"Good evening, Meralynn," The voice familiar voice of Elliot flooded the room as Meralynn moved through it. "It is nice to see you today."
She smiled up in the general direction of the hidden speakers. She knew the computer as a fixture in her life as a young child might know a favored uncle. She referred to Elliot as "him" more often than as "it" for the sentience of the machine gave it more conversational ability than most people she knew and Meralynn was not one to believe that possessing flesh and blood alone indicated life.
"Good evening Elliot. I hope you're well."
"What did Meralynn have on the agenda for this evening?"
Before she could answer him, a young man, a boy really -- truth be told -- strolled in, a heavy looking gun sliding from his shoulder and dangling loosely by it's strap in his fingertips.
The soothing voice of the supercomputer echoed throughout the corridors of the hospital, almost ... godlike in it's omnidirectional presence. "Good evening, sir."
"Hi ... how are you?" The look on the boy's face showed clearly that he didn't know who was speaking. The way he looked around for the source of the voice and the tight grip he asserted on his gun let Meralynn see he was unsure of his surroundings.
"Might I help you?" Elliot addressed the boy as if Meralynn wasn't even present, but she was used to that and bent down behind what used to be the receptionist's counter, a useful surface supported by a network of cubbies and drawers from a time when there were employees enough for there to be a receptionist. She reassured herself of the readiness of first aid supplies. Most people didn't come into the hospital for small talk and as she moved to a nearby supply cabinet, she was determined to be prepared.
"Er ... yeah ... who are you?"
"I am Elliot Enterprises Series 7 Supercomputer. Welcome to the New Rydynn Memorial Hospital. Have you any wounded?"
"Yeah. I guess. It's just a scratch though, I think." He frowned as he pointed to his left bicep.
The jovial voice continued to come from all around him. "And you are?"
"I am Ed ... yeah, that's it, Ed." Ed Archer, but I'm not telling you that, he thought to himself. "Sorry ... haven't talked to anyone in a while, actually. I guess people don't get hurt that much here, eh?'
"Hello Ed," Elliot went on, seemingly ignoring the small, unessential talk. "That does appear to be a nasty scratch. You need it looked at?"
Ed slung the rifle back over his shoulder. "Yeah, I do ... how much will it cost me?"
"Cost? There is little use for money here at the Hospital, Ed."
"No use for money?" Ed smiled widely and gentled his smudged face. "That's almost watery."
"Meralynn ..." Elliot sensed by the tilt of her head that he had her attention. "Ed is a visitor to the hospital. He has a nasty wound on his arm, might you attend to it?"
Mera's chestnut eyes flickered as she lifted her gaze to Ed. "Good eve, sir. How may I be of service?" Elliot could use his sensors to "see" things she could not, and as it was, she wasn't able to "see" any wounds on Ed.
"Um ... like he said, I got a -cut- sorta."
Mera nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Let me see it and I'll see what I can do for you." She didn't mention that she wasn't one of the doctors. For the moment, she thought that wise. Ed rolled his sleeve up to his armpit and unwrapped a none-to-clean cloth, stained with blood. A deep gash neatly carved was set in his arm and Mera visibly winced at sight of the wound. "How did you do this?"
The computer's voice chimed in again from all directions. Helpfully he said, "It would seem, Meralynn, that Ed might have been in a battle of some."
Ed frowned, and Mera couldn't tell if was simply annoyed or if genuinely puzzled. "Er ... something bit me."
Mera blinked and looked up from the wound. "Bit you?"
"Sorta ... big, ugly, mean monster ..." And he made a clawing motion with his free hand to illustrate his point. "Just bit me."
Elliot's tone said the supercomputer didn't necessarily think Ed's story rang true. "A pity, really. You huumunns must learn to get along better amongst yourselves."
"Hey...it wasn't a huumunn! It was something else."
"Not huumunn? Interesting." Either the supercomputer was beginning to believe Ed, or it was humoring him. Mera was too busy wondering if the man were having hallucinations to be sure. She didn't know if he'd need to be restrained or not, and began to worry that Ed had been out in the heat too long. Perhaps he wasn't really sure about what had happened to him. The cut was fairly straight forward. It could have been inflicted by anything surgically sharp. The Freemen, the Cult and the Syrynykk all had various deadly weapons.
"Well ... lets see ..." Mera's mind raced frantically and as a result she spoke mostly to herself.
"I just let my guard down ... and it bit me ..."
Elliot continued, "There have been some reports from the frontiers of some rather nasty mutations of local fauna. Nasty critters about on the fringes."
Ed looked jumpy when he asked, "Fauna...what's a fauna?" His eyes darted about as if a fauna would descend upon him out of nowhere to finish the job.
"Easy, Ed," Mera said reassuringly. "Have a seat up here." Mera patted the makeshift bed. She returned to the supply cabinet, pulled out a packet of sterile gauze and a bottle of antiseptic solution, then positioned herself to set to work cleaning his wound. The computer's friendly matter-of-fact voice filled the ER. "Fauna, Ed, as in animal life. Wild animals."
Ed nodded faintly, watching Mera clean his arm. She chuckled softly, absorbed in her efforts and neither of them saw the man who edged his way in quietly. He hugged the wall as he slipped into Rydynn Memorial's ER. He gripped his M-16 tightly. His clothing moved with a fluid mirror effect, the fading yellowed entryway reflected in it's folds. Apparently satisfied for the moment as to his safety, the man reached to unzip the suit he wore.
"Animals..." Ed said. "I think this is what it was...with big, dirty, hard armor! My gun bounced off ... have to shoot 'em in the eyes." He looked up as if half expecting Elliot to be looking at him, listening attentively, and caught the motion of the other man who'd entered. Ed looked him over slowly and then just blinked at him.
The man eyed the boy and greeted him as Ed stared with a rough salutation. "Yeah?"
"Nothing," Ed said, looking wisely away from the man to the ceiling of the ER.
"Well, dearie," Mera said kindly. "It looks as if you need a few stitches."
Elliot's voice rolled over them solicitously. "Well Ed, I'd like for you to elaborate on this creature further when you have a moment. It may be something we wish to have archived in the database as a potential threat."
"Syrynykk, perhaps?" Mera asked, not really expecting an answer.
While they chatted, and the second man, who's name was Crow, rolled his suit of metallic fabric to his ankles and stepped out, yet another man stumbled in. He looked tired, Mera could see that immediately as she looked his way, more wary now than she was moments ago. Maybe it was heat sickness. He looked a bit confused as he stood there, looking around. She watched the man step out of his suit and watched the suit shrivel up into a small cube. Crow stooped to retrieve the cube and dropped it into the pocket of the well worn fatigues revealed by his removal of the metallic coveralls. The tan of radiation exposure was slicked in sweat that ran over Crow's well muscled arms.
"Actually," Ed countered, and Elliot began to record the recounting of Ed's tale. "It wasn't one of those lizard dudes. It was ... more like ... well ..." He shrugged. "A spider? One of those weird ones you see in the outside lands. It didn't bite me...it actually cut me with its leg. I scratched myself on its leg. It had four of them." He counted on his fingers to make sure. "There's a whole bunch like this ... really really big ... too big. Some have claws ... I once saw one spit like my gun .. . except with fire instead."
The newest arrival cleared his throat at that moment to ask, "Hey, 'don't suppose any of you know where this is?"
Ed looked over at the owner of the newest voice. "I don't."
The man acknowledged Ed's comment with a weak nod. "'d'ya know where I can get some water... ?" Mera glanced over to the new entry, her expression curious.
"I dunno," Ed said. "But here," he tossed his canteen over to the quiet stranger who managed to catch it. "You need some?" In response, the man took a long pull from the container.
"Elliot ..." Mera's eyes widened, thoughtful, as she asked. "Do you have anything on Spider-like creatures?"
In answer to Meralynn, the friendly almost singsong voice filled the ER again. "No, Meralynn, nothing beyond the normal arachnids that have been previously studied. Something this big would appear to be a new variation, quite possibly a mutant." Unexpectedly, Crow clutched his gun. He crouched down suddenly at Elliot's voice, hunched and ready.
"Shut up!" Crow yelled to the air. He jerked his head in all directions.
"Shut up?" Elliot's voice held a tone that could have easily been mistaken for hurt
Crow pushed his M-16 toward the ceiling. "Damned computers!" His eyelids narrowed to dark slits around his blue eyes. "Where are ya?"
The man with Ed's canteen leaned against the wall for support, and then, his knees buckled and he slipped to the floor. Once there, he managed another sip of water. Mera rethreaded her suturing needle and continued to work on Ed's arm but her worried glance watched the weary stranger. "Anyway," Ed resumed after a moment, deciding to let Crow's behavior flow around him as if it didn't matter. "This spider spits stuff ... but, if you shoot them in the eyes they can't find you."
"Sir," Elliot began despite Crow's angry charge. "Might I remind you that discharging of ballistics within the hospital is heavily frowned upon..."
"Ballistics?" Ed muttered to Mera, confused, frowning at Crow.
Crow crab walked his way over the floor to lean against some equipment. "Heh! And who's gonna 'frown'?" He gestured toward Mera with his weapon. "Her? It sure ain't gonna be you!"
"Ballistics, Ed." Elliot responded, as the conversation in the ER crisscrossed over itself. It was his nature to answer questions. "Bullets. Gunfire. That gentleman appears poised to discharge his machine gun within the building."
"That's it! The spider that I cut myself on ... it shot bullets! I was running...and it turned and tried to catch me...I ran into it and cut my arm. So...I kept running and I came here."
"Sir, its just the hospital computer," Mera told him. "Really, it wont harm you."
"You!" Crow muttered. "Like there ever was a 'you.' You believe that, crap?"
"Elliot has never given me reason to think otherwise....I have known him all my life." Her voice was rather matter of fact, though she was slightly shaken by the one bordering on what surely seemed to be insanity.
"It would seem he is annoyed with my talking. Perhaps I should quiet myself." Elliot sounded sullen.
Crow rolled his eyes, looking to the boy. "Another one!" As if he couldn't believe what he heard from the computer, he flashed his eyes upward, searching the ceiling. "Yeah, like I said! Shut up!!"
"Very well sir, if that is your wish. Elliot Enterprises Series 7 engaging monitor mode." With that there was an audible whir and tone and then silence from the overhead speakers.
The man who still held Ed's canteen spoke out in a tired voice. His words seemed to slur and merge together. Mera squinted her eyes as if that would help her sort it out. "Who'reya'llyellinat, anyhow?" He looked about seeming to recognize his surroundings as a hospital.
Mera watched Crow rise from his crouching position and hesitantly edge toward her. She finished suturing Ed's arm and wound his sewn wound around with a strip of fresh gauze. "Try not to get this wet. It should heal up in a week or so, but it will likely be sore for some time after." The other man stood weakly and made his way toward Mera as well. He was in need of a doctor, and she was probably his best bet.
"Okay," Ed said, a slight smile on his lips.
Crow faced the fifteen year old "woman" and demanded, "I need some antiseptic and a syringe." The muscles around his jaw clenched tightly, twitching.
"Hey...my water?" Ed said, pointing to the man who held it. He blinked and nodded, handing it back.
"Thanks," he said. At least that was clear.
Mera didn't like he sound of Crow's voice or his stance and said, perhaps with a trace of defiance. "A syringe ... may I ask what for?"
He stared her down, daring her to get more argumentative with him. "No!" He watched her carefully, as if waiting, his hands tight on the M-16, his eyes following her every move. She rewarded him with a jump as he yelled.
Ed pocketed his canteen and raised his brows at Crow, but said nothing. He'd been in the desert for weeks and appreciated what Mera had done for him, but this man seemed crazy.
"All right. I'll tell you what. Why don't you have a seat up on this bed here, and I will see what I can do?" She tried to keep her voice as soothing as possible.
Words difficult to distinguish came from the dehydrated man's mouth. "'djahaveanyidea as towhatkindof radiation you've got here?" He didn't speak to anyone in particular, but was trying for any information willingly offered on where he was and what he had to face. Through a cracked window, a small dusting of pollen filtered into the room. It settled on some of the exposed surfaces and then, with another breeze, was gone once again.
Crow looked from the boy to the girl to the bed. The computer wasn't talking, that was good, so he nodded and sat. "OK," Mera, watching, said, and gave him a reassuring smile.
The other man sneezed. "Damn eveninthedesert youvegot pollen."
Ed told him, "It's not the desert...it's just dry."
"'snotthe desert? i'veseen more lifein the Sahara."
"So, how did you end up here, Mr. ..." the girl began, waiting expectantly for her "patient" to fill in his name.
Momentarily ignoring Mera, Crow muttered, "You idiot," as he eyed the sneezer and adjusted his position on the bed. Finally he admitted, "The name's Crow."
Considering this a small victory, Mera commented to the other stranger, "Be careful of the pollen in these parts, sir....you'll end up with more than just allergies."
"Whysthat?"
Crow leaned in toward Mera as her attention was focused on the other man. "I'm not crazy, so don't bother with the small talk."
"Yes, Mr. Crow," she responded pleasantly, almost absently, but her mind drifted to her father and she wondered what he might have done in a similar situation. She gathered her thoughts and told the other man, "Elliot would be more than happy to explain it to you, I am sure, sir. There is a terminal just over there." She pointed it out for him. She noted as she did so that Crow's eyes followed her pointing finger, then darted all over the ER, never still, seemingly searching for something.
"It's just dead," Ed said, having to finish the conversation without the other man's help because the latter had moved, albeit slowly, toward the terminal and stared down at the keyboard. Ed sighed.
"I wouldn't touch that thing," Crow matter-of-factly told the heat wearied man who's name was Azreth -though he'd not told it to anyone as yet.
Noting his pause, Mera supplied, "Just type in your question, sir."
Azreth nodded, having figured that part out for himself. The problem was not how to input his question, but rather how to decipher the corrupted form of common scribed on its keycaps. While he worked he asked Crow, "Whyzethat?"
"Cause they get into your mind."
"What is dead, Ed?" Mera asked, finally.
"This place," he said. Mera nodded to Ed, knowing what he meant by that. "We have people. We have city-states..." he trailed off.
"Perhaps it wont always be." She tried to be reassuring but Crow laughed dryly.
"Yeah, right ... I only wish," Ed finished.
"It won't be," Crow told Mera flatly. She looked sadly toward Crow.
Azreth asked, "Yeah? Think it can get rid of some radiation poisoning?"
"I'm afraid no one can do much for that..."
Crow's face lit with a sudden, self-satisfied, secretive smirk. "Yeah...you're right." To Azreth he said, "Better off to die than to kiss his feet."
With that, Azreth began a conversation with Elliot via the keys. Hey, where is this hell hole? He listened to the audible whir which was followed by a tone over the overhead speakers.
Where is this place? The computer queried back, trying to define the parameters of the question. Azreth's fingers flew over the keys. That's what I asked you. A window opened on the screen as Azreth watched. The image in the window zoomed in to an overhead view of the city of New Rydynn then zoomed out and away from the city. From there it flashed onto the planet Sabatt itself.
Tired of typing and aware the device was equipped with voice recognition, Azreth told Elliot, "Gooutfarther." The screen began flashing from the solar group, out to the galaxy in general. After that a series of galactic star charts plotted the location of the Oponn/Lurudd binary star system in relation to others in the local group.
Quietly, stricken, the man murmured, " ... by the fallen gods ..." then dropped to his knees. "What have I done to deserve this?" His voice was slower; the agitation and despair in it was almost palatable.
The galaxy at large is depicted on screen, sir. Do you wish to zoom out further? Elliot asked silently.
"... no,'sok,irecognize it."
"I think what bit me is from a different place...or something." Ed said it as if the quiet, antiseptic atmosphere of the hospital didn't suit him anymore. "It's not like the animals in the desert...in the place where the water is lifeless."
"Where were you when it bit you?" Mera's chestnut eyes darted to Ed for a moment.
Crow continued to look around. He poked at the sheets hanging over the cot with his gun butt.
Ed shrugged. "Out in the desert ... a few miles...deadzone. These things patrol the place...roam in groups of one or two...but suddenly multiply. About the size of a small building."
Mera shivered. "The deadzone ... no wonder. I have heard that the radiation was especially severe there who knows what is out there now."
"No," Ed disagreed, knowledgeable about what was out there even if he didn't know that animals were called fauna. "The deadzone has no radiation. It's just...dead. The thing is...if the radiation didn't kill the animals, it must have been those spiders. But, there's no radiation...because the water's green. If the water's green with bugs, then the water's drinkable...the radiation hasn't killed the bugs."
Mera didn't quite know what to say to that. Crow seemed to be getting even more restless and so she let her chestnut gaze drift up towards him. "Now, what did you need that syringe for?"
Crow made a lunge of his arm and grabbed the girls waist. A wry smile flitted across his lips "Jes' give it to me, hon. An' I won' hurt ya."
Watching for lack of anything else to do, Ed frowned slightly and his eyes narrowed when Crow grabbed Mera, but he didn't move.
She nodded quickly ... her breath catching for an instant. Mera pried herself from his grip, her fingers nervously rummaging through a drawer and clasping about one of the clean syringes. A stretch of parched lips, a hand shaking slightly, she gave the man the syringe still in its sterile wrapping.
Crow snapped the wrapped syringe from her fingers. "Thank you kindly, ma'am!" He was almost gleeful as he hopped from the cot and made his way to a corner.
Willing herself to calm down, she slowly caught her breath. She mustn't let them get the best of her ... that was something her father had always told her. She could handle this, she would handle this. She was part of the Union of Medics.
Azreth, took a breath. There was too much to get lost in and he needed his wits about him as exhausted as he was. "Heh," he commented almost idly to Elliot. " ... how many others can say they've made 23 light years in an instant?"
The computer's voice seemed cheerful as it echoed off the ER tiles. "Mind you, sir, these charts are somewhat dated. There has not been a data update to them in 50 years. Yet, relative positioning of stars being what they are, they are accurate enough."
"Heh, thestarsdon'tchange awholelot... you'dthinkthey'dhaveanalgorhythm inyouto calc the changes."
"I can estimate galactic positioning relative to what data I do have if you wish, sir."
"Look, I may be sick and weak, but I'm still good at math... I know where I am... I familzraizedmyself with the starcharts beforeicast that damnspell incaseimissedmy destination I'm 23 light-years from home, and a lotclosertohell. "
"Closer to hell? Interesting. I must cross-ref the Syrynykkian lore on that concept."
"Si-ri-ni-ki-an?" Azreth asked. "Whuzzat?"
"Syrynykk -- native life-form to the planet Sabatt. Large reptilian bipeds organized in a generally tribal society."
He grunted. "So, um, haveanything on thelocalhistory?"
"Local history in relation to what aspect? City? Nation? Continent?"
"Have a memflash of it all? I'vealreadygot a headache, it can'tgetmuch worse." In response, Elliot whirred and clicked a bit. Azreth waited wearily for his answer.
Meanwhile, still watching Crow, Ed turned to Mera and quietly asked, "Why wouldn't you give him the syringe earlier?"
"Because," she said, as quietly, hoping not to attract Crow's attention. "Its ... not hospital policy." And if anything goes wrong, I'm responsible, she added silently to herself.
The both saw Crow flip open a Velcro flap on his cami fatigues and pull out a vial. He skillfully ripped off the wrapping of the syringe with his teeth. Clearly he'd done this many times before. Mera shivered and swallowed at the sight. The wrapping to the syringe crackled as it dropped to the floor. As he plunged the needle into the vial, the rubber stopper collapsed slightly under his thrust. He drew up the amber content of the vial into the body of the syringe.
Mera tried to look away, cleaning up the wrappers and used gauze from sewing up Ed's wound. But Crow saw her, knew what she was about and his eyes bored into her shoulder even as his lips curled back from his strangely white teeth. "Wanna watch?" he said and leaned against the wall. His eyes were on her as he held the syringe needle up like an arrow. Crow pushed the plunger up slightly, ironically removing air bubbles for safety's sake. The amber liquid spurted up and he caught it on his tongue with a wicked cackle.
The young woman shivered and turned from him with an air of being far too busy, determined not to watch at all. She made her way toward Azreth at the computer console and asked, "Did you find what you were looking for, sir?"
At nearly the same moment, Elliot informed him, "If you wish a series of flash memory implants, that can be arranged, sir."
"That'd be good," he told the supercomputer. A few more whirs of an active drive followed. Azreth blinked, as if just hearing Mera's question. "Sorta," he said. "I need some mild tranqs and a treatment for radiation."
"Sir, the flash memory implants are ready at the replication unit behind you. I would advise seeking medical assistance in having them installed."
He turned around, moved to the replicator and took the implants. He offered what was very nearly a smirk to the terminal as though it were Elliot's face. "'s good advice."
"I can offer you some mild pain killers sir, but the tranquilizers and such must be prescribed by one of the doctors," Mera told him.
He groaned. "Whenwilli see one ofthem?"
At that moment, Crow extended his arm and inserted the needle, slowly forcing the plunger. The bulge of the vein pulsed within his arm and his muscle jerked in spasm at the intrusion. Mera heard the sound of pleasure he made and her eyes darted toward him. She winced as she saw what he did and turned her head away again quickly. Ash would have opportunity for a grand lecture when she found out what Mera had done. Azreth's eyes followed where she'd looked. He saw Crow jerk the needle from his arm. He saw Crow's hand tremble as the syringe dropped to the floor and rolled a few feet away. The junkie's body was shaken by convulsive spasms for a few moments as he leaned into the wall for support.
"Stupidjunkies," Azreth murmured as Crow sank along the wall, his knees bending up toward his chest.
The voice of the computer sounded out then, "Sir, someone addicted to a form of drug is not necessarily stupid."
The man far from home let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah 'fiwereinthishell forahile i'dbeajunkie too."
Crow slammed his hands to cover his ears and yelled at Elliot. "Shut up! Shut up!" Managing to stand, his breath rasping in and out of his lungs, he caressed the bolt of his weapon. His icy eyes darted to Azreth. "And you.. you are in this hell hole, you vine climbing fungus! We all are."
"As you wish, Crow." And the computer once again fell into silent monitor mode.
His voice dry, resolute, and measured, Azreth told Crow. "I noticed."
With a soft sigh, Mera turned her attention to Ed once again, having missed Azreth's question about the doctors. "Do you need anything for pain, sir?"
"Nah, I don't like tranquilizers ... make me swooshy." Ed shrugged absently and reached for his canteen. He uncapped it with some difficulty, his arm aching some and lapped up the few remaining sips. He capped it then and put it away again.
"Whenwill a doctorbehere?" Azreth asked again.
"Ash, is out on a mission at the moment, she should be here soon, I think Unless she runs into trouble." Everyone knew what she meant.
"'k. Canyou put these in?" Azreth opened his hand and in his palm lay the flash mem implants. She swallowed and nodded. She'd been taught the procedure, a simple one really, but she hoped she remembered how. "Good where'dyouwant todoit?"
As he moved closer to Ed, Crow heard him the kid say, "Vine climbing?"
Crow's head jerked slightly. "Yeah! What's it to you?"
"Why did you say 'Vine Climbing?'"
Distrustful, his eyes narrowing, Crow demanded. "Why do you care?"
Ed shrugged his characteristic shrug. "Just curious."
"Wouldn't be too curious about 'vines', if I was you."
"Why...I haven't seen many..."
Crow raised his arms and the M-16 swung wildly over his shoulder. The fingers of his hands twisted a choke hold for emphasis. "They wring you out and hang you up ta dry!"
"The vines do?"
Crow laughed deliberately and pulled out a brown stub of something from a pocket. He didn't answer the kid as he shoved the stub in his mouth.
"You have to sit in this chair," Mera told Azreth. "Over here." She moved towards a rather impressive looking piece of equipment, even if it seemed like it had seen better times. Azreth made his way to it and sat in the chair. Mera placed the restraints upon his wrists and ankles, then entered a sequence into the attached keyboard. He sighed as the chair reclined back slowly it's mechanized movements lacking the smoothness of it's younger days.
Crow's attention was caught by the girl's manipulations of the chair. "Hehehe. He's gonna be 'one' with the keyboard for sure right now," he chortled, then muttered softly, "God, I wish I had a light."
A quiet whirring noise was lost beneath the movement of the implant chair and a pack of matches were spit from the replicator on the table in the rear of the ER. "Heh!" Crow said, snapping them up. He noted that Ed looked at the replicator as if he'd never seen one before. Crow smirked. As for Elliot, Crow had no problem with accepting things from the computer as long as it kept it's mouth shut. He struck the head of a match from the pack and held it to the cigar butt, watching the girl and her dupe.
With care, the girl placed the chips into the delivery device in the arm-like mechanism and lifted it to the back of Azreth's head. She locked it in place, then leaned over to look at him. Giving him an encouraging smile, she said, "Ready?"
"Yeahsurereadyasever."
She entered a final sequence into the computer. "Elliot, begin memory implantation process."
"As you wish, Meralynn."
Puffing the butt to life, Crow sighed and a rise of bluish smoke moved tendril like around his head. "Heh ... seen it happen before. They never know what hit's em."
There was a series of LED flashes on some of the system monitors as the flash mem implants were installed and fused into Azreth's synapses. Brain surgery made simple. "Installation complete," Elliot announced calmly.
"Thank you, Elliot," she smiled at the computer, giving him the same courtesy she would to any other being.
Crow laughed and gyrated his fanny. "Whiz! Bam! Boom! The scare crow gets a brain!"
"Um ...what are you talking about?" Ed said to Crow, leaning back on the exam bed where Meralynn had fixed him up.
The man shrugged in answer, chuckling at his own humor. "Not a thing!" He blew smoke Ed's way.
Waving the smoke away, Ed said, "I didn't think so. Maybe you should lay off of the painkillers..."
Azreth groaned. "So, Meralynn, is it?" He'd realized with the aid of the implants, that between the slurring and double consonants, their speech proceeded at an almost idyllic pace.
"Yes, that's right. Its Meralynn ... Meralynn Harperr, Mr.....?"
"Oh, Azreth, sorry for being so rude. Gonna unstrap me?" Azreth asked and Meralynn's fingers slowly unfastened the restraints so that she could help him out of the chair.
"Mr., Azreth, a pleasure to meet you."
He smiled wanly. "So, um, thanks. I'm guessing you don't have hotels around here, wot?"
"Oh, there are hotels of a sort, but, they are quite expensive......because of the entertainment they offer." A blush rose to her cheeks. It was not a subject she was comfortable with. Ed wondered about that. He knew he had currency, but he didn't want to make anyone aware of that, so he didn't ask.
"Eh, OK." He nodded understanding.
"There are also the remains of a few hotels in the city at large, sir." Elliot offered. "Some are still in operation, to a degree... as noted by Meralynn."
Crow gestured to Ed, with a grin and a low comment, "Watch this..." He walked over to Azreth, stroking his gun. "Hey, son, ya like guns?"
Azreth's hand closed loosely on the energy pistol in his trench coat, its snub barrel was lined up nicely with Crow's head. "They're OK. Why do you ask?" Under his breath he muttered something about phallic symbols.
"Yeah, I like mine!" Crow snorted.
"I can tell, you seem to stroke and fondle it quite a bit."
Crow got right up in Azreth's face as he sat. "It keeps me comp'ny."
Clearly Azreth didn't appreciate the closure of distance, but he didn't back down. "The nice things about keeping your company with guns is they don't care about breath mints."
"Yeah, an' they don't complain much, either. Ya know where that computer is now, don't ya?" Crow indicated the back of Azreth's head, then spit out the but of his cigar. Meralynn darted a look at him, disapproving, but Crow was occupied.
"I just got here." Azreth told him. "All I know is that terminal over there. Be careful," he said then. "They can get ruined if you go overboard." He smirked and slipped out from under Crow.
"Heh!" Crow rounded the man and looked over the Elliott keyboard, like a man observing a hated, dangerous insect. A dirty manicure on a dirty hand slid over the smooth surfaces of Elliot's hardware. "I'm gonna find you and eat your guts..." he whispered, leaning in to kiss the keyboard tenderly.
"Is there anywhere I could stay?" Azreth said, resuming his discussion with Mera. "I don't need entertainment, just a place to sleep."
The girl made her way over to the old receptionists counter and took out a rather large, heavy tome. "Well ... since you are in need of further treatment for radiation, I might be able to scrounge up something."
"'k. …think I'm gonna pass about about now, so I'm gonna go and find a bench or something."
"There is a couch in the waiting room," she told him.
He nodded. "Send someone out when you've got a chance." He moved off to the waiting room, collapsing onto the couch. "... oh blissful sleep, don't escape me now ..."
"Elliott?"
"Yes Ed?"
Ed smiled, somewhat glad the computer remembered his name. "What do you know about the effects of stims on the huumunn body?"
Crow hovered over the keyboard and plied a thumb nail under the "J" key. He flipped it off and caught it in his palm.
"Generally speaking, Ed, they lead to a state of heightened awareness accompanied by an increased heart rate."
"And how about tranquilizers?"
"Some possible side-effects including bouts of paranoia. Tranquilizers, on the other hand, have the opposite effect. A general slowing of physiological processes in the huumunn body.
Ed nodded slowly as if he understood, then said, "What's paranoia?"
The "J" key vanished into Crow's mouth. He sucked it against the tip of his tongue.
"Paranoia -- the state of mind where the given individual feels that all around him are out to do him harm."
Ed nodded again. "Oh," he muttered. "That sounds about right."
Mera turned curiously towards Crow, to see what he was up to. Crow flicked his tongue out at her, the "J" key decorating the tip. She frowned her disapproval, but otherwise remained silent.
In the only way he could, Ed intervened. "What kind of gun is that?"
Paying attention to Mera, Crow answered the question he peripherally heard from the boy with a very nonchalant tone. "It's an M-16." Mera lowered her face into the big book which had belonged to her father. She was nervous at all the talk of guns and tried to hide that and her displeasure with Crow in the pages before her. Every so often she dared to raise her chestnut eyes to make sure there was no danger that Crow or Ed would suddenly get carried away.
"Where did you get it? It looks...well...different."
Crow spit the "J" key into his hand, and pocketed it. "From my dad." He ran his fingers over the bolt, this time with near reverence in his face.
Ed smiled. "Oh, that's nice," he said. He searched for something else to talk about and sighed, finding nothing of interest. He didn't want to leave the clean and comfortable hospital. The desert without was an in hospitable place to be.
"Damned idiotic kid," Crow muttered to himself, distracted at last by his weapon, thoughts of his father and whether or not he needed to reload. Unfelt, dark red ooze seeped out through the fatigues in the vicinity of his right thigh.
Outside, random gunfire could be heard in the streets. Meralynn cringed at the sound, as she always had and Ed slipped off the bed. "I guess that's my cue."
"Legion of Freemen detachment engaging a Church patrol, Ed." Meralynn's fingers slowly wrapped about a pencil as Elliot mentioned the Church. Her knuckles turned nearly white before she slowly released that grip. "Sensors indicate they are moving away from the city limits rapidly."
"Why would they be leaving? Did they kill them?
"No fatalities monitored. Church patrol moving out of sensor range."
Crow retrieved his reflective cube and tossed it to the ground. The silver fabric expanded into a heap. Meralynn let out a sigh at Elliot's pronouncement and looked up. She noted the reddish stain that grew upon the fabric of Crow's leg just as it vanished beneath the metallic coverall he stepped into and drew up over his body. Fastening it at the waist, he slung the M-16 out of the way so that he could slip each arm into place.
"Appears to have simply been a recon patrol," Elliot said matter-of-factly. "Freemen have stopped pursuit."
"I suppose that is a good thing." Ed fastened the strap of his weapon, and straightened up. He scratched his chin. "Good evening, Elliott and Miss Harperr ...and you Mr. Crow. I'll see you all later."
She nodded to the young man. "Until next time Ed. And please ... be more careful!"
"Don't worry ... I always live."
"Good evening, Ed. I would still like a full discourse on your encounter with the creature for the database when you have time."
"Well...I could tell you now." Ed seemed relieved to have a reason to stay and hopped back on the exam bed. He removed the Longshot rifle and got comfortable.
Crow on the other hand held onto his M-16 and popped a cartridge out of the bolt. "Hey!" The sharp line of his jaw jutted out to the girl. Mera's eyes darted toward him, but she didn't betray fear or worry, though both emotions flickered around the periphery of her thoughts. The long, slow motion of his arm threw the cartridge to her in a smooth arc. "So you won't forget me!"
She caught it, its weight heavy in her hands, and she nodded to Crow. "Be well, sir. Take care."
He turned in his booted feet and headed cautiously out into the rubble.
Elliot had been silent a moment, but with the departure of Crow, engaged Ed once again. "If you desire to, Ed. I am seeking to categorize this encountered life form for future reference."
"Okay...well...you ready?"
"Elliot Enterprises Series 7 now engaging recording mode." Mera slowly made her way out from behind the desk. Ed seemed a lot less threatening than Crow and she could relax a bit. She eased her way to the door frame of the haphazardly curtained exam areas and leaned against it as she listened.
"Well...I was traveling on foot as usual. These spider-things travel in the same basic area back and forth. I stumbled across one...usually they're easy to distract. I crouched down low against the ground...up high on the edge of a canyon.
"I steadied my gun...got a good bead on the thing...and fired through its eye. It was still alive, but instead of looking towards me, it started...um..." he snapped his fingers vainly. "Kind of...well, shooting at me! Like I said before, it shot bullets...spiders don't shoot bullets. So, I ran...it couldn't track me, so I ran right towards it. I guess it knew where I was some other way. So, when I was running, it turned suddenly on its four legs... I ran into it with my shoulder on accident...cut my arm. It stood there and didn't know where I was...so I snuck away."
"Sounds like you were lucky," Meralynn said.
Ed shrugged. "I guess I am."
"It made no attempt to pursue you, Ed?"
"No...it knew I bumped into it...so it tried to stomp on me...but it reacted really slow. By the time its foot came back down, I was climbing up the other side of the canyon. It just let me go...like it was a guard or something...maybe its nest was there."
"Curious as well as interesting. This entity almost sounds... robotic in nature. We may wish to investigate this entity further in the future."
"Robotic? What's robotic mean?"
"Robotic, Ed, meaning that is is a machine ... not unlike myself to a degree."
"Oh...like metal? I guess. It could be metal...but it wasn't shiny. It was brown...like dirt."
"Precisely. It might be some hybrid alloy construction, but then again it could yet be a life-form. Difficult to say at this juncture without further information."
Mera thought this was very interesting and said so.
"Okay...I guess I better go find a place to hang out." He'd finally told his tale and there wasn't much more of a reason to linger.
Mera smiled gently. "Remember what I said about the stitches. Don't get them wet. They'll have to be removed in about a week or so."
"Okay...I'll come back for a check up in a week..."
Elliot's voice bounced off the tiled floors as he wished Ed safe travels. "You too, Elliott," Ed said, "and you Miss Harperr."
"Meralynn," she said. They weren't that far apart in ages after all.
Ed smiled, "Meralynn." He grabbed his rifle and headed for the ER doors. "Bye now."
As simply as that he was gone back into the arid New Rydynn twilight. "You take care," Meralynn said to the quiet air.