Chapter 7 – Then I Will Be Gone
August 14 2001, Silver Hills General
Three days after Albert Collins's admission into hospital, his condition had barely changed. He was still in a coma and was being kept alive through a life support machine. Reporters had been camped outside BioLab, the hospital and the Collins Mansion trying to get the latest updates. The Silver Guardians were being stretched to their limit by providing security to those locations. With his new role as CEO, Wes had to distance himself from the other rangers to avoid anyone looking too deeply into their background. Fortunately for them Ransik had decided to take it easy for a few days and the city had been surprisingly quiet.
It was just after lunchtime when the rangers from the future arrived back at the hospital. This would be their first face to face meeting with the red ranger since his father's hospitalisation. Running BioLab even on a temporary basis was keeping him busy. A couple of Silver Guardians posted at the hospital escorted them to the private room where Mr Collins was being treated. Outside the door Eric was waiting to greet them. The Quantum Ranger looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep in the previous few days, "Hey Eric, any change", Trip greeted.
"Not really", he replied, "but you'll have to ask Wes for more details", they looked through the blinds covering the window and saw Wes hunched over a chair by his father's bedside.
"Can we see him?" Lucas asked.
Eric nodded, "One at a time though", the others nodded their heads, "hospital rules, not mine", he added.
There was a silent conversation between the rangers before Jen was gently nudged towards the door. She took a deep breath and stepped inside, "I really hope Mr Collins is alright", Katie said.
"Maybe this will give Wes and Jen the nudge they need to finally need to get together", Trip added but everyone glared in his direction, "what did I say?"
"Trip, Wes's father could be dying and you're thinking about that", Lucas scolded the green ranger.
"Even I found that to be in bad taste little man", Eric shook his head.
"I didn't mean it like that, I was just trying to generate some positive energy", Trip stammered.
Katie placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know what you mean Trip, after the week we've had, we could use some good news".
Inside the private room, Jen approached the red ranger as quietly as he could, "It's alright Jen, I'm not asleep", Wes said without turning around.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked in surprise.
Wes slowly turned his chair around to face the pink ranger. There were heavy bags under his eyes and his shirt and tie were slightly dishevelled, "I heard your voices outside and I knew they would send you in", he gave her a small smile.
The silence in the room was periodically interrupted by the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. Mr Collins lay completely still on the bed with an IV line in his arm and a tube down his throat, "Any change?" Jen asked in hope.
Wes shook his head, "If anything he's getting worse", he glanced over at his father, "he can't breathe unaided and the doctors mentioned that there's minimal brain activity". He paused for a moment, "They said if his condition doesn't change in the next few hours then I might have to consider switching off his machine". Jen bit her lip and placed an arm around his shoulder, "Seem all I've done this week is sit at the bedside of people I love", he added.
The pink ranger's heart skipped a beat at the use of the word love, did that mean that Wes loved her as well? During her illness he was always present at her bedside, she remembered this from the brief moments she was awake. This wasn't the moment to discussion that with Wes though so instead she held him in silence for a few minutes. "I never got to say goodbye to my father", she finally broke the silence, "or my mother".
"Are they both..", Wes's voice trailed off.
"Dead?" Jen completed his sentence and then nodded slowly, "five years ago they were involved in a road accident, neither of them were fifty years old".
"That's no age at all", Wes squeezed her hand in support.
"Certainly not by thirty first century standards", she began, "medical advances mean that life expectancy is well over a hundred and fifty". She snorted and shook her head, "We've cured almost all diseases and can even bring people back from the dead if we get to them quickly enough but a simple car crash took my parents away from me". She looked down at Wes briefly, "Sorry probably not the best time to bring this up".
The room descended into an awkward silence but finally Wes asked, "You said you could bring people back from the dead", Jen nodded, "why didn't Time Force do that for Alex?"
A small lump formed in Jen's throat at the mention of her deceased fiancée. It wasn't out of grief but more from guilt because if she was honest, she hadn't thought about Alex for several weeks, "I'm not sure, they just told me they couldn't do it", she replied, "I was so focused on getting even with Ransik that I never questioned it".
Before their conversation could continue there was a soft knock on the door. The pair turned around and Lucas had stuck his head through the door, "Sorry to interrupt but there's an attack down town", she said.
Jen's gaze immediately returned to Wes, "We can manage without you if you'd prefer to stay, I'm sure Eric can help us with this one".
The red ranger thought about the offer for a moment and wondered what his Dad would do in this situation. "No I should go with you", he replied, "I've made my peace with Dad and if the worst happens whilst I'm gone then at least I got to say goodbye". He turned back towards his father's bed and leaned down, "Goodbye Dad, thanks for everything", he whispered and kissed his forehead.
"Are you sure about this?" Jen squeezed his arm.
Wes took a deep breath, "Yeah, perhaps kicking some mutant ass will be good therapy for me", he replied. As he left the room Lucas clapped him on the shoulders and the rangers set off towards the latest attack.
Most of the hospital had been distracted by the latest mutant attack, either through watching it on the news or being asked to cover in another department. Admissions usually rose during an attack so the hospital was placed on to high alert. That would explain why an unknown man was able to sneak past security and up to the room of Albert Collins. The figure briefly looked through the window before stepping inside. With Eric absent due to the mutant attack, the room was completely unguarded. The mystery man took a quick look around and closed the door, shutting the blinds in the process. He glanced down at Mr Collins and then looked at his watch, "Any moment now", he muttered.
The heart monitor started to beep a little slower and it wasn't long before a continuously droning tone could be heard. Almost immediately the figure turned off the machine and disconnected it from the wall, "There, that should give us some peace and quiet", he commented and looked at his watch again.
After counting off a full minute, the mystery man reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing orb around the size of a baseball. He placed it into Mr Collins's hand and made sure that he held it as tightly as he could. He nodded in satisfaction and placed a pair of sunglasses onto his face. He looked out into the corridor and when he was happy that no one was paying attention, he snuck outside and disappeared.
A couple of hours later the alert around the city had been lifted and it was safe of visitors to return to the hospital. The rangers immediately made their way up to Mr Collins's room but they were in for a shock. The door was wide open and the room was completely empty. The bed had clean sheets and all of the medical equipment had been moved. Wes lowered his head and a small tear formed in his eye, "I'm sorry Wes", Jen muttered and the other echoed the pink rangers sentiments.
"Ah Wes there you are", a voice called out from the door. It was the doctor that had been treating Mr Collins. He was in his early fifties with short white hair, "Sorry are these friends of yours", Doctor Harris asked.
"Yeah they are", the red ranger was able to replied, "look Doctor I think I already know what's happened".
"I'm not sure that you do", Doctor Harris began, "not long after you left, we were alerted to the fact that someone had unplugged Mr Collins's machine".
"You're not suggesting that was one of us are you?" Eric asked with a small amount of menace in his voice.
"Certainly not Captain Myers", the doctor said, "as I was saying after this alert we rushed into to check on your father and", he paused for a moment, "well I could hardly believe it".
Wes frowned, "Believe what?"
Doctor Harris smiled, "Perhaps it's easier if I show you". He stepped aside and a nurse pushed someone through the door in a wheelchair, "Dad", Wes gasped and rushed to hug his father.
"Careful Wesley", Mr Collins replied, "I'm still a little sore".
The red ranger chuckled and turned back to the doctor, "I don't understand, two hours ago he was at death's door".
"I know but we've run every single test and other than a bit of bruising your father is as fit as he was before", the doctor replied, "perhaps maybe even fitter".
As soon as the doctor mentioned this, Jen frowned and her eyes began to scan the room. Lucas and Eric picked up on the pink ranger's unusual behaviour and they looked at her curiously. "Tell you what, I fancy some fresh air", Mr Collins began, "if that's alright with my doctor".
"I don't see why not but try not to overwork yourself", Doctor Harris replied.
Wes took the wheelchair off the nurse and turned his father around, "Are you coming as well?" he asked the other rangers.
"No you go on without us", Eric replied for the rangers, "it'll give you and your father some time alone". Wes frowned but took the Quantum Ranger's words at face value. As soon as he had pushed Mr Collins out the door, Eric turned toward the pink ranger, "Alright so what's set your spider sense off", he asked.
Jen vaguely understood the reference to the comic book after listening to Wes go on about them for hours once, "Something doesn't feel right, there's no way that Mr Collins should be fine after the injuries he suffered".
"Yeah I was wondering about that", Lucas began, "given the technology in this time period it's a miracle he's alive".
"Unless it wasn't twenty first century technology that saved him", she replied, "there's only one thing I know of that can heal serious injuries that quickly and efficiently".
Trip snapped his fingers, "A healing cube", he exclaimed.
"What the hell's a healing cube?" Eric asked.
"It's a piece of medical equipment from the future", the green ranger replied, "if it's used between one and five minutes after clinical death, it can heal all injuries in a matter of hours. It has some limitations, it won't work if the patient suffered a massive brain injury or if they've died of old age but other than that, it's almost always effective".
"Hang on, so you're telling me that someone used a healing cube on Mr Collins", Katie began, "but that technology won't exist for nearly seven hundred years".
Eric took a moment to process this, "Could someone else have come back from the future?"
The others looked amongst themselves for a moment but they all came to the same conclusion. As they hadn't brought any healing cubes with them, the only way that one could've been used was if someone else had arrived from the future. If that was the case there were two questions that needed answering, who was it and why had they healed Mr Collins?
A/N - I keep teasing Wes/Jen, don't worry they'll get your moment. The healing cube concept is a little bit like 'Full-Life' magic, very effective but you have to be dead for it to work.