Goon - 8. Chapter 8

“If he were a computer, I would say that it was rather like a bunch of corrupted files are being put into his hard drive, but we cannot detect what is causing this type of reaction.” The woman’s voice was faint through the light, and there was another voice talking over it at the same time.

“Hold on Jericho, we’ve breeched the reactor room and are working on the control room.” This voice was even more familiar, belonging to Dr. Linda Rodriguez. “I don’t know how, but the old bastard’s got the reactor running at full despite the variances, and whatever’s happening to you won’t stop until we get the reactor powered down. He must be trying to send a transmission back and that’s what’s got you right now. Just hold on, young man.”

“The MRI didn’t show anything?” That was another familiar voice, belonging to the scientist, Dr. Zebel. Micah found his grip on reality fading as he drifted in the white light. His entire body hurt at the same time he felt relaxed from whatever drugs were pumping into him through the IV needle he could feel on his left arm. “What about the CAT scan?”

“Dr. Zebel, we’ve had the electronics warfare specialists in here to try and detect electronic signals causing this and we’ve had no luck.” The first voice sounded exasperated and then excited. “Wait, look at the brain function monitor! He’s coming around. Micah, can you hear me?”

“He wanted me to come in here with him, but I wouldn’t.” That voice was Haskill and Micah wanted to snort in disgust at the cowardly tone in the man’s voice. He was probably more worried he was going to get in trouble now.

“Well, the past is the past.” Dr. Rodriguez’s voice mirrored the distaste Micah was feeling towards the owner of that voice, but he was dragged back to the other world, the voices that seemed more important because they were a better connection to Corey, and he could feel something like a needle sticking his hand.

“Ouch!” Micah said, or at least he hoped he did, but he still floated in the white light.

“Did you hear that?” Dr. Zebel’s voice sounded excited, and he could hear the sounds of expensive cloth rustling against a chair as someone stood at the same time as a muttered oath and a feminine exclamation of surprise.

“Micah, can you open your eyes?” The female doctor’s voice asked at the same time as Linda Rodriguez’s voice exclaimed. “Mr. Jericho, don’t move! We don’t know what will happen if you disconnect yourself from the wires!”

“This is weird.” Micah said aloud as another woman’s voice intruded.

“Micah, honey, I’m so relieved you’re waking up.” That was another welcome voice. Mrs. Howard’s voice was even more welcome than his mother’s would have been. It still got confusing as Linda Rodriguez’s voice spoke at the same time as Zebel’s and the other doctor’s. He couldn’t see anything but white light and felt like he was being torn into two.

“Stop!” Micah said hoarsely and heard his voice echo.

“He’s alive!” That was another familiar voice, and he was able to identify it as belong to the future, his superior on the security force.

“He wasn’t talking to you!” He could hear Dr. Rodriguez shout and he winced, or wanted to wince. There was no telling if his body was reacting to anything, and he tried to figure out what to do next.

“Dr. Zebel, can I talk freely?” Micah decided to ask. Apparently when he talked he talked in both times because Dr. Rodriguez was confused by his question.

“Dr. Zebel?” Linda Rodriguez asked. “How do you know him? He died in a car accident two years ago.”

“No, Dr. Anderson, you will have to excuse us.” Dr. Zebel said in the past. Micah sighed as he listened to the unseen doctor protest until Mrs. Howard added her voice and ordered the doctor out.

“You can speak freely now, Micah.” Dr. Zebel stated as Linda Rodriguez repeated her question again.

“I think I’m going crazy.” Micah said aloud and he could hear multiple indrawn breaths at his words. “All I can see is a white light, but I can feel the IV in my arm in the past, and I can hear what’s going on in the reactor room in the future as well as in the hospital room in the past.”

“What are you trying to say, Mr. Jericho?” Linda Rodriguez asked. “You are communicating with Dr. Zebel in the past?”

“This is absolutely amazing.” Dr. Zebel said. “Real-time communication between past and future. We theorized this might be possible, but the mechanics of it would have to wait until we mastered the first stage.”

“Please, don’t do that.” Micah groaned, having to concentrate to hear their words as the light pulsed. “You’re both talking at the same time and it’s getting me confused. Dr. Rodriguez is standing near enough to talk to me in the future and Dr. Zebel is in my room in the past and Mrs. Howard is there too.”

“The First Lady?” Rodriguez gave a low whistle at the same time as Zebel bit back a curse.

“Micah, dear, you will have to tell us who you are talking to and who should respond.” Mrs. Howard said gently. “If you are talking to me, say my name first and then your message. If someone from the future is talking to you, you must say future, and likewise for the past. If someone asks you a question you should repeat the question for the person at the other end. Does that make sense?”

Micah relayed her words, starting by saying “Mrs. Howard says that I should…” and wasn’t surprised at the rapid agreement from both ends. He could feel the light pulsing and wondered if he should mention anything about that, but was immediately bombarded by simultaneous questions from both ends. In an effort to be fair, he suggested Dr. Rodriguez go next.

“Mr. Jericho, are you saying that you can talk to people in the past and Dr. Zebel is there?” She asked. He first repeated her question for those in the past and then answered.

“I’ve been living in the past for several months, remembering most of the future.” Micah said, hoping it made sense.

“Have you made changes to the past?” Dr. Rodriguez asked and Micah relayed the question, unsure if he should tell her.

“Ask her if you and Corey are married in the future.” Mrs. Howard hit on the right question to see if the future had indeed been changed.

“Dr. Rodriguez, am I married to Corey Howard?” Micah asked and cringed at the explosive breath she released, or at least he thought he cringed.

“You and the President’s son?” Dr. Rodriguez was laughing now. “Sorry, it’s just, I could just imagine Carlo’s reaction to that. No, he’s engaged to some other young man.”

“Perry Treat?” Micah asked with a sinking feeling.

“That’s correct.” She said with a pleased sound.

“Mrs. Howard, he’s still engaged to the queen.” Micah said with a hint of disappointment.

“I don’t understand.” Dr. Zebel stated.

“In the future, my son is engaged to someone other than Micah, but in the here and now the two of them are engaged in a relationship.” Mrs. Howard summarized. “Micah dear, would they know if you had ever been in a relationship with Corey?”

“Dr. Rodriguez, you said I was Corey’s protector earlier today.” Micah said after thinking for a moment. “Was I ever anything more than that as far as you know?”

“Carlo said the two of you were friends, but I always assumed you were heterosexual.” Dr. Rodriguez said. “Are you saying you’ve changed the nature of your relationship with Corey Howard in the past?”

“Yes, we’re boyfriends.” He answered before remembering to summarize for the others. Then the white light started pulsing and he felt a tingling sensation all over his body and he began to pant. “Something’s wrong. It’s pulsing again.”

“You have to give them a message.” Dr. Zebel said urgently just as Dr. Rodriguez said the same thing. Their words jumbled over one another, making a mess in his mind as the tingling grew extremely painful and the white light turned to darkness.

When he finally opened his eyes again there was mostly darkness, except for the light filtering in from the outside. He was in a private room with lots of medical equipment beeping around him, and there was a glass partition between him and the light from outside the room. Micah groaned and tried to sit up.

“You’re awake!” The feminine, motherly voice was not the one he was expecting and he tried to talk, but his mouth was too dry. His mother’s face floated into view, a look of excitement on it. “I’ll go get the nurse!”

“Hello, Micah, welcome back.” A friendly female voice said and Micah frowned as the female nurse appeared at his bedside. He could feel the plastic tube delivering oxygen to his nose and she put his hand back down as he tried to remove the thing. “You need to leave that in place for a little bit more, young man. Do you know where you are?”

“Hospital.” He managed to croak out and nearly cried when a cup appeared in her hand as if by magic. She lifted a spoonful of ice chips and dipped them in her mouth. The ice chips melted on his tongue and helped get rid of the clutter in his mouth. “Don’t know which one.”

“You’re in the National Military Medical Center.” The nurse told him in a gentle voice and then began a series of questions. For a moment he hesitated over answering the question about who the President was, mostly because he wasn’t quite sure if he was in the future or the past, but he took a guess and came up with the right answer.

He was still in the past.

The big question he couldn’t really ask once he was done with her questions. After helping him raise the head of the bed so he could be in a sitting position, she told him he’d been there for two weeks, unconscious for nearly three, and that his mother was quite anxious. The nurse left, telling him he would see the duty doctor in a moment. Unfortunately his mother came back inside as soon as the nurse had left.

“She says you’re going to be alright.” His mother said as soon as the glass door was shut. When she grabbed his hand, he took it out of her grip. “What’s the matter, dear?”

“You don’t have to act all upset mother.” Micah said with a frown. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m your mother, Micah.” She said in a stern voice. “Where else would I be?”

“With your ‘real’ family?” Micah suggested, not bothering to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He barely noticed the glass door sliding open or the man who walked inside. For the moment, his mother was the center of his attention.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She demanded indignantly while her voice shifted into a higher pitch. “You ungrateful little bastard.”

“Yes, I guess I am a bastard, aren’t I?” Micah muttered angrily. “Why didn’t you ever tell me John Jericho wasn’t my father? What is my name anyway?”

“Your name is Micah Jason Jericho, the same name you were born with.” She said in a cruel, low voice. Her face showed her anger and Micah had to take a breath to steady his resolve to stay angry. “The man who conceived you was long out of our lives before you were born and you should be glad John was willing to let you take his name!”

“Is that why he couldn’t wait to have me out of the house to give his real son my old room?” Micah demanded. He didn’t really know his little brother and sister all that well, mostly because he didn’t want to know them and he noticed how neither John, the man he’d always called father, or his mother would leave him alone with them.

“Don’t even think that.” She said sadly. “You don’t understand. Micah, you were always this big clumsy kid who got angry real easily. We worried you might hurt them. Besides, you weren’t using your room for most of the year so does it really matter if Caleb has your room?”

“I could care less about that, Mother, but why can’t I still have a room of my own for when I do come back?” Micah pushed. “You had all my stuff boxed up and last year when I came you said it was the ‘guest room’. All summer you never even called it my room and acted like you’d rather I wasn’t there. Hell, you haven’t bothered trying to call me once this summer.”

“You haven’t tried to call me either.” She retorted. Micah couldn’t tell her that he remembered another handful of summer visits back and the clear message he was not welcome there at all, and the even more direct message that he was not to be involved with his little brother and sister. They were both ten years younger than him and always looked at him like he was a stranger. Part of him wondered if they even knew he was their brother.

“I’m not the one who took all the pictures of me down from around the house.” Micah shot back and felt guilty. He wasn’t being very gentlemanly and he remembered his conversation with Mrs. Howard. With a sigh he tried to get his temper back under control and put a calm look on his face. “I’m sorry, Mother, that was rude. It is the truth that I’m confused as to why you’re here. It’s been a long time since you cared about more than making sure I took good care of my skin.”

“That’s not really fair, Micah.” She said in a resigned tone. “I’m here because you are my son and I have a right to know when the people I trusted with your well-being are putting you in danger. What did that man do to you to put you in the hospital?”

“That man?” Micah asked in surprise. “You mean Senator Howard?”

“Yes, that man.” She said with disgust. “I can’t believe he was allowing you and that creep of a son of his to do those things.”

“How do you know about that?” Micah demanded.

“I figured out when that perverted bastard cried about worrying about losing ‘his love’.” She said with contempt. “If I’d known they were turning you into a faggot, I’d have taken you out of that school…”

“Stop right there, Mother.” Micah said as his anger flared. He took a deep, calming breath, counted to ten as his mother stared at him and then continued. “That language is crude and unacceptable; especially when you’re talking to someone you say you love.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, young man!” His mother snapped. “I am your mother and you will do what I tell you!”

“If you wish to be my mother, then act like my mother.” Micah said with a sigh, closing his eyes. He felt tired.

“Ma’am, can you give me a moment with my patient?” The man who had stood at the door listening to them spoke up and Micah opened his eyes in time to see his mother jerk and frown before pasting a smile on her face and turning around.

“I’m just having a few words with my son.” His mother said in a sickly-sweet voice.

“I need to see my patient alone, ma’am.” The doctor said in a more direct voice and Micah suppressed any verbal response to the way her shoulders stiffened.

“I’m his mother!” His mother said stridenly.

“Yes you are, ma’am.” The man said calmly. “I am his doctor, and right now he is in my care.”

“That can be changed.” His mother said as a threat before storming out of the room without saying another word to Micah.

“Thanks.” Micah said to the young doctor who walked to Micah’s bedside and looked at the monitors over the bed.

“You were handling yourself just fine for having just woken out of a three-week long coma.” The doctor said in a friendly tone. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m a weak, newborn kitten.” Micah said with a sigh. “Arguing with her took it right out of me.”

“Any shakes or tremors?” The man asked as he began examining Micah’s arms. When Micah told him no, he kept on asking more and more questions while he continued his physical exam. The man even managed to introduce himself as Lieutenant Commander Trevor Halliday, the duty physician right before telling Micah to take a deep breath while he listened to Micah’s lungs. “Well, the good news is that except for the usual side effects of being in bed for three weeks, you are in fine health. We have been unable to determine what caused your coma, or why you remained in one for so long. Can you give us any insights?”

“You’d have to talk to Senator Howard for that.” Micah said with a shrug. “Not that I think he had anything to do with that.”

“I’m afraid the Senator and his family are still in Georgia where Hurricane Robert hit last week.” Dr. Halliday said. “The entire eastern seaboard was impacted by the storm and we’re still dealing with overflow trauma patients here. You were evacuated right before the storm hit.”

“Why is my mother here?” Micah asked with a frown.

“Well, ah, according to your file, we needed your legal guardian’s permission for a test and we could not contact the Howards.” The man looked decidedly uncomfortable as Micah leaned back into the upraised bed. “The hospital contacted your mother who apparently didn’t know you were hospitalized or injured. She flew out here immediately and talked to the Howards two days ago. That was when she rescinded your Medical Power of Attorney she had signed.”

“Can you keep her out of here?” Micah asked with a frown.

“We can limit her visits to normal visiting schedules.” The doctor ordered. “However, she is your mother and legal guardian. That gives her the right to visit you within hospital guidelines, and to determine your medical care.”

“I hate being fifteen.” Micah grumbled as he realized that as a legal minor he had very few rights. “I can have other visitors, though, right?”

“Your mother has restricted visitors to herself and your immediate family.” The doctor said with a frown visible on his face. “I… you know I overheard most of the conversation you had with her, right?”

“Yes.” Micah said with a sigh. “I’ve had my problems with her lately.”

“She is your mother.” The man said with a look of concern on his face. If Micah had to guess, the brown-haired man was approaching thirty and had probably only been a full doctor for a few years. Like most of the military forces, they were so starved for good doctors these days they promoted them fast. He remembered seeing a doctor in Afghanistan that was a full commander before his thirtieth birthday, something nearly unheard of before the invasion of Iraq.

“We’ve had a lot of issues over the years.” Micah said calmly. “I think the gay thing was the final straw.”

“Some parents are like that.” The man said. “If you need anything, call the nurse. Your attending will see you later this morning on his rounds and he will work on developing a discharge plan. The file says you were admitted at the request of Senator Howard, but when your mother removed the MPOA, the authorization for your admittance to a military hospital was automatically rescinded. If we can’t determine there is anything immediately life-threatening, you will be transferred to a nearby civilian hospital.”

“Can you tell her that?” Micah said with a little smile on his face that he quickly wiped off and regretted. It was wrong to feel so happy about causing his mother harm, even if it was well deserved.

“I’ll also tell her that now that you are awake we will have to enforce the regular visitation rules for the ICU.” He said with a little smile. “That’ll limit her to fifteen minutes every two hours, from 0900 to 2100 hours. My father wasn’t too accepting either, so I have little sympathy for parents like this.”

“Thanks, doc.” Micah said with a conspiratorial wink. He’d seen a wedding ring on the man’s finger and hoped the man was in a happy relationship. A nice man like that deserved someone to love him.

A pretty young woman came in twenty minutes later and drew some more of his blood, followed soon by the charge nurse who laughed at his request to go to the bathroom. He’d totally missed that they’d put a catheter in him, and it felt decidedly uncomfortable once he noticed it was there. What if he got an erection while it was in there? Luckily the pain killed it when thinking about it caused it to start, but the nurse apparently figured out what had happened and laughed before promising to see if they could take the thing out later.

At 0830 hours, an older doctor with two stars on his khaki collar underneath his white coat came in, followed by a team of less senior doctors, all of whom were senior to Trevor Halliday who was at the tail end. Micah suffered through another physical examination, and a round of questions. The two-star doctor didn’t seem any happier with the results.

“You appear to be in fine condition.” The older man, who had identified himself as Rear Admiral Sanders finally stated. “Is there anything you can think of that would explain your condition?”

“Sir, haven’t you talked to Dr. Zebel?” Micah asked with confusion.

“I would, but your mother has denied access to Dr. Zebel or anyone associated with Senator Howard.” Admiral Sanders told him. “I hoped you might be able to shed some light on the situation.”

“I don’t think I’m really able to talk about it, sir.” Micah said. He’d had most of the morning to think about what to say and how to work this out for the best possible outcome, and to neutralize whatever damage his mother might cause. She was no longer a focus for his anger, but she certainly did have bad timing trying to prove herself to be a loving parent. That had been the best thing about turning twenty-one: never having to talk to her or the rest of his family again. The Howards were more his family and had been for a long, long time before this whole mess had started. Now they were even closer, even though technically he’d known them for a shorter period of time.

“Now why would that be, son?” The Admiral asked, rocking on his heels just a bit and looking down his long nose at Micah. “You’re too young to be involved in anything that would require a security clearance.”

“If it had been planned, yes I would be too young, sir.” Micah said. “Accidents happen, though, like they did back before summer vacation started and I think I shouldn’t say more than that, sir.”

“I see.” The man said with a frown. He rocked back on his heels again and crossed his arms before lifting his right hand so his fingers tapped his chin. “I take it that Senator Howard was aware of the situation? Is it accurate that you attend school with his son?”

“We’re roommates at the Huntsville Academy, sir.” Micah said.

“Does this Dr. Zebel have any answers for me?” Admiral Sanders asked.

“He might, but I don’t know what he can say or not say, sir.” Micah answered.

“Well, I will have to discuss your case with Dr. Zebel.” The man said with a nod and then he patted Micah’s arm. “You just rest for now, son.”

“Sir, I was told I might have to be moved to a civilian hospital…” Micah started to say and the man silenced him by patting his arm again.

“You let me worry about that part, son.” The man told him. “For now, you need to focus on getting better and not slipping back into a coma. I know the food isn’t the best here, and you’ll be on liquids for a bit, but eat what you can. We’ve ordered a full battery of tests for you later today and then we’ll see what is also necessary after we have a talk with this Dr. Zebel.”

“Thank you sir.” Micah said and the man nodded once again before walking out of the room.

Now he just had to wait… something he was good at doing.