Jack didn’t have a chance to answer before Stephen slumped to the floor of the cage. Jack sighed into his mask and nearly made the mistake of removing it. Instead, he kept the mask on and strode over to the lever to release and reset the cage. He saw no marking on this lever, but its position led Jack to believe that it would disengage the metal walls confining Stephen.
He was right, but hadn’t expected the force with which the cage would disengage. One of the panels crashed down on Jack’s foot and numbing pain shot up his leg. Jack staggered back, once again reaching for the mask, but stopped himself before he removed it. He hunched over looking at his shoe. The way his left foot felt, he wouldn’t have been surprised to find half of it amputated by the crashing cage, but there it sat, looking normal.
Jack looked up at the dissipating cloud and waited for his foot to stop throbbing enough for him to continue. Unshouldering his pack, he unzipped the big compartment and dug to the bottom. He found several tie-wraps, a roll of tape, and a bandanna. He considered his next moves: roll Stephen over to bind his hands, gag him, and blindfold him.
Stephen had slumped against the wall with his head turned away from Jack. Just then something occurred to Jack: he should have checked on Stephen immediately. Stephen might be asphyxiating, or already dead from the gas.
Jack limped over to Stephen and nearly entrapped himself before he remembered the cage. The trigger for the cage wasn’t obvious, but it had something to do with putting weight near the base of the pole. Jack noted the missed detail as he realized that he didn't have a good plan for getting Stephen out of the cage area without getting imprisoned himself.
Jack slowed his thoughts, emptying his head so he could consider the problem from the designer’s perspective. A good trap must have a way to extract the victim with no danger to the predator. He looked around the room, but saw no other controls.
Jack returned to the cage lever to give it a second look. Pulling it again, he discovered a feature he missed the first time: after pulling it down, you could lock it to the side. Jack smiled — that must be the way to lock-out the trigger, he thought.
With this small victory, Jack limped back to Stephen, confident the cage wouldn’t engage. He rolled Stephen over and grabbed his wrist. He felt a strong pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief, removed Stephen’s backpack, and arranged Stephen’s limbs so he could pull him away from the wall. Jack found it difficult to work with the gas mask on, so he moved quickly to immobilize Stephen.
Pulling Stephen’s wrists behind his back, Jack used his tie-wraps as handcuffs. Next, he put tape over Stephen’s mouth and tied a blind-fold across his eyes. Jack finished with several loops of tape around Stephen’s legs. Jack didn't secure Stephen's legs tight, but wound the tape around several times.
Jack heard a distant electronic beep, just once, and couldn’t pinpoint its origin. He stood straight up, his ears tingling. Jack took several deep breaths and then returned to his mental checklist. Stephen was ready. Now he needed to take Stephen’s limp body to the examination room.
Jack rolled Stephen onto his back, and checked Stephen's breathing. Jack limped over to the door. While searching the hotel on Sunday night, Jack had established a fairly detailed mental map of this part of the hotel — he knew that down the hall, on the left, he would find a closet which held several jugs of liquid and a big dolly.
He returned to the pole room, pushing the dolly ahead of him, and leaning on it to take the weight off his throbbing foot. Stephen still appeared unconscious. Jack checked Stephen’s pulse again — still normal — and rolled him on his side. Tipping over the dolly, Jack slid it up the length of Stephen’s body and inserted it between Stephen’s cuffed hands and his limp torso.
Jack had tethered Stephen to the dolly with Stephen's arms braced against the handle. Jack used more tie-wraps to attach Stephen’s ankles to the upright bars.
Admiring his planning and execution, Jack returned to the top of the dolly so he could lift Stephen into a standing position. The body slipped down more than Jack anticipated, and he considered using the tape to secure more points, but he wanted to avoid cutting off Stephen’s circulation.
Stephen began to stir and solved Jack’s problem. As he regained consciousness, Stephen stiffened and Jack could raise him vertical. Stephen thrashed at first, but stopped as pain from his pinned arms registered. The more Stephen moved, the more his arms would wrench painfully upward.
Jack tilted the dolly and backed towards the doorway. Stephen swung his head around, trying to get a look past the blindfold, and yelled into the tape, producing a low muffled sound.
“Shhh,” said Jack. “It will be over soon.” Jack's voice sounded muffled by the gas mask. Jack had to pause to pick up their packs and almost dumped Stephen on his back, but regained control moments later. Once in the hallway, Jack turned on his flashlight and closed the door to the pole room. Gas from the room might have leaked into the hall, so he pushed Stephen several feet before removing his gas mask.
When he reached the light switch in the hall, Jack braced the dolly against his shoulder so he could flick it on. Bright light washed the hall — it looked almost as bright as the white room. Nearly the entire ceiling was populated with fluorescent bulbs. Stephen thrashed a bit at the change in lighting and swayed from side-to-side.
Getting in rhythm with the instability of the dolly, Stephen started to rock it back and forth. It was all Jack could do to keep it upright.
“Listen, buddy,” Jack whispered into Stephen’s ear, “if you fall over, I’m going to drug you again. I don’t know all that much about anesthesia, but I’m pretty sure that it’s touch-and-go when you get your second dose in a short period of time. So, if you want to play that lottery, I can re-dose you. By all means, keep trying to tip over.”
Stephen stopped thrashing to listen to Jack, and didn’t start again. Tilting him back, Jack continued down the hall to what he had dubbed “The Exam Room.”
He rolled Stephen past the door and turned the handle, pushing it open with his right hand. Glancing around at the cold, white tile inside, Jack backed Stephen into the room.
The bright lights in the examination room reflected off the shiny tiled floor and tiled walls. Jack figured he could spray this room with a fire hose and do no damage; it was built for easy cleanup. The center of the room featured a large circular drain. Next to that, sat the examination chair.
Jack scanned the room, taking it all in. He had seen this room a few times now, but hadn’t really studied it. It had seemed inappropriate without bringing his own victim. But now, Stephen would help him achieve that. Jack stood the dolly up near the chair and then thought better of it. He pushed the axle away and lowered Stephen to the floor so he wouldn’t tip himself over.
Eyes wide open and roaming, he walked a slow lap around the room. A freestanding bathtub with a host of stains scarred into the enamel graced one wall. Along the back, a set of cabinets held mysteries. Two sinks with gooseneck faucets were set in the counter. On the next wall, a rolling cart held a strange device mounted on an articulated arm. Thick power cables ran back to the wall and plugged into a large circular outlet.
Stephen kicked and yelled muffled complaints against his tape.
“I’m right here,” said Jack. “Settle down.”
Jack heard the same beep again. This time it came from behind him and he spun around, but couldn’t see anything unusual. It sounded like it had come from above, but the only thing above him was a drop-ceiling of tiles, poked with random holes.
Raising his voice, Jack said, “What are you waiting for? I’m here. I brought you your gift, Baal.”