"What is this? Is this some kind of sermon? I know good and well that this technology shouldn't fall into the wrong hands—Hell, that's why most of it was classified. But I also know that I do want the United States to have this technology and I don't feel bad about being able to ensure the safety of Americans from tyrants by inventing a better and more destructive mousetrap. I only feel bad about the way I was forced to test it and about the horrible loss of life of my own countrymen that I caused. I'm not a warmonger. I was merely trying to develop a way to go to the stars so that the human race might have a chance at growing up. And anyway, Al, you helped get the bomb built that saved us all from World War Three."
"Very good, Anson-—" Einstein started.
"Stop interrupting me," I shouted. "I didn't ask to be put into that life-or-death situation. Johnny Cache and his employers put us there. They killed my countrymen not me! I was a pawn! But, Tabitha and I stopped the bastards! So there! I think I'm done with you and your philosophical and utopian views." I paused for air. I noticed Einstein was smiling back at me. I was getting angry and my adrenaline was starting to flow—If I were Bruce Banner, I'd have turned green and started smashing shit about then.
"Very good, Anson. I don't believe that you need me anymore either. You will do just fine." Instead of turning into a purple emu and flying away this time, he slid down the helmet of his EMU and locked it into place; EMU not emu this time. "Just fine," he said as he opened my closet door. "Perhaps you will be able to sleep now."
Funny that the whole time he was sitting there talking to me, I didn't notice that he was wearing a spacesuit. Somehow, it just seemed right. He was wearing an EMU, not becoming an emu. My mind was trying to tell me something but I wasn't sure what.
"Hey wait!" I shouted to him. "You aren't here and this ain't real is it?"
"Of course I'm real, Anson," he paused at the closet door. "I'm as real as your subconscious and I'm as real as your need to be humble. You did all of this amazing science and engineering and will not admit that to yourself. Perhaps you created me in your dreams to tell you what you wouldn't tell yourself. But you will not be needing me any longer, I think."
Then he stepped into the airlock in my closet and exited out into space. A gush of air hit me in the face as the airlock cycled. He was gone.
Then the lights blinked off, then on, and then off and on again. I cold hear a loud repetitive noise and then something hit me hard in the chest. It felt like a truck.
"Dr. Clemons, can you hear me?" A fourth man that I had never met was looking down at me.
"I have a pulse!" I could hear in the background.
"The epinephrine is working. How much farther to the hospital?" he asked.
"Pilot says four minutes."
"It'd better be two!" the man replied. Then he turned from me to Tabitha, "What's his blood type?"
"O-positive." She said.
I tried to say thanks to them but I still couldn't move or speak for some reason. The head medic turned back to me.
"Dr. Clemons if you can hear me I want you to blink your eyes." He said.
I blinked at him twice.
"Oh Anson!" Tabitha continued to cry.
Then I started feeling slightly better. Probably the adrenaline or whatever this was in my arm. I noticed an I.V. hanging from the roof of the helicopter and I felt like I would be able to speak so I tried. Nothing happened.
"Don't try to speak, Anson!" Tabitha shouted.
"Dr. Clemons you have a tube in your throat. Don't try to speak. Do you understand? If so blink twice."
I blinked twice. Then I started feeling weak again. The adrenaline probably wouldn't hold me for long. I was here though and I was damned sure going to stay, no matter how much it hurt or how hard it was to stay awake. Besides, there were a lot of things left for me to do. Tabitha squeezed my hand. The feeling had returned to my fingers. It wasn't very long before I could tell that the helicopter was descending. Tabitha continued to lock eyes with me. Or rather, eye with me. Her one eye was still swollen shut.
Tabitha held my hand all the way from the helipad to the elevator. While in the elevator she leaned down and kissed my cheek. The elevator doors opened and she followed beside me until we hit the operating room. A gentleman wearing scrubs told her that she needed to come with him.
"I want to know how—" Tabitha was saying as the doors closed. Once they closed, I could no longer hear her voice.
"Okay ready to move him on three," one of the men in scrubs said. "One, two, three!" They heaved me onto a table. I saw a lady inject something into my I.V.
"Don't worry sir, you are going to be fine. . . ." Everything went black again.
CHAPTER 14
Sorry about that, General," Tabitha said as she leaned her cane against my bed and saluted him.
"At ease, Colonel Ames." The general approached my bed and looked down at me with a stern smile. He offered me his right hand. "It is good to meet you, Dr. Clemons. I'm General Bracken."
"Hell . . . unh . . . cough, grunt . . . oh," I tried to talk. My throat was very sore for some reason. Tabitha handed me a cup of water with a straw in it. I took a sip.
"He's still having trouble speaking, sir. He had a tube down his throat and into his lungs for more than a day now. He just got it removed about an hour ago." Tabitha explained my situation to him. It was the first time I was conscious enough to understand what anybody said, so I listened carefully. The general gist (ha, pardon the pun) of what Tabitha told General Bracken was that I had been stranded in low Earth orbit after my ride was destroyed by terrorists, ingeniously found a way back to Earth, was hailed on and chased by an extremely large and violent tornado, electrocuted, forced to run about eight miles barefoot, my ass was well kicked—although I had done a good bit of kicking myself—stabbed, shot twice, fired upon by -surface-to-air missiles, ejected from an exploding aircraft -during a hundred-kiloton explosion, walked about six miles while bleeding profusely, died, was brought back to life, died again, brought back to life again, died a third time, brought back to life again, operated on, remained unconscious for about a day, and finally slipped out of the hospital in a clandestine fashion. It sounded like a tall tale if I ever heard one.
If I wasn't in a hospital, I didn't understand where I was. This was all very confusing to me. I took another sip of water. I tried to clear my head and gain some recollection of the past day or so. No good.
"I see," the general acknowledged. "Dr. Clemons, Colonel Ames here has debriefed me on your adventure of the last few days. Not only is the story amazing, but nobody must ever hear a word of it. The implications alone of the high speeds that were achieved give a completely new meaning to intercontinental ballistic missile and to rapid force deployment. I needn't even discuss the ramifications of the energy collection devices." He turned to Tabitha. "Has he seen the news?"
"Not yet, General. Anson has only been awake for an hour or so. I'll bring him up to speed soon." Tabitha touched my shoulder and took the cup from me.
"What . . . is on the . . . news?" I whispered and cleared my throat.
"The news, my dear boy, is telling the world what really happened in Florida the day before yesterday. I will let the colonel debrief you. In the meantime, get better. You did well from what I hear. You would've made a good soldier." He nodded to Tabitha and moved toward the door. The general stumbled slightly and caught his balance on the slightly smaller than usual doorframe.
"We'll talk further when we get on the ground," he said as he departed.