by Kevin Rau
We arrived again at Metrocity General Hospital and went to the fourth floor. I realized that when Lance stood somewhere he tended to cross his arms a lot. I wonder if he is posing, though he does that a lot at Score! as well. Stephanie still lay on the bed on her stomach, though she'd shifted her arms and legs.
I stroked her hair to the side and said, “Hey goldilocks, time to wake up.”
I looked at Lance and said, “Think we are destined to just carry her out of hospitals?”
He said, “I suppose we could try tickling her. Or … remember the last movie night we had that she stayed over on the couch?”
I laughed, “Yeah, even hanging halfway off the couch she didn't wake up just by touching her or talking nearby. What did we do then, put ice cubes down her back?”
He chuckled, “Backside you mean. Ice cubes down the undies did indeed wake her up. This isn't exactly a hotel with an ice machine in the hallway though. Also, getting a wet spot on her costume would make her look bad.”
I said, “Hmm.”
“You have a devious look on your face.”
“Who, me?” I grinned. I couldn’t help but consider wicked thoughts when she lay there in such a vulnerable position.
“What are you thinking, Black Tiger?”
I sighed, “Something I'd try in private, but not in a hospital room. Ah well.”
I massaged her upper back again to see if she'd wake up. I smacked her lightly on the backside. She still didn't wake up. I suppose I could tickle her. Nah, she said she hears us louder in her mind if we are close….
I rubbed my hands together and said, “Fine, let’s see if we can get inside her head.” I let out a wicked laugh.
I leaned in close to her and touched my head to hers. Wake up Stephanie! Quit sleeping you sloucher! We’re going to take naughty pictures of you now! Her body jerked, she mumbled something and opened her eyes halfway.
I repeated myself, “Wake up goldilocks.”
She mumbled, “It's too early to get up.”
I replied, “You've had your nap, time to go.”
Stephanie rolled onto her back and stretched catlike on the bed. “What time is it?”
I said, “Would you like me to rub your belly? It’s about 6:15 P.M.”
She looked at me, smiled and said, “Troublemaker.” Then she swung her feet off the bed and sat up. She took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed, then stood up.
She said, “I feel better now.” She stared at me for a moment while running her fingers through her hair. My eyebrows furrowed as I wondered what the heck she was doing. Then, I laughed; she must be using my vision as a mirror.
She looked at Lance and did a double-take. “Why are you so dirty?”
He looked at his costume and said, “I was playing with trains.”
She stared off in the distance for a few seconds and said, “Huh. Well, I guess I wouldn't have been too useful at that type of scene anyway.”
Lance said, “Did you just…? Never mind. Shall we go now?”
“I want to check on Gina; then we can go.” She led the way back to room 414 and knocked when we arrived. The girl's mother answered the door. She smiled widely at the sight of Stephanie. “Welcome back, Psystar, are you feeling better?”
“Very much, thank you. How is Gina doing? Has anything changed?”
“She's awake. Come in. Gina, Psystar is back to see you.”
We walked in the room, with Stephanie leading the way. “Hello again, Gina. Or perhaps for the first time in person, and awake.”
Gina said, “I remember you! You changed clothes though.”
Stephanie grinned at Gina. “I did? How are you doing?”
“Great! See the drawings I've been doing?” Gina held out a drawing pad with a variety of odd creatures and scenes. The art's rough, but the concepts are interesting.
“Very creative, Gina. You must like drawing a lot.” I watched Stephanie closely, I could tell she was thinking, or listening to something; she sighed. “Put those creative juices to good use, Gina. You have a much more interesting imagination than almost anyone I've met.”
“Really?!”
“Very much so. Most people can't access their imaginations so, uh, openly. I … I hope your access to it is a gift for you.”
“Thank you for helping me.”
Stephanie hugged Gina. “You're welcome, dear.” She hugged Mr. And Mrs. Woorsten, and we left the room. Something's up, I can tell she isn't reacting as happily as normal.
A group of doctors marched up to us with a purposeful look. Stephanie stopped before them. “Yes?”
One of them said, “We'd like to know how you got her out of a coma. It could be useful for others.”
Stephanie looked off to the side, away from everyone for a moment. Then she looked back at the doctor. “I broke down her mental walls, or doors. Memory, subconscious, emotion, etc. It's not something I want to do for everyone. I fear I unleashed something on her that she'll have to live with now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think her dream state is merged with her conscious thought right now. I fear that she'll either become an unbelievably creative person, or go crazy.”
“You wouldn't do that for someone who has no life at all right now due to their coma?”
Stephanie sighed; she had a pained look expression on her face. “Perhaps for a long term coma patient. I don't want to take the chance again for a possibly short term patient. I won't do something like that soon though. I need to get more in touch with my powers so I don't get wiped out so badly.”
“So ... there's no way to duplicate what you just did?”
“Not that I know of. I'm not entirely sure myself what I did.”
One of them griped, “Damn, that would have been a great paper. What about tests? We could do a variety of scans on you as you do it again?”
Stephanie glanced at Lance, and then sighed, “I’m hungry too, Spartan. Let’s go eat. Doctors, if I find a way to let others wake people from comas, I’ll pass it on, okay?” Hungry? Where did … oh, she answered his thoughts.
They didn't look okay with it, but did look resigned to obtaining no answers about it tonight. Several of them whispered together angrily. I caught the words ‘tests’ and ‘samples.’
Stephanie's face tightened in anger as we entered an elevator. As soon as the door closed Lance put his hands gently on her cheeks and said, “Deep breaths, be calm. You're with friends.”
She leaned her face against one hand, smiled and closed her eyes. After a few deep breaths she opened them again. “You're right, Lan ... Spartan. You should have seen what some of them wanted to do to me though. I'm not a rat in a lab.”
My mind immediately went to dirty thoughts; looking at her costume it didn't take too much for me to imagine no costume. From there it all went downhill….
She said, “No, Black Tiger. I could handle that. They wanted to take blood samples, do M.R.I.s, connect me up to a bunch of probes on me head and test me. One of them even wanted to try taking a sample of brain fluid. Brain fluid!”
I growled, “Maybe I should go talk to a few of them.” My fingertips elongated into claws as I said it.
Lance said, “Black Tiger, you can't do that. Remember the whole thing about people's thoughts being their own? So long as they don't act on them, they own them.”
Stephanie said, “Please don't leave me in this hospital unconscious and alone again. I mean, most of them weren’t like that, don’t get me wrong. But when you have even one or two people thinking that stuff it’s just not right.”
I nodded, “I'll stay with you if need be.”
She looked up at Lance again, and then punched him in the chest. “So, did you enjoy your train fun? Oh, you jerk! You just got grime all over my face!” Heh, she pulled that from one of our minds.
Lance chuckled, “So I did, so I did….”
She punched him again
in the gut, and he only laughed harder.
His stomach rumbled. He said, “I've been getting more and more hungry since we left the train scene.”
Stephanie said, “Well, that makes two of us hungry hungry heroes then.”
I said, “Wasn't that a game?”
She replied, “Hippos were in the game, but it sounds similar.”
“Great, Spartan, I think she's gone fun-nay on us.”
Stephanie stuck her tongue out at me. I grinned.
Chapter 32 – Chance Encounters
Lance's Viewpoint