Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1)(46)

—Please, get back into bed. At least sit down on the bed.

—My clothes…

—I will help you find your clothes. Now, sit down and look at me. I want you to focus on me. What is the first thing you did when you woke up this morning?

—This morning…I…I did…I took a shower, and I went to the lab. I got to the lab early.

—Very good. What did you do once you got there?

—When I got where?

—To the lab. You got up early, and you went to the lab.

—Yes.

—What did you do at the lab?

—I practiced walking…I walked a few times around the lab, then I…I tried it with my knees reversed.

—Good. I did not know that you had tried them yet.

—A few times.

—How does it feel?

—How does what feel? I…

—Your knees. How does it feel when you reverse them?

—It hurts like you wouldn’t believe. I tried them last week for the first time. Rose kept telling me to wait, not to rush things. I assumed you had talked to her…I’m not sure if you know how they work, but you have to stick your finger under the kneecap and push real hard. That hurts, just by itself, but the knees are spring-loaded, and they just yank your legs backward real hard. It’s overwhelming. I fell face-first, the first few times. It just…It hurts like hell. It’s like having a truck run over your legs.

—Go on.

—I…

—This morning, you went to the lab early.

—Yes, I did. I got there before anyone else.

—And you tried your knees…

—I wanted to see if I could go around the room. I made it about two-thirds of the way, then I fell down and I couldn’t get up. It’s really hard to get up with the legs in reverse.

—What did you do then?

—After I fell? Nothing, I just lay on my back and waited for someone to come. Rose came in about a half hour later. She brought my wheelchair over and helped me up. She had cinnamon buns. Coffee and cinnamon buns. There’s this little tiny shop about two kilometers from the airport. They make the best pastries.

—What happened after Dr. Franklin helped you get up?

—We sat down and talked politics while waiting for Kara. She showed up around nine. She whined for a good fifteen minutes because we ate all the buns. Rose promised to go get some more, and we made our way up into the sphere.

We tried the shield again, then the sword. I asked Kara if she was up for a quick walk around the room. We radioed Rose. She didn’t think it was a good idea. She told us to practice handling the shield at different sizes. We did for a while, but I could tell Kara also had that walk in the back of her head. I flipped my knees again. I took a minute to get through the sting, then I braced myself in the controls. “Are you sure you’re up for it?” she said. Since I didn’t answer, she got out of her station and helped me get into mine.

It’s cold in here. Where are we? Is this a military base?

—It does not matter right now. Just keep going.

—I wanna see Kara. She was with me. Is she here?

—I will answer all your questions in a minute. I just want you to tell me what happened next. You braced yourself in. You were about to try walking for the first time.

—We did. I had taken off my headset, but I could hear Rose getting worried: “What’s going on up there? What are you guys doing? Talk to me!”

I lifted my left leg. It took us aback for a second. The whole room began to tilt slightly when the sphere adjusted to the movement. I moved my right leg, then the left again. Rose was trying to stay calm: “OK, you did it, now stop and get out of there.” I told Kara we’d go to the end of the room and back. I could feel my legs going numb, but I was too excited to stop. I took a few more steps, then my knees started to give. I’d never had to support more than my own weight with my knees backward, and I had to swing my hips upward and back at every step to keep the balance…

I don’t wanna talk anymore. Can you take me to see Kara?

—I understand. It will only take a minute. You can ask any question you want afterward. It is important that you tell me everything that you remember.

—Kara and I tried walking for the first time. We just wanted to get to the end of the room.

—Yes. Your legs were weakening…

—Oh. I told you…I…My left knee folded about three steps from the end of the room. Kara was quick enough to raise her hand to the side to stop us from falling headfirst into the wall. I fell forward, both hands on the console. It was the strangest feeling. When my hands pressed against two buttons, I realized we hadn’t tried that before, two buttons at the same time.

I was getting excited and trying to calculate how many combinations were possible, when I realized I had a hard time concentrating because of the noise. I hadn’t noticed it a second before, but it was getting louder.

—What noise are you referring to?

—Hissing. The pitch was getting higher and higher. It was like a camera flash charging, only much, much louder. Then the hissing stopped.

It was complete silence. Everything turned white outside the sphere. It got so bright we had to cover our eyes. After a second or two, I felt the room darken slowly through my fingers. I looked around. It was as if we’d been transported to another place.