Interlude Five point One, Glory at the PNDF
Fervor visited Glory often that week, stopping at the Para-Normal
Detention facility in the evenings. Usually there was not much to
see. On one or two occassions he didn't even get to see
Glory -- she had been removed to a different room for testing.
Once when he arrived, she was packed in a pale blue slime that the doctors
said they were using as a "sigma ray insulator".
* * * *
"C'mon, Yvonne, cooperate with me."
"Don't call me that. Blessing or Glory will do."
The doctor looked her over through the visor of his
NBC suit. She was naked save for a hospital smock. A
look of annoyance crossed his face. "You're my
patient and I've been taking very good care of you.
We should be on a less formal basis, don't you think?"
"Right. I call you Doctor and you call me Yvonne.
Bullshit. I call you...see, I don't even know your
first name."
"Well, I've earned the title of 'doctor'. It's a term
of respect."
Glory stood rapidly. "Doc, I'm telling you for the
last time. Only my father called my Yvonne, and he
said it lovingly. You say it with this condescending
tone in your voice that pisses me off to no end. It's
Blessing or Glory--take your pick."
The doctor looked around the barren containment
chamber for signs of support, or escape. He knew the
room was being taped, but didn't know whether anyone
was observing through the one-way window.
"And another thing. Why does that window have to be
one-way? Huh? I feel like a goddamn lab rat!"
"It's for your protection...so you won't be distracted
by--"
"All the people staring at me night and day. Yeah,
yeah, I can guess that much. Doc, when do I get out
of here? I'm going to go flippin' crazy!"
The doctor continued to observe her as she loomed over
him and scribbled notes. "Mmm hmm."
"Doc."
Scribbling.
"DOC!"
The doctor jumped backward, dropping his clipboard and
pressed himself against the door. "You...you leave me
alone. Don't come any closer."
Glory rolled her eyes. "Gimme a break, doc. I'm not
going to do anything to you. Don't you understand?
No one's telling me anything and I don't understand
what's happened to me." Glory lifted her massive arms
to prove her point. "Doc, I used to be a size four.
I don't even know what size I'd be any more. My
arms...my legs...I look like a god damn body builder
now! Look at my arms! I don't even have to flex and
they're hard as this stupid bed post. What happened
to me?! Is someone going to tell me what happened to
me?!" Glory was screaming now. She marched toward
the doctor who had hastily turned and swiped his
access card.
Once Glory saw the doctor was bolting in fear, she
stopped and turned toward the one-way window. She
knew someone was watching her. Maybe more than
someone.
She pointed to the window. "You're going to tell me
what's happened to me, or I'll break that window and
make you tell me. You hear me?!"
The loudspeaker in the ceiling cracked to life.
"Glory. Calm down. No one's withholding information
from you. We've told you everything we know about
your condition. We've been studying you to try and
help you. You know that. You know what happens when
your--well, we've started to call it your 'aura'--your
aura isn't contained. Can I come in and talk with
you? Will you try and be calm?"
Glory nodded. She knew they knew she was frustrated.
She had to try to restrain herself. The violence and
aggression just came so easily. It was like it
constantly lurked just below the surface and desired
nothing more than to be set free. Great, she thought.
Now I'm putting a face on my anger. She sighed.
God, I'm losing it.
The door hissed open and several suited men walked in.
Two technicians entered after carrying what looked
like a stylized suit of armor.
"This suit will contain your aura. Once we verify
that it's working properly, you'll be free to leave.
We--"
"I can leave any time I want!" Glory just about
yelled.
The man pursed his lips. "Glory. Please. Your body
has undergone incredible changes. You might need some
time to get used to how your physique has been
modified."
"What are you saying? This is permanent?"
"Yes, we believe it is. Some two hundred pounds of
muscle and bone mass has been added to your frame. It
appears that you absorbed a tremendous amount of
radiation and for some reason instead of it damaging
your cellular structure, it's, well, it's been...well,
we don't have a name for it. Beefed up, I guess, is
as good a term as we have. Will you try the suit on?"
"And then I can leave?"
"We would like you to undergo some further tests. But
we can understand if you need a break. We'd hope that
once you see we're really on your side, you'll want to
help us understand your body better."
Glory scowled.
"Good, you still have your sense of humor." The
technicians brought the suit over to her. "We'll even
turn our backs."
Glory looked over at the window, then back to the men
in the room. "I guess you've seen me through the
worst of all this without any clothes. Ah, who
cares."
Glory tossed the hospital robe on to her bed and stood
before the suit of armor. She looked it over, not
quite sure where to begin. One of the technicians
handed her a white body stocking. She slipped it on
and then was helped into the suit. She was shown how
to secure it and for several minutes practiced getting
in and out of it.
"Do you feel claustrophobic in it?"
"A little," she said.
"Good. Let's run some quick tests to see if it's
functioning properly." The techs brought out several
instruments and began to go over the armor from head
to foot. A half an hour later they were done.
"Your armor is better than we even thought, Glory."
"Why do you keep calling it armor?"
"It is. It will protect you and most importantly
contain your aura, which will also protect everyone
else. You're probably pretty impervious from harm."
"I'm going to have to wear this for the rest of my
life?"
"I can only be honest: I don't know. We won't stop
working on your condition. There's still a lot we
don't know."
"Will they put me back on active duty?"
"I'm not your commanding officer, but I don't see why
not."
Glory looked longingly at the door.
"I told you that you can leave the chamber, and I
meant it. But don't open your armor unless you're in
here."
"Yeah, I guess so, huh? Wow, it's like I'm in one of
those old torture things. You know...what were they
called?"
"An iron maiden."
"Yeah, but instead of dying in one, I'll die out of
mine."
The doctor nodded.
Glory laughed as she started walking toward the door.
"Tell 'em I have a new code name then. Everyone may
as well start calling me: Iron Maiden!"
* * * *
The door to the hospital room hissed open and two men entered in the
by-now familiar protective suits. Glory (or the Iron Maiden, if
you like) had been sitting at the table when the door opened, and
jumped to her feet, "Don't you guys every knock?" she asked pugnaciously.
"No," said the first man, "I don't Agent Blessing."
"Wilkins," queried Glory.
"Correct, and this is Dr. Barry Saint Vernon."
"How do you do," mumbled the other man.
Wilkins kept speaking, cutting Saint Vernon off and drowning out any
reply Glory might have made. "I hear you have been behaving very badly,
Glory. Unprofessionally. I had thought better things of you. No, don't
say anything. I've seen most of it, live or on tape. Get yourself under
control soldier! Is that clear?"
"You try going through what I have!" she yelled back.
She wanted to get into a full-on brawl, but he was
right. She did have to get herself under control,
even if she seemingly no longer could think before she
acted. It was maddening, but she had always prided
herself on her discipline prior to her exposure. She
just had to call on that now. She had to get through
this.
She dropped her head in resignation. "You're right.
I'm trying you know. I really am...."
Wilkins voice became softer, "I know you are, soldier.
I think the worst is over. Dr. St. Vernon, here,
has some information for you."
St. Vernon cleared his throat, "What do you know about sigma
rays?" He chuckled, "That's a little joke of mine, nobody knows
much about sigma rays and I know as much as anyone.
"Sigma rays are an extremely high energy form of radiation, exhibiting
all the normal wave-particle duality. But that's where the normal
rules end. Their behavior is erratic and varies depending on
variables that we have been unable to quantify. They are also
extremely difficult to produce."
St. Vernon examined Blessing carefully, "Although you seem to be
producing them without too much difficulty."
"It is fortunate that the scientists here had a passing interest in
esoteric physics. It is even more fortunate that one of them had a sample
of my sigma ray insulating gel, otherwise you would most likely be
dead right now."
"Simply put, you are a sigma ray emitter. You are constantly throwing off
sigma rays at a high rate. The power for those has to come from somewhere,
and in this case it's coming from you. That's why, if you aren't insulated,
you find yourself growing colder, you are simply emitting your life force
as sigma rays. In fact, even in this room, you're probably feeling chilly most
of the time. It's been insulated as well as we know how against sigma ray
leakage, and you've filled it with sigma rays, but there is inevitably some
loss."
"Which leads us to your armour ... this armour was already in the possession
of the PNDF, it belonged to, what was his name, Mr. Wilkins?"
"Bruce Jackson, aka BlockBuster," replied Wilkins.
"Yes. Very interesting construction on its own, actually, but more importantly,
ideally suited to our purposes. The padding inside is actually sigma
ray insulating gel. When you are in the armour, something better than
80% of your sigma ray emissions are reflected back. You probably felt
more comfortable, or maybe more healthy, inside the armour than you have
felt in quite a while," Saint Vernon continued.
"If you left this room without the armour, though, you would very shortly
begin to feel cold, then faint, and then ... well, then we don't know.
You might simply die, or you might begin a total sigma conversion.
You might become a sigma ray bomb, Ms. Blessing."
"There are some positive side-effects of your condition, though," Saint
Vernon continued, "You've added some mass, which isn't exactly muscle mass,
although it is similar. The new muscle gets its energy from the sigma
ray mechanism, and so it is much more efficient that conventional muscle."
He looked at her over his glasses, "In short, you are an extremely strong
young lady. There may be some other side-effects as well, but that's the
primary one.
"And I think that's about all I have to say," he concluded.
Blessing sighed, looking down at the floor. "I guess
everyone's in suits of their own to protect themselves
from all this radiation I'm emitting? That
means...that means...that...I won't be able
to...ohmygod...I really am trapped in that armor, and
I was making jokes! God, what was I thinking?!"
After a long bout of silence from which she wouldn't
respond, she asked anyone who was still around,
"What's the story on the platform? Why was there such
radiation there in the first place? There's so many
questions that I want answered...I want to know who's
looking into this!!"
"I'm interrogating the prisoners," replied Wilkins. "But we don't
know a lot. Fervor has been by nearly every day to look in on you.
Do you feel up to visitors? I can send him in the next time he
comes by."
"That's great. I'd love to see someone other than
doctors. When can I get back to active duty?"
Blessing suddenly focussed on Wilkins. "_Can_ I get
back to active duty?"
Wilkins looked back at her, "Do you want the comforting answer or
th real answer? I can guess." He sighed, "I think you can go back on
active duty, when it is up to you. It depends on how soon you're healthy,
and how well the armor works and how well you work with the armor."
He smiled, "We've invested too much time and money in you to just
write you off."
Blessing returned Wilkins' smile. "Yeah, I thought
you might say something like that."
Silent for a moment, she then added, "Well, I guess I
feel okay, and definitely better with the armor on."
The image of her forever trapped in the armor sprang
into her might again, or maybe it never quite left.
It seemed all she dreamed about.
"I guess the medicos want to run tests and see what I
can do. I'm game. Maybe I can work off some of my
frustrations." That sounded good. "Yeah, let's do that."
"Allright, as soon as the Doc here gives the armor a clean bill of
health and the techs finish installing the bio-monitors in it,
we'll get you down to the gym, at least," Wilkins replied. "If Fervor
shows up, I'll send him in. Come on, Doctor." The two men departed.
Last Updated 10 May 2000
