Copper Visions (8 page)

David lifted Sophie and Mrs. Hobbes bustled along behind them to help arrange her on the seat in the cab.

George tipped his hat to both of them. “Is the lady ill, sir?”

“She is George,” David said, setting her inside the cab. “But we're going to take her someplace that will make her better.”

“Your woman was saying the private hospital. That really where you want to take her?” George asked.

“Yes, George, that's where we're going. Is there a problem?” David returned.

“No problem, sir,” George said. “I just wouldn't recommend taking her there if you didn't need to. Course, it's none of my business, is it sir? I'll get you there as fast as I can.”

David climbed into the cabbed and looked at Sophie. Sitting straight up as she was, she was starting to have trouble breathing. Pondering what driver had said, he set about making her more comfortable for the ride.

As they rode, David talked to Sophie, mostly to keep her occupied but also to come up with a plan. With the way things had gone lately, he didn't trust the doctors or the hospital to let them leave after Sophie's problem had been dealt with.

"I'm going to get as much information from the doctor that I can, Sophie," David said. "I want you to listen to what's going on around you but don't say anything if you can help it. I don't want them to think that I'm helping you because that could make getting out complicated."

Sophie nodded slowly. "I'm not to say anything and you're not helping me. So, how are you taking me there? Did I just end up on your front door step?"

"My housekeeper found you in the alley this morning. You were trying to get help but with the excitement and the exhaustion, you became confused and went to the last place you remembered receiving help and got lost."

"You make me sound like an idiot," Sophie said. "I may not be the smartest person in the room, David, but I'm not an idiot."

"We want them to underestimate you, Sophie. The less they think of you, the less they will think of you, and that will give you the chance to act quickly when you see an opportunity," David said. "And I want you to watch for opportunities to get out of there once we've gotten the serum."

"Alright," she said. "I don't think they'll be paying much attention to me, anyway. They always inject the serum and have me lie down while we wait for it to start working. Mostly they just leave me to take a nap."

"That may be what's happened in the past but with the events of the last few days, I don't want to take any chances."

The cab stopped and George opened the hatch at the top to speak to them. "We're here, sir, and there's people coming out. They don't look too happy for me to be here."

David propped Sophie on the seat and moved her closer to the door so he could lift her easier after he was out. He could hear raised voices but couldn't decipher what was being said until he unlatched the door and stepped out.

"I don't care why you're here, this is a private hospital, we don't take patients that haven't been arranged by our doctors," the woman was shouting at George. "Now, take yourself out of here."

"Excuse the intrusion, madam," David said. "I realize we don't have an appointment but I'm here to see Doctor Blue about one of his patients. She's been treated here before and I'm certain he wouldn't want her being seen at the public hospital."

The woman gasped as she got a look at David's face then straightened her already stiff back even taller. "I had no idea Doctor Blue was expecting visitors. Which patient is it you're here to see him about?"

"The one who had gone missing as of last night," David said, turning toward the carriage door. "Will you please let the doctor know we're here and direct me to a room for the young lady?"

"This is highly irregular," the woman said.

"I imagine it is," David said. "Still, it's little enough to ask."

He looked into the cab to see Sophie grinning and shook his head slightly at her. She made an effort to stop and be lifted her out of the cab. Turning, he saw the woman's face pale slightly at the sight of Sophie.

"We weren't expecting to have her back," the woman said. "Please follow me. I'll show you to a room and have Doctor Blue meet you there."

"You are courtesy itself, Madam," David said and followed her into the hospital.

Everything was clean and sparkling white, even the corridors they took to the private rooms. David wondered how many patients the hospital had served since most of the equipment they passed did not appear to have ever been used. The room they were shown to was larger than Sophie's apartment had been, with a metal hospital bed in the middle, surrounded by many unique apparatuses that he couldn't immediately put a use to. The most worrying thing, to him, were the leather straps attached to the bed that were the only things that had obviously been used.

There was a basin with a pitcher of water near the door and numerous counters. There were extinguished lights with attached mirrors that would allow the light to be focused at different angles on the bed. With nowhere else to set her, David put Sophie on the bed and moved to prop her head up as best he could.

"Would you like to wait for Doctor Blue here, sir, or outside his office?" The woman asked him. "He's a very busy man and I can't tell you when he'll be available to see you, though I know he'll get to Miss Fisher as quickly as he can."

"I'll wait here," David said. "I have business with him beyond delivering Miss Sophie to his tender care but it involves the work he's done on her so he can talk to me while he helps her."

"Very good, sir," she said and left, sweeping her skirts behind her as if to punctuate her indignation at having her routine interrupted.

When she was out of earshot, Sophie began to giggle. "Do you know her?" David asked.

"She's the head nurse," Sophie explained. "In charge of keeping everything running and making sure the doctors aren't disturbed. She hates dirt of any sort and I know she was happy to see the back of me when I left. I was constantly causing problems, you see, because I never had complications when it was convenient for her and the staff."

"She's a nurse who finds patients inconvenient?" David said. "Well, I can see why she'd want to work in a place that quite clearly never has any."

"Oh, there's people here occasionally, but she makes sure the cleaning staff erases all traces of them. And I imagine they don't have to do much to do that, seeing as most of the ones I saw were spoiled children who'd been indulged too much and had a stomach ache."

"Well, it's good to know that these resources are being well used," David said, looking into the cabinets around the room.

"It's the doctors who get the use of the hospital. From what I heard while I was here last time, they take rich patients who want don't mind paying for the privilege of being treated by a private doctor to fund this hospital and their experiments. There's been some break through work done here," Sophie said.

"Yes, so I've seen," David said, gesturing to her. "I just find it unusual that this kind of place would be so big and well stocked. Most of the supplies in here look untouched."

"We take a great deal of pride in how clean the hospital is kept," Doctor Blue said, coming in the door. "Every room is kept fully stocked for all emergencies, and we've had a few that would make the young woman blanch."

"I'm glad to hear it," David said. "Professional pride is a very good thing for a doctor to have, along with a well run laboratory and professional assistants. It's a pleasure to see you again, Doctor."

"The pleasure is mine," Doctor Blue said. "As is my joy at seeing you found our missing firebug."

"Firebug?" Sophie said, her brow wrinkling in confusion. "I'm no firebug! I came home to find the whole thing was on fire and nobody would let me through to see what had happened!"

"Well, I'm sure you didn't start it on purpose, Sophie," the doctor said. "The ashes are still too hot to go through but I'm sure we'll find you simply didn't put the fire in the stove out before you left or something equally silly."

"But I didn't..." Sophie trailed off. "Maybe I did? I didn't think I had but maybe you're right doctor."

"Oh dear," the doctor said, then bent forward to look into Sophie's eyes. "You've been away for too long. You'll want to thank David for bringing you when he did."

"Is there something wrong, doctor? I knew she was unwell when we found her this morning but I'm afraid I couldn't tell how badly wrong without knowing more about how she works."

"Well, it's not irreparable but yes, there is something wrong. I'll have to get a few supplies and then I will return. I won't be long," Doctor Blue turned to Sophie. "Don't wait so long to come find me next time, alright Miss Sophie? This isn't going to be pleasant."

The doctor left quickly and David could hear him moving with haste down the corridor. He went to look at Sophie and noticed she had become significantly paler since they'd first come in, her eyes were dilating and she was starting to sweat. "Sophie, how are you feeling?"

"I hurt, David," she said, looking at him. "I hurt like I'm breaking all over. It's not as bad as the worst time I felt like this but it's bad."

"The doctor will be here soon, Sophie, and I'll find out what we need to do to keep you from hurting this bad again."

She nodded and her hips began to move, as though she was trying to get comfortable and just couldn't. Without being able to move her arms and most of her back, there was little she could do.

The doctor came back carrying a white case, slightly smaller than a hat box, and filled with vials of an evil looking green liquid. He fitted a syringe to one and motioned to David to help him lean Sophie forward. With very little ceremony, he ripped the shirt down the back and had David steady her as he stuck the needle of the syringe into a bump in her flesh. The glass chamber that had been left partially out of her back while the rest was buried deep into her skin started to fill with the green liquid. As fast as the chamber filled, though, it emptied almost as quickly. The doctor changed the empty vial out for another and continued filling the chamber.

Sophie was unconscious by the time the doctor finished filling the chamber and they laid her back on the bed. The doctor adjusted the bed and the pillows so she was laying flat, put the leather restraints around her waist and ankles, closed up his case and motioned to David to follow him out of the room.

"She'll be out for a while now," the doctor said. "We can check on her again soon and see how she's doing. When we do, she'll probably need another vial of the serum."

"That was absolutely fascinating," David said, motioning to the room with Sophie in it. "I had no idea what that chamber was for. What does the serum do, exactly, that you can simply put it in like that?"

The doctor smiled at him. "That, my dear sir, is part of the break through research we've done here. You see, I read your paper on the weaknesses of the human body and some of your creators work on how he modeled you and your brothers after humans. I knew I could make the principles he used work to benefit humans, we just needed something to fuel it."

"I would be honored to be allowed to see what you've done," David said.

"Of course, let me show you to my lab. We'll have some time before we need to be back here. If you'll follow me?" The doctor led the way down the hall and David followed.

He looked back briefly when he heard footsteps, only to see a nurse going into Sophie's room, carrying a travel desk.