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His back to Michele, Senator sits by his daughter’s recliner. Stepping toward them, Michele passes by Ryan’s recliner, the hero who has no one within the dome to worry for him. She circles back around his recliner to have a better visual of his face.
Ryan’s sacrifice has touched Michele deep in her heart, invoking neglected instincts that she has been suppressing for a long time. She was born a potential creator, but focusing on her career, she ended up creating no one in her life. In her heart, nevertheless, she has designed a hologram-ish representation of a son, which was never materialized. And now it is starting to look more and more like Ryan. Brave, smart, selfless, and full of love.
Michele realizes that she is caressing Ryan’s hand. She feels guilty, not sure of what yet. But she does feel responsible to help Ryan, however she can; within the limits of her power of course. Or perhaps even beyond it. Why not? she thinks. After all, if Ryan can sacrifice for love, why cannot she?
“Is he out already?” Senator asks.
Michele notices that the hologram that shows Ryan in the game has disappeared from the center of the room.
Standing above Ryan’s recliner, Senator stares into his face. “Why doesn’t he move?”
“I’m not sure,” Michele responds, looking at the hologram of various graphs appearing before her. “Yes. He must’ve exited. I get no signal of him from within the game.”
“Why doesn’t he move then? Is he dead already?” Senator asks casually.
“No,” Michele says, briefly scowling at Senator. “Breathing is normal”—she turns her eyes back to the graphs—“Blood pressure is normal. Yeah, everything is normal.”
“What is it then?”
“I don’t know. Never have seen this—”
“Wait, wait,” Senator says. “He’s having a dream.”
“A dream! How do you know?” Michele joins Senator in staring at Ryan.
“The eyeballs,” Senator responds. “Look. They’re darting about. He must be asleep.”
“Or in a coma,” Rajneesh says from behind.
“Hmm.” Senator asks Michele, “Do we have any technology to figure which is which?”
“Yeah,” Rajneesh sneers. “It’s called poking.”
“Huh.” Senator strokes his chin.
“Ryan. Ryan,” Michele calls softly, gently caressing his hand. “Can you hear me? Wake up, Ryan.”
Ryan opens his eyes.
Startled, Michele jumps back a bit.
Although his eyes are wide open, Ryan is not moving. His gaze is fixed on the dome’s ceiling.
“Can he see us?” Senator asks, waving his hand before Ryan’s face.
His eyes still open, Ryan’s eyeballs resumes darting about.
“Look, look,” Michele says, excited. “He’s still dreaming.”
“Hey. Wake up, soldier,” Senator yells, poking Ryan on the shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing?” Michele pushes Senator’s hand away. And then she remembers that he is practically her boss now since President has put him in charge. She does not, however, regret her firm reaction. Ryan deserves my protection, she thinks, even if it means crossing the lines a bit. Michele continues her question with her glare at Senator.
Senator bites his lips, perhaps to restrain his anger. “Waking him up,” he responds, brows knitting.
“You can’t do that.”
“You just did that a second ago!”
“Yeah, I know. But we shouldn’t. The shock could push him to a permanent coma.”
“If it hasn’t already,” Rajneesh says from behind.
“Would you shut your mouth?” Senator shouts over his shoulder, releasing his restrained rage.
“Would you untie my hands?” Rajneesh shouts back.
Senator turns all the way to Rajneesh.
Not curious, even a bit, about the interaction between the two men, Michele resumes her gentle caress of Ryan’s hand. Clasping his hand, she lifts it and then leans forward to the point that her lips touch his fingers. “Ryan, my dear,” she whispers.
Senator turns back to Michele. “Why did he close his eyes again?”
“I have absolutely no idea. This is not natural.”
“Unnatural!” Senator says, eyes bugging out. “He must be possessed—”
“Possessed?!”
“Yeah by a demon…or a zombie—”
“He’s just back in the game, you morons,” Rajneesh says from behind.
Michele and Senator look back at the hologram that has reappeared in the center of the room, showing Ryan lying on a stretcher in an ambulance.