A State of Future Existing

Chapter 14

Red light pierced his eyelids. Going haywire, his retina display was sending a skein of green gibberish against the backdrop of his lids. Something was wrong with his wiring - his left fingers kept twitching, pulsing uncontrollably.

"Calm down, Mr. Gyeon. You're perfectly all right." This voice, calm and unsympathetic in its strange accent, was follows by one much more panicked.

"Perfectly all right? Are you crazy? What happened to him?"

Hyunjin groaned.

"Only a little experiment. He's going to be fine, Your Highness. See? He's waking up now."

Another strangled protest before he could pry his eyes open. The lab's whiteness would have blinded him but for the two shadows cutting through it. His eyes focused the shapes into Dr. Hyun-woo's wool and deep brown eyes, and Prince Felix with strands of black hair hanging unkempt across his brow.

As the retina display began running the basic diagnostic, test for the second time that day, he shut his eyes again, faintly that Prince Felix would notice the green light at the base of his pupil.

At least he had his gloves on.

"Are you alive?" Felix said, pushing his missed hair back from his forehead. His fingers felt hit and clammy against his skin before he realized that he was the one who was feverish.

Which shouldn't have been possible. He couldn't blush, couldn't have a fever.

Couldn't overheat.

What had the doctor done to him?

"Did he hit his head?" Felix asked.

The twitching stopped. Hyunjin pressed his hands against his body in an instinctual effort to hide them.

"Oh, he's fine," Dr. Hyun-woo said again. "Had a bit of a scare - but no harm done. I am sorry for that, Mr. Gyeon. I didn't realize you would be so sensitive."

"What did you do?" he said, careful not to slur his words.

Felix slipped an arm beneath him and helped him sit up. He flinched against him and tugged down his pant leg in case the metal gleam of his shin was visible.

"I was merely adjusting your spine."

Hyunjin squinted at the doctor, not needing the little orange light to tell him he was lying, but it popped up anyway.

"What's wrong with his spine?" Felix's hands slid down to his lower back.

Hyunjin sucked in a breath, a shiver racing along his skin. He feared the pain would come back, that the prince's touch would somehow override his system like Dr. Hyun-woo's had - but nothing happened, and soon Felix lessened the pressure of his touch.

"Nothing is wrong with it," said Dr. Hyun-woo. "But the spinal region is where many of our nerves congregate before sending messages up to our brains."

Hyunjin started watched Dr. Hyun-woo with wild eyes. He could already imagine how quickly Felix would pull away from him when the doctor told him he was supporting a cyborg.

"Mr. Gyeon was complaining of a bothersome pain in his neck..."

He squeezed his fists together until his fingers began to ache.

"... and so I gave him a bit of an adjustment. It's called chiropractic, a very old practice, and yet amazingly effective. He must have been more out of alignment than I realized, and so the sudden realigning of the vertebrae created a temporary shock to his system." He grinned at the Prince, eyes devoid of concern. The orange light persisted.