floor.
“What kind of metal is this?” Jack asked.
“It’s an alloy made from the steel of the ship.”
“The ship that…”
“Yes.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto a hallway with paintings up on the walls. Tables lined the glass that peered out over a parking lot. To the left was another cafeteria.
As hallways went, this was a long one. Jack guessed they had walked for over three minutes before turning into a room filled with gym equipment.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.
“This area has been quarantined due to a berridium leak.”
“Caused by you, I take it?”
She nodded. “We’re going to do some strength exercises. Please step over here.”
A lateral pull-down machine, used to work out the muscles in the back and shoulders, was the nearest machine. Heidi motioned for him to sit down.
“Please take the bar in your hands and begin the exercise.”
Jack looked up to the bar while Heidi interacted with an electronic device in her hand that resembled an iPad but was much thinner and more responsive to the quick movement of her fingers.
He reached up and grabbed the bar, bringing it down slowly to his shoulders as if he were working out.
“How does that feel?” she asked.
“Fine.”
“After each repetition please pause momentarily while I increase the weight. When it begins to get uncomfortable, let me know.”
He began doing the repetitions as she added weight. No numbers marked the weight stack so he didn’t know how much he was lifting, but it felt light.
“Okay,” she said after about twenty reps, “you can stop.”
“How much weight was that?”
She lowered the device in her hands. “About five hundred pounds.”
Jack sat stunned as she walked over to a squat rack. “Ready?”
They were in the gym at least an hour as Jack exercised and Heidi presumably took notes. His bench press a year ago had been somewhere around 215. He now benched 910 pounds before they ran out of weights to put on the bar. His squat and deadlift were the same, as they couldn’t go any higher. But Jack didn’t even feel strain. He could’ve lifted double that.
They did quick, short wind sprints. Jack would find himself on one side of the room and then push himself as hard as he could and suddenly find himself on the other. They did vertical jumps after that and had to stop because he was getting too close to hitting the ceiling, which was at least fifteen feet over their heads.
After the jumps, she handed him a bottle of water. He held her gaze and said, “What the hell did you do to me?”
“I told you, Jack. I saved your life.”
They left the gym and headed back down to the laboratory.
“I don’t think you need more than one treatment,” she said. “Your progress is extraordinary. You’re responding to it much quicker than he did.”
In the laboratory Jack sat in a chair as Heidi prepared another injection. Jack noticed that his muscles felt pumped full of blood and it almost appeared as if they’d gotten larger from just one workout.
“How did you know this stuff would wake me out of a coma?”
“We did trials on mice,” she said from somewhere behind him. “Even ones with serious trauma to the brain or spinal cord recovered. It was a guess that the same would happen in humans, but a good guess.”
“You could’ve killed me.”
She walked over and he felt the pinprick of the syringe-like machine she held in her hands. He was about to speak when fire coursed through him.
The veins in his skin popped up and every muscle in his body flexed. The tension made his jaw clench and pain radiated through his head. Unable to move his hands, his eyes glanced to Heidi with a pleading look.
“You’ll be okay,” she said. “Just try to relax.”
Muscles began to shift and loosen. A calming sensation came through his body, as if warm water slowly poured on him from above. The sensation began at the top of his head and travelled down his body to the
“What kind of metal is this?” Jack asked.
“It’s an alloy made from the steel of the ship.”
“The ship that…”
“Yes.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto a hallway with paintings up on the walls. Tables lined the glass that peered out over a parking lot. To the left was another cafeteria.
As hallways went, this was a long one. Jack guessed they had walked for over three minutes before turning into a room filled with gym equipment.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.
“This area has been quarantined due to a berridium leak.”
“Caused by you, I take it?”
She nodded. “We’re going to do some strength exercises. Please step over here.”
A lateral pull-down machine, used to work out the muscles in the back and shoulders, was the nearest machine. Heidi motioned for him to sit down.
“Please take the bar in your hands and begin the exercise.”
Jack looked up to the bar while Heidi interacted with an electronic device in her hand that resembled an iPad but was much thinner and more responsive to the quick movement of her fingers.
He reached up and grabbed the bar, bringing it down slowly to his shoulders as if he were working out.
“How does that feel?” she asked.
“Fine.”
“After each repetition please pause momentarily while I increase the weight. When it begins to get uncomfortable, let me know.”
He began doing the repetitions as she added weight. No numbers marked the weight stack so he didn’t know how much he was lifting, but it felt light.
“Okay,” she said after about twenty reps, “you can stop.”
“How much weight was that?”
She lowered the device in her hands. “About five hundred pounds.”
Jack sat stunned as she walked over to a squat rack. “Ready?”
They were in the gym at least an hour as Jack exercised and Heidi presumably took notes. His bench press a year ago had been somewhere around 215. He now benched 910 pounds before they ran out of weights to put on the bar. His squat and deadlift were the same, as they couldn’t go any higher. But Jack didn’t even feel strain. He could’ve lifted double that.
They did quick, short wind sprints. Jack would find himself on one side of the room and then push himself as hard as he could and suddenly find himself on the other. They did vertical jumps after that and had to stop because he was getting too close to hitting the ceiling, which was at least fifteen feet over their heads.
After the jumps, she handed him a bottle of water. He held her gaze and said, “What the hell did you do to me?”
“I told you, Jack. I saved your life.”
They left the gym and headed back down to the laboratory.
“I don’t think you need more than one treatment,” she said. “Your progress is extraordinary. You’re responding to it much quicker than he did.”
In the laboratory Jack sat in a chair as Heidi prepared another injection. Jack noticed that his muscles felt pumped full of blood and it almost appeared as if they’d gotten larger from just one workout.
“How did you know this stuff would wake me out of a coma?”
“We did trials on mice,” she said from somewhere behind him. “Even ones with serious trauma to the brain or spinal cord recovered. It was a guess that the same would happen in humans, but a good guess.”
“You could’ve killed me.”
She walked over and he felt the pinprick of the syringe-like machine she held in her hands. He was about to speak when fire coursed through him.
The veins in his skin popped up and every muscle in his body flexed. The tension made his jaw clench and pain radiated through his head. Unable to move his hands, his eyes glanced to Heidi with a pleading look.
“You’ll be okay,” she said. “Just try to relax.”
Muscles began to shift and loosen. A calming sensation came through his body, as if warm water slowly poured on him from above. The sensation began at the top of his head and travelled down his body to the
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