NEXUS POINTS : Chapter 9-10

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Chapter 9

Kora felt exhausted. She stared blankly at the robotic arms swinging silently across the air-sealed assay chamber. She had been working non-stop with the new series of experiments for work, plus her own research into Anita’s brain atrophy. 

Meanwhile, her headache and insomnia had worsened. She knew what she needed to do. She was just afraid of what Sandberg might find.

While Yong Liu had been testing various pathogens, Kora had been experimenting with the different treatments that had been commonly used during and after the CTE pandemic. So far, she hadn’t been able to find any that induced the same degeneration found in Anita’s brain. 

Sage Sandberg’s efforts had similarly hit a dead end. 

Kora’s stomach growled. She needed food. She dragged herself out of her swivel chair, then out of her lab. She ran into Sid Tawfig in the corridor halfway between her lab and the elevator bank. 

Tawfig grinned from ear to ear. “Hey Kora! Do you want to share a grilled pie with me?” 

Kora looked at the box in Sid’s hand. Her stomach growled again. “Why not? Grilled pie sounds good.” 

They went into Tawfig’s lab. He turned on the holo projector on his desk, where the midday news was being rerun. They began devouring the sausage and ham grilled pie.

“How could something that tastes so good be so bad for you?” Tawfig mumbled through a mouthful of greasy dough and imitation meat.

Kora laughed. “You can always pop a few artery-cleanse after lunch.”

“Nah. What fun would that be?” Tawfig winked.

“I forgot. You like to live dangerously!”

“So what do you think about this Water Initiative?” Tawfig gestured towards the debate being broadcasted on the holo.

“I don’t know. An underwater desalination plant? Sounds like we’re messing with nature again. We have enough environmental problems as it is.”

“I agree with you, but riots are breaking out in the outer fringes of the state because of chronic water shortage. I can't believe people here in The Circle are complaining about their shower quota.”

As if it's not bad enough we have to drink from the ocean, now we’re going to destroy it, Kora thought. 

“I don’t follow politics too much. Does it look like the initiative's going to pass?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. The opposition leader sounds pretty convincing.”

Kora turned her attention to the holo. A woman with dark olive skin and long curly hair was talking to reporters outside of what looked like the State Assembly Building. It was Assembly Woman Divya Verma. 

Verma sounded impassioned. “All seven states must band together in order to find a permanent solution to our planet’s water crisis! We must stop interfering with the already fragile ecosystem of our ocean!”

The camera then panned to a man standing nearby. He was wearing a navy blue mandarin-collar jacket. 

Kora’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe the image in front of her. But it was unmistakable. The light brown hair, those hooded blue eyes… 

Flashes of light began to shoot in front of Kora’s eyes. Not again!

She put the half-eaten piece of grilled pie down. Kora tried to stand up. A wave of dizziness forced her to sit back down again. She could feel the blood draining from her face.

“Are you all right?” Tawfig asked.

Kora tried to fight back the wave of nausea. “I’m... I... I think I’m going to be sick…”

Grabbing the edge of the workbench, she tried to stand again. The restroom in the lab was less than five meters away. 

Tawfig rushed to Kora’s side. He grabbed her by her arms, bracing her. “Do you need to go to the restroom?” 

“I...” 

“Stay calm, Kora. Don’t fight it,” the small voice inside her whispered. 

Kora closed her eyes, trying to steady herself. A low tone resonated in her ears, as if someone had just struck a tuning fork. Her dizziness faded. She opened her eyes...

Kora found herself standing on a stage, behind two silver metal podiums with clear sloped panels on top. In front of her were terraced rows of burgundy-colored cushioned seats arranged in a semicircle. Stairs divided the sections of seats into wedges, leading from the bottom of the stage to the top of the amphitheater. The walls of the hall were lined with narrow vertical panels of what looked like wood. 

Kora watched in fascination as the crowd began to fill the hall. A crew busied itself on stage. Black, spherical robotic bomb sweepers hovered in the air all over the amphitheater.

No one seemed to notice Kora. In fact, no one seemed to even see her. She took in the strangely familiar sights and sounds around her. 

By now the hall was almost full. Music started playing in the background: Virgo’s state anthem. People began cheering and applause broke out. 

Kora turned to see a tall man walking onto the stage. He was wearing a navy blue, mandarin-collared suit. His thinning light brown hair parted on the left side of his head. His long, straight nose gave his face a dignified appearance. His hooded blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. 

Kora’s heart leapt into her throat, her eyes glued to the man now standing behind the podium to her left, who was waving to the excited crowd.

The man began to speak, the tone of his voice soft yet measured, his speech slow but deliberate, characteristic of a career politician. 

Kora could see lines of text being displayed on top of the podium. Suddenly she realized she knew who he was: State Assembly Majority Leader, Danny Wilcox.

Kora’s heart pounded in her chest. She broke into a cold sweat. From the corner of her right eye, she saw a flicker of light reflecting off…something. She turned around. The flicker had come from the far end of the hall, from the top level of the terraced seats. 

Kora screamed at Wilcox, “Get down!” Only he didn’t seem to hear her. As if out of instinct, she began running towards him. It was too late. 

The bullet tore through Wilcox’s face. His head exploded in a gruesome display of blood, bone and brain matter. That didn’t slow the projectile down. It exited through the back of his head, hitting the man behind him in the throat, nearly decapitating him. 

Kora stood in front of Wilcox’s body. The metallic smell of blood was in the air. Through the fog and haze in her mind, Kora could hear chaos breaking out all around her. A woman behind her screamed. 

Kora stared at what was left of the man in the mandarin-collar suit on the floor. She covered her mouth with her hand. Tears rolled down her face. She started to tremble. Then came darkness.

Chapter 10

Kora lingered somewhere between wakefulness and unconsciousness. She could hear someone talking to her. It was the same small voice she had been hearing for the past week. 

The voice sounded distant, almost a whisper. “The answers you’re looking for are inside your head.” 

Kora’s eyelids fluttered open. Sid Tawfig’s face slowly came into focus.

“She’s awake!” Tawfig said to someone behind him.

Peter’s pale face appeared next to Tawfig’s. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Kora’s throat felt dry. She swallowed. “I... I... What happened?”

“You blacked out in my lab!” Tawfig said in his usual animated tone. “You hit your head on a chair.”

Kora could feel a dull pain on her forehead. She reached up to find a large bump above her left eye. 

“You were incoherent and you refused to wake up. So I called the medic,” Tawfig explained, “and Peter.”

“Where am I?”

“You’re at the State Central Hospital,” Tawfig said. 

Peter handed Kora a cup of water. She sipped slowly. He grabbed Kora’s hand. “They’ve been running diagnostics but they couldn’t find anything wrong with you.” 

The fog in Kora’s brain began to lift. She propped herself up. “I... I need to speak to Dr. Sage Sandberg. She’s the head physician of the oncology department here.”

Alarmed, Peter asked, “Why do you want to see an oncologist?”

“I’m...fine. I just need to speak to her.”

“I’ll go get her.” Tawfig left the room.

Peter traced his thumb across Kora’s cheek. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Kora closed her eyes, waiting for the dizziness to pass, trying to gather her wits. “I’ve not been feeling too well since I last saw you. I’m going to ask Dr. Sandberg to run some tests.”

Peter frowned. “Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s just... I want to make sure I’m ok. She knows my medical history.”

Peter didn’t look convinced. “You know your ocular implant can track your vital signs. In case of an emergency, it’ll call for help automatically. All you need to do is activate those functions.”

Kora managed a weak smile. “Yes, Dad! I think I like Oscar more than you these days.”

“Funny!” Peter smiled.

“I’m fine... really. I’m sure it’s just stress.”

“That’s probably true. How about we take some time off? You and I.” Peter paused. “There’s... something I want to discuss with you.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve...” Peter was interrupted by a knock on the door. 

Sage Sandberg walked in with Tawfig.

“Kora! What happened?” Sandberg activated the holo display at the end of Kora’s bed. She scanned through Kora’s intake report.

Kora turned to Peter and Tawfig. “Could I speak to Dr. Sandberg alone, please?” 

The two of them left the room. Kora searched for the right words. “Sage, I want to be honest with you. I’ve been having... hallucinations.”

“Hallucinations? Since when?”

“Since about a week ago. I’ve been having these terrible headaches and blackouts. I’m concerned that maybe I have the same condition Anita did.” 

There. She’d said it. Just getting it out was a relief.

“None of our tests suggested Anita’s condition was hereditary. Even if it is, she’s not your immediate family...”

“Actually... Anita and I weren’t related.”

Sandberg looked confused. “But your record says...”

“I know. It was a mistake. She’s my guardian, not my aunt. She adopted me after both my parents died in a mass transport accident when I was four. It’s a long story. Could you run a full genomic panel on me? Also... I want you to biopsy my brain.”

Sandberg frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I have a gut feeling somehow what I’ve been going through is connected to Anita’s condition. I can’t explain it. But I think it’ll help our research if you run the same assays on me that you did to Anita.”

Sandberg looked surprised. “I must say it’s not every day someone volunteers to have a brain biopsy…” Her vivid blue eyes searched Kora’s. “All right. I’ll run the tests. Let me go find a lab tech to get started.”

“Thank you!” Kora closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Whatever the results of these tests, at least she would know what was happening to her. She activated Oscar’s functions to track her vital signs.

- End of Chapter 10 -