Darla came running with the medikit. I tore it open and took out two remote monitoring transponders.
'Help me roll him over, John.'
We were about to do so when Lori screamed.
I whirled. Carl was lying on the ground. Sean evidently had caught him, and was now cradling Carl's head in his arms.
'What happened?' John said.
Sean gently cuffed Carl's cheeks a few times. 'Fainted dead away, he did. Just keeled over.'
I went over and crouched beside them, took Carl's wrist and felt for his pulse. It was slow and thin, dangerously so. 'Is he okay?' Susan asked.
'Hard to tell,' I said noncommittally. 'Funny that he'd pass out like that. Let me get a transponder for him.'
'Carl?' Lori took my place as I got up. 'Carl? Oh, no.'
'He'll be all right, girl. Run and fetch some water.' Lori ran off.
'He's out cold, though,' Sean said with concern. 'Dead out.'
'Jake,' John said, indicating Prime. 'What about…?'
'If he doesn't have a pulse, there's not much I can do for him. And if he doesn't have a heart, all bets are off anyway. I'm more worried about Carl.'
'Well, finding out you've just killed somebody has to be a shock.'
'Maybe. Carl's not the type to faint dead away, though.'
'He's young-just a boy, really.'
'Not that young. And I don't like the feel of his pulse.'
I moved Lori aside and opened Carl's shirt. After removing the protective backing from the transponder, I stuck the discshaped device on his chest, positioning it over the left pectoral muscle. I prepared another and affixed it to the right pectoral, then went back and got two more transponders and put them on either side of his abdomen, just below the rib cage. I took the key out of my pocket.
'Sam? Are you getting any readings?'
'Yap. Pulse forty-four, with some irregularity in the atrial and ventricular rhythms. Got some inverted P- waves, too, and the QRS complex looks kind of wacky.'
'What do you make of it?'
'Well, my medical program is telling me his heart is in trouble. And… wait a minute. Yeah. It's getting worse.'
'What does the program say to do?'
'It's recommending things we can't do.'
'Is it an infarct or something?'
'Doesn't look like it. Actually, it's shaping up to look like congestive heart failure. Whoops, you're getting really bad irregularities now. If he goes into fibrillation we can zap him but that's not going to correct whatever the hell's wrong with him.'
I felt my own heart frost over. He was dying.
'Not possible,' Sean said, shaking his head. 'A healthy lad like him?'
Susan knelt beside me and squeezed my upper arm. 'Jake. Do something.'
'Sorry,' was all I could say. Then into the key. 'Sam, congestive heart failure is a long-term process. How could it happen this fast?'
'Good question. The med program doesn't know, and neither do I. '
'But what the hell is it telling you?'
'Easy, son. It just keeps flagging things with Anomalous Event. It's pretty clear somebody's doing this to him, isn't it?'
'Very clear,' John said. 'Obviously, this world deals in swift retribution.'
Susan shot him a fierce look. 'You don't have to say it with such satisfaction.'
'I have none, Susan, I assure you.'
I said, 'Sam, how is he?'
'Getting worse, I'm afraid. All kinds of arrhythmias, atrial,flutter. It's a failing heart, Jake. Too many things going wrong at once — I really don't ihink we can do a thing for him, but you ought to try CPR in any case. I'd recommend starting it right now.'
'Right. Sean, stretch him out.'
'Right-o.'
Before we got to it, a voice came from behind us. 'I'm really very sorry this happened.'
Everyone whirled around before I got to my feet. Susan choked off a scream, and Liam uttered an awed 'Jay-sus Christ!'
It was Prime, on his feet and looking fit and hale.
'Very, very sorry,' Prime was saying. 'I can't help but feel that it was in some way my fault.'
His concern seemed genuine, if inexplicable.
'What are you doing to him?' I said.
'I beg your…? Oh, I see. Yes. Well, I'm sure he'll be all right. Merely a precautionary measure.'
'He's dying,' I said.
Prime seemed surprised. 'Really? I can't think of a reason why he should be.' He stepped toward us, his eyes on Carl. 'Are you sure?'
'He'll be dead very shortly,' I told him.
Prime stopped. His gaze began to drift upward, finally focusing, it seemed, on something far away. 'Hmm. I see. Yes.' He looked at me. 'The young man's life processes are being probed. Various components, various systems are being temporarily suppressed in order to obtain an overview of the entire organism. At least, that is what I am told.'
'Unsuppress them,' I said.
Prime smiled beatifically. 'You needn't worry. He's in very good hands. As it stands, the plan is to keep him sedated for the time being. However, that can be amended. And I see no reason why it shouldn't be. I'm sure the outburst was simply the result of the strains of your long journey.'
I spoke into the key. 'Sam? How's he doing?'
'Damnedest thing. The heart stabilized just like that. Pulse is up. No arrhythmias, good sinus waves. Can't figure it. Those transponders must have been on the fritz.'
'Carl's okay, then?'
'He's coming around.'
Prime was eyeing the truck. 'You have other companions inside?'
'No. That was the Artificial Intelligence who oversees the operation of my vehicle.'
'I see.' He knitted his brow. 'Interesting way to put it.' I wondered what he meant.
Suddenly, the smile was back. 'We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Again, our apologies. The invitation to lunch still stands, if you would do me the honor.'
'Maybe we need to think about it for a bit,' I said.
'As you wish. If you choose to come, simply follow the road across the valley. There is an entrance to my residence at the base of the mountain.' He turned and pointed. 'There, at the end of the road.'
I couldn't see anything, but said, 'Thank you,' anyway.
'You're quite welcome.'
Suddenly, Carl sat up. He looked around. 'Hello,' he said. Lori threw down the canteen she was holding, fell to her knees, and nearly strangled Carl in a hug.
Susan bent over and placed a palm on his forehead. 'Are you okay, honey?'
'Ulg…' Tugging at Lori's arms, Carl nodded.
Prime clapped his hands. 'Well! No harm done, it seems.'
'Let him breathe, Lori,' Susan admonished.
'Yeah, I'm fine,' Carl finally managed to say. 'What the hell happened?'
'You should ask this gentleman,' John told him, inclining his head toward Prime.
'Oh.' Carl looked up at our host. 'I thought you were dead.'
