It wasn't just a dream. No. It was definitely a dream but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was real. After a little time passed by, I calmed down to my normal self. Noulin Ahmed, the doctor, was holding my shoulder with a glass of water in her hand.
I gulped down the contents of the glass and spilled half of it in the process. She handed me a pill and I swallowed that too.
"I'm sorry", I apologized to her, "I had a dream. A terrible one".
"Don't we all. It's okay. I gave you something to calm your nerves." She tried to comfort me. Even though the tablet has started working, I still felt off tracks.
"I didn't think anything could wake you up. You're a sound sleeper."
"Maybe you don't know me well." It felt rude the moment I said it.
"Actually, I do. You slept through yesterday. I tried to wake you up for dinner but you slept like stone." She had an unwavering smile on her face which calmed me better than the pill and then the fact hit me. I slept through a day.
I rushed for my communicator. I still felt pain in my right knee but it wasn't as strong as before. She was right. I had slept through the day. The moment my brain registered the thought, I felt hungry. I think she heard the noise my stomach made. The next moment she pulled a sandwich out of her bag and held it in front of my face, a couple inches from my nose.
"It's fine. I'll have something ordered." But she tilted her head to one side and looked at me. I guessed she wasn't going to take a 'No' for an answer. So I took it. The first bite freshened up my taste buds and turned my mouth watery. It felt good was an understatement. It felt incredible. It's interesting how much food you can stuff into your mouth at one go, when you are starving. There was no sandwich or pieces of it left after 4 bites. She handed over a bottle of water to me.
"Thanks. I guess I was a little hungry." She lifted her eyebrows. "Okay. I was starving", I conceded. As I kept the bottle on the table, she handed me another sandwich.
"No. That's OK. I'll order something. Thank you." I took my communicator.
She took out her communicator and I received a swipe message. It's a neat trick, many who use the communicator don't know. If you want to share your contact, you can simply swipe towards the receiver and they'll get a swipe message. If the receiver accepts the invite, either of their contacts will be saved on to the others device.
"Call me if you need anything. I'll be around till 4 in the evening." She said casually and left the room. Looking at her contact on my screen, I felt myself smile.
Two days later...
I felt no pain in my knee. I was able to move it without wincing every time. I got out of the bed and stretched a little. It felt good to be back on my feet. I walked around the bed, did some sit-ups. I started knocking down things around when I tried some kicks, at which point she entered the room. I had just kicked the tray off a small table at the foot of the bed and my leg was hanging midair. I looked at her a second and slowly brought down my leg. Oh God, this is awkward. Should've hit the gym when I had the chance. I looked at her again and she was still staring at me.
I knelt down and picked up the equipment and the bottle of water that fell down with the tray. She walked in slowly. I walked to the bed casually like nothing happened. She kept her bag at the side table and took out her communicator.
"I came to check on you, to see if you're fit. I guess my work here is done. You made it very easy. Thank you." She said it with a sarcastic tone.
"You're welcome?" I wasn't sure what to say. Instead, I looked at her sheepishly. She turned her head from her communicator and gave me a 'Seriously?!' look. I kept my mouth shut for the next two minutes and answered her questions.
"Did you feel any pain while moving your leg?"
"No."
She asked a couple more questions but they were all formal. Once she was done, she told me that I could leave. She also said that if I felt any pain, I should see her. I actually felt bad that she was being very formal with me. My communicator beeped a message. It was the commissioner. The message said that he'll be here in an hour. He'll have to wait. I needed to go somewhere.
I ran down to the security room and suited up. I checked my case and the gun was there intact. I thought it might be new until the serial number matched that of my old piece. It was the same one. If he broke my gun, how is it intact now? I'll just have to ask the same question to a person that knows about it. I took the gun and left the building.
It took half an hour to reach my destination. There are no public transports to the place I'm going now. So I had borrowed the keys to Catherine's bike. I did have access to the custom security car but I guessed I wouldn't be allowed. I wasn't totally sure if I would be welcome now but I had to try.
I could see the central dome from half a mile out. It would take another 20 seconds to reach the main entrance. In all the city, this is the only place that's completely covered in green. I don't know how they manage it. I couldn't and I had a single bonsai, before the heat got to it. The main entrance had thick hardened steel bars, thick enough to bring a speeding car to dead stop. Each bar was as wide as the length of my middle finger. There were no guards and the door was automated. The main entrance itself was at least 30 meters wide.
The gate opened slowly. It opened just enough to let me in. As I passed through the gate, I felt something shot at the bike. I looked to the right and saw a circular disc, transparent with a central core, bigger than a coin but smaller than a cookie attached to the rear end of the bike. It powered up with yellow light glowing along the circumference like spokes in a wheel. When fully loaded, a female voice addressed me with my name. It read out Catherine's registration and asked me the reason for my visit. I asked if they have a rogue tech out in the black market. The voice assured me that they don't have one and also warned me that any false accusations might lead to litigations. Once it had made the point clear, the voice said with a pleasant tone, 'Please follow the trail, park your vehicle and await further instructions'. Sure enough, a yellow light trail from the device showed me the path, like runway lights.
I looked up towards the central dome and the huge alphabets mounted on the top read...
W.I.S.A.C.
No comments:
Post a Comment