Switchback

Chapter 11

Richard groaned and opened his eyes, blinked against the bright fluorescent light and sat up. He was in a HICOP chamber.

His heart began to race. A machine on the wall started to scream. Right away the door to the room flew open and an orderly rushed in.

"Try to calm down Dr. Sobel," he said. Richard grimaced at the sight of him – not out of disgust but regret. The man possessed the very thing he had just lost – a young, healthy body.

He gulped and closed his eyes. A pain bloomed in his chest. He began to writhe in the leather chair.

"Christ!" yelled a voice, which Richard recognized as Carter's. "Who let that idiot bring a sleep drug down there?"

"Are you nuts?" hissed another voice. Richard didn't recognize this one. Two sets of hands grabbed each of his arms and pinned them down. "The Chief's in the next room!"

"I'm supposed to care about that when someone's going to die?" Carter yelped. "Why the hell's Sobel in here anyway?"

"There were no rooms available! Everything's backed up because of Maxwell's visit."

"This is insane!"

Richard felt a needle pierce his right arm. Seconds later the fire in his chest dulled and the screaming machine stopped.

"When should I have Chief Maxwell and Dr. Chandler come in?" asked another unfamiliar voice.

Carter ignored the question. "You're going to be okay Rich. Take a few deep breaths. It'll speed up the sedative."

Richard did as he was told and felt better with each gulp of air. He opened his eyes to find a small group gathered around him. Most were strangers - people employed by the Foundation that he either ignored or never associated with. Yet each one had clearly helped in some way to save him.

"That was so fucking close," Carter said. "Category five at least."

"What did you do?" Richard asked. Members of the group began to drift toward the door, their interest gone now that the excitement was over.

"Brought you down with some 12T" he replied. "Now sit tight and rest. There's a couple guys outside who want to chat. I'm going to make them wait a half hour. If you need more than that buzz and let me know."

Richard nodded and watched Carter leave the room. Then he put his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. His body was numb. He felt detached, as if his brain was floating in a jar instead of a borrowed skull. The experience was liberating. He soon found himself drifting to sleep. It was a relief to know his problems would be left behind for a bit.

Unfortunately nightmares were waiting.

In the first - Angels descended from Heaven to reclaim his tortured soul. They pulled it from his body to hold in front of a mirror so he could see the patchwork it had become. A mishmash of grey and white segments held together by thick black stitching.

In another he was a slave, forced to give up parts of his body when his master needed them. He screamed as fire ants tore his limbs away.

Only the last, which involved mysterious squid creatures massaging his battered torso beneath the water, was enjoyable. And short lived - interrupted by a sudden pain in his shoulder. This broke his sleep and brought him back to reality.

"Dr. Sobel?" asked a rough voice.

Richard opened his eyes and looked around. He was just in time to see an orderly leave the room with a large needle in hand. "Weren't you going to let me wake up on my own?" he muttered, and rubbed his ample shoulder with a round, pudgy hand.