1.
It was the mid morning, around 11:30am,
just before lunch, and all the doctors of the Princeton-Plainsboro
teaching hospital were busy trying to get to a point in whatever they
were doing to be able to take their lunch break. Dr. House, as
always, was the exception.
He sat in his office, almost sullen,
trying as he does to take his mind off of the dull pain that follows
him through his days. For him lunchtime is usually spent considering
whether or not he should eat first or just pop a couple more vicodins
now, eat, then pop another one before getting back to work. The truth
of the matter was that if push came to shove he could live without
taking anymore vicodins, the pain was there, certainly, but it was
manageable. With that in mind, Dr. House told himself that little
lie, as everyone does (tell little lies, that is) that he actually
needed them. Today was going to be one of those days, he could feel
it, he thought to himself. He stopped belaboring the issue and popped
two of the little pills into his mouth when he saw Dr. Wilson coming
down the hall towards his office with a hustle to his step.
Dr. Wilson opened up the glass door to
his office and popped his head in for just a moment. “Cuddy needs
to see you” he blurted out before House even could tell his old
friend “Can't you see I'm busy?”
“What's up?” Dr. House asked.
“I'm late for lunch. You'll have to
ask her”
2.
House walked to Cuddy's office on a
cloud of vicodin haze, able to tune out the sound of his own cane
tapping against the ground as he made his way down the maze of
hallways.
“Greg, Good, youre here.” she said
as he sat down in the chair second closest to her desk. “I just got
off the phone with a personal friend who wants your help in a very
unusual local case.” she continued, completely skipping all
pleasantries. Dr. House actually preferred it that way. “Go on”
he said as he admired her face and her form.
“Well, do you remember that story a
couple years ago about the local boy genius?” she asked.
“The...hydrocephalic? Sure. Who can
forget a kid with a head that large. Let me guess, his cranium grew
so large that his neck can barely support it's weight anymore.” he
replied, sarcastically.
“Actually, yes.”
Dr. House looked at her, dumbfounded.
“That's not all. It's reached some
kind of accelerated growth spurt. He is literally mutating. And no
one knows why. And then it gets weird...”
“Oh, that wasn't already weird?”
“Not like this. Apparently he is now
generating some kind of bio-electro-magnetic field, frying any
instruments that he comes into contact with, which is preventing a
lot of efforts to treat or even determine what is wrong with him.”
“That sounds like something out of
the X-Files. Or the X-Men.”
“Does it sound like something that
might interest you?”
Dr. House pauses, stroking yesterday's
five o'clock shadow while he thinks for a moment.
“I suppose I could take a look.”
3.
The patient, David Morrow, was wheeled
up into the candle lit examination room by his concerned mother.
David, his gigantic throbbing cranium shedding hair as it grew,
looked shriveled and pathetic in the wheelchair, not unlike a
quadriplegic. House took mental note of the boy's appearance,
likening him to a Stephen Hawking bobble-head. His sullen mother, on
the other hand, reminded him of Sally Field.
“Hello, Doctor.” David said to Dr.
House, telepathically.
“How old are you now, David? 15?”
Dr. House said as he used an old fashioned stethoscope to check the
boy's heart and pulse. Neither of them sounded like anything he had
heard before. His heart seemed to be beating at the rapid pace of a
hummingbird's. “I am, 16 as of last week.” he replied,
telepathically, causing Dr. House to wince.
“It's disconcerting, isn't it?
Hearing my voice in your mind.”
“Can you hear my thoughts?”
“I could, yes. I try not to, but each
mind I come into proximity of is like sitting too close to the
speakers at a concert. I can tune some of it out if I try hard
enough, but the base still reverberates inside of my chest, if you
know what I mean”
“Okay, David, I'll leave you two.”
His mother suddenly said aloud, startling Dr. House. He watches her,
wide-eyed, as she leaves them.
“It's okay, Greg. Can I call you
Greg? I can see your thoughts. You may take a pill. I know it takes
the edge off.” The boy then quietly said inside of House's mind.
“David, I'm not comfortable speaking
to you in this way.” Dr. House said aloud, sternly, but careful not
to sound too condescending or rude.
“It isnt just you, Dr. House. It's
everyone. I can hear everyone's thoughts. Everyone on Earth.”
“But can you discern any of it? Or is
it all just chaos?” Dr. House asked aloud.
“I can hear each instrument in the
symphony. Like a magic eye painting. I just have to pull back....”
David said before drifting off.
“David? David?!” Dr. House urgently
asked as he checked the boy's pulse. He was alive, just asleep.
4.
David floated a midst infinity, seeing
all things microcosmic, right down to each and every molecule of his
entire body, and then slowly upwards, becoming aware of the state of
every molecule of every being around him. He could feel the
electricity surging through the building and out into the nearby
cities, visiting each home the current powers, seeing each person
living their lives, seeing what they are doing, hearing what they are
thinking. The awareness continued to spread, across the entirety of
the Earth. He could hear the mind and heart of every being, man and
animal alike. He was experiencing and understanding a level of
contentedness that he always suspected but never knew for sure. On a
quantum-level. Each mind. Each body. Each plant. Each feeling. All
one. The infinite burning of a world's anger, setting his own mind
ablaze, the endless joys, warming his very being, the infinite depths
of sadness and pain, causing him to be all to aware of his own. It
was the pain that kept him moving up.
He saw the Earth from a God's point of
view. At first, a shimmering beautiful jewel floating in the
blackness, getting smaller and smaller as he approaches Mars, feeling
alien feelings that are still as natural to him as the wind against
his face. The storms of Jupiter, caressing his mind like a moist
spritz on a hot day, then he stopped for a moment. And turned. He saw
the great mother of all life that he has ever known. Sol. Such
violence, such beauty, such grandeur. Reduced to a tiny yellow dot as
he moved up even further.
He saw the outside of the Milky Way as
though it were a childhood home he was visiting for the first time
since becoming an adult. Everything seemed to...small.
Further still past the confines of the
Virgo Local Super-cluster, and even more, as he passed through the
threshold of the Laniakea Super-cluster. And just a few more layers
of awareness up and he is seeing the entire universe. It seemed to
tiny. Surrounded by an infinite number of universes like itself. He
could feel all of them. It soon became clear that he was no longer in
outer space, but rather that outer space was a tiny part of the inner
space of a larger body among an infinite sea of larger bodies. Like
an amoeba given the awareness to see each creature on Earth.
The cycle continued, up further and
further, seas of beings that are parts of larger worlds, larger
universes and so on and so forth...forever. At least, he thought it
was forever.
Finally he came upon a sea made of
colors unlike anything a living consciousness could ever dream of
perceiving. It was then that the longing, the loneliness that he had
felt creeping up on the coattails of the awe he had been feeling was
finally addressed. He was being addressed. By one of the other
beings. He could see his astral body now, formless and massive,
reflected in the eye of the creatures before him. He likened them to
a parliament of Gods.
He swam with them in the infinite sea,
washing in cosmic forces he had only hoped to someday see and
understand. He felt like a dolphin being released from a lifetime of
captivity that he had been born into.
Finally, the time came to attempt
communication. To communicate with the beings before him. To try to
share with them.
David was a starchild the likes of
which they had never encountered. They looked upon him with
curiousity and fascination. In a single, beautiful, instant, he felt
them all reaching out for him, to touch him, to share in what he was.
To let him into their world. Their secrets.
If only to be interrupted, by an
infernal, damnable beeping. It was a machine. A human machine. He was
being pulled back.
5.
“No! Why? Why?! Let me go back!
Please, Let me go Back!” he cried as his eyes opened and he saw his
mother and Dr. House standing in front of him. “What...What is
happening? I...I cant see...I cant feel...everything. I am...only me.
I can only hear my own thoughts! The...the images are
fading...Please...let me go back there! Before it's gone! Please!
PLEASE!” he begged and screamed, tears streaming down his face. Dr.
House winced, genuinely feeling sorry for the guy, as he injected him
with a mild sedative.
A few hours later David awoke again. He
felt numb. “What happened?” he asked.
“Your head kept growing. Slowly. Over
the span of months. You were unconscious the whole time. As near as I
can tell your brain was...”evolving”...into some kind
of...massive bio-computer. Do you remember any of it?” Dr. House
replied.
“No. Yes. I dont know. I remember the
feeling of being connected to everything. I remember colors.
Electricity. Like the ending to 2001 a Space Odyssey. Its gone now. I
guess you could say I am human again. How did you bring me back? Why
did you bring me back?”
“Your body was getting to a point
where it wouldnt support your head anymore. You would have died-”
Dr. House began to say before being cut
off by David.
“What gave you the right?!” he
barked with angry impudence.
“It was me, David. I told him to do
what he could to save you. I need you, David. I dont want to lose
you.” his mother said, her voice trembling as she attempted to keep
her composure despite the tears streaming down her face. David opened
his hand and his mother knew to step to his side and take it. “It's
okay mom. So, what happened?” he continued, addressing Dr. House.
“Well, I discovered a gland at the
base of your hypothalamus that was producing the strange conductive
fluid that was causing your head to grow. I had to surgically remove
the gland, and then drain each one of the fluid reservoirs that had
collected in your skull. Once the swelling started to go down, and
your head returned to normal size (well, normal for you) you woke up.
You have to understand, David, I didnt want to stop what was
happening. It was something completely new and completely different.
But with you shorting any machine that got close to you it was almost
impossible for us to really collect any data. So, as a doctor, my
choices were limited. Save your life or call the government to come
and have you dissected. You may have lost your telepathy, but your
brain is still incredibly powerful. Once you are fully recovered you
will still be among the smarted human beings alive.”
David nodded his head and let out a
sigh. “It hurts. My head hurts.” he finally replied.
“You are going to be in recovery for
quite some time. I imagine that headaches are going to persist for a
while. I can give you a prescription for something to help with the
pain”
“No, Dr. House. Drugs aren't the
answer. You of all people should know that.” David said, in a way
that both was and wasn't intended to be a dig at The Doctor.
“Suit yourself, Kid.” Dr. House
replied.
