13 – Falling Angel Heaven

Hacker opened the door from the other room and popped his head in. “I’m ready for you now.”
I looked from him to Jazz and back again. Neither said anything for a moment. Then I said, “O.K. what do I have to do.”
“Well first take off your suit, then follow me,” Hacker said and disappeared through the door again.
Jazz helped me off with my suit and we went back into the room with all the machines.
“If you just get into the examination tank,” Hacker opened the lid of something that looked very much like the auto-doc on the thug. “And just lie as still as you can.”
I looked around at Jazz, but she was looking at the display on a computer screen. Sighing I climbed into the tank, closed my eyes and tried to relax as the lid closed and I was held firmly in place by something soft, but unyielding, in the darkness. I lay in the tank for what seemed forever. I listened to my breathing and then to my hart beat.
I was momentarily confused when a crack of light appeared and Jazz’s face swam into focus before my eyes. I sat up, rubbing my eyes against the glare.
Hacker was talking very quickly and pointing at figures and diagrams on the screens. I looked at his diagrams and listened to his words, but I did not comprehend them.
He turned from the screens and looked up at me. “You’re a masterpiece”, he said, just like a little boy who had done some chore he wanted to be rewarded for.
I looked across at Jazz, gently shaking my head.
She was about to say something but Hacker interrupted with another blast of teckno jargon. And she replied in kind. The continued this conversation for what seemed like hours, with hacker bringing up graphs, diagrams and statistics on the screens and Jazz asking even more incomprehensible questions. I just floated there in a haze of incomprehension and drugs, as they discussed what I was and how I worked. I gradually became aware of what they where saying just as they came to a halt.
“Of course these are only the preliminary assessments. It’ll take a least eight hours of processing to give a full breakdown.” He gestured at the machines. “And then I may need to take some more measurements and samples.”
“But not tonight,” Jazz interrupted him. “Now we get some sleep.”
She took hold of my arm and guided me into the other room
“Do you want anything to eat before you sleep?” she closed the door behind her.
“No I’m not hungry,” I replied. “But what about Hacker?”
“Oh, he’ll be O.K. with his machines for quite a while yet.” She turned to the controls beside the door and dimmed the lights down. “Good night, Celia.”
“Good night, Jazz.” I curled up in a corner and went to sleep, the effect of the drugs not fully warn off yet.

Chapter 14 – Full Circle