Chapter 3
Lex and Pride carried Ryan through the door and laid him out on the table; he was still out cold and white as a sheet.
"Where's Salene?" asked Pride.
"She went to the hospital with Amber," said Bray hastily.
A look of worry passed over Pride's face and he hurriedly asked if the two were okay.
"They're fine. Just checking to see everything's okay at Patch and Dee's end."
"We should really take our friend here down to them."
"No!" cried so many people at once that Pride was hit by a wave of fear and suspicion.
"Is there something I should know?" he queried.
"Listen, mate," said Lex, pulling Pride to one side, "Perhaps we should talk about this outside. Come on, I'll explain everything."
"Why, what's so secret about this guy that you can't tell me here even though you all seem to know?"
"I'll tell you everything, mate, but trust me you will want to hear this one to one."
Satisfied with this, Pride followed Lex out the door into the hallway, passing Mega returning with a headset as he did so.
--
With only a quick questioning glance from Pride, Mega entered the control room with the requested article. He closed the door behind him, turned to the waiting small crowd and paused to glance at the new inhabitant of the table. His cool, calm countenance never wavered as he enquired after this new addition and was told, simply, that the young man was Ryan, a friend lost before the Technos had arrived. Under the cold, revengeful stare of Cloe, however, his brow wrinkled as he passed his comrade the headset.
"Tell me what I can do to help," he said to Ved, pointedly ignoring Cloe's stare, which was now throwing daggers at the back of his head, "If there is anything of course!"
"Just follow my progress; try and warn me if you think I've been spotted. Once I'm in, it's up to Jay and myself to get this done and get out again. If we can't get out ourselves, you could try breaking the link by taking the helmet off but if I can't break the controls that may do more harm than good."
"But that's how we got Ebony out!" exclaimed Amber.
"He may not have activated the internal controls by then, it would take some time and if he'd only just transferred over..."
"You mean Jay might not get out," said Ebony, her voice devoid of any sign of emotion.
"Or Ved!" hissed Cloe reproachfully.
"Well I'll just have to make sure I get the controls to work for me then, won't I?" answered Ved as he fixed the helmet onto his head and entered the darkness of Ram's world.
--
"Patch, how's it going?" called Salene as she entered the hospital ward.
"I-I'm not sure," stammered the exasperated Patch, "Dee's taking charge in the other ward. She has most of the helpers with her but she still needs more. My lot here are still unconscious, hers are up and still think they're playing 'the game'!"
"I'll go try talk 'em out of it," said Amber and hurried off to the neighbouring ward.
Patch hurried over to a nearby table and started sorting out medicine bottles and surgical implements busily.
"W-We need more supplies, more workers, more information more everything!"
"Are you coping?" asked Salene, slightly worried at Patch's more than usually nervous flurry of activity.
"I'll be fine, it's just busier that I'd expected."
He picked up a pitcher of water and a glass, a notepad and a pencil and strode over to a bed in an adjoining room. The inhabitant of the room was a young boy with tawny hair that reached just past his shoulders and looked as though it was usually tied back in a ponytail. He seemed to be asleep, but as Patch and Salene drew near it became apparent he was just staring at the opposite wall.
When Patch sat down on the side of the bed, the boy didn't move. Patch poured a glass of water and handed it to the boy. The eyes flicked down to the glass and the boy looked as if he was trying to make some difficult decision. After a long pause, he took the glass, sat up and drunk deeply. As he turned to lay the empty glass down on the table Salene started. She was sure she knew him from somewhere, but where?
--
Through in the next ward Amber and Dee struggled to separate another two 'players' of the game.
"How come you were never this bad?" shouted Dee over the racket.
"They've been hooked up longer that I have," Amber shouted back, "they'll take longer to come out of it."
"By the time they do, they'll have my staff in here as patients!"
Eventually the two fighters were separated and allowed Amber and Dee to lead them back to their beds. The fighting seemed to go in fits and starts, Dee explained. Suddenly, they would all start fighting for their lives then, after nearly beating each other, not to mention Dee and her helpers, to death, they would stop just as suddenly. It was like they were on a timer, she surmised. The only thing was there didn't seem to be any regularity or warning to when it would start.
"Add to that the fact that we've no sedatives, a decreasing number of staff and an increasing number of patients and you can see how much fun we're having!" she added sarcastically.
"I'll see if I can round up some more volunteers, I'm sure Bray and Alice will help."
With many expressions of thank from Dee, Amber left in search of Salene. She found her in the small single room with Patch and the boy. Salene turned to her with a puzzled look.
"What's up?" Amber asked, "Is he bad?"
"No, he's recovering well," she answered, "it's just, I'm sure..."
"What?"
"I'm sure I know him and he certainly seems to know me, he keeps watching me. He doesn't seem to want to say anything and he doesn't seem to be bothered by us talking about him even though we're right next to him - it's as if he couldn't hear us!"
"Maybe he can't."
Amber went to where Patch was scribbling down some notes on his patient's condition. She asked him something and took the pad and pencil. As she sat down on the other side of the bed the boy watched her, intently scrutinising her face. Suddenly he smiled in recognition and Amber smiled back and wrote something on the pad. When she passed it to him, the boy's mouth opened in excitement. He grinned broadly, nodded his head vigorously and grabbed Amber and hugged her ecstatically.
"Yes, Salene," said Amber over the boy's shoulder, "He does recognise you."
--
Lex led an apprehensive Pride back into the control room after their man-to-man chat. Alice was entering the room from the other side with a glass of what looked like very cold water, judging by the condensation dripping off it, in her hand. Bray and Siva were attempting to shake Ryan awake; Ebony and Cloe were worriedly comforting each other and watching Mega's monitor over his shoulder; Mega himself was so intent on the monitor it was debatable whether he even knew they were there.
"It's no good, he's too deep," moaned Siva. Alice smiled wickedly.
"You know, whenever I wanted to wake Ellie up," she said, "I did this!"
And so saying, she unceremoniously dumped the freezing cold water on Ryan's face. Ryan spluttered and sat up with a gasp.
"Alice!" shrieked Siva, "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was. And look, I'm soaked too!"
"Aw, c'mon babe," said Lex from the doorway, increasingly amused at the scene before him,
"It worked!"
"Lex!" wailed Siva.
"Lex?" shouted Ryan, ecstatically. Before anyone could stop him he was off the table and hugging his old friend, "Man, it's great to see you again. Bray, Cloe, Alice – it's so good to see you all again. Um, you too Ebony. Who is everyone here? Where's Sal? Is she okay? Is the baby okay? C'mon tell me do I have a son or a daughter?
--
Ved gasped as, with a rush of air and the sensation of falling, he awoke in Ram's virtual world. He could feel something solid beneath his feet but, as all around him was black, he could not be sure what. He walked forward, tentatively. Whatever was supporting him continued to do so. He raised his hands and felt around him. He felt as though he was in a darkened room but light from somewhere meant that he could see his hands in front of him. He noticed that he was no longer wearing the familiar Techno uniform he was used to. Looking himself over he found he was dressed exactly as he had been before he had joined the group: as he had dressed when he was in his brother's tribe.
Wondering how Ram's mind would be working at this stage, Ved closed his eyes and tried to think. Where would the control panel be? He had gone into Ram's private reality space before – been able to see what went on in his head. That time, he'd found his then leader and mentor at home, or at least what was his home before the virus struck. He tried to picture himself back there but his mind was weak. "Concentrate" he told himself as he tried to build up the image of the garden in his mind. Eventually he saw it in his head, the wood panelled room with the picture that formed the hidden exit into Ram's garden. He opened his eyes and he was there.
