, to turn her body so she could see the doctor better. “Oh! Until I move. Now it hurts again.”

  “Best not to move anything but your arms and head, if you can help it. We’ve got a light anti-grav field on you to prevent bedsores, so you don’t have to worry about changing positions. Don’t be alarmed if you feel your muscles tense every now and then. We’re stimulating them to keep your limbs from going numb. Also, your legs are enclosed in treatment sheaths.”

  She carefully raised her left arm, and then her right, and she looked them over. She was relieved to find only a few discolorations, tender to the touch. “What kind of treatment?”

  “Your case was complicated. I understand the safety bag at the bottom of the tube didn’t trigger fully, so you hit hard. Nowhere near full gravity, of course, but bad enough to bruise ribs, break ankles, and fracture shin bones. One was pretty well shattered. No
internal injuries to your organs. You were fortunate.”

  Shattered shin bone? She winced. All through her life, she’d never had even one broken bone. “Will they heal?”

  “There’s a good chance of it. We’ve injected you with nanohealers, and they’re finding and dissolving stray bone fragments with osteoclasts. Then, under the direction of a talented team of osteoengineers, they’ll use nanoglue to make sure the bones that remain stay in place—am I going into too much detail for you?”

  Her head was spinning, but she didn’t want anyone to withhold information from her. “No, I actually prefer detail. It helps me to know what I’m up against.”

  “At that point, which should be late this afternoon or this evening, we’ll change the settings on your sheaths, and the real reconstruction will begin. The engineers will use nanoprobes to determine your body’s specific calcium/potassium ratio. The last step will be using ortho-nanites with DNA osteocytes to stimulate the osteoblasts you need for bone growth. That will take several days, but your prospects for full healing are very good.”

  Dani’s face must have betrayed her doubt, because the doctor added, “Don’t worry. We’ve done thousands of these.”

  There was something important nibbling at the edge of consciousness. Something about work. She struggled to remember. “Will I be able to go to work?” Find that out, first.

  “Oh, no, I wouldn’t say so. Not for a bit. The engineers will need several days, and then the real healing begins.”

  She needed to get back to work…for something. What was it? She groaned, trying to dredge up details. Anything would help.

  “Is your work important?” The doctor’s face held concern. “Do you need to talk to a supervisor?”

  Lexil. Lexil was her boss. He’d be coming by to visit, she was sure.

  And then her brain broke through the fog and she remembered. She didn’t work for Lexil any more. She worked for Dr. Brant. And she wasn’t doing anything that others couldn’t do. The important work was being done in the Temporal Disturbances lab, and they were already doing fine without her. She relaxed.

  “No, it’ll be fine. Someone will come see me soon.”

  “Good.” The doctor picked up her handscanner and checked Dani’s temperature and blood pressure. She opened her worktablet to receive the new data.

  “Everything okay?” Dani asked.

  “You’re doing well. I’ll leave you alone to rest now, but let me know if you need to make any arrangements. Do you have pets? Family to be notified? We’ve found a strong link between peace of mind and speed of healing. It’s part of our standard procedures, and we have people to help you work those things through.”

  Dani shook her head. “No pets. I suppose I’ll tell my mom eventually. She’s not local.”

  “Friends?”

  “I think my friends already know.”

  The doctor closed her worktablet. “I’ll see you later this afternoon. The orderly should be in soon to show you how to order your meals.”

  Meals. That sounded good.

  NEW HARBORVIEW HOSPITAL, Seattle, WA. 0855, Friday, September 15, 2215.

  “You’ll do anything for attention, won’t you?”

  Dani opened her eyes to see Kat standing at the foot of her bed. She laughed. “Ow. That hurts my ribs. I think you’re going to have to settle for a smile from me when you say something funny.”

  “No, I insist on a smirk. I deserve at least that much.”

  “Only if it’s really funny. This one’s just worth a wry smile.”

  “Oh, all right. I’ll make allowances, since you’re injured and all.”

  “You’re such a considerate friend.” She put her arms behind her back and pushed, trying to sit up.

  Kat stepped over and used the panel to raise the head of the bed. “The controls are over here. Can you see them?”

  “Now I can. Thanks.”

  Jored stood up from the chair in the corner of the room. He was biting his lip. He looked worried, despite his mother’s attempt at humor.

  “Hey bud. Did you come here to play chess with me?”

  His face fell. “I didn’t bring my chess set.”

  “That’s okay. They tell me I’ll be here a while. You can bring it next time.”

  “Do you need more pillows, Dani? I found where they keep all the extra ones. I could get you one. Or two or three.”

  “Are they in the room here?”

  “I saw some out in the hall. But I can see if there are some in here too.”

  She heard soft whooshes as doors and cabinets began opening to his touch.

  “They have a little clothes machine here. It’s so cute! Dani, do you need any of your clothes washed and folded? I can do it for you, if you want.”

  “I don’t think I have any clothes here, except what I was wearing when I came.”

  “I think they had to cut those off you,” Kat said. “I’m sorry. It looked like a pretty nice outfit.”

  What had she been wearing? Yesterday morning seemed so long ago. “Was that the one-piece?”

  “Yeah, a periwinkle blue? They asked me if I thought you’d want to keep the pieces. It’s a synthetic fabric, so we could join them back together, but they were pretty bloodstained. Oh—I’m sorry. They didn’t tell you you were all bloody? You were.”

  Dani wrinkled her nose. “They didn’t tell me, but I guess I’m not surprised. Too bad about the outfit. It was the first time I’d worn it. Althea bought it for me on Wednesday when we went out.”

  “Althea bought you clothes? I thought—” Kat stopped abruptly and frowned.

  “I know what you thought. That’s my fault. She’s actually pretty nice. I was wrong.”

  “You didn’t want the clothes back, did you? I told them no.”

  Dani shook her head. “What would I do with chopped up clothes?”

  Jored whirled around from the latest cabinet he was inspecting. “I could wash them for you. Are they still here?”

  They both laughed at his earnest expression.

  “Ow,” Dani said. “I forgot, I wasn’t going to do that. I think the clothes are gone, but did you have any success with your pillow hunt?”

  He scowled. “No.” Then his face brightened. “Can I go get you one from the hallway?”

  “I don’t think they want us to do that, Jored,” Kat said. “I’ll tell you what: I’ll go ask at the nurse’s desk and see what we can get. You want to stay here with Dani?”

  “Okay.”

  The door whooshed open and she left.

  “Where’s your dad today?”

  Jored sat down on a chair and poked at it until its legs grew and it lifted him up a foot. He kicked his feet back and forth under the seat. “He’s working. He’s going to come get me when Mom leaves and then I have to do school. Mom and I went out on Uncle Royce’s boat yesterday. How high does this thing go? Can I touch the ceiling?”

  “Maybe. I wouldn’t do that, though. What if you get stuck up there? I couldn’t help you down.”

  “I could climb down.”

  “And probably fall on me. There’s nothing to put your feet on except me.”

  “Oh yeah.” He lowered himself to a safe height.

  “So who all went on the boat? Did your dad go?”

  “No, just Mom and me. We almost got stranded out by Mystery Island! It was the best thing ever! If I hadn’t said something, Mom might have kept going, but I remembered.”

  “What did you remember?”

  “Uncle Royce said there was a force field out there that makes your engine die. We’re not supposed to go there. But it’s okay, we turned around in time.” He giggled. “I guess you know that, or we wouldn’t be here, right? And Mom let me steer after that.”

  Forgetting his promise, he raised the chair up again. Then he made it drop abruptly. Dani flashed back to falling in the tube and had to shut her eyes.

  Jored reached over and jiggled her shoulder. “Did you fall asleep, Dani?”

 
“No, bud. I was just closing my eyes for a minute.”

  “Oh. I thought you fell asleep. Mom said you might be tired, and I should try not to talk so much.” He put his hand over his mouth, but just for a second. “Have you had any more dreams? I’ve had some.”

  “Yes.” The images from the ribbon world poured through her mind. “I saw ribbons.”

  “Ribbons, like my ribbons? Were there people on them? Could you see people’s whole lives, all at once?”

  She considered. She supposed she could have, if she’d focused that way. “I don’t know. Maybe. I saw places where a ribbon branched off from another, and I saw myself on two of them.”

  “Did you see me?”

  “No. Not on the parts I looked at.”

  “I saw two ribbons too, but I was only on one of them. It was okay, though. I could see everything anyway. I can go backwards and forwards and up and down—” He raised the chair again and made it spin around and around. Then he stopped it abruptly. “Whoa! The room is dizzy! But I’m never dizzy there.”

  She stifled a laugh. “You be careful. Don’t get so dizzy you fall off! How often do you have this dream?”

  He beamed. “Every night! As soon as I close my eyes, I get to go to the ribbon place. And now you can go too. Maybe we’ll see each other there.”

  “Are you lonely, when you dream like that?”

  He shook his head and his smile faded. “No. I used to be, and it was scary at first, because I felt like I was floating away from my ribbon—you know, the one we’re on now?—and I wasn’t sure how to get back. But now I know how. And I don’t feel alone, not since I found out about the hug.”

  “The hug?”

  His smile came back, even bigger than before. “Yeah, it’s a big hug that wraps me all up whenever I’m there. Do you think we’ll see each other there, Dani?”

  “How could we? They’re just dreams, remember?”

  His lower lip stuck out, just a tiny bit. “It feels real.”

  She had to admit, the common elements between his dream and hers gave her pause. But surely, that was just from hearing his description the last time they talked.