Read Gabriel: Zero Point (Evan Gabriel Trilogy) for Free Online

It was unusually cold.

Chapter 5

    Gabriel’s fist lashed out at the mangrove and struck something hard and unyielding. He coughed, and thick viscous fluid bubbled up through his throat. The warm water receded around him with soft gurgles. Both ears popped, and he opened his eyes.
    The river and the mangrove were gone, leaving behind nothing but dripping glass in front of his face. He reached up with the same hand he had punched with and touched the glass. With a hiss, the seal popped and the lid of the capsule slowly rose.
    He sat up, coughing up more thick liquid. Aches penetrated his muscles, and he slowly grabbed the edges of the capsule. The pale blue liquid was gone, replaced by clear water that drained beneath him. His head swam with dizziness. Must be the spin cycle after the rinse , he thought.
    He looked around the room, once again tinged in red lighting as it was when he arrived. How long ago? He sent a command to his neuretics to check the time, but received no response. He pulled up his neuretics’ Mindseye visual overlay and was greeted by a static-filled image with two white words: SYSTEM REBOOT.
    Software upgrade, he remembered. He dismissed the Mindseye feed and rotated his body to swing his legs over the side of the capsule. Pain shot through his system as muscles pressed against bone and tendon. It felt to him like a terrible case of the flu. Or getting my ass kicked , he thought. The nanites must have done a thorough job in moving throughout his body, as the aches came from every possible source, right down to his toes. He looked down at his pruned, dripping feet and flexed his toes, being rewarded with ten distinct cracks.
    He looked around the lab; even the slight motion of turning his head sent pain shooting from his shoulder blades through the base of his skull, and the dizziness came again. Disorientation indeed.
    The lab was empty. No sign of Knowles. His folded clothes were where he’d left them on the table, along with a bottle of water. With a heave, he lifted himself out of the capsule. His wet feet slapped on the hard floor, and he grabbed onto the edge of the capsule to support himself. With a deep breath, he flexed his shoulders backwards and twisted side to side. The cracks and pops sounded like firecrackers. His body felt swollen, like he had had too much to eat and drink. He let go of the capsule and looked at his forearms. Whether a trick of the lighting or his dizziness, he swore they looked bigger, and were crisscrossed with bulging veins. He clenched one fist and felt the muscles pull down the length of his arm. Yes, definitely different.
    The room was quiet save for the last few burbles of the water draining in the capsule. The wall screens were off as before, and Knowles’s nanoscope was powered down. All of the specimen containers were gone. The room was, for all intents and purposes, empty. Not exactly how he pictured his emergence from the procedure. Zero point, sure.
    He looked down and saw the briefs were still dripping water down his legs, and felt a sudden chill as the cool lab air hit his skin. He took tentative steps to the table, and an image of a stumbling newborn giraffe flashed across his mind. In spite of his aching body, he smiled.  
    “Hey doc,” he called as he grabbed his shirt. His congested voice sounded like he was just getting over a chest cold. “I’m out.”
    As he pulled the shirt over his head, his neuretics signaled a successful reboot and came back online. He queried them for elapsed time, and page after page of data returned, too fast for him to keep up. He sent a stop command, realizing he had a whole new system to learn. He remembered his upgrade from Level Three to Four mil rets and the days it took going through all the new capabilities. He knew he’d be in for a steep learning curve.  
    The data showed twenty-one hours, thirteen minutes since he entered the capsule. He pulled off the wet briefs and got dressed, then socks. His boots were