“That’s all you’re bringing?”
She looked at the floor. “I didn’t have time to pack anything else.”
“Oh. Then I hope you have something useful in there, Striper.”
“Yeah.” Sian shifted uncomfortably. “What’s your name?”
“Why?”
“I have to call you something.”
“Call me Zazz.”
“Oh.” She glanced up at him briefly, then looked away. “Don’t call me Striper.”
“Fine, bitch.”
She moved to lean against the door, then stared out the window. “This is going to be a long trip.”
He sighed. “James.”
“What?”
“My name’s James.”
“Oh.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What’s your name?” He spoke as if addressing a small child.
“Sian.”
“Shannon?”
“No. Sian. S-i-a-n.”
“You’re making that up.”
“It’s my name.”
“Whatever.” He shifted gears and sped up. Sian continued to stare out the window, watching the endless stream of trees and small towns and shifting uncomfortably in her uniform. She felt her head rest against the window.
Her eyes snapped open. She saw that she was laying in a bed with starch-white
sheets. There was a vague sense of pain from her head and her right hand.
A man was bending over her, concerned. She knew his face; she just didn’t know
where from.
“She’s awake! Get the doctor.”
Suddenly, Sian knew who it was.
“Daddy. . .” Her throat was dry; she couldn’t speak above a whisper.
“You’re going to be all right, you’ll be all right.” There were tears running down
his face. “You’ll be all right.”
She didn’t know what he was talking about at first, then she remembered. “Is
Honey okay? He was scared.”
“Honey’s. . .fine.” He spared a quick glance up, away from Sian. She followed
his eyes, and saw her mother.
“We had to shoot him, I’m sorry. He was wild.” Sian’s lip began to tremble.
“Roberta-”
“We can’t lie to her.” Her mother whispered, but Sian could still hear her. “She
would have found out.”
“Not now.”
The doctor entered the room, harried in a white coat and accompanied by a
nurse. Sian looked at him briefly, then looked at her father.
“I want to go home.”
“You will. You just have to stay here a little while longer.”
“But-”
“No buts about it, young lady.” He placed a finger on her nose, and Sian
laughed despite herself. “It’ll only be for a little while.”
“All right.” She looked away, then looked at the monitor next to her and
stretched her handout to touch it. She’d only seen one of these before in movies, and it
was strange to know that this one was connected to her, and showing her heartbeat.
Her hand touched the cool black-painted metal of the machine. She could feel it,
even, she imagined, how well it was working. Or wasn’t working.
“I think it’s broken.”
“What’s broken?” Her father looked at her hand. “It’s not broken. You
shouldn’t touch the hospital equipment.”
“It’s broken.” Sian nodded at her father, who was looking at her, concerned.
out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother spare a glance at the doctor, who in turn
looked back at Sian. “It’s going too fast.”
There was a motion to her side as the nurse switched IV bags. Suddenly, Sian
began to feel very, very tired. Her eyes grew heavy, even though she didn’t want them to.
“You need to rest, dear.” Her mother walked over and placed a hand on Sian’s
forehead. She could just barely make out the protests of her father as she closed her
eyes, then faded away again.
Control: Normal.
Status: Ready.
Input: Impaired. Correcting.