by Jay Cannon
“What about the side effects?” Denise insisted with a worried look on her face.
“Yes, there are a few, but they’re not that bad. Basically, daydreaming goes away. Once you start a task, everything else fades to the background. It can be hard for people to get your attention or for you to see other things happening around you.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“There’s one more thing which seems pretty cool, but turns out to be very uncool.”
“What’s that?” said Denise, her curiosity piqued.
“You don’t ever get sleepy. It was sort of neat for a couple of days then it just felt weird, so I had Pico remove the effects. He never sleeps or dreams.”
“Wow, that sounds interesting. Let’s try it for this session then you can remove the effect. Okay, Pico?”
Pico nodded in agreement. “Denise, please have a seat,” he said. “I’ll make the changes to your brain and we can get started. We’ll spend just thirty minutes on the procedure then I’ll remove the effects. Ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“Close your eyes and relax. I’ll make the changes and then I can start sending the images to you.”
“Okay, let me know when you’re done.”
Pico pulled out his shaman stone and adjusted Denise. “I’m finished. Now let’s get started.”
Morgan took Pico into his mother’s room and set him on the bed next to his mother. Denise closed the curtain and sat in a chair next to the bed with her eyes closed. Pico pulls out his shaman stone and peered into her brain.
“Oh my goodness. I can see the images already. This is just fabulous. I can actually see inside a live brain. Okay, let’s go towards the next clump in the series. It’s five centimeters deeper in the brain, below the two clumps you already destroyed. Do you see it?”
“Yes,” replied Pico through the bond. “It would go better if you communicate with me through your thoughts.”
“I forgot about that. Can you hear me okay?” Denise said telepathically.
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“Now that you have identified the clump, start by destroying the cells in the center and work your way to the outside. That’s it. As you destroy the nucleus of the cancer cells, the normal cells will push in on them and eventually replace them. If you rupture the cell membranes it will aid in the absorption of the cells by the body.”
“How is this?” asked Pico.
“Just fine. It looks like the lump is shrinking.”
***
“My device just beeped,” said Uan, pulling it from his pouch. “Let us see what we have.” Uan saw Morgan standing next to Denise, placing Pico on his mother. Uan grabbed Calvin by the sleeve and pulled him over to look at his UCD. “Look! There they are!”
“Man, that is remarkable. You can even hear what they are saying. You’ve got to get me one of those things.”
“This is not something one just buys in a store. It is assigned to you at birth or when you become a member of the Euclidian Alliance.”
“Okay, I’m fine with that, whatever that means.”
“I have to take care of those two. I will return shortly. Wait for me by the car.”
Calvin called after him, “Shouldn’t you turn invisible first?”
“I have,” Uan yelled over his shoulder, wondering about Calvin’s cognitive abilities.
How can I still see him? Calvin thought. Oh yeah, the enzymes. I hope they’re not eating away at my brain.
Uan raced to the hospital to attack his prey. Finally he could complete his mission. He took the stairs to avoid any complications with the elevator in case it was crowded. He made it to the eighth floor and raced unseen past the nurse’s station and into Morgan’s mother’s room.
“Morgan, he’s here!” exclaimed Pico, jumping to his feet.
Denise saw in her head an image of Uan as he came through the door carrying his spear. Pico had forgotten to break the link with her. She jumped to her feet and pulled the curtain open, screaming, eye’s wide open, but unable to detect Uan. Uan jumped over the other patient’s bed and lunged at Morgan. Before he got to Morgan, Pico pulled the curtain from around the bed, wrapped it around Uan and threw him through the window. Uan landed on a car parked on the street. Passersby were shocked as an invisible image cut through the curtain and ran across the lawn to the hospital entrance.
Morgan picked up Pico and headed to the stairs at the back of the hospital.
“What should I do?” Denise shouted after them.
“Just stay where you are and don’t worry. He’s not after you.”
CHAPTER 38
THE CHASE SCENE
Pico used his powers to aid Morgan in flying down the back stairs to the first floor. Uan was already up the front stairs to the eighth floor. He raced past Denise in pursuit of Morgan and Pico. Denise couldn’t see him, but she felt him go by and smelled his scent.
Uan ran to the back stairwell and descended a flight at a time, but when he got out to the sidewalk Morgan and Pico were gone. He looked frantically from left to right and saw a kid going around the corner at the far end of the block. Them!
He took off in hot pursuit. By the time he reached the corner they had vanished. Not possible! he thought. Uan noticed people going down some stairs in the sidewalk and decided to follow them. At the bottom of the stairs he saw that he was in the subway. He jumped over the turnstile and, picking one of the several stairways at random, headed for a platform.
“He followed us,” said Pico. “See him over there on the platform?”
“I can’t see him.”
“He’s using some sort of cloaking mechanism. I believe he has spotted us.”
“Our train isn’t going to make it in time.”
“Oh no,” warned Pico. “He’s jumping over the tracks to our platform. Run toward the stairs!”
Morgan reached the stairs and Pico floated them up to another platform then launched them toward a departing train. Morgan grabbed the chains between two cars and held on for dear life. Uan growled angrily and jumped onto the tracks after them.
Pico telekinetically opened the subway car door and Morgan stepped inside. At the next station he jumped out and ran up the escalator to the street. Soon afterward, Uan emerged from the tunnel onto the station platform and ran toward the stairs, pushing commuters out of the way.
Morgan spied an approaching fire truck. He walked between the parked cars to get closer.
“Pico, can you get me beneath the bottom of that ladder?”
“Sure. Hold on.”
Pico lifted him up and over and Morgan grabbed onto the ladder. To anyone watching it would have looked like he made an extraordinary jump. None of the firefighters noticed him hanging there, but Uan popped out of the subway in time to see them going down the street. He thought about throwing his spear and killing them both with one blow, then decided there would be too many witnesses. With his pulse rifle, however, he could stun Morgan so he would fall to the street where he be could easily captured.
Uan took out his rifle and fired just as the fire truck changed lanes, causing him to miss Morgan and instead hit a groom at his wedding, knocking him out. He fell against his bride, who fell against the bridesmaids. One of them grabbed onto the front of one of another’s dress, ripping it and exposing her breasts.
Uan fired again just as the fire truck turned a corner and was lost to sight. The shot missed and went through a window of the hotel adjacent to the wedding party.
“Bobby, are you sure you don’t need help with that ladder?”
“Don’t worry, I got a good grip on it,” replied Bobby.
Bobby lifted the ladder and was about to place it against the roof from where he was standing on a large balcony so he could hang a banner along its edge. When the blast from Uan’s gun hit him, Bobby’s face went blank and his colleague could only watch as the ladder went over the edge of the balcony, taking Bobby with it. His colleague lunged for him to keep him fro
m going over, but grabbing the ladder he was also pulled over the edge. For a moment they floated in the air, high above the ground with the ladder beneath them, then fell into the hotel pool. An enormous splash exploded from the pool, knocking over a table full of food and drinks for the wedding, including the wedding cake. A cook standing near the table grilling food for the wedding was drenched along with all the steaks and chicken. The bride, watching it all unfold, started to cry.
Uan gave chase. By the time he got to the corner and looked down the street, the fire truck was crossing a bridge and its ladder was swinging off to the side.
“Let go now,” said Pico.
Morgan let go of the ladder and they landed gently in an open top double-decker tour bus that was passing under the bridge. Uan ran down the street and jumped from the bridge to the median in the middle of the road below and ran after the bus. The bus stopped at a traffic light and Uan nearly caught up, but the light turned green and the bus took off again. Uan was tiring and was afraid the bus would get away. He aimed his rifle and blasted one of the back tires. The bus started to swerve.
Pico kept the bus under control until it neared a bridge where Morgan jumped off, and Pico gently landed them on a tour boat full of people. The tourists clapped and Morgan took a bow before rushing to the back of the boat to watch for Uan. He noticed a splash in the water and soon afterward, Uan emerged on the surface. He was too exhausted to remain cloaked but still had the strength to swim after the boat. The boat stopped in front of the Jefferson Monument to discuss its history then slowly moved on. Uan gained on them.
“Pico, look around for something to throw at him,” said Morgan in a panic.
“Go to the front of the boat,” requested Pico.
Morgan navigated through the crowd of tourists to the front of the boat.
“I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” said Pico.
“Why?”
“When we clear the next bridge I want you to jump into the air and grab the rope.”
“What rope?”
“You’ll see it.”
Uan reached the boat and climbed aboard. A crewman yelled at him, but Uan ignored him and pushed his way to the bow. He came at Morgan and Pico.
“Pico, you better hurry up with your plan. He’s coming.”
“Get ready. Jump!”
Morgan jumped and, aided by Pico, easily grabbed the rope he found hanging there in midair.
“Hang on!” said Pico as he released his hold on the hot air balloon that he had pulled down from the sky, and they sailed up and away from the boat. Uan pulled out his rifle and took aim.
“Look! He has a gun!” someone yelled.
Before Uan could fire, a banner that had been hanging from the side of the bridge fell onto the boat and wrapped around him. It pulled him off the boat and he began to sink to the bottom of the Potomac River. Not again! Uan thought.
Pico helped Morgan into the basket of the balloon, to the surprise of the occupants. Morgan introduced himself and enjoyed the remainder of the balloon ride.
Uan sank about twelve feet before cutting himself out of the banner with his spear. He surfaced in an extremely foul mood, swam to shore, cloaked himself, and pulled himself onto a dock. The dock ran along a commercial area of fast food restaurants and little shops. Uan stood there for a moment, water dripping from his clothes. The makeup on his face ran down and stained the front of his hoodie while families with kids walked by, oblivious to his existence. Had they looked at the ground beneath him they would have seen the puddle forming at his feet.
A man eating a hamburger walked up next to Uan. After he finished eating, he threw the wrapper, along with his empty soda cup, into the water. He belched and farted and turned to walk away, but fate is a funny thing. It had sent an annoying person across the path of a homicidal alien in a foul mood and desperate to release some tension. Uan pulled out his spear and jabbed it into the man’s thigh. The man buckled over in pain and Uan kicked him into the water, unnoticed by the few people on the dock.
The man tried to pull himself out of the water but Uan leaned over and sliced off his head. Waves from the wake of a passing boat pushed the headless body under the dock while the head sank to the bottom of the river.
Uan felt a bit of relief flow through his body, even as he looked in the distance to watch the balloon drift away until it was lost to sight behind the buildings. The little alien had won this time, but they would meet again soon and Uan would make him suffer for this humiliation.
Uan walked back to the hospital uncloaked, but covered his head with his wet hood to hide his face. His makeup had washed off and he had lost his sunglasses in the water. He eventually made it back to the SUV. Calvin peppered him with questions.
“Where have you been, man? Did you get the little alien? I’m guessing not. It looks like someone beat you up, drowned you, and then talked about your mama. Was the little guy that tough?”
“He has powers that I was not aware of,” Uan replied with embarrassment.
“What? Did he turn into the Hulk or something? Did he have a mind control stare like Dracula? Or maybe he has one of those GI Joe Kung Fu grips,” said Calvin, flexing his hand open and closed.
“Just take me home,” Uan said with a snarl. “I am going to put my weapons away, put on some dry clothes, grab some more shades, and then I want you to take me to the toughest bar in this town.”
“Okay. I know a great place over on Trini Ave where you can get your fight on. I can see you want to get some killing out of your system. Won’t be much of a fight, though, even without your weapons.”
“Do not worry. I will have a beer first to even the odds a bit.”
“Now you’re losing it. You’ll just wind up passed out on the floor, getting your ass kicked again.”
“It will only be one beer. Be ready to go in five minutes.”
“What about your makeup?”
“Not tonight. Tonight I am going native Ossie.”
CHAPTER 39
DENISE LEARNS TO FOCUS
“Nurse McKenzie, let’s get the next patient ready for surgery,” requested Dr. Turner.
“Dr. Turner,” the nurse replied, “there is no next patient. We’ve completed all the surgeries for the day. Anyway, the nurses that would be assisting you have all gone home.”
“Already? What’s up with that?”
“It’s almost midnight.”
“Really? I don’t feel tired at all. Well, I’ll go down to emergency and see if I can help out down there. I’ll come back at seven and do my rounds.”
“Don’t you think you should get some sleep?”
“I’m just not sleepy right now. I can go on for a few more hours.”
Dr. Turner went to ER and helped the doctors there get through the list of waiting patients. She took on the toughest cases and never lost her focus. For the first time the ER cleared all its patients with no complaints about a long wait. Dr. Turner felt a level of satisfaction that she had not felt in quite a while. It was only 6:00 a.m. so she went back to her office and caught up on paperwork.
CHAPTER 40
UAN GETS DISCIPLINED
Uan woke up in a daze with a horrible hangover. He was disoriented and confused by his surroundings. He tried to get up but found that his hands and feet were bound to a bed.
“You’re finally awake,” said a female voice at the periphery of his vision. “I’m Betty, the woman that saved your ass last night.”
“What?” replied Uan.
“You know. Whip me, beat me, call me Betty.”
“I understand that your name is Betty. Why am I tied to this bed?”
“I thought I deserved a little remuneration for extracting you from that angry mob last night.”
“Is that explanation supposed to make me feel relieved about being tied up like an animal?”
“Let’s be clear. This is B and D, not a punishment. If you’ll notice, I used padded Velcro straps so as not to hurt your delicate wrists an
d ankles.”
“What is B and D?” asked Uan, annoyed and confused that someone would first restrain him and then worry about the bonds inflicting injury.
“I can tell you’re not from around here, so I’ll explain it to you. B and D is bondage and discipline,” said Betty excitedly. “The bondage part is you being tied to the bed. The discipline part is you submitting to me and doing what I say.”
“I am confused.”
“I’m sure you are, honey. Let’s begin with you thanking me for saving your life.”
“I do not say thank you, and why do you keep saying that you saved my life?”
“You don’t remember a thing, do you?”
“No,” said Uan with disgust.
“Okay, I’ll explain before we get to the second half of the show. I was in the bar when you and your friend arrived. I thought you were kind of cute so I clocked you as you strolled in with your cocky stride, shades, and facial tattoo. I’m a cop and I work there as a security guard when I’m off duty. See my nightstick?” Betty grabbed a nightstick from a nearby chair and whacked Uan on the thigh.
Uan just grunted, “What happened to my friend?”
“Your friend was really loyal to you. Too bad about what happened to him,” Betty said, shaking her head.
“What happened?” Uan yelled.
“Don’t be so impatient,” Betty snapped. “This is how it went down. I was in the bar, making sure everyone behaved. You and your friend walked in and I decided to check you out. You just seemed a little too different to ignore. You both sat at the bar and ordered beers. A little after you sat down another guy started ribbing you about your, let’s say, unique facial attributes. You started giving him attitude and eventually his friends joined in. You had finished just a little over half of your beer when you put one hand on your friend’s shoulder, pointed to the guys that were teasing you and shouted, ‘I’m going to kick some Earthling ass.’ They came off their stools toward you and you came off yours and fell on your face. They started kicking you and your friend tried to break it up. A couple of them punched him in the face and he went down hard. I thought it was admirable that when you saw that, you leaped from the floor and threw a couple of them across the bar before going down again under a flurry of fists and boots.”
