Juliet's Tryst

Chapter 46: Messages, Part 2

"She is stable now. Normal activity is also present, but be prepared for the next round."

The world in front of her eyelids was completely white. A strong smell of soap and antiseptic clouded her nasal cavity. Odors in the castle were tightly controlled. A machine beeped softly to her side, calculating her heart rate faithfully.

"Easy does it there, Juliet. Can you hear me?" She nodded groggily, turning her face to the sound of the voice. Her eyes were crusted shut from tears. A small towelette gently wiped her face.

"You do not need to open your eyes if you do not wish to. No sudden movements, okay?" Juliet's eyes blinked open. A tall and spindly doctor stood over her, peering at her through a mess of brown curls. A desk floated with a laptop on it. The fluorescent lights above her were jarring. She tried to raise her hand to cover her eyes, but flinched when she realized there was a huge IV in it. Her whole body was covered in sensors. There were about as many wires in her hair as there were individual strands of hair.

"I am Dr. Hersav. I have been asked to oversee your recovery by the Ruler."

Juliet frowned as she remembered the seizure. The uncontrollable shaking and then merciful darkness. The doctor's fingers danced on the keyboard as she spoke, desperate in their movements. Suddenly, there was a flashlight jumping from eye to eye.

"What day of the week is it?"

"Wednesday the fourteenth." A frown indicated a wrong answer.

"How about month and year?"

"December, 2033."

The doctor stood up, her bony fingers resuming their dance on the keys.

"What...? What day is it really?"

"You are just a couple days off." The doctor said, in a tone that was not reassuring. "You have been out only for four hours."

"It is hard to track time inside the castle." She defended herself.

"There is no shame. You suffered a very strange episode of seizures. The electrical activity in your brain was not stable for quite some time." Dr. Hersav's voice was quiet but confident.

Dee bursted into the room, in her full Ruler regalia. A wide smile was on her face, filled with relief.

"You are awake," she squealed. Juliet was covered in darkness Dee hugged her.

"Step back before her rate spikes.'' The doctor sounded only slightly amused.

Amazingly, Dee listened and took up a position at the foot of the bed. Her stare was enough to make Juliet blush. "This is your leading expert on seizures." Dee motioned her hand as a way of explanation.

"Pleasure." Juliet said while Dr. Hersav smiled.

"Your brain is experiencing some sort of phenomenon. We have never seen anything like it. It is like something outside of you is causing spikes in electrical activity."

"Kyria." Juliet answered. "The planet is trying to speak to me." Dee shook her head in answer.

The doctor looked between them then from a stack of many papers by her computer, she pulled out some graphs.

"It is indiscriminate, these electrical pulses. Everything inside your brain lights up all at once. It is in fact very dangerous and there is a chance you may only be able to survive two or three more. Your heart has an eighty percent chance to go into arrest each time. Miraculously, it has not yet done so."

The light of the Kulon filled vat flashed before her. It twinkled, sparkled, and looked like a brain for just a moment.

"Juliet, did you hear me? When did this begin?"

"About...two weeks ago. That was when I first came down with that fever."

"The fever with no other symptoms." The doctor smiled and inhaled deeply. "I will give you the maximum dose of Lamotrigine, a seizure medication. You will be extremely exhausted and nauseous during your time of consumption. We can prescribe something for nausea, but not unfortunately not for fatigue." Juliet nodded in acknowledgement.

"We can bring her back from the dead as many times as needed until it stops."

Dee rubbed Juliet's shin reassuringly.

"Death is still a possibility." The doctor pointed one of those long and slender fingers at the alien. "I need you to keep this in mind so you can make the best decision in the moment." With one more smile, the doctor left with her computer floating behind her.

"She is trying to tell me something. I just know it! We just have to figure out what she is saying."

"Juliet!" Dee's tone was harsh, but terrified. "Drop this. Your only objective is survival. She is killing you."

A Kyrion guard placed a pill bottle in Dee's hand. She placed the pills gently on Juliet's lap. The vat of Kulon was in front of her again and on top of it floated a brain, her brain. Little bits of light poked out like stars. They blinked and changed in a pattern. Her electrical signals were the pattern.

"-no good dead. Do you understand? Stay here."

"Yes-" Juliet focused in just at the right time, "I understand. Are there any other bombs incoming?"

"There is one this evening. We are trying to intercept it before it hits, but we have no supplies left."

Juliet had to find someone who would understand. Someone who had a knowledge of history, someone curious enough to actually disobey Dee. That someone did not exist so Eros would have to do. 

Edited by the lovely -MissElle