by A. D. Winch
That morning he had woken up in his hotel room to the news on the television. Every channel was discussing the possibility of a secret base in the desert near Roswell, and the race was on to get their first. The 'apparent' fact that the OSS, Office for Strategic Services, had never been disbanded was causing much discussion. All the stations were bringing up alleged activities that the OSS had been involved with, but no one was mentioning their sources.
A plane crash near to the alleged location of the base and the sighting of possible UFO activity around this time fuelled the fire. Witnesses were interviewed, and footage from mobile phones of lights in the sky was broadcast. Two residents of Centralia tried to contact newsrooms and relate what they had seen that morning, as did the crew of a cargo ship in the Gulf of Mexico, but they were ignored. The stations either thought they were jumping on the bandwagon or their stories were insignificant in comparison.
Behind the scenes, eminent experts in the fields of surveillance and extra-terrestrial life were lined up to speak, and former members of the CIA and the government were also contacted to make a comment. The leading stations wanted the leading voices on these matters to appear first on their programmes. The biggest hunt amongst the news packs was to find someone who had worked for the OSS, but this was proving much harder.
The White House announced that it would be holding a press conference at noon. Before this happened, Captain Hudson wanted to be as far away from the USA as possible. Once everyone was on board the jet, he requested clearance from the tower and took off back to Paris. Only when they were over the Atlantic did he relax a little and conclude that he was too old for this kind of excitement.
In the back of the plane, Alexander and Andrea were firing questions at Eric and Ursula. The children tried to answer them, but they slurred their words, their eyelids gradually closed and they soon fell asleep.
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Chapter 37 - Taken Care Of
As soon as they landed in Paris, the adults bid farewell to Captain Hudson and rushed the children to the Meyer residence. Granddad Benjamin and Mémé were already waiting for them.
Mémé could not hide her distress when she saw Ursula and Eric. Her hands flew to her face and she screamed. They had aged considerably since she had last seen them, and they looked more dead than asleep. She grabbed hold of her husband's arm for support as he led her inside.
Andrea and Alexander carried the children into the large apartment and lay them down on Mr. and Mrs Meyer's opulent double bed. Neither Eric nor Ursula moved, and even their breathing was barely noticeable.
Mémé pulled the silk sheets over the children as tears ran down her cheeks.
"Are they going to be okay?" she asked, stroking Ursula's wrinkled brow.
Alexander waved the bags in the air. "We have a cure."
"Then give it to them!" Jerome shouted.
Karima stepped towards Ursula's granddad and said, "We can't yet."
Jerome looked at her. He had never seen this woman before, but she was standing in front of him and denying the children the medicine they needed. He glared at her, and Karima felt compelled to explain her presence.
"I am Doctor Karima Khan. I worked with Professor Schwarzkopf, and I can help the children. Due to my work I believe that we have the means to make a cure. However, we need to isolate it and ensure that this medicine, if that's what we can call it, is safe before we administer it."
"Give it to them now," Mémé pleaded. "Look at them!"
"I'm sorry but we can't. We must act fast but if we rush this process we could kill them."
"But they're dying already!" Jerome cried desperately.
His words silenced the room.
Mémé sat on the bed next to Ursula and continued to stroke her face. Jerome sat heavily beside Eric and took the boy's hand. It was cold and lifeless.
"They are dying, but they are not dead yet," Andrea stated. She moved to the bed. "Excuse me," she said as she pushed Jerome out of the way.
She proceeded to examine Eric's vital signs and then did the same to Ursula. The others waited around the room on velvet armchairs and at Mrs Meyer's vanity table.
"They are alive," Andrea announced, "but both their pulses are very weak. Alexander, Mr. Benjamin and Mrs Benjamin, next to this room is another bedroom. Please turn it into a medical room for both children. You will find another bed in the spare room and clean sheets in the wardrobe. Anything that is not necessary must be removed from the room. Please go." As they left, she turned to Karima. "Doctor Khan, are you able to carry out the instructions that Professor Schwarzkopf gave you?"
"Yes. He said to isolate an enzyme in the saliva, and I am sure we can locate this in the samples we have."
"Work with Alexander and make a list of the equipment you will need. I will obtain everything within an hour of you completing this list. There must be no delay. Two doors to the left of this room is my room. You can use the computer if you need to. Go."
Karima and Alexander did as they were instructed.
Andrea was left alone with the children, and she stood like a statue at the end of the double bed. If the children died then she would have no further instructions to carry out. She would have no further purpose. Her head jerked from left to right as she tried to compute the future possibilities. There were none. She took a mobile phone from her pocket and dialled, Dr. Bucaille, the Meyer's private physician.
"Bonjour," answered a woman.
"You must come to the Meyer residence now," Andrea told her, getting straight to the point.
"I'm not sure I can."
"You must bring with you: respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, and gastrointestinal life support systems."
"You don't understand, Miss Duna, I'm about to go into surgery."
"The surgery can wait. Eric Meyer, and his companion Ursula Benjamin, will be dead in less than twenty-four hours if you do not attend to them immediately. I will expect you here within two hours."
Andrea hung up, and walked to her room. Alexander and Karima looked up from the computer as she entered.
"The children must live, but time is running out," she announced. "What do you need?"
An hour later, Alexander and Karima had all the equipment they needed. Andrea's contacts had fallen over themselves to help, and Alexander suspected that large sums of money had been exchanged. The two doctors of science worked quickly and had soon set up a laboratory in the kitchen in order to isolate the enzyme. If Mémé had seen, she would not have approved of the covered work surfaces and refrigerator filled with test tubes, but she had more important things to worry about.
Mémé watched as Andrea carried first Eric and then Ursula into the makeshift medical room. They were each placed on a bed, and Mémé dressed them in pyjamas before carefully tucking the crisp white sheets under their chins. Neither of the children stirred, and the sheet that rested against their chests hardly rose or fell.
Mémé feared the worst, and when Granddad Benjamin placed his hand in hers, she clung to it. They stayed there, gazing at Eric and Ursula until Andrea entered. It soon became apparent that their presence was not desired. Andrea ushered them out of the room as a smartly-dressed woman and two male nurses carrying large medical boxes brushed past them.
It was some time before Mémé and Granddad Benjamin were allowed back into the room. Both Eric and Ursula were connected to more life support machines than the Benjamins knew existed. Even though they knew that this equipment was helping, the presence of these machines and their accompanying noises scared them.
The woman approached the Benjamins and introduced herself as Dr. Bucaille. She reassured them that the children were now being monitored with the best equipment money could buy and that with Miss Duna's assistance the children would remain in a stable condition. With these words she left. Ominously, she never said that Eric or Ursula would get better.
"I'll stay here," Mémé told her husband. "You go and have some food."
; She wanted to be alone and sat down on an armchair between the two beds. As everyone left, she took a deep breath and made herself comfortable.
She remained there long into the evening and then through the night. She did not sleep much as she spent her time in the dark focusing on the quiet whisper of the children's breathing. While she was dozing the next day, Alexander and Karima entered the room. They added a murky solution to Ursula's and Eric's drips, and hoped for the best. By the time Mémé woke, the other two adults had gone, desperate to sleep themselves.
Mémé approached Eric and stroked his white hair before kissing him protectively on the forehead. He did not stir. She turned to Ursula and ran her hands tenderly over the wrinkled skin. Below the withered face was her granddaughter, and she willed the Ursula she used to know to show herself again. Mémé let the tears flow freely as she kissed Ursula on both cheeks. Suddenly, her granddaughter lurched upwards. Her spine bent in a C-shape; thrusting her pelvis towards the ceiling and her head into the mattress. Behind Mémé, Eric let out a scream as if he was being throttled.
"Help!" Mémé cried. "Help!"
Andrea entered first, and jumped onto Eric to hold him down and stop him wrenching all the drips and cables from his body. Alexander and Karima quickly followed and rushed to Ursula. The children twisted and contorted unconsciously and the adults had to battle to restrain them.
Granddad Benjamin entered and caught a desperate glance from Alexander who silently mouthed, 'Get her out.' The children gurgled and fitted. Their eyelids opened but only the whites of their eyes could be seen. Granddad Benjamin took his wife's hand and led her away.
They sat together in the lounge but did not speak. Time passed slowly, but they were too lost in their own thoughts to say anything. Eventually, Alexander entered and sat in a chair opposite them.
"Eric and Ursula are stable again," he said, looking exhausted.
"What do we do now?" Granddad Benjamin asked.
"We wait. All we can do is wait."
Granddad Benjamin translated for Mémé.
Eric and Ursula continued to lie in their beds, unmoving, for the next twenty days. During that time, most of the life-support equipment had been removed. Only two heart monitors remained and they pinged in rhythm. Two drips dangled from the children's limp arms, and these were attached to bags containing a light, cloudy liquid. In the corner of the room stood a small, plastic tree that Mémé had decorated in the hope that the promise of Christmas would somehow wake them.
Both children were still unconscious and had not woken since leaving America. In the room with them was the Meyer family's private physician. Dr. Bucaille had finished a full body examination of Ursula and had moved on to Eric. She had been his doctor since he was born, but she had never spoken to anyone about her unique patient. In all those years, she had only been indiscreet once, and that was accidental as she had mistakenly given a sample from Eric to a hospital for analysis. She was relieved that this had not caused any problems for herself or the family.
All of Eric's files were stored on her private computer using encryption software kindly provided by his late father, and now she finally understood why. Eric had been an exceptional baby and she saw that he would grow up to become an exceptional man. She had always believed him to be unique, however she had recently discovered that he was not alone. She had a new patient, and Ursula Benjamin's results were identical to Eric's. Both children were medical wonders and she desperately wanted to ask more questions about them, but she was paid generously for her discretion and did not pry.
After finishing the examinations, Dr. Bucaille left her patients and returned to the living room. She had always liked the Meyer's luxurious lounge. The grandiose furnishings and marble flooring suited her tastes. The only feature she would have changed was the modern cube hanging from the ceiling where the beautiful crystal chandelier had once been.
The assembled family, guardians and Indian lady sat around the room looking at her anxiously as she crossed to the huge fireplace. She stood under the Meyer family portrait in the gold gilded frame that she adored. A Persian cat walked towards her and rubbed against her legs.
"May I speak confidentially?" she asked, unsure whether she should divulge the results of her examinations to all the people before her.
"Yes," Andrea replied.
Dr. Bucaille had known Miss Duna for as long as she had known Eric. She suspected that the petite, foreign woman was a savant as she was clearly very intelligent and, in her opinion, on the autistic spectrum. On seeing the mask that Miss Duna was wearing she had offered to take a look at the wound on her face. She had even suggested a very good cosmetic surgeon that Eric's mother had once used, but had been abruptly declined.
Dr. Bucaille addressed the room in both French and English. "The bullet wound on Eric's leg continues to improve. It is clean, and the scabbing is secure. It will take another four to six weeks before his leg heals completely, and even though he will be scarred there will be no negative effects on his physical movements. Apart from this one injury, both children seem, from the tests I have run, in very good health for their age. Their recovery has been nothing short of miraculous and is beyond current medical understanding."
Karima smiled secretly and winked at Alexander.
"I cannot see any further medical issues that need addressing nor do I believe there are any. I am both amazed and delighted by their current condition."
"But they have been asleep for almost three weeks!" Mémé exclaimed, unable to hide the concern in her voice.
"Yes, that is true but it is not unheard of. I would venture to suggest that they are suffering from a rare and incurable condition called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, which appears during the early teenage years. It is not an easy condition to live with, as one of the symptoms is excessive amounts of sleep. However, as long as the patients are kept clean and are able to drink or eat, or are put on drips as is the case with these two patients, it is not life threatening. When they awake we can pursue this further. Is there anything else I can do for you at this time?"
"No, that is sufficient," Andrea replied.
"If there are any changes in their condition please call me. I know it is a worrying period for you all, but I can assure you that the children are no longer in mortal danger. However hard it may be, you must remain calm and wait for them to wake up in their own time."
Andrea saw the doctor out and then the adults walked down the long hallway to the children's room. The sight that greeted them as they entered was as unexpected as it was welcomed. Eric was sat up in bed, looking confused, and Ursula had pulled the sheets up to her nose and was gazing out at the snow on the window ledge.
Granddad Benjamin and Mémé ran to Ursula and hugged her. Then they ran to Eric and did the same. Alexander followed while Karima and Andrea watched from the end of the beds.
"Where are we?" Ursula asked.
"In my parent's apartment in Paris," Eric answered, stifling a yawn, and Andrea nodded to confirm.
"What happened to us?"
Andrea was about to answer, but Alexander stopped her. He took a mirror off the wall and held it at the end of the beds so Eric and Ursula could see themselves. They gawped at their reflections; their eyes widened and broad grins grew across their faces.
"We're cured?" they asked at the same time.
"We think so. Thanks to Karima," Alexander replied and beckoned Doctor Khan forward.
"Professor Schwarzkopf told me where to find the cure," she explained. "It was an enzyme in the samples you took from the alien. We isolated it within twenty-four hours of arriving here and have added it to the drips in your arms. It is still early on in your treatment. We have had difficulties discovering the correct dosage and your condition will have to be constantly monitored, but it is working. We may have to adjust the dosage over time, but as you can see for yourselves you are back to normal. Your skin is smooth again, and the white and grey in your hair will grow out. Your original hair colours are alre
ady starting to come through."
"And what about the OSS?" Eric asked.
"Are we safe?" Ursula instantly added.
"The OSS are no more," Alexander replied. "The White House issued statements while you were sleeping. They were quite cagey at first but then they revealed that they had placed an undercover mole in the organisation - a lady by the name of Jean Kurtz."
"That's rubbish!" huffed Karima. "She's trying to save her own skin and has seen a way that benefits both her and the American government."
"Whether she was or wasn't a mole is irrelevant because the OSS has been disbanded, and they have posthumously charged Buddy Angel with high treason."
"All OSS targets have been removed from most wanted lists. Therefore, you are no longer wanted criminals," Andrea added.
Alexander continued. "The newspapers were having a field day while you were unconscious, but already it is becoming yesterday's news. As are you two, fortunately," he pointed at Eric and Ursula. "You are no longer viral on the internet and thanks to Jason and his friends your online presence has reduced dramatically. However, the media are still trying to locate two children who did extraordinary things in the 'Battle of Morocco.' Consequently, we are going to keep a low profile for a while still."
"How long?" Eric asked.
"Until, the next big story appears and you are forgotten."
"Finally, it's all over," said Ursula smiling.
"For a time, my love, maybe," said Granddad Benjamin seriously. "But after all you've done, this isn't the end. This is just the beginning."
Mémé scowled at her husband, and Ursula knew he would be sleeping in the bath that night. The thought amused her, and she laughed. Eric saw the image too in her head and joined in the laughter. The adults looked on confused.
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