She didn’t like the idea of her mistake causing extra work. When she was done with Dr. Kirkland, she would go search out Heath and ask him herself whether it was her fault, and if so, what exactly was Jed doing right now?
At the medical room, two nurses helped her undress. She eyed the pile of dust-smeared clothes ruefully as she thought about the wild ride on top of the elevator. The black hid the stains well, but they were probably ruined by whatever oily stuff had been coating the surface of the elevator.
“Your vitals are fine. Your leg looks better than I thought but will likely swell up more tomorrow. You’ll probably need some painkillers then, too. I’ll also schedule an MRI.”
Good to know she hadn’t made her injury more serious. “What would cause the odd muscle flutters, though, Doc?” she asked. She recalled the nausea, the feeling of being tightly squeezed, as if something was invading her being. She hadn’t been able to see where she was going, and usually, she would have reacted to the loss of control. Yet, she’d been able to maintain her focus. The serum must have helped her overcome the initial fear.Or Hades’ training had prepared you for that.She chose not to dwell on that particular subject right now. “I know it’s probably my body reacting to the drug but if it keeps happening, how do we stop it?”
“We’re going to do a few more tests. I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the bathroom with a cup,” Dr. Kirkland said.
Helen smiled, amused. “You think I’d cheat with a few sides of caffeine, Doc?” she teased. “Maybe put more stimulants in my body just for the hell of it?”
Dr. Kirkland shook his head. He stretched her leg out to the side and gestured to Derek for a towel to wipe off some of the grimy stains that had soaked through her pants. “No, but it’s my job as a doctor and a scientist to eliminate every possible reason that could have worked against the serum before working on its effects on you. So far, you have shown some of the textbook symptoms of SYMBIOS 2 effects.”
“The ability to withstand pain, less need of sleep, with my mental faculties still intact, yeah,” Helen interrupted. “What else is missing?”
“The pain is there, it’s just that the nerve center in your brain is desensitized to it,” Dr. Kirkland explained. “Depending on where the pain is, or the injury, the part of your brain that controls that area is sending electrical and biosignals to that part of your body. As we’ve explained, we don’t know exactly how pain suppressants like aspirin work, except that they do. The body just understands where to send that particular drug.”
“So you’re saying you don’t know, other than my leg injury, exactly what other parts of me the serum might be affecting. You can’t tell, even with tests? Oh, wait a minute, Iamthe test.”
Helen winked at Derek. She enjoyed teasing Dr. K. and the other scientists because they never had any solid answers about anything.
“Anything that affects and tricks the brain is dangerous, Helen,” Dr. Kirkland cautioned quietly, his forehead creasing in a small frown. “We have to get to the bottom of this strange episode, especially if it happens again.”
“I know,” she said meekly. “Anything you say, Doc.”
The doctor shook his head. “You’re so like him. Both of you don’t seem concerned about the changes to your bodies.”
That got her attention. She knew who the “him” was in reference to.
“And what are his changes?” She waggled her finger. “Come on, Dr. Kirkland, give me something here. What’s affecting the great secret monitor?”
Everything was like a piece of the puzzle and she pounced on all the information hungrily and eagerly. She wanted as many pieces as possible so she could form the picture.
Dr. Kirkland studied her for a moment, as if weighing whether he should say any more. He finished bandaging her leg and cut the access cloth.
“I’ve noticed recently that both your REM cycles begin and end together once or twice in a night. Do you have lucid dreams, Helen?” he asked.
REM. Rapid eye movement was the state of sleep in which the person was actively dreaming. “I have dreams now and then.” Helen shrugged, keeping her expression bland, but her heart was thumping from this new piece of information. “Nothing unusual that I can think of.”
“Pay more attention and see whether you can remember them. It would be interesting to compare notes with his dreams.”
“Does he tell you what his dreams are about?” she asked curiously.
“It isn’t part of the experiment, so there aren’t any notes taken. I’ve told him about the possibility of putting his dreams on record.”
She didn’t like this idea at all. Her dreams were private, too private to share.
Dr. Kirkland gave her an amused smile. “He had the same exact expression you have on your face right now.” He tilted his head to one side. “When you agreed to have all this done to you, didn’t you expect there to be drastic changes to your body as well as your mind? Doesn’t seeing Armando Chang’s behavior give you clues to possible side effects of the serum?”
“I’ve gone through workshops about all the possible effects, Dr. Kirkland,” Helen replied. “Did you imagine that I wasn’t prepared for the risks? Although, I must admit, it’d be cool to be able to do magic shows like Armando.”
As a way to distract him from talking more about lucid dreaming, she opted to lighten the mood of the conversation. Admittedly, she hadn’t really thought about the risks much in the beginning of the training. Each program had been so challenging and knowing that she had competition had made her focus solely on winning. In her mind then, the serum and all its risks were only for the winner and she hadn’t won yet.
“Remember, Armando isn’t doing remote viewing and doesn’t have the downtime a remote viewer undergoes after a session, so you’re actually more tired than our past testers of the serum, Hell, both mentally and physically,” Dr. Kirkland warned. “When you come out of your state, you might need more rest than you thought. Or, something.”
“Or, something…?” Helen dragged the word out, giving the doctor a questioning look. She had thought about that, too, but she wasn’t one to keep worrying about something over which she had no control. If she was going to do this, she had to just do it. “What do you think is going to happen to me when I come out of my ‘state,’ as you called it?”
She stood up, testing her weight on her feet. Maybe a small niggle of discomfort? She couldn’t tell.
