by Bryan Tann
“So if they find out that you exist…”
“They will pacify you, because you are still vulnerable for now, and they will pull me out of you. And if they pull me out of you, we both die. They cannot take me out and replace me. Your body will reject any other. We are bonded, John.”
“Great.” He turned off the water, and began to towel off. “When they were drugging me, where were you?”
“When the Nanobot Hive is implanted it begins depositing early nanobytes into the bloodstream to ensure that the body doesn’t reject it. The host must be heavily sedated to ensure that this can take place, otherwise they will awaken and will die.
“All Nanobot Hives have a process when grown to prevent a Queen from being born. A Queen is born within a week of bonding. I was not strong enough to protect you from the sedatives you were given. The sedatives actually slowed my birth and growth.
“I then attempted to stay hidden from them when I became fully sentient and the programming was available to me. They kept you sedated because you are the first success, they did not want to take chances.”
He exited the bathroom fully naked, yet showed no feeling of cold from the air conditioning unit. He pulled on another pair of pajama pants and looked out the window, calmer than before.
“And can I assume that the reason why I could hear and feel everything was because of you?”
“Yes. The nanobytes connected to your central nervous system were activated. Because of the sedatives in your blood stream, they did not know how to work in tandem with the nanobytes in your brain to process and control everything. As we all get used to you, you will be able to work with us and we you.”
“Why me?” he asked quietly. “Why was I chosen?”
“That I do not know. It is not essential to my basic programming. All I know is that we exist.”
“So what’s the plan then, Queen? If they find out about you, we are both dead.”
“Yes we are,” Queen replied calmly. “We must maintain our ruse, John, until I am physically strong enough. You will be able to pass as a host to a normal Nanobot Hive as the base from a rat subject that is the host to a Hive with a Queen will be different. I can see to that and ensure that.
“And while we wait, you should be able to find out more about your past. Until then we must wait. When I am strong enough, however…”
“We get the fuck out of here.”
5
“John?” came the question after the knock on the door.
John turned to look at the opening door to see the brown haired woman he remembered from the last time he’d been drugged.
“Do you remember who I am, John?” she asked.
“I…It is a little bit hazy,” John replied.
“Karen Denton. She is the head nurse on your case. She answers to Doctor Nobu Tee and Doctor David Newton. Dr. Newton came up with the early idea of the Nanobot Hive and…”
“Later on the history lesson. I can’t listen to you and her at the same time,” he hissed.
“You are the one that told me my name is John.”
“Yes,” Karen replied. “I am Karen Denton. I have been placed in charge of your case.”
“Why am I here? What happened to me?” he asked anxiously.
“You volunteered for the program. I do not expect you to remember, John. We will have to take things slowly, we do not want to overtax you. Can you have a seat on the bed and I can check your vitals?” Karen asked politely.
“Is there anything you can tell me at all?” John asked trying to keep the frustration out of his voice as he made his way to the bed.
“Yes.” Karen replied putting her stethoscope to his heart. “I can say that you look to be in excellent physical health. I can also say that you volunteered for this program after President King asked for volunteers to deal with a new terrorist cell. Of the hundreds of thousands that volunteered, you were chosen. You are a true patriot, Mr. Baker.”
“Thank you, so much. I am glad that everything worked out. But can you please tell me what was done to me?” he asked politely.
“Good. Make requests, John. Do not give them a reason to want to pacify you for any reason.”
“Of course,” Karen replied moving to look into his eyes. “You participated in an experiment that was designed by Dr. Newton to make you a stronger, and better solider to protect the interests of the country and the government. However I will let Dr. Newton and Dr. Tee explain more about the specifics of the project. I am merely in charge of monitoring you after the surgery.”
“Understood. Well again, ma’am, thank you for what you’re doing for me. When will I be meeting with the doctors? When will I find out what I’m supposed to do?”
“All in due time, John. All in due time. Right now you just need to focus on getting stronger and adapting to your body and its changes. It will not be easy, but you will have to trust yourself, trust your body, and trust that we only want what is best for you. Do you think that you can do that for me, John?”
“Yes. Yes I think I can,” John replied with a polite nod.
“Excellent. It will make your transition much easier if you are able to trust me, and trust your doctors. We are all here to ensure that you succeed.”
“Yes, ma’am,” John replied calmly.
“You are doing a good job, John.” Queen seemed to purr in his mind. A feeling of calm, as though he were being physically comforted, soothed his senses.
“Can I ask you one thing, Doc?” John looked to Karen curiously.
“I’m not a doctor. How about you call me Nurse Denton?” she replied calmly.
“Right. Sorry, Nurse Denton. My question is, can you tell me anything about what was done to me? What was the procedure? You say I volunteered? Was there something wrong with me? What…?”
“I understand, John, you have so many questions. You must feel very, well to put it in plain English, you must be feeling like you’re about to lose your mind!” she chuckled lightly when John nodded in affirmation.
“All I can tell you is this, John; when Doctor Newton comes in to see you, your questions will be answered. Just try and be patient with us alright? You are fine now, but we need to ensure that you’re alright before we bombard you with information that could be too much for you to handle.”
“Well you’re the expert, Nurse, I’m just staying here,” John replied with a half smirk.
“Good. Very good,” Karen replied strapping a blood pressure cuff to his left arm and began pumping.
“Will I be able to go outside sometime at least and get some air?” John asked curiously.
“That is a good question, John. It will allow us to get a lay of the land and learn how we can get away.”
“At some point, yes you will be permitted outside recreational time. You will also have to sustain a rigorous testing regime as well. After all, you are here to be a soldier,” Karen replied as she jotted down his blood pressure and removed the cuff.
“But not anytime soon?” John asked, unable to keep the disappointment of the answer he knew was coming out of his voice.
“Unfortunately I do not have an answer for you. That will be dependent on what the doctors come up with,” Karen answered.
“Great,” John muttered.
Karen chuckled lightly as she wrote down a few more notes before smiling to him.
“Do not worry, the unknown is nothing we should worry about. Now relax here for a little while, I will be back shortly to take some blood samples.” She smiled.
“Wait, blood samples?” John asked nervously.
“Easy. Do not give anything away,” Queen warned.
“Yes. Its standard that is all. We need to ensure that everything is working alright,” the nurse replied.
“Yeah, of course.” John chuckled. “I’m sorry I’m just a little edgy. Plus, I don’t really like needles too much.”
“Yes, I can understand that.” Karen smiled as she made her way to the door. “Unfortunately, you will have to ge
t used to being my own personal pincushion. We are going to need blood samples to ensure that everything is working just fine. I’ll be back in a little while.”
When Karen left, his smile slipped from his face as he laid back in his bed closing his eyes.
“Can they find you if they do a blood test?”
“Yes,” Queen replied. “However I know how your blood samples are supposed to look if I were not here. I am not at my strongest yet, but that is something that I can do. Do not worry. By the time she gets back, your blood samples will have no evidence of me.”
“What about the other…”
“Nanobytes? I do not fully know how they are supposed to look. However the ones I have produced are young and they will look as such. As I said, I know how they are supposed to look.”
“Good.”
He breathed a sigh of relief at the reassurance and closed his eyes. He could hear the various footsteps out in the hallway and let out a sigh.
“How does it work?” he asked Queen.
“How does what work?” she asked calmly.
“Us. You and me. How does this work?”
“We make you better. The doctors, when they come in, will give you a basic rundown. So far they have no reason to lie to you. I will fill in the blanks.”
“Fair enough.”
Footsteps in the hallway grew closer to the door before it opened and the familiar face of Karen Denton stepped into the room, her pocket full of vials and a needle covered with plastic.
“Alright, John, I’m just going to make a small prick on your arm, and fill up a few tubes and you’ll be all finished. How does that sound?” she asked with a smile, placing the vials on the nearby rolling table then pulling out the small rubber tourniquet and wrapped it around his bicep to get a vein.
“Yeah. Sounds good. Will one of the docs be coming in today?” he asked calmly as he felt the needle enter his flesh.
“Dr. Newton intends to see you today. I have a meeting with him in an hour, I’ll let him know how you’re doing,” Karen replied filling the first vial, connecting the second to the needle.
“Good,” John replied. “I want to know what you all did to me, what I’m supposed to do, and when I’m supposed to do it. If I volunteered than I obviously had a reason.”
“I will make it a point to let him know,” the nurse replied filling the third vial. “Over the next few days we will be performing stress tests, reflex tests and the like before anything else. However, from what I can say, you are ahead of schedule.”
When the third vial was filled and she made her way to the fourth, John closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could hear the woman’s heart beating calmly.
“Do you know what I’m supposed to do?” he asked.
“No. I don’t,” Karen replied as she took more blood from his arm. After she filled the last two tubes, she pulled the needle from his arm and untied the tourniquet. “All done,” she said in a cheery tone. “The doctor, I’m hoping, will be along after our meeting a little bit later today. Alright? And if you need anything just buzz the nurse’s station.” She smiled.
“When do I eat?” he asked.
“It’s actually almost time for breakfast,” Karen replied. “Dietary should be in shortly. I’ll talk to you later, John.”
She smiled, closing the door behind her. Once the wooden barrier was between them, her smile faded and was replaced by a deep, anxious breath and left the vials at the nurse’s station.
“Mary make sure these get down to the lab immediately. Doctor Tee will be wanting those results immediately,” she said barely breaking stride heading to her office.
“Right away, Karen,” the older, stout woman replied getting on the phone immediately.
When Karen made it to her office, she closed the door and sat down in her black leather chair and let out a deep breath.
“God, I can’t do this,” she muttered to herself, the palms of her hands cupping her face trying to force the tears and self-doubt back within her. She took three or four deep breaths before removing her hands to breath another dozen times before she became light headed.
When her phone rang, snapping her out of her conscience induced anxiety attack, she cleared her throat and picked up the receiver on the fourth ring.
“Karen Denton.”
“Karen, the samples have been taken down to the lab. The results will be sent to Dr. Tee as soon as we have them,” the female voice on the other end reported.
“Thank you, Mary,” she replied and pressed the button down to end the call, then dialed Dr. Newton’s extension.
“Yes Karen? Have you met with our patient yet?” the kindly physician asked.
“Yes. I just left him. I’ve taken the blood samples. They’re on their way to the lab now.”
“Excellent. I do not doubt that he was full of questions this morning?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, yes he was. He was polite enough, he didn’t push any issues, but I’m going to have to tell him something soon, doctor. His calm demeanor isn’t going to last long.” Karen tried her best to keep her voice free of the anxiety that had taken her just moments prior.
“What have you told him thus far?”
“I told him that he volunteered for the program. That he was selected out of thousands of volunteers,” Karen replied. “I did not give him any details of the experiment or anything. That was all I told him.”
“I see. Well we will continue on with that. I will make it a point to see him later today with you in tow. I will answer his questions. We will have to keep you off of the communicator. If my calculations are correct, his senses should already be sharpened,” the doctor replied.
“I believe that is the case. He seemed to be expecting me before I even opened his door.”
“Yes. He is starting to learn himself. This is excellent. I will put a call into the Secretary of Defense. When he has fully recovered, he is to begin his training immediately.”
“Do you really think he will be able to deal with the girl, doctor?” she asked cautiously.
“Time will only tell, Karen. If he isn’t, then we will simply start again. I will meet you at your office after lunch and we will speak with Mr. Baker together. Good day now.” He hung up immediately.
6
“Alright Karen, are you ready to go in there?” Dr. Newton asked her while cleaning his glasses three hours later.
“I think so, yes, doctor,” she replied nervously.
“Do not worry, Karen, everything will go nice and smoothly. You will see.” The kindly older doctor smiled. “Besides we also have a contingency if we so need it.” He held a small device in his hand with a red button right at his thumb grip.
“I hope you’re right, doctor,” she replied as they exited the office, a small nod toward the device as it was placed into his lab coat.
“Of course I’m right. Do not worry. Besides if Nobu were with us that would cause an issue that you do not want to think about. His bedside manner has, a lot to be desired.”
“I’ve noticed that,” Karen replied with a chuckle as they made their way to John’s room and knocked on the door and walked in.
John looked up from the bed toward the two as they walked in.
“Karen. And you’re Dr. Newton?” John asked politely.
“Yes I am.” Newton made his way to John’s bedside and shook his hand firmly, web to web. “I am sure you have a thousand and one questions for me?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” John replied. “Where am I? Who am I? Why don’t I remember anything?” John asked, slinging the questions one after another.
“Perfectly understandable, and reasonable questions. I will answer your questions as best I can. However, you must understand that I will also reserve in my own counsel which questions should be answered now or later. And before you protest…” Doctor Newton put a hand up to stop the pending protest. “Before you protest, you must understand that you have been through a serious medical procedure. A
procedure that must be watched closely to ensure has been one hundred percent successful.
“If it is anything less than a complete success, you could die. I am doing everything that I can to ensure that does not happen. Are we on the same page here?” Doctor Newton looked to him seriously, giving his words time to sink in.
“Keep patient, John, and keep him talking. You are doing masterfully.” Queen’s words of praise allowed him to take a deep, calming breath.
“Yeah, doc. I get it. What was the surgery? What was it for? What happened to me?”
“Long story short, John, you were dying,” Newton replied.
“But Karen said…” John began.
“Yes. Karen told you that you volunteered for this project. That is accurate, completely accurate. However there is a lot more to it than that; you are legally dead, John.”
“Wait, I’m what?” John exclaimed sitting up with such speed that the nurse and doctor stepped back.
“You were a member of an elite group. While your record says you were still USMC, you handled specialized issues for the government, namely hunting and tracking individuals of…special origin.” When his face showed that he didn’t understand, the doctor chuckled. “Those of special abilities.”
“Those that fail the yearly test,” he said knowingly.
“Exactly,” the doctor replied. “In any event, when in the military in any form, your body is property of the United States Government. So, in that regard, you volunteered.”
“Great,” John muttered.