“Look at his pupils. They’re responsive to light. He can see … and hear us!”

Commander Read’s face loomed into view. “It’s that damn brain chip. Sloan, hook up the IV and put him under. The rest of you can return to your stations. Lara, I’ll speak to you outside, in private.”

ABE continued to work to revive me, increasing the oxygen-carrying capacity of my red blood cells, burning off the anesthetic. My skin resurfaced from its numbness with stings from ten thousand pin pricks.

Jason knotted a rubber hose around my left biceps. Selecting a vein, he gently slid the IV needle inside the blood vessel and started the drip.

My voice returned as the elixir quenched the fire in my veins. “Don’t … please.”

Jason’s eyes widened in shock. Looking back over his shoulder, he verified we were alone, then he leaned over me, lowering his voice. “Listen closely: Read’s got it in for you. Not everyone agrees with this, but no one’s got the balls to challenge him or Monique. The IV will calm you and induce sleep. Don’t fight it, the last thing you want is to regain consciousness before the tetrodotoxin takes effect.”

My body was floating again, this time in a cool, soothing stream.

“That’s it, you’re doing fine. Once you enter Omega-wave stasis, you can use the override command to drain the tank. You remember your command?”

“Yes.”

“Only use the override if you’re really flipping out. It’ll be fine, you’ll see. Time is a nonfactor in cryogenic stasis; thirty days will fly by in a catnap. Just remember our deal: I take care of you, you take care of me when we go home next month.”

My eyelids grew heavy, my body sinking fast.

Jason positioned the wafer-thin skull piece over my head and face. “Pleasant dreams.”

A second skin conformed to my flesh, sealing out all sound, save for the flow of sweet air pumping into the mask.

The gentle hum of hydraulics tweaked a ripple of anxiety as a cold weight weighed me down, as if gravity had doubled.

Fully sedated, I slipped into an ocean of darkness …

Part Three: Awakenings

PART THREE

Awakenings

When it is impossible for anger to arise within you, you find no outside enemies anywhere. An outside enemy exists only if there is anger inside.

—LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE

Chapter 16

16

The future has a way of arriving unannounced.

—GEORGE WILL, columnist

Consciousness—teased by a singularity—a pinprick of red-hot pain that pierces a cold, forgotten heart.

A tube inflates a pair of lungs, functioning as a bellows.

“Uhhhhhhhhh—”

Inhale.

“—huuuuuuuuuuu.”

Exhale.

An erratic heartbeat threatens to cease, struggling to find its cadence.

Zzzzttt! Zzzzttt! Zzzzttt!

Charges of electricity ripple outward from seven chakra points—long-dormant neurological way stations maintained once every ninety-six hours just to respond to this moment.

“Uhhhhhhhhh—”

“—huuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”

Zzzzttt! Zzzzttt!