Desserts and more drinks arrived, interrupting the discussion.
‘You mentioned earlier on tonight, Miss Quinn,’ Dr. Life resumed the conversation, ‘that the realization of the Mortals’ situation came onto you suddenly and after you did some research, you changed your attitude towards them.’
‘That’s right,’ she confirmed, ‘it wasn’t easy at first to dig up facts, but once I got on the right track, it all started to form quite a clear picture. I must say I found it unbelievable at first, but there’s no doubt that the image of the Mortals that many of us hold is deeply distorted.’
‘I would love an opportunity to hear the details of the process you went through,’ he said.
‘Of course.’
‘I understand you and Mr. Collins are extremely busy at the moment,’ he said, ‘but would you be so kind and drop by my office when you are back in New York?’
‘It would be my pleasure, sir,’ she said. ‘We will do that as soon as possible.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Amaranthine was in her hovercar on the way to meet Dr. Life on his ranch in Texas. As she approached the estate, she rehearsed in her mind what she’d say to yet again excuse Daniel. He agreed to go and see Dr. Life in New York, but the time and location of their appointment was changed by the doctor’s secretary and the new time again coincided with Daniel’s visit to Scotland. Amaranthine considered telling him why it was so crucial that he went with her, but at the last moment Daniel got a phone call from his mother – his sister’s condition had worsened. As soon as he heard the news, he pretty much dropped everything and left, there wasn’t even time for her to try and persuade him to put it off. She was seriously worried that Dr. Life would take offence and the only chance of bypassing the system to get Susan a Cure-based treatment would be lost. There was nothing she could do, though, except coming up with a convincing excuse for Daniel.
Problem was, she had nothing. Any story she concocted in her mind sounded lame and would make things even worse. She ordered her hovercar to slow down to give herself more time to think, but now she was bordering on being late. She didn’t know what would be worse.
The ranch was massive; she could see it stretching for miles in each direction on her radar. As soon as she was within a kilometer of it, its security system demanded permission to take over control of her hovercar. She instructed Eiko to allow it. Her vehicle was immediately forced to lower itself almost to the ground, where dense forest surrounding the whole estate completely obscured the view into the depths of the ranch.
Her hovercar was flown down a long, narrow opening between the trees for a few minutes before it was finally landed in front of a big house.
There was no additional security visible, but she was sure that by now her vehicle had been scanned numerous times for every possible threat it could carry. As soon as the hatch opened and she got out, Mr. Walker appeared in the doorway and came down to the parking area to greet her.
‘Thank you for coming over, Miss Quinn,’ he said. ‘Dr. Life awaits you in the stables.’
She followed him to the back of the house. A big yard stretched between a few outbuildings. Mr. Walker led her to a long, low structure on the right, from which a man was coming out leading a beautiful, black horse whose coat shone like anthracite.
‘Miss Quinn,’ he raised his hand in a friendly wave, ‘pleasure to see you.’
‘The pleasure is mine,’ she smiled, ‘it’s an amazing ranch.’
‘I must say I enjoy spending my time here,’ he said, ‘it reminds me of the old days, when people still used to live their lives on the ground and do things such as horse riding.’
‘He’s beautiful,’ Amari said, stroking the horse on the velvet nose.
‘You seem familiar with horses,’ Dr. Life remarked, ‘that’s not very common amongst people these days.’
‘It is amongst the Mortals,’ she said. ‘It’s just us, the Immortals, who live way up above the ground so we’ve forgotten all the little pleasures of life. Not to mention we are obsessively afraid of anything remotely dangerous.’
‘Is it one of the things you realized when you started your partnership with Mr. Collins?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Horse riding is one of those wonderful things he introduced me to. My life has been so much more interesting and fulfilling ever since I met him.’
‘He sounds like the perfect man for my project,’ Dr. Life said, a note of disappointment in his voice.
Here we go, Amaranthine thought. He thinks Daniel is avoiding him, making up excuses not to meet him. What do I say?
‘Sir,’ she started, ‘Daniel really does want to meet you, he asked me to tell you that. It’s just bad timing, that’s all. He needed to attend to something very urgent.’
‘Of course, of course,’ he said immediately, as if not wanting to waste time on listening to another excuse. ‘You are here, so someone has to take care of business.’
‘It’s not actually work-related,’ she said. ‘It’s a family matter.’
‘Oh yes, you mentioned that before,’ he waved his hand and started to brush the side of his horse. ‘I hope everything is all right.’
‘Actually, sir,’ Amaranthine took a deep breath. Now or never, she thought. ‘Something is very, very wrong. I’m not saying this to throw a personal matter at you, but merely to prove to you that Daniel really does have an important reason not to be here.’
‘What is wrong?’ he asked, having stopped to brush his horse.
‘His sister has been in a coma for three weeks, following an accident. The Mortal doctors have been unable to make her wake up and Daniel’s family took her home and are taking turns in looking after her and her new infant. Her condition has just worsened, which is why Daniel isn’t here.’
‘A coma that lasts three weeks?’ Dr. Life raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m afraid so, sir,’ she said.
‘That’s what’s been preventing Mr. Collins from meeting with me?’
‘Yes, sir. His family is extremely important to him and the situation has been very hard on all of them. The diagnosis is inconclusive, but her chances are fading. It seems that without a Cure-based treatment she is not going to make it. Problem is, she has just had her second child, so the Cure is out-of-bounds for her. I’ve tried – ’
‘Isn’t this a wonderful coincidence!’ Dr. Life suddenly exclaimed.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘It’s absolutely perfect,’ he said, ‘please follow me, Miss Quinn.’
He dropped the horse brush and started walking towards the house, not bothering to take the animal back to the stables. Amaranthine followed him, dumbfounded.
Inside the house, he headed straight for his office. Tsuneo Walker was there within seconds.
‘Tsuneo, my friend,’ the doctor said, sitting down at his huge mahogany desk and switching on his idatron, ‘we must immediately return to New York.’
‘Of course,’ Mr. Walker accepted the request as a given, showing no sign of surprise. ‘Will we be needing anything in particular?’
‘No, just my lab coats,’ he replied, ‘we have a project to work on.’
‘Certainly,’ Mr. Walker said and left.
Dr. Life’s idatron came alive, revealing a huge laboratory in the projection. A few people in white coats squinted over microscopes and countless glass tubes.
‘What can I do for you, sir?’ a woman’s voice resounded. In the next second, Amaranthine saw her in the front of the projection.
‘There is a project we have to work on,’ Dr. Life announced.
‘Of course,’ she said in the same tone of voice as Tsuneo Walker did. Clearly such sudden turns of plans involving new projects were a common occurrence when it came to Dr. Life, and all his staff were well used to it. ‘What will we be requiring?’
‘Just one single room. We will be bringing in a female patient in a deep coma, previously not exposed to the Cure.’
‘Should I
arrange a transfer?’
‘Yes, please,’ Dr. Life said. ‘It’s a patient by the name of –’
He looked at Amaranthine for information.
‘Glenmore. Susan Glenmore.’
‘Susan Glenmore.’
‘Where is she currently being treated?’
Same look again.
‘I don’t know the name of the hospital, sir,’ Amaranthine said. ‘Let me contact Daniel right now.’
‘It’s in Scotland,’ she heard Dr. Life say as she was leaving the room to make the call. ‘You can set off, I will send you the exact location in a few minutes.’
Amaranthine nearly dropped her idatron as she looked around for a place she could settle to tell Daniel the news. She wanted a full communication so that she could see his face when he heard it.
‘Amaranthine?’ his voice was muffled when he picked up. ‘Give me a second.’
She heard the sound of closing doors and then his idatron being placed on a table. His image quickly became sharp. ‘Is everything ok? Do you need me?’ he was speaking quietly, as if he didn’t want to wake someone up.
‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s not about work. It’s about your sister.’
‘Lyndsay? What do you mean?’
‘No, not Lyndsay. Susan.’
‘What about her?’
‘Are you sitting down?’ she asked. ‘I really think you should sit down.’
‘Ok, now you are freaking me out a wee bit.’
‘Daniel,’ she said, feeling hot moisture fill her eyes as she was finally able to utter these words, ‘Dr. Life is going to cure your sister.’
‘How long do you think it’s going to take?’ Daniel asked as they looked at Susan, all wrapped in wires, surrounded by beeping monitors, and a myriad of other mysterious devices. They waited for a few hours whilst Susan was subjected to all possible tests, screens and scans, most of which they’d never heard of. None of the people who performed these procedures bothered to explain anything to them, but the main thing was that they seemed to know exactly what they were doing, as if they were in the middle of a standard routine. Then they all left without a word, leaving Amaranthine and Daniel alone with Susan.
‘It’s too early to say,’ she replied. ‘But from what I gathered, they were talking in terms of hours, not even days.’
Daniel put his arms around her and gave her a hug that took her breath away for a moment. When he finally let her go, she looked into his eyes that were sparkling. He smiled, but it was a shy, constrained smile – she could tell he wasn’t allowing his hopes to be raised too high just yet.
‘I told my folks she was being taken for some more tests,’ he said, looking at his sister. ‘Just in case.’
She smiled. She understood perfectly. He was protecting his family from a potential disappointment just like she’d been protecting him for these last few weeks that she’d spent frantically trying to find a way to help, but didn’t slip a word about it to him.
She studied Susan’s face in more detail. She looked very peaceful, which stood in stark contrast with the sophisticated machinery she was surrounded with. Even with her eyes closed, she resembled her brother. The same dark, irregular eyebrows and high cheekbones, the same color of hair and shape of the mouth. They could almost be twins.
‘How did you manage to pull this off?’ he asked, looking at her with admiration. ‘What did you say to him?’
‘Honestly, I just told him the truth,’ she said. ‘And he wanted to meet you so much that when he found out what’s been keeping you away, he made up this ‘project’ thing that he was supposedly working on and Susan was a perfect subject to test some new treatment on.’
‘He’s a strange guy,’ Daniel said. ‘He could just order his staff to treat whomever he likes, I mean it’s not like anyone is going to question him, even if he broke the law. Instead, he chooses to make up the whole scenario to make his actions look legitimate.’
‘I know,’ she said, smiling. ‘Very peculiar.’
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Shoot.’
‘You were hoping to persuade him to do it, weren’t you? That’s why you wanted me to meet him so badly.’
‘Well, I must admit it crossed my mind.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘For the same reason you didn’t tell your family where Susan really is,’ she said. ‘Just in case it didn’t work out.’
‘Thank you. And sorry for not going to meet him the first time. I should have sensed that there was an important reason for you wanting me to go. I should have trusted you.’
‘Don’t apologize,’ she said. ‘If you hadn’t made your family a priority over Dr. Life, he may have not offered to help. He is doing this because he wants you to be available for him.’
‘Well, I don’t really care what his motivation is,’ Daniel said. ‘If he brings my sister back to life, I will do anything he wants.’
‘I’ll go and see if I can get us some coffee,’ she said. ‘Be right back.’
‘Thanks, Amari.’
She walked down the long corridor. She couldn’t help but try to peek into the rooms she was passing. They were all identical with Susan’s room, at least judging by the details she could see through the narrow glass windows in the doors. Presumably, each contained a patient being treated for one condition or the other with one of the numerous drugs derived from the Cure. Dr. Life never stopped perfecting his invention and adjusting it for various specific treatments. He mixed it with other drugs in different proportions, thus changing its properties slightly. Pretty much every year a new variation would be patented and put into use. Who knows, Amaranthine thought, maybe Susan really was a perfect case for some new revolutionary treatment. There was no way to tell, though, and it really didn’t matter.
The whole place felt more like a research laboratory than a hospital. Every person that passed her was completely preoccupied with their work, which manifested itself with absent-minded facial expressions, and a sense of urgency in their body language. She realized that she was allowed to see the inside of a unique institution, one that resembled none other and functioned like no other.
She finally found the cafeteria, but the door was locked. It took her a long while to find someone who could let her in and help her to get the drinks. It seemed like the staff were not used to dealing with visitors, their number one priority was their scientific research, not the comfort of the families and friends of their patients, or, rather, test subjects. This figures, Amaranthine thought, I imagine they rarely treat Mortals here, and Immortals wouldn’t have any relatives visiting.
She finally got back to Susan’s room, carrying two cups of coffee. With both of her hands busy, she backed her way in.
‘Ok, that was a mission, but – ’ her voice dried out as she turned around.
What she saw nearly made her drop the newly acquired beverages.
Daniel was sitting next to his sister’s bed, holding her hand. The flickering reflection from his wrist watch gave away the shaking of his hand.
Susan’s eyes, deep blue just like her brother’s, were wide open.
‘You must be the one who saved my life,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
‘I cannot believe that they woke her up in less than six hours when our doctors couldn’t do it in three weeks,’ Daniel said. They were outside Susan’s room, as she was subjected to more tests, following the return of her consciousness. ‘She would have been in that coma for God knows how long if it hadn’t been for you.’
‘I’m glad to have been able to help,’ Amaranthine replied. ‘But you should thank Dr. Life, not me.’
‘I’m dying to call my Mum and tell her,’ he said, reaching for his idatron, forgetting that both their devices were confiscated by the security when they arrived.
‘We should find out first how long Susan will have to stay here,’ Amari suggested. ‘It will be the first question your family asks.’
‘You’re right,’ he s
aid, ‘and I should check if this place allows any more visitors. I’m sure the whole family will want to be on the next available flight, but Dr. Life and his staff might not be happy for them all to barge in here.’
He took his hand out of his pocket, but it involuntarily travelled back there less than five seconds later, as if he expected his idatron to magically find its way back so that he could just take it out and call his family. ‘Oh, Amari, I can’t wait to see my Mum’s face when I tell her what happened. I want to jump up and down and scream about it.’
Amari smiled to herself. She remembered the feeling, it was less than ten hours since she was the messenger of the good news. She remembered his eyes light up first with disbelief, then hope and then finally happiness, and recalling that image once again filled with a thrill.
At the same time, she felt a rising anxiety that she was rapidly beginning to understand the source of. The moment Susan looked at her and thanked her, Amaranthine realized that it was only a matter of time before Daniel’s whole family – his parents, his siblings, Susan’s husband and children, plus an unknown number of other relatives – would come into the picture. They will want to visit their daughter and know the whole story of her revival. Then they will want to meet Amaranthine and express their gratitude.
That thought made her want to run away. She didn’t quite know why, but she felt like she was about to take some sort of test that she’d never studied for. What would she say? ‘It’s nothing, you are welcome, I just wanted Daniel to be happy again’? ‘Plus he saved my life, so this gave me a chance to pay him back’? or ‘It had nothing to do with me, Dr. Life simply needed someone in your daughter’s condition to test his new drug on, so it was a lucky coincidence’? She became aware that what she would say to them and how she would act, would make them have one or the other opinion about her. She didn’t know what impression she would like them to have. This was not another client or reporter she would be meeting, it was Daniel’s family. She’d never met any of her previous boyfriend’s families before, and she had no idea how she should act. She also remembered Lyndsay’s reaction when she found out about Daniel and Amari’s relationship, and she had no idea what Lyndsay had said to the rest of them…