Restarting From Genesis

Chapter 5: A medical checkup.

Departing from the virtual reality testing chamber, Arthur was lead down several long hallways, each hallway as devoid of any life as the last, until he reached the elevator.

Anna pulled out a keycard she had hidden under her medical uniform, hanging on a lanyard. She walked up to the elevator and swiped the card against the front panel where the call button would usually be.

Upon contact with the keycard, the panel flashed green and then turned black once more, only this time a white number appeared in its place, the number started to slowly climb, and suddenly picked up speed, rapidly climbing for three seconds before slowing down again, when the number stopped the door opened.

Arthur followed the other two in, when his body was completely inside the elevator the doors closed and a robotic voice spoke out, "Three passengers detected, Doctor Annabelle Holmes, Doctor Edgar Besson, Master Arthur Holmes, Identities confirmed. Where would you like to go?"

"Operator, please bring us to the medical bay." Anna ordered, as she leaned back against one of the walls of the elevator while grabbing the handrail.

"Understood, commencing travel to level two, you’ll arrive shortly." As soon as the robotic voice finished talking, the elevator began its descent, starting off slow, but picking up speed as it travelled, causing Anna to grip the handrail harder, before finally slowing down and coming to a stop. The robotic voice spoke up once more as the door opened, "Level two, medical research, emergency care and the medical bay."

Anna quickly jumped out of the elevator as soon as the door opened, signalling everyone to follow her as she walked down the only hallway leading to this elevator room, with that same hallway being as vacant as the ones on the virtual reality testing floor.

Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle, he had forgotten that Anna, while generally not scared of regular elevators, was terrified of the special elevators used for reaching the higher floors faster.

Arthur and Edgar followed Anna out of the elevator, quickening their pace to catch up to her. When they reached the end of the hallway, they came across more hallways, however unlike the floor they were previously on, this floor was full of life. There were people in scrubs and others in lab coats, running between rooms, some carrying vials, others pushing around large pieces of equipment.

"The medical research sector is as busy as always, huh?" Arthur mumbled, while still following Anna, while both matching her hastened pace and trying not to bump into anybody going about their business.

Eventually they got past the active area and made their way through a door that led to the medical bay. This area was much less active, although there were still people moving around, mostly just doctors and nurses, although there was the occasional patient moving around.

Making there way through part of the medical bay, they finally reached an examination room, the label on the door read, ’Dr. Martin L. Hudson’. Edgar knocked on the door, to which he received a response giving permission to enter. Edgar opened the door and signalled for Arthur to enter.

"Heya Hudson, just dropping off Arthur," Anna poked her head in the door to greet her colleague, then turned to Arthur before walking off with Edgar, "Alright, I’ve got to get back to work, I’ll come check up on you later, see ya Art."

"Come in Arthur," the voice of Doctor Hudson rung out from within the examination room, as Arthur walked in, he could see a tall man with long curly brown hair sitting on a chair, looking over documents. "Take a seat, lets take a look at you."

Arthur spent the next few hours with Doctor Hudson running tests, starting off with simple examinations such as checking his vitals such as his heart rate and respiratory system, visually checking for burns, abrasions or lacerations. Then moving on to more serious tests, some of which involved his blood being drawn.

After all the physical tests had been done, and his blood was sent into the lab for results, Arthur changed into the hospital gown that had been provided to him and was then brought into a room with a large cylindrical machine. Looking at this machine reminded him of his past life, and how he was terrified being in the MRI machine last time, but after living his life, he ended up getting used to it.

"Now, this is going to be scary, but you have to remain calm and stay as still as possible. It will be really loud, but it’ll be over with before you know it, I promise." Doctor Hudson was doing the usual doctor practice of consoling younger patients when they had to be treated with large machinery. He then directed Arthur to sit on the patient table while a nurse walked in carrying a needle.

Arthur did as he was told, sitting up on the table, but then he remembered the worst part of this procedure as he saw the nurse. Arthur’s heart felt like it had tightened, and his hands began sweating, he couldn’t help but get nervous, even after living well past adulthood, he still couldn’t overcome his fear of needles. "Ah, the contrast injection... I almost forgot."

Eventually the contrast medium was flowing through Arthur’s veins, and he was ready to be put through the MRI. He laid down on the table, and as promised, remained completely still. The last thing Arthur wanted was another injection due to a failed scan.

The room was cold, and while unpleasant, the loud rhythmic banging of the magnet within the MRI machine served as some form of entertainment for Arthur. Or at least as a distraction from the disgusting metal taste that plagued his mouth caused by the gadolinium contrast injection.

After thirty minutes had past, the machine stopped, and the patient table slid out from the machine, freeing Arthur. As he went to sit up, a wave of nausea washed over him, causing Arthur to almost tumble as he hopped off the table.

"Oh my, you took that like a champ." Doctor Hudson half-jokingly praised Arthur, "I know grown men who are still scared of getting an MRI."

"Well, It wasn’t pleasant..." Arthur sheepishly responded, slowly following Doctor Hudson out of the MRI room. "Also, I feel nauseous."

"Ah, yeah, right. Well that’d be the contrast. I’ll go find you a wheelchair. Sit tight." Hudson ran off down a hallway after giving the order to stay put, he came back a few minutes later while pushing around a wheelchair. "Alright hop on."

Arthur hopped on the wheelchair, and Doctor Hudson began pushing him down a couple sets of hallways, past several patient rooms, until they finally reached what seemed to be an area full of more exclusive patient rooms. "For now we’ll get you in bed and hooked up to an EEG, and then you’re done with your tests. Sounds good?"

"Alright, that works." Arthur replied as he was pushed into a patient room and then helped up into the bed.

"Right, I need you to lie down and get comfortable. The nurses are going to come in and stick these small metal discs on your head, and they’re going to measure what goes on inside your brain, so we can make sure nothing is wrong." Doctor Hudson tried to give an explanation without including any technical or medical jargon.

"Understood, so it’s alright if I just sleep, right?" Arthur had a headache and was hoping to get rid of it through rest. A couple nurses walked in with equipment and they began sticking electrodes around on his scalp, then wiring them to a strange machine.

"Yeah, as long as you don’t knock the electrodes off, you can do whatever you like, You can always contact a nurse if you need help or want a book, game or movie." Doctor Hudson informed Arthur as he was getting ready to leave, "I need to go finish working on your test results, and inform your father about your condition so he calms down."

Doctor Hudson briefly showed Arthur his phone lock screen, there were at least twelve notifications, all of which were his father. Arthur couldn’t help but sigh, "I guess he really does obsess over me."

Over the course of that day, Arthur had many visitors, mostly Anna stopping by whenever she could get some free time or was walking by, Edgar had also made an appearance, bringing Arthur a jelly cup that he took from the hospital kitchen.

Later that day, Arthur’s results had come in, and his father made sure to be present when they were read out.

"From what we can see, Arthur is perfectly healthy, his blood work was excellent, and besides a few bruises and scrapes he’s perfectly fine physically too. There was barely even a speck on his MRI scan." Doctor Hudson was reading his results, almost seeming surprised at how healthy Arthur was, "There is however one thing that is... unusual."

"Unusual. What do you mean?" Arthur’s dad instantly spoke up, Arthur himself also paid close attention as this didn’t happen last time.

"Arthur’s brain activity, as recorded by the EEG, is showing extremely elevated levels, and we cant seem to figure out why." Doctor Hudson turned to Arthur, his face showed more confusion than worry.