The Book of Time

Chapter 20

Thomas knocked on the door then entered.

"Shay. We should get something to eat," he said. He'd eaten something less than two hours before and already he felt hungry.

She spun around in her chair. She grinned at him. "Sit on the bed and take off your shirt."

Thomas blinked. "Um. What?"

"I just saw something. I need to see your arm. You have not been using it to its full potential," she said excitedly. His arm. Of course. "Most of them are probably turned off. Take of your shirt. There's one feature that I know you'll like."

He unbuttoned his shirt and sat on the bed in front of her. She took his arm.

"What features does this have?" he asked.

Shay felt along his forearm and pressed a spot near the inside of his elbow. A panel popped open. She pointed to the five buttons and dials lined up next to each other.

"This one turns off the power control," she said. "Your normal electric ability is nothing compared to what you can do when this dial is turned all the way down. This one," she pointed to the button next to it, "locks the joints in your arm from elbow to fingers. If the experiments are right, then you should be able to cut through the door of a car with it." She pointed to the third switch. "This one allows you to detach your arm so no more screws when you need to repair it. This one," she turned the dial, "is the one you would like."

He waited for a moment. "I don't feel anything," he said.

Shay took his hand. "Are you so sure about that?" she asked.

Slowly he realized what she was talking about. "Your hands. They're cold," he said. "They're cold." He laughed. "I can feel. But how?"

Shay smiled. "I don't know the details but I did see the experiments and I was really hoping they got that feature working."

He ran his hand on the bed and felt the sheet between his fingers. "I can feel it." How was this even possible? His arm was metal.

"Maybe now you can play the piano again," she said, softly. "I saw what happened when you tried last time but now that you can feel the keys, they won't break. This hand is even more dexterous than the other."

Could that actually be true? For two years, Thomas had avoided even looking at a piano. It had nearly killed him when he'd found out he couldn't play anymore. He was speechless.

"Thomas? Thomas?" Shay called. He looked at her. "You looked lost for a moment."

Thomas hugged her. "This is amazing. Thank you." He could feel her hair and the fabric of her jacket... with both hands.

"I didn't do anything other than turn the dial," Shay said. She pulled away after a few moments. "I don't know what the other two dials are for." She snapped the panel closed. She reached to his upper arm and felt the inside of his bicep. "There's another panel here." There was a click. "Hm. What's this?" She took something out.

Thomas took it from her. "I know what this is," he said. He held it up to the light. "An SOS. You press it and it calls the Jaguars. Zahir can track us with it. He implanted a tracker in my arm." Thomas crushed it in his hand.

She raised his arm so she could see in the panel. "Hm. I can't reach the buttons here. This wire is--"

"Ah!" Thomas cried out. He pulled away his arm.

"What is it? What did I do?" she asked.

He cradled his arm to his chest. "I'm not sure but when you touched the wire, it felt like someone was ripping my arm off."