New Chapter
Multiverse Boogie
By
Charles Gerlt-Nelson
Nile and Xavier
When Nile woke she was confused, drenched in sweat, and felt all kinds and colors of
pain. She was being pushed on a gurney whose wheels bounced twice in a quick succession.
“Was I just on an elevator? How the hell did I get on an elevator?” She tried to say but
her words were so slurred and jumbled that even she didn’t understand what she had said. Her
second and third attempts were better. At least she could tell that she was trying to string
consonants and vowels together into some kind of coherent pattern.
Her next discovery was her vision. It was a blurred filter of white and dark blobs. The
panic the quickly followed after sent her heart rate into a triple time rhythm.
Her first thoughts were, “How can I fly without my eyes? Nobody will hire a blind pilot!”
Nile’s hands sent themselves out to slap at anything in blind shock and fear, one hand
landed on a cold railing, adding a sharp shooting pain to the laundry list of pains she was already
feeling, and the other landed on a warm hand which didn’t feel quite right like it was swollen.
A voice hissed in pain.
“Andruth?” she managed.
The owner of the hand whispered in a voice she never heard before, “You are going to be
okay. We are going somewhere safe.”
“Ah,” she swallowed and tried again, “Ah hurth ahl over.”
“Just relax. My name is Xavier. We’re almost there.” he said in a soothing, professional
baritone.
She tried to place Xavier in her memory but all she got for her effort was a scruffy guy
with Asian features who wore a nice leather coat. She wasn’t sure if that image went with the
voice or not.
“Ahll most where? Ahllat happened?” she managed
Xavier put his warm hand on her head, “Just try to relax. Don’t talk. Ok.”
Desperate she tried to remember anything of the past twenty four hours and found she
only remembered up to Thursday. It was Friday. Wasn’t it? A moan escaped her. Her heart rate
had not slowed in the least. Nile tried sitting up but her body just sent her brain error messages
and refused to do anything of the sort. She grunted with the effort.
“Shhh,” said the calm voice. Xavier. That’s his name, “Breathe. Just breathe and try to
relax. I’ll get you patched up. Ok.”
“Patched up?” Nile thought, “was I in an accident?”
Her body sure as hell felt like she had been. She felt broken and bruised from head to toe
like she had been put into a barrel with two ten pound dumbbells then roll down a flight of stairs.
She discovered that she couldn’t move the right side of her face very well and her lungs hurt on
every inhale of breath.
“What wha….” Her voice failed her again.
Eventually she felt herself shift on the gurney as Xavier swung them to the left then
stopped in complete darkness that had a slight echo quality it. It reminded her of the small
auditorium where her algebra II class was held on campus. She tried to get her memory to work
in that darkness but it just wouldn’t. Her recent memories flitted just out of reach for her to grasp
solidly. Popcorn? She remembered popcorn…no she smelled popcorn and fried
donuts…and…and bratwurst and mustard. She was sure she smelled it. She got it then, “It’s my
clothes. The smell is in my clothes.”
“Nice to know my nose still works.” She thought to herself.
Terrified screams was the next memory that crashed into her conscious mind then drove
off without rendering assistance or even checking to see if anyone was hurt. Those screams
where mixed with…laughter? Colors flashed in her memory too but with no connection to
anything.
Frustrated she inhaled deeply, despite the pain it caused, then the white blob returned and
Nile groaned in pain as the white blob punished her brain with a sharp pointy stick. Even though
her eyelids were closed.
“Ahat happened?” she tried again. She sounded a little better. Softer than she had
intended, “Where am I?”
No one answered.
Another voice joined them. This voice was jovial but with a strong hint of uncaring
sincerity. “On the wall I lit up three syringes. Take one of them and inject the entire thing into
her neck, then take the vision corrector and place it over her eyes then push the red button.”
Xavier asked, “What about Mandy? Is she still here?”
There was a pause then, “oh the picture you showed me. I am unsure…”
“Be sure.”
“Ugh, fine. I will scan the ship for her. If she is still here I will see about getting her to
you. You will not do her any good captured or dead. So in the meantime do what I say.”
“And the other people?
“Yes, yes them too.”
“You got a deal. What’s in the syringe?” Xavier asked in a voice that was professionally
calm and concerned. His voice sounded like he had walked to the other side of the room. It
surprised Nile she thought he was still next to her.
“Nanites and sedative. Very expensive nanites, so do not juggle them. The current
treatment is to have all brain injures handled by the Highbrows while using the nanites to deal
with all the other injuries but unless you want to be caught by the Toren and sold as food or as
slaves we will have to use an older treatment method. It will take longer but it will work. I have
programmed them to repair her injuries. When you cattle come through a wormhole, many suffer
strokes, aneurysms, or seizures. Some cattle suffer cardiac arrest. Some are dead on arrival.”
There was a stunned pause from Xavier, “Really?”
“Really really,” said the Voice, “You cattle do not take too kindly to traveling the
Multiverse. Come to think on it not many races do.”
Xavier asked, “If that’s the case how come I’m not exhibiting any ill effects?”
The Face sounded like it exhaled then answered terse and sarcastic, “I do not know.
Maybe you were born that way. Now, those nanites can heal her. Not bring her back to life.”
“Fair enough,” Xavier said subdued.
Nile felt Xavier clean the injection spot with a wipe then she felt a pinch there. That spot
in her neck felt chilly causing goose flesh to erupt all over her body then slowly it started to heat
up. That heat spread out toward her head and down to her chest.
“What about the other two people?” Xavier questioned.
“Well, the male is currently still in the corral but should be headed to Med Bay in any
moment, the female, however, suffered cardiac arrest as she made it through the wormhole and is
being treated in the other elevator as we speak. I will need to check on them after I have seen to
you two.”
“Theah? Andruth,” Nile lifted her head and tried to ask but her mouth slathered
everything in drowsy concern.
She felt Xavier’s warm hand on her forehead as he spoke softly into her ear, “Just focus
on getting better. I’m right here, and I’m not going to leave you. We will find them. We are all
going to make it back home. I promise you.”
“Ok. I smell like I was in a kitchen. What kind of kitchen accident puts people on a
gurney?” Nile asked in her head as she tried to puzzle it out, “did a stove explode or something?
I don’t feel burned…”
She put her head back down and focused on breathing again and almost immediately
started to fall asleep. Her own loud snore jolted her awake then what felt like a cold set of
goggles were placed over her eyes that made her jump in surprise.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scary you. The Face here says this will fix your vision. Hold on.”
came Xavier’s voice above her head. His breath ran across her forehead.
“Fix my eyes. Thank god.” She thought with relief, “I can’t lose my eyes.”
A high whine followed by a flashes of lights so fast and in so many different colors that
Nile had no time to register them.
Xavier took the thing off and she opened her eyes to see scruffy guy with Asian features
who wore a nice leather coat. He also wore a concerned look on his face. His eyes scanned her
face then he took a pen light from inside his jacket flicked it on then shined it into her eyes then
briefly swung the light away for a second then repeated that process two more times.
“Well your eyes are reacting right? How do you….”
“You…ahw...Doctor?”
She watched sad smile appear on Xavier’s face when he answered, “An EMT.”
“EMT…” Nile mashed her teeth against a sharp and sudden stab of pain from her left
side. The pain was just under her ribs and it interrupted her chain of thought. She flinched away
from it instinctively. Xavier was there and he gave Nile his hand to squeeze. She screamed
through her clenched teeth.
“What’s happening to her?” She heard Xavier ask.
“The nanites are dealing with her injuries. It will pass in a moment then she can stop
being such a big baby.”
She glared in the direction of the Face and thought, “I’m not being a big baby! That
freaking hurt! You dick!”
The face on the screen made her think of the main guy from the Disney’s animated movie
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” For the life of her though she couldn’t remember the
character’s name. They both were scary skinny and had the monstrous Adams apple and big
nose.
After a few moments the Face did prove himself right and the pain did subsided. She
could breathe easier.
All of her muscles started to relax by sections. First her legs, then her arms, chest, finally
her shoulders and neck. Here and there Nile would feel prickling in her muscles not as bad as
that stab from earlier. She wanted to scratch at it but she felt too tired.
The last she heard before she succumbed to the sedative was The Face saying to Xavier,
“You should take the other dose and lay down. I programed it to fix your left hand. It is fractured
and swelling. You nearly beat those poor two people to death.”