The Immortal Harvest (22 page)

He was just about to place the next pellet in his mouth when the module spoke again.

“Michael, you have an urgent message coming through. Please activate your neural net.”

After putting the remaining pellets in his pocket he touched the side of his head and activated his neural net. He immediately recognised the image.

“Hello Doctor Becker, how can I help you?”

“Michael, you need to get down here, we have reason to believe that Sylvan and Justen are in danger.”

“What do you mean? What kind of danger?”

“We think they’ve both been picked up by the Immortal Harvest team.”

Michael swallowed heavily. He could feel a cold lump forming in the pit of his stomach.

He was running out of time. He desperately needed to get the remaining exotic matter. His mind instantly went into an analysis of the Traverser that he had been working on for the Doctor.

Do I have enough exotic matter to produce a viable wormhole? Will my latest modification work? Can I at least use thought projection?

“I will be down there as soon as I can.

In the meantime, can you ask Dr Oppenheimer to gather all of the exotic matter that we have and place it in the neutrino containment chamber?”

“Why? What’s your plan?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Please, just do it. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Michael severed the neural link and quickly left his module.

After reaching top side, he jumped into his shielded Z-GAV and sped off towards the Right-To-Die HQ.

He thought of Sylvan and his son, he knew that he would have to take it on faith that his latest idea will work.

Their lives depend on it!

Justen began to awaken very slowly from his dreamless sleep.

As the feeling began to return to his body, he could feel the beginnings of small pains that were arriving everywhere at the same time. His head ached, his wrists were throbbing. He felt like there was a very heavy weight on his chest. His tummy felt sick.

Behind his closed eyelids he sensed a presence. His sense of smell began to return as well and he wrinkled his nose up at the horrible yucky smell.

He tried to move his arms so that he could pinch his nose to shut out the smell but he could not move them. It was then that he realised that he could not move any part of his body.

His panic intensified and he began to thrash around as he desperately tried to escape from his bondage.

He tried to scream out for help. But he could not scream. His throat was very dry. All that escaped his lips was a hoarse whisper.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he thrashed around causing the lights in the room to flicker violently. It was then that he heard the gentle murmur in his mind.

It was a quiet soothing voice. The voice seemed familiar to him.

Was it Mummy? Was she here to save me? No, it couldn’t be Mummy. The voice was a man’s voice and it was inside his head!

The sensation of having an intruder in his mind instantly filled him with fear. He could feel the onset of tears in his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and shook his head as if he were trying to dispel the intruder’s voice. However, the calm soothing voice persisted.

Shh Justen. It’s ok, I’m here.

Justen opened his eyes and quickly lifted his head to try and look around the room. The room was brilliantly lit with fluorescent lights.

Everything was either shiny metallic silver or a dazzling white. There was no one in the room with him.

Justen became confused and more tears streamed down his cheeks. The voice came again, this time it was louder and clearer.

Justen. You must listen to me. You have to be brave.

“W…w…where are you? I don’t understand. I can’t see you.”

That’s right, you can’t see me. I am a really long way away from you. I need you to listen to me and I will try to explain
.

“Ok I guess. But how can I hear you if you are so far away?”

It’s hard to explain but I am using my mind to talk to your mind. It’s sort of like using a phone only there is no phone. In fact you don’t have to talk out loud for me to hear you. I can hear your thoughts and you can hear mine. You can talk to me with your inner voice.

“Really? Are you really inside my head?”

Justen suddenly felt a feeling of joy and love. He stopped crying and smiled.

He could see an image of a toy in his mind. It was a rocking horse. It seemed so real. The rocking horse faded and then he could see his Mother. She was laughing and holding a baby in her arms. He thought the words.

Is that me?

Yes Justen. I have shown you an image from your Mummy’s mind. Now please trust me and listen to me, I don’t have a lot of time.

Ok.

Good. You have to escape from where you are. There are a lot of bad people near you and they want to hurt you.

Justen could feel his sense of panic returning and started struggling again. The voice tried to soothe him again.

Shh shh Justen it’s ok. You can escape and I will tell you how. You just have to lie still and focus on my thoughts. Your mind is very strong. You can use it to escape and to help others to escape as well.

How can I use my mind to escape? I don’t understand.

You can feel that you are tied down to the bed cant you?

Yes, I can’t move. Everything is so tight. I can hardly breathe.

Justen started gasping for air as his lungs started to react to the stress and caused his asthma to flare up.

The feeling of choking caused his panicky state to intensify. He started coughing violently as his airways began to constrict further. The voice in his head became very loud and demanding.

JUSTEN! STOP!

He choked back another cough and squeezed his eyes closed. There was a burning pain in his chest. His breathing was raspy and laboured. He began to gasp for every breath. The voice was quieter now and almost soothing again.

You can control your body Justen. You can stop your asthma attack. Focus on the images I have placed in your mind.

Within his mind Justen could see fluffy white clouds and a large green field. It seemed so real like he could reach out and touch each blade of grass.

His breathing and heartbeat began to slow and he became calmer as he pretended that he could fly above the blades of grass and soar up to touch the fluffy white clouds.

He could hear the voice surround him and it seemed to help to lift him further towards the clouds.

He visualised himself reaching out to touch each cloud. They seemed soft like cotton wool, like the soft fur on his favourite soft toy. His breathing returned to normal and he felt lighter and happier.

See Justen. You can use your mind to control things. First you can control your body and now I want you to focus on freeing yourself from the bed you are on.

How can I do that? I can’t move my arms.

I want you to lift your head up and have a look at why you can’t move and then show me what you can see using your thoughts.

Justen raised his head as far as he could and tried to work out why he couldn’t move. He could see that his wrists had a brown strap around them. He could see a much thicker strap running across his chest. He visualised the image.

Good. I can see that someone has strapped you to the bed. I want you to focus on the straps on your wrists. Do you sometimes wear a belt around you when your pants are too loose?

Yes. I have a Sponge bob belt. I wear it to school sometimes. Mummy helps me thread the belt through the buckle.

That’s good. You know that the belt must go through the metal buckle to secure it to you so that it won’t come off. I want you to picture that belt buckle and picture in your mind pulling the belt back through the buckle. Do you think you can do that?

Justen squeezed his eyes shut tightly and pictured himself with his Mother. They were standing in Crystal’s apartment. He pictured his Mother helping him undo his belt. He focussed really hard on pulling the strap back through the buckle.

That’s good Justen. You have to focus really hard on undoing those straps with your mind.

Justen opened his eyes and raised his head. He could see and feel that his wrists still had the strap on them.

He strained his arms against the straps. He felt the pain of the straps digging into his wrists and started crying again.

I can’t do it. It’s too hard.

Suddenly the image in his mind changed. This time he was in Crystal’s apartment with his Mother. She was strapped to a chair and the room was on fire.

Justen could see the flames, he could feel the heat. His eyes stung from the smoke. He was frantic he could hear his Mother screaming. She was trapped. He ran to her and began tugging violently at the straps. He heard the voice around him again.

Justen. Pull the straps as hard as you can back through the buckle. You have to do this or your Mummy will be badly injured.

No! No! I can’t do it. The straps are too tight.

Yes you can. You CAN do it. Try harder! Quickly, the flames are getting closer.

Justen focussed on the straps that were securing his Mother to the chair. He could feel that the flames were getting closer. His eyes stung, tears streamed from them.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and then using both hands he grabbed the strap and pulled it as hard as he could back through the buckle.

The strap came loose and he helped his Mother out of the chair and pulled her by the hand away from the flames.

The image in his mind dissolved. He could see the green field again. He relaxed. The image dissolved and he opened his eyes.

Suddenly his nose felt itchy. He brought his hand up to scratch it. He scratched the itch and then smiled when he realised that his hands were free. He had undone the straps.

I knew you could do it Justen. Now quickly undo the straps on your chest and ankles. You need to get out of there. You have to find your Mummy and help her escape as well. My time is up I have to go.

Wait! How did you know I could that? Who are you?

I am your Father Justen. I knew you could do it because I can do it. Goodbye my son I…love…you.

The voice in Justen’s head faded. He could no longer feel the presence. He immediately strained his neck again and looked around the room. He was alone.

His Daddy was talking to his mind,
he thought as he put his hands over his mouth and suppressed a giggle.

He reached down with his hands and undid the straps on his chest and then sat up and undid the straps on his ankles. He was free. He quickly swung his legs off the bed and ran to the door.

He ran out through the doorway and continued running down a long curving corridor. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he ran.

He passed lots of locked doors with little windows at the top of them. He slowed down and looked up at the windows. He was too small to reach them.

He stopped. He could hear someone coming towards him from around the curve in the corridor.

His heart raced as he looked around. He could see that the only place he could hide was a trolley that was piled high with sheets and towels.

He reached up and pulled himself into the trolley and hid under the laundry that smelt terrible, however didn’t care about the smell; he just didn’t want the bad people to see him.

He held his breath and waited for whoever it was to pass him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and he could sense through the laundry that the fluorescent lights in the corridor where flickering wildly.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he listened for the footsteps to pass. Unfortunately, the footsteps stopped next to the trolley and Justen heard a loud voice that belonged to someone who sounded very angry.

“I don’t give a crap about your excuses Phil. I need someone to check out the power in this Hospital. That’s the second time today that we have had some kind of surge. I thought this place was off the grid.

How does anyone expect me to operate under these conditions? I want the power fixed – do you hear me?”

Justen listened as the man moved off down the corridor. He let out his breath and tentatively lifted the dirty towel that was covering him and took a quick look.

He could not see anyone else or hear anymore footsteps. He carefully climbed out of the trolley and, realising that it was good hiding spot, he decided to push it in front of him just in case he needed to hide again.

He pushed the trolley slowly so that it did not make too much noise. Being much shorter than the pile of laundry in the trolley he peered around the side of the trolley as he walked.

He moved in the direction that the man had travelled. He needed to find out where his Mother was being held. He hoped that if he was quiet enough he could sneak in behind the man as he went through the doors.

He proceeded down the corridor, passing by the doors with the high windows. He could see that one of the doors had been opened and was just about to close.

He moved faster and, ducking out from behind the trolley, he was able to grasp the edge of the door just before it closed. He moved in closer to the door and peered through the gap.

He inhaled sharply. He could see lots of beds like the one that he had been in filled with people who were strapped in, just like he was.

He could see a man leaning over one of the beds. The man had a white coat on and he had a mobile phone in his hand. Justen realised that this was the man who spoke angrily next to him in the corridor and that he must have been talking to someone on the phone.

Justen froze. The man had begun to turn around and was about to head back towards the door. He was pushing one of the beds in front of him.

He crawled back into the trolley as fast as he could and held his breath again. The lights flickered again and he heard the man saying rude things about someone called Phil. He could also hear the clattering of the bed as it banged into the doorway as the man pushed it through and passed by the trolley.