Lifeboat

18. Investigation

"I think you should be standing in front of the Committee, young lady, not sitting alongside us."

The man with the scarred face, next to me, leaned in closer. His low voice rumbled through the very woodwork of the table, my folded arms vibrated on the surface.

I forced my eyes away from the collective group to search for reassurance in Dante's face. There was none to be found. He adamantly stared at the floor, avoiding my line of sight.

Why would he do that?

My heartbeat began picking up pace, my breathing became heavier, harder to control.

They know who I am? I don't even know who I am.

A thousand questions ran through my head, each one clamouring to be heard over the other.

How did they know me? Why did they know me?

It all became too much to bear.

My first clue that something was wrong with me came with the sensation of sliding down from my chair and landing in a heap under the table. The next sign being that of seeing Dante's lower torso racing towards me, his hands reaching out to me and his concerned face appearing under the desk. He shuffled right up to me and held my face in his hands. His words held shock and pity.
"Can you hear me, Poll? Can you breathe?"

Closing my eyes, only for a moment, I sank away on a cloud of soft serenity.

******

"She's waking up. Step back now."

Dante.

Flecks of light bit their way through my eyelids, fighting to get my attention. He sounded upset.
"Fetch the medic, now!"

Shuffling feet moved all around me, Dante cradled my head in his lap, the warmth from his body contrasted sharply with the cold of the floor under mine.

I wanted to reach up a hand, to pat his arm and reassure him that I was okay, but the messages from my brain didn't connect to my muscles anymore. Was I paralysed? How had it happened? Why had it happened? Terror of the unknown nearly sank its fangs into me, when the 'medic' arrived and kicked my foot, sending my toes curling into hiding.

"Hey? Watch what you're doing, are you sure you're the medic?"

The outburst from Dante rattled through my head. I let out a sigh of relief, and even brought a smile, at least what I thought was a smile, up onto my lips for his concern.

Dressed in a long, plastic looking overall, in an unsettling shade of red, the short, bald man grinned back at me.
"Looks like your nerves are still working. Surprisingly."

The one-eyed man from the Committee leaned into view, from behind Dante, his face straight and serious. He kept his eyes on me as he addressed the medic.
"I don't mean to tell you your job, medic Baker, but that does not look like a healthy facial expression to me. Would you agree?"

Baker ran a gloved hand over his smooth skull, in an action which betrayed his recent loss of hair. His face gave nothing away.

"I am surprised to see her functioning at all. Professor Dante, please carry her for me, we need to check her condition right away. Follow me."

A rush of pleasure bled through me as strong arms picked me up and held me close. I ordered my head to move so I could see his face, make some kind of cynical remark, but my body refused.

Baker led us across the room and to a wide set of white doors, which I hadn't noticed before, as they blended into the walls so well. He pushed through them, and held one side far back against the wall, allowing us to pass. Another set of footsteps followed us into a dark corridor, I guessed that would be the one-eyed man.

Dante stopped to wait for Baker to take the lead, he shifted my weight, flexing his fingers around my thigh. He muttered under his breath.
"God, you're heavy for such an annoying little thing."

The perfect response bounded from my mind, yet my vocal chords denied the instruction.

Baker walked ahead a few more feet, before stopping and raising a hand in front of a small, square screen on the left side of the corridor wall. There was a buzz and a sliver of light from floor to ceiling revealing a doorway. The medic threw open the door, a burst of light blurred the details of the large space, as Dante carried me in.

My eyes adjusted to see Baker wheeling a hospital gurney to me, the room became sharper and obvious, a clinical area with tall panels of light blue glass at intervals along the sides of each wall.

Dante grunted as he set me down on the trolley and then stretched his arms out over his head.

"Ah, now that feels good." He smiled and winked at me. "But you know what's even better? You can't say a word about it."

I wanted to burst, I had so many comebacks held in store.

Just you wait, Dante, you'll get yours.

Baker waved a hand at whoever had followed us from the Committee and beckoned them to wheel me along. A whiff of oranges convinced me of the one-eyed man's presence. I was pushed along to the second blue panel on the left. Baker, with Dante beside him, stood close to the glass and spoke loudly.
"Subject to assess. Poll Tander."

Immediately, at the sound of his words, a schematic outline of the human body appeared on the blue glass. Complete with organs, skeleton and nervous system.

Baker motioned to the one-eyed man behind me and straps snapped out from the sides of my bed and slid over my body to hold me into place. The trolley tipped up gently, coming to a stop once I was in a fully upright position. The glass panel moved up into the ceiling, revealing a narrow, cupboard sized space, big enough for me and the trolley bed.

Baker took over and manoeuvred me inside. I got to see the one-eyed man slap Dante on the back as he boomed out at him.
"And this, my friend, will show us what they have been up to."

Dante seemed almost apologetic, his smile fake and forced. He stared at me while the blue glass slid back down, sealing me off from the room.

It got harder to breathe. My heart began to thump, the blood pulsing through my veins so hard, my ears swished with the rush. Sweat gathered and trickled down my back and face. This was not a nice place to be. Tight and sterile, without smell or movement of air, as big as a coffin. Yes, a coffin.

Blue spread through the coffin, a beautiful, calming light, a scent of pine-trees rose from the floor, and a wonderful, cool breeze floated around me. At last I could rest, sleep claimed me, body and mind, while the blue panel flickered specks of light and did its job.