The Server
by Jean Carlson

The Beginning

     Dr. Morose enters the dimly lit room.  He is a muscular ex-football player with graying temples, mid forty’s with a soft compassionate demeanor.  The only light is that from the monitors and flashing multi-colored lights on the control panel filling the far wall at the foot of the bed. The room is a moderately large hospital type room with a bay of drapery-covered  windows on one wall a bed and night-stand next to the windows.  Next to the door is a small dresser and a high back leather chair.   He walks over to the bed where a beautiful golden hair woman lays, her face like an angel with soft features, her skin pale with a perfect complexion.   She appears to be asleep but he knows she is dying.  He turns and look over his shoulder at his assistant and shakes his head slowly and says, "Martha I guess we can begin now." Then looks down at the woman again, wishing there was something, he could do to save her.

     Martha is a pretty woman with the potential of being beautiful if it weren’t for the stern analytical expression on her face.  She is almost 6 feet tall and could easily be a model.  She looks at the monitors and nods to Dr. Morose.  Flips a switch marked data retrieval.  Lights start flashing and a soft humming sound starts to fill the room.  Martha watches the screens as images of a child running through a field covered in wild flowers, begin to appear.  " So far so good," Martha thinks to herself.

     The woman in the bed stirs slightly as the energy levels from the massive computer starts to retrieve her mental data.  Dr. Morose strokes her cheek lightly then whispers, "good night my darling daughter, sleep well." He Smiles and motions for Martha to follow him out to the monitoring station.  Martha takes one last look at the charts and monitors before following behind him.  Closing the door leaving the room silent with only the hum of the hard drives to disrupt the silence.

     Emerald lays still in the bed, suddenly she feels as if she is transported through time and space remembering everything she has lived through, during her full 22 years of life, all the good and bad experiences start flooding into her conscious mind. She see herself running through a field of wild flowers as a small child.  Then a flash of her playing in her first recital as a young teen.  A fight she had with a jealous boyfriend ending up with him killing himself.  The day of her first solo concert, her father giving her a gift of a silver flute with oriental engravings on it.  The memory of these event causes a tear to roll from her closed eyes.   Her body tenses slightly as she is moved back to her present day condition. Emerald sees herself walking down the aisle with her father in a large candle lit church.  The light from the stained glass windows casting a reverent  mood in the room.  At the altar she is greeted by the smiling face of her intended and warmly smiles back.  As if in fast forward motion she see the ceremony and them leaving the church.  Getting into the limousine  that will take them to their reception and the semi truck slamming into the side of their car.

      Suddenly everything moves into slow motion she sees her new husband being pushed into her as the semi enters his side of the limousine.  The look on his face as he dies, before she is feels the intense pain of being crushed into the door.  Her small body shudders.  Then everything goes black.  She feels nothing, as if she is floating.

     Emerald’s body relaxes she opens her eyes and seems to be in total darkness. She see a bright light on the horizon.  Emerald seems to be free of the monitoring cables and tubes keeping her alive.  Sliding out of the bed she moves towards the light curious of its origin.  She comes upon a bright shimmering white light like a portal she carefully steps in and has the sensation of falling down a long tube that seems to go on forever.  She grabs wildly trying to stop if not at least slow her decent.  Lights of all colors flash before her, as she plummets down endlessly breathing hard as she fears she will not stop falling. An eerie silence surrounds her and is broken when, suddenly she stops.