mindsc@pe Ch. 01

'So in my mind is a seascape and your mind is... blank...' Mia says in a syrupy voice tinged with sarcasm. 'That's gotta be saying something...'

'Very funny.' Jayce quips, as he rolls his eyes. He smiles, returning to his previous line of thought. 'What is something you've always wanted but never get for whatever reason. Anything at all, just picture it on that dune there.'

Mia cracked a nervous smile. 'Seriously?' Before Jayce could respond, a crunching noise of a million particles of sand rearranging focused the pair's attention on the previously mentioned dune. Slowly the sand began to form into solid matter. In a matter of seconds a large silver machine with pipes, knobs and flashing lights had taken shape. 'No...'

'Is- Is that what I think it is?' Jayce sat open-mouthed as Mia seemed to panic, grabbing his hand and squeezing it; the sand flashing out of existence, the machine destroyed as quickly as it was created.

Darkness.

Jayce blinked awake with enough time to see Mia open the blue curtain, turning back to him with a strange look in her eye.

'Barbarella?' He managed to say, his voice still raspy from before. That one word provoked a reaction in the woman, her look of confusion and desperation turning to shock and fear.

'Nobody... Tell- tell nobody... please...' And with those few words she was gone.

***

The doctor's Bowtie was bright red and crooked against his blue shirt. It took Jayce a significant amount of willpower not to correct the angle. 'The bullet has cauterised some brain tissue between the hemispheres.' He pointed to the CAT Scan, and the associated pattern of black and white striations across the center of it. 'You may experience some memory loss and possibly a lack in some cognitive functions.'

'Wonderful' Jayce muttered.

'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Mr. Winslow.' The Doctor crows back to the bed-ridden man.

'Oscar Wilde?'

'Nope,' the doctor stated proudly as if expecting Jayce's answer. 'But it's been attributed to him nonetheless. Like "Beam me up Scotty" or "Play it again, Sam.".' He turned back to the image of Jayce's Brain. 'Shouldn't be too much you can't handle. Chances are you'll just have the occasional moment where you can't remember names, faces or words. Nothing you technologically infatuated Gen-Y-ers don't already have in abundance.'

'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit remember.' Jayce says with a grin.

'Doesn't make it any less funny.' The Doctor tucks the scan into an envelope and places it on the bedside table. 'I'll clear it with the nurses, but you should be able to check out this afternoon. I can tell you're absolutely itching to get back to work..'

'Huh?'

'Technologically Infatuated remember?' the man says, pointing to Jayce's phone. 'Every time I see you you're staring longingly at that phone. And that Mia girl works with you right?' Jayce began to protest, but began blushing instead. 'Thought so. Come back and see me if you have any problems outside simple forgetfulness. I'll organise the usual psych appointments and so on as well. You'll be bored to tears, but it's for the best.'

'Thank you.' Jayce uttered as the Doctor disappeared through the blue curtain, an outstretched hand giving a thumbs up trailing behind him before it too was enveloped by the curtain.