warm liquid gathered in my mouth and trickled down my cheek. As it grew dark, I recognized one face in the crowd, the staring man who swore and yelled, “You idiot!” I couldn’t speak. Darkness fell. My life passed before my eyes, not in a sequence but in an instant, as if a veil covering all my memories had been lifted.
My final thought was not what I would have chosen. It was not something religious like, Dear Lord, I'm coming home. And it wasn't selfless like, I wish I had spent more time with my wife and children. It was simply, But the signal said, ‘Walk.’
Scene 6
Time had no meaning. My head -- I thought I still had one -- throbbed, and I had lost all sense of direction. At some point during this void, my vision cleared. I could make out the form of two attendants standing over me, a darkly tanned man and woman. The staring man was gone. My side no longer hurt, but I didn’t feel quite right. Something tactile, something around me I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I knew. The tingling was gone. I flexed my fingers and they didn’t tingle; in fact, they felt euphoric.
Is this heaven? Hell? I closed my eyes and concentrated to keep my thoughts in order. Is this a hospital? Opening my eyes again, I saw that the two people didn't speak, but looked at each other with varying expressions, almost as if they could read each other’s minds.
I recalled the staring man’s comments. Is this an alien abduction? I dismissed the thought as soon as it entered my mind. This had to be a hospital. I had no sense of motion, so we probably weren’t flying. The attendants were human enough: eyes, ears nose, mouth, and ten fingers. They wore long, white gowns -- hospital lab coats. But something was missing, if it was a hospital. I lay there as my mind cleared trying to think of what it was. Then it came to me: no antiseptic smell.
When I started to get up, the couple pressed me gently back, speaking for the first time. “Relax, Tenbu. The doctor will be here soon.” Tenbu? Why would she call me that? It was probably a technical term or something. I eased, and then tensed. She had spoken in a strange language with a lot of ‘k,’ ‘m,’ and ‘w’ sounds. I couldn't think of its name, but I understood it.
I raised my hands to gesture and saw that my skin was darker, like theirs. I sat up abruptly, heart pounding, and saw that I was in a large room with people on a row of beds like mine.
Above them, images danced as if in a vision, scenes from everyday life but at an accelerated rate. Each person had their own set of images. The walls were concave from bottom to top and slightly luminescent. What kind of hospital was this? My suspicions of an alien abduction were starting to be confirmed.
The attendants had turned to coax me down. A second later two men entered the room, one in a white lab coat and the other in blue. The male attendant next to me said, “It's all right, Tenbu. Doctor D is here.”
Without a word, the other two men approached. The one they called the doctor held up my chin and looked into my eyes. He appeared to be a doctor. He was tall with a solid chin, graying hair at the temples, dark skin like the first two, and gentle, speculative eyes. Without warning, his irises changed. Concentric rings turned clockwise and counter clockwise, interlocked, changed hue, and glowed.
I jerked back, but the doctor held me fast. “He's lost para-neuron cohesion,” the doctor said to the attendants in that strange language. “Hold him still.” They grabbed me before I could react, but I fought back. The struggle made enough noise to wake the others in the room, though none of them stirred. Then the doctor held his hand before my face. I tried jerking away, but the others held my head steady. Out from the doctor’s fingertips snaked long, metallic tendrils.
With the sudden strength of a cornered animal, I slipped my arms free of their grasp. I shoved the doctor's hand, writhing tentacles and all, towards the first male attendant, who jerked back, giving a way of escape. I dashed towards the door and out into a hallway. I ignored the shouts coming from behind me and searched frantically for an exit sign. I saw nothing in English. And although I recognized the alien characters and understood the words they represented, I only saw signs representing lecture halls and vision suites. Then, as I turned down another hall, my tormentors in pursuit, I saw it -- an exit. I had no idea what I would do after I ran through it, but it at least represented some tangible goal of freedom.
Despite an increasing pounding in my head, my mind raced with possibilities. I knew now that this was not a hospital, at least not for the physically impaired, and this was more like hell than any heaven I had ever heard of. The faces I passed did not have the desperate look of prisoners or the zombie eyes of alien abductees. They appeared to be at peace, except for the astonished look of a woman who I almost ran into.
I saw the green of a courtyard brightly lit by sunlight through the exit door. At least I wasn't on a spaceship. The sunlight compelled me forward with renewed fervor.
Then I saw the floor.
Something had tripped me and the impact stole my breath. I turned over and two men, or what appeared to be men, held me down. The so-called doctor and half a dozen others were running up to me. One of them was a woman in a red button-down shirt: Muna. Without hesitation or preamble of bedside manner, the doctor reached forward and the tendrils attached to my scalp. I heard a click as each one connected, and this was, perhaps, the most unsettling sensation of all, hearing metal on metal -- the realization that the mating connector was already on or in me.
My vision grew heavy and dark, as unconsciousness took hold. Given another chance for a profound last thought, I blew it again. The last thought I ever had as Alexander Sevik was, “Oh no. I have alien implants.”
Scene 7
The scene before my eyes cleared, and I knew myself not as Alexander Sevik but as Tenbu Tinochika. The doctor, who I now remembered was Dr. Danjuma, Professor of Cybernetics, detached his tendrils and smiled. Most of us called him Doctor D. He offered me his hand, “Son, how do you feel?”
I accepted his hand, and he pulled me up. “Confused. A little dizzy.” Three of my friends had slipped out of class and ran up to offer help. Jana, who must have entered my simulation to help me out -- she really was my girlfriend. Behind here stood Damisi, the serious seeker of truth with her ever-present wide smile. Next to her was Haji, proud of the goatee that he really should shave off, and shy Damisi-admirer. Haji will never let me live this down.
“Do you remember who you are?” Doctor D asked.
“Of course, I’m Tenbu.”
“Do you know where you are?”
I blinked. “Bono Manso University.”
“And what are you doing here?”
“I’m a biology student and I’m taking your Humanity Studies course. It’s mandatory.”
“After chasing you down the hall it will qualify as a physical education credit.” Doctor D smiled. “You’ve only lived thirty-six years of Alexander Sevik’s life to see what life was like as an immigrant before the cybernetics revolution. You’re supposed to complete his life, but you’ve had a serious mental lapse.”
“Is he going to be alright?” Muna asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll escort him to the clinic. It’s better to let them decide.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
“No, Tenbu,” Doctor D said, “it’s policy.”
Muna wrapped her arm around my waist, giving me support -- awkward. I was married to Jana but Muna is my girlfriend. Didn’t I just get in an argument with Jana about her?
You did? I heard Muna’s voice in my head. I didn’t see her mouth move, but the thoughts were clear and strong, almost as if she spoke them. Oh, how sweet. I’m just glad they censor sexual activity in these courses, or did you hack that and make love to Jana?
I said, “I only hack your system, love.”
“Not yet you don’t,” Muna said out loud. Her cheeks flushed and her voice took on a harsh edge. “I was casting privately, Tenbu. Did you forget what that is?”
“Casting?” I asked.
Haji tapped his head and answe
red slowly as if speaking to a child. “Our links allow us to cast thoughts.”
It took a second to remember that I had to think about Muna in a certain way to cast back. Everyone had his or her own mental trick. Mine was a toy communicator I had when I was five years old that I called Mr. Binki-binks. I thought of the cartoon character on the back of Mr. Binki-binks and Muna’s face and cast, Sorry.
Haji said, “You’re really messed up, Tenbu.”
“The problem isn’t with me, it’s with the system. There’s a hole.”
“A hole?” Doctor D asked. “I can’t count the number of times you kids have claimed the sims are rigged.”
“I could care less about the grades...”
That much is obvious, Haji cast to everyone but Doctor D.
“No,” I insisted, still speaking aloud, “I’m talking about a flaw at the root of the system, not just the university, but the Vantu State Primary. There’s a security hole and someone’s hacked into it. Some intruder was walking around in the simulation. He was tall, skuzzy, and really intense about alien abduction.”
“How do you know he wasn’t supposed to be there?” Muna asked.
“Was he in your simulation?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then he was an intruder.”
Doctor D shook his head. “Tenbu, you just had a major mental lapse and almost gave me a minor coronary. You can’t trust the images you saw.