The Dangers of Saving a Life

Chapter 4: Chocka

Dr. Chocka Zdravnik and Sally Berader faced each other in the Atraville Hospital's sixth-floor respiratory care ward. 

"Where are the boy and the infant?" Chocka said.

"Stop disturbing these patients." Sally's sharp eyes glared at him from that hardened face as her tall body formed an aggressive pose.

"Hmmm."

While they stood there, two nurses approached on each side of Sally and pointed large black guns at her.

"You might feel some pressure."

"What?"

White light from the guns covered Sally.

"What have you done to me?"

Fear spread across her withered face. She appeared as if she intended to run but didn't actually move.

"I can't stand-"

She crumpled to the floor at Chocka's feet.

Moments later, a portable bed floated up alongside the nurses. When the nurses lifted her onto the bed, it nearly sank to the floor from Sally's enhanced weight.

Sally tried to speak, slurring her words, "Stop this. I can't move."

"Silly lady," Chocka said, "you'll only injure yourself. Those are Higgs guns. The Higgs gives everything mass. Your weight has been magnified many times."

The nurses boosted the antigravity power of the bed until it floated about waist high, then moved her down the hall and into the attached open-air foyer.

From the foyer, the nurses moved Sally up a series of escalators, across a sky bridge attached to the foyer, and into Chocka's floating practice. There the nurses rolled Sally off the bed and onto an examination table. Chocka could feel his office stabilizers shifting, adjusting to the added weight.

Warm tones and soft colors surrounded Chocka in his spacious office. Leather and dark wood adorned the furniture. The table where the nurses moved Sally formed the center of the room. The upholstered table with its padded and soft supple leather bowed under Sally's magnified mass, while a variety of probes and instruments hung from the ceiling. A polished shelf finished with darkened pine floated near the head of the table, handy for easy access during an examination.

Chocka stood over her with a device like a twin-pronged fork. He held the fork in his right hand as he swept it across her body, but then he paused to examine her head more closely. The base of the device where the forks joined flashed red, beeping softly.

"This device is a dark energy detector. Where did you encounter dark energy, Sally?"

"The Hospital Administrator will hear about this." Sally slurred the words together.

"Hmmm."

Why did people insist on denying Axion? It only made him angry. Chocka was an important representative of Axion, and when they refused him, they refused Axion.

He kept the detector near Sally's forehead, her cropped hair flattened against her wrinkled face, her cheeks sunken by the intense gravity. It flashed and beeped.

"Chocka is searching for a newborn and a disobedient boy. The newborn is diseased with dark energy. Perhaps you've seen them? It's very important that they are found. Perhaps you can help?"

"I can't do anything in this condition."

"Hmmm."

Chocka pressed his thumb into the base of the fork. There were two long beeps. Chocka ran his thumb across the translucent screen, focusing the detector down to a defined area. Then he brought the detector back up to Sally's forehead.

"Your neurons are showing some dilation."

Chocka removed the instrument from Sally's forehead.

"That's due to dark energy. Do you know dark energy is against the law of Axion, Sally? Do you know it is a serious crime? You're very lucky because you're below the Terfyn limit. That means your condition isn't strong enough to propagate. Chocka doesn't need to execute you. Chocka has a cure."

As he spoke, Chocka placed the detector on the floating pine wood shelf. He picked up another device off the shelf, this one long and narrow, like a shiny silver wand. The tip was flared like a primitive musical instrument. He placed the flared end of the wand against Sally's forehead.

"What are you going to do?" Sally said.

"I need to contract your neurons. This might hurt a bit."

Sally screamed.

"Silly lady, don't you know? Dark energy multiplies and spreads. It is an infectious, insidious disease. It destroys everything that it touches. Axion has declared it a capital crime. If Chocka measured energy above the Terfyn level, Chocka would be required to execute you. It's the law of Axion. But you're very lucky. Gravity counteracts dark energy. Chocka can fix you up like new."

He placed the wand back on the shelf.

"Now, let's try this again. Chocka is searching for a newborn and a boy. Can you tell me where they are?"

"I'm going to bring this up at the next board meeting."

As Chocka questioned Sally, he read the axionic patterns that flowed through his vision. One, in particular, disturbed him. There was the upside-down twisted pyramid, of course. But there was another pattern that disturbed him even more. He wasn't sure, but this one appeared like an unintelligible scribbling over a spiral surface, the lines scattering off into infinity. It was as if Axion didn't know where the baby had gone, as if Axion was uncertain. Chocka didn't like uncertainty, especially in Axion. Axion knew everything. Its particles were everywhere. It wasn't supposed to be uncertain.

Chocka picked up the wand, commencing more treatment. "Your neurons are still showing dilation."

Sally screamed and screamed.