Chapter 4

That night while asleep, Ralph had a strange lucid dream of a sick little girl again. He woke up and felt terrible. His whole body hurt, and Ralph could tell he had a high fever. He was sweating profusely, and his heart seemed to pound loudly in his head. He pushed Pam to wake her, calling, "Pam, Pam, I'm sick, Pam. I was dreaming about a little girl being sick and woke up sick. Please call the doctor; I feel terrible."

Pam touched his head and could feel that he had a high fever. He was tossing and turning and shaking due to the pain. His eyes were fluttering, and she could tell he was only semi-conscious. He started speaking in what sounded like Spanish. He didn't know Spanish and didn't have the suit on to talk to Spanish through him. They had stayed at the Hero compound that night because Pam had an early morning meeting scheduled, so luckily, emergency services were close by. She jumped out of bed and called the Hero compound emergency line. The on-duty doctor and EMTs flew to their room within a couple of minutes. They took Ralph's temperature with a digital thermometer, which read 105°F. The doctor told Pam they had to take him to the medical center immediately. They put him on the gurney and flew him to the medical center.

They did everything possible to lower his temperature, but nothing seemed to work. He got weaker and weaker and stopped breathing for some time. Pam stood there staring at him, not believing he was dead, when he suddenly gasped, opened his eyes, and started breathing normally. His temperature gradually dropped to normal as well. He lay there staring at the wall, and it looked like he was trying to talk, but nothing was coming out.

A dream awakened Kenji that Ralph was in trouble. He got up and checked the locator program on the computer. It said Ralph was in the medical center. He headed there immediately. Kenji walked into Ralph's room and saw Ralph staring and unable to speak. He knew what was wrong. Ralph had left his body and wandered in the void between this plane and the next. Kenji used his suit's telepathic function, placed his hands on Ralph's temples, and linked with him.

Seeing what Kenji was doing, the doctor ran out of the room and returned, rolling a new instrument into the ICU. He quickly placed a strange cap with many white buttons on Ralph's head and hooked it up to the machine. The machine began showing brain wave patterns on the screen. The doctor told the EMT, "Look at how unusual the wave patterns are and how they fluctuate from weaker to stronger. Here is a second wave pattern that looks more normal: Kenji contacting Ralph's mind."

Kenji was linked with Ralph's mind. Ralph was fading in and out, not knowing where he was. Kenji called Ralph several times. Finally, he got Ralph's attention. Ralph said slowly in his mind, 'Kenjisama, where are we? I feel like I was lost for a long time. I was trying to find the little girl, and I got lost. Something else has been calling my name from far away, and I was trying to find it, but I got lost."

Kenji told Ralph, 'Follow me. Ralph.' And Ralph started to follow him. Then he heard the familiar voice from far away and turned towards it. Kenji said, 'Don't listen to that; listen to me. Follow me. This way, Ralph.' Ralph turned and followed Kenji.

The EMT pointed to another wave pattern that was very weak and on the edge of the screen and asked, "What is that?" The doctor looked at it and exclaimed, "It's a different wave pattern, but very weak."

The EMT asked, "Is there a third person in there?" The third wave pattern faded away.

Kenji opened his eyes, and Ralph blinked several times, trying to focus his eyes. He said, "Oh, my God, where was I? What happened?"

Kenji explained, "You were in the void between this plane and the next."

Ralph said, "I was trying to find the little girl, but something else was trying to pull me away."

The doctor said, "Ralph, you died for about two minutes, then you came back and took a big gasp of air, or at least your body came back to life, but your mind was not all here."

Kenji said, "That was because he was between planes."

Anxiously, Ralph shouted, "But we have to find the little girl, or else she and her whole village will die! We must find her now. The time is getting shorter and shorter. It is important to save her. She's important."

Pam asked, "Why is she important?"

Ralph stared and answered, "She is the key to saving millions of lives in the future."

Pam asked, "How do you know that?"

With a questioning look, Ralph slowly said, "I dreamt it. I think."

Kenji asked, "Have you had prophetic visions before?"

Pam answered for Ralph, "Yes, as a young superhero, he once saw the airplane. I was in a crash a day before it happened. He figured out what plane it would be and pulled two other passengers and me out before it crashed."

Ralph said, "But that was the suit giving me prophetic holograms; that wasn't me."

Kenji said, "The suit can enhance prophetic visions, but it does not get them."

Ralph exclaimed incredulously, "So you are telling me I was the one who got the vision, and the suit enhanced it? It did look genuine to me. I could even pick up the airplane's voice recorder at the crash site before the crash happened."

Kenji explained, "The DNA enhancement may have intensified your natural psychic abilities. That may be why you can reach deeper meditation levels faster than the other students."

Ralph declared, "But I have never been psychic. I'm not even sure I believe in that."

Pam said, "But, Ralph, you used to get bad feelings about things when you were working with Bill all the time."

Ralph stared off and then announced, "That other voice I kept hearing was Bill. When you said his name, it triggered something. I could never quite pin down whose voice that was. I heard it the first time I had that out-of-body experience in meditation class. It was Bill."

Kenji asked, "Have you ever channeled anyone dead before?"

Ralph asked, "What is channeling?"

Kenji answered, "Basically, a spirit is brought forward from another plane and talks through you."

"I encountered a spirit in a haunted house once; it possessed Bill, and I had to go into the fourth dimension to stop it," Ralph explained.

Kenji answered, "Well, it wasn't the fourth dimension; that is time; it was another plane of existence you entered. You wouldn't have been able to do that without some psychic ability."

Ralph exclaimed, "Wait a minute, I had some imaginary friends when I was little. Mom and Dad could never see them, but I always could. When I went to school, they went away. I just now remembered that. Do you think I was channeling spirits then and didn't know it?"

Kenji said, "They were probably more attracted to your natural abilities. Your natural abilities were also why the green guys chose you to be the first wearer of the suit. We all have a small amount of some psychic ability; you seem to have a little more than others."

Ralph agitatedly said, "Oh, great, now I have to contend with unwanted prophetic dreams and who knows what else. I look forward to taking the suit off and feeling normal on my days off; now, I can't even feel normal at any time. And what will happen when I have the suit on and one of these prophetic visions comes through? Are they going to be even worse?"

Kenji said, "I think the new suits may help you focus more, but I'm unsure."

Ralph sat there, closed his eyes, and rubbed his head. The doctor asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Ralph said, "Yes, I have a headache and am exhausted. But we still must find the little girl."

Kenji asked, "Do you know if the little girl is sick right now?"

Ralph answered, "I don't think so. I think my dreams were for the future, but the near future."

The doctor gave Ralph a painkiller. Ralph took it down with a glass of water, laid back, and closed his eyes, still rubbing his head.

The doctor pointed to Ralph and mimed sleep to Kenji and Pam. They understood that the pill he took would also make him sleep.

The doctor asked Ralph, "Do you have any other information about the little girl we could start checking into?"

Ralph groggily said, "Her name is Maria Alvarez, and she lives in San Miguel, Chile." And he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Pam asked, "Why didn't he tell us that before?"

Kenji said, "His subconscious mind knew it, but his conscious mind couldn't link it up. The pill the doctor gave him was closing off his conscious mind, and his subconscious mind answered the question."