(old) Anomaly 207 (shelved for now)

==Chapter 3==

I woke up in a bed that wasn't my own. I looked around and realized that I was in a hospital.
To my left was a button to call a nurse, but I struggled to sit upright. For some reason, I seemed to not be able to use my right arm. I looked down and saw why. My right arm was gone.
From the shoulder down my arm was missing, not even having a small stump.

What the frick!?
Then I remembered what happened. There had been an attack on Dad. With a bomb.
After a lot of trying, I finally managed to sit upright and press the button. A minute later a nurse
walked in. "Ah, you're awake." She noted. "Yes. What day is it?" I asked.
She looked at me a little weirdly. "You were brought in four weeks ago.  How are you feeling?"
"Surprisingly well. What happened? I remember somebody throwing a bomb at my father and that I jumped in front of him, but after that, nothing. Is he okay?"
"Your father is in a coma. A bomb shrapnel hit his head. the surgeon removed it, but he has yet to wake up. He is in the High-Security wing for his own safety. He is in stable condition. Your mother is with him now, but I will notify her that you're awake."
"What happened to my arm?"
The nurse sighed.
"When you jumped in front of your father, you took most of the blast with your right arm. The bones were completely pulverized and many of your nerves were destroyed. We had to cut it off." Immediately an idea sprung into my head. "Okay. Where is all my stuff? I need to make a call."
The nurse again looked at me with a strange look. "You don't really seem fazed by the fact that you only have one arm. Are you sure you are okay?"
"I am fine. I just don't like to linger on a problem, but instead, look to find a solution to said problem. So, no. I'm not really fazed by the loss of my arm. Now can you please get my Holon?"
She raised an eyebrow but did as I asked. She walked over to a locker in the corner and took out my Holon. "Here." She said, handing it to me. I thanked her and she left. As she closed the door behind her she said, "Your mother will be here in ten minutes or so."
I nodded in understanding and she closed the door.

I unlocked my Holon and went through my contacts. I dialed Lee and waited. After a couple of tries, he picked up. "James?" He asked. "Yes. How are you?" I replied.
"How am I? How are you? You scared the living crap out of me, jumping in front of a bomb like that. How long have you been awake?" He half-shouted through his Holon. "Not that long," I replied. "only a couple of minutes." I heard Lee let out a sigh of relief on the other end of the line.  "You missed a lot, buddy," He said. "Summer break ended three weeks ago."
"I know. So, how's college?" I asked. "Meh. Not that hard." "Any luck with the girls?" I teased.
"Haha... Not funny. I'm not the ever-popular rich boy you are." I laughed. "Oof. Low blow."
It went silent for a couple of seconds.
"So... how are you dealing with the loss of your arm?" He then asked, breaking the silence. "Good. It is going to take some time to get used to, but I think I'll manage." "Let me guess," he said, "You're already thinking about making a robotic replacement."
"Bingo. That is actually why I called you. I need you to buy some stuff for me. On my costs of course." "Sure. Just send me the list and I will go get it when I have a free period or something."
The door opened and my mother stepped in. "Thanks, man. You're a lifesaver. I gotta go. Mom just entered." "See ya when you're better. Hang tight." He hung up and I placed my Holon on the little table. "Hey, mom," I said. Mom took a seat and looked at me. "Why did you do it?" I looked at her confused. "Do what?" "Jump. Why did you jump in front of him if you knew it was a bomb." I shrugged with my one shoulder. It felt weird. "I don't know. I jumped before I could think about it. But if I hadn't Dad would have been dead."
"I know. But I could have lost both of you." She burst out in tears. I wanted to comfort her, but she was sitting on my right side and an IV in my left arm prevented me from reaching out for her.
"Mom. I'm sorry I scared you like that, but I had to act. Please stop crying." She looked me in the eyes and wept her tears away. "You're right. How is your right side?"
I looked down. "Fine. I just asked Lee to buy some materials for a new one. I was about to make the list of parts for him." Mom chuckled. "That's my boy. Always inventing. Do you think you can pull it off?"
I gave her a smug look. "Of course. I'm just a little worried about the programming and energy consumption." Mother cracked a smile. She ruffled my hair. "I am sure you will figure something out." "Thanks, mom. How much longer do you think I'll have to stay?"
She stood up. "I'll ask the nurse." She then looked at her watch. "I have an appointment in half an hour, so I can't stick around, but I will come back tomorrow." She got up and left. Two minutes later I got a text message from her. The nurse says that you'll have to stay for at least another week. I replied, Thanks. Stay safe and away from bombs ;-). When I got an angry smily back, I quickly texted, Kidding.

The rest of the afternoon I spent modeling my new arm. I had called in the nurse to make a scan of my left arm for the measurements With the help of DELTA, I managed to make a blueprint.
I made a list of all the materials I was going to need and sent it to Lee.
He texted a thumbs up. Eventually, the nurse came back and asked if I wanted something to eat.
"Can I get some McDonalds?" The nurse smirked. "Technically not. But I'm willing to make an exception." "Then I will have a Big Mac, Medium fries, and a big banana milkshake. And pick something for yourself."
The nurse smiled and took out her Holon. She made the order and chose delivery.
Ten minutes later I was eating away at my burger and the nurse was enjoying her milkshake.
"So what is your name?" I asked her. She looked at me. "Jane Simmons."
I unlocked my Holon. "DELTA? Search details of Nurse Jane Simmons, Tish Hospital, New York." I instructed. "Searching... Match found... Jane Soot, thirty-four years old, has been working at the Tish Hospital for the last ten years. She attended Harvard University."
"How much do I owe you?"  I asked her as I opened my bank app.
She looked at me with a baffled look.
"How did you...?" She started, but I cut her off.
"DELTA is connected with all databanks in the world. It's not that hard to get the information I need. So how much did you have to pay?" "Twenty-seven dollars." I transferred a hundred to her bank account. Her eyes went wide as she saw the transfer. "Keep the change," I said with a smile, as I saw that she was about to protest.

The rest of the week was kind of boring. I kept working on the blueprints and spent most of my other time watching very old movies from almost a hundred years ago. I'm a fan of everything they called "science"-fiction back then because it was all ridiculous. I think I watched the old Marvel movies at least thirty times. It cheered me up and got my mind off things.
Every day a doctor or nurse came in to do some checks and brought me food. Then, after eight days, the doctor came in and told me I could leave. After some struggle, I managed to put on my own clothes and went to leave. I had asked Lee to pick me up. But first I wanted to see Dad.
The doctor brought me to his room. He was lying there, eyes closed and his skin pale.
"Dad?" I placed my hand on his arm. But of course, no reaction. I sighed."I will find the ones who did this to us and make them pay. I promise that." I whispered. Then I got back up and went to the exit.