Beginnings (Book 1): Future Apocalypse

by Gilbert, Barbara J.

  “Phew! Paulette, we’re about to make history!” he said excitedly.

  “Yep, we are, but that’s only the beginning. Soon I can start my pet project that will change the world as we know it,” she said.

  “You might change the world, but keep in mind how dangerous it can be too,” he replied.

  “Jeez, Greg, you don’t have to remind me. I know how dangerous it is, which is why the military won’t have its hands in this at all. I can’t risk their taking my project away from me and using it for their purposes,” she said with a touch of anger in her voice.

  “Don’t get so upset with me. I just wanted to make sure you understood the consequences of your actions,” he replied in defense.

  “So, are you treating me like a kid?” she started to scream

  "Of course not, just a gentle reminder. That’s all,” he replied. But his mind was saying, she sure is touchy about this time travel stuff.

  Paulette made the call to the VA and Karen, and the VA began the pre-op procedures. It took a week to get a date set for the operation. Paulette and Greg could hardly wait to see how well the bionic limb would attach to Karen’s leg.

  They packed the bionic leg into the germ-free, roll-around case and with it rolling behind Paulette, they headed down to her car, put it in the back and drove to the VA hospital, which in normal traffic was only 10 min away from P&G Bionics; however, due to heavy traffic it took close to an hour to drive to the hospital. Once there, Paulette parked the car, she and Greg got out. Paulette grabbing the case and rolling it behind her, they walked in the front door of the VA Hospital. The building was large and daunting. All the walls were painted in a plain cream color. Their footsteps echoed as they headed to the elevator. Standing in front of the silver doors of the elevators, Paulette pushed the up arrow, and she and Greg waited what seemed like an eternity before the doors swooshed back and beckoned them in. Maneuvering themselves and the cart, they entered the elevator and pushed the fourth-floor button. The doors jerked and then came to a close, and the elevator began a slow ascent to the fourth floor, where the surgery wing was located. It took a few minutes before the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. They exited, took a right and then a left, and walked down the clean, echoing hallway toward the surgery department. After being admitted to the surgery ward, someone directed them to the operating room. Before they could go in, they had to scrub in and put on specialized gowns, masks, and gloves. After struggling to get everything on and situated, they entered the operating room. Rolling the case over to a cold, silver tray table, they stopped, bent over, unlatched it, removed the bionic leg, and placed it on the table. Karen was already under anesthesia and waiting for the operation to commence.

  Dr. Drew Bellows, although a highly trained surgeon, still needed their expertise in attaching a bionic limb, since this was new to him. “Hello, Paulette and Greg. I do hope you’re ready to have me begin the operation,” he said.

  “Yes, we are, and we are very excited to see how it all goes."

  He introduced them to the surgical team and also pointed out that some people involved in the funding were present, and some of his student fellows were up above watching the operation. This made Paulette and Greg a little nervous; but, after sucking in and letting out a breath, they went to instructing everyone on how to attach the leg. The simulations the surgical team went through before the surgery were close to the real thing, but this would be live.

  Dr. Bellows began by carefully cutting away the dead portion of the stump so they had live nerve and good muscles to work with. The doctor wouldn’t need to use the veins, so the surgical team worked to cauterize each vein and the artery that ran through the leg. Once they completed this part of the procedure, they carefully drilled a small hole into the femur and then picked up and placed the bionic leg down next to her stump. They applied the special cement to the titanium rod and then slowly slid the rod into the hole they made in the femur. Once they had this in place, they began the long and tedious procedure of carefully stitching the muscles together and each nerve ending to the synthesized nerves. It took over twelve hours to complete that portion of the operation. The doctors were very pleased at how things were looking. With the bionic leg attached, they began the skin grafting procedure. They were using the synthesized skin to graft it, both to the human leg and to the bionic leg. With the stitching they were using they were hoping there wouldn’t even be a scar. Sixteen hours after the surgery had begun, the procedure was completed, and Karen was sent to the recovery room.

  Paulette looked over to Dr. Bellows. “How long will it be before Karen can walk again.” Paulette asked.

  “She’d have to go through physical therapy, as if she had a spinal cord injury. And her brain would have to learn to walk all over again. I project it will take anywhere from two weeks to two months, depending on how well Karen responds to therapy,” Dr. Bellows replied.

  Paulette and Greg seemed pleased with the answer, and the entire surgery team thanked them for this great innovation. Paulette and Greg left the operating room and went into the cleaning area to take their gowns, gloves, and masks off.

  “Wow, that was awesome to watch!” Greg exclaimed.

  “Yes it was! I hope we can get our girl up and running soon. If this works, then there will be many people we can help,” she replied.

  “I agree with you there. Let’s get back to the university and get cleaned up. Are you still going to drop out at the end of the semester?” Greg inquired.

  “Yeah, I don’t see a reason to stay there and rot away, when my talents are better used elsewhere. Don’t you think?” she said.

  “Maybe, but I’ll miss not having you around campus. I still have two years left before I graduate, which means I’ll be lonely without you there,” he said with a frown on his face.

  “Don’t worry I’ll come around now and then. Besides, you’ll see me at the company,” she said with a smile on her face.

  “Yeah, but that’s not the same,” he sighed. Thinking at the same time “She doesn’t even pay attention to when I drop hints that I want more then to be just friends.”

  “So, guess the next step is to follow her progress and when she is walking well, then we can set up the next appointment with the funding committee and get this company launched off the ground. And, yes, eventually get my project going,” she stated.

  “You won’t give that up, will you? Do you really think time travel is possible?” he blurted out.

  “It’s possible, because I’ve got the answers to everything right here in my head, and when I get it all put together, I’ll not only shock you but the whole world,” she replied with an air of confidence.

  “Such a drama queen,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Yeah, well, someone has to be,” she said and smiled back.

  With that, they headed back to their respective dorm rooms to prepare for another week of classes.

  Chapter 7

  Spring 2027

  VA Hospital

  Karen woke up in the recovery room and groggily looked down at her legs. She was shocked and surprised that a prosthetic leg could be attached to her remaining stump. Her spirit soared at the thought of being able to walk again and not need help with everything. She hated depending on her family. She lay back down and fell back to sleep. The next time she woke up, she was in her own private hospital room at the VA. She was being treated like a star. Everyone came in to check on her and make sure she was comfortable. Someone was always asking if she needed anything, and they all were so kind. She had never received this kind of attention when she lost her leg. She remembered lying in a VA hospital room for hours at a time with no one even coming by to check on her. She became so depressed that she stopped eating and drinking, and no one even noticed for some time; or maybe they were just too busy to care. Either way, that experience was one she never wanted to have again. Now, she was back in that hospital, but this time the attention overwhelmed her. Her thoughts were interrupted
when a good-looking male nurse came into the room.

  “Hi, Karen. I’m Roger Klipman, and I’ll be your physical therapist. Do you think you can maneuver yourself to this wheelchair?” he asked her.

  “Sure, I think I can,” she replied. “On second thought, I may need help to get into the wheelchair. This is foreign to me and I’m not sure if I can move the new leg,” she stated.

  “No problem at all. Here, let me help you.” He helped her swing her leg over the edge of the bed and then carefully helped her to stand. Once she was standing, he helped her back up and sit down in the wheelchair. She felt as if it were more of a flop than a graceful sit.

  “There, you all ready now?” he asked her

  “Yes,” she replied. I wonder if I’m really ready to do this again, she thought to herself.

  He rolled her to the physical therapy room and over to the two bars she’d use, yet again, to learn to walk. But this time she’d have a leg and not a stump or artificial leg. This one should work like her real leg did. However, she had to figure out how to get that leg to do what it was supposed to do. Roger maneuvered her between the two bars, and he carefully helped her to stand. Karen grasped each bar and worked hard to stay standing.

  “Karen, I want you to try to move your leg forward just a little,” he requested.

  “I’ll try it,” she replied.

  She worked really hard to make the leg move, but it didn’t want to budge. With the thought that if she used mind over matter she might get the leg to move, she tried several more times, with no success. It exhausted her to try to move the leg each time, and she became depressed and wanted to quit. Roger kept encouraging her, but she had had enough for one day.

  “Can you please just take me back to my room now?” she asked with a grimace of defeat on her face. “I’m exhausted and need to rest.”

  “All right, I’ll take you back. I can come and get you tomorrow, if you would like,” he stated.

  Karen smiled, and said, “Sure, I’d like that.”

  She didn’t care if she was defeated yet again; she wanted to see Roger again. She had taken a liking to the man within minutes of seeing him and couldn’t help but want to try again tomorrow.

  “All right, let’s get you back to your room and settled in for the night,” he said with a handsome smile on his face. Roger wheeled her back to her room and helped her get back into bed and then said good night and left.

  I wish this thing had worked right away, she thought. Reminds me of when I lost my leg. It was so hard to adjust to the missing leg. I couldn’t accept that my leg was gone. All the physical therapy I had to endure just to be strong enough again so I could use a prosthetic limb. Then the hours of learning how to walk with that limb. I was so exhausted each time we finished PT that I could hardly move. I really don’t want to go through this all over again for nothing … She drifted off to sleep mid thought.

  “Good morning, Karen,” Roger said in a chipper voice. “I hope you’re ready for another beautiful day in the neighborhood,” he said smiling.

  Grunting and grumbling, she said, “I guess I am, but who said it was a beautiful day? I’m still half asleep.”

  “I did, and therefore it is,” he said as a big smile broke across his face. “Are you ready to get in the wheelchair and try again?” he asked her.

  “If I must,” she said with discouragement in her voice.

  “Don’t sound so down. You just had surgery a week ago, and it takes time for everything to heal and work properly,” he said trying to cheer her up. “Give it some time.”

  “I’ll try,” she replied.

  In that case, let’s get started,” he quipped.

  He helped Karen get into the wheelchair and playfully whisked her down the hallway to the physical therapy room. When they entered, Karen groaned at the sight of her nemesis, the walking bars.

  “Oh, don’t groan; it takes time and concentration, that's all,” he said.

  “Sure, easy for you to say; you're not the one in the wheelchair who will have to use those blasted bars to stand and make a leg move against its will,” she said with a groan.

  “Sorry, you’ve got a point there, but either way, I think you can do this,” he said encouragingly.

  “Thanks for the confidence boost,” she said with a weak smile on her face and all the while thinking, I think he likes me, so I’ll give it my all today.

  They reached the bars and he helped her stand. She grabbed the bars and faced them down like it was the longest walk she had ever taken. She mumbled to herself, I can’t believe I’m back here again. Snapping her out of her thoughts, Roger asked her to try and move the new leg. She struggled to try and move it, but to no avail. Frustrated, she thumped the bionic leg and yelled at it to do something, like she thought that would help. Taking a moment to breathe and calm down, she decided to do something even more daring. Holding on tight to the bars, she started to move her good leg forward, which caused her to start to lose her balance. Just before she was about to fall, the bionic leg suddenly jerked forward into place next to her good leg. Shock was written over both of their faces.

  “You did it!” he said.

  “Yes, it worked, but will it do it again?” she replied hesitantly. Karen carefully moved her good leg forward again; and again, the bionic leg joined the good leg. A big smile spread across her face as she thought, this is really going to work. I’ll be able to walk and run again.

  “Seems all you needed was the good leg to move first so your brain would default to the other leg and make it move,” he stated.

  “I figured it was worth a try. I was getting tired of willing the new leg to move and have it be defiant and do nothing. It was a gamble. If it hadn’t worked, you would have been picking me up from the floor,” she said with a chuckle in her voice.

  “I’m glad I didn’t have to do that,” he replied.

  Karen smiled as she continued to hobble to the end and back. It took all of her strength and willpower to do it; and by the time she got back, she was exhausted and ready to call it a day.

  “Roger, I’m quite exhausted. Would you please take me back to my room for the night?” she asked with a slight blush on her face.

  “No problem. I’ll take you back and help you get settled in for the night,” he replied with a smile.

  Roger wheeled her down the hall while skipping behind the wheelchair. He got her to her room; and with a little help from him, she got into bed.

  “Good night, Karen,” he said.

  “Good night, Roger,” she replied.

  She lay back with a huge smile on her face and couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.

  P&G Bionics received a phone call from Dr. Bellows “I thought I’d update you on Karen’s progress. She is doing quite well. At the rate she is progressing, she should be able to walk herself out of the hospital in the next week or two,” he stated.

  “That’s awesome news,” Paulette said.

  “She was very upset at first because it wasn’t working. However, she experimented by stepping out with her good leg first, which forced the brain to make the bionic leg move forward,” Dr. Bellows mentioned. “This is great to know for any future patients. We’ll now know how to start their physical therapy,” he stated.

  “Thank you so much for allowing us to come to you for the operation, and we are so pleased it’s working,” Paulette said. “I know that many more people will be happy to have new limbs that they won’t have to put on each morning.”

  “You’re correct there, Paulette,” Dr. Bellows replied. “Good luck, and I wish you and your company well. If you ever need me, just call,” he said.

  “We will. Again, thanks for all your hard work.” Paulette hung up the phone and turned to Greg with a wide smile. “We did it!”

  “We did! That’s great news!” Greg said.

  “So, I guess it’s time to call the funding committee and get them to schedule a meeting where we can have Karen display our handiwork,” Paulette
said with excitement.

  “Sounds good, except you’ll have to handle the meeting without me. I need to study for the end-of-term exams and will probably be in the middle of taking them by the time you have the meeting,” Greg said with some disappointment.

  “Sure, leave me to sweat profusely from being a nervous wreck, while you take a test,” she said as she burst out laughing.

  “Not funny. I get extreme test anxiety, and you know it,” Greg said with a slight smile on his face. “You can handle talking to them; you did great last time,” he told her.

  “Sure, but I came back soaked with sweat from almost having a nervous breakdown. I don’t do well in front of people. Never have,” she said.

  “Well, I wish you luck. You’ve got a successful product to demonstrate this time, so I don’t think you’ll be as nervous as you think you’ll be.”

  “Probably true. Guess I need to call, set up the meeting, and start preparing. Would be good to go visit Karen, see how she’s doing, and brief her on what’s expected of her,” Paulette stated.

  “All right, I’ll leave you to it,” Greg said.

  Chapter 8

  Late Spring 2027

  Startled by the shrill ring of the phone, Paulette grabbed the receiver and put it to her ear. “Thank you for calling P&G. This is Paulette; how can I help you?”

  With little time wasted, the secretary on the other end of the phone said she was calling to reschedule the funding meeting.

  Paulette slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. “What do you mean they rescheduled the meeting? I’ve been preparing and waiting for quite some time to demonstrate the prototype in live action.”

  The secretary apologized. “I’m sorry ma’am, but Col. Leamon can’t make the meeting because of a family issue and asked that we reschedule for next week, if possible. “Frustration dripping from her voice, she replied, “Fine, I guess I can wait another week. Please give my condolences to Col. Leamon,” Paulette said.