Chapter 4: Hello, Bitter Past
"hmm..."
The aroma of a brewed coffee filled my nostrills down to my lungs. My once closed eyes opened slowly to a beautiful sunset. I tried so hard but I can't seem to think of anything other than the beautiful miracle I am staring at. Clouds of bluish red afloat just above the retiring sun. A debate between darkness and light began. An unfamiliar roof. A mechanical clock. A crucifix beside a green oxygen tank. 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕?!
"Oh great! you are finally awake"
I heard a voice. I immediately turned to its direction.
𝑨𝒘, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅.
You know like in the movies where the actor wakes up to an unfamiliar place and later discovers he was abducted by some crazy ass mafia dudes that's about to beat the shit out of him and they'd be like "finally, you're up". That's how this felt like. But this isn't in the movies so, lucky me. It's Ed holding a cup of brewed black coffee, our favorite, as he strode towards my bed
"How are you feeling??"
I knew I was in a hospital. In a wide comfy hotel-like suite but I had no idea how the hell I got there. Only by just looking at his face, I knew I was in for something really bad. I tried to remember but my head hurt. So I gave up,
"What the hell happened?"
And like a magic phrase, everything came rushing back. And before he says another word, I raised a hand to stop him. I don't want him to interrupt the flow of events that was coming right into my mind.
"I was in my car. Driving down the coastal road."
"I remember Cassandra's voice. I was on my way to Dr. Chan when I..."
"When I lost my grip on the steering wheel then everything went blurry."
"That's right, and Gustavo's gonna show you what happened next"
Gustavo, Ed's AI. The second most powerful AI in the world next to Cassandra. I made it too. And just like Cassandra and any other AIs, Gustavo is also embedded in his owner's DNA and Nervous system via a neural link. He's the second strongest because his server is powered by the newest and strongest element in the periodic table. We discovered in ML1's Energy deposits. It's called 𝘚𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘷𝘳𝘰́𝘴. From the greek words 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚛𝚘́𝚜 meaning "treasure" and 𝚂𝚔𝚘𝚞𝚙𝚒́𝚍𝚒𝚊 meaning "garbage". It's the strongest here on earth due to its radioactive composition since most of its parts are on the Ionosphere, the charged portion of the atmosphere.
Gustavo pulled up a footage Cassandra sent to him. From the looks of the thumbnail, I could say that it was from inside my car. He played it and there I was, running on 230km/h in mid air. Suddenly, I passed out. The car swivelled, burst out its airbags and crashed into the the side gutters. Then, footage ended. But it didn't actually end there.
"You're on every news channel worldwide, trending number one on Twitter for days, amateur footages of your accident went viral on facebook, IG, and other social media platforms, the village is currently stormed by local and international media. I had to hide you in here and put a decoy "you" in your mansion."
"I mean, you are "the" Joe Madrid. People will care and would want a piece of you. So, stop making foolish moves. You could've just called me."
"Toldya" Cassandra interrupted out of nowhere.
"Hey, I didn't call you."
"Duh, Joe. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕."
"I was just in the meeting ten floors above you. You could've died on the spot, Joe. Your car is just a prototype. It's not even of market quality. You know that." Ed continued.
"Yeah, I'm sorry"
"Hey, bottomline. I'm alive. On the brighter side of things, sounds like I've already tested the crash capability of the S version 1 year before it'll be released in the market. Its quantum shields sure looks promising. Look at me, just minor wounds. You know what that means? I had just made your job easier. More money ey? Once people hear of this story, they would be dying to be the first owners of this limited edition." Then I put on an innocent smile.
Ed just shook his head and looked away as he sipped his coffee. Since Mr. Zellwinger passed away just right after the establishment of the Hive, he's very committed to keeping the Hive the Top research facility in the world. Looks like he really wanna go after the footsteps of Mr. Zellwinger.
"Hey, Ed. How long was I out?"
"2 days"
Then, I remembered what I saw. I think I saw her but it was kinda blurry. On a Blue Doctor's coat. With a stethoscope hanged on her neck. I'm not so sure. I might just be hallucinating that time. Two days is too much time. A lot could've already happened.
"The doctor, who's my doctor? who attended me after the accident?"
Suddenly, we heard knocks on the door.
"Just in time, your doctor's here."
"Hey, kid. What did I tell you about getting enough rest?" Dr. Chan arrived carrying what I assume the results of the tests I've undergone while I was unconscious.
𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒏! 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌.
Dr. Peter Chan has been around since I was a teenager. He is my mom's childhood friend back in the days. As soon as he became a doctor, mom then entrusted our health to him. And he didn't disappoint. He was the best in his era. Board Exam top-notcher. Mom was so proud of him that she introduced him to the Zellwingers and they loved him for his excellence. He never failed to give us the right treatment everytime we get sick. So, here we are now. Our bond aged like fine wine over the years. We don't just have doctor-patient relationship, we think of him as a father-figure because despite the success, he and his wife was never blessed with a child. I could tell he's old now. His hair's gone fewer and whiter. His skin started to sag. The wrinkles in his face got visible each time I get to see him. I could tell he wasn't in a very good mood. He's kinda quiet checking me, my pulse, and as usual he messes my hair. Darn. And he laughed 'cause he knows I am hair conscious. Then, they both laughed as I fixed my hair.
"Hey, doc. You okay? You don't look so good" I asked.
"Ofcourse, I am. You are the only one that's not in this room. So you get some rest. Okay?" he sounded like the dad I never had. Out of the blue, he patted our shoulders as he smiled.
"I better get going now. I have to see Dr. Castro. I've seen irregularities in your test results. I'd have to discuss these with him"
"Really? Of what sorts?" Ed asked.
"Nothing big. I just have to talk to him. These might just be machine errors or something but Joe's fine, generally."
Then, he bid farewell.
Moments later.
"I gotta go, Joe. The board called an emergency meeting."
"Emergency meeting? about what? It's 6pm"
"I don't know. I'll tell you all about it when I get back"
"Sure."
Then Ed left.
"Hey, Cass. I wanna know what the meeting is all about. Please record the whole thing"
"Sure, Joe."
And just like that,
They left me alone.
Bored. I called Cassandra.
"Cass, show movies. Pick me the one random movie from my preferred genre"
It was titled The Boy, a sci-fi movie that depicted how humans blamed AIs for their mistakes and hunted them for false justice. It was a two and a half hour movie. I finished it and still I was bored.
So, I felt crazy and tried to get up to roam around this wide hospital suite. A sudden jolt of pain stopped me from standing. I felt the veins in my thighs moved by themselves. This searing pain froze my lower limbs as I held my right thigh with both hands. So I just sat there in pain, adding that stupid idea to my regrets list.
𝑓*𝑐𝑘. 𝑜𝑓𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠. 𝑊𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡??
A knock on the door echoed but the pain was unbearable that I just ignored it. The door opened. I heard the sound of heels against the ceramic floor as that someone took a step. I figured it must be a nurse I slowly turned to the direction of the sound so I could ask for some pain relievers. But I suddenly forgot how it hurts.
"Hey. It's been a while, Joe. I'm glad you're awake now. How are you feeling?"
Those eyes. That smile. That long blue coat. I wasn't hallucinating.
𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐, 𝑩𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕...
[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]
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