"BORROWED TIME". (4.2)

BY:  MAURICIO ESCOBAR

4.2

A loud sound echoed in the room. It sounded like the echo of a heavy door being open and then shut; and then, steps; the sound of many steps hitting the floor out of rhythm and approaching; perhaps two or three people. They were walking towards him, towards his cubicle.

-       What?! –exclaimed Martin. –What did you say?!

But the neighboring voice remained silent. No response came. Clearly, the man wouldn’t speak with the strangers walking in the room… walking towards him. Had they heard their conversation? Were the approaching steps from the medics? Or the policemen? Or even someone else? What should he do?

Martin sharpened his hearing. The steps didn’t sound metallic and heavy but more like attenuated and light. Martin remembered the medics in plastic suits. Maybe it was the medics coming in to check on him. But he remembered the words of the voice, saying that he had played numb. Why had he? Had he played numb for the doctors? Why? Should he do the same?

Martin squeezed his teeth.

The steps stopped and the door of his cubicle opened.

-       He’s still unconscious –observed one of them.

It was a female voice. Martin recognized the muffled tone; it was one of the doctors that he had heard when he woke up the first time. Martin stayed stiff and heard the steps moving aside to him. The other muffled voice, male, spoke in numbers and terms that Martin didn’t understand. He was probably reading off of one of the monitors.

-       Look at this, Dr. Harper –said the female.

Martin kept his eyes close. He felt being touched on his chest. The hands were cold and rough; probably due to gloves. Martin heard the plastic material of the suits bending with the particular sound of a tense film being squeezed. At the same time, he perceived very clearly the machine-like breathing from the man’s suit. They were observing him.

-       Defib marks? –said the male.

-       It looks so.

-       What did Transit say?

-       They didn’t perform any CPR. Besides, the subject spoke of a plane crash…

-       Plane crash? –interrupted the other. –Are you sure?

-       I was there.

-       Could it be a glitch? You know, they just messed up the files?

-       No, I have verified –insisted the woman.

-       Do we still not know who is his ReLocator? –asked the male with certain worry.

There was a pause.

-       Who wants to know? –inquired the woman.

-       I’m just saying.

-       They haven’t said yet, in any case, but they want him ready soon. That sounds like a big one for me –she said.   

The monitors chanted for a brief moment in which the medics didn’t talk. Then, Martin heard a long mechanical sigh and the plastic moving away.

-       How big is the Planck Factor for this one? –inquired the male.

-       Twenty-three point five. Highly stable.

-       And the in-between?

-       Two weeks.

-       Who’s DeLoc-ing him?

-       Meyer…

Now, they were walking away.

-       Let’s move this one up…

The door locked and the voices fainted away.

Martin opened his eyes.

But he couldn’t see a thing. Everything was dark again.

TO BE CONTINUED...