Imperium: Betrayal: Book One in the Imperium Trilogy

by Paul M Calvert

  Watching the nurse walk away to inform the other ICU nurses and attend to her own patients, Karen sat down beside the bed again, her mind whirring with possibilities. She discounted almost immediately the idea they had all made a mistake in their initial diagnosis, but still got back up to fetch the notes. No, it was all set out here, in black and white. Severe trauma to the head, compound fractures etc. She sat back down again, trying to think of any medical conditions that might result in these changes.

  Vimes was pleased. The accelerated healing factors had worked according to plan and muscle loss had stabilized. He had been focusing much of his attention on Adam’s eye and head, but in a moment would also be in a position to let Adam fully awake and begin interacting with the humans of this place. Surprised, but gratified the young woman called Karen had stayed with them all night, Vimes hoped he would be able to factor her into his plans to get Adam of here and safely away. However, to do that he needed to increase Adams supply of collagen, calcium phosphate and protein to rapidly repair his bones and replace the muscle mass he’d converted. The best source of all three would be lean red meat and plenty of it, preferably raw. Unfortunately, a request of this nature would probably be looked upon here as a sign of mental illness and draw additional attention to themselves. He slowly brought Adam back to consciousness, keeping his body still, so no indication would be given. Quickly explaining the situation to Adam, he warned him about the damage to his body and that it would be at least another day before he could consider trying to move due to the broken bones.

  “How did you do all this?” Adam asked, “You told me I had full control over my body. Did you lie to me, Vimes?”

  “Not at all,” came the reply, “In the event of a catastrophic failure where you are no longer in control, for example, if unconscious and bleeding out, I have the ability to step in and control your autonomic functions. Once the emergency is over you take back control. That is the only time I can take total control without your permission. To simplify, if I hadn’t acted as I did you would now be dead.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this on the ship along with all the other revelations?”

  “Two reasons Adam. Whilst I can preserve your life in circumstances where others in your position would die, it is not fool-proof. If I had told you this before you might have taken unnecessary risks, thinking yourself safe from major injury. Secondly, there remain other “secrets” you needed to know first. I would have imparted these to you as required. Remember, it is only a short time since we became reacquainted.”

  “Well, I want control back. Now!” Adam insisted. Immediately, he was struck by a wave of pain as Vimes released all the controls and blocks. Taken by surprise, Adam let out a moan and opened his eye, the other one kept shut under the bandages Karen and the nurse had replaced.

  Karen was also taken by surprise at the sudden moan from her patient and leant forward just as he opened his eye.

  “Welcome back, Adam. What do you remember about yesterday?” Karen asked. There were a dozen questions she wanted answers to, but decided to see what he could recall and whether he was able to interact with her.

  “I remember the accident but nothing before that,” came the reply. “You’re the one I saved aren’t you?”

  Karen was struck by his accent, something she couldn’t place. Seven years at medical school had exposed her to students and Doctors from every corner of the world, but she couldn’t recall anyone sounding like him. She asked where he was from and was puzzled by his momentary hesitation, almost as if he was listening to something else.

  “I don’t remember. I only know my name is Adam and I somehow ended up walking along that road. Everything else is a blank to me.” He let out a low moan. “Can you give me something for the pain please, it seems to be getting worse.”

  Karen reassured him she would return with something and went to find the duty nurse for keys to the medicine locker. The nurse came back with her and injected morphine into his thigh muscle, telling him it would take effect in a minute or so. Before she could ask him any more questions, Adam asked for food, insisting he was ravenously hungry and needed to eat right away, preferably meat and food rich in calcium. The nurse looked at Karen for a decision, who nodded and said she would get something from the canteen for him later. After looking at them both for a few seconds, the nurse walked away, to look in on the other patients.

  Watching Adam, Karen saw he’d remained very still, breathing regularly and was looking around the room with his good eye, taking everything in.

  “Why do you need meat and calcium; do you have a condition we need to know about?” she asked him.

  His good eye returned from looking around the room to fix on hers. “Think about this logically, Karen. That is your name isn’t it?”

  Before she could ask how he knew, Adam interrupted and told her he’d overheard someone calling her by that name. “I’ve suffered numerous breakages and tissue loss. You’ve probably noticed how much I’ve shrunk in mass overnight. That’s because my body has been cannibalising itself to heal the damage. To continue healing, I need raw materials for my body to use, such as protein and calcium. Give me the raw materials and I will be out of here in another day.”

  Her initial instinct was to laugh at his naïveté, but his manner and supreme confidence in what he was saying made her stop and reassess. Thinking hard she reviewed the facts. Normally this man in front of her should be dead or so badly traumatised by his ordeal that asking for food would be the last thing on his mind. The head injuries alone would probably have left most men in a coma, yet here he was, lucid and asking for food and in a strange way making perfect sense. There was no denying his body had miraculously speeded up the healing process by a factor of thirty and the overnight muscle loss was not medically explainable. So maybe he did know something she didn’t. Recalling a much-used quotation from Sherlock Holmes, “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” Karen decided to accept his explanation at face value, and in the absence of any other explanation, would take the risk.

  “OK, I’ll get you something. Tell me, Adam, how can you do this. What are you?” Again, she could sense a momentary hesitation before replying.

  “I’m human, just like you, but I happen to heal rapidly. I can’t tell you anything else until I’ve learned to trust you. If word gets out about my gift I’d never know peace again, would I?”

  With that, he closed his eye and took a deep breath, wincing as he forgot about his damaged ribs.

  “Please, just get me some food, there’s money in my trouser pocket if you need it.”

  Karen stood motionless for a while, thinking through all what had just been said, balancing the risks against the potential benefit to her patient. She made a decision. If he was hungry then eating would do him no harm, far from it. If what he was saying was true, doing as asked would speed up the process and make for an amazing write-up in the Lancet.

  Decision made, Karen walked off to get him a plate of food, first stopping off at the nurses’ station and asking for an injection of Calcium Chloride to be readied for when she returned, before realizing she had left her ID card and purse behind in the house. The ID doubled as a credit card for the canteen and without money she was stuck. Remembering what he’d said, she walked back to his bed and looked through the pile of clothes that had been brought up earlier from A&E. Surprised at the wad of notes, she put it in her pocket for safe keeping.

  Downstairs in the canteen, Karen took two plates from the warming stack and jiggled them around on her tray until they fit. The queue for food was small this morning so she was able to pile the plates with bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, hash browns and beans without getting too many strange looks. Just before reaching the till, she also picked up three bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice, thinking to herself that whatever he didn’t eat she would, for the sight and smell of the food was making her very hungry. The lady at the till
gave her a withering look when she proffered a fifty-pound note, then grudgingly gave change. For the briefest of moments Karen had a vision of herself tipping the tray’s contents over the woman’s head, but instead said thank you and smiled politely.

  By the time she returned to the ICU, Adam was awake and sitting up in bed, apparently after insisting the nurse help him as his arms were still too damaged to support his weight. The nurse was fussing around him, looking slightly bemused as to what she should do next. She walked towards Karen, leaning forward to have a quiet word.

  “I’ve left the injection on the tray at the foot of his bed and I think we can move him out into a general ward later today. He might only have one eye, but I swear he was staring at my backside a little while ago, so I think he certainly on the mend!”

  Looking down at the tray of food Karen had in her hands, the nurse shook her head and walked off, leaving her alone. Karen sat down by the bed and asked him what he wanted to eat first. When Adam said he wasn’t bothered, just start bringing it to his mouth, she piled a heap of scrambled egg onto a fork and began feeding him like a baby. Seeing her smile, he asked, between mouthfuls, what was so funny.

  “You’re by far the largest baby I’ve ever had to feed. I didn’t think I would be spending my holiday looking after a complete stranger, but I suppose it’s the least I can do for you.

  Again there was that brief hesitation before he spoke, shorter this time but still noticeable.

  “It was my pleasure to save you, Karen, really.” His one eye looked at hers, switching between left and right. “If I had to do it again I would do so without hesitation although next time I would try and get out of the way of that…lorry before it hit me. He motioned with his head for her to feed him some more.

  Watching him rapidly eat the food, he hardly seemed to be chewing and certainly couldn’t be enjoying the taste as he was eating so fast. Within minutes, the first plate was empty and he indicated hungrily towards the second. She asked if he was sure, but he simply nodded and gave her a smile. Karen looked closely at his face and although she knew it had to be her imagination, he already looked more vital and awake. Very gently shaking her head, she again wondered to herself just who the hell he was and what she was getting herself into.

  Now, almost completely focused on the food in front of him, which although it didn’t look too appetizing, smelt and tasted wonderful, Adam noticed Karen looking at him and the slight shaking of her head. He surmised she was asking herself what to do next and whether she should trust him. In an effort to gain her confidence, Adam weighed up the risk of providing more information against that of discovery, but couldn’t decide what to do. Surprisingly, Vimes had been unusually silent since he woke, talking to him only when asked. He assumed Vimes was still focusing on healing his body and converting the food into usable raw materials, so he left him alone.

  “Karen, I know it must be hard for you to trust me when I don’t know much myself,” he began, between mouthfuls, “but my body is telling me exactly what I need right now. I can’t explain it to you, I just know.”

  Karen didn’t respond, just kept on feeding him until the second plate was empty, along with two of the orange bottles. Placing the empty tray down, she picked up the syringe and pulled back the blanket, uncovering his right thigh.

  “This is an injection of calcium chloride which will help with your bone growth. We’ll see how you get on with this. Are you up for talking a bit more?”

  “I’m tired Karen, but ask away. Perhaps your questioning will jog a few memories. As I’ve already told you, I remember the accident but nothing before that. I don’t know where I’m from, what my…surname is or how I came to be on Skye that evening. It’s all blank.”

  He looked at her face, trying to make himself look vulnerable. “If I knew anymore I would tell you. What I do know is that I have to get back there as I’m sure it will help jog my memory. Is it far?”

  “A few hours by car,” she said. “My aunt and uncle have a house there, near to where you were run over. I had just arrived to spend a few weeks at their house while they were away on holiday. I need to find somewhere to…”

  Karen suddenly stopped talking, realizing she was giving away too much information. “I’d make a terrible inquisitor,” she thought, deciding to wait for Adam to add something before saying anything else.

  Adam noted she stopped herself and decided that was enough for now. He yawned and asked if she would mind his going to sleep as he’d become very tired.

  “I’ll talk to you later, Adam,” Karen said, before picking up the tray and heading back to the canteen where she was going to get herself a big breakfast and try to make sense of what was happening.

  Karen had almost finished her big fried breakfast, and over a pot of tea was contemplating how much nicer the world seemed on a full stomach. Using the last of her bread to soak up the remaining tomato juice and pop it into her mouth, she sighed contentedly and leant back in her chair, looking around the room at the other people eating there. At this time of the morning most were Hospital staff and she nodded whenever she caught the eye of someone she recognized. In the far corner sat a young couple, looking tired and sad; probably staying in the same residential block she had while their child was receiving treatment. The dark shadows under the eyes of the mother were a giveaway, for she’d unfortunately seen that haunted, sad look all too often.

  Karen picked up her cup of tea and cradled it in both hands, looking back over the last few days. Her break-up with Ian seemed to have happened a lifetime ago and the associated problems an irrelevance not worth worrying about in the scheme of things. Annoyingly, a part of her mind was trying to tell her something. It was nagging her like a broken tooth which you couldn’t resist touching with your tongue all the time. Was it some kind of sixth sense or simply annoyance at not being completely in control anymore?

  Shrugging the feeling away, she again let her mind go blank and sat there, people-watching, trying to guess why they were coming to the Hospital and what sort of lives they lead. She did this for fifteen minutes before gathering up her rubbish and depositing it on the trolley rack for collection. With one last look around, she left the room and headed back to the ICU to check up on her mystery man.

  Despite only having been gone for just over an hour, the change in Adam was remarkable. Whereas before his face had looked pinched and drawn, it now seemed to have filled out. Still sitting up in bed, he was now flexing his wrists and hands, seemingly without too much pain. Grabbing a handful of mixed dressings from the supply area, she walked over to the hand basin near his bed and washed her hands. After putting on a pair of the disposal gloves, she told Adam she was going to have another look at his head and eye. He didn’t say anything so she began unwinding the bandage and gently pulled away the dressing covering his eye and head. The eyelid looked better, not as red or raw as before, but when she tried to open it he pulled his head away for a second, before relenting and staying still. Reaching forward again, he opened it himself and looked at her before she could do so herself. Although the mass in his eye socket remained cloudy white, it was now more solid and the iris better defined than before. At her request, Adam moved it from side to side, indicating the socket muscles had fully recovered. Thankfully, there were no signs of inflammation or infection. Moving her attention to his head, the dressing came away easily and revealed the same scab as before, but this time, it had cracked in places to reveal tanned, healthy-looking skin beneath.

  It was the same on his left shoulder and legs, scabbed but definite signs of healthy skin forming rapidly underneath. Looking into his eyes, both of them this time, she thought she saw on his face a flash of, “I told you so,” just before he tried to say something. Karen interrupted him before he could go any further, asking if he wanted more food. He simply nodded and smiled. Redressing the wounds, Karen mentioned she’d had to use some of his money to buy food but that she would repay him when she had the chance. He nodded and didn’t seem a
t all bothered, saying she could help herself if she needed anything else.

  With new dressings now in place, she headed back to the canteen to get him more food.

  By the time the canteen was getting ready for the lunch time rush, Adam had demolished three trays of food and at least two litres of juice. When paying for the last tray, the sour-faced woman on the till simply looked down at the pile of food and then Karen’s stomach before ringing up the price and taking the money without another word.

  Sitting by his bedside, watching him eat the last plateful, Karen tried to get more information out of Adam, but he continued to insist on not having any recollection prior to the accident. She was no expert on memory loss but knew enough to understand that it could happen just after a traumatic injury such as he’d experienced, but it did seem a tad too convenient. Then there were these occasional hesitations in his speech, almost as if he was double checking with someone what he was saying for consistency or accuracy. On the other hand, he was friendly enough and seemed very interested in all what had happened to him and about Skye.

  She needed to buy some things in Inverness later, so scheduled a scan of his head for when she was away shopping. Although the scans taken on admission had been clear, she wanted one final check to make sure.

  Luckily the room she’d used in the residential block was still vacant so she had somewhere to stay for the next few nights, before having to get back to Skye. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any spare clothes or toiletries and was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable in two-day old clothes. She caught a taxi into Inverness and hit Primark for some something cheap and cheerful that could be thrown away in a few days’ time. A visit to Boots provided toiletries for both of them and by the time she headed back to the taxi rank, both hands were full of sundry plastic and large paper shopping bags from various stores. Arriving back at the Hospital, she gratefully dumped them in her room before adding up what she now owed Adam. Looking at the figure she raised an eyebrow. At this rate, she was going to be in his debt both financially and morally.