Manufractured - Book 1 of 3

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

"What have you been up to, Riley?" Dr. Holt asked during Riley's next checkup.

"We went to an Androids game, and I got to meet all the players!" Riley exclaimed, still thrilled by the experience.

"Great! That must have been exciting," said Dr. Holt as he examined Riley. "And how's your robot dog?"

"His name's Jumper. I taught him some new tricks yesterday." "What kind of tricks?"
"Math tricks."
The doctor examined Riley's eyes. "I'm sure Jumper is a very smart dog. I would love to meet him one day," said Dr. Holt as he finished the examination. "Why don't you go with Rhonda now, and she'll take you to see Rocky the Clown while I talk to your parents."

The smiling nurse stepped forward and held out her hand; Riley hopped off the examination table, took her hand, and skipped out the door with her.

"How is he, Doctor?" asked Sharon when they were gone.

"There is no change from when I initially diagnosed him with the illness," the doctor replied. "We're finding that once a person contracts LRS, their condition remains constant. Now, have either of you noticed any changes in Riley's condition?"

"None. The episodes still occur once every few days, and it's always the same: he suddenly becomes agitated and starts knocking over or throwing things, then he goes into a catatonic state for about half an hour, then he's fine. We just never know when it's going to occur, and we're really concerned about what will happen when he returns to school in the fall," I replied.

"I'm going to put him on IXM. Have you heard about it?" Dr. Holt asked as he moved to a large cabinet behind his desk.

"Yes, we have," Sharon said. "You think it will help him?"

"I do." He returned with a jar of pills labeled IXM, removing one of the bright red pills from the jar and holding it up. "Taking two of these each day will drastically lessen his anger and agitation. Instead of aggressively knocking over or throwing things, you'll now see him become only a tad fidgety and disoriented before being rendered catatonic. And that lifeless state should now only last half as long."

Sharon and I looked at each other. "It's something," I said. Though I knew there was still no cure, it was disappointing that there was so little that could be done to lessen the symptoms of the disease.

VLP headquarters had notified me that there were several acres of trees in need of inspection, so after we got home from Riley's appointment with Dr. Holt, I headed out to the large forested area surrounding Moon Shade Bluff. This was the area where Dad's robo-copter crashed the day he was killed. The legend of Moon Shade Bluff went that an ancient civilization called the ZeZ settled in what later would be called Vexton, and the ZeZ viewed the massive cliff as a sanctuary from malice. It was said that when the spirits of doom were unleashing their wickedness on the ZeZ people, its core group of leaders would make their way to the top of the bluff and absorb the cosmic energy from the Vexton sky, which had been blessed by a multitude of cosmic gods. In recent times, the rare phenomenon was known as the Vexton Gleam. For the majority of people in Vexton, this myth remained a lighthearted, even humorous tale, passed from one generation to the next. Nonetheless, Moon Shade Bluff remained a sight to behold.

Dad had promised he would take Skip and me up to the top of Moon Shade Bluff as a gift for my tenth birthday. I remembered waking up that morning and running to the window, hoping the weather was clear, and my excitement when the shutter on my bedroom window opened on a sunny day.

I ran out of my room shouting, "When can we go, Dad? Can I call Skip?"

"Well, it looks like the weather's fine," Dad said, "but are you sure you're not afraid?"