The year 2060. December 10
Third cycle.
He opened his eyes in confusion.
Tubes were stuck in his body, in his arms, in his head... When he tried to speak, he found that he had a tube in his mouth, which made speaking impossible.
Everything hurt.
The breathing, the bright lights in the room. And he felt cold.
He was terribly cold.
"Ah! Welcome among the living!" A pretty, still very young woman bent over him. "You are probably confused, Mr. Wang. My name is Nancy. I will now detach you from the machine. It's all right. Everything will be better in a moment!"
Machines?
Bao couldn't answer her. He blinked in the glaring light of a lamp. The light was blinding. Then everything hurt all the more. The stranger loosened the tubes, took the tube out of his mouth, and even loosened one from his throught.
"Ah!" was the first sound that left his lips.
Nancy stroked one of his arms. "It’s okay. That hurt, I know."
He coughed, tried to sit up, but his body did not obey him.
"Oh! Be careful." Smiling, the stranger helped him. Nancy. He didn't know Nancy. Not one who was an adult. The Nancy he knew was still a child, soon to be a teenager. Confused, he looked at the woman.
The face... It was the same. Only older. And the hairstyle was also different. The girl had always worn a boy's hairstyle, but now she had long dreadlocks, which piled up on her head under a fine hairnet.
Had he been in a coma?
He coughed again as he tried to speak. Nancy quickly handed him a glass of water.
"Drink. That helps. But slowly. Very slowly."
He did as he was told. "What is ... Where am I?" he finally asked. Every word hurt. His throat felt sore. He could hardly swallow. The water was burning. It felt strange. "What happened?"
He looked at his body. His naked body. Only a blue, thin blanket lay on his lap and legs. Bao was lying on an iron plate, in a coffin-like, open, glass tube. Remnants of a strange, blue, sticky liquid clung to his body. "Where am I? What..." He coughed. "What is that?"
"You're in Burgstadt's lab", Nancy answered, smiling. "And that is nutrient fluid."
"Burgstadt? Castle City?" Nutritional... Nutrient what?
"Yes. It is not yet complete, but the laboratory is already functional. In about ten to twelve years, or more? Well, the city, your city, will be operational. It was built according to your drawing. With some changes, but it's your city. Burgstadt is also already habitable, well, in theory, but it cannot move yet. It still needs a lot of work."
"What?" He had to cough again.
"Mr. Wang?" She smiled all the more gently. "What do you remember?"
"Remember?" He frowned. His voice sounded strange. Foreign. Young?
What was going on?
"Yes. What's the last thing you remember?"
"What year is it?"
„2060.“
„60? Not... 2047? I was... I am..." Startled, he stared at his hands. Young hands. There were no greenish spots there, his skin was not rotten and open.
He had died. Didn’t he?
Bao remembered a hospital bed. He remembered Elrik. His best friend sat by his bed, crying, holding one of Bao's bandaged hands. He had no longer been able to speak, he could no longer see... He had lost both eyes, both legs, even an arm to the disease. "Why am I not dead?" Another painful cough interrupted his questions. "Why am I in a laboratory? Why have so many years passed? Where is Elrik? The fool? WHAT did he do?"
Nancy sighed. "Mr. Wang? You died. A few years ago. Just like your friend."
"Elrik is dead?"
"Not anymore. Neither are you. You are no longer dead."
"Did he..." Bao shook his head. "Cloning? This can't be. Am I..."
Nancy reached for something that was lying on a table. A mirror. Hesitantly, she handed it to him. "Right."
"What?" Bao lifted the mirror, his hand would hardly obey him, and looked into it with trembling hands. His reflection was both strange and familiar to him. A healthy teenager, almost grown-up, faced him. This is what he had looked like at 17. "What?"
"Elrik woke up at the age of 12. However, his young body did not cope well with the memories. There were some unexpected... Problems."
"At 12?"
"Oh." Nancy laughed. "Growth accelerator. We waited longer with you because Elrik had minor complications. But now everything is fine. We may have to do without the accelerator in the future..."
"What..."
"It's all a lot, I know. A nurse and a caregiver are about to arrive. They will take care of you. You’ll have to learn to walk again. And of course, we will move you to another room. And surely you want to take a relaxing bath? To get rid of the nutrient fluid? Oh... The fluid protected your body as it grew."
Bao hardly listened to her. A merciless tremor came over him. He struggled for air. Nancy said something, then he felt a short prick and the world went dark.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was lying in a warm bed, in a pleasantly furnished room, like that of a hospital. Next to him sat Elrik, 17-year-old Elrik, and smiled.
"My friend, you had a panic attack. Now everything is fine. You're okay," his friend from the past murmured, holding Bao's hand as on the day of his death.
