Syndrome

mean? Had the damaged valve already begun restoring and strengthening itself? While she slept?

Or was this just more of some dream?

Why was she in this hospital anyway, hooked up to monitors? She still couldn't remember exactly.

'What. .?' She tried to rise up out of the bed. Again she wondered, was Grant real or some chimera?

Then she realized she was strapped in, though the straps were held only with black Velcro.

As she started to pull them open, she noticed she had an IV needle in her arm, with a plastic tube that led to a bag of liquid suspended from a hook above her head. More annoying, however, was the checkerboard of taped-on sensors on her upper body, for the ongoing phonocardiogram. She looked at all the tubes and connected wires and felt like a laboratory animal in the middle of an experiment.

'Ally, you're at the Dorian Institute, remember? Dr. Van de Vliet's stem cell clinical trials. Nina's here too.'

'Oh.' That rang a bell, sort of. 'What. . what day is it?'

He told her. 'You've been under sedation since late yesterday, Ally. But Dr. Vee says your test data show you're responding-'

'Mom's here, right?' Now things were starting to come back. 'How's she doing? Is she-'

'He's talking about discharging her by the end of next week, even before the NIH clinical trials are officially over.' Grant tried a smile. 'By then, he thinks the procedure will have replaced enough tissue in her brain that she might not even need a caregiver. She's doing crosswords again. Need I say more.'

'My God.' Now she remembered how on-again, off-again Nina's mind had been when she brought her out to the institute. Had she really been given a second chance? And so quickly? If so, it was truly astonishing.

But now she found herself staring at Grant, mesmerized. Something about him seemed oddly off.

'Grant, what… what's going on with you?'

'I've. .' He was hesitating. 'I've been thinking about everything. Now I really wish I hadn't done what I did.'

'What are you talking about?' This kind of revisionist remorse didn't sound like the Grant she knew.

'Have you seen Kristen? They said you know about her, were asking about her.' Then he stepped back. 'Do you know about her?'

Kristen. She tried to remember.Is that the woman everybody. . Her mother had come to the institute with a pistol trying to find her? Then she was kidnapped. .

'It's the Syndrome,' Grant went on. 'She wanted the Beta procedure, and Dr. Vee finally agreed. But nobody expected anything to happen like what eventually did. That's why W.B. went ahead and had it too.'

Beta. Now she remembered that Kristen had mumbled something about that word.

'Ally, I got you into. . When I told W. B. that I thought you and he had the same rare blood type, AB, he wanted to bring you into the program.'

'You mean for my heart?'

He looked away and his eyes grew pained. 'Well, that's part of it. There's another part they haven't told you about.'

'What's that?'

'Antibodies. They think there's a chance you could be made to develop them and then they could use them to help W.B. He doesn't have the Syndrome yet, but it's probably just a matter of time.'

What, she puzzled, is he talking about?What 'antibodies'? What 'syndrome'?She was weak and she wasn't sure her mind was fully functional. But after what appeared to be the miracle of her heart, she was willing to forsake a certain amount of momentary rationality.

Then more memory started returning. 'Kristen. Whatabouther? I saw-'

'Ally, the Syndrome started with her over four months ago. At first they didn't fully realize how serious. . but now it's getting worse every day.' He paused and turned away. 'Look, I've been thinking. I'm really sorry that I brought you into this. What if something goes wrong?'

'What do you mean?'

'If you could see Kristen now, you'd understand.'

'Where is she? Is she still wherever they're hiding her?'

'No.' He turned back. 'Kristen. . After what happened yesterday, she had to be brought back out here. There's a ward downstairs, on the floor below the offices and lab, that's kind of like an intensive-care unit. That's where you were until tonight. But you can't go back down there on your own. Not even the nurses can go without a special authorization, which is never given.'

'But if Kristen is-'

'Ally,you'rethe one I'm worried about. I thought what they were going to do to you was safe. But last night I. . I heard them all talking and I think you could be in serious danger. They don't actually know what the consequences of what they're doing will be. You need to get out of here and at least get the real story. I don't want this on my hands. Truthfully, there could be some deep legal shit coming out of all this. I can think of at least three felonies. I don't want any part of that liability, and I want you to testify that I got you out of here if it ever comes to that.'

Finallythe straight story, she thought.He's afraid he's about to be an accomplice in a criminal conspiracy. He's getting cold feet.

'Grant, do something for me. Get me unplugged. All these sensors. I want to go see her for myself.'

'Ally, forget it. To begin with, I can't unplug you. Only a nurse can do that. And I don't want to. You've got catheters in places I-'

'Then I'll get a nurse to come and do it. I'll say I need to go to the bathroom. That should get me unhooked.'

Annoyed she looked around. Where's the buzzer? There has to be one somewhere. Then she spotted a set of controls attached to the bed and sure enough, there was a red button. What else could it be?

She pushed it and a light came on above her door. Moments later, a short blue-haired woman with the namemarionsewn into her white uniform opened the door and came striding in, flicking on the fluorescent overheads.

'My, my, we're looking well,' she declared ignoring Grant. 'I'm glad you're finally awake. He told us to call him the minute. . They're all saying you and your mother must have special genes. You've both been such terrific patients. He'd been keeping you sedated but he discontinued that medication this afternoon. He wanted you to wake up with your mind clear.'

'Well, I'd really like to get up and go to the bathroom and get something to eat,' Ally said 'Mainly, I just want to get out of this bed for a stretch before I start developing bedsores. I'm feeling strong, for now at least. Can you unhook some of these wires and suction cups? And I certainly don't need that IV. I'm so hungry I could inhale a quart of ice cream in one gulp.'

'Yes, of course,' Marion said and began dismantling the intravenous tubes. 'We only monitor you and hydrate you when you're not conscious. The standard procedure is to let you get up and start getting some exercise as soon as possible. You should be careful, though, because at this point you're not as strong as you think. Changes are taking place in your body that require a lot of your energy. If you feel up to it, you could walk around for a couple of minutes, but you shouldn't let yourself get tired.'

As Marion continued now removing the taped-on sensors, Ally looked up and saw another uniformed nurse standing in the doorway. She also was middle-aged, with prematurely gray hair, and she was holding a syringe.

'May I come in?' she asked. 'At this stage he needs a blood sample every three hours. Just twenty cc's.'

Ally watched as the new nurse quickly and deftly took a small sample of blood. Then she capped it off and turned to leave.

'I need to centrifuge this immediately.'

And she was gone.

Then Marion finished removing the IV tube and catheter and all the taped-on electrodes.

'If you want to get up and use the bathroom and walk around a little, I'm sure it would be all right. I'll come back in a few minutes and bring you a tray with a nice healthy bowl of broth.'

The moment she was out the door, Ally turned to Grant.