A Complicated Web

Chapter Fifty Two: Chat Box

Kally stared at her computer screen once more. Several days had passed since she'd encountered Ms. Kendrick and her temper. Her shoulder still ached from the encounter, but at least the cuts inside her mouth had pretty much healed, though she had a nasty bruise on her cheek that would likely take some time to go away. And so long as she didn't jostle her shoulder too much, she was good to go.

She'd worn the sling the first two days, which had hampered her progress, but at least she hadn't been totally useless. She knew how to henpeck, which had its uses. And the first thing she'd checked when she'd first gotten back into the lab was to make sure the data chip was not the one she'd left in the port. It wasn't. And since she hadn't seen Loki since he'd called Dr. Bosch, she hoped he'd taken it outside of the facility where he could plug it into another computer and execute the program she'd created.

The main problem had been that she didn't have a clue where they were and Loki hadn't told her. She'd have programmed that into the algorithm, but since she didn't have the kind of information she needed, she'd had to design a two-way radio of sorts instead. First, it would seek out the distinct signature of Sammy and flag her attention. Then it would open a secure "channel" for Loki to communicate what he needed to her. Since she wasn't sure how technology savvy he was, she'd tried to make that part as simple as possible.

Kally knew they were living at a different rate of time than the rest of the world, thanks to Loki's comments. But it still didn't help when she knew she had to wait longer than everyone else outside the field of influence. What might be slow to her could actually be him barely making it to a place where he could execute the program. And there was no telling how long it would take for the forces to muster themselves, let alone for Loki to return and get them ready for that event. Timing was, of course, critical and absolutely impossible to sync up.

It might have made things easier if she'd been able to work things out with Hiro, come up with a game plan of their own for when things went down. But she was stuck in her lab under the watchful eye of her guard dogs. And Hiro was recovering from what had to be the worst thing that had ever happened to him, at least physically, in life. There were obviously some emotional traumas he hadn't shared that trumped his current condition, though she had no idea what they were and wasn't sure if she should ask. She just hoped he wasn't as bad off as she imagined he might be.

The door opened and she couldn't help but flinch a bit. Ms. Kendrick hadn't shown up since that day but there was always the possibility the woman would. She visibly relaxed as she noticed Dr. Bosch out of the corner of her eye. He'd provided a sling and painkillers, which she only took when the pain became unbearable. "Back for another checkup?" she inquired, not bothering to move away from the computer. Ms. Kendrick was probably watching somewhere and would come at her again if she thought the girl was slacking.

Dr. Bosch moved into the room with his medical bag in hand. He had the tablet tucked firmly inside in case the current medic on duty didn't call him should something happen with Hiro. "Something like that," he replied as he set the bag down on the desk and opened it. "Just making sure there are no complications or other repercussions from the other day. Now say 'ah'."

Kally did as instructed, her chair turned to face him as he slid a tongue depressor between her lips. She wasn't sure this was all really necessary but it made the day a little less tedious with nothing else to do but stare at a computer monitor and type away at code she hoped would never be used. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he shone a penlight down her throat and at her still existent tonsils and whatever else he might see down there.

"Okay," he said as he took the wooden stick out of her mouth and placed it in a small bag. "Looks good. No inflammation. No pustules or redness." He then checked her ears, her nose, her eyes, and felt the glands on her neck. He then had her breathe deeply for him as he checked her lungs and heart.