Augmented Earth

Augmented Earth - Chapter 10 - Recovery

As Prince slowly became aware of his surroundings again, he could feel a dull ache in his chest and hear the rhythmic beeping of medical machines. He slowly opened his eyes and the bright light seemed to pierce through to the back of his skull, so he squeezed his eyes shut again and focussed his attention on his other senses.

He could feel that he was lying on a firm, smooth bed and was covered by a thin sheet. There was a clinical, chemical smell to the air, similar to the smell of the chemicals they used to sanitise the livestock sheds in the Country. If he listened past the beeping noise of the machines, he could hear the muted sound of voices, like they were filtering through from another room. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he thought he could make out his own name.

At that moment he heard a door open and footsteps moving towards him. He opened his eyes again, just a little bit, and found that he was much better able to handle the bright light. He still couldn't make out details, but he could see the shapes of four people standing around him.

"Heart rate elevating, respiration increasing, he appears to be awake," one of them said.

Prince decided to say, 'Yes, I'm awake. Where am I?', but what came out was more like "ehhhk, mmmaa."

A cool, slim hand was placed against his forehead and a calm, soft, feminine voice said, "don't try to speak, Mr Mayor. We are amazed you are still alive. You Country folk sure are resilient, I've never seen anything like it."

Prince's mind was still fuzzy, and he was having trouble focussing, but he gathered his wits and tried to turn off the Device, only to find that he couldn't.

In panic, he tried to sit up and pain lanced through his chest, forcing him to lie flat again. He found himself looking into the face of the pretty, young female doctor with strawberry blonde hair who had been speaking to him.

"Mr Mayor, you must keep still. You have a long road of recovery ahead of you."

Prince slowed his breathing and used his relaxation technique to recover his control, he could feel the panic subsiding. He drew the energy from inside of himself and focussed on switching off the Device. The room flickered between two realities for a few seconds, but then it darkened, OFF. He was still looking at the young doctor and her colleagues were still there, but the bright lights were all gone, and the room was bare and basic.

Before Prince could look around the room in more detail, he could feel his energy waning and the bright hospital room snapped back into view, ON. He wasn't expecting it to return of its own accord and it made him gasp and slump further into his bed. The lady doctor turned to her colleagues and ushered them out of the room. "We can see you need more rest Mr Mayor; the nurses will bring you food next time you awake."

Prince tried to protest, but then the room began to darken, this time because he was losing consciousness again...

***

Prince went through a number of short periods of awareness. They were all in the augmented world with the device on, but they were fleeting before his awareness faded back into darkness.

During one of his longer periods of wakefulness, he reflected on the fact that he knew he was not actually injured and that he should be able to wake up from this augmented nightmare, but that he couldn't summon the energy to do it. He remembered again that the lady from the toilets had told him that strength was required to disable the Device, but now he realised that he needed strength in both realities.

He gave himself over to the recovery process, and allowed himself to sleep and rest. This decision allowed his (virtual) body to recover faster.

After some time, Prince woke again feeling more refreshed. There was sunlight streaming in through the window and he could hear birds chirping in the garden outside.