Path of Ranger: Volume 1

by RJ

  “Let’s see…” JB strained his brain to call back the memories of that evening. “I was walking down the road, then I came to a statue of some creature, a mine… I found sand there. The weird red, glowing grains.”

  “Glowing? How did it glow? Did you touch it?”

  “Yeah, I picked up some. It reddened in my hand. Then I was attacked by that thing. That’s it, nothing after.”

  “So I was right…” Doc muttered.

  “Right about what?”

  “I’ve already told you that it’s not a regular island. This is the only place where we’ve encountered this element yet. That sand that you found. We’ve called it ‘gibsonium.'"

  “Of course, Dr. Gibson, how else could you have called it?” JB smirked.

  “Hey! I found it first. And it needed a name, so I did give it mine,” Gibson was making an argument as he felt a bit uncomfortable. He wanted to change a subject. “Well, it’s not important. The important part is that it was the first time when gibsonium had shown such a reaction on touching a living organism.”

  “Yeah, I’m kinda not getting any of this. Let’s get back to discussing its name, okay?” JB smiled again, it couldn’t be seen because of the mask, though. Yet Doc caught the tone.

  “A sense of humor is a good sign. Let me explain. This element is not like the ones that you may find in the periodic table. It’s like... Hyper-conductive.”

  “Like copper? For electricity?” JB asked, seriously this time.

  “Not like copper. Conductive for life energy,” Mark answered. “You see, JB, every being has in its possession of a certain amount life energy. Most of the people call it a soul. Such a source of life may exist anywhere in time or space. It can be represented by many forms. Everything around us is divided into matter and energy. Energy itself is a force that brings matter together. It’s the universe’s juice. Energy can be thermal, mechanical, electrical, et cetera. But energy can’t exist by itself, it needs a container to be held in. This is matter’s function. But matter, just as energy, takes many forms as well. And each of these forms is correspondent to a certain types of energy. Are you still with me?”

  “Yeah, we are walking batteries… Matter, energy… Why not… So if that thing rescued me, why don’t we call it ‘JBium’ or something?” even if JB was joking around, the Doc’s words actually interested him.

  “So here is what I am leading to. We can’t just take the kinematic energy of running water to put it into a living creature for its strength to be refilled. Or I should say that we couldn’t. Gibsonium is a material that theoretically can conduct any type of energy. Moreover, it absorbs the energy, takes it from anything it touches. I’ve seen it kill people by one touch. That’s why I’m so interested in your case. Before I met you, I had seen gibsonium as exclusively a consumer, but not a provider. You must be wondering how you survived while the monster was tearing you apart. It was gibsonium. Those grains, which you held, were your life source at the moment, it made your organism tick when it should’ve shut down.”

  “So the red air in the mask is…” JB implied.

  “Yes, oxygen enriched with gibsonium. I don’t know why that thing has chosen you to be a recipient of its energy. Whether it’s because of your physiology or your soul. The fact is – it likes you very much.”

  A silence stayed for a few seconds. JB had a lot to process.

  “Had all this been built just so you people had a chance to dig up some shiny sand, which you knew nothing about?”

  “This research center was established more than thirty years ago. Back then nobody had any idea about this substance’s existence. I discovered it not that long ago.”

  “Uhuh… So what you’re saying is that you lil’ bastards are running secret experiments here? You have your own ‘Area Fifty-One’ here, damn guys,” the gangster went harder to provoke Gibson.

  “Exactly! What?” the doctor responded at once. Then he thought it through. “Actually, I’m not aware of all of the research that was conducted here. I get to deal just with the consequences.”

  “That thing that attacked me…” JB suggested.

  “Yes, one of those consequences. For the last five years, I’ve been the only scientist here.”

  “What about those creatures? Were they made artificially?”

  “Kind of, mutants, to be precise. The island is full of them. They are strong, smart, and very violent.”

  “Wait, Doc. Was gibsonium involved in those monsters’ creation? You’re using it to heal me, so may I become like that?” JB worried.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The monsters were made monsters. Gibsonium had nothing to do with that. Besides, it takes life, not changes it. If even the smallest grain of the substance gets in touch with any of that creature, eventually it will drain the life out of it.”

  “Okay, go on.”

  “You, on the other hand, are a different case. The material shares its energy with you. How many times should I explain it to you?” Gibson went all smug with those comments. “But, since you’ve mentioned it… There are some changes in you.”

  “Changes? What changes?”

  “I don’t think you’re going to like it, but I’m afraid there was not much of a choice. Your body will never be as it was before. After I had hooked up this life support system, I noticed that the weight of gibsonium inside was lowering with the time. Your organism is absorbing it. It enhanced your healing ability. I had to increase the supply of carbohydrate and protein enormously to satisfy your body's need.”

  “Is it just me, or you’re not telling me something?” JB suspected.

  “Well, there also were several brain surgeries to enhance your sensibility, and reflexes…”

  “Da fuck?”

  “What? I have been working on this research for years. I needed a test subject. You weren’t likely to live anyway…” Doc tried to excuse himself. “I did test it on monkeys before.”

  “Oh, like that makes it better!”

  “Man, just… Okay?”

  JB wasn’t that pissed, actually. He just felt bad about how those major decisions had been made without him.

  “I do feel betta, yo. The pain in my chest is lowered. But it ain’t no reason for you to mess with my brain! Literally!”

  “That’s what I’m talking about. The regeneration is much more advanced now. That’s a good thing, right?”

  “I guess so,” JB shrugged. “You did save my life, Doc. Let’s say we’re square. But no more experimenting on me, man.”

  “Deal,” Gibson felt much better. “Now, JB, a whole new world is opened to you. Just imagine the possibilities.”

  With those words being said Mark stood up, JB heard the creak of the chair. Then the sound of steps led to the door.

  “Hey, Doc! Where are you going? When am I walking out of here?”

  “It’s too soon, you need rest. Just a few more days.”

  “Then at least do something with my eyes. I can’t take off the bandage, the light is killing me. What the fuck is that? Am I turning into a vampire?”

  “I’m sorry, JB. But the receptors aren’t finished transforming yet. It was the most complicated of all of the procedures that you went through. The bandage stays on for a few more weeks. Get some rest.” When walking through the hallway, Gibson kept mumbling to himself. “Seven billion people out there and gibsonium picked ‘that one.' Unbelievable.”

  The conversation left an impression for JB that Gibson was not his enemy. An ally more likely. Bridgers made peace with all those things that he had to go through. A second chance. In his honest opinion, it was already more than he deserved.

  The next three days JB spent in a long sleep. Only after the full stock of gibsonium was spent the doctor took off the life support system from the newly made mutant. Jerry finally stood up out of the bed. Slight vertigo and disorientation were more or less bearable. But JB went for the bathroom so fast that he completely forgot about his blindfold, or about how he was naked. Ten minute
s after being alone in the bathroom, he looked out from behind the door to ask for some cover from the doctor. Gibson was already standing there with a pack of clean clothes for his patient.

  The blinded mutant walked around the building mostly on touch and using his intuition. He was bumping into walls, doors, equipment, stumbling on stuff. By the time when JB got accustomed to the blindness, the lab was messed up. Nevertheless, Gibson showed quite a bit of interest in it, he observed JB and even had harmless chuckles over it from time to time.

  The doctor mentioned enhanced hearing as one of the results of mutation. He told JB to embrace that in his adaptation, that it was supposed to help him adjust to space. But sound waves reflecting the objects or a visual sonar map stayed only in JB’s impressions from the movies. There was nothing, just some sounds. The reason of the mutant’s fast adjustment was different, JB knew it. Yet, he didn’t tell Gibson about it. He gave straight answers to the doctor’s questions, just what he wanted to hear. The big guy decided that it was too soon for a full disclosure.

  A half day later, when JB had his share of fun, moving around, Gibson took him to the central lab. It was time to continue the research.

  JB found himself sitting in a medical seat, just like the dentists had. A set of bright lamps held above him. His bare torso was covered in markers and sensors with a bunch of wires connected to the computer. A broad rim lay over his head with even more wires connected to it. Gibson stayed near, using several old computers for analyzing the data.

  “Hm… That’s interesting…” he mumbled.

  “Sup, Doc?”

  “Your organs are getting the stability back, it means soon you’re going to have a hell of an appetite. But I’m concerned about the temperature,” Gibson never even glanced at JB, his eyes glued to the screen.

  “A fever? I feel fine.”

  “I measured your temperature in the morning, it was about thirty degrees by Celsius. I thought that it was a sensor issue, but now it shows twenty-four degrees and keeps going down.”

  “Yo! Look at ya tech,” JB heard a load key clatter, a fan noise, so he supposed that it was an old lab indeed. “Are you a junker? What do you have there? Some trash from the previous century?”

  “That’s funny?” Mark got the skepticism. “May we get back to your hypothermia? Do you mind?”

  “So, sup with dat, Doc?”

  “I’m not sure. I suppose gibsonium could partially take a power supply function on itself, which was fulfilled by the chemical process in muscles before. If so, your body wouldn’t need a regular thirty-six point six degrees to function. This low temperature may be some kind of power safety mode of yours. But that’s just a theory. It’s very interesting, anyway.”

  “Are you sure that I ain’t no vampire?”

  “The mutants aren’t vampires,” the doctor responded.

  “Have you seen a vampire?”

  “No.”

  “So how can you be sure?!” JB’s play got so far that he started believing in that himself.

  “I won’t dignify that with an answer.”

  The doctor finally left the computer to check the patient’s temperature himself. JB’s skin was cold as stone.

  “So, is that good or what?” the mutant asked.

  “Well, if you feel fine, and we won’t find any major failures while experimenting, then… I guess so…” Mark said thoughtfully. “Let’s check your pulse and pressure now.”

  After holding JB’s wrist for some time, Gibson felt a discomfort: his fingers got cold, he went dizzy, and overall weakness flashed through the body. The mutant’s skin gained a reddish incandescence in the place he touched. Gibson recognized it as gibsonium’s glow. The one when it was absorbing energy. Then Mark released JB’s hand to get back to the computer. He typed in something. The cuff of the sphygmomanometer went inflating. It felt unpleasant, JB hated visiting doctors.

  As for Gibson, he was feeling worse and worse. At some point, he almost fell down from exhaustion. The drowsiness got on him. Telling nothing to his patient, he tried to cheer up and kept going.

  The next task for the mutant was to do some simple exercise; sit-ups, lean-downs, jumps, et cetera. He did everything that the doctor told him.

  “Let’s see… Everything looks fine, except the temperature and heart rate. Your heart grew a bit in mass, it caused a decrease in pulse frequency. Not much, about ten beats per minute.”

  “How could my heart change? Did you do that?” right after saying that JB teased Gibson with his own saying. “Hm… Interesting…”

  The doctor noted the joke. His new comrade was maliciously smirking. So Doc skipped that ‘hm’ even though he was going to say it.

  “Most of your physiology changed. The bones got denser. Perhaps, its chemical compound changed. We need to make a biopsy, to be sure,” Gibson’s voice was calm and confident, and it brought JB a peace of mind. “Get up. Let’s go to the next room.”

  “Why?”

  “More tests.”

  “More? Haven’t we done enough already?”

  “Oh, man. You have no idea,” this time the doctor smirked.

  They both entered the next room. That one was much bigger. It had the size of a hangar. There were lots of heavy machinery inside. A centrifuge, an altitude chamber, hyperbaric chamber, a gigantic glass pool and many others. It looked like a space flight training center.

  “Man, this place is loaded!” JB said under excitement. His head was spinning around exploring out the room. That’s where Gibson started to suspect the mutant had some kind of alternative vision. “Even I used to have less stuff in my dungeon!”

  “In the dungeon?” Doc wondered.

  “The dungeon, dude!” JB smiled.

  Even if the upcoming bump on a shoulder from the big guy was another sign for Mark how much he and JB were different, they both felt that it was a start of a real friendship.

  GAINED TIME

  JB’s healing had finished. It was time for Gibson to play with his new project, as he saw it. The process of experimenting in that field got to him so deep, he forgot about anything else. The only thing that bothered him was that he didn’t know his patient as a person very well. The first impression from talking to JB appeared fine, but there were other clues, which couldn’t be ignored. All those cruel tattoos, scars, an overall attitude of arrogance. JB had confessed himself that he was a criminal and Mark wouldn’t doubt it for a minute, the question rose if he was dangerous for him.

  As a scientist, Gibson might never have such chance to explore the possibilities of gibsonium. Perhaps the most valuable element on Earth. Yet, his primary concern was not to give it to the ‘wrong hands.’

  On the other side, JB wasn’t sure either if he could fully trust Gibson. Of course, the man saved his life, gave him a shelter, and left an impression of a great guy. But, the voice of suspicion, which had been developed over the years, didn’t fade easily. The first thing JB had to learn on the streets not to trust anyone. Especially those who were expecting it. Nevertheless, they were stuck together, at least for a while. They both needed to get to know each other better.

  A new day came, it was time to get to work. Gibson brought JB outside for the first time. He planned to start physical training with an exercise on the research center’s playground. A workout to record some data about the mutant’s stamina capabilities. Plus, the doctor wanted JB to feel the fresh air and sunlight after that long stay inside. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, as before. One thing Gibson was glad about, that JB’s eyes were still covered so he wouldn’t be downed by the weather as Doc was.

  The mutant walked through the building almost without bumping into the walls and doorways. The doctor talked to him all the time to provide direction clues with his voice.

  When they came to the playground, Gibson showed JB where the training units were; a horizontal bar, a climbing wall, and many others. The playground was surrounded by a quarter mile track. Most of that whole area had buildings on its sides, b
ut one side was open to the jungle. JB stared in that direction for a while, after he got to the first exercise spot.

  “Is that safe, Doc?” he asked.

  “What? The jungle?” Gibson asked when setting up the height of the bar. “Yes. Monsters can’t get here. There is a fence outside.”

  “It’s kinda strange.”

  “A fence?”

  “No. How you call them ‘monsters.' It’s like you have nothing to do with their creation…”

  “Who? Me?” Mark froze for a second. “Wait, did you think this whole time that I’ve made them?”

  “Well, you’ve made me what I am.”

  “Huh, there’s a misunderstanding here. I wasn’t the only bioengineer here. I have nothing to do with creating those creatures. I hate them.”

  Hearing that, JB felt bad for misjudging Gibson.

  “Okay, please, accept my apologies then.”

  “Well-well. And I thought that you’re not physically capable of being nice.” Mark smiled. “I guess I’ve misjudged you too.”

  “We probably have a lot to learn about each other.”

  “Yeah…” Doc lingered for a second in his thoughts. Then he stepped away from the bar to give JB more space. “Let’s start with limbering up. I need to set up data sensors on you. Take off your shirt.”

  The mutant removed the black t-shirt, which Mark had given him, to reveal the old tattoos and some new scars left by the monster. His muscle weight was as massive as before, but it got softer, weaker. The week of motionless lying showed. Gibson started placing sensors on.

  “I have bad news for you,” the doctor said. “A part of your tattoo was damaged by the cuts. The scars are to heal with time, but the ink is ruined.”

  “That’s cool. When they are out, I’ll have more space for the new ones.”

  “Actually, I find those images quite interesting. A phoenix bird with a writing ‘Burn in fire, rise from ashes,' a ‘Dr. Evil’ projection, ‘Nothing but a G thang,' a blood stain, the number twenty-two, your blood type,” Gibson was listing everything he looked at preparing for the next question. “By the way, thanks for the blood type. It saved me some time while treating you.”