Bioshock – Leagues of Time

Chapter 1

Bleep, Bleep, Bleep.

The elderly man, condemned to his pristine white bed, took another heavy and rattling breath. Gone were his days of sprinting, leaping, dodging and fighting. In fact, he could barely get the energy to move at all, it had been a fair few months since his feet had touched the cold hospital ground. Fortunately, he still had an amount of control over his speech. His hazel eyes travelled wearily from the closed ward door to his left, and over to the long window opposite him. Through it, he could see the hospital grounds which featured a number of well-groomed beech trees and a fountain which gently spewed water. His mind absently noted the fact it was on. They must have repaired it overnight, it had been broken for the last two weeks. Though it did sputter a bit on Thursday. A long moment passed before he spotted another patient slowly making their way along a gravel path, hospital aide in tow. He wondered if he could still walk. The muscle therapy helped, but it couldn't stop the tightness in his limbs.

Bleep, bleep, bleep.

But whilst his body looked aged and withered, his mind was far too young. Still in the very midst of life. Which made his position all the more unbearable. Even then, he could still recall countless moments from his life, the feeling of being alive. But it had all ended and before long had left him entombed in his own body. His mind would tick over, bouncing ideas and theories, memories and random thought. He would wish with all his might to get up and walk off, out of this place, to feel the sun on his skin again.

It wasn't all bad though. Two or three times per week, he would receive a visitor. It helped ease his mental trouble, having someone to talk to. The visitor was usually one of his girls, come to relay new information or gossip. Rachel's little girl was now going into preschool. Susan was getting married. Megan decided to follow a degree in… law? No, was it Neuroscience? Yes, that made more sense. Often, they would talk about these things, or some news about the world. But never would they talk about the old days. Not that the old man minded. He would have spoken on that subject, but he knew it would be difficult on his girls to recall. No need to put them in pain for his closure.

He felt the corners of his mouth inch upwards into a small smile at the thought of his family. They were reliable, fiery girls. Good people all around. They too had their own families and futures. Sometimes, they would thank him for the opportunity, but he would always shake his head and simply say "It was the right thing to do," in that soft voice of his.

His fond thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knocking at his door. He turned to look, but didn't say anything. After a few years here, he came to know that there was no point in inviting the staff in. Usually, they would just stride in anyway. Lo and behold, a few moments later, the door was opened and one of the ward's nurses poked his head over the threshold. "Ah, sorry for interrupting."

The elderly man knew this young gentleman well. He was one of the many on site staff members assigned to him and was a pleasant enough sort. Not the chattiest, but that could be nice now and then. That list of staff expanded past the hospital and into genetic specialists and some of the more versed minds in America. Not a one could come to a conclusion on the man's advanced aging. Of course, the man himself had plenty of theories, backed up by his girls, but it wouldn't be worth sharing that to the staff. God only knows what havoc that may have wreaked. For now, he kept those skeletons in his closet. With a slight not of the Man's head, the Nurse continued. "You have a visitor, sir. Are you well enough to see them?"

There was no pause in the man's response. He was more than happy to have another distraction. Plus it would be nice to see who would visit him in the middle of the day. Most of his girls would be busy.

The Nurse smiled and stepped away, speaking to someone out of sight. "He'll see you, but please be careful. He's pretty frail. Though, I guess you knew that."

The aged man frowned. Whilst the Nurse's words were true, it brought him no pleasure to hear it said. Whilst he was thinking on the subject, he heard the door close and two click-clacks of heels on the floor.

"It's… really you."

That brought a pause to the Man's thoughts. An unfamiliar voice, but then again, it rang a bell somewhere in his mind. A young woman's voice. Focusing back on the present, he casts his sunken eyes on the speaker, only to squint in confusion.

The speaker was indeed a young woman, attractive but in an old fashioned way. She wore a white sundress with a blue jacket covering her shoulders, and had her hair in a bob that left a few strands of hair brushing by her jaw. Around her slender neck was some sort of lacy choker with a brooch affixed to it. The woman walked a little closer, carefully. In fact it was as though she was moving with caution, like a believer before their god. "You're older than I thought you would be. How long has it been…?"

The question didn't seem to be directed at him, but he chuckled all the same. The man gestured to a chair nearby him, which the woman elegantly sat in, crossing her legs. "I'm sorry miss," murmured the old man, "I don't believe we've met." He searched her face for some sort of familiar trait. Baby blue eyes met his, and there was a short moment's connection. Despite that, the old man had said the truth, this was not a person he knew.

The woman smiled gently, sweetly, and reached over to hold onto his exposed forearm with a small and warm hand. "No, we haven't." The old man felt a slight chill from something. Glancing down, he noticed a small metal object, perhaps a thimble, affixed to the woman's pinky. "But I'm glad we're meeting now. I… I need your help." She squeezed his arm a little, but there was worry in her voice.

"I don't think I'm in a state to help you out, ma'am."

"You are. Just not in the way you think." He furrowed his brow at that. What could he do for this stranger, who seemed to have known him somehow, without the man having any recollection of her? "I need… to understand. I thought it would all make sense to me, but it doesn't. It's like the door is closed off to me, there's a gap. A gap I need to fill." It sounded as though the woman was troubled. The old man sighed. Someone needed his help, and as always, he could offer as much as he could. But with each coming year, his ability to help had lessened.

He looked up from her hand on his arm and smiled weakly. "What can I do for you then?"

The woman let go of his arm and folded her hands in her lap. She looked away for a brief moment, as though thinking. Almost fighting the words, she asked: "What… happened in Rapture?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye for some sort of reaction.

Imperceptibly, the man stiffened up at the very mention of that place. His blood ran as cold as those underwater walkways he had once ran through, hell at his heels. But externally, he gave away nothing. His face remained impassive, then shifted to a look of confusion. "I'm sorry ma'am. I don't know what that is," he responded stiffly, looking out of the window again.

The woman sighed and nodded, then stood up from her chair. She reached for his face, and gently turned it towards her own. In her eyes the old man saw desperation, sorrow, guilt but above all else, the fire of someone with a mission. Even deeper, he found knowledge far beyond his own. "Please. I need to know." Her voice held steady this time, but her bottom lip wobbled for just a second.

Would it be worth telling this woman these secrets that very few others knew of? The only others privy to this information were the others that had managed to escape Rapture, his girls included. It had been a dark time, painful, as it always is when discovering the truth. The girl reached to cup his face in her hands, and for a moment, the only sound in the room was the bleeping of his heart rate monitor. It had sped up somewhat.

"How much do you need to know?" He breathed. The woman's gentle hold on him was released as she relaxed, heaving a heavy sigh of relief.

"Thank you, so much. And I need to know… everything."

The old man chuckled and let himself relax into his bed some more. The woman had fell back to her chair and watched him with wide eyes. It would be a long story, but he hoped it would give her what she needed. "I hope you have plenty of time, ma'am."

"More than anyone else."

"Well then… It started when I was visiting my 'cousins' in England, for my Mom and Dad."

The heart rate monitor sped up a little more, but only slightly.

"They told me: Son, you're special. You were born to do great things. And you know what?" The old man wheezed a short chuckle and looked over to the woman listening to him in wonder.

"They were right."