Chapter 27
Sunlight warmed my face. I lay on soft bedding, covered from the neck down by a silky sheet.
The new sensations distracted me at first. Then I realized I didn’t hurt anymore.
I took a deep breath: my ribs gave a distant pang but were otherwise fine.
Breathing in brought the light scent of flowers.
I could smell. My nose was no longer a fleshy hunk of throbbing agony.
My arm, burned so badly, felt fine as well, although there was a weight to it, and something sticky against the skin.
Even the deep-muscle aches from hauling on the concrete slab to rescue Lily and Case were almost gone.
Still sore, but minimal. The day-after burn from a modest workout.
I opened my eyes. Squinted against sunlight.
I was in a small room. The walls were a pale blue.
A window on the wall to my left looked over a small bubbling waterfall cascading across black rocks.
It had to be artificial. An image of extreme detail.
But the sunlight was real. It fell from a skylight over my head.
My bed was large and sat three feet off the floor.
There was a row of sleek machines with blinking green lights along the wall.
The white-haired woman in the sleeved toga sat cross-legged in a chair next to the bed. She read from a paper-thin tablet about the size of a hardback book. She wore open-toed sandals, complete with thin leather thongs wrapped around her calves.
Blue eyes flicked above the edge of the tablet and met mine. “Welcome back.” She had an unfamiliar accent.
“Where…?”
“Wait, before you talk. Here.” She stood and set the tablet down on the sheet near my leg. She brought a glass of water from a side table and helped me sit to drink. I sipped, and a bit of water splashed onto my chest, flattening the thin cloth of a gown to my skin.
The skinsuit was gone.
Panic swept through me, and I twitched. The woman, misunderstanding, gripped the back of my head to steady me.
She held the water for me until I’d had enough, then she stepped back.
She sat again, folding her legs under her.
“You are at the Bergeman University Medical Center. It is ten forty in the morning in the year eighty-six MR. That’s Modern Reckoning. ”
“Modern Reckoning.”
“If my history is correct, this would be the year two thousand seven hundred and forty-four CE. Or, for you, eighteen days since you began your travels.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Anjari.”
“Anjari.”
“I am a scholar of the Word of the Traveler.”
The Word. I took a breath. “You speak English.”
“I learned the Norte American dialect as part of my thesis requirements. I hope I am speaking properly? Am I understandable?”
“You speak English better than I do.”
She flashed a smile. “Thank you so much.” She leaned forward. “How do you feel? You were badly injured when I found you.”
I pulled my arm from the sheet. The top of my hand and my forearm to the elbow were encased in a thin green gel. I touched it. It was sticky, but my finger came away without leaving a mark.
“Intensive recovery package,” Anjari said. “Do you have pain?”
“No, no. It’s just strange.”
“Yes, of course. Are you sure you are okay? The medical staff said you had all the characteristics of a severe beating, of torture. Heinous, despicable acts.”
“I feel okay. I’ve never—I haven’t been hurt like that before. But I feel okay now.”
“Was it the Vale Riders?”
“Who?”
“Those who did this to you. It is a part of the hypothesis driving my thesis.”
“What is?”
“Where you were, during your last travel forward through time. Scholars of the Word have known for decades the when, based on writings of the Word itself, and from scripture left by the Followers, but not the precise where. Scholars could not agree. The year in which you last emerged, two thousand three hundred and eighty-five CE by your reckoning, was in the dark period after the Autonomous War, when human culture reemerged and established pockets of semifeudal societies anywhere not made uninhabitable by the machines.”
“They called it the Last War.”
“Yes. It was not the last, of course. Not at all.” She gathered the tablet from the bed and tapped on it, her fingers flying.
“So, these … Vile Raiders.”
“Vale Riders.”
“Okay.”
“They were one of the feudal groups in the greater California territory. My theory is you traveled forward through time to their location, had a battle, and were captured. There was evidence. Anecdotal reports, family legends, of a stranger who appeared in their midst one day and killed scores of men and women before being subdued by their great leader, Harrun Vale. And pieces of technology the Riders had for years afterward, especially weaponry and armor, more advanced than those of their neighbors and enemies.”
“Well. I didn’t kill dozens of them. And no women.”
“I was right, then?”
“Pretty close. Could I, um … have a little more water?”
“Of course, yes.” She got up again to hand me the glass.
“So, you found me.”
“You were right on time. And I was only a few dozen meters off in my estimate.”
“And after?”
“After that, I brought you here.”
“You carried me?”
“Of course.” She said it like it was nothing. Easy.
“How far?”
“Well, I physically carried you to my aircar. From there I flew you straight here. You were not breathing well, and your arm … It looked extremely bad, especially after I got you out of the skin armor.”
“You just took the skinsuit off?”
“It was nearly out of energy.” Her eyes were on the tablet again, not paying close attention. “Decent protection, and advanced technology for its time period, but I had to get you out of it to treat you with first aid in the aircar.”
“Oh. Right.” I thought about the trouble the two men in the jail had trying to get the suit off. And she’d flicked a switch, or something, and taken it off. “Where is it now?”
“We had to destroy it. I am sorry. I had to destroy my gown, as well, and go through a sterilizing shower. You did, too, though you were unconscious. I even had to send my aircar in for sterilization.”
“The suit is gone?”
“Yes. Again, I am sorry. We could not risk infection from an ancient parasite or virus for which we have no resistance.”
“There was—there was a disk. A little thing wrapped in leather. It was against my chest—”
“Yes. The quantum-state holocrystal. We recovered it, but it appears to be damaged.”
I let out a breath and set my head back against the padded headboard. “The what?”
“You did not know what it was?”
“I hadn’t … I hadn’t had time to look at it. What did you call it? A holocrystal?”
“Yes. Three-dimensional laser-encoded holographic data storage encoded within a quantum field enclosure. Radically advanced, given the age of the design. We are trying to get it functioning again, although we have no compatible interface for it, and it may be damaged beyond operability.”
“It’s a computer?”
“It cannot perform computations. It is a high-capacity storage device. Extraordinarily high capacity.” She noticed my expression. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. It’s just—my son left me that disk. He went to great lengths to make sure it got to me. I don’t even know what it is.”
“Your son. Lyle.”
“Yes.”
“The author of the Word.”
“My son.”
“Of course. Your son. Do you wish the holocrystal returned to you?”
“If you can get it working. I’d love to know what Lyle sent me. And if you can’t … I guess I’d still like it back. Before tomorrow morning.”
“It will be so,” Anjari said.
A moment passed. I looked at the skylight. There was a filter on the glass, dimming the light but leaving it bright enough to be comforting. It was carefully designed. “We’re at a university hospital.”
“That is correct.”
“Where’s the university?”
“We are on the southeastern side of New City of Angels.”
“Los Angeles?”
“The rebuilt version. The original was leveled during the Autonomous War. The destruction was conventional. No atomic weapons, no chemical agents. Long after the war, Marcus Bergeman and his followers started the city again.”
“The university is named after him?”
“Actually, after his granddaughter. She founded it.” Anjari unfolded from the chair and stood. “We can continue to converse, but I am sure you would like to move. The medical technicians indicated you should ambulate as part of your recovery.”
I realized I did want to get up. With her help, I pulled the sheets off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.
There was a twinge in my side where my ribs were still mending, but otherwise I felt good.
Better than I had in days, in fact. Since falling out of midair on a suburban street in Madison.
And I could only have been here hours, at most. “Your medical technology is fantastic.”
Anjari smiled and took my hand as I tried to stand.
Her palm was warm and dry, her grip firm, and there was obvious strength behind it.
“We have some of the most advanced medical research programs in the world here.” She guided me upright.
My legs were shaky, but after I stood in place for a moment the tremors fell away.
The thin gown went to my knees. My feet were bare, and the textured floor was warm.
It was easy to grip with my toes, which was probably the point.
“Well, they can have my vote for number one.”
Anjari tilted her head. “Yes.”
“Are we going outside?”
“I was thinking you would like to.”
“Could I have some pants or something first?” I looked at my bare feet and back up at her. “Maybe some shoes?”
“Yes, of course. There is some clothing for you in the closet. Hospital issue.”