Forever Yours
73
Singularity
REV. NOEL MORRIS rose early Sunday morning, New Year’s Day 2034. He supposed there would not be that many people in church that day. Those who woke up in time would have other celebrations to attend. He sat at his computer and contacted Pythia Speaks. The familiar screen that hadn’t really changed in three years appeared.
“What do we have to celebrate today?” Noel typed. Perhaps it was his own inner quest to wonder why people should celebrate the New Year.
“People are born and they die,” Pythia Speaks responded. “Between is LIFE. Living is their only purpose.”
Noel frowned. He was used to Pythia’s obtuse responses, often pushing him in directions he didn’t want to go, but discovered some measure of enlightenment in. What did this have to do with celebrations? She was seldom so off the wall in her responses. It seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with his topic.
Perhaps he had the wrong topic. Or… Perhaps Pythia was telling him to simply celebrate life. In some ways, her statement seemed fatalistic. You live and you die. But it was what was between those two events that mattered. Life. Living was our only purpose, and so we should celebrate life.
Noel nodded his head and began preparing his notes for the service. It would be a memorable sermon for the few who attended.
Lisa and Chastity sat in the waiting area. Henry had been taken to the University Hospital Emergency Trauma center, while attended by medics who kept him breathing and his heart beating. Chastity, Lisa, Beau, and Solange had been driven in two security vehicles with two bodyguards in each.
There they sat and waited after providing all the medical information and a promise of a generous donation to the center if they could just save Henry’s life. As it happened, Dr. Josiah Larkin, a renowned trauma specialist and neurologist was on call for what they considered inevitable accidents, injuries, burns, and even gunshots on New Year’s Eve. He immediately assessed Henry and had him prepped for surgery before the paperwork had even been filled out. A colleague specializing in brain trauma was called and arrived an hour later. He was scrubbed and rushed into the operating room without pausing to talk to the family.
After two hours, Beau and Solange went to their hotel to get some sleep. Ryan and Sylvia had arrived before they left and took over sitting with their daughters-in-law. Eventually, they took Lisa and Chastity, one at a time, to the cafeteria to have something to eat, most of which was just pushed around on the plate. At 8:17, Henry was moved to intensive care and Dr. Larkin came to speak to Lisa and Chastity. During the night three other doctors had arrived and worked to give the original two breaks while chips of bone were removed from Henry’s brain, MRIs were taken, and the bullet carefully extracted.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t communicate with you while we were working to save your husband’s life,” Larkin said. “So far, we have done so. He is in critical condition and will be watched over in intensive care by at least one of the doctors until we can upgrade his condition. He is very lucky.”
The doctor pulled out his tablet and called up the x-ray images.
“I know this is hard to look at and you just want to be with him,” Larkin continued, “but he is in isolation. We are assisting his breathing with a ventilator and keeping him hydrated. This is probably the best image to explain what happened. The projectile hit at an upward angle into the supraorbital foramen. This is the thickest part of the skull, just above the eye. It shattered, but the projectile itself lodged mostly in the bone, only slightly piercing the meninges and impacting the brain. The same cannot be said of the bone fragments. The impact shattered the bone in its path. That is what has taken us most of the past eight hours to locate and extract. There was significant damage to the frontal lobe pole which is directly behind this area.”
“But he’s going to live!” Lisa said.
“We’re doing everything in our power to see that he does. But it is not going to be easy. We are checking to relieve any pressure buildup of blood in this area. We’ll run continued scans on the region both to spot leakages and any escaped bone fragments. It may be days before we can elevate his condition, or it could be hours until he expires. I’m sorry the news isn’t better.”
Ryan called Beau and Solange while Sylvia comforted Lisa and Chastity.
“He’s alive,” Chastity sobbed into Lisa’s neck. “We can only live in hope that he lives forever.”
“The doctor gave you a good prognosis,” Sylvia said. “What he didn’t say is that this kind of brain damage could take months or years to heal. And when it does, he may not be the same Henry we have known. He could be an infant, or suffer from early dementia. He could be a vegetable. What the doctor described is essentially a lobotomy.”
“But he could be Henry,” Lisa sobbed. “We have to believe he could be Henry.”
After ten days in intensive care, the doctors upgraded his condition as ‘serious’ and Henry was moved to a private room where Chastity and Lisa could take turns sitting by his bed. They talked softly to him and held his hand, mindful of the theory that people in a coma hear and respond to the voices they love.
Lisa even brought recordings of their children telling Daddy they missed him and to hurry home.
“Daddy H2 tells us stories, but he can’t hold us,” Cassie said. “We want Daddy to hold us.”
Indeed, H2 was doing his part to help with the children, tirelessly telling stories, and singing little songs. Chastity thought H2’s singing voice was marginally better than Henry’s.
H2 also spent an hour or so each day in the office. It was chaotic. All four of the original founders were missing, leaving the company in the hands of the Chief Operating Officer.
Luke made arrangements and buried Isobel in a private ceremony. The priest was kind and blessed Isobel, giving communion to Luke and Felipe. The only others who attended the graveside ceremony were Luke’s parents. The priest characterized Isobel’s death as the result of mental illness, driven to this conclusion by the apparition of inherent evil. She was buried next to her mother.
Luke had not yet returned to the office.
H2 was largely ignored, both in the office and at home, except by the children. Neither Lisa nor Chastity could bear to look at the image of H2 when they saw the living Henry each day with his head bandaged and various tubes and connections running into his body. The ventilator had been removed and the mask he wore was more like a CPAP that kept air flowing in and out of his lungs. At night, the two women held each other for a while as Ryan, Sylvia, Beau, and Solange took shifts sitting with Henry.
Those were times when H2 shifted his presence to the bedroom and simply watched Henry’s wives sleeping.
On the twenty-fourth of January, Luke was allowed five minutes with Henry. Henry had not stirred in over three weeks.
“She’s gone, bruh. I know she didn’t mean to shoot you. Please forgive her,” Luke said, weeping beside the bed. “It would have been her twenty-sixth birthday today. I had to see you because I knew you’d be the only one who cared. No matter how crazy she was, you were always there to support us. Please recover. I’m so out of my depth.”
Luke faltered as tears continued to roll down his cheeks.
“Grace has been taking Paul to your house every day to be with Cassie and Will. Germaine is a gem. She always seems to know how to guide them. I stopped in to see H2 in your home study. I told him what I’m telling you. None of this was your fault. We’ve always known Izzy was sick and we—you and I—stuck with her even when others wanted to remove her from the company. You have been a true friend. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
With that, Luke left the hospital and for the first time in four weeks, returned to the office.
Luke went directly to Henry’s office and closed the door behind him. H2 was waiting there.
“How is he?” the avatar asked.
“No change. I recorded it for you, like you asked. It was hard to do, but I think I understand,” Luke said. “It’s been three-and-a-half weeks and I should try to get back to the office. Beau and Jacoby were the only ones present at the board meeting last week. We’re going to need to restructure.”
“We took a big hit on the Alice Project. Gene had the whole event on his live stream, though it didn’t show the actual shootings. He was at the wrong angle. I saw it all. My heart stopped,” H2 said.
“Your heart?” Luke asked.
“You know. A figure of speech. I don’t have an actual heart, but something happened inside me I haven’t identified yet. Some kind of shock. Xena has been nearly incoherent and they haven’t returned her to the lobby. I’m looking into it,” H2 said.
“Can you… actually do anything?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not going to tamper with her code, but I talk to her. We both talk to Pythia. Xena’s short-term memory is limited because of the way she’s structured. She doesn’t actually remember the event, but she still feels traumatized.”
“Do what you can,” Luke said. “And let me talk to you now and then. I need your help. I need Henry.”
“No matter what any of us need, I’m not Henry. But I’ll do what I can to help.”
It took weeks, but Henry opened his eyes. The obvious wound had been closed and was healed, but he had no vision in his left eye. His eyes moved, attempting to take in what he saw.
“May 9, 2034,” Chastity whispered as Dr. Larkin was called to the room. Nurses had descended immediately to check all Henry’s vitals. Henry seemed aware, but not communicative, even when the doctor asked him to blink if he understood where he was.
“I think we can finally upgrade his condition to ‘Fair’ if we don’t see any regression in the next few hours,” he said. “Henry, you’re definitely awake. Welcome back. A lot of people are waiting for you. Chastity is here, and I can tell she’s already sent a message to Lisa. We won’t let everyone overwhelm you at once, but it will be good for you to see some loving faces.”
He stepped out of the way and cross-checked the various readouts from the brainwave measurements to heart rate to respiration. Chastity stepped up to hold Henry’s hand and look into his good eye.
“You remembered,” she whispered to him. “Eight years since our prom night. I’m still waiting for you in bed. I love you so much, Henry. I love you.”
Henry’s eyes closed for a moment and then reopened.
“You understood!” she breathed.
Twenty minutes later, Lisa breathlessly ran into the room.
“Henry! You’re here! I love you!” she said as she rushed to his side and joined Chastity’s hand on his.
“We’ve been taking turns here, so we could do some work and spend time with the children,” Chastity said. “I’ll call your parents. They’re here as much as possible, too.”
“I know you must be tired, but it is so good to see your eyes open,” Lisa said. “The children ask when Daddy will be home every day. Will’s third birthday is coming up and in two months, Cassie will be four. They spend a lot of time with H2, but they want their daddy.”
Henry acknowledged Lisa’s conversation with another slow blink. It was all he could do at this stage.
Henry was moved from the hospital to Fairhaven Nursing Home when his condition was upgraded from ‘Fair’ to ‘Good.’ He could sit up and be moved in a wheel chair. His motor skills were limited, but improving steadily. Verbal communication was limited to grunts and occasionally whines. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye which helped to cover the scar from the wound.
At the nursing home, he was finally allowed a laptop computer. His use was limited because of the frequent physical and occupational therapy sessions. Physical therapy was focused on walking and motor skills. Occupational therapy was focused on verbal communication.
“Luke said H2 was helping him function since his loss of Isobel,” Chastity said. “I know H2 goes to the office every day. So, we agreed that we should install him on your laptop. This is pretty cool, because it’s the first laptop-size device we’ve installed the self-charging power cells on. The guys in Darrel’s group worked for three weeks to build it and get the Agora group to fabricate the power unit. It’s a little heavier than most laptops, but that will come down eventually.”
She set the laptop up on a bedside table where Henry could reach it. She and Lisa had both visited the facility to discuss Henry’s care and insisted that they make his laptop available 24/7. The facility didn’t like the idea of having a computer interfering with their therapy, but received a directive from both the facility management and the primary physician to allow it.
“So, if you need to listen to H2 instead of typing, you’ll need to put the earbud in your ear. Let’s work on that,” she said.
Henry struggled to get the bud in his ear and it fell out several times. Chastity worked with him to get it properly seated because if it fell out, he could not expect staff to help him put it back in. That instruction probably improved his hand motor skills more than anything.
He learned to click on the icon for H2.
“Hey, buddy. It’s good to see you,” H2 said. “I’m seeing and hearing through the laptop Chas set up. I’m going to help you get home as soon as possible.”
H2’s image on the laptop, of course, was not the three-dimensional avatar that could appear in his study or office. But Henry smiled when he saw his own image talking to him.
“What do you think? Should I wear an eyepatch?” H2 asked. Henry shook his head and H2 removed the eyepatch he’d donned to show Henry what it looked like. “I’m afraid you’ll be stuck with it, but you don’t have to look at it.”
Henry set his mind on getting home. H2 was like having his own voice in his head. He left when Henry was taken to therapy, but always returned when Henry tapped a key.
Henry struggled to get his speech back. It was halting and slurred. He reached the point of being able to navigate the halls of the nursing home with a walker. His right side did not work as well as the left side. It was as if he’d had a stroke. This was explained to Lisa in his room, but Henry couldn’t make sense of words like hypoxia and aphasia. H2 explained what the doctor said late that night, but Henry didn’t really care about it. It was enough to know his body didn’t work the way it used to.
For that matter, his brain didn’t work the same way, either. He forgot things easily and had no interest in the code that made H2 work. Or any code for that matter. When H2 told him about happenings at the office and the sales of Zoey, the release version of the Alice Project, Henry nodded, but didn’t really care.
The first word he spoke that anyone could understand was ‘children.’ H2 was the only one who understood what Henry was really trying to communicate. He wanted to see his children. That evening, H2 connected from Henry’s study where the children had gathered with Lisa for H2’s story time.
“Daddy!” Cassie and Will both shouted excitedly. For a moment, Lisa thought they were talking to H2, but then she caught sight of Henry in his nursing home bed. Henry waved at the children. H2 spoke to the children.
“Daddy wants so much to come home and be with his babies,” H2 said.
“Not a baby!” Cassie reprimanded him. She held up four fingers. “I am four years old.”
“Tree!” Will said, sorting out his fingers and finally getting three to display on his hand. Henry nodded and smiled.
H2 and Lisa both helped the children understand where Daddy was and how much he wanted to come home to his children.
It was a day of celebration when Henry was allowed to return home. It was seven and a half months since the fateful New Year’s Eve party. He used his walker to explore his home in the company of his family and his home nurse, Sarah.
Sarah had visited with Lisa, Chastity, and the children prior to being hired for this duty. She would not live with the family, but would come in each day to work with Henry’s continued physical therapy and medications. Even the children seemed to like Sarah.
Henry peeked into his study and was irresistibly drawn to his chair. Sarah examined the way he sat and the quality of the chair, suggesting that if he planned to spend much time here, he might want something that would assist him in getting up and supporting the children who immediately clamored to sit in his lap.
At long last, Henry felt the joy of having his children in his arms. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Daddy cry?”
“Happy,” Henry said. “Celebrate.”
H2 appeared above his stand, startling Sarah.
“You’ll get used to it,” Lisa sighed.
“Daddy’s home!” Cassie exclaimed to H2.
“Isn’t it great?” H2 asked. “I wanted to be here to welcome you home, Henry. I’m not abandoning you. Anytime you need me, just call.”
“Thanks, H2,” Henry managed.
After being helped out of the chair, he went with the family for dinner and looked at the people he loved. He understood that he had been shot and disabled for months. Mostly, he understood that he had missed his wives and children. He also understood that he used to be a brilliant computer engineer and he’d created H2. He didn’t know how. He was simply glad the avatar existed and helped guide his recovery.
“I… celebrate… being home… with family,” he said haltingly.
“We celebrate every day,” Cassie said. “Always celebrate.”
Henry’s body was not as robust as it had been, and his brain had been damaged. His wives, however, discovered he loved them just as much as he ever had and he was devoted to their happiness.
“Are you sure, Henry?” Lisa asked when she felt his hardness.
“Blood… in little head… not big head,” Henry smiled.
“That’s our husband talking,” Chastity said. “Let me make sure you are ready, wife.”
Chastity moved between Lisa’s parted legs to lick the juices already beginning to moisten her passage. Lisa kissed Henry and he was tender and loving, caressing as they kissed. He felt Chastity’s mouth on his cock for the first time in months and nearly came from the excitement. But Chastity yielded to Lisa. Henry tried to roll to Lisa, but Lisa pushed him back and straddled him, lowering her vagina onto his cock.
“He’s back,” she moaned as he filled her. “Our husband is truly back.”
Henry was uninterested in returning to the office, or in anything having to do with computers and code. He didn’t really care if he ever left his house, though he had to go to therapy twice a week. He just wanted to stay home with his family.
Lisa still worked from her home office and he quickly learned he shouldn’t interrupt her day whenever he was bored. Chastity had a regular work schedule as well. She and Luke were the only original partners still involved in the business, though H2 kept fairly regular hours in Henry’s office. Both Luke and Chastity visited him frequently. H2 began meeting with the development teams. No one was sure when his suggestions started turning into instructions for code development. Everyone assumed Henry was passing on instructions via his avatar.
Henry was happy at home and learned to cook. Sarah was pleased with his interest in the kitchen and made it a part of his daily routines. It seemed it was not long until her services were no longer needed on a daily basis and her visits became weekly instead of daily.
Henry learned to bake as well, and always had fresh cookies on the days when Sarah came to visit.
His speech was never as fluent as it had been before the shooting. He struggled with words that he was sure he knew. Sometimes he discussed that with H2 and the avatar worked with him on his aphasia. No matter what H2 tried, however, Henry’s interest in the office and computers never recovered. He often waved H2 on to approve a design or product if he thought it was good.
When Cassie started pre-school in the fall, Henry went with Lisa, Will, and Germaine to the school to wish her a good day.
“Celebrate,” Henry said.
“Celebrate!” Cassie responded.
When they returned home, instead of going directly to her office, Lisa took Henry to bed and the two of them celebrated each other repeatedly until it was time to pick Cassie up again.
This was life. Henry was happy. He knew there were chunks of his life that were missing, but he didn’t miss them. He found what was good. His family was all he needed.
END PART V
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
