Chapter 5:
Scattered Part 1: Dr. Carnasis and Nadia
ITEM 187: Jillian’s 92nd post-kidnapping journal entry
Item Source: Jillian Blairington
If I had to pick a word to qualify Dr. Carnasis’s dreams, I’d call ’em cluttered. You can learn a whole heap about a person by studying what they dream. For such a neat, orderly, put-together lady, Dr. Carnasis has memory-storm dreams that are almost as messy as the one I found in Nadia. These are only the surface dreams too. When this mess settles, I wanna see what deeper dreams are bound up inside my Second Momma.
Nana says everybody’s got lots more going on in ’em than they let on. I sorta wish people would have clear, deliberate dreams, like Varick does. Since complaining ain’t gonna improve my lot, I may as well dwell on the positive side. That’s what Dr. S. says anyway. At least Dr. Carnasis don’t lock her dreams up like Dr. Devya. That’s a blessing to count every day.
I took some liberties with the first series of dream images and changed the perspective, so I could get a wider picture of the scene as a whole. The three big white trucks slowly lumbered up out of the underground parking garage. Dr. Carnasis and Nadia were tucked into the back of the middle truck. When I tuned in to what my Second Momma was feeling, I sensed an odd combination of excitement, weariness, and irritation.
There are several ways to fast-forward a dream, but I’ve found skipping from one emotional change to another is one of the most effective methods. Malia taught me how to better identify one emotion versus another. She’s got hours to say on the subject, but she was kind enough to give me the short-on-lecture, high-on-interaction version.
We spent a few days training with her projecting one emotion after another and me trying to identify ’em. I’m glad her patience levels are right deep. I kept mixing up guilt and sorrow. They’re both kinda heavy feeling, but guilt has subtle hints of righteous anger beneath it and sorrow usually comes with a faint image of whatever was lost.
Dr. Carnasis kept her strange combination of emotions for a good three hours of travel time. Nadia showed me how to keep better track of the clocks in my head. Dream time still ain’t the same as normal time, but dream time follows its own version of logic. As with all aspects of my Gift, once I understood the time thing, I could control it. At times, the weariness or the irritation would shift to a greater level, but those baby shifts weren’t what I was looking for. The lightning-quick flip from irritated to outright angry and scared caught my attention like a twenty-pound fish in a ten-pound container.
I halted the dream then slowly willed it forward, making sure to separate my consciousness from Dr. Carnasis. The first person view has its uses, but seeing everybody’s expressions is better.
“You don’t want to do this, Darren,” Dr. Carnasis said. Her cool tone made me double and triple check the emotional signals.
I was right. Anger and fear flooded her whole being.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Dr. C., very wrong,” Darren declared. “I’ve wanted to do this since I learned that little freak is worth millions. I’m only sorry I couldn’t shove this gun in the face of that self-righteous—”
“Cora is the only one who defended you when you stole those embryos,” Dr. Carnasis spat. “I didn’t. I thought it was a good sign we couldn’t trust you.”
At the mention of “gun,” I changed the perspective again so I could see both Darren and my Second Momma from the side. Dr. Carnasis sat on a cushioned bench built into the truck’s right wall. Darren stood on the far side with a heavy-looking handgun pointed at my Second Momma. The gurney holding Nadia was parked a few feet beyond the angry pair.
Darren’s eyes flashed dangerously. He leapt forward and slammed his left forearm across my Second Momma’s neck, causing her head to thump off of the truck’s wall. She caught her breath at the sudden pain, but righted her head so she could glare at Darren. I think she’s perfected the glare over time on Dr. Devya.
“That wasn’t kindness,” Darren hissed. He leaned into his left arm enough to press Dr. Carnasis against the wall. “She owed me. Her words were payment for a debt, and she’s never stopped letting me know that.” Darren’s right hand held the handgun in a white-knuckled grip. His angry gestures brought the dark piece of metal awfully close to my Second Momma’s face.
“Your anger with Cora—justified or not—has nothing to do with Nadia,” Dr. Carnasis insisted.
“You almost sound like you care for her,” Darren said, taking a small step back.
A wave of weariness rushed through my Second Momma, completely draining her of anger and fear. She blinked slowly like someone waking from a long nap.
“You almost sound like you don’t.”
“I don’t,” Darren said, too quickly to be believed. “I’m going to sell that kid to the highest bidder and live the rest of my life in luxury.”
“What makes you think the highest bidder will let you live?” asked Dr. Carnasis. Bits of new anger focused her. “Once you deliver Nadia, you’re a liability.”
“You let me worry about that,” Darren said, becoming braver.
“Think carefully, Darren. If you take this path, you’re probably going to die. If Dean doesn’t do the deed, Varick will.”
“Shucks, Doc. You’re full of good news today,” Darren commented. He took another step back and adjusted the gun so that it pointed at my Second Momma’s face again. “Now, I want you to slowly undo your seat belt and go retrieve one of those happy little nighttime needles you’re so fond of. When you wake up, we’ll be at our fancy new digs. If you behave, we can even give Dr. Dean a call and see what you’re worth to him.”
“He won’t negotiate for me,” my Second Momma said, as she followed Darren’s instructions. While the drug in the needle did its work, she added, “We made a promise.”
Darren waited a few seconds to make sure she couldn’t fight before reapplying her seat belt.
“You’d better hope Dr. Dean’s willing to break promises, Doc. I don’t like killing, but I will.”
The drug leveled Dr. Carnasis’s emotions to neutral, and I skipped ahead to the moment she woke up. Nervousness and concern bickered to be top emotion. I got frustrated ’cause the emotions fired to life about five long seconds before Dr. Carnasis woke up. I couldn’t switch the scene until she had a sense of what surrounded her.
When her eyes finally opened, I pulled the view back and saw she was in a brightly lit basement room with bare walls, a cement floor, and a giant holding cell taking up half the free space. My Second Momma lay on a thin mattress with her left arm handcuffed to the serious-looking mesh wall of the makeshift prison.
The gurney holding Nadia had been chained to the opposite side of the overgrown people cage. Dr. Carnasis shook herself to drive off the rest of the drug’s effects and wrestled her uncooperative body to a sitting position, craning her neck to check on Nadia.
“She’s fine,” Darren said. “The machines are blinking green.”
“You can’t keep her unconscious here.” Dr. Carnasis sounded like she needed some water.
“Why not?” Darren demanded. “I’ve got a year’s supply of the wonder drug, plenty of food, water, and IV drips. You can keep her in good condition for a few weeks, can’t you?”
Dr. Carnasis shook her head violently, tossing her messy reddish-brown hair. She peered around as if to take in the entire basement.
“This … facility … is not equipped for her care. You’ll have to wake her.” She said “facility” like Nana would say “cesspit.”
Darren frowned deeply but seemed to be measuring Dr. Carnasis’s words.
“Is that a fact?”
My Second Momma looked like she was working hard to not scream at Darren. Sighing, she explained, “The lab we were headed to would have had very specific cocktails of nutrient supplements for the IV bags. The bed Nadia would have gone to was specifically designed to prevent bedsores. There would have been a team of scientists and physicians watching over her health day and night.”
“You’re a resourceful lady. Make do with what you’ve got,” Darren instructed. He tossed a handcuff key through the mesh. “I’ll post Stan out here to watch over you and fetch you food. The toilet’s behind that screen over there. Keep the kid alive. If she dies, I won’t need you.”
Dr. Carnasis chuckled darkly.
“If she dies, killing me will be very low on your priority list. The ‘high bidders’ you think are going to bankroll your sunny future will keep you busy enough.”
“You keep that sense of humor, Doc. I’ll check in tomorrow after making a few phone calls to get a second opinion. If you’re right, I’ll come up with a new plan. Maybe the high and mighty Dr. Dean will have some ideas.”
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