an unnoticed spring in his step, he walked along the street for three blocks before turning right. Then a left five blocks after that. And finally, another left at the street corner of Full Moon Road and Half Moon Drive. At this corner was the popular Night Sky Café. It was famous for its energy restoration and enhancement formulas.
“Well, hello, Doctor,” a female server called as he entered. “Did you pull another all-nighter?”
“I’m afraid I did,” he replied and sat down at the counter. “I have a few new patients that are coming in in a few days, and I need to finish examining the files from their former helpers before they arrive.”
“Is that all?” the server asked. “Or is it something with your health again?”
“Alice, please.” He sighed. “As I have told you before, my health is mine to worry about and mine alone. So please, just fix me a triple pump energy restoration shot, and I’ll be on my way.”
“Yes, sir,” Alice replied in a dissatisfied but accepting tone.
She turned her back to him and mixed him a small drink. It totaled three ounces, and he quickly drank it like the way alcoholics downed shots of liquor. He grimaced at the bitter taste.
“It tastes worse every day,” he said as he set the glass down. “But I do understand I normally come in when you are finishing your batch.”
“You really should come here when we first open,” Alice proposed.
“At sunset?” Adrian said in fake exasperation. “We both know I don’t need any help staying awake at night, thanks to my condition.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll see you again tomorrow morning then,” Alice responded, putting her hand out.
Adrian shook his head and reached into his pocket. He brought out his coin pouch and gave Alice one silver and three copper pieces.
“I pulled an all-nighter to complete the paperwork, so I have no reason to stay awake all night for quite some time now,” he lied.
Without giving Alice another chance to speak, he turned and walked out the door. Once outside, he took notice of the sun and decided to look at his watch. He looked to see that there was no one around and then rolled his shirt sleeves up and glove down. When he looked at it, he realized he had taken too long during his leisurely walk to the café. It was almost half past eight.
I’m going to be late! he shouted in his head.
He wasted no time and rushed back up Mirrored Avenue and then through Wallace Park. After going through the park, he met with others that were not quite as early risers as him but still had appointments or work to do and needed to ride the monorail to get to another nonadjacent district.
2
He walked with the other foot traffic, still in a slight panic, until he heard the announcement from the soldiers.
“Any and all suspicious items will be confiscated, and those carrying them shall be arrested,” the announcement informed.
He got in line and waited until it was his turn to be searched, and when it was, he was greeted with slightly open arms.
“Hello again, Doctor,” the soldier searching him said. “I see you are trying a new hairstyle today.”
Adrian smiled and touched his wig, making the comment, “I have a collection so my bald head doesn’t get cold.” The soldier laughed and finished the search. When he was allowed to pass, he wasted no time in getting on the monorail and taking a seat. When he had sat down, he heard the announcement ring out.
“Attention, passengers of the Blue Monorail. We will be traveling from the East Residential Districts to the Southern Medical District. This trip shall take approximately one hour, and we ask that you remain stationary during the course of the trip.”
The monorail then jerked and began to move. The doctor closed his eyes and became lost in his thoughts as the monorail ran its route. When he heard it announce that it had arrived and came to a jerking halt in the district he would be departing, he all but rushed out of the cradle. He had taken the time in the monorail to calm down, and the shock of the drink had had time to diminish, so now he had energy but was in a much calmer mood.
3
When he exited the monorail, he noted that the cradle was not quite as packed as it normally was during this time.
Don’t you go getting distracted? a voice in his head warned. We need to get to our appointment before we are forgotten.
This thought spurred him back into a panic and he began to grace walk toward his destination. He darted around people when he could and pushed past them if he could not. His path of travel took him directly to Sister Carina’s Medical Ward. When he reached the gates to the ward, he paused a moment to catch his breath. When he had caught it, he asked the guard at the gate to open it.
“I must say,” the guard said, looking at his watch, “you really are as punctual as ever, Doctor.”
“No disease can keep me off my schedule.”
“Then I shan’t hold you,” the guard replied, opening the gate.
The doctor walked in and up to the receptionist who began the standard greeting.
“Welcome to Sister Carina’s. How may we? Oh, hello, Doctor. Is it time for your treatment again?”
“Yes,” he replied with a smile. “You know me so well. Now what room shall I wait in?”
The receptionist searched through a stack of papers to her right and found what she was looking for.
“Room 17. It will be on the right-hand side of the hallway to my right,” she replied as she pointed behind her right shoulder.
“How convenient,” he said in a joking fashion. “Thank you.”
He began his walk down the hallway, past the numbered rooms, which are even on the left and odd on the right, beginning at 120. When he reached room 17, he went inside and sat on the platform. To any normal person who had just drank a triple shot of an energy rejuvenation shot, they would not be unable to stay motionless for more than a second or two. He, though, had extreme patience and power of the mind over the body, so he remained motionless.
He waited silently in the room, listening to the clicking of the shoes on the tile outside as people passed by his room. He wondered where they were going to or coming from. He had little time to wonder this as he started to have more thoughts about what he could do to Anna. These thoughts were dangerous because they were not his own, and this meant that Izac would be coming through before his allotted time.
He suppressed the transfer, just as the door opened and a woman wearing a red sash stepped inside.
“Greetings from the highest power and authority,” the sister said.
“And the same to you, Sister,” Adrian replied.
“Dr. Haeveneck has fallen ill, so I will be taking care of you today,” she explained. She took hold of the chart at the foot of the examination platform Adrian was sitting at and examined it. “I see you have been taking to the treatment very well.”
“From what Dr. Haeveneck has told me, it is almost time for the tumor to be removed,” Adrian said with hope in his voice.
“Well, we need one final deep examination before we can do that, but I am very hopeful from these lab results. Now, please follow me to the chamber.”
The two left the room and went through the ward until they were on the third floor and in the chamber marked In-Depth Examination. The specialists took an examination of his entire chest cavity and then one of each section of his body. When they were finished, Adrian went back to room 17 and waited, as his attending sister waited to examine the results. The results should have been available within two minutes of their creation, but it took a total of thirteen minutes.
When