LevelUP by Micah Joel, savepoint

LevelUP: an 8-bit novel by Micah Joel. Author's definitive online edition.

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Chapter Thirty-Eight

Save Point

A steady beeping pierces the darkness. Max tries to open his eyes, but his eyelids are too heavy. He’s been drugged. The air smells of fresh band-aids. Hospitalish. Why?

The back of his neck feels hot. When he shifts his head a little, he feels a thick wad of bandages taped to his nape. Pulling that off is going to hurt… There’s something wrong. Infection? No, somebody deliberately did this to him. The doctors will fix it. Doctors always help, right?

Two quick taps on the door outside, then before Max can react, blinding light from the fluorescent tubes above. “Good evening, Mister Root,” says the visitor. He’s wearing light green scrubs and a mask over his face, as far as Max can see through blurry eyes.

Something plastic in Max’s mouth. It beeps, then the doctor says, “Still no fever. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

A nurse fiddles with some of the controls above Max’s bed. “If you keep demonstrating such perfect vitals, you’re going to make it awfully difficult for us to do anything other than discharge you,” he says.

Whatever’s in Max’s system hits him hard. He lifts a hand with effort, and he’s shocked by how tiny his hands are.

Max manages to speak. “Doc, do you guys have wi-fi in here?”

“No, we can’t afford an extravagance like that,” the nurse says. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Max says.

At the bottom of his visual field, letters scroll past, line-by-line:

IXION FIREBRAND BIOS VERS. 4.0r6 PATCHLEVEL 3.11bis

HIMEM IS TESTING EXTENDED MEMORY...DONE

SUBSENTIENT WATCHDOG INITIALIZING...INSTALLED

SCANNING FOR NODES..................TIMEOUT

STARTUP SEQUENCE COMPLETE.

BOOTING NEUR.OS

I am, Max remembers thinking, a cyborg.

The nurse is still there, doing something to the IV bag hanging from a stand over Max’s head. Suddenly sleepy again, Max closes his eyes.

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Got feedback? 👍👎 All humans welcome to send email to my first name @micahjoel.info — put "8bitnovel" somewhere in the subject.