Prisoner 4378 (Part 2)

Prisoner 4378 (Part 2)

Regina

          Regina sat in her chair and watched as Prisoner 4378 slowly woke. The first part of her job was easy, wait til the Prisoner was distracted by the monitor then lower the bed cover back in place. It was a silent operation, and just needed the prisoner distracted for the few seconds it took to lower the cover. She studied him as he rolled out of the bed, his waking was one of the longest she had ever experienced. Most of the prisoners woke with in a minute of the voice alarm, and took only a little bit before they were standing at the foot of the bed looking up at the monitor.

          Prisoner 4378 was different. He did not wake that quick, four minutes, that was the average wake and then stand at the foot of the bed. He tossed and turned for 20 minutes as the monitor alarm droned on, it almost drove her crazy listening to it. He finally came fully awake, yet he still laid in the bed, rubbing his face and eyes, shaking his head. He finally sat up in the bed and moved his legs out, it looked like he was surveying the room before his eyes finally focused on the monitor. He stayed on the edge of the bed until The Overseer spoke up.

          He finally got fully out of the bed and walked to the foot of it. She quickly hit the cover button while he was distracted. He stood listening and watching the monitor. I was shocked to hear his voice, never in all her time had anyone ever spoken back to the monitor, it seemed to also throw the Overseer off track a little bit. He actually showed a little emotion, surprise at the question.

          He did something else no other prisoner had ever done before, he searched the room, he was looking for stuff, I have no clue what he was searching for, but he was obviously searching, and the look of surprise on the overseer changed to concern before he turned his connection off.

          As he left the room, I locked the door behind him. I fully expected him to turn left when he left the room. He stood for a few seconds outside the door, looking left and then right, like he was not sure which way to go. Only the left direction had a door at the very end of the hall and it was plainly visible, the right hand side ended in a blank wall.

          I watched as he turned to the right, he slowly walked down the hall looking at the walls and the floor and the ceiling, when he got to the first door he tried it, at first he seemed a little hesitant but then he tried to turn the knob, the door was locked. He did not waste much time trying it again and again, he just moved on to the next door, and thus it was for him all the way down and back. He stopped in front of the room he had come out of and tentatively reached out and tried it, only to learn that it was locked also.

          He looked confused as he was apparently doing a self check of his body, this also was something I had never encountered before. Who is this person I thought to myself, that he is already questioning himself and his surroundings, what did he do to land here I wondered, what did he do in the other life he was forced to serve? These were questions I had, but knew I would never get the answers to.

          The overseer came on the monitor, blanking any further thoughts of him and his actions from me. The overseer looked like he had calmed and composed himself. “Regina, when prisoner 4378 comes into the room you are to ignore him, if you must just stare at the monitor here. I will let you know when you may interact with him, do you understand”? I looked at the overseer, something was amiss here and I was not sure what it was, he seemed calm and composed, but never before had a request such as that been made. I nodded to him that I understood.

          I don’t know what prisoner 4378 was doing during this time, I heard the Overseer announce to him, “Prisoner 4378, prisoner 4378 please step into the out processing room”. The door began to open shortly after his announcement. Seeing him in person instead of on a monitor was a little bit different, it always was. He seemed a little hesitant at entering the room, he stood on the threshold looking around as his hand pushed the door fully open to allow him an unobstructed view of the room.

          I do not recall any other prisoner entering with such hesitation as he did. I motioned for him to take a seat so that we could get started, part of my job was to not speak until the prisoners spoke first. This was not an easy thing for me to do in his case, his hesitancy to enter the room and his actions upon waking were taking a toll on me mentally. I do not know why, but it was bothering the Overseer also, so this may have been me feeding off his anxiety and not really my own. The overseer did not notice that prisoner 4378 took notice of how quickly he hit the lock button on his desk pad, I noticed, and I noticed Prisoner 4378 noticed something unusual in the monitor.

          Prisoner 4378 was giving the desk a good look over, and even examining the chair, he kept looking into the left back corner, but the overseer did not seem to notice his stare. I wanted to speak up, but a glance at the Overseer and his lip zipping motion left no doubt I was to remain silent. Prisoner 4378 saw or caught a glimpse of the monitors flicker from the corner of his eye. I was somewhat glad he had moved to walk around the room. I was a little shocked at his brazen attempt to open the desk drawer, but fortunately he did not see the reaction on my face. No one had ever tried to open any drawer in the desk in the seven years I had worked here.

          I watched as he tried the exit door handle and watched as the Overseer followed his stroll back to the chair. When he got back he finally sat down. I watched him give me the once over, and I may have smiled or slightly blushed, I have never been so affected by a gaze as I was by his. He made me feel as if I was truly a vision, no man had ever gazed at me that way, it took all I had to not respond, and then his words...like a slap back to reality...a lightning bolt shooting straight through my heart and soul.

          “You can forget the slight smile and eye flash, I do not find you attractive at all. I grow weary of the game this place is playing. The gentleman on the screen, and I am just guessing it was him on the screen in the room I woke up in, said you will answer my questions. Now what is this place and who are you, who is he and who am I, we can start with those question, then you can tell me how and why I am not dead”?

          I was stunned, almost completely devastated, It took every ounce of will power I had to maintain my composure as much as possible, I looked to the Overseer, to see his reaction, and to see if now I could speak. The Overseer had a very smug look on his face, he gave a slight nod. I turned to look at Prisoner 4378, “You are in Ward 82 Alpha of the Reclamation Wing of Humanity. I am Regina, the individual on the monitor is The Overseer, he oversees the release of and re-introduction of prisoners into Humanity Central. Your name has not been shown to me yet, and likely will not. You will get that answer prior to completing out processing.”

^{12/27/17 - Nothing at all to do with the story, just a picture to break the words some. She felt the cold shoulder}

          “As for how and why you are not dead. Technically you did die. There is no doubt about that. Forty 45 years ago you were convicted of a crime, you were given a life sentence. All individuals that are given a life sentence are sent here to the Humanity Reclamation Center, H.R.C. for short. Some of your DNA is extracted and then implanted in an Individual on Earth 2. Where you are born and where you die, thus serving your life sentence. You are not dead here, because you were in a deep state of hyper-sleep.

          “That’s enough Regina, you may leave, I will continue from here”. I looked up at the overseer, he looked scared, he kept glancing up slightly like he was looking at a monitor the same as I was. I had never seen him act like that. He raised his hand to his ear as if cupping an ear plug and slightly tilted his head as if concentrating closely on something being told to him. Never had I been told to leave before the out processing was complete. This was indeed an unusual case.

          As I was getting up Prisoner 4378 spoke up again, “before you go, I have one more question, where the hell is the bathroom, because I really need to pee”. I almost burst out laughing at his plain spoken need, I looked at the overseer, he nodded. I arose from my chair and walked around the desk toward him, “if you'll follow me I will show you the facilities”.

          I escorted him back through the door he had entered the room through, and began walking down the hall. I showed him the door to the facilities, and entered the room with him. He seemed surprised at that. “what you need to stand there and make sure I really need to pee?” he asked.

          “No, I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you did, I do know that this is not the way awakenings happen. If you have any memories of your previous life do not let them know. Complain about a massive headache or something”. With that advice to him I stepped back into the hall and went to the door leading to the cafeteria, I needed something to eat, and some time to think.

The Overseer

          I looked over to the second monitor for the hallway, Regina was just entering the cafeteria door. Prisoner 4378 had not yet returned from the facilities. Which was good, I needed a few minutes to process what was going on. I watched as Prisoner 4378 came out of the facilities and then directly back into the out processing room. He took the chair facing the monitor, and held his head in his hands rubbing slightly at his temples like he had a headache.

          “Prisoner 4378, do you remember anything before you died? Anything at all”? This was the most unusual waking case I have ever experienced, but Supervisor 21 had filled me in that there was a similar event several years ago. A Prisoner woke with some memories of his other life. His reintegration went well despite the memories, but did require some intervention.

          “No I woke up with this bad dream, and headache, I don’t even know what my dream was about, all I know is that I was supposed to be dead, that I had died. Dying is not a comfortable thing to experience. She...uh mm…Regina, said something about Earth 2 and I died there, and that my sentence here was done. I do not understand”? I watched him closely as he spoke, I could detect no deceit in his words, he appeared to be coming as docile as all the other prisoners. I entered into the computer to have the systems checked out in the room in which he woke.

          As I studied him I could see that he was experiencing some discomfort, before I knew it he had hurriedly reached for the small trash can and started to retch into it. It was all clear liquid, he had nothing solid to evacuate, but the retching did look painful to observe. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve since there was nothing else to use. He looked up somewhat blankly at the monitor, “Does that happen to all the people that wake up? Is that why there is a trash can here close at hand”? He asked. “Yes, it is a normal part of the waking process. It usually happens earlier in the process. I must say that not many have quite as bad a reaction as you just had. Usually it is just one choke and puke and a few ounces of liquid, it would appear as if your body was not quite cleared before waking. You should start to feel much better soon, and the headache will be going away, it is caused by the residual Hyper Sleep drugs”, I informed him. I glanced down at the desk monitor and saw the message proceed as normal flash from Supervisor 21.

          “Prisoner 4378, it seems there was indeed a small minor glitch in the procedure for your waking process. You will feel irritable and strange, off-kilter, for the next couple of days. I assure you these feelings and problems will clear up. We will be assigning Regina to monitor your health and progress, I know you do not think much of her by your reaction to her, but I can assure you she is a very most capable out processor and will have your best interest foremost in her mind, if that would suit you, if not we can find and assign another individual”. I was glad that I would not have to be doing any follow up, that will be Supervisor 21’s problem now not mine. I paged Regina back to the out processing room. In a few minutes Prisoner 4378 will no longer be my concern.

          I watched Regina enter the room from the hallway, and look at Prisoner 4378, she did not seem overly pleased to be back here. “Regina, you are to see to Prisoner 4378’s final out processing, get him named, and a place to stay and all the other minutiae that comes with out processing. In addition to the normal out processing, Supervisor 21 has assigned you to be his nursemaid for the next four days. There was a glitch in the waking process and you are to keep careful watch over him. If you feel you are not capable let me know now so we can find another suitable nurse maid. Of course if you do not feel capable it will reflect on your work record. Prisoner 4378, do you wish for a different person”? Regina and the Prisoner gave each other the once over. Then Prisoner 4378 responded.

          “No, she will be fine, one nursemaid is the same as another, you say she will be walking me through the rest of out processing, that will give time for her presence to settle in and I will not have to settle in with an unknown person”. He glanced at her to see if she reacted, which being the professional she is she held her reaction in close.

          “Regina, can you do this”? I asked her.

          “My job is out processing and seeing to it that prisoners are returned into humanity made whole. I do not see this as being outside my job responsibilities, if Supervisor 21 requested additional support for him I will do my job”. Regina was and always had been an outstanding out processor. She handled some of the most difficult people. Man or woman, it did not matter to her, she had a job to do and she always did it to the best of her ability. I looked closely at her and wondered why she has not been promoted, I had heard she turned a promotion down last year, that she felt she was not quite ready, I think after this one, she will be ready for that promotion whether she wants it or not. She was to talented to waste down here in out processing. I would forward my recommendation to supervisor 21.

          “Very well, prisoner 4378, welcome back to humanity, that will be the last time that designation is given to you. Your name is Jack Baxter. You of course do not recognize the name, after out processing is complete you will be free to change your name to whatever you like”, I looked once more to Regina, Regina meet Jack, see to it that the remainder of Jack’s out processing goes with out issue”.

          I watched as Regina led Jack out of the room, and down to the medical office. I always thought that should be the first stop, not this initial observation and question period. We were tasked with make a judgment call, did they remember. I am not sure in Jack’s case. I think he might remember something, he certainly remembers his dying, but before that, to difficult to tell. Everything could be explained by the bed glitch, but I really am not sure, it is out of my hands now. Supervisor 21 gave the release go ahead, his problem now not mine. He does have Regina looking after him for those first critical days, she was a good choice for that. I put them out of my mind as I began to look over the next release orders, and began to make preparations for the next release.

The Exit

          I looked over to Regina, “Thank you for the advice in the facilities. I don’t know why you said that, but I am grateful for the help. This is all strange...”she interrupted me. “Shush, I will explain later. For now be docile, be as mellow as you can be, be a little confused looking. We are still being watched” She was silent after that leading me to the next phase of out processing, a medical check from what the overseer had said. How much longer before I know what is going on? Who is she. Why is she helping me? Her reactions in the out processing were they just an act for me or for the overseer, or this mystery Supervisor 21? More questions on top of earlier questions, when would they end?

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Prisoner 4378 Part 1

Part one was an entry into @calluna's - - Tell me a Story Contest

The following all wanted or expressed an interest in a part two, although none of the questions from part one were really fully answered, just more questions.

@lynncoyle1
@headchange
@oliviackl
@audreybits
@naideth