Light.
Panel. Panel. Panel.
Light.
Panel. Panel. Panel.
Light.
The little gray grid that holds the panels up
Light.
Panel. Panel. Panel.
Light.
Step. Step. Step. Step. Step, squeaking of the back wheel, DUF!
Bump as they open the door with the body-trolley like you were a
battering ram, like you shouldn't be up and screaming away from
this white palace of death. They funnel into an elevator with
you, easy listening music plays out your life.
That's the thing with hospitals: what horrors could require THAT
much cleaning product to scrub away? You can smell the cover-up,
feel the sterile air clog up in your nose and throat. Everything
feels unnatural in the life factory, where the almost-dead are
brought back to almost-life and hover between the two universes
in comas and morphine dreams. That's how John knew he was in a
hospital; it didn't smell like the ones from his time but the
rows of empty deathbeds ready to be shushed away behind leathery
curtains couldn't be used for much else.
Wake up, you're going to die.
Ignore the muttering of the men pushing you along and their
footsteps in the otherwise silent halls.
You are going to die, likely in a few minutes, so wake up.
Wake up and smell the...air freshener.
But it's all so troublesome and sore, so much better to just...
...relax.
Why struggle against the inevitable?
Can you hear yourself!? What did they do to you this time?!
Maybe you're tired, maybe it's over.
Do you hear the black boots behind you? Can you sense the guns
peeking out from their little holsters?
Why are ALL the beds empty?
SIGN. Top floor. Just for you? Hospital must be stuffed below.
Did you hear them moaning?
Feel the belts on your wrists holding you down. Are they cutting
into your skin? Wriggle, just shift your hand side to side. Feel
the rope burn as you attempt impossible escape. More. More. Hurt
yourself back to life.
DUF. Another door. Blacks boots gone. I do wonder where they're
taking you. Doctors only.
Sliiiiide, stop. The light shines bright through the sheet of
blood inside your half-closed eyelid.
Wake up, they're going to kill you.
Quick! What's the angriest you've ever been? Why were you angry?
Open your eyes. Further, further. Let the white light burn the
stinging tears out of you.
Now you see him.
"John Boss," he says. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
The syllables barely connect to each other, he doesn't get the
opportunity to speak this language very often. He leans over the
operating table, hidden behind a leather cap and a white
facemask, the light giving him a halo. "I have been told that
you have been a very naughty little chimp, so it is time for
just a little procedure to help you calm down from now on." He
slips his dry, rubbery fingers under John's eyepatch and peels
it off. He gasps quietly, making an outline of his small mouth
through the mask. "What is this? What have you been hiding from
me?" You can see him grinning, just about hear it. He grabs a
pair of pair of gleaming forceps and carefully reaches into the
eye socket, biting down with metal teeth and pulling out some
tiny, thin object from its hidden alcove. John winced as it
popped out to leave a stinging pinhole wound. The doctor
carefully examined the bloodied silver object in his hands, his
eyes lighting up as he unfolded it into a lockpick. "Sneaky
mouses, you get craftier all the time."
He placed the lockpick on the tray and inspected the exposed
hole in John's head. "Hm, rather a mess. It seems I will have to
go the more conventional route." John mentally tore through
every method of escape he knew. Every part of his body was being
held still, he couldn't even turn his head away from the long
spike in the doctor's hand. "That basic collar just scrambles
words, doesn't prevent you from screaming. So please, make all
the noise you'd like. Don't be embarrassed, this room is
completely soundproofed, you shall be singing just for me."
The surgeon's rubber thumb peeled John's eyelid upwards, and
beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he frantically
struggled against the bindings. John couldn't speak, couldn't do
anything but grunt and growl as the cold steel spike slid across
the veiny surface of his inner eyelid and gently pressed down on
the back of his left eyeball. He was terrified it was going to
burst like a grape. "And a three..."
He took a little hammer and positioned it against the blunt end
of the spike.
"Two..."
He gently raised and lowered it, lining up the angle before
raising it properly.
"One."
A doctor passing though the hall outside yawned as he pushed a
door open at exactly the wrong time. A gentle scream in the
distance wafted down the corridor and into the room where
patients were sleeping. He quickly pulled it shut, trying not to
disturb the peace. He noticed a woman sitting straight up and
wide-eyed in her bed. The doctor did as best he could to whisper
across the room. "Mrs. Aedhar, is everything alright?"
She turned away from the door to face the doctor who was now
standing at the foot of her bed. She swallowed. "Fine. Just
having trouble getting to bed with all the commotion."
"You mean the power fluctuation?"
She was silent for a second, glancing back at the door where
she'd heard the scream. "Yeah, that."
He smiled reassuringly. "Well, don't you worry about the power.
We've got more safety procedures than you could dream of. As for
noise, things should be quiet now that everyone's asleep."
Beneath her baggy, tired eyes she forced a polite smile. "Okay.
Thanks doctor."
"No problem. Sweet dreams, then."
The doctor fiddled with his stethoscope as he walked away. She
turned away from him and lay down facing the doo...actually, no.
She turned her back to the door whose small, circular windows
let in annoying rays of electric light. Mrs. Aedhar pushed her
pillow up a little to make herself more comfortable, and drew
the thin blanket up to her face as she pretended to sleep.
How will John Boss escape from the sinister surgeon's operating table? How will Aerin Liette cope with the knowledge of the terrifying future? How will Chel Hagar be able to live with herself after her outburst against the world? And how will our hero and his biographer get back home to their own century?
JOHN BOSS WILL RETURN
IN
ACTION, THAT'S HOW! (A CAPER IN TIME PART 2)