I tried to find anything I could hold on to. There was no roof-rack on the car and I looked around in panic, hearing the faint hiss of the car doors closing.
"Grab the antenna," Matthew said, "we can hang on the sides of the car. But first, let's make sure you can get hold of it in the first place..."
He placed his hands over mine and grabbed the antenna together with me while mother started the engine - I could feel the vibrations of the car as it rose into the air. It was still hovering in place over the magnetic street rail keeping it afloat.
Matthew's touch seemed to make my hands heavier. Yes, that was the word. Or almost - solid...
"Now, pull," Matthew said and I did. The antenna bent ever so slightly.
"Good. You are solid enough to hold onto that. Don't let go. The elements don't touch us as strongly as if we were in physical bodies, but they still do have an effect."
Mia and Matthew had obviously done this before, as they held on to the sides of the car in a relaxed manner using only one hand when the car began to move. It must have helped that mother had wanted an ornamental car with all sorts of curved decorations framing the roof. The only thing that was missing was a knitted curtain and the kitchen sink. Mia and Matthew also stayed upright with ease with their legs crossed, while I was bouncing about in the wind like a balloon, desperately holding the antenna. It was pitifully short, just long enough to hold onto with two hands, but that's all.
Mother was a careful driver, but now she was definitely speeding, right from the moment she led the car to the main rail on the road. She must have taken off the speed control, risking a fine that would remove points from her driver's license and increase her insurance fees.
"Hey! There's Ravi! Raviii!" Mia waved at the ghost of a plump Indian man who was hitching a ride on another car coming from the opposite direction. He was also sitting relaxed on top of the car, with crossed legs, holding on to the side of the roof with one hand, his tunic flapping around him in the breeze.
"Mia! Good morning! Good to see you! We should have tea sometime!" he yelled back, waving with his free hand. His voice disappeared as his car turned a corner.
If I had had time, I would have wondered why these ghosts chose to travel along with cars. Surely there were other, more convenient ways of transport for the dead?
"Who was that?" Matthew asked. "Interesting looking fellow."
"Ravi. Or Ravindra, that's his real name. He's an old friend. He was run over on purpose because he wouldn't allow his daughter to marry the driver in question. Something to do with castes – Ravi was a Brahmin, and the suitor came from a lower caste. A priest's daughter to marry a merchant's son – that was wrong, as far as he was concerned. He has admitted it was a silly thing as the young ones were very much in love and the whole caste system has been illegal for centuries. But his belief was strong and he thought what he was doing was right. Of course, the young man in question ended up in prison and Ravi's daughter is unhappy as a result. Ravi believes he will be born again and has sworn he will act more kindly the next time around. He only has two years left on the Waiting Level," Mia enlightened Matthew.
"I haven't seen him before," Matthew said, "doesn't live in our neck of the park then?"
"No, he lives in a Hindu house with other Indian Hindus, quite a long way off. I lost my way once and ended up there when I was trying to get to the Taj Mahal on Earth, never having been there of course. I ended up next to their Halfway House in front of a miniature of the Taj Mahal in their garden instead of the real thing! Ravi spends his time here in the physical a lot, though, trying to help couples who are facing difficulties because they want to marry for love. Ah, I think we are approaching the hospital," Mia pointed.
I kept on bouncing in the air, feeling at any moment I would have to let go of the antenna. And if that happened, how far exactly would I fly?
Mother stopped the car just at the moment I finally lost my grip. I fell down onto the pavement, but as I was a lot lighter than usual, I only felt a slight thump on my back. Still out of habit I waited for the pain to kick in– I mean who wouldn't get hurt if they fell on their back from the roof of a car? I concentrated on feeling my body with my mind, staring at the glass dome high above me. I saw Earth at a distance with the Moon, and a row of huge round Plates, each at a different angle to the sun according to the nature and season they nurtured.
"Come on, this is no time to be lying there sunbathing!" Mia yanked me to my feet. "Your family is already going inside the hospital!"
We caught up with them and when they stepped into the elevator we squeezed in there alongside them too. The elevator was big, but with us on one side, Mom and Tina stood almost pressing themselves against the opposite wall, looking rather anxious.
Matthew poked my sister on the shoulder with his finger and Tina immediately slapped the spot.
"What is it?" mother asked.
"I thought something touched me!" Tina said with a shiver.
"Hee hee – it's always fun to see how they feel us here, but don't see us with their eyes," Matthew said, clearly enjoying himself. "Whoooo!" he made a silly ghostly noise and flapped his hands, then poked Tina again between the shoulder blades and my sister squirmed.
"Stop that!" Mia said. "I'm beginning to regret asking you to come along. I apologise, Nina. He's not always quite so - adolescent."
Thankfully the elevator doors opened. Tina scooted out, and mother followed her, looking over her shoulder, as if sensing us there.
They seemed to know where they were headed and we followed. The wall screens on both sides of the corridor broadcasted calming scenes of nature with the sounds of birdsong. The corridor led to a counter where a female nurse with the body build of a wrestler blocked the way.
"Yes, madam?" she asked with a voice that managed to be both polite and threatening at the same time.
"We are here to see my daughter. She was brought here unconscious during the night."
"Her social security number? Type it here, please."
The nurse pushed a keypad towards mother. It was one of the latest, made so that you had to push your hands through the round holes on the front and the keyboard was only visible through a kind of binocular extension - you had to press your eyes against it.
"To prevent identity theft," the nurse said the words routinely.
These prototypes of these gadgets had appeared a few years ago after a group of rebels had managed to hop up from a lower plate to a higher one. They had stolen the social security numbers of some people by listening in on them at hospitals and banks. Using this information they managed to stay for months before being caught and taken to prison plate. After that, whenever you were asked your social security number, you were not to say it aloud, but type it with these secure keyboards that prevented anyone else from seeing what you were typing.
Mother wrote my social security number into the gadget and the nurse's computer let out a contented "bling!"
The nurse nodded, and pushed something on her screen. This time, an efficient looking nurse appeared seemingly out of nowhere along with the bling sound. Well, that was in fact exactly how she appeared, because she was a hologram.
"Please, follow me to the patient's room," she said with a kindly smile and turned to lead mother and Tina along the corridor. She was a well-made hologram – there were no twitches or faded colors. She even seemed to make eye contact with those she spoke to. You could almost believe she was real.
Pleasant meditation music, barely audible, caressed our ears in relaxing waves. The nature scenery and birdsong continued uninterrupted on the walls. The floor covering swallowed the sound of footsteps. Indirect lights illuminated the corridor with gentle pastel colors. The place resembled a spa more than a hospital.
"How did mother afford this?" I wondered.
"She has good insurance, no doubt," Mia said.
"Or my father has... yes, got to be him," I thought out loud.
"He isn't here?" Matthew sauntered along with his hands in his pockets, looking impatient as the hologram nurse led the way with short, pretty steps. For every two of her steps, he took just one. He even poked the nurse a few times, but there was no reaction.
"No, he is a pilot on the ships traveling between the plates. Sometimes to Earth too," I said as if it did not really matter what my father did. Of course I was dead proud of him... OK, almost literally dead proud as it were. He earned a good wage and most likely his employer paid for good health care insurance for his family too. I had never been interested anything like that before; I'd just taken it as a given that we could go to the private doctors if we got ill.
"Really?" Matthew's level of interest lifted visibly. "Do you think we might hitch a ride?"
"Erm... well, not exactly sure how I can hitch anything in this state..." I mused. "Oh shit!"
For now the hologram nurse stopped in front of a door, smiled and vanished. A real-life nurse opened the door and I could see myself on the bed, with a breathing tube, cannulas stuck in the back of my hands, and an ancient looking ghost with her hands around my neck, trying to strangle me with all her might.