A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

A Story About Them

Summary: Carlos studies Cecil's third eye, Natalia has a jolt of memory and the team join in the plan to save the town from StrexCorp.

"Ooh I'm so excited for this!" Dr Green wheezed from her hospital bed.

"Ellie, the doctors have told ya at leas' six times since we got 'ere that you shouldn't be speakin'." Jeffries scolded. The biochemist responded with a grumpy pout.

"I can't blame her. Cecil's special broadcasts are really something." Carlos smiled. Ellie had been driving herself crazy in the hospital bed. The doctors had somehow managed to cure her of throat spiders in record time, but the recovery period was over a month and she wouldn't be let out of hospital for a good two weeks yet.

Carlos and Cecil had sent her favourite foods for her and her weekly Rico's slice and Jeffries had been to see her after school hours each day so she had company. Dave had facetimed her with updates on their project and she responded mostly with sign language through the video screen as speaking was forbidden by the doctors and Dave was the only one on the team who could interpret it. If it had been anywhere else, she would have used a whiteboard and pen; therefore, the ban on writing utensils had never been more irritating for the scientist.

However, that afternoon, both Carlos and Jeffries had come to see her, so she had ignored the doctors and started speaking again.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"Don't speak!" Brent Jeffries whined, placing his face in his hands and groaning at the blonde woman's determination to undermine her own recovery.

"Sorry...." Ellie whispered.

"ELLIE."

"Sorry?"

"Just....please stop talking."

She wisely responded with a nod.

"Well, as I was saying about science..." Carlos immediately began. "I shall be going along to the radio station tonight with Cecil in secret to do some special scientific observations of his broadcast. Natalia and I observed the one last year that Cecil said was extra special. Granted, as scientists, we should have been braver than we were that day..."

Ellie's gaze lowered when he mentioned Natalia. It had been three months exactly since she had disappeared, and she lingered on the biochemist's thoughts.

"...S'been three months, hasn't it?" Jeffries commented solemnly. The blonde nodded.

"We don' even know if she's alive." Brent muttered.

"Scientific probability would sugg-" Carlos began.

"She's alive." Ellie rasped out firmly.

"Ellie, you can't say tha' for sure."

"But I can."

"What?"

"I've been..." She paused to cough and Carlos frowned again at her determination to make her condition worse. "Told. She's been seen."

"She has? Where?" Carlos said in shock. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I was told by....by....angels aren't real." She sobbed. "They aren't real." Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"That's enough talking." A nurse came in, who appeared to be missing ears. This served to confuse the scientists as she had no visible way of hearing whether Ellie was speaking at all. "I must ask you to leave for now."

Carlos nodded in reply. "Brent, we have science to do." Before the geologist could protest, he added "Ellie, we'll be back later. I have something I want to discuss with the whole team."