My hands were shaking when I lifted the case out of the rear compartment, and it looked intact apart from some glass shards stuck in the lid. I hoped that it was a good sign, one that everything was fine with the internal structure.
I declined Denny’s outstretched arms with a shake of my head and headed to the door. I did let him unlock and open up for me.
“Thanks, Denny. Let’s get this on the dining room table, I want to make sure it is all intact.”
“Are you sure that you can even open that case without them taking damage? The air on that side looked weird.”
“Not sure but I need to see them again. Hopefully, that won’t matter too much.”
Who was I kidding of course it mattered. And probably the mysterious A would know how to get more or how to make them grow in Earth’s air.
I put the case down gradually on the table; I wasn’t worried about scraping the tabletop. Made from reclaimed wood it could take a bit of a beating. My hands hesitated on the clips; terrified of opening it up only to see dead Shi.
Closing my eyes tightly, I attempted a quick meditation; slow the breathing, in and out. It wasn't working, I was, in fact, doing the opposite and quite possibly I was hyperventilating.
“Do you want me to check rather? I can tell you what I see and quickly close the lid again.”
I nodded; I couldn’t do it myself. I was too afraid; so much was riding on this that I might lose my mind if they were dead. I stepped back to give Denny ample space and turned my back on him a bit so that I wouldn’t see what my imagination believed to be the only truth possible at the moment.
The sound of the clips opening made my heart beat even faster, I didn't hear the case open but assumed that was in fact what was happening.
“And?” I whispered, too afraid to speak louder than that.
For an eternal moment, all was quiet, I turned to Denny impatiently. Was he toying with me? He was gazing at the plants with a look of reverence, that I could fully understand. The idea that mortality resided in such a vessel was awe-inspiring.
I took his expression as a favorable sign and looked for myself. I expected a glow, an inner light for my salvation. But they were rather ordinary looking on Earth, as most common ferns I had seen.
Except of course for some extra coloration that most ferns didn’t sport. But it made it all the more beautiful; there was even a healthy smell about them. And of course, the smell of dirt, a different kind of dirt smell, but dirt nonetheless.
“Wow, so this is what immortality looks like?”
“Yeah, kind of regular isn’t it?”
He nodded and moved out of the way as I closed the case. They looked mostly fine, possibly a bit wilted but no worse for being in a car chase and a gunfight. I sighed and rubbed my forehead; I would have to figure things out before they did more than wilt.
I headed out back to the car and got my phone from the cup holder where Denny put it. The message was still open, so I hit reply and quickly started typing.
“Let’s meet, when and where?”
I received a reply much faster than I had thought, “1 am, Sundry Square parking garage, the lowest level, Row 6D.”
Twenty-Three
More than anything else I wanted to throw the phone against the wall and kick things. Maybe hurl stuff around. It was annoying me to no end. I did not wish to deal with a stranger now, hell I didn’t want to deal with people period.
“And? Are we meeting with this mysterious A person?”
I threw the phone against the wall in response and stood there for a breathless moment staring at Denny’s shocked expression.
“I take that as yes then,” He said and wisely turned around and went back inside.
I walked over to the broken phone and collected the pieces, rooting through them til I found the sim card as well as the SD card. At least, I hadn’t lost the messages; an app made sure everything got saved immediately.
But to lose my temper this way was uncool, and something I didn’t like doing. It felt small-minded and revealed that I was not in control of my emotions. I wasn’t of course, but it just wasn’t something I should have shown to anyone, including Denny.
When I got back inside, I saw that Denny was leaning against the massive dining room table. I walked into the kitchen and dumped the remains of the phone into the recycling bin. Yeah, I recycled. It seemed important to keep the planet clean for my future.
I turned to find Denny looking and waiting patiently for me. “Sorry Denny, and yes we are meeting with A. At 1 am, and we need to take a plant with us. So, we need to google how to put a plant in a pot without killing it.”
“Gardening not one of your skills? I just assumed that you knew everything.” He laughed.
“I am good at many things but have many more that I suck at.”
I gave him his moment; I had to remember his life got uprooted along with mine. That tension was running high for both of us.
I walked to my computer desk; I was good at many things in my old life, but gardening hadn’t been one of them. Knitting, now that I could still do with my eyes closed if I wanted to. Apply makeup flawlessly and with ease.
But plants? That wasn’t my forte, I had always thought they were pretty, but I had black thumbs. The serial killer of the plant world for a long time before I realized it just wasn’t going to happen and I hired a gardener.
My ex-husband laughed his butt off just about when he came home and saw the young man tending to the flowers. At the time, of course, it was embarrassing, and I had laughed with, thinking I understood the laughter.
But this was during the height of his cheating ways, and long afterward I wondered if he laughed because he thought the young gardener was my answer to his infidelity.
It wasn’t of course; I was naive enough to believe that once I had said, “I do” I would only ever look and belong to one man. I thought that he belonged to me too, and we all know that was so not the case.
Denny was already heading to the desk, where my pride and joy was set up. When I wasn’t running around, I enjoyed losing myself in PC games. I wasn’t fussy about what I played.
My PC could handle almost anything put on it, and ran everything like a dream. Upgraded regularly, I took pride in knowing that I was no technophobe despite my age. None of us was, we reveled in discovering new things.
Learning; absorbing knowledge and skills were a joy. I didn’t think of as a kid, who of us did, though, right? We just go about our clumsy little lives and can’t wait to grow up and do all the things we think grown up must do and love.
Never appreciating the pure joy of learning, just playing and picking up interesting facts. I missed that now, the easy joy of my childhood.
I learned a lot in the preceding years, but most of my new knowledge was unpleasant things. Things that we shielded our children from, in fact, things normal people never even thought of learning.
Denny as a conman was less innocent than most people, but even he was an innocent. Something I would dearly love to protect, but I suspected he wouldn’t appreciate that.
“Find anything useful?” I asked.
“Yeah, it is simple actually. I am printing out the information sheet.”
He stood up and pushed the chair back in place, pausing to grab the sheet the printer popped out. He passed it to me he leaned over and switched off the screen.
I scanned the instructions quickly; I didn’t have a proper pot to stick the little Shi in, but they gave useful suggestions on other things that would work. We walked to the kitchen, and I started rummaging in the cupboards.
“A big spoon?” Denny asked and showed me what he found. I shook my head and pointed at another one in the drawer he had open.
“That is a dessert spoon, rather take one of the tablespoons. We need a bit of a point to get dirt. Mind you, maybe grab a yogurt spoon rather.”
“Really? Just how old are you that you know what a yogurt spoon is?”
When I merely regarded him i
n silence, he began blushing, mumbling something and turned to find a tablespoon. I sighed, I was old, old enough to know the differences in cutlery, the proper place settings for what used to be simple dinners and were fancy now.
I got the colander as suggested as an alternative, and it chafed a bit somehow. I knew I was irrational, but suddenly my private space was overflowing with people. Denny was there, and I was glad that he was alive, but this warehouse had always been my refuge, a place not shared with others.
When done I saw that Denny had retreated to the dining room table. I joined him and put my share on the table next to his. I reached over and put my hand on his arm.
“I am sorry Denny, I am old, and I can’t deny that. It’s just not something I have discussed with people other than my little community.”
He nodded, “I am sorry to Eliza, all I can say is that is has been a wild and an odd couple of days.”
“And we still have some ways to go. Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yeah, let’s get transplanting.”
My heart was thumping as I reached for the case; I wasn’t sure how much opening and closing the poor little things could take. What if this was one time too many and the Shi died?
I opened the case and looked the plants over; picking the closest plant to me I carefully wiped the soil away.
With the tablespoon I scooped some dirt out and carefully put it into the colander, Denny evened it out carefully with another tablespoon. I gently probed into the soil and felt for the roots of the Shi and lifted it. Transferring it to the colander, I centered it on the ground.
I scooped up some of the soil from the case and packed it around the Shi and made sure it wasn’t too tightly packed but not too loose. I closed the case; the other plants were droopier than I would have liked. But what else was I to do now?
A would have a lot of answering to do; the Shi in the colander was droopy but not too badly so. I fervently hoped it would last until the meet.
We stepped back, keeping a wary eye on the Shi plant. I could have sworn the little thing was quivering in its inadequate home. The colander would do until I could figure out something better, but it looked rather silly.
“Now what?” Denny asked.
“Now we need to go over how to do the injection you’ll be giving me in a couple of hours.”
His apprehension was palpable; I knew how he felt. Something neither of us had ever done, and for all I know he’d botch it, and I would die.
Twenty-Four
I shrugged and attempted to remain calm. If I freaked out, he would too no doubt, and I needed him to keep a steady hand for what would happen soon.
“It will be easy, I will guide you through it, and failure is not an option.”
“Way to pile the pressure on Eliza, I’m not nervous at all now.”
“You’ll be fine; we can do this. We have to do this; there is no other choice for me. And I trust you, Denny, I believe that you are capable of this.”
He nodded but the uncertainty remained. It was tough, I had never fully seen the injection site, I could feel it, and it was always slightly sore. But guiding a needle into it was something new and utterly terrifying.
I got the last vial of Shi from where I hid it in my bathroom. The bottom panel of the cupboard was, loose, and I used it to protect essentials. Of course, only small things but precious things were often small and fragile.
My hands were trembling as I checked the vial for damage, or for dissipation. For all I knew Shi was unstable in its housing and would only last for a short period.
But my life’s fluid was perfect, it sloshed merrily against the sides of the glass, and my heart soared. It was intact and looked, as it had when put into hiding.
If I were brave I would experiment; I'd give myself a half dose and see if it would last as well as a full one. But I was afraid of the pain of withdrawal; even a small amount of it was enough to make me shudder.
Better that I take the full dose and question A thoroughly to get the information I needed to sustain my stash of plants.
I walked down the stairs slowly and deliberately, vial in one hand, syringe in the other. Denny was on one of the couches flicking channels. His leg was restless, bobbing in tune with his inner conflict.
I watched him for a moment mid-descent; he was caught up in the myriad of images flashing past him on TV. Did he trust me enough not to verify where I was? Or was he just unconcerned with my placement?
Trust I decided and felt pleased, I was shocked that it felt good to think of another human being trusting me. I knew that harming him was something I could never do, and the last two days have proven that.
The fierce protectiveness I felt came as a surprise, though, was this how mothers felt? That was something to ponder at another time, though. I sat down next to him, keeping the vial steady. Just in case.
"This is Shi how I am used to it, a chemical formulation. I don't know its makeup, but I do know its effect."
"Immortality," a statement, not a question. He either believed me or was willing to suspend belief for the time being.
"Yes, immortality. I have been taking it for a long time and have always had a dose admin administering it. But I believe the process is as simple as sticking a needle filled with the fluid into the existing site."
I carefully put the vial and syringe on the table and turned till my back was facing him. I lifted my hair and parted the short strands to reveal the injection site. I have taken countless photos and once invested in a magnifying mirror to see it better. And still I had no clear image of it.
It wasn't pretty; it wasn't ugly either but it was unnatural. A small pierced area that never healed and looked slightly bruised. I felt his fingers gently touching the site, and I tried not to wince.
The pain wasn't enormous but try having a bruise for eighty plus years and see how you feel about people touching it. It was a nagging annoyance that never changed. One gets used to the idea that the body healed, that with time you go back to how it used to be.
This pain was my now, but my body still remembered a time when my neck didn't hurt, even if it is only a faint memory now.
"So this is where the needle always enters? Does it hurt going in?"
I wanted to lie to him and reassure him that it didn't, in fact, hurt like hell, but he would notice as soon as the injection started.
"Yes, it does. But only for a moment, until the liquid enters my brain and then there is pure bliss. A time that feels endless but ends too quickly."
"Huh. Will you manage to sit still long enough for me to not give you brain damage?"
He removed his hands, and I turned back to him, he seemed genuinely concerned.
"If it helps, I am not strapped down for the procedure and so far no brain damage."
I smiled and watched his expression, he laughed and rubbed his hands together. I hadn't revealed what I thought Shi also did for me.
"Let me guess, it is part of the restorative properties of the drug?"
I shrugged, "I think so, not entirely sure. The Man doesn't reveal everything to us. But my thinking is that if it keeps me in my prime, it would seem to be a sort of stasis. My brain wasn't damaged when I changed initially so if there is damage it gets repaired by the time the drug saturates my system. Except for the injection site, but I think the Man does that on purpose, yet another reminder of compliance."
"Damn, that's cool. Ok, how far in does the needle have to go? All the way or just a centimeter or two?"
Here was the tricky bit, I didn't know. I had never seen the injection happening of course, and I hadn't thought to ask Ben. And I highly doubt any of his numbers were still active. It was frustrating, all I had to go on was that the needles Ben used were the same kind that lay next to the vial on my coffee table.
"Honestly Denny, I don't know. The needle my dose admin used looked like that one, but I don't know how deep he pushes it in."
Denny hopped off the couch and started pacing; he even managed not t
o trip over the edge of the rug. He stopped for a moment and looked at me, opened his mouth but said nothing. He closed it and continued to pace around the other couch.
"Please sit down, you are making my dizzy," I said to him.
He dropped down onto the couch, and his restless leg syndrome had returned. I put my hand on his firmly clasped hands in an attempt to relax them. It didn't work; I felt him trembling.
"Look, I understand that this is enormous, risky, scary and downright crazy. And if you don't want to I'll do it myself."
I held my breath; that was a blatant lie. It wasn't something I could do by myself. Perhaps I could get the correct angle, I have undoubtedly felt it plenty, and I still had that magnified mirror somewhere. But I really, really didn't want to attempt it on my own.
He must have read the fear in my eyes, he sighed and shook his head.
"No, I will do it. I won't like it, and I might fuck it up, but I will do my best."
"Thank you, Denny, let's hope it is as easy as my dose admin makes it seem."
I let out a quick breath and looked at the clock; midnight was still some ways off, the discomfort hadn't started yet. I could control it to a degree, but I didn't need to make Denny any more nervous than he already was.
We would do it now, a little while before, and I sent a fervent prayer upwards just in case. As always I felt prepared to dodge, just in case, a lightning bolt made its way to my location.
I inserted the needle gently into the cap of the vial and slowed my breathing down. My calm tested to its fullest I felt lacking. I tipped the bottle back like I had seen a million times on tv. It didn't seem like a good way to get it all, so I probably stuck the needle in too far.
Eventually, though I got it all and carefully pulled the needle out, looking with what I hoped was disguised longing. I was an addict, and I had made a partial peace with it. But, that didn't mean I wanted anyone else to see that.
I handed the syringe over to Denny, who took with slightly shaky hands. He nodded at me, and I turned my back towards him. I bowed my head slightly, may as well make it as accessible as possible for him.
Shi: A Dark Adventure into Living Forever Page 9