Chapter 10

Chapter 9  (13+) Annie begins to subtly...evolve... #2036823 by Hyperiongate

Chapter 10

Jack was up with the sunlight for his morning run. A holdover from his days in the military, he found it ironic that it now served as an escape from those memories. Too much death for too little gain. At first he’d loved the thrill of combat. It was an adrenalin rush that fed his ego as much as his body. Covert Ops amounted to little more than sneaking in, piling up a body-count and then sneaking back out. He’d been good at his job…right up to the point where he noticed that nothing ever changed.

“I’m just a distraction.” The thought occurred to him one day and never left.

He no longer felt like he was serving the greater good. The “hero” part of his job left him. Now there was only guilt. Guilt at the killings. Guilt at allowing himself to be manipulated. Guilt at his inability to change any of it.

In the end, he left the service; but it never completely left him.\

So he ran. He ran from the ghosts of his past. He ran and the ghosts always followed.

It wasn’t until yesterday morning he realized that instead of running “from” something, he needed to be running towards something. It was time to think of tomorrow instead of yesterday. And just like that, he began to recover.
This morning, as he made his way through the sage brush out near his home, he thought about the day before. The initial confrontation with Lise had been touch and go. In the end, she’d softened. As long as her privacy and patient were not interfered with, she would accept the surveillance. That didn’t mean she was happy about it, but there was not much she could do. She’d come to regret her initial stance that somehow this was all Jack’s fault. He was as much a victim of the circumstances as she was.

Jack knew that he was being “protected” as well. Yes, he understood that he had a role to play. His military background would serve as an initial line of defense should Lise or her patient come under any type of attack. The closer Jack was to Lise, the better.

The thought of Lise made him smile; made him look forward.

*****

Lise woke up with her heart racing. A multi-faceted dream had taken her for quite a ride. She’d heard that dreams only lasted for a few seconds. This one felt like it had gone on all night. In it, she and Jack were a couple. She could still feel the “dream love” as if it were a real thing. JD11 had also been in the dream; alive and completely recovered. The three of them were running through a building engulfed in flames. Something was chasing them. Jack had been trying to protect her but somehow he disappeared. Explosions were everywhere. There was something coming towards them through the smoke. In the dream, she was certain that “something” wanted JD11 dead. Then she’d seen a very bright light.

That was when she’d woken up. A mixture of fear and heartache filled her emotional bucket. How had Jack become such a prominent item in her life so quickly? Already he was playing the role of hero in her dreams. All they’d done so far was to spend some time together yesterday afternoon. She knew he was attracted to her and her to him, but this felt too fast. She would have to be careful.

Yesterday had been an interesting day. Jack had scared her at first but she’d gotten over that; inwardly surprised by how easily she accepted her new situation. Right away she’d begun to take notice every time she saw a janitor with earpiece.

They had gone to check in on JD11. She was impressed with how attentive Jack was to what she was saying. He’d asked intelligent questions and seemed to be genuinely interested. They’d spent the better part of an hour together. By the end, she thought that Jack might ask her out on a date. She didn’t know what she would have said if he had. She knew that she would want to say “Yes” but she also knew her first impressions had often resulted in bad choices.

In the end, Jack only asked her if he could come back the next day to check in on JD11 and see how she was doing with the surveillance issue. Clearly, he was intentionally slowing the pace of their relationship. Was it possible that he was worried about going too fast as well? Had he made bad decisions before? In any event, a casual visit for the next day was perfect. They would see each other again without a commitment.

Lise became excited when she realized that “the next day” was actually here. She’d see him today!

Soon, she turned her thoughts to JD11. It was surprising to realize that he had been the second thought of the day instead of the first. Lise felt a small pang of guilt for letting something come between her and her work.

Ten minutes later she was out the door.

Lise got to the hospital about half an hour before the burn team briefing. She could tell right away that something was going on. The buzz in the room was electric. Taking her place at the head of the table, she opened her JD11 file. “Alright, who wants to tell me what is going on?”

Doctor Shepherd was first out of the blocks with, “He has eyelids!”

Lise started back, momentarily missing the point. Remembering that he didn’t have eyelids the day before, she said, “That is not possible. No one can grow back eyelids, much less do so overnight. If he does have eyelids, it means that he had them yesterday and we failed to notice. It could happen.”

Nurse Atkins stood up and said, “I was in charge of documenting all epidermal damage. I can say, without a doubt, that he had no eyelids yesterday. I don’t know how it happened but he has them now. Granted, they are only thin, transparent lids, but they are lids nonetheless.”

Lise could feel her pulse rising with her excitement. This was too much to hope for. Never mind that it was impossible. It had happened! This went way beyond eyelids. What else could he regrow?

“Holy shit!” slipped out before she regained composure with “Okay, let’s suppose that he grew lids overnight. Does anyone have any ideas how this could have happened?”

Ben Shepherd was in charge of the DNA enriched fluid that was designed to stimulate growth. “The DNA strand concentration, while climbing, is still only a fraction of what we estimated would be needed before regrowth of any kind would take place. We didn’t think we’d see any healing at all until sometime next week. Even then, we only expected to see skin regeneration. Maybe we underestimated the impact of the DNA strands in their diluted state. Remember, we only have animal trials to go by. The sophistication of the human body could have helped to accelerate the process.”

“What about consumption? Were there any unexpected variations in the nutrient consumption?” Lise asked. It was important to find out what had happened if only to make sure they enabled it to continue to happen. They would worry about any miraculous departures from science later.

Doctor Ruiz was looking through a printout generated from last night’s TIG activities. “It looks like respiration climbed between the hours of 2 and 6 am. Filtered waste and nutrient consumption both went up during that time period. Data from the last thirty minutes show that all recordable levels have returned to what we would expect to be normal.”

“Why would that happen? What was different between 2 and 6 am?” Lise looked around, hoping for answers but expecting none. After all, everyone had been home asleep during that time. JD11 should have been in a steady state all night long. Perhaps it had something to do with a body’s natural circadian rhythms.

Annie raised her hand timidly, waiting to be recognized. Lise almost didn’t notice the young woman. This meeting was not something a lowly nursing assistant was expected to participate in. After all, Annie’s job was little more than to be there in case the “He just died” button needed to be pushed.

“Yes, it’s Annie, isn’t it. What do you have?”

The young woman felt nervous as all eyes turned to her. She could see curiosity in some, contempt in others. Who was she anyway? Some might say she was little more than a babysitter.

Finally, “I read to him.”

Eyebrows went up all around. They were ready to dismiss her comment as unimportant. She knew differently. Her reading had impacted the patient. She pressed forward. “I went to the hospital library and checked out a couple of books. I was only gone for a few minutes. I was reading to him during the time you are talking about.”

Everyone looked at her as if she were crazy. Of course there was no way reading to a person that couldn’t hear you would have any effect at all. Lise, like the others, tended to be skeptical. At the same time, stranger things had happened. Like finding a mostly dead man burned and buried in the middle of nowhere; one that could grow eyelids.

“Annie, what makes you think that reading to him had an impact. There is no way he could hear you even if he wasn’t unconscious.” Lise felt certain Annie’s reading was not a factor but still, she was not willing to let any possibility go at this point. Also, she didn’t want the young woman to feel her input was being discounted out of hand.

Annie was a little embarrassed. She was not supposed to leave her post in the adjoining room where all of the monitors could be seen.

“I took a chair over by his tank. I was about two feet from him as I read. I don’t know how, but I feel certain that he was aware of the fact that I was reading to him”

“What?” Dr. Ruiz was indignant. This girl could have ruined everything by leaving her station and yet, here was Lise, listening to her as if what she had to say was important. “When you left your station, anything could have gone wrong. The fact that you were reading to a tank with a comatose man in it is no excuse.” To everyone else, “I suggest we try to find a rational line of investigation. In the meantime, perhaps we can find a nighttime nursing assistant that can follow simple instructions.”

Lise didn’t appreciate Dr. Ruiz attacking the young woman. However, he was probably right; but still, there had been no need to attack the young woman in front of everyone. Right now, the fact that Annie had done anything at all was the only lead they had.

“Annie, why did you decide to read to JD11?” Ben Shepherd stepped in seeing the girl was next to tears. He wanted to let her know that what she had to say mattered.

“I don’t know. I had this feeling that he was lonely. No, not lonely; Isolated and maybe a little afraid is a better way to put it. I guess I was feeling sorry for him. I do know that as I read to him, it seemed as if I could feel him listening to me. He liked it.”

Dr. Ruiz piped up, “This is ridiculous. Can’t we move on?”

Lise shut him down with a look. They all knew that look. It didn’t come around very often but when it did, you were in trouble. Dr. Ruiz tried to stand his ground, but in the end, he stepped away from the meeting room table to lean against a wall.

To Lise, the meeting was starting to feel like a confrontation between different ideals. “Annie, go home and get some sleep. I would like you to read to him again tonight if you don’t mind. Do it just like you did last night, with one exception. I want you to keep track of the time when you’re reading. In the meantime, I’ll arrange to have the vital data streams fed to a laptop that you will be able to monitor from next to the tank. That way you can keep an eye on him as you read.”

Annie smiled. She would do anything Lise asked of her; especially if it involved spending time with JD11.

*****

At a small diner outside of Nellis Air Force Base, Private First Class Eddie Smithers tried to keep his hands from shaking as he sipped at his coffee. He’d been waiting for this opportunity for months. Now that it was here, he wasn’t certain he could carry it out.

He’d first been approached last October. After a particularly bad night at the tables in Vegas, he’d found himself befriended by a man that seemed to understand him.

“It’s not your fault. Sometimes the dice just roll the other way. I’ve been there. You don’t need to worry about your losses. I watched how you play and I have to say, I’m impressed. Tell you what, here is a little something to keep you afloat. No charge, just give me 10% of your winnings.”

That’s how it had started. From there everything seemed to go downhill quickly. Within a few weeks, Smithers found himself in debt to his new friend to the tune of $150,000.

But it didn’t stop there.

“Maybe we can work something out,” he’d told the private. “Say, you work out at Nellis, right? I have some friends that are UFO buffs. They’d love to get a jump on any new sightings. You must hear about all sorts of strange goings on. Maybe you can let me know if anything weird goes on out there. My friends would pay a lot of money for the right information.”

Last night he’d come across just that type of information. Smithers watched as his “friend’s” car pulled into the parking lot. It was now or never.

“Hi Eddie,” the man said. His always present smile put the private at ease.

“Hi Larry, thanks for stopping by. I haven’t ordered yet. Did you want to get something to eat?”

“Thanks but I’m in a bit of a rush. What have you got for me?”

Eddie cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure how to proceed. He felt like he was about to become a traitor, even though his information was rather benign. He just hoped it was good enough to get him the payday he desperately needed.

Larry sensed the private’s hesitation. “If this is as good as you said it is, then I think you and I can call ourselves all square. In fact, I have $10,000 right here as a bonus.”

He pulled a fat envelope out of his coat pocket and slid it across to Smithers.

Eddie took the envelope and started to talk.

As a communication specialist, he’d been there when the call came in from a Sheriff up near Reno last Monday. Since that time, there had been a flurry of activity at the base. Planes loaded with supplies had been flying missions to the north all last night. Something was definitely going on up there.

“That’s great Eddie. Just great. I’m sure my friends will appreciate being the first to break the story about a UFO near Reno. And don’t worry. No one will ever know where the tip came from.”

Larry soon excused himself, leaving Private Smithers to his coffee.

Ten minutes late, Smithers pulled out of the diner parking lot, unaware of the fatal traffic accident that had been arranged just for him; courtesy of Larry’s employers, also known as The Brotherhood.

Chapter 11  (13+) Jack meets Lise at hospital. Szokoly discovers something. Lanier...is Lanier #2037069 by Hyperiongate