Back to top 16th November 2005

Chapter 6

Vincent was slowly starting to gain consciousness. First there were a series of sounds around him he couldn't quite make out. Slowly the sounds started to make sense.

"How long before he wakes up?" asked the first voice.

"Not long now. Everything is happening as we planned." said the second.

The first voice was almost familiar but not quite. The second one was completely foreign. Vincent thought the accent was a bit strange, familiar but just different enough to notice it.

As the sounds of the environment became clearer and clearer so did some new sensations. Vincent noticed a foul taste in his mouth and a rather bizarre feeling over his back. His hands also had an odd tingle to them. Try as he might he still couldn't open his eyes or move his body in anyway.

Vincent noticed other noises around him: a whooshing sound, like a fan. Trees rustling. A window must have been open. But their weren't any trees in Towz.

"Hey! Get up!", the second voice was speaking again, "you can't be that tired, you gonna sleep all day?" it said.

With another effort Vincent finally managed to get his eyes open. There was a face above him. A face he had never seen before. A bit rounder than usual with eyes closer together.

"See? There ya go. Take your time mate. You'll have full use of your extremities in a wee boot." This new person said. His accent was quite obscure. As Vincent continued to lay there different thoughts started to flood his mind. He wondered where he was, how he had arrived where he was. Then he remembered Cogil and Ryan. What had happened to them? Were they nearby?

He thought about this for a few minutes and realized he hadn't tried to move again in a while. With an effort he started to sit up. This sudden activity made him a little dizzy at first. Slowly the room around started to come into focus. He was in large rectangular room consisting of several rows of beds. All of these beds were empty except for Vincent. A few feet to his left was a large open window with what looked to be a tree outside, blowing in the wind. Vincent couldn't remember see that before and stared at it for a moment. The man who had greeted Vincent several minutes earlier noticed Vincent sitting up and walked over.

"Hello Vincent", the man said, "how do you feel? Do you remember anything?"

"I, uhh...", Vincent tried to talk but found he had little feeling in his tongue and his throat was soar.

"Can't speak yet, eh? That's alright. That too should return shortly. I am sure you have a lot of questions. Eventually all of your faculties should return. But don't force it. When you are able you may walk around and take look all aboot. My name is doctor Troy by the way. I'm in charge of this wing and can answer any questions when you are ready." Troy said. Doctor Troy was dressed in a doctor's lab coat and was wearing some strange round glasses. And still, Vincent thought, the accent was off a bit.

Vincent sat up in his bed, still resting and waiting to recover from whatever had let him to this strange place. Finally the strange feelings in Vincent's extremities started to fade and he felt like he could move again. Doctor Troy had exited this room by a side door, Vincent assumed he could follow but felt more like looking out the window.

Looking out the window, Vincent saw he was on the second floor of a large structure. The view actually consisted not just of the tree blowing in the wind but a whole series of buildings outside the structure he was in. There were a series of streets with buildings stretching out for miles. And in the distance he thought he could see the top of the Hall of Bureaucracy.

Then some memories started flooding back. He must be in Northern Towz. He had always wondered about but never visited Northern Towz. When meeting visitors from Northern Towz he had never known quite what to say. Just an embarrassment of knowing so little about it. The standard response of Towzians not from Northern Towz towards Northern Towzians was something like "is it cold?" which always seemed to annoy Nothern Towzians. It's not like Towzians were trying to annoy or offend Northern Towzians, they simply knew very little about it. Towzians always felt a need to fill the awkward silence after being told by a Northern Towzian where they're from.

As Vincent thought about this several minutes passed once more and he continued to stare out the window. He tried to speak again and found he did in fact have his voice back. He then realized he was wearing a less than dignified hospital gowned. Vincent how in the world he hadn't noticed such a detail up until now. He looked back towards his bed and noticed he close sitting at the foot of his bed. He then also wondered how he could have missed this minor detail. It didn't seem possible. He decided he would have to worry about his sanity later. Vincent quickly got dressed and went to the door he was pretty sure Doctor Troy had gone through.

Once through the doors Vincent was once again in a long hallway. A few feet away Doctor Troy was talking to another man. Upon seeing Vincent this man quickly ducked back into a room off the hall way. Doctor Troy having seen Vincent waved at him and walked over.

"Feeling better?", he said, "I'm glad you finally recovered. We were a little stumped as to why you remained comatose for so much longer than the others. But I should let you speak. I am sure you have many questions?"

"Yes, I...", Vincent had so much to ask he didn't know where to start, "how long have I been out?" he asked.

"No more than a week or so. We were expecting the three of you sometime last week. Your method of arrival was a little...extraordinary. What is the last think your remember?" Doctor Troy asked.

Vincent thought a moment. "I remember Subterranean Towz, a long hall way, a loud noise..."

"Woe, woe.", Doctor Troy interrupted, "Subterranean Towz ya say? Well this changes things a bit. What else?"

"Well, I uhh...I'm sorry this changes things? What?" Vincent was more confused now.

"Yes, I'm sorry, this must be more confusing for you. Why don't I take you to your friends and you can get some sleep and we'll cover more information in the morning." Doctor Troy said.

"Uh, alright. Yes, where are they? Cogil and Ryan?" Vincent asked.

"This way." Doctor Troy said as he walked further down the hall. Doctor Troy and Vincent continued down hall passed several more rooms. This hall seemed much different than the one in Subterranean Towz. Much more lighting, less foreboding some how. Finally Doctor Troy stops and points to the right, indicating entry to a particular room.

Vincent follows and sees Cogil and Ryan sitting at a table playing some sort of game.

"Well, look who's up and about. Have a good period of comotososity? That's not a word but that's ok. We were wondering when you would wake up. How do you feel?" Asked Cogil.

"I'm alright, feeling much better thank you....I'm sorry do you two actually know what's going on or what?" Vincent asked, understandably confused.

"Would you excuse us Troy? This will take a while." Ryan said.

"Yes, of course. Let me know when you're through." Doctor Troy said.

Cogil closed the door behind Doctor Troy and sat back down.

"Come sit here at the table, Vincent. We'll fill you in." Cogil said.

Vincent walked over and sat down with the other two at the table. Cogil proceeded to explain how McGee had shot them with a teleportation device a week earlier but had messed up the coordinates, which were required to very, very precise. Cogil and Ryan had landed on a sidewalk outside the hospital but Vincent had landed several feet in the air above some bushes. All three were in rough shape upon arrival and despite the inadequate facilities the hospital had brought them in. Cogil and Ryan had also been comatose but had woken up after the first day. The staff was starting to get worried about Vincent when he finally woke up.

"Ok, that all makes sense. But why do I feel like I've been dragged down the street by a quickly moving vehicle of some sort then hung from a tree for several hours while several people threw fruit at me?" Vincent asked.

"Uhh...well you were unconscious and we thought that'd be funny so we did that to you too..." Cogil said and started laughing. Ryan also started laughing at this. Vincent just stood and started at the two of them. The more confused he looked the harder Cogil and Ryan laughed.

"Alright guys, very funny. Make fun of the comatose guy! I get it!" Vincent responded.

Finally Cogil and Ryan started to settle down.

"Ok, look. We still don't know what the deal was with McGee. As near as I can figure he is a mole for the Northern Towzians who has become confused over time. The plot McGee spoke of is real however, and we don't have much time to stop it. It is a plot we absolutely must find more information about and stop if necessary...Ryan, what are you doing? This is important." Cogil said annoyingly.

"What? Oh. Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes. Yes, stop it we must. Hey want to hear about my book some more?" Ryan asked.

"No, we don't want to hear about your book. Here we're discussing a plot that could possibly effect every citizen of Towz including Northern Towz and your going on about your book again. Focus here will ya?" Cogil said.

"Oh, Ryan, you got your hearing back I see. Or hear. When did that happen? Also wasn't there a room...cylindrical device...noise...yelling...I'm still a bit hazy." Vincent recalled.

"Ah yes, I suppose I should explain about that. You see on the side of the device it said..."

"Come quickly!", Doctor Troy was yelling into their room, "We don't have much time! The Towzians are planning to set off a device to transform the city. Only even they don't know what will happen. You must go back down to Towz, find out what the device is and figure out a way to disable it." Doctor Troy sounded like he was out of breath.

"Wait, what are you talking about Doctor Troy?", Vincent asked, "Who are you anyway?"

"There's no time for that now. We have to go." Doctor Troy said.

"Go where exactly?" Cogil asked.

"I'm going to get you down to the border between Towz and Northern Towz. It won't take long, you should end up somewhere in the outskirts of West Towz." Doctor Troy explained.

"Won't the bureaucrats be watching us? How are we to find this device anyway? And even if we find it, how will we know how to disarm it or if that's even the right thing to do?" Cogil asked.

"Hasn't everything fallen to place up to no? You'll be fine." Doctor Troy said.

Doctor Troy lead Cogil, Vincent and Ryan of their room and further down the hall to a large door leading outside. Cogil, Vincent and Ryan went outside into the sunlight and started walking down the street. Doctor Troy turned to face them.

"Just use common sense, don't forget your experience here. The right thing to do will present itself. Ok?" Doctor Troy said. This statement made very little sense to any of the three of Cogil, Vincent and Ryan. Cogil, Vincent and Ryan just nodded and continued walking down the street. Doctor Troy walked back up towards the hospital. Cogil lead the way, he knew they were headed in the right general direction since Northern Towz was on a hill and the three were walk down hill and he could see what he was pretty sure to be the Hall of Bureaucracy directly in front of them.  ¶ 9:35 AM