"Now applying glucogen injection. Subject Alex Cummings should awaken within 20 minutes. Subject originally induced into coma 3 weeks, 2 days, and 4 hours ago. Vitals will be constantly monitored for the next 24 hours, with intermittent monitoring for the next 72 hours." Dr Kundhardt stops the digital recorder his hand and walks over to a very nervous Patricia Craig seated on the opposite side of the hospital bed. "Don't worry everything looks good so far, we will be watching him constantly now, and he should be awake in just a few minutes or so." He starts to walk towards the door and stops short and turns back towards her, "Im glad you're here Miss Craig, it can be rather tough on them when they wake up and notice extremities missing. He's gonna need a friendly face. Oh, and he is still pretty drugged up so he may be a little... well, a lot groggy." He then exits the room and dissapears around the corner.
Patricia then begins to hear a stirring behind her. Alex Cummings is beginning to move and grumble. He then opens his eyes very slowly and remains in a distinct squint. In a very soft almost inaudible tone he begins to speak, "Pat?... Where is this, where are we?"
Patricia walks over and grasps his hand. "You're in the hospital Alex. You've been in a coma."
"How long.... has it been? What.... happened?"
"It's been a little over 3 weeks. You were shot. Do you remember anything that happened?"
"The last thing I can remember... ummmm.... was arriving on New Berlin to give a speech that I didn't want to give. How bad is it, where was I shot?" Slowly but surely his speech begins to get louder and more recognizable.
"Well, while you were giving your speech, someone from across the courtyard shot you with some sort of sniper cannon. Alex..." She takes a deep breath and a long pause. "They took off both of your legs."
Alex closes his eyes as he places his hands under the sheet and slowly runs them down his hip to where his legs had always been. Just inches from his hip bone he feels the bandages and shortly after, the distinct slope of the end of an extremity. A small tear rolls down his left cheek which Patricia very quickly wipes away. That sadness turns out to be very short lived as an anger slowly wells up inside of him. "Who did this?"
"Alex, please, it's going to be..."
"STOP, just tell me who did this."
After a small sigh she begins to tell him everything that the Rheinland Police were able to tell her, "They don't know exactly who it was Alex, but the weapon was definitely Tizona technology."
"Corsairs... Those cannibalistic bastards! Emilio put this together, I know it. He must have been planning this all along. Tell me they haven't had a chance to execute him yet."
She looks down to the floor in an extreme moment of decision. Does she tell him that Emilio Torres had escaped. "No Alex, he's still alive."
"Good. I wanna have a word or two with him before they hang him. He... no, they will pay for this, I assure you. From this day forward... Pat write this down." He still wasn't himself and seemed to be talking nonsense, but it would turn out he meant every word that was about to come out of his mouth. "From this day forward, it will be our primary objective to exterminate the entire Corsair nation. Men, women, children, the whole f**king lot of 'em. I will not rest until Crete is a baren, lifeless rock floating through Gamma. Whatever it takes Pat, I dont give a crap if we have to ally with the damned Outcasts, I want them all dead. Every last one of them. And I want Torres first. Where's a god damn doctor, when can I get out of here."
Patricia feared what effect this would have on Alex, but she had never imagined this type of outrage. "Alex, calm down. Should we really take this out on all the Corsairs. It was just the Brotherhood that did this to you."
"They are all guilty as far as I am concerned. Nothing but a bunch of criminal scum, the whole lot of them. Now when the hell can I get out of here? And what are they gonna do about my stumps?" He then gives a slight chuckle.
Patricia can't believe how little he seems to care about the fact that his legs are completely gone. He'll never walk on his own again, doesn't he realize that. "The doctor said it might be another week or so. As far as your... situation, he had some options to discuss with you."
"Get him here now. I've got things to do. I can't be here another week.... S**T!" He begins tapping his index fingers together. "Get me Ulrich... Get him down here now!"
"But sir...."
"NOW!"
Patricia then leaves the room to find the doctor. She begins typing on her digital comm pad. She will send a message to Ulrich Wagner, maybe he could talk some sense into this insane version of her old friend. Then again, knowing Ulrich, he might encourage him further. Whatever, she had to try.
<span style="color:#FF0000"><strike>RETIRED</strike></span>
ON MY WAY OUT OF RETIREMENT
