'Give me a break,' I said. 'I've been mostly dead all day!'
I only waved and smiled and said that I was fine as they rolled my stretcher by the press corps at Edwards. Then I shook the Vice President's hand as he thanked me for what I'd done for the country. I never got to discuss the state of world affairs with him. He must be a busy man. Tabitha and I did get about thirty minutes with the Joint Chiefs and with some guys from agencies that didn't exist. They basically told us that they had 'top men' working on it. I was beginning to understand how Indiana Jones must've felt.
The general premise was that 'black bag' guys and Special Ops could retrieve whatever was lost and discredit anything left behind. Tabitha and I weren't as confident in that assessment. I tried to make myself clear on that point, but arguing while lying in a gurney isn't a real power position.
So, we went home and Tabitha checked me into Huntsville Hospital for a few days of observation. The second morning—let's see that would be four days after the space-warp—Tabitha and I were eating breakfast in my room when Jim finally got around to seeing me.
'Jim! What took you so long?' I asked.
'Hi there slacker. How you doing? Tabitha is he really just goldbrickin'?' Jim replied.
'Oh absolutely, Jim. He is the laziest S.O.B. I ever met.' Tabitha laughed and clutched her ribs.
'Forget him, how are you feeling?' Jim asked Tabitha.
'Side hurts when I laugh or sneeze, but I'll make it.'
'Jim,' I started, 'it worked! Can you believe it? It worked.' Tabitha gave me a dirty look, meaning that we weren't supposed to discuss the space warp outside of a secure area.
'Cool.' Jim smiled and winked.
I noticed Jim was looking rather tired and that his clothes looked slept in, peaked around the gills as my dad might have said. So I asked, 'Jim, you been out partying or something? You look kind of rough.'
Jim looked at me with tears in his eyes, 'No, Doc. I've been here all night. 'Becca's not doing so well.'
'What do you mean?' I asked. Tabitha held my hand and I could tell that she was holding back tears as well.
'Anson, she's in the intensive care unit. About five days ago she took a turn for the worse with all of her asthma and allergy symptoms as well as some sort of flulike thing. She's been incoherent for the past two days and running very high fevers. Nobody knows what to do here and the doctors don't have much hope.' Jim's head sunk and he cried.
'What!?' I rose from my bed and threw the covers off of me. 'She is here?'
'Anson sit down!' Tabitha started.
'Tabitha, can it. No way I ain't going to see her.' I stood up and dressed. About that time a nurse came to collect my tray and give me my dose of daily antibiotics and pain meds. She asked where I was going and I told her that I needed a drink and that the stuff they served in this bar was watered down. She 'harrumphed' and exited. I pulled on my pants and a T-shirt that was in my overnight bag. Tabitha had even brought my toothbrush.
By the time I was dressed, the nurse had returned with a doctor and a much larger nurse—or maybe he was an orderly.
'Mr. Clemons I suggest that you stay in bed a while longer,' the doctor told me.
'Sorry Doc, I'm going up to the ICU to see a friend. You can join me if you like.' I told him. The orderly stepped between me and the door to my room.
'Perhaps you should listen to the doctor,' the orderly said.
I looked at Jim and Tabitha as I stretched my arms slowly and yawned. I needed to see how strong I felt. I felt fine—just very sore. I rolled my head around to loosen my neck and then stepped toward the door. The orderly placed a hand on my chest.
'Sir, you should reconsider.' He smiled.
'Doctor, I am paying for medical attention and this room, not for imprisonment.' I said as I wrist-locked the orderly's hand and twisted his hand backward and showed him his own palm. He must not have like the way his palm looked because he collapsed to his knees in either disgust or pain. Probably, pain. I walked past him and let go of his wrist. Jim and Tabitha never said a word. They just followed me.
'Lead the way, Jim.' I motioned him around me.
The three of us found the elevators, then up to the ICU. There was some slight resistance until I told a nurse that Tabitha and I were Rebecca's parents. She didn't seem to care if I was lying or not and let us through to see her.
'Becca had an I.V. in her and several other machines appeared to be connected to her. I touched her hand and nearly cried.
'Hang in there, girl,' Tabitha said and hugged up behind me.
'Jim, what do the doctors say?' I asked.
'Well, her pathologist thinks she has some sort of weird virus. He asked where all we went on the cruise but nothing seems to add up. I still think she's never been fully well since the bronchitis after the accident.'
Jim was right. Although she had been well at times, 'Becca had never been as sick as much as she had the last two years.
'Jim, did the doctors say anything about opportunistic infections?' Tabitha asked.
'That's exactly what we thought it was,' a voice from behind me said. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
'Dr. Reese, this is Professor Clemons and Colonel Ames,' Jim introduced us to 'Becca's physician.
