Angel Awake

Angel Awake


Mark was jolted awake by the sound of a man screaming in pain.  He sat up and found himself in bed gripping a sheet with both hands.  In his mind the screams were now fading away but he could almost feel the agony of the tormented voice before it became silent.  Mark realized then that the 'sound' was actually experienced in his head but not via his physical ears.  The room had been utterly silent since he sat up in bed.

Puzzled he focused on the room itself.  He saw the steel railing bordering his bed then noticed the reverse image of 'ICU' etched in the window glass of the door to his left.  To his right
about six feet was a curtained off area.  Presumably with another patient's bed. 

As Mark looked down a sheet was covering  him up to his neck. He could feel a dress shirt with a tight collar and  clingy socks that stretched to mid calf.  He pealed the sheet away from his body.

“Ok I'm in a hospital bed...but fully clothed.”  On review he thought it curious that someone would dress him in aqua.  Everything was the same bright blue green color, socks, shoes pants and shirt.

“Great, I look like a '57 Belair without the chrome.  Nice but if I'm going to be dressed like a car I'd prefer a '67 Cobra.”

He stretched his feet slowly to the floor.  His muscles seemed a little loose and it took extra concentration to make his legs move exactly where he wanted them to go.  He was still taking in the surroundings.  He moved over to the window passed the mystery patient.  He noted a small black globe directly above the other patients bed and smiled.

“Smile your on TV.” 

He took baby steps up to the window and peered out in the night sky.  He could make out the  glassy spires of several buildings on the horizon.  From their scale he guessed this room was on about the  50th floor.  The next thing he noticed was the swarm of lights around the distant buildings.  Mark's mouth dropped open as he turned his gaze to the foundation of the hospital itself.  A swarm of multi colored lights coursed around the base of the building.

“What the heck!”

Taking a breath and a step back from the window he gripped the window sill.  A section of the wall changed from the pale green of the room into a display screen.  There was a graph in the middle of the display with several colored lines. 

“Wow, a bio chart...wall.”

Without thinking Mark traced his fingers over one of the few lines that seemed to be declining in linear fashion.  A pleasant female voice responded.

“Patient weight currently 14 kilograms.”

“That doesn't sound like much.  I wonder what that means in pounds?”

The voice responded again. “Approximately 30 pounds.”

“Oy, that can't be good for an adult.”

Now an unfamiliar voice interrupted. “Yes I'm adult and no that isn't a healthy weight for me Mark.”

“You know my name.”

“I know everything about you Mark Cameron.  You don’t remember this place do you?”

“Heh...no.  Should I?”

“Actually I’m not sure how much you’ll remember about anything in your past.  By the way  how’s the body?”

“I’m not sure I understand the question.  But if you’re asking about yourself I think we agree you're in bad shape.  And we are in the Intensive Care Unit.”

An amused snort erupted from the direction of the bed.  “Very astute observation Mark.  But I was referring to yours.  It was the best my people could come up with.  But still, you are the final judge regarding it’s quality”

“I’m sorry but how is it you know me but I don’t know you?  And as for my body I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m Senator Peter Wellsly.  Listen Mark I won’t be here much longer and I need to get something from you before I go.”

“If this is some kind of dying request shouldn’t you be talking to a priest or something?”

“Perhaps, if that were legal.  You could talk to one for me I suppose.  That brings up one of the points I need to make as well.  The country, the world in fact has changed a lot sense you went to sleep 300 years ago.”

Now Mark snorted his amusement.  “Three hundred years.  Haha.  I hear keeping your sense of humor is a good sign in the hospital.  So perhaps you’re not doing so bad after all Senator.”

“Is it day or night Mark.  Sorry for asking but my condition has left me blind and more than a little disoriented at times.”

“Its night time.”  Mark moved back toward the window.  He glanced out the window.

He looked again at the hundreds of lights were swirling between the dark building silhouettes around the hospital.  The lights were moving at incredible speed.  He  focused on one as it passed.  To his surprise what had started out as a tiny light in the distance was now clearly a family of four inside some kind of high speed craft.  He focused intently on the family inside and he could almost begin to hear...

“Mom, I got an A+ for my paper on religious tolerance today.”

A female voice injected. “Thats great Johnny. What about tolerance?”

Mark could scarcely believe he was able to listen to the conversation from a moving vehicle.  The voices were getting harder to pick up now as it got farther away.  As the the voices faded he strained to hear the end of the conversation.

“I pointed out that people believing in any deity should not only be barred from public office but from society in general.  My teacher....”  The conversation ended as the car passed behind a row of sky scrapers on the horizon.

Mark commented to Peter.  “Interesting technology that lets me hear conversations in moving … cars.”

“Ah yes.  That little trick cost me quite a bit and a few years to get right.  Before I explain tell me, is the moon out tonight?”

Mark glanced up at the full moon in the night sky and paused.  “Why are there lights inside the man in the moon’s mouth?”

“Yes of course you’d catch that one first.  Actually there are five lights dotting the moon’s surface now.  Cities Mark, they’re cities large enough to be seen from Earth with the naked eye.“  The voice slowed for effect and carried a hint of amusement.  “Can you...can you see any details in the lights Mark?” 

Mark tried to focus on the first ‘city’ he’d seen.  To his amazement he began making out more and more detail that confused him further.  “I’m seeing domes, spires, some kind of vehicles moving across the surface.  How is this possible?  No one can see that far.  Its got to be a million miles from here!”

“Well no Mark not nearly that far.  But it brings us back to the issues set before us, before you.  The first Angel Head awakened and embodied.”

For the first time Mark looked down at his hands and arms.  The skin was utterly perfect and somewhat shinier than normal skin should be he thought.  He looked at his own reflection in the window.  “It isn’t me.  My face, looks kind of like me.  But it isn’t.”  Mark's legs felt weak suddenly and he stumbled backward until his body hit the wall in the corner of the room.  He was able to brace himself against the wall while his legs steadied.

“I am sorry Mark.  I’d give you a few days to adjust but I really haven’t got the time.  While you are trying to soak this in let me tell you a few more things you don’t know about.  You may eventually remember going to sleep in a hospital for cancer treatment.  You were a terminal case when cryogenics was just coming into vogue 300 years ago.  There were a few kinks to work out early on, after you were frozen the first time.  “

“The first time?  I'm starting to sound like a frozen dinner gone bad.”

“Indeed, the technology wasn’t up to preserving the entire body long term.  You were...thawed out long enough to remove your brain tissue about 250 years ago.”

“Just my brain?”

“I’m afraid so Mark.  That is all they could reliably save long term. ”

“They didn’t have a cure yet.  Not after 50 years?”

“Actually they did.  However, after 50 years politics, medicine and your body had gotten much worse.  Doctors could have cured the cancer in your body had there been a viable body left.  You were lucky the original cryogenic technology had better controls monitoring your brain than the rest of your body or we wouldn’t be talking.  In fact 178 people from your time were frozen.  You are one of only twelve to survive.  The other eleven haven’t been animated as yet.  Which again brings us back to you my friend.”

Mark continued to stair blankly at his hands and arms trying to take in the fact he was in a manufactured body.  “To me.  Why?  I'm not even real.  I'm not a complete human anymore.”

“Not so!  The essence, the soul of Mark Cameron is now in a cyborg body.  And that gives us, gives you, a unique opportunity.  Mark, society has degenerated over the last 300 years to the point where the personal freedoms you enjoyed are only a legend and illegal even to speak of.  Greed and corruption in government and society in general have kept people in a state of isolation, fear and apathy for two centuries.  That’s why no one would wake you up sooner Mark.  The liability issues and government entanglements alone are staggering in this current age.  That is why I helped draft and push through the Angel Head Law.”
 
Mark redirected his gaze to the curtained bed.  “What?  Ok, I’m guessing I’m an Angel Head. So why do I need a law.”

“I argued that if your kind were reintroduced to society you would be quickly incarcerated and terminated for breaking laws that didn’t exist 300 years ago.”

“Like talking to a priest?”

“Exactly Mark.  The Angle Head Law was confirmed this week.  I didn’t want to animate you until I knew you would be safe.  You and the other eleven have what amounts to diplomatic immunity in your time.  You are untouchable and protected the same as any historic document or building.  That coupled with a super human body should be enough.”

“Enough for what?  I‘m still not sure any of this is real.”  Mark rubbed his hand over the flesh on his arm.  The sense of touch was present but different somehow.  He concentrated on the sensation as he ran his index finger over his forearm.  This time he could visualize a series of numbers.  He said flatly,  “I’m seeing numbers as rub my arm?” 

“Mark the body you’re in is real, different but very real.  You’re probably accessing the raw data stream from your sense of touch.  But the real difference for our purposes is your protection under the Law.  You and the others will be able to influence people without fear or consequence like no one has for over two centuries.  You’ll have the ability to speak freely about anything you choose.  You will have the opportunity to correct some of the injustices in this atrophied society.  But I have to know now if you are willing to take responsibility for all the Angel Heads.  I selected ‘Angel’ in preference to the guardian angel stories from your time.  It seemed fitting as that is exactly what I, what this world needs at this time.”

“Why me?”

“I’ll be giving the order to reanimate eleven souls that will have the power to help change this society for the better.  Or unleash powerful creatures in an environment with nothing to stop them from any corruption that takes their interest.  You were the CEO of a successful corporation in your day.  That’s why you had the money for cryogenic stasis.  I’ve read everything about you Mark.  You are a true leader and strategist.  You have a shot at keeping the rest of the group in line.”

“That seems a tall order.  What can I expect out of this.”

“Giving society another chance at freedom after hundreds of years of oppression should be worth some personal satisfaction.  If I’ve read you correctly.  But to give you and the others the tools and a real chance to effect change I’m signing over my holdings and authority to you.  In your time its the equivalent of several hundred billion dollars and the Lordship over a state in the World Union.”

“But only if I accept?”

“Yes.  The others will not be reanimated if you don’t agree with the terms.”

“Life and death for eleven people hangs on my next move!”

“It may seem that I’m playing dirty.  I have family I’m leaving behind.  I want to know they will have a chance at a better world.  I refuse to unleash yet more evil on the world as I leave it. I’ve also caused my share of pain and made some powerful enemies.  I suppose I’m looking to you for redemption and retribution as well.” 

“I’ll need a couple of days to take a look around to see what I’m getting myself into.”

“Let me bring you up to speed on my condition.  When the powers that be figured out what I was up to with the Angel Head survivors I was poisoned.  Rather insidiously.  My body is being dissolved from the inside out.  Nanites have been programmed to destroy every cell in my body leaving my brain for last.  They are already in place in my brain.”

“To prevent you from taking a new body.”

“Correct.  It won’t matter if I get a new body or not.  My brain is on borrowed time.  As for my body look at the equipment around my bed. Medically all that can be done is to allow my dead cells to be drained away without causing further trauma.  Neural connections and feeder tubes to my skull prevent me from feeling much pain and allow me to communicate during the time I have left.”

Mark rolled back the nearest curtained section and looked over Peter’s body for the first time.  It was emaciated, literally passed the point of death.  Flesh hung loosely over bone as the muscular tissue had been dissolved and drained away.  The eye sockets and mouth were sunken in.  The voice he had been hearing was coming from a small green disk positioned above Peter's head on the bed railing. 

“Peter I had no idea.  But people able to do this to you, a senator, could take myself and the others out easily enough as well.”

“I’m not a technical person Mark.  But my team has assured me that you and the others will be virtually immune to this form of attack.  And while I’m important you and the others will be protected as historic artifacts.  Actions against you are immediately punishable by death.  And you can protect yourself without fear of litigation.”

“But there are no guarantees.”

“True.  I can’t protect you from what I don’t know about.  I leave that to you and the tools and power you’ll be left with.  So there it is.  That is all I’ve got for you Mark.”

“I see.  How long do you have left for me to think this over.  I mean an estimate?”

“It depends.  If the nanites are programmed to attack the brain after all my internal organs are gone I have less than a day.  If they are programmed to destroy my epidermis last I have another 48 hours or so.  Life support equipment will keep my brain operating more or less normally until the brain nanites are activated.  But I need to transfer my estate and authority before...”

“I get it.  Ok, before you’re completely gone I’ll sign up.  I don’t recall turning down challenges 300 years ago why should I start now.”

“Thank you Mark.  You’ve no idea what this means to me.  My team will brief you as soon as you’re ready.  If you’ll press the red button on the right side of the bed they’ll know the transition is a go and make the necessary changes to my estate and authority as a World Union Senator.”

Mark found a red circle in the middle of a translucent medical display panel.  It was clearly marked as a call button.  He pressed it. 

“Good bye Mar..” Peter’s voice trailed off into silence 

The ever pleasant female voice was activated again.  “Patient life signs have terminated.  Medical staff has been alerted.”

The med display in the wall showed that brain activity had just flat lined.  Mark was frantically looking for another call button when the hospital room door opened.  A short unassuming man dressed in gray came in holding a small computer tablet.

“Mark Cameron I’m pleased to meet you at last.  My name is Marshall Kines.  I'm … I was Peter's assistant. If you could just press your thumb here in the top section of this document we’ll get started.”

Mark held the tablet one handed with his thumb pressing the indicated area.  “Excellent.  Senator Cameron you are now the new head of state for New Mexico and CEO of Galactic Horizon Corporation.”

“It was the call button wasn’t it?”

“Yes sir.  He had the transfer of power issued as soon as he was poisoned a few days ago.  It was activated upon his passing and transferred to you just now.  He was actually in considerable pain and wanted to be ... released as soon as you accepted.”

Mark held the small plastic disk that had been Peter's voice with one hand and the steel tubing of the bed railing with the other.  “But he said he wasn't in much pain.”

“I’m sure he said that.  However, the nanites exerted a significant amount of discomfort into his neural pathways at random intervals.    These attacks would last from a few minutes to over an hour.  And their frequency was increasing.  Even when the nanites weren't saturating his nerves with pain his voice processor had to be adjusted to remove the signs of distress.”

Mark felt tears swelling in his eyes.  He mentally thanked Peter for enabling his new body to cry.  He turned his full attention back to the Peter's tortured shell of a body.  He gripped  the railing on the bed tighter trying to channel some of his rage.  “And during the attacks?”

“His speech was recorded and transcribed in case he was trying to communicate some type of message.  However, the speaker was linked to the bio unit and automatically muted his...screaming, until after the attack was over.”

Mark's face was red with rage as a single tear began rolling down his cheek. “Thats what I heard.  One of his screams woke me up somehow.”  He gripped the rail harder still.  The low pitched sound of the steel bed rails being crushed in Mark's hands made him look down.    He opened his hands to see his finger impressions embossed on the now collapsed tubing.  While fascinated at the result his rage was not reduced.  “Do you have some names or at least an idea of the monsters capable of this?”

“All in due time, for now Peter had suggested your priorities be focused on orienting yourself with your current surroundings and then begin reanimating your  team members.”

Mark looked at the lifeless body once more and smiled.  “Wise advice after my 300 year sleep Peter.  Its your time for peace.  I'll take it from here and learn exactly what happened to the world I once knew. “ 

He turned to Marshall.  “The Angel is awake Marshall and itching for payback.”  He looked at down the length of this aqua clothed body and commented.  “By the way, I'm a car buff.  Do you think we could find a suit in '67 Cobra blue?”