Chapter 39

When I finally came to, I was in a bed in a strange room. I looked around groggily, wondering what was wrong with this setting – and with me, for that matter. I felt like I had been beaten with rubber hoses for a solid week. My entire body was intensely sore, although nothing actually felt broken. My flesh felt like it had been cooked, or suffered from a bad sunburn. I was also incredibly hungry.

Had I been captured by the Zaibatsu? Was this starvation part of my punishment, along with the beatings? Was there really a fog on the ceiling, or was that just my vision getting worse under the torture?

It was all too tiring to think about now. What I needed was some sleep. And maybe a little food. Boy, those were both good idezzzzzzzzzz.

Now they were trying to poison me. I could feel them forcing the hemlock brew between my lips as I tried to resist. I wasn’t sure I was up to the task, and almost gagged on the effort.

“I think he’s waking up!”

“Now, don’t get too excited, Katherine. He has had these eye flickerings before, you know.”

I looked straight into Aimee’s eyes. Boy, they looked big.

“Solomon!”

“No, I’m not Solomon. I’m Barney,” I meant to say. But I think what came out was, “Unnnhh.”

Then my eyes went to her. She was still holding a spoon in her hand, poised between doubt and desire. God, she looked beautiful!

“Kath...” I croaked.

“Barney!” Katherine cried out. She slopped soup all over me as she threw the spoon down and went to embrace me. I guess she thought better of it, because she suddenly became very careful about how she touched me. She sort of wrapped her arms around me as widely as she could, without applying any pressure. It still felt like an enormous weight on my chest.

Solomon rushed into the room. The joy on his face almost brought another tear to my eyes, to join those seeing Katherine had caused.

“Great ghosts of Einstein and Planck! The mighty hero lives on!”

I wondered what the hell he was talking about. Then I thought of something more important.

“Could ... I please have some more soup?” I managed to exhale.

Solomon laughed. Katherine leapt to retrieve the spoon, wipe it on the napkin laying on my chest, and dip another spoonful of soup from the bowl sitting on a tray nearby. Aimee just stood there smiling at me.

The only sound for at least the next ten minutes was me slurping away at the soup. It was delicious ... at least, it seemed that way to me now. I barely thought at all as I ate the rest of the bowl.

Then I looked around, almost anxiously. It had to be all right.

“Are we ... safe?” I managed to say in a slightly stronger voice.

Solomon smiled broadly. The women continued to glow at me.

“Yes, we are. Thankfully, we are all safe, Barney. And soon all well, we hope.”

That was enough for now. I drifted back off to sleep.

“So, how did I get out of there?”

I felt much stronger now. I had progressed to solid foods, although I was thankful for the chicken broth that had sustained me for the past three days.

“We helped you back to the supply room,” Aimee explained.

“You mean you two carried me,” I said guiltily.

“It was a pleasure,” Katherine smiled, even more brightly than before.

I simply smiled back, accepting her at her word. I was certain as to the facts of the matter.

“The ladies helped you fall onto the TDM,” Solomon confirmed, “and we teleported out just as the SF officers burst into the room, photon guns blazing. I felt like I was in a bad sequel to a previously bad movie about your era, dear ancestor.”

“God, I hate it when you talk to me like that,” I husked.

“You mean my reference to the bad entertainment of your age, or to your actual age?”

Both of the ladies laughed appreciatively. I gave a grin of approval at his progress in the art of humor. Then a serious thought occurred to me.

“But what happened when you touched the suit? I mean, it was covered with caustic chemicals, potent nerve gases, and Hayyan knows what else.”

Aimee laughed, obviously more in relief than out of amusement.

“We were more in danger of burns than of toxic infection,” she told me. “I knew the intense heat of that blaze would have taken care of any residual gases. Remarkably, the fire negated the effects of the various toxic chemicals, ultimately saving your life. Naturally, it also protected us from being damaged from the toxic effects.”

“You mean they accidentally saved us all?” I asked incredulously.

“They undoubtedly did you a great favor by trying to fry you alive,” she said, perfectly seriously.

“Thank Ganesha for small favors,” I said fervently.

“However,” Katherine added sadly, “the chemicals had naturally seeped in somewhat, causing some temporary neurological damage and muscular fatigue. That ancient suit had never been intended for such an intense assault on its resistance.”

“Are you trying to give me an excuse for being so dense?”

“Barney,” she warned.

“Okay, I’ll be serious,” I agreed. For the moment. “So how come we’ve been able to stay in one place for so long? I thought we’d be on the lam for weeks.”

“It seems, as Robert predicted, the Zaibatsu have greater problems to deal with than looking for us,” Solomon said dryly. “As you know, the ladies dragged you back to the storage room. It was almost a repeat of our last visit, in that the SF arrived just as I was about to jump. The first forty hours after that, they chased us pretty hard. Their TDM is now almost the equal of mine, and they’ve really refined that black hole detector. I had to resort to a maneuver I had thought would be impossible, but fortunately it worked.”

“What was that?”

“We had to move the TDM physically to another location while I sent the two hand-held versions off as decoys.”

“Did you manage to lift it yourself, or did Teknos help?”

Solomon just smiled, although both of the ladies did manage a small chuckle.

“That’s why I didn’t think it would work. I actually teleported into an old museum no one visits any more. It holds ancient vehicles, such as cars and trucks. We landed on the back of an old flat-bed truck. I sent the two decoys off, then I actually drove the thing through doors Teknos had opened, and into an open area a few kilometers away.”

“Is that as far as you could get? You must have as hard a time finding a reasonably priced gas station as we did in my era.”

“Yes, that was part of the problem. I had only managed to produce one liter of gasoline, as we don’t use petroleum products. We waited until I was sure the SF had landed in the museum and followed the decoys. Then we jumped to this location. I’m sorry, but we had no choice but to lug you along the entire time. That probably contributed to your depleted condition before we could actually begin nursing you.”

I waved his apology away. Being alive, albeit very weak, sure beat the alternative.

“So that’s how you outran another TDM; by using a two-hundred year old pickup truck?”

“Yes, it is a bit ironic. Actually, I’m still not certain if we lost them or if they quit looking for us. At about that same Time, we learned the computers were beginning to react to the virus. In the past few days, the system has become so chaotic panic has already set in. No doubt the Zaibatsu are using all of their resources to try to fix the problem. That includes the SF officers, who have actually had to quell protests and some near-riot situations.”

At that moment, Teknos and Wafer quietly entered the room. Just when I thought it was getting awfully crowded and couldn’t hold many more, Robert and Geta wandered in.

We did the obligatory hellos and good-to-see-you routine, and pressed the flesh as well as my limited condition and space in the room allowed. Actually, it felt wonderful to see everyone had made it through hale and hearty. Except of me, of course.

“I thought you two would be back with your extended family by now,” I said to Robert.

“We would have liked to rejoin them, but were afraid they would track the TDM’s traces to the drop off point. We were sure they’d dispatch at least one troop of SF officers to hunt for the clan,” Robert explained. “However, Solomon was just starting to program the TDM to take us back, so we were getting our stuff ready. When we heard Sleeping Ugly had decided to wake up, we hurried on over here.”

“Well, gosh, thanks. I guess.”

“I was just telling Barney the situation outside is deteriorating rapidly,” Solomon said.

Robert nodded unhappily. “Yes. Unfortunately, maybe a little too fast. I think it’s creating a more dangerous atmosphere than if we had let it develop more slowly. However, I do believe it may give your Revos group more bargaining power with the Zaibatsu. They’re really getting a strong reaction from the masses, which probably surprises them. They’re definitely not ready to handle such a massive uprising. You may be able to move in a lot faster with the solution than you had thought, and on more of the terms you’d like.”