<Episode 45>
He felt himself floating. He had no idea which way was up or down. All he knew he was in some blue stuff that was slowing his movements slightly. His hand hit something metallic. His eyes opened wide as memories flooded his head. He had to get out of there and he had to get out of there now. Thrashing around a bit he felt wire attached him that he quickly pulled off. Reaching out toward the light in front of him he found a barrier blocking his way. He started pounding away with all he had, he had to get out of there. Shadows suddenly hovered in front of him. He stopped pounding and tried to get away from them. Another barrier behind him blocked any chance of escape. The barrier in front of him lifted away and several hands started reaching for him. He resisted as hard as he could but the got a grip on him and hauled him toward the light.
He hit cold air almost immediately. He heard a jumble of voices and tried to yell at them but something nasty spilled out of his mouth instead. He still struggled as they got him out of the goop he was floating in. There was only one group who could have brought him back and he would be damned if he was going to let them have him without a fight. He almost broke away but somebody grabbed him from behind. A voice with a familiar drawl spoke into his ear, “Easy son easy.”
“Dusty?”, Jack coughed. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he gripped the old man’s arm with all he had. He tried to focus his eyes but everything was still one big blur, “I can’t see!”
“It’s ok son,” he tried to calm him down. “You opened your eyes in that goop and it affected them.” He felt somebody else grab him and heard Dusty say, “Help me get him on the table.” Jack let them guide him to the table and help him get on it. As he sat there somebody wrapped a blanket around him that he closed around his frame. “Your sight should clear up soon. You gave us one hell of a scare son. And waking up ahead of schedule isn’t doing this old man’s ticker any favors either.”
“You never were any good at keeping a schedule,” another familiar voice said.
“Rachel,” he reached out for her. She gripped his hand tightly. “You playing nurse again?”, he joked.
“No that was me and Sparky,” a third voice he recognized as Freidman said.
“I was an assistant, not a nurse,” Sparky protested. “Arron was a nurse when it was his shift.”
Like Dusty said his vision was slowly getting better. Now he could make out man shape blurs in the big blur he was seeing. “How did you bring me back? The chip in my head was fried.”
“It was on the fritz son not fried,” Dusty told him. “It was flickering on and off but it let enough juice through that it kept you alive until they got you here.”
“But the chip…”
“We took it out son.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t bypass it unless you were at World Inc.?”, he started to get an uneasy feeling about this.
“We had to improvise,” Freidman said. “Unfortunately with Mitchell at hand as the only thing compatible we had to cannibalize his…”
Jack blinked a few times and stared at the blob he thought said that, “You ate him?”
After an uncomfortable moment of silence Dusty said, “I’m going to put that down to the fact he’s still a little groggy.”
Rachel squeezed his hand, “He means they used him for spare parts.”
Tightening the blanket around him he said, “One of those ideas is a little more disgusting than the other, I’m just not sure which.”
“Any way we had to implant Mitchell’s chip into your head,” Dusty went on to explain. “I think I modified it enough but you’ll probably want to still wear the foil in that hood just in case.”
“I hope you don’t mind Jack,” Freidman spoke up again, “But when we replaced the chip we noticed the old one shorting out damaged some of your other systems. We were able to use some of Mitchell’s system to replace them, but I’m not sure how it’s going to affect you.”
“How long was I out this time?”
“All in good time son,” Dusty told him.
“How long?”, he demanded.
“Another six months,” Rachel said.
“I spent over a year floating in goop,” he said to nobody in particular.
“Maybe we should give Jack some time to take all of this in,” Dusty said.
“Well be in the next room Jack,” Rachel patted his hand and let go of it.
“Rachel could you stay for a moment?”
“Sure Jack, what is it?”, she asked.
“I know this is going to sound a little weird,” he started, “but I could really use a warm body next to me right now.”
“No problem,” she said. Jumping on the bed she sat next to him. He waved his hand in front of his face as his vision started to clear. He was right he was in Dusty operating room. Out of no where Rachel wrapped her arms around him, “Thank God you’re all right!”
Reaching up he patted her arm, “I’m kinda happy about it too.” Finally his vision cleared that he could almost see normally. Rachel still didn’t let him go. Tell her before you lose your nerve. “Rachel I h…” he looked at her and stopped. Her hair which did go past her shoulder was now hanging above her neck and styled differently. “When did you cut your hair?”
She blushed a bit, “Melissa dragged Angie up here last week and talked me into it. She told me the change would do me good. I hate it personally and can’t wait for it to grow back out.”
“It… it looks good,” he said more or less automatically.
“Now you’re just being nice,” she said with a smile. “I’ll go find your clothes, I know Dusty washed them while you were out. You’re probably freezing.” She hopped off the table and went into the next room to talk to Dusty. The things you get lost on when you’re out half a year.
***
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