Project I.R.I.S.

Chapter Seven: Deja Vu

Jack had so much he wanted to ask him, but his eyes closed on their own. His medication was kicking in. The man squeezed his shoulder, his voice whispering to him. "Try to get some rest, my friend. I won't make the same mistake again. I'll save you this time. I promise." A blissful darkness wrapped him in its warm embrace for the first time in what felt like years. However, it was over all too soon. Around ten at night, the nurse knocked on the door and slipped inside without waiting for his answer. Giving him a faint smile, she walked to the machines and checked them over before checking over the I.V.'s in his arms. When she was satisfied with the result, she moved to a side table set off by the cement wall. Putting a hand on the square box set atop of the side table, she informed him quietly. "Everything seems to be looking good. No one should disturb you again until morning. So, I'll go ahead and activate our monitor. He'll watch over your condition and report to us. Goodnight, Mr. McLoughlin."

Pressing a button on the box, she hastily left the room and closed the heavy door that had his name placard on it. For a moment, he took in the room and noticed that he'd been moved again. This room was smaller but cozy for a hospital room. It had a bolted down dresser. A nice queen sized bed. There was no TV but there was a large window on the wall located just across from the bed. On the side tables next to him was a simple lamp and a digital clock. The soft beeping and hissing of the machines were the only things making noise, until the box on the side table by the wall suddenly spoke in a soothing voice. "Oh, hello there. You must be Jack McLoughlin, right?" Jack nodded, feeling unsettled by the digital LED eyes that stared back at him. The digital face smiled, telling him chipperly. "Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Mcloughlin. My name is Iris. I'm a medical assistant robot. My core function is to give guidance to my patients and provide a supportive presence in case of an emergency. Such as mental breakdowns, psychotic episodes, and so on. I was created by your treatment supervisor, Dr. Robert Alexander, himself. So, Mr. McLoughlin, I'd like to congratulate you on successfully recovering from your physical damages."

Jack weakly waved to Iris. He didn't feel like he should be congratulated for something he had no control over. Let alone by a piece of equipment that probably didn't understand that in the first place. Iris's eyes looked him over before continuing. "You were even fortunate enough not to lose a limb. Quite impressive, if I do say so myself. You clever goose. Now that your body is recuperating. Let's take some time to work on your brain damage. It's completely normal to suffer from memory loss and hallucinations. You were in a coma, after all. It's completely natural for a few things in your head to of... shall we say... turn off. My job is to help you switch them back on. Lucky for you, the damage can be easily cured. In order to heal your brain, you'll just have to sleep and rest. Not so hard now, right? Sleeping is the best medicine for your brain. Sleep puts it in a natural state that is perfect for it to heal itself. I know it sounds silly after you've just woken up from a coma... but think of it more like... you are waking up in stages. You may be back with us, but until everything else has had time to wake up with you... you need to rest. So, just fall asleep."

Jack stared up at the bland white ceiling, trying to relax himself. He wished the thing would just be quiet. It hurt his head to listen to him right now. He wanted to sleep. Instead, Iris added on. "Unfortunately, you were in a coma for so long that you might find it hard to sleep because it might cause hallucinations and that could be a huge problem. You'll need to stay calm. Avoid stress. Stress will speed up your heart and will give you a cardiac arrest of the heart. If that occurs... we might not be able to arrive in time to save you from death. Since you are such an important patient to us, we don't want that happening. Would you like me to play any ambience sounds to help you drift off?" Weakly against the oxygen mask on his face, he sleepily droned out. "Something soft. Calming. Ok? Now please be quiet." Iris smiled completely unphased as it stated. "Very well. Soft rain sounds, it is. Goodnight." Closing his eyes, he tried to drift back off into that dark bliss sleep. Only to have an image of a doctor forcefully holding an oxygen mask over his mouth as another yelled out. "We've got to get him out! We've got to suppress Anti!"