Dark Side of the Moon

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Dark Side of the Moon Page 15

by V R Tapscott


  The ship took off and broke all Olive’s speed records getting back to earth. Her panicked human flight had smoothed out, and she was now thinking in the best computer fashion. Her trajectory brought the ship in over the U.S. and she opted for Seattle since it was closest. Also, Seattle is reputed to have one of the best emergency rooms in the country. She landed the ship in Seattle’s HarborView emergency bay. She screamed at Cai to get Jane out of the ship so she could move it, but he just lay there and said nothing. Finally, after vital seconds she realized he wasn’t conscious either. So, she materialized hands and began tugging Jane out the door. She managed to get her to the parking lot, grabbed Cai and dragged him out the door as well. She sent the ship away and with her last gasp of power, she screamed her lungs out through the open door of the emergency bay. Then she dissoluted, not enough power left even for the wisp.

  Emergency room techs came boiling out of the door, finding an unconscious elderly man dressed in a wetsuit. Lying next to him was a naked woman apparently bleeding to death. For Harborview, this wasn’t really that out of the ordinary and they got both of the patients through the doors post haste.

  The woman’s wounds were grave, and she’d lost a lot of blood. She also had burst capillaries in her eyes and swelling in some of her extremities, as if she’d come up from deep in the water without decompressing first. They started treating that, but of course it was second to the horrible wounds in her side.

  The decompression was consistent with the man’s clothing, as he was wearing some sort of high-tech wetsuit. Unfortunately, no one could ask him anything, as he’d suffered a heart attack. Their theory at this point was that the woman had brought the man up from a deep-water location in hopes of getting help for his heart problem. This theory didn’t really hold water, so to speak, since how did they get to the emergency room, and the fact that neither of them was wet.

  So, they went to work on the two, and the doctors didn’t really care much about the anomalies in the story since they were far more interested in saving lives. Funny how that works. Gossip ran around the hospital, however, and it wasn’t long before it was on the news complete with (artfully blurred) footage of the naked woman. She was attractive enough to make it sure this story got good play - how can you turn down this much chance to show nudity on the small screen? Ratings, baby, ratings.

  Earlier that day, Bailey had been taking it easy. She’d alternated food and drink until she wasn’t very sure which was which, so she decided she’d stop. She would never admit it to Jane, but she liked the Property Brothers almost as much as Jane did, and Bailey had found a whole cache of episodes on Jane’s DVR. So, she binge-watched Jonathan and Drew and their antics, taking five or six weeks to bring people’s dreams to life. It was something you could give your attention to, that. Finally, the food, the drinks and the Brothers took control and she fell asleep - waking up to the news playing when the DVR ran out. She almost clicked it off, and then started hyperventilating - that was Jane on the screen. A story about a Jane and John Doe couple who’d been admitted to Harborview an hour or two earlier. The woman had a large bleeding wound and the man had been very still. Beyond the clandestine smartphone footage, there’d been no comment from the hospital, but police were investigating. An appeal for anyone who knew the couple was given a number to call. All thought of sleep had gone, and the fog of alcohol had evaporated. Bailey dialed the number with shaking hands.

  “Harborview, this is Lydia, how may I direct your call?”

  “Th ... th ... I have - I know the woman on TV.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, woman on TV?”

  “The naked woman that you just found in your driveway, with the man?”

  “The ... OH! Yes, let me transfer you.”

  The line clicked and after a short wait, it began to ring.

  “Nurse station six, this is Charlie, how may I help you?”

  “I know the woman - the naked woman they just brought in, and the man with her.”

  “Yes, ma’am. What’s your name, please?”

  “Bailey McCallum.”

  “Could you spell that?”

  Slightly annoyed, Bailey spelled it out, twice on the last name.

  “And the location you’re calling from?

  “Chelan, Washington.”

  “Date of birth?”

  Bailey spluttered, “My friend is in your hospital dying, can we get this later?”

  “No ma’am, date of birth please.”

  Fuming, Bailey said “July 12th, 1990”

  “Do you have insurance, ma’am?”

  “Do I ha ... listen, I want to talk to someone about the people that were brought in there. I need to know their condition and what’s going on! Let me speak to your supervisor.”

  The voice grew several degrees cooler. “I am the floor supervisor, what may I help you with.”

  By now the fury had well overtaken Bailey. “Do you know Doctor Jon Frees?”

  Bored voice, “Yes, of course I know Dr. Frees.”

  “Well, if you can’t help me, put me through to him, or his secretary. Or possibly you’d rather I called him at home?”

  Since Dr. Frees was the CEO of Harborview Hospital, the nurse thought better of her position. “I’ll put you through to ICU, have a pleasant night.”

  Bailey thought, “A better day than you’ll have tomorrow, bitch.” but didn’t say it out loud. Instead she said, “Thank you, Charlie.”

  The phone began to ring, it was answered with a cheery, “ICU, this is Carleen, how may I help you?”

  “Carleen, I have information about the couple that was brought in earlier this evening - the naked woman and the man with her?”

  “Oh my, yes. Let me take that down.”

  “All right. Her name is Jane Bond, she’s 31, she lives in Chelan, Washington. His name is Cai Shun, he’s a Tibetan national who’s here visiting for a short time. If I go to the Chelan hospital, can I get her medical records released for you? Would that do any good?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, probably not. HIPAA regulations make it hard for anyone to get those records released, but her name and the fact that she’s not conscious will mean we should be able to gain access to them. Do you have a next of kin for her?”

  Bailey gasped. “Is she dead?”

  Carleen drew in a breath, “Oh, I’m so sorry. No, no - she’s not dead. She’s in critical condition, as is Mister Shun, but they are alive. But there are certain procedures that are very hard to take care of without permission from a guardian or a next of kin.”

  Bailey faltered. “I ... I don’t know her mother or her father’s name. They don’t get along well and as far as I know her mother has never been to Chelan to see her. They are military people, maybe you can track them through that. Bond is her maiden name. As to Mister Shun, should I call the Tibet Embassy? Do ... do they even have an embassy?”

  “I’m not sure of that, ma’am.” Carleen seemed to be distracted for a moment, then she said, “I believe ... her mother is here.”

  Bailey drew a blank. “How ... how can her mother be there?”

  Carleen whispered, “I don’t know, but a large woman dressed in army fatigues is here. Does that sound like Ms. Bond’s mother?”

  Bailey sighed. “Yes, it does. I’ll call the embassy if I can find one. And I’ll be to Seattle soon. “

  “Ma’am, can I get your name and a number to reach you at?”

  “Oh - yes, of course, I’m sorry. Your nurse at the front desk was ...”

  “Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Well, if I can get your name, I’ll see what can do for Jane and her mother. And Mr. Shun, of course.”

  Bailey gave out her name and number and hung up. Now that the immediate threat was resolved, she was feeling like a wet noodle. And she also started thinking. “Where is Olive?” She ran downstairs, but the conference room was just a conference room. Jane’s office remained locked, no matter how she pushed and pried on the door, and t
he door to the garage was simply nonexistent. Bailey’s office let her in, but all it was ... was an office. And no amount of yelling Olive’s name did anything at all. The enormity of it sank in, and it washed over Bailey. Jane and Cai nearly dead and Olive gone. And the random thoughts Jane had mentioned came unbidden, and echoed in her mind. “He’s insane, you know.” and “But the Mark VI is nearly insanity proof.” And, finally, “But didn’t he try to kill you?”

  “Jane, what have you gotten yourself into ...”

  Olive was having a rough night. Her dissolution had been nearly complete, but the ship had held onto a tiny amount of power in spite of her demanding all of it. As a result Olive was in ICU (figuratively speaking) just like the rest of her team, but she wasn’t dead. The ship managed to gain small amounts of energy from the dust settling on its skin. With that, it landed and dug into the ground a bit and drew in enough dirt to make some more power. With that it had enough to limp home to Chelan, where it landed in its bay in the garage and began pulling real power from the main unit housed there. At some point, it brought Olive back online.

  Olive woke and immediately formed her projection. She was so bound to having a body by now that she felt as if she didn’t exist without it. Once that happened, she became conscious of Bailey yelling - screaming even. And ... crying? Waves of fear washed over her, and she started yelling too - screaming for Bailey.

  She keyed open the garage door and ran through, finding Bailey standing on the other side, her fists raised.

  Bailey jumped back and screamed at her, “What did you do to them? What happened?”

  Olive held up her hands and started to weep. “It was an accident, a horrible accident.” Then, brokenly, “Something ... the part we went after ... it seemed to come to life when Jane touched it, and it ... it went right through Jane when it flew away. It seemed to ... drain all the power from Jane’s suit when she touched the artifact. I’ve never heard of a suit just dissipating like that.”

  Bailey stood down some in her righteous fear and indignation, “Oh. What happened to Cai?”

  Sobbing, Olive said, “I’m not sure, but he carried Jane back to the ship and collapsed. I think he may have had a heart attack from the stress and exertion.” She began hitting herself on the head, stuttering out, “I didn’t even know he was hurt, I just thought he was sitting. I yelled at him to drag Jane out to the hospital and even got mad at him when he didn’t say anything.” Her words were punctuated by tears flying and hits to her head.

  Bailey’s heart went out to her. “Oh Olive, you did all you could. It’s okay... shh shh ... hey, look at me…”

  Olive’s tear streaked face looked up at Bailey. “I killed them, Bailey. I need to go into shut down mode - reboot and reinitialize.”

  Bailey slapped her face. Of course, her hand went through, but it caught Olive’s attention. “Stop that. You did nothing wrong. Accidents happen, love. Besides, last I heard a few minutes ago, they were both alive. Did you mean to hurt them?”

  “Hurt them? Oh, no no, I love Jane. I’ve come to love Cai. I would never hurt them.”

  Gently, “Then stop this talk of rebooting or reinitializing. You’re human, sweetie. You did all you could. Sometimes that’s all we can do.”

  “Jane ... Jane said being human would cause heartache and pain. But I ... Bailey, I just didn’t understand what she meant, I guess.”

  Bailey smiled sadly, “I think that’s part of being human. Sometimes the only way we can keep living from day to day is to misunderstand or forget what it was to be human yesterday and start out again today.”

  Even with Olive’s help, Bailey found it almost impossible to find anyone to call about Cai. Finally, she gave up and called the Tibet Museum. They assured her she’d done the right thing and would get in contact with Cai’s family.

  Bailey sat for a bit, considering plans. She hated to ask, but finally, “Olive, can you fly yet, take us to Seattle to see Jane and Cai?”

  “Yes, I’m nearly back to full capacity. The poor ship limped along to get back here. I wasn’t even conscious again until we had been here for a while.”

  “You - Olive, you sacrificed yourself for them? I didn’t know that.”

  Olive gave her a strange look. “It wasn’t even a question, Bailey. I’d give my life for Jane.”

  Bailey stared back for a moment. “Then, that makes you more human than a lot of humans.”

  Olive turned away uncomfortably. “We’d better get on board and get moving.”

  As the started up the ramp, they realized the blood from Jane’s wound was still there.

  Bailey looked a little faint. “So much blood. This is all from Jane? Was there even any left in her?”

  “Not much, Bailey, not much.”

  They felt a little gruesome, like somehow they were profaning Jane to be wiping up her blood so casually, but it had to be done. They both knew that Olive-the-ship could have done it in one swipe, but somehow it was important they worked together on this. Finally, they had the floor and ramp clean, and the ... spatter ... wiped from the controls.

  Olive wiped a spot from the vinyl seat and then nearly broke down. “Jane wanted cloth seats, but I ... I hadn’t done it yet.”

  In an effort to defuse the situation, Bailey said, “See, procrastination pays off.”

  They looked at each other and broke into hysterical giggles. After they ran down, Olive took the ship up out of the garage and they headed for Seattle.

  The trip to Seattle hardly lasted long enough for them to get any more morose. Bailey made the call to Dale, and he assured her he’d be on his way as soon as it was humanly possible. On arrival at Harborview, Olive hunted around for someplace to park the ship where she had a decent chance of seeing Jane. Finally, she just parked in a planter with nothing too much growing there and they debarked into ... bark. Seattle was cool and it had been raining earlier, but it was fairly clear now. They picked their way through the flower bed and went in through the main entrance.

  Stopping at the front desk, they asked for Jane Bond’s condition. They were told there was no information yet, and to feel free to have a seat in the waiting room.

  At the waiting room, Bailey stopped, looked around and whispered an aside to Olive, “If Jane was here, she’d say there was an army of people waiting.”

  Olive smiled a bit. And indeed, there were no fewer than five people dressed in military fatigues, all sitting patiently in a row.

  There were also three Asian men and a woman, all wearing black suits.

  Bailey said to the room in general, “I’m Bailey McCallum. I’m Jane’s best friend. I’m also a friend of Cai Shun. This is our friend Olive Daship. Are most of you here to see Jane or Mr. Shun?”

  One of the Asian men stood and bowed to Bailey and Olive. “I am Dai Shun. I have come to see my father.” He motioned to the others around him. “These are associates of my father’s, who are also based in the Seattle area. We have come to offer him support and prayer.”

  Bailey bowed, with Olive following suit. “We are pleased and honored to meet you, Mr. Shun. We have become good friends with your father. He is a wonderful man and we pray along with you that he will be well.”

  One of the women in uniform stood. “I’m Jeannie Bond. Jane’s my daughter. I’m pleased to meet you as well, Ms. McCallum, Ms. Daship. Joe, Jane’s father, is on his way but he won’t be here for a few hours.” Bailey was surprised as she looked at Jeannie - the red-rimmed eyes told more of the story of her feelings than anything Bailey would have expected.

  “No news at all?”

  Dai and Jeannie shook their heads, nearly in unison.

  Bailey and Olive took seats together near the others and they all proceeded to engage in the time honored tradition of waiting, drinking bad coffee and eating stale breakfast pastries. At midnight.

  Olive leaned over to whisper in Bailey’s ear, “When did I get th’ last name of Daship?”

  “It was the best I could come up with. What was I
gonna say, no last name? I thought it was funny. I’m human, so shoot me. No one will ever really remember it, so change it if you want.”

  Olive rolled her eyes expressively. “I can’t. It’s ... stuck now.”

  “Jane says you named yourself, it’s not HER fault you didn’t give yourself a last name.”

  “Touche’, I guess.”

  “I guess.”

  They lapsed into silence, Bailey finally pulling out her phone and reading something on her Kindle app. Olive simply sat, probably doing virtual pancake flipping. Or virtual human practice. Or thinking about the future Mr. (or Mrs.) Daship.

  After a while, Jeannie moved over to sit next to Bailey. Bailey looked at her politely, “Hello, Ms. Bond.”

  Jeannie sighed. “I know, I’m a bitch. Get it over with, just say it out loud so we can move on.”

  Having someone call themselves a bitch kind of made it hard to call them a bitch. Or even think of them as a bitch, so much. Bailey thawed a tiny bit.

  “How did you find out that Jane was hurt?”

  Jeannie grimaced. “On the TV, likely the same as you. In spite of what Jane may have said, I don’t always track her movements. Although, I admit, I have done so from time to time. But that jerk of a husband of hers made me paranoid.”

  Bailey looked off into the distance. “Yeah, I was watching Property Brothers and then next thing I knew I was waking up to the news - and there was Jane. I think I lost Olive before that, she zonked out earlier.”

  Jeannie eyed Olive speculatively. “Daship, eh? What nationality is that, Dutch?”

  Olive swallowed. “Portuguese.”

  Jeannie nodded, then turned back to Bailey. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Ms. McCallum. Jane thinks very highly of you.”

  “Please, call me Bailey.”

  “Very well, Bailey. You may both call me Jeannie, if you wish.”

  There seemed to be nothing more to say at that point, so they all fell silent.

  The waiting went on.

  Along about 1am, a doctor came out. He looked harried, like doctors are supposed to look. He looked vaguely around the room, then asked for anyone here to speak for Cai Shun. Dai Shun stood, and the doctor stepped up to him and said, “Mister Shun is resting. It appears that he had a mild heart attack and he’s doing quite well, all things considered.”

 

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