Samuel turned to me. His face was solemn "Yes. But no. Not anymore."

"What happened?"

"He died two years ago. It was pretty rough on her."

That must have been what Rebecca had eluded to. And though my heart went out to Annie, I could barely conceal my own selfish relief. She was single! There was a chance I might win her back! Certainly the years were unrecoverable, but if I could have Annie and my kids... I sucked in a deep breath, and leaned back on the seat, soaking up the peace brought by this newfound hope.

Again we sat with our own thoughts as the car veered off the highway and followed a dirt road. Slowly the car turned and the tires crunched down a gravel driveway to a log cabin overlooking a quiet lake. A figure stood in the doorway. I immediately recognized her. From the distance, she appeared the same as I remembered her, as if no time had pa.s.sed.

The car rolled to a stop. Samuel jumped out and opened my door. I looked nervously over the seat at Rebecca.

"Go ahead," she said encouragingly.

"I don't know what to say," I whispered.

"Just take one step at a time." Her genuine smile brought me comfort. In spite of all the years that had pa.s.sed, she welcomed my return, and seemed excited at the prospect of my reconnecting with her mother.

I swung my legs out of the car and Samuel helped me up with a firm grasp. "Do you have my cane, Sam?"

"Right here." He grabbed it from the front seat.

I gripped the handle and rested my weight on it. Annie had come down to the bottom of the cobblestone path. Her eyes spoke volumes. She was happy to see me, but the many years stood between us like a gulf. For me it was only one day, but for her-- it was a lifetime.

She hadn't changed much. She looked considerably older, but age had done nothing to deface her beauty. Her eyes were the same brilliant sapphire, her blond hair twisted in curls to her shoulders. Pensively she stood with her arms folded over her midsection. I could tell she wanted to speak-- and yet, she remained silent.

Everything took on a new sense of realism as I stood looking at her face. It was the same feeling I'd had when I'd seen my reflection in the mirror earlier. Only this was worse. To see my beautiful bride looking so much older... How she must have suffered. And yet, in her eyes-- I actually saw a look of apology.

"Are you okay?" I said sheepishly.

"I had given up hope," she said quietly.

"It was a long time to wait. I wouldn't expect you to..."

"I waited," she said abruptly. "It hurt terribly, but I waited."

"I'm so sorry, Annie. I'm sorry you had to go through this. It must have been horrible."

"It's not your your fault. It's just that-- seeing you is..." She squeezed herself a little tighter. "It's just not what I expected." fault. It's just that-- seeing you is..." She squeezed herself a little tighter. "It's just not what I expected."

I studied her expression. "Is that good, good, or bad?" or bad?"

"Good," she blurted. "It's just that, it's been so long. long. I didn't think I would feel I didn't think I would feel anything, anything, and, I didn't. 'Til just now." and, I didn't. 'Til just now."

Was it true? Could she possibly still have feelings for me after all these years? It was more than I dared to hope.

"You-- recovered so quickly. It's remarkable," she said, superficially.

"It's a miracle."

"Yes." She corrected herself. "A miracle." She stepped in toward me and her eyes flickered up. "Do you remember remember us? Our life together? For me it was so long ago." us? Our life together? For me it was so long ago."

I shook my head. "For me it was just last week week I was dancing with you, my very pregnant wife, on our balcony overlooking the bay." I was dancing with you, my very pregnant wife, on our balcony overlooking the bay."

She became contemplative.

"It was the night you told me we were going to have a son, and that you had never been so happy in all your life."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"It was just yesterday for me. I had everything a man could desire, and more."

She looked up at me and a tear trickled down her cheek. "It was so perfect I thought I had dreamed it." Her voice became a whisper. "Were we that that happy once?" happy once?"

"If you could find it in yourself to give me a second chance, we could be happy again." I immediately regretted the words. Talking about the past was one thing. But this was way too fast-- for someone who had lived twenty-one years since yesterday.

I started to mouth an apology. But she stopped me. "You don't need a second chance, Thomas. You never failed me the first time." She slid her arms under mine and hugged my chest. The smell of her hair had changed, but I was immediately satisfied by the new scent. This was not the wife of my memory, but she was still my Annie.

I looked up to see Rebecca standing by the back of the car, struggling to keep her emotions from overtaking her, and it was more than I could bear. My own tears began to flow. My baby girl... To me it was just yesterday she was strutting around the backyard in a paper crown, pretending to be a queen and giving orders to the dog. Now she was a grown woman! But she had not forgotten me. She had not stopped loving her daddy.

I held my hand out to her. "Come here, sweetheart."

She ran over and threw her arms around us. "I love you, Daddy," she whispered.

"I love you too, honey."

I felt Samuel's hand on my back. "Welcome home, Dad," he said, his voice cracking. "Welcome home."

CHAPTER 19.

THE PLAN.

001001011001110.

Inside, the light was warm and inviting. Annie had always possessed a keen eye for interior decoration. Rectangular cedar pillars held up thick rustic beams, which crossed back and forth in the s.p.a.cious ceiling above. To the left, was the kitchen, to the right, a sunken living room, and straight in front of us, stairs leading up to a loft.

Annie helped me to a comfortable seat next to the kitchen table. I gripped the arms weakly and sat down.

"Be right back," said Rebecca, heading up the stairs.

"Can I get you anything?" asked Annie. Her face was still flush from our unexpectedly tearful reunion.

"A cup of tea would be nice. Earl..."

"Grey," she finished. "Yes. I remember."

I watched in silence as she pulled a cup from the cupboard. She was still very beautiful. The years had been far more gracious to her than they had been to me. Her face had thickened slightly and there was a hint of gray in her blonde hair, but other than that, she hadn't changed much at all.

"How are you feeling?" Samuel came in and leaned against the counter.

"Better than I ever could have hoped." I scanned the room. "This is a nice place."

"Mom has great taste." He smiled, but this smile was more pensive than his earlier ones. "Under better circ.u.mstances, I would bring you down and show you the lake. In the evening, it's beautiful when the moon shines on it. And you can catch fish as big as your arm."

I nodded. "Under better circ.u.mstances, I would enjoy that."

"Here you go." Annie placed a steaming cup in front of me.

I looked up at her. "That was fast."

"I used the TLD, it only takes a few seconds."

"Oh." I looked around. There were several devices on the counter I didn't recognize.

Annie took a hesitant step back. "Do you-- want to talk about it?" Her eyes studied me intently.

"What? the lab?"

"Everything. I mean... You've been practically dead for twenty-one years, and now out of the blue you wake up. And we're getting mysterious calls early in the morning." Her face tightened. "What's going on? Becky said your life life was in danger?" was in danger?"

"I don't know. Dr. Solomon couldn't tell me much. He said the government had stepped in, something about them wanting to undermine the project-? I asked him why but he said he didn't know." I paused and thought a moment. "He said they were afraid afraid of what they might discover inside the minds of the patients." I glanced up at Annie. She looked baffled. of what they might discover inside the minds of the patients." I glanced up at Annie. She looked baffled.

Samuel spoke up. "Why? What's inside the minds of the patients?"

"I don't know. know. I don't remember." I don't remember."

"You don't remember anything?"

"No. There are feelings, but they're faint. I don't remember being in the coma. I remember New York, and then waking up in the lab." I looked from Samuel to Annie. "What happened? How did I end up in a lab?"

Annie pulled out a kitchen chair, sat down, and looked thoughtful. After a moment, she spoke. "Do you remember the accident?"

"Vaguely."

"Well, you suffered severe damage to your head and was diagnosed with terminal brain failure. So I started looking for a specialist, and I found one in Fresno. He couldn't do much for you, but he was the one who told us about the center, and about how they were developing a way to communicate with patients like you. So I called and talked to Dr. Solomon. He didn't promise anything, but it was the best option available."

"Tell him about the forms," said Sam.

"Yes. There were a lot lot of forms, stacks of them. They wanted to know of forms, stacks of them. They wanted to know every every last detail of your life, right down to your childhood memories. It took weeks to get them all filled out last detail of your life, right down to your childhood memories. It took weeks to get them all filled out."

"Tell him about the programmer thing."

Annie gave Sam a look that said, I can handle handle this. He put his hands up in surrender. She looked back at me. "A friend of mine told me about a man she knew who was rejected because he was a programmer. And since I didn't want there to be any chance of you being rejected too, especially after filling out all of those papers..." She gave a sheepish look. "I lied on the forms. I told them you were a fireman who had inherited a hefty trust fund." She gave a wan smile. this. He put his hands up in surrender. She looked back at me. "A friend of mine told me about a man she knew who was rejected because he was a programmer. And since I didn't want there to be any chance of you being rejected too, especially after filling out all of those papers..." She gave a sheepish look. "I lied on the forms. I told them you were a fireman who had inherited a hefty trust fund." She gave a wan smile.

"So that's what Solomon meant," I said under my breath.

"What's that?"

"Solomon made some comment about me climbing ladders. Now I know why."

"Oh." She chuckled. "Well, I wanted to make sure you got in. And you did." She smiled. "So apparently they didn't have a problem with firefighters. --Anyway, I couldn't be there when you were admitted because I was in labor with Sam..."

There were no emotions in the subtle lines of her face, only reflection. Apparently she had long since come to terms with the trauma.

"But when he was three weeks old I went to see you. That's when I learned they were going to try a new technique to see if they could talk directly directly to your brain." to your brain."

"Yes. Solomon spoke of that. Sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie."

"I know. Exactly. But they were serious, and they seemed confident that it could be done. So, every month for the last twenty-one years, I've received a report from the center, detailed reports with graphs and statistics." She shrugged. "Most of it I don't understand. But there was never anything to make me suspicious about what was going on."

"Not even when the government took over?"

Her eyebrows lifted. "No. They had always provided the best care possible, and I saw no reason to worry. Solomon told me of the government's interest in the project, and that they were offering to reduce our cost. That was fine with me.

"So you never saw anything out of the ordinary?"

"Tell him about the priest, Mom," said Rebecca. She had come down and was sitting on the stairs.

"Yeah, that was strange," said Samuel.

I looked at Annie. "A priest?"

She rubbed her palms across the table. "On one of my visits, I overheard two men talking about Father Wentworth, one of the other patients. Solomon always referred to him fondly as, 'the religious component.' He said all the patients added something to the world you were creating together, and that his contribution was religion. Anyway, Father Wentworth..."

"W- wait a minute, sorry to interrupt, but, did you say, 'the world we we were creating'?" were creating'?"

She shrugged. "I still don't really understand it. But Solomon said the virtual world he had created was changing on its own. The data indicated that you and the other patients were adding to it and changing it, and that it was hardly the same thing anymore." She shrugged again. "That's what they told me."

I squinted at her, then shook my head. "O-kay. --So, what about the priest?" --So, what about the priest?"

"Well I guess he didn't take to the computer very well, and these two men were discussing whether or not he was even in in the system. See, each of you had an activity monitor above your bed, and every time your mind told the computer to do something, it would appear on the monitor as a blip. --I used to stare at yours for hours." Her eyes became distant. "I can't begin to describe the feeling I would get when it would jump. It was like-- like you were whispering to me from the door of death, telling me you were still there, telling me everything was going to be okay." Her voice trailed off and she stared at the table. "Anyway." She shook her head. "Back to the priest. Father Wentworth's monitor had a single spike, and that was all." the system. See, each of you had an activity monitor above your bed, and every time your mind told the computer to do something, it would appear on the monitor as a blip. --I used to stare at yours for hours." Her eyes became distant. "I can't begin to describe the feeling I would get when it would jump. It was like-- like you were whispering to me from the door of death, telling me you were still there, telling me everything was going to be okay." Her voice trailed off and she stared at the table. "Anyway." She shook her head. "Back to the priest. Father Wentworth's monitor had a single spike, and that was all."

"So, he wasn't responding to the treatment," I said. "What's so strange about that?"

"That's not the weird part, Thomas. The two men were talking about extracting extracting him from Vrin. And the way they said it, it was like they were going to do it, from the him from Vrin. And the way they said it, it was like they were going to do it, from the inside. inside. Like they could just go Like they could just go in in and get him." and get him."

Sam interjected. "The voice, Mom, tell him about the voice."

"I'm getting to that, Sam." Annie stood up and walked to the window. "It wasn't just what what they said, Thomas. It was how one of the men talked." She pulled the curtain aside and looked out. "It was... I know this sounds crazy, but it was like he spoke in another language, but I understood it." She turned back toward me. "And his they said, Thomas. It was how one of the men talked." She pulled the curtain aside and looked out. "It was... I know this sounds crazy, but it was like he spoke in another language, but I understood it." She turned back toward me. "And his face, face, his face was his face was perfect perfect, not handsome perfect, but, flawless flawless perfect. --And the look he gave me... I'm telling you, Thomas, it made my knees weak. I almost dropped the coffee I was holding. I, I can't explain it, but-- I don't think he was of this world." perfect. --And the look he gave me... I'm telling you, Thomas, it made my knees weak. I almost dropped the coffee I was holding. I, I can't explain it, but-- I don't think he was of this world."

I studied Annie's face. She was still shaken by the encounter. "When was this?" I asked.

"A few months ago."