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the
computer!” Keagan pushed hard against the door. The curtain rod
bent against the force but held.
    It did not help that Keagan was cut and bleeding
from his encounter with Harlan moments before. Pounding on the
door, he railed, “You psychotic god-damned heretic! If I had my
way, you and your kind would be on a spaceship with no life support
heading to where your supposed God lives! YOU’RE ALL DEVIL
WORSHIPPERS!”
    Nate froze. A wave of real nausea swept over
him. He swallowed hard to prevent the burning stench of his
morning’s breakfast from rising further up his throat.
    Jentry shouted, “Keagan! Calm down!”
    Just as quickly as his explosion began, Keagan
once again hid behind his professional identity. Pounding the door
one more time, he announced, “Mr. Kristopher, you have exactly one
minute to hand that computer back to me or face severe
consequences!”
    Breathing once again, he stalled for more time.
“You’ll have it back in a minute. Just leave me alone!” Keagan’s
heavy footsteps stomped angrily out of the room.
    “Nate!” Jentry approached the bathroom door. “I
don’t know why you stole my computer. But if we can talk about it
maybe we can work something out. Maybe you can even avoid the
isolation room.”
    Going to the isolation room was a nice way of
saying he would be slammed to the floor by a PPD shock wave,
dragged to a dungeon, and drugged so heavily he wouldn’t recall the
next week.
    Struggling to subdue the nausea, he pushed the
send key, and held his breath until he read Transmission sent:
Urgent Protocol. Leaning back on the toilet seat, he slowly let out
a long breath and held his stomach. He realized he had done his
best to communicate with the only person who could release him from
this prison cell.
    It’s unfortunate that I can’t convince
Jentry that I really am ninety-one, tell her what I’ve seen, to let
her know the sheer joy of staying young. Why, if the world had more
people like her, then there’s still hope that humanity could
survive, even if I can’t stop the End-Date. But I can’t do any of
that until I’m released. At least nobody suspects my original
identity. Imagine if I told them THAT!
    “I intend to avoid much more than the isolation
room,” he called out boldly. “I’ll only come out when Dr. Devereaux
personally comes in here and speaks with me about the message I’ve
sent her.”
    A moment later he got his wish. The
psychobiologist stormed in accompanied by two psych techs armed
with PPDs.
    “Mr. Kristopher! I suggest you walk out NOW and
face me before I break the door down!”
    Be careful what I ask for , he derisively
told himself. He opened the squeaky bathroom door and was
immediately grabbed by the techs.
    Dr. Campbell Devereaux looked to live up to her
nickname of Dr. Devastate. With hands on her hips, her scowl ran
right through him. A dark blue blouse with a collar lay underneath
her white lab coat. Shoulder length strawberry blonde hair sat atop
a stern face. Her high cheekbones and narrow nose were complemented
by steely dark green eyes,
    Reaching into her lab coat hip pocket, Dr.
Devereaux fingered a small experimental computer. She searched in
vain for the on button, desperately wanting to scan the patient for
violent intentions. “Mr. Kristopher, your shenanigans have only
proved one thing. Neuro Shock should have been administered yesterday ! If you think there’s any way
that—”
    An insistent beep sounded in her ear. “Who the
hell is paging me on high priority?” She tried shutting it off but
to no avail. “Escort him to the isolation room while I take this
page. If he so much as sneezes, stun him!” She wheeled around and
was gone.
    Jentry’s jaw dropped as she slowly shook her
head and looked at him. “Did she just get beeped—by the message you
sent her?”
    Nate nodded solemnly as he was led away in the
firm grips of the techs.
    How could anyone—let alone a supposedly insane
patient—have been able to