BBW: Anomaly Points Book 1

13. Connections.

The call button was very visible in my new electro sense, so I reached for it and pressed it. A face appeared at the door window, and I waved. I got a wave back that might have been meant to say wait a minute. I assume she needed to suit up in case I was contagious. It hadn’t occurred to me that some mutations might be contagious. With microorganisms also being mutated, it is a very real and scary prospect. I assumed the killer anomaly in the South Island was lethal essence, but maybe it was mutated microorganisms? This world is fucked.

The nurse came through the airlock on the door in a full contamination suit.

“Good morning, Mr Wilkinson. I am pleased to see you are awake.”

“Please, just call me Bob. I am pretty pleased I am awake, too.”

“Please just stay there. I need to run a few tests.”

“Fine. Ah, how long have I been here?”

“You were bought in by Rescue Helicopter on Friday. Today is Monday 30th Dec.”

“And Carla?”

“The young lady is considerably worse off than you with some severe physical mutations.”

“Oh, shit, can I see her?”

“I am sorry, she is in isolation like yourself. She has not regained consciousness yet.”

“What about me? Am I, you know, mutated?”

“We have detected some interesting changes, but the Doctor will explain everything when he comes around later. Please blow into here. Have you had trouble breathing?”

“Not that I have noticed.”

“You stopped breathing several times, and we had to resuscitate you.”

“Oh.”

“How do you feel in general?”

“My ribs hurt, and I am hungry, but other than that, I feel fine.”

“You have a broken rib. There is nothing on your file about not eating, but I will double-check and get some breakfast sent in.”

“Can you make it a double? I am really staving.”

“I will see what I can do, but we should take things slowly.”

The nurse soon left, and I was left alone again. Shit, I should have asked for my e-reader. And my phone.

I am worried about Carla. What do they mean by severe physical mutations? It could mean she grew a penis, and she would be rapt with that, but I don’t think that is what they meant. Is she turning into a shark? What else did she eat?

She is alive. I hope she still wants to be when she wakes.

With nothing to do, I go back to getting used to my new senses. The smell is a problem. I am kinda glad everyone is in contamination suits. I don’t have to deal with people's smells as I get used to this. Smelling breakfast should be interesting.

Smelling breakfast was interesting. This is going to be quite a powerful skill if I can keep a handle on it. I could tell you the perfume the person who dished it was wearing. Well, I couldn’t name it, but I could track it down.

Unfortunately, the person who delivered my food didn’t know where my e-reader or phone was. I know they were on my bike in Waiheke and are now probably in police or navy custody and being gone over with a fine-tooth comb. I hope they like the Sci-fi/fantasy genre.

I asked about a TV or something, and they would see what they could do. I assume people just use their personal phones these days like I would if I had mine.

At least my Essence core was refilling on its own. If I had a clock, I could work out how fast it filled, but I don’t have my phone!

It was sometime between morning tea and lunch that the doctor arrived. Two contamination suits entered the room, and the female one introduced them.

“Good morning, Mr Wilkinson. I am Dr Amanda Mohan, and this is Commander Lewis of the Royal New Zealand Navy.”

That got me suspicious. The nurse previously referred to my doctor as male. The doctor was small and slim and of Indian descent. She was maybe ten years older than me, from what I could tell through the suits. The Commander was a tall and well-built Pakeha. His white face towered over the docs. I would research them when I could.

“Just call me Bob.”

“Let's get the preliminaries out of the way. Please tell us your full name and date of birth.”

I rattled them off. Medical professionals are paranoid about making sure they are treating the right person and with good reason.

“So what's the verdict doc?”

“You seem healthy and aware. There are some large cellular changes in your skin and blood. We are still trying to analyse what they do, but they don’t seem detrimental. The biggest concern is with your respiratory system. You have had to be resuscitated several times, and there was concern about ongoing damage from a lack of oxygen. Other than that, you seem healthy.” She took a breath, “We were hoping you might be able to shed light on the mutations and their effect.”

“Skin and blood, huh?” I looked closely at the skin on my forearm and pinched it with my other hand. “Looks and feels normal. Do you think I might develop allergies or something? Break out in hives?”

“We don’t know Mr Wilkinson, sorry, Bob. Testing is ongoing. You don’t feel any changes or unusual in any way?”

I shook my head, “You said blood as well? Do my wounds heal faster or anything?”

“No, everything is healing at a normal rate.”

“Damn.”

She smiled. The Commander did not.

“Hey, how long will I be here?”

“Long enough that we can be sure you are not a danger to yourself or others,” the doc replied.

“Then can I get a phone, an e-reader, or a TV or something? I realise my phone is probably still on Waiheke or something, but I can pay for another. Maybe a laptop?”

The commander spoke for the first time, “We are controlling how much information is released to the public. There is already panic over the Anomaly Point, and people are fleeing from Waiheke. We have a considerable portion of the Hauraki Gulf cordoned off and are recommending people not go swimming at this time. If Information about Miss Vaa’i’s mutations is leaked, this will have a considerable effect on the public and on Miss Vaa’i and her future.”

“Right. Yes, I can understand that.” I said. “She is really bad, huh?”

“It is not good,” said the Doc. “We can certainly get a TV in here and possibly arrange for an e-reader. Let the nurse know what brand.”

I nodded.

The Doc continued, “You don’t have anyone listed as your next of kin. Is there someone you would like us to contact for you?”

“They will need to sign a confidentiality agreement,” The commander said.

“No, there’s no one in particular,” I said.

“I assume you know Miss Vaa’i well. Is there someone she would like us to contact?”

“She is not conscious?”

“No.”

Shit.

“She has a Sophia Hardcastle listed as next of kin. Do you know her?” the Doc continued.

“No. But I do know she does not get on with her family, so don’t call them.”

“Right, thank you.”

“I have some questions about your experience with the Anomaly Point,” The Commander said.

“OK”

“How close did you get to it?”

“We were on the rocks next to it.”

“What did it look like to you?”

“Like a blue dot in the water. You must have found it.”

“Yes, we are monitoring it with drones, but a first-hand account is valuable. Did you see or feel anything unusual?”

“Does a fucking mutated shark count?”

“That definitely counts. Please describe it.”

“I am pretty sure it was a Copper Shark, which would make sense. It wasn’t fully grown. It was only about as long as I am tall.” I had memories of trying to hold on to it and being dragged through the water. They could grow to twice that size.

“Please describe the attack.”

“I didn’t see the initial attack as I was in the water on the other side of the rock. Carla suddenly flung herself back away from the water, and I swam to help. I could see blood streaming down her leg. I got to the rock and tried to pull her away when the shark attacked again. The shark missed, but it landed on the rock, and I could see protruding things coming from the side that looked and acted like feet. It didn’t retreat but was trying to move on these feet. Carla had our knife, and she stabbed it but missed the eye. It was bleeding, though.

“It circled the rocks for a bit. We had some hand nets, and Carla was catching small fish. We tried to distract it by tossing the fish away, but Carla slipped and splashed in the water, and the shark came again. I hauled her out, and I remember her slicing the side of the shark, leaving a long gash. I think that is when she lost the knife. She was bleeding badly, and I tried to bind the wounds with our shirts.

“We hadn’t seen the shark for a while, so we decided to swim for shore. Carla was on our bodyboard, and I swam next to her. We were very lucky to make it.”

“You were very lucky.” The Commander agreed.

“I don’t remember a lot of other details. It is a bit fuzzy. I might have mixed some up as well. I’m not sure.”

“OK, that is enough for now,” the Doc said.

“Here is my card,” the commander said, “We will need to have a longer conversation about this, but contact me if you remember anything else.”

“I can’t contact you. I don’t have a phone.”

“Just let the nurses know,” said the doctor.

Just then, the link to Carla went crazy, and the pain returned. My eyes flicked to the wall where she was, and I started pumping energy through to her. My essence core was not yet full from last time. Then her alarms all went off, and everybody outside the room scrambled.

“Is that Carla?” I asked to cover myself.

“Yes,” said the Commander, “is there anything you want to tell us?”

“I don’t feel well. I think I need a rest now.”

“OK,” said the doctor, “we will continue this later.”

I had the feeling the commander wanted to continue this now, but the doctor ushered him out.

I was pushing more essence through to Carla and preparing a wave, which seemed to help before. I used my super-hearing to keep listening to the Doc and the Commander.

“You saw that reaction?” The commander asked the doc.

“Yes, and it is the same as on the footage from before.” The doc replied. “There is some sort of connection there.”

“This mutation is happening faster than the other ones.”

“Yes, the others were between 8-12 hours apart, but this is only four or five. The last mutation ended way quicker and was easier on her than the others. Whatever he is doing, it is helping her,” the doc said. “That is why I got us out of there. We have almost lost her too many times already. The poor girl needs all the help she can get, even if I don’t understand it. Understanding can come later.”

Fuck.