Transbiotic: Across Life
A medical emergency radiates across the team's lives, shaping new love, reconciling old, and uncovering past wrongs.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, plot points, and information belong to their respective creators. All unrecognizable characters, plot points, and information are my own. This work of fanfiction is produced solely out of admiration, obsession, and the pursuit of completing a story of significant length.
My continuing gratitude to those who have read, followed, and reviewed, and to Boredom Queen of Insanity for beta reading!
Chapter Two – Technological Rapture
A span of several minutes passed between when Rachel left and when those remaining first heard sirens in the distance. When he was finally able to stand, Bill found the office doors weren't even locked any more. Cameron and Nina were able to walk right out.
How nice of her, Gary thought. It hadn't crossed his mind that, in light of what Griffin had just done, it wasn't really much of a nice thing at all; at the moment, Gary couldn't even muster enough focus to remember what had happened to him. He was lying flat on his back now, with Cameron holding up his legs on one end and Dr. Rosen applying pressure to his neck on the other. Gary thought he had seen Cameron crying at one point—well, not crying exactly, just sort of damp around the eyes and breathing heavily—but all he was really picking up on was the hotness on his neck beneath Dr. Rosen's jacket.
He thought he knew what it was, and he wanted to make sure, but Dr. Rosen wouldn't let him touch it.
"Weh-why are you crying, Cameron?" Gary's voice was breathy and strangled. "Men don't cry…" Even Gary couldn't tell if he was joking, but Cameron had to crack a smile as he swiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve.
"That's not true Gary." Shaking his head, Cameron redoubled his support of Gary's legs. "That's just not true."
"Buh-Bill said—" Before Gary could finish, he cut off into a weak cough. The air tasted simply wrong, like copper and wetness, and he felt like all he could do was stare.
"Shh, Gary. You're in shock. Just relax, breathe slowly." Dr. Rosen loomed above him, backed only by the webs and strands of neon wavelengths. They reflected down on Gary through his glasses, masking the older man's intense concern with a technological glare. It took all of Gary's strength to reach out and touch the one that hovered just by Dr. Rosen's nose.
His hand was clammy and pale and he had to try twice to open the link.
A small screen, a private window into the world, opened at Gary's finger tip. First it showed Rachel, wild eyed and accompanied down a nearby street by a man Gary didn't recognize. With a flick of his finger, it bared the image of a pair of ambulances and a police car rushing toward them.
Both scenes were viewed through thick glass windows, and otherwise obscured by adhesive signage and shelved dry goods, but they were good enough for Gary.
You can always count on convenience stores. Even if you're just using the bathroom, or buying that shredded cheese, they're watching. The thought merely wafted through him, fuzzy and detached. Gary focused instead upon the one thing of which he was sure.
"Rachel…" Gary could hear the sirens now.
"Yes, yes she's coming Gary. You're going to be okay." Gary didn't have to be fully conscious to know he didn't like people touching him, but as disoriented as he was, the way in which Dr. Rosen rubbed his arm then was actually quite soothing.
As he faded out, Gary didn't let the wavelength close. When all he could do was twitch, his mother, viewed through a webcam at home, flickered across the transparent monitor.
She was doing laundry, folding a purple shirt.
Before he could think further on the matter, Gary ascended from consciousness and into the ether of half-dreams.
xx
Almost immediately—in dream time, at least—Gary felt something flat and solid slide beneath him and lift him up into the air. Gary wasn't sure he believed it, but it almost felt like he was being lifted up to heaven. It was very uncomfortable and Gary squirmed weakly beneath his restraints. They were stiff and he didn't like how they felt against his skin.
In some vague way, though, he wanted to see the purple shirt again. And his mother.
Before Gary could try to call up the purple wavelength again, though, he was being slid into a cool, cavernous space. As his eyelids flickered weakly, he thought he saw Dr. Rosen climb in beside him. This was followed by a loud "bang, bang!", like the shutting of gates, and the start of motion.
As a pitchy wailing echoed through the cavern, Gary felt Dr. Rosen's warm, familiar hand in his own. He still wasn't one for touching but, given the state he was in, all he could really do was moan in protest.
Gary felt himself fade for a time. A nebulous sort of wondering about which streets they were on (were they driving on R's and A's, or had they opted for the certainty of G's and W's?) filled his mind. It cleared only as a sterile breeze brushed his slack features.
Gary's eye flew open. It was like nothing he had seen before. In his moment of absolute frailty, Gary was blind to everything but wavelengths and signals. The language of information.
…Heartbeat 110 bpm…
…At this time, we believe Lupis to best fit the symptoms presented in…
…Search: How 2 pass A drugtest NOW!...
…New York Hospital extends sincere congratulations on the birth of…
Dr. Rosen's hand slipped away as bodies and bodies pushed his stretcher through a distant hall. Gary felt little for it. He was in a state of utter terror and awe, trapped somewhere between the agony of Anna's cyber attack and a glimpse of true meaning.
...Hospital de Nueva York extende sinceras felicitaciones por el nacimiento de…
…Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious disease that attacks the lungs…
…Sandra Bell. Relation: Mother. Presented with symptoms of late-term misca—
Dr. Schultz to emergency bay five.
A small, foreign hand interlocked with Gary's own and he felt his personal rapture collapse around him.
It was touching all of him, all at once. Gary felt it under his skin like nothing before—like Velcro, sand, and a tie around his neck—and wanted to scream. He ached to kick his feet, to tear at his chest, anything to stop the grating in his head.
He couldn't, but he could hear again, could smell, could see. For all the hand was doing to him, something about it had that same soothing quality as Dr. Rosen's hand against his arm.
Gary felt a tingling in the raw, bleeding tissue of his throat.
He smelt lavender.
xxx
With the premier just moments away, thank you again for reading!
