I was woken abruptly from my dreams of vivid colours and lights by a bespectacled man with a ginger beard. He was rocking me back and forth, probably with too much force than he should have done. I woke so fast that he looked to me like a gargantuan monster when he materialised by my side, breathing heavily and grasping my shoulder.
'He's awake... Jess, get Dr. Hawk, he'll want to speak to him.' A voice, a voice eminating from behind the beard. It was rough, course, uninviting, but forceful. I didn't want to listen, but I did anyway.
'Andrew, can you hear me?' His beard ruffled slightly when he spoke, I watched as the hair did a little make-shift mexican wave for a moment before realising he was talking to me.
'Andrew, I said-'
'Yes.' The word tumbled out of my mouth unwillingly, and sounded like it had put up a fight on the way out.
'Good. Andrew, try stay awake for a while, Dr. Hawk wants to speak to you, he shan't be long, are you thirsty?'
Now he mentioned it, my tongue was so dry that it was sticking to the roof of my mouth, but before I had a chance to answer his question, a tumbler of water was stuck in front of me. I made to grab the water, but cried out as I found my body crippled with pins and needles. The feeling was overwhelming, and I simpley collapsed back onto the matress with a soft thump and whined pathetically.
The man at my bedside laughed heartily but coldly, almost like an evil Father Christmas.
'Pins and needles? I should think so with the length of time you've been settled! Try moving around a bit, here...' His hand dissappeared from view down the side of the bed, it's origin was soon explained to me when the top half of my bed buzzed upwards slowly. When it had got to a 30 degree angle off the frame, the bed stopped, my arms buzzed with needles for a short while, then it stopped. From my new vantage point, I was able to see the rest of the room. It was a dull grey, tiled affair, rowed with empty beds and flowers. There was no window in the room, all light was one hundred percent unnatural. The murky tiles on the floor reflected the light in a translucent way, masking the true colour of it's body from me.
As I returned my eyes to the perculiar man on my left, he smiled humourlessly, and gently put the tumbler of water to my mouth. I opened and accepted it. The liquid flowed into my mouth, it was warm but welcomed, I felt my tongue and gums begin to unharden, it felt as if they would actually sigh with relief any minute. I drained the whole glass, and the man gave the empty tumbler to a woman dressed in white, who briskly walked off out of the door near the foot of my bed.
'Now, Andrew,' He was talking again. There was a quality in his voice that I couldn't place, as if were a stone wall represented in sound. 'I am Dr. Sten, I have been monitoring your progress for quite a while now.'
'My... progress?' My words seemed less resistant this time, but still disobedient.
He smiled, that grim beam he grinned when he gave me my water.
'Ah, but this is not for me to explain. Dr. Hawk shall be here soon, he shall explain all.' There was a slight pause between the last two words that didn't fill me with confidence at all.
'Where am I?' I spoke, forcing the words out this time, so as to be more understandable.
'All in good time, my friend. All in good time.' For the first time since I woke up, I began to wonder where I was, and why I was here. And it scared me. Panic started to creep up through my stomach and into my torso, almost like the pins and needles...

The entrance of Dr. Hawk into the room was evident, even though I wasn't looking in his direction. The man who identified himself as Dr. Sten suddenly adopted an emotionless face, which was welcome after enduring that cold sneer for a long period of time, he also quickly stood up, and for the first time I saw his whole body. He was wearing a white lab coat that extended down to his knees, it was open to reveal a professional attire of shirt and tie, complete with brown trousers, but what he wore wasn't what struck me. Dr. Sten was quite simply enormous, he must have been at least six foot seven, maybe taller. To see this man looking genuinely scared was like seeing a rhincerous driving a car, it didn't seem possible, but he managed it somehow. When I finally got to turning my head round to the door, I had to adjust my sight, which was still set at Sten level, down almost two feet. The man, who I guessed must have been the ominous Dr. Hawk, was tiny. He had dark skin that looked worn, leather like. He had broad shoulders, which held up a coat much like Sten's, but he wore it buttoned to the top, formal like. Although small, he walked with a certain air of authority, as if no one could touch him. Indeed, if he was feared this much by Sten, he may well not have been able to.
'Isaac, I told you to refrain from talking to the subject.' His voice was quiet but grating, he had a slight twang, German? Possibly Dutch...
'I'm sorry Doctor, I was merely-' Sten sounded positively petrified, his voice had gone at least a tone higher, and it wavered lightly in the air.
'I'll merely have you sacked if you disobey me again, Sten.' All of a sudden, his voice softened, his accent became less noticeable, 'Andrew...' he turned to me 'You're awake. It's about time. We shall begin momentarily, I first need to check if all of your bodily functions are back up and running.' He strode towards me, he moved with an air of arrogance that was almost detectable by sight. He sat down in the chair that Sten had occupied previously, and stared into my face. His eyes were an icey grey, the pupils were like pinpricks.
'I am asuming that your natural instinct of curiosity hasn't deserted you, and you wish to know where you are and why you are here, you will have to wait for the answers to those questions, besides, the knowledge won't benefit you a great amount. I am Dr. Hawk, I have been head of the team that has been surveying you for the past 5 months, and it is now my job to see we get you... back up to match fitness so to speak.'

His words seemed to be slowly being absorbed into my brain, but things were leaking out, as if there was too much liquid in the sponge of my thoughts as it was. Match fitness? What was he talking about? My arms were just starting to regain feeling, but amongst all the turmoil going on in my mind I barely noticed. I was just about to open my mouth and ask what he meant, when he seemingly read my mind...
'By match fitness, I mean I want to check if your brain is up and running. I would appreciate it if you cooperated for the duration of these tests, Andrew. Now, what is five multiplied by five?' He asked the question monotonously.
'Wha- er... twenty five.' My speech was warming up, it no longer felt a struggle to force the words out. Hawk had at some point during the previous conversation, drawn out a clipboard and pen, quite how he had done this without my knowing so astounded me. There was more to this man that met the eye... He scribbled down on the other side of the clipboard, which evidently held a piece of paper of some sort.
'Thank you. Now, would you please spell, 'network'?'
I did so, which provoked more frantic scribbling on the elusive paper.
'Andrew, would you please tell me who this is?' At this point Hawk reached into his top pocket and produced a small photo of a bearded man with long hair, he was surrounded by angels.
'Jesus Christ.'
'Well done Andrew,' Hawk returned the photograph to his pocket 'Now, one final question, what is the current date?'
'Twenty-sixth of October, nineteen ninety-six.' The answer flowed smoothly from my mouth, unlike all the other answers, which had been dull, and reletively forced. I laid there, wide eyed, I felt my heart begin to pump a little bit faster. How on Earth did I know the date? I couldn't even remember how I had got here, or even where here was...
Hawk looked at awed expression, and grinned.
'Well done Andrew, correct.' He made one more frantic scribble, possibley a bit more energetic than before, but this could have been my imagination, then stood up, his height barely changed.
He seemed happier, brighter, in a dull sort of way. 'Sten!' the giant, who had been idle in the corner, took a stride across the room and stopped in front of Dr. Hawk. 'Sten, I'd like you to get him ready to move.'
Sten nodded as Hawk exited the room as quickly as his short legs would let him walk. I couldn't hold it in much longer, I needed to ask..
'Doctor? How did I do that?'
Sten looked round, a blank expression across his face. 'Do what?'
'I knew the date. I knew the date, but I don't even know why I'm here. How did I do that?'
At this, Sten, who was rummaging in a cabinet by my bed, chuckled. 'How do you think?'
The question puzzled me. 'I don't know, that's why I asked.'
'No, I mean how do you think? How do you actually use thought?'
This question hung in the air. How i did /i I use thought? How i did /i I think?
'With my mind?'
Sten chuckled again, a deep, throaty laugh. He turned to me, and my heart almost stopped dead, he was holding a syringe.
It plunged toward my arm before I had any chance to move, and it was out again.
Everything started to blur, the giant doctor started to smudge into his surroundings, everything became a giant pallet of colour.
'Exactly...'