Copyright © 2024 D.W. Patterson
All rights reserved.
Second Printing – February 2025
Future Chron Publishing
Cover – Copyright © 2024 D.W. Patterson
Cover Image – Photo 115346712 / Rocket Launch © Nexusplexus | Dreamstime.com
Previously published as:
Rocket Summer
Rocket Fall
Rocket Winter
Rocket Spring
Contains additional material.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Hard Science Fiction – Old School
Human Generated Content
CHAPTER 6
Brevard's Hospital
Atlanta, Georgia
USA
Jack woke up.
He heard beeps, like electronic equipment. Was he still in the lab? He didn't think so. He tried to open his eyes but only one worked and it seemed blurry. He started to raise his hand but felt it restrained by something, so he blinked to clear his good eye and squinted.
The restraints, he noticed, were not restraints but different IV lines. Obviously, he was in a hospital bed. He blinked again trying to clear his vision further. He turned his head and noticed there was someone sitting in a chair against the wall. They seemed to be sleeping, their head lowered to their chest.
One last time, he blinked and squinted. It was his mother, he was sure.
“Mom,” he said, in a hoarse voice.
“Mom,” he said again, somewhat louder.
The person stirred and raised their head.
“Jack,” she said, “did you say something?”
“Where am I?” he asked.
She stood and moved to his bedside, placing her hand over his.
“Brevard's hospital son.”
“Why?” he asked.
“You remember the explosion?”
“Sort of, the last thing I remember is something hitting me in the head.”
“It knocked you out son. You've been in a coma.”
“A coma? How long?”
“Two months, Jack.”
Jack was quiet for a moment, trying to comprehend what his mother had just said.
“Where's dad?” he finally said.
Now his mother was the quiet one.
“Jack your dad's not here,” she said.
Jack sensed she was trying not to tell him something.
“He's back home?” he asked.
“No son your dad …”
“What mom?”
“Your dad is dead son.”
Jack froze.
His mother noticed.
“Jack, are you okay?”
“Yeah mom, I just never expected to hear such a thing.”
“I'm sorry son.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“Maybe we should wait until you are better son. I think we should get the doctor now.”
His mom moved to the door and stopped and found a nurse ready to enter. She told her that Jack was awake and asked that his doctor be called. The nurse entered the room.
“Well, Mr. Williams I was just coming to see you,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad nurse but I think I'm hungry,” he said.
“No doubt, Mr. Williams,” she said while taking his pulse. “But we will have to wait on your doctor before I can get you something solid.”
She then called the nurse's station asking that Jack's doctor be contacted. She took his blood pressure.
“Well, you have a good pulse and blood pressure,” she said. “Let's just wait for the doctor, he should be here shortly. How about some juice while you wait?”
“Thank you, that would be nice,” he said.
After the nurse left Jack asked his mother, “Mother, what is wrong with my left eye?”
“Jack, I'm afraid your eye was damaged in the explosion.”
“Will I be able to see again?”
“No son, I'm afraid not.”
Jack was quiet again, he couldn't quite believe everything he was hearing. His father dead, his eye destroyed, he had been in a coma for two months.
The nurse brought in the juice and placed it in Jack's hand. He tried to maneuver the straw to his mouth and sip but it wasn't easy, his mother tried to help. Jack took a sip.
“Thanks mom,” he said.
The doctor came in.
“Mr. Williams,” he said. “It's good to see you awake finally. Has your mother filled you in on the last two months?”
“Yes, doctor,” said Jack. “I understand that I've been in a coma.”
“That's right Mr. Williams, the blunt force trauma you suffered during the episode caused intracranial swelling and pressure. Over time that swelling has gone down. I believe that it will not recur, and your prognosis is good in that particular.”
“What about my eye doctor?”
“I'm afraid your eye was damaged irreparably. However, there are several avenues for the use of a prosthesis that can restore sight. I have a recommendation here.”
He held up a card.
“Dr. Limbaugh is a leader in the use of such prosthesis. I'll just give his card to your mother, and you can think about how you want to proceed.”
“Thank you doctor,” said Jack. “When do you think I can get out of here?”
“Well, Mr. Williams I have several tests I want to run and a little physical therapy. If you respond well to the therapy I should think in a week or so. Any other questions?”
“No doctor,” said Jack.
“Mrs. Williams?”
“I can't think of anything right now.”
“Very well, I will see you tomorrow on my normal rounds, good day.”
After the doctor left Jack said, “Mother.”
“Yes Jack?”
“I just want to go home.”
“Of course, son, as soon as possible.”
A week later Jack was back in his old room at home. He felt well but still weak, sometimes the eye socket of his missing eye itched. He would have to keep the eye bandaged for a couple of months before he could consider a prosthetic. His mother had bought him a patch, but Jack wasn't much interested in wearing it outside the house. He wasn't much interested in going outside the house, mostly he sat at his bedroom window, which was at the back of the house, looking across the pasture at old Mule Top Mountain.
As he looked out on the overcast, gray winter day he thought about the accident. If only he had taken precautions. It was the third time that he had been injured during his rocketry pursuits. The first time, when he was nine, one of his bottle rockets had exploded, then the accident during high school should have taught him a lesson. That was his first experiment with a PZT stack, and the explosion had knocked him unconscious for a few minutes, although miraculously he was not hurt.
I should have respected the danger in experimenting with this stuff. I shouldn't have been in the room, there was no need, I could have done everything from outside the room with just a wireless connection. I even know how to design the connection, like I did with the altimeter I put in my bottle rockets. Now I've lost my eye, it'll never be the same even with a prosthetic, how stupid. And dad, he might be alive if he had never received that phone call.
Jack's dad had answered the phone when the school called about Jack's accident. He had hardly hung up when he had a massive heart attack. Jack's mom had not been able to get him to the hospital in time. He was gone.
Jack tried to blame himself, but his mother wouldn't hear of it. She pointed out that such an incident built up over a lifetime. If it hadn't been the phone call from the school, it would have been something else and probably soon. There just weren't any warning signs, even his dad's doctor was surprised, because his father had been tested for heart and vascular problems before. As the doctor said to his mother, sometimes it just happens, and no one knows why.
Two months later Jack was on his way back to Atlanta to see the surgeon about an eye prosthetic. He wasn't much interested but his mom, who was driving him, was insistent.
Dr. Limbaugh was friendly and caring. He would understand if Jack didn't want to go through the procedure. There would be an operation, but the doctor assured him that it wasn't a major undertaking. He then showed Jack the results of the latest research.
“This is an actual video feed from one of the newest prosthetics, we call it the ClearEye. Now watch this.”
The video responded to the doctor's touch.
“I'm going to zoom in on that distant ship on the horizon.”
He opened his fist near the screen. The image zoomed in on the distant ship.
“Can you read the name Jack?”
“Yes, doctor, it says Fastrans,” said Jack.
“That's right, from three miles away,” said Dr. Limbaugh.
“But how does the wearer control such a function?” asked Jack.
“It can be programmed to respond to eye movements or eyelid movements or thought.”
“The actual vision of the wearer will look this good?” asked Jack.
“That's a good question Jack. The device works the same for each wearer but there are different results. It is dependent on the quality of the nerve endings of the patient. But at a minimum you will be able to see enough to get your depth perception back. Important to many of our day-to-day activities.”
Jack appeared to be thinking.
“Okay doctor, how do we proceed?”
“We will need to measure your eye socket, and I will need some images of the area before the operation. The whole process shouldn't take more than a month and you will be back home.”
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