Beyond Singularity

Waking from the "dream"

First there was endless blackness. Then slowly a sound faded in. Kale could hear the steady beeping of some machine he couldn’t see. He struggled to open his eyes – and immediately closed them. The light was blinding. He took a deep breath and opened them again. No. That’s no light – just the ceiling. It’s white.

Then the memory of the fight came in. Panic surged within him and the beeping increased in pace. Tilting his head to the side, he found the source of the beeps – a heartrate monitor. However try as he might, everything else behind the monitor was a bit hazy. I must be in the med bay – or some part of it I’ve never seen before – this place is too clean! Did we win though?

Then he remembered floating towards the black hole and watching his own limbs being torn off in the explosion from a third-person point of view. But they are here! I can see them. To prove it, he lifted his hands to his face.

He gasped in horror – partially because of the tubes sticking into it but mostly because the hands looked alien to him. The hands he held in front of his face had longer fingers than he remembered and darker too! The wrists were smaller though and the various scars he had on them were all gone. What the f**k? Did they replace my arms and legs with someone else’s? Or am I dead?

Suddenly, the door in front of him opened and a woman entered – dressed in a white and with an equally white cap covering her long, dark brown hair. “Hey, look who’s awake!” she squeaked as she flowed in – beaming at Kale and hugging a PDA against her bosom. Kale was instantly aware of the fact that he wore nothing under the gown and his face coloured. Thankfully, he was safely under a sheet.

“Ma’am, did we win?” asked Kale in a hoarse voice. His eyes widened a little in surprise as he heard his own voice. That didn’t sound right.

“Depends on what game we were playing,” she replied with a puzzled look.

Kale tried to rise but he still felt weak so instead he studied the IV tube stuck into his wrists and followed the tube all the way to the IV stand were two bags of fluid were suspended. Something in front of his face caught his attention and he frowned when he realised there was a nasal cannula attached there. Oh I’m definitely in the med bay and that must be a nurse. What is she doing here though? He strained his eyes trying to read the nametag pinned onto her dress but gave up shortly when the attempts to puzzle the blurry letters made his head hurt.

“If I am dead, I gotta say afterlife is pretty shitty,” he remarked. “Well, apart from you ma’am,” he quickly added. What? Apart from you? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“Oh thank you mister, eh…” she said paused. She frowned and quickly lifted up the PDA and peered intently at it. “Ah! Thank you Mister Redwood!”

“Ma’am, you’re welcome but my name’s Kale. Kale Frost,” he said with a smile. The nurse immediately looked troubled and stared crossly at the PDA in her hands.

“Fancy stumbling into a clerical error on my first day of work,” she muttered to herself while tapping and swiping on the PDA furiously. Kale didn’t want to disturb her as she abused her PDA. After a moment she raised her head from the PDA and narrowed her eyes at him. “Are pulling my leg Vincent?”

“Ma’am, you could just call me Vin–” he froze. Vince? Where did that come from? Clearing his throat and hoping she didn’t hear his slip, he said “My name is Kale Frost.”

He was about to add more when something black alongside his head, clearly highlighted on the white pillow, caught his eye. He jerked his head hard to the side and the black thing slid across it – following his head. He quickly grabbed it and tried to pull it away from his head and cast it far from him with all his might. However, it was attached to his head and the violent tug pulled his head towards his arm and sent a jolt of pain running across his scalp. Mouth gaping in wonder, he stared at it. It was hair! Putting a hand upon his head, he felt thick locks of hair that he followed below his shoulder blades. Dreadlocks? How the hell?

His gaze shifted to the nurse whom was staring at him – apparently alarmed by what just transpired. She looked torn between running for help and running to help him.

“What happened to me?” he asked pleadingly, unable to hold back his questions any longer, “Did any in my unit survive? Is the Harnesser alright? How did I get here? What happened to my arms and hair?”

“You’re in the army? Why aren’t you in the military hospital? No wait! Don’t answer that. Not your fault. I’ll find out. Give me your serial and I’ll find out what happened to your unit.”

“Kale Frost, M11-21-0906-375, private first class. We were at the Harnesser,” he said without pause. The drill sergeants found so many new and interesting ways to add reciting their serials into their training that Kale was sure he could recite it in his sleep. Military hospital? That’s new.

“Okay. I’ll find out and let you know,” she said while entering Kale’s serial into her PDA. She shifted her eyes to him, “What’s wrong with your hair and arms?”

“I didn’t have them before ma’am,” he explained while running his heads through his hair and grabbing locks at random. While studying a lock to the side of his face, his reflection on the stainless steel table that the heartrate monitor sat on caught his eye. He froze.

“Uh? I don’t understand,” the nurse said, moving close to him. “Mister Frost, are you alright?”

Kale just stared at the reflection. Though slightly distorted, Kale could make out his face. Except that it wasn’t his face. The face that stared back at him was one he never saw before. He couldn’t help feeling that something was very wrong.

“Mister Frost, are you in pain? Should I get the doctor?”

Kale tore his gaze from his reflection and looked up at the nurse, swallowing the rising panic and trying to smile. Looking at her nametag pinned to the right of her chest, he read “T. Reid” and on her left was the embroidered symbol of a red flame and the words “UtoGen” under it.

“No ma’am, I’m not in pain. Would you mind telling me the date?” he asked. He needed to know how long he had been out because things were getting pretty confusing.

“Oh, not at all mister Frost. It is the fifth of the sixth moon, year 340.”

Kale burst into laughter – which faded away when he noticed that she wasn’t joining in. Actually, she took one step away from him and had a worried look plastered on her pretty face.

“Is this some joke ma’am?” he asked unsteadily.

“I am afraid not. What date do you last remember?” she asked – all professional now. With the PDA held up and fingers ready to input data, it was obvious she was following some procedure unknown to Kale.

“It was the twelfth of the nineteenth moon,” he said and after a pause added, “in the year 375.”

They both stared at each other. The understanding look she gave him was all Kale needed to know what was on her mind.

“Ma’am, I’m not nuts okay. It may sound crazy to you but this,” he said, lazily twirling one finger in the air, “is not right.”

“I did not say you were. By the way, you can call me Theia,” she said. Then, after considering the PDA in her hands, she flipped it around so Kale could see the screen.

It displayed a photo of a man in a light grey jumpsuit. Upon noticing the dreadlocks, Kale realised it was a clearer version of the face he saw in the reflection on the table. Kale quickly pulled his hands off his face when he realised he was stroking it – feeling the high cheekbones he never had.

“You were in an accident while working in Port Zion. Well, you and the scientist whom was interviewing you. According to the report, the Singularity Harnesser in the room with both of you malfunctioned and a burst of dark energy knocked both of you out. That was,” she frowned and flipped the PDA to face herself, swiped upwards on the screen, and continued, “thirty days ago.”

Kale just stared at her. This can’t be. What happened to me? Apparently, his internal conflict was plain on his face because Theia stepped forward with a reassuring smile and gently squeezed his arm.

“You must be experiencing some form of amnesia. Due to the exotic nature of your accident, confusion and memory loss is quite understandable. Your name is Vincent Redwood. You must have experienced a vivid dream that can easily be confused with a memory but with time, I am sure your real memories will come back,” she said when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to say anything.

“UtoGen – that’s short for Utopia General Hospital uh?” he asked after a while.

“Oh yes it is. The hospital in Zion is not fully operational yet so they flew you both here.”

But Utopia was wiped off the map in a nuclear strike! He thought. But the spotless white condition of the room and tiled walls, ceiling, and floor was something he could never remember seeing in Zion. The invasion forced the various buildings to be constructed without much thought on the interiors – wood, concrete, and steel ruled there. The white tiles here were as alien as the face that stared back at him in the reflection.

“You mentioned a scientist was interviewing me. Is he here in the hospital too?” he asked.

“Yes I did. However, the scientist is a she. Doctor Rachael Han, a physicist at the University of Utopia. She was brought here with you but her father had her transferred to a private hospital soon after.”

Rachael Han. Why does that name sound familiar? Then it hit him. That was the name of the daughter of the councilman – she who went to Old Earth to get help, and never returned.

“Is her father, by any chance, the councilman Wilford Han?” he asked.

“Yep – the one and only. Her face was all over the news for days. You, on the other hand, I did not know existed till I walked in here,” she replied.

“Oh don’t worry about it ma’am. I don’t mind being unknown,” he said with a chuckle when he saw her looking sadly at him.

Then in a low voice, he said, “But I remember being a child. I remember my friends and the first time I met them. I remember sleeping and dreaming. I can remember the Reborn.”

“Hey I am sorry. I really am –” she hesitated, unsure whether to call him Mister Frost or Mister Redwood. “I am just a nurse. Doctor Blight – he is the one who treated you – would probably know more about this then I do. If you don’t mind me asking, what is the Reborn?”

It then dawned on Kale, if the date really was the fifth of the sixth moon of the year 340, then the invasion didn’t happen yet and was just 53 days away.

“Oh nothing important, yet. Ma’am, what if I told you I was from the future?” he asked carefully.

“Then I will ask you which team will win the next Xenoball match and wager my enter pay check on it,” she said in attempt to lighten the mood. She succeeded.

Kale chuckled and Theia flashed a smile. Kale was obsessed with Xenoball when he was younger and though Kale never saw a live Xenoball match – Xenoball ceased to be played after the invasion – but the archives were filled with footage of the face-paced ball game. Come to think of it, I could tell her which team will win if she asked.

“Hey, I will have to go complete my rounds now. Soon, you shall be moved to a recovery room. After the doctor evaluates you, you may go on with your life,” she said with a tight smile. Kale had a feeling that he wouldn’t be released any time soon once she made her report. She then pointed to a control panel on the side of his bed that he didn’t notice before.

“See those arrows? They control the angle of the bed. Those,” she said, pointing at an up and down arrow before pointing at another two – one looking like a rising sun and the other a setting sun, “control the brightness of the lights in the room. This one here that looks like a bell – press it and a nurse will come in. Finally, those two there – the flame and the snowflake – control the temperature in the room.”

Kale just nodded and smiled – already planning to test it out when she was gone.

She then held out her hand and said, “It was a pleasure meeting you, eh –”

“Kale. Just call me Kale,” he said while shaking her hands. She already thinks you’re nuts. What harm would this do? “It was a pleasure to meet you Theia.”

She nodded and then released his hand. She walked out then, though she paused at the door and gave Kale a reassuring smile. Kale smiled back and watched the door close after her. The haziness he experienced in his vision had cleared a while back and he could see the room clearly. The whiteness combined with the stainless steel table made Kale uneasy – as if the door would open anytime and admit surgeons with armed scalpels.

Thinking of the stainless steel table caused him to stare at his reflection on it again. I’m not crazy. I am Kale Frost, and this is not mine. He thought. Then turning away from it, he threw the blanket off and started studying himself.

Overcome with curiosity, Kale began a slow methodical exploration of his own body. He flexed his fingers and wiggled his toes – marvelling at the longer limbs and comparing it to the one he had in his memory. The thought to gaze under his hospital gown crossed his mind but he was conscious of the wide viewing window beside the door. No need to appear completely insane. Still, the nagging thought plagued him and he found himself marking the frequency of white clad people gliding past it and trying to discern a pattern. He laughed quietly at himself and studied the control panel beside his bed instead.

Kale toyed with the bed’s angle for a minute, trying to find a comfortable one. When he was satisfied, he dimmed the lights. It was then that he realised that he did feel a bit drowsy.

He finally decided to rest a bit – he still felt lightheaded and weak after all. Remember how you always said “when I get a chance, I’ll sleep for a year”? Well, now’s your chance. He thought, a grim smile playing across his face. Maybe when I wake I’ll be back? The thought that his ruined and limbless body may be lying and dreaming in a dark hall among the ruins of the Harnesser made him realise that even if this was a dream, he wouldn’t want to wake up.

With a sniff, he closed his eyes. It didn’t take long before he drifted off.