Here's a continuationAn annoying beep greeted Ari as she woke. Its memorable pattern signaled she was in the hospital wing. She cracked open an eye to confirm. The room was far too bright and the instant pain the light inflicted forced her eye shut. She fought past the desire to keep her eyes closed and looked around the room. Ah so they haven’t forgotten she thought as she noted hers was the second bed to the left. They had always placed her here when she came in. She found the source of the brightness was coming from a window with its polarized screen drawn up. Thought it was a beautiful morning, it was far too sunny. Ari would have pulled the screen down herself, but it was routine to keep flight risks restrained.A door slid open and a short woman walked in. She was young, in her late forties, and her face brightened when she saw that Ari was awake. “Feeling better are we Miss Carr?” Her voice was soft but stern. “You must have had quite some time these past couple of days. Two broken ribs, a busted lip and a mild concussion, how did you manage?” “Nice to see you too Jan” Ari hadn’t seen Jannis in almost a year. She was now too close for Ari to see her face clearly, but from how she looked at the door, Ari didn’t notice much of a change. “It’s Nurse Clark, if you don’t mind. Anyway” she continued “Mind explaining this.” Jan pointed to the tiny black dots and small round swelling that peppered the inner part of Ari’s left elbow. “Yes well” Ari sighed “I’ve never injected before. I missed the vein the first go and was a little uncertain after that. I had to give it a few tries before I got it right.” “You injected?” Ari could hear the skepticism in her voice. Syringes and needles were hard to come by, even in hospitals, and few people her age knew what they were. “I found an old glass syringe set at an antique shop.” She thought back to how she hid them in her pocket, and how the store clerk smiled to her as she left. Ari, of course, had no money when she ran. She hadn’t had a single credit since the age of twelve. Stealing had become a way of life early on and she found it all too easy. People in this era were far too trusting. They expected alarms and similar devices to protect their merchandise. “What exactly did you inject?” Jan’s voice brought Ari back to the conversation. “Diacetylmorphine.” She replied with guilt. “I thought it would help me easy off the drug.” “You never learn.” Jannis went about checking the various monitors and equipment hooked up to her patient. Ari watched intently as Jan fiddled with a device to her left. All the monitors were surrounded by an opaque yellowish glow. It distorted their appearance to the point that Ari couldn’t read them. Still, she tried to see what Jannis was doing. “You seem to be in good shape, almost back to normal. Some pain is to be expected in the next few days so you’ll want to take it easy.” As Jannis turned to summon another nurse she added casually “those bots really work miracles.” Ari tensed up and a wave of anxiety flooded her body. “You didn’t” she replied. “I know how much you hate the bots, but it’s better than mending your ribs the old fashioned way.” Ari looked down at her torso imagining the microscopic machines racing around her bloodstream. She had a general dislike of most technology, but she loathed the bots. Something about them had always made her feel uneasy. They were too tiny for here to sense their electromagnetic field and her body insulated them, hiding their glow. She could neither see nor sense them and so she was not able to manipulate them as she could other objects. This made her wary. “Relax, they’ve already fragmented. You’re safe.” Jan had reacted to the panic on Ari’s face. The second nurse arrived with a cart containing an emisis basin and large cup of water. “I need to extract your feeding tube before I discharge you.” The other nurse disconnected the opposite end of the tube from something and Jan removed some tape from Ari’s nose. “Take a deep breath and hold it” she coached. Ari inhaled and winced as Jannis pulled firmly on the nasogastric tube. It came out quickly and left a residue that irritated her nostril. Ari’s eyes watered a little and the other nurse lightly pinched a towel on her nose while instructing her to blow. “Wasn’t that bad” Jan coddled. “For you” Ari retorted. “Was that totally necessary?” “What, the tube? Of course, they were worried you hadn’t eaten since you left. You do look a little undernourished” Ari always looked that way. She was a picky eater and hated most of the food they served in the program cafeteria. When was the last time I ate she thought. Her whole ordeal was more like a nightmare now. The door slid open breaking her concentration. A tall man she had never seen before stepped in. “Private Warren, I’m here for 22759” he announced. “I was just finishing up with her. Here sign this.” Jannis held out a tablet and Private Warren placed his left thumb on it then slid the back of his wrist across the bottom. The other nurse began to remove the restraints as the privet walked over. Jan joined her and attended to disconnecting Ari’s central line. “Here, have a sip.” Jan placed the cup in Ari’s free hand then helped her sit up. She could feel her chest tighten. Some pain she thought, that’s like calling the pandemic a seasonal flu. Ari took a drink then handed the cup to the other nurse. She stood up and walked tentatively to the waiting private. She knew what was in store. He turned on his heel and walked quickly out the door with Ari in tow. “Damned scanners” he mumbled to himself “I’ve better things to do than be used as a glorified babysitter.” Ari was used to this kind of attitude. Scanners were sometimes met with sympathy, but hatred was the norm. Ari had received that in spades. She and others like here were the government’s dirty little secret, a byproduct of what they called the “technology renaissance”....... |
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