Gabriel lay on the corrugated table, straps encircling his ankles, wrists, chest, and neck, his entire body immobilized. His eyes were open but vacant, the level of his consciousness monitored and maintained by the array of wires and tubes attached to him. A young woman with satiny shoulder-length honey blonde hair stood next to him, making notes on a chart attached to a metal hospital clipboard. On the wall opposite Gabriel, a thin LCD television was attached to a bracket, a green cable running out the back of it and up into the ceiling. Behind him, the cable exited the ceiling and fed into the rear of a digital video recorder. The front of the recorder had a readout that showed the date and time. The date and time, however, were not the current date and time; they were flashing backward and forward through dates and times in the past, the images shown on the display across the room flashing backward and forward as well. And those images were coming from Gabriel’s mind.
Looking up from her clipboard, Amanda walked toward the wall to her right, her movements targeting the window at its center. Through the window she could see Dr. Martin, his tired eyes poring over the readouts spitting from the printers and the images on the small screens in the control console. After standing there for a moment, tapping her foot in a show of impatience, Amanda finally knocked on the window to get his attention. Looking up, Dr. Martin saw her through the window and smiled. Flipping a switch in the console, a burst of static issued from a speaker over her head followed by his gentle though slightly distorted voice.
“How are we looking, Amanda?” he asked
“Really good, Xavier. Gabriel seems to have had no problem connecting this time.” Turning around she glanced at him before speaking again. “I’m not really sure what happened with the last program run but this one is golden”
Xavier rubbed his chin thoughtfully, the days-old stubble scratching beneath his fingertips. “I ran through all the diagnostic programs multiple times and never found anything out of spec.”
“What about the interviews with Gabriel? Did he have any ideas about what happened?” Amanda asked.
“Actually, I think it’s what he didn’t say that may be more important.” Xavier furrowed his brow, as if caught somewhere between deep thought and anger. “I have a strong feeling that he wasn’t telling me everything about that session.”
Amanda walked back toward Gabriel, setting her clipboard down on a tray. Moving slowly around him, she checked each connection for what seemed like the hundredth time. Satisfied they were stable, she moved to the head of the table. Reaching out her hand she brushed his dark brown hair away from his forehead and looked into his emerald-green eyes.
“It’s a shame we can’t pry the information out of him while he’s like this.” Kissing him on the forehead, she smiled. “Maybe I can get it out of him later.”
Dr. Martin chuckled and switched off the intercom, still looking through the window at Gabriel. That one man represented more than anyone but a few people in the world could imagine and was the culmination of his life’s work.