“Why do I need these machines? I can tell you anything you want to know about my physical condition.”
“True,” she said. “But we don’t know that you will tell us everything.”
“An issue of trust?”
“After your outburst with Robert, I think we have good reason.”
“Kerstin, how would you feel if somebody tried to turn you into some kind of wired-up super hero?”
“I look forward to the day.”
Chase shook his head and looked out the window at the gray sky. “Tell me about the new show.” He turned to face her.
Kerstin’s eyes locked on his, and her lips curled downward. “I think it would be good for you to see Larin.”
“No.”
“Well you’re going to. We have a prime time special scheduled in two weeks.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. Larin is going to interview me?”
“No, silly, you’re going to interview him. Why would you think otherwise?”
“Because he’s the host of a brand new show, that’s why. And I’m the one who just got turned into a robot.”
Kerstin came to the bedside and rubbed her delicate hand across Chase’s forehead and then kissed him. “You are more important than Larin will ever be.” She took hold of his hand. “How did you find out about the new show? Don’t tell me you can read minds.”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then someone told you. I’ve been careful to protect you from anything that might cause stress.”
Chase didn’t offer her anything.
“People need to know that you’re in full support of Larin and his new show,” she said. “And that there are no hard feelings.”
“I am not in full support. I want my show back.”
“Our show served us well. But those days are gone. Larin will move ahead with Reach Your Destiny. And you will have an amazing destiny of your own, leading the way into the future.”
“Am I going to be a reporter?”
“No.” She slipped her hand from his and walked to the window.
“An anchor on the evening news?”
“No.”
“The host of a new talk show? Are we reviving the old tabloid format?”
“No, Chase.” She folded her arms across her shimmering black suit.
“Then why am I interviewing a new game show host?”
“I told you, people need to know—”
“That I support him. No hard feelings.”
“Yes.”
Chase pushed away the blanket, dropped his feet to the floor, and stood. “I’d like to go home now.”
She looked like a little girl with a new doll. “You can stand. Is this the first time you’ve done it?”
“I said I’d like to go home.”
“Chase, darling, for now this is your home.”
He walked past her to the door and stood there, waiting to step into the hall after the door slid open. The door didn’t move. He waved his hand in front of the green panel. Nothing. He turned around. “Why is it that this door opens for everyone who comes and goes from this room, but when I walk up to it, nothing happens?”
Kerstin pulled at the security tag hung around her neck. “Everyone here is coded for extra security—you know that. You’re wearing a hospital gown, Chase, and little else.”
He walked to the window. “Why are there no mirrors? Am I hideous? Burned?”
“No. There’s a mirror in the bathroom—go in there and take a look.” She came close behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “There were some burns. The surgeons didn’t even have to use any skin product—not on your face anyway. You healed well. Your eyes may look a little different.”
“Why? And what do you mean by skin product?”
“Implants for night vision made your eyes a little darker. As for the skin, most of the mid-section of your body is covered by a manufactured product. It’s bioorganic, matched perfectly to your own skin. But it doesn’t change. It doesn’t regenerate like real skin.”
“It won’t age.”
“That’s right,” she said. “A crazy old woman made it.”
Chase rubbed his hand across the hospital gown, over his chest. The feeling there was as normal as it had always been. “An old woman?”
“She’s a genius, they say. One of Robert’s scientists.”
“Kerstin, why on earth do I need night vision? Why would they give me that?”
“Well, why not?”
“Why haven’t you asked me to touch you?” He moved to put his arms around her waist.
She smiled. “Chase, really, this is not the place.”
“You know what I mean.” He grabbed both her arms. She gasped and her eyes went wide.
“Don’t you want to know what’s wrong with you?”
She fought loose and stepped back. “There is nothing wrong with me.”
She was right, but he couldn’t resist. “Your blood pressure is dangerously high. And your heart rate is off the chart.”
“That’s because you startled me.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, Kerstin. You better go get your buddy, Robert, to check you over.”
She practically hissed before she turned to the door.
“And I think you should cut down on the rodent.”
She spun around. “What are talking about?”
“You do eat rat, don’t you, my kitten? I’m sure you’ve served it to me a time or two.”
She scowled as he laughed. The door that kept him prisoner gave way for her.
Chase walked to the bathroom and touched a panel. The small room came to light. The mirror was before him. He looked the same, and it was good to see his own face looking back at him. His eyes were indeed a bit darker. He dropped the hospital gown to the floor and looked at his chest. Only a slight mark encircled his midsection. He turned so that he could see the reflection of his back. The same kind of line circled from shoulder to shoulder and down to his waist.
“Hey, wait a minute.” He touched the panel and lights went out. He couldn’t see anything. “Good, they failed. Night vision—who needs it.”
But then he knew—he just knew—the night vision was under his control. And he thought it into operation. Everything in the dark room came into view within an amber haze.
“Crap,” he said. “This is pretty cool.”
17
That night Chase looked around the amber room long after he should have been sleeping. Sometime after midnight, the door slid open and the young med-tech who’d confessed his admiration stepped in. “Jimmy,” Chase said. “I’m glad you came back.”
“How’d you know it was me?” The man said. His eyes did not focus on Chase but shifted about the room. “It’s dark as night in here.”
Chase touched a small lamp on the nightstand and a dim light filled the space between the two men. “Did you use the night vision thing? I didn’t know they told you about it. They say everybody’s gonna have it in a year or two.”
“Like cats on the prowl, huh?”
“I guess.”
“What other kind of gadgets have I got in me?”
“Better let the doctors fill you in. I don’t know what works or what’s still in the testing stages. Does Fiender know you can see in the dark?”
“No, and don’t tell him,” Chase said. “At least warn me if I’m going to start shooting lasers out of my fingertips. Can I run a one-minute mile? Or leap across the Chicago River?”
“Nothing like that. But I think you should be able to turn on a hearing modifier—some kind of cochlear implant. And you’re probably a lot stronger than you used to be.” Jimmy sat in the chair by the window. “But the best part is the information they put in you. You’re a walking computer.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would they do that?”
“Because they can. They can program a human brain the same way you program a computer. The thought is that in the future nobody will have to go through the trouble a
nd expense of learning. You’ll just know what the government needs you to know.”
“And what does the government need me to know?”
“Don’t know. Could be just about anything.”
“Give it a try. Ask me a question.”
“OK,” Jimmy said. “What is the distance between Mars and Mercury?”
Chase closed his eyes and then shrugged and looked at Jimmy. “I have no idea.”
“Well, maybe you’re not all hooked up yet.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Chase pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Jimmy, did you come in here tonight to see what I wanted you to do?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I appreciate that. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
“Do you want me to do something illegal?”
“No, I just want you to see if you can find out where my assistant went when she got reassigned.”
“Might be hard for me to find out. Too bad you’re not all programmed yet. You’d probably know where she went without having to ask.”
Chase smirked. “Surely they aren’t going to fill my head with every detail of what goes on in the WR.”
“I guess not. You’d be a security risk. I shouldn’t have said anything. I really don’t know what they plan to do with you.”
“I’m glad you told me.”
“What do you know about your assistant? I mean, besides her name and stuff. Do you know her family, her friends outside of work?”
“Not really. I know she did some work with a church house.”
“Well, now, you’re asking me to do something illegal. I’m not gonna go snooping around that kind. I’m mean, they’re nice people, I guess. A little backward. And they are breaking the law, you know.”
“I know. But the WR leaves them alone for the most part.”
“You know anybody else in that movement?” Jimmy asked.
“Not to my knowledge. You?”
“No, I’m not into it.”
“I mean do you know anybody?”
“Oh. Well, I think there are a couple of nurses here who might be. So they might know your assistant.”
Chase rubbed his eyes. “I want to meet them.”
“Chances are they won’t tell you anything. They spook easy—those church people.”
“I’ll deal with that. You find a way to get them in here.”
“Mr. Sterling, I don’t have any pull in this place.”
“Just ask one of them to do something for you, take your place for a few minutes.”
“It may not amount to you getting the information you want.”
“I know, Jimmy. But you’ll try, right?”
“Yeah. There’s one more thing you ought to know.”
Chase looked into the young man’s brown eyes. “What is it?”
“If they want to see what you see, hear what you hear, they can. They don’t have it hooked up or anything. No reason for it with you stuck in this room. But anytime they decide they want to get in your head, they can.”
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll keep that in mind if they ever let me out of here.”
Jimmy left the room, and Chase stood and walked to the window. No moonlight fell on the dark garden outside his room, but the amber hue revealed every detail just the same. He watched a small cat in the rose bed. “I wonder…” He activated the hearing modifier. He could hear the cat scratching. He tapped on the glass and the cat, its eyes glowing in the amber, looked directly at him and meowed. Chase smiled.
But then a noise came from the hall outside his room. Somebody dropped a tray or something, and the sound reverberated through his head. He bent down and put his hands over his ears.
“Turn off. Turn off,” But it did no good. The sound of clanging metal pierced the silent midnight as scattered items were thrown onto the tray. “God, help me! This is too much. Turn it off.” He reached for the bed, crawled in, and pulled the pillow over his head. “Help me.”
18
Sometime around three in the morning, Chase turned off his super hearing. He wasn’t sure how he did it. He just thought hard about stopping it, and then it stopped. Before that he caught enough conversation between late-shift estate personnel to know that Dr. Fiender was well liked, though his motives were questioned. And he found that, although Kerstin was generally adored by the masses, those closest to her found her not only untrustworthy, but scary. “Treacherous,” one nurse called her. “A shifty, two-faced feline,” a cohort added.
Hearing through walls caused hours of pain and left Chase with a headache, but discovering he might find some allies out there in the hall was worth it.
The sun was not quite up when a nurse stirred him. “Come on, Mr. Sterling. You’re gonna have a long day. Let’s get some food in you before the team gets here.”
He opened his eyes. His head throbbed. A black woman, tall and slender, stood over him, a breakfast tray in her hands. Her green scrubs indicated she was a mid-level nurse.
“Come on now. Sit up. I’ve got eggs, a soy patty, some oatmeal,”—she smiled—“and a fruit cup.”
“How about pain meds. Got any of that on your tray?”
“Where is the pain, Mr. Sterling?”
“My head.”
“I’ll have to get authorization. You want me to call the doctor?”
“No. Just lower your voice. And get me an instruction manual for all this stuff they put in me.”
“Oh dear, what have you been doing? You shouldn’t be turning on your—”
“Super powers?”
“Well, yeah. You need some training.”
“No kidding.”
She placed the tray on the bed table and leaned over Chase. “I’ll send for Dr. Fiender.”
“Please don’t,” he said. “What’s your name? I haven’t seen you in here before.”
“Patty. It’s my first time in here with you. Some kid named Jimmy asked if I could take over for him. Said he got a double shift, and he was wiped out this morning. Said I was the only one he could reach.” She walked to the door and folded her arms. “I hardly know the boy, and I’m sure there were others available. It’s not like we need a full staff on duty—we only have three patients in the whole place right now.”
“Me and who else?”
“Elaine Jenz is back for some adjustments, and Judy Bamber just had her final plastic surgery.”
“Is Dr. Jacobson taking care of them?”
“Yes, and Dr. Fiender was called in for Elaine.”
“To make the adjustments.”
She sucked in her breath until her nostrils flared.
“Patty, come and sit with me. I could use some company.”
She shrugged and then sat on the chair at his bedside. “Eat your breakfast, and I’ll stay for just a few minutes.”
Chase forked a bite of scrambled egg and shoved it into his mouth. “Do you know Melody Reese?”
Her eyes grew wide as she stopped a smile.
“You do, don’t you? Where is she?”
“Why would you think that I know her?”
“I learned you might share the same beliefs. I don’t care about that. I’m not giving you grief about your activities.”
“Sir, my activities are—”
“Not my concern. Mel is a good friend of mine. I just want to see her.”
“I know she was your assistant. She thought of you as a friend, too.”
Chase gobbled the fruit, hoping his compliance would loosen the nurse’s tongue. “Please tell me where she is,” he said. “I need to see her.”
“Did Jimmy tell you I was—”
“A Christian?”
She came to her feet.
“He said you might know Mel, that’s all. So—”
“So I’ve got to be more careful.”
Chase scooped a spoonful of oatmeal. And waited.
“She was reassigned to the Northeast Territory. New York City. I don’t know if I can get in touch with her.�
�
Chase dropped his spoon onto the tray. “I thought she would stay until she knew how I was doing. I thought she’d be here for me.”
“Mr. Sterling, do you know what reassigned means? She had no choice.”
“I know.” He looked into the woman’s black eyes. “Call her for me.”
“And tell her what?”
“Tell her it would be easier to get through this if she were here to help me. Tell her to at least give me a call sometime.”
“If I’m able to find her, I’ll get that message to her, but I don’t know if she’s even allowed to speak with you at this point. You’re sort of off limits. As far as the outside world knows, you’re being kept in a vegetative state. There’s talk that the experiments done on you might not have worked as planned.”
“Funny. Another nurse told me the world was waiting to see the new me.”
“That’s what the staff was told to say to you, if you asked. Nobody on the outside knows you’re awake.”
“But I am recovering, right?”
“Yes, of course you are.” She moved toward the door. “I’ll see what I can do about getting in touch with Melody.”
“Thanks, Patty. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody you follow Jesus or anything.”
“Follow Jesus? I’m tired of following Jesus.” She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I think I’ll just let Him carry me the rest of the way.”
Chase laughed though he didn’t really know what she meant. “OK. Either way, unless the room is bugged, or my head is bugged, nobody will hear it from me.”
“I believe you. Melody says you’re a good man. But you’re right to be careful what you say—somebody might be monitoring.”
“I’ll be careful.”
A smile crept up one cheek as she turned to leave the room. The door slid open, then shut, and she was gone.
19
Before noon, the doctor and his parade of nano-geeks invaded Chase’s prison and began the indoctrination. They came to teach him how to turn on his night vision, which he already knew, and how to utilize his hearing enhancers, which he never planned to invoke again. The agony Chase had experienced was never brought up when Jaime Sommers got her super hearing in The Bionic Woman series.
Wake the Dead Page 8