Part 4:
From the depth of unconsciousness I swam toward the surface struggling for a breath. It seemed far above me and I feared I would gasp in the foul waters of the deep long before I got there. I did gasp, but I didn’t drown. My eyes opened once again upon the world.

A green sky hovered above, a glowing incandescence. The sound of a gurgling brook and the strange, pulsating whistle pushed its way into my head. I couldn’t smell the earth or the sweetness of the long grass. My nostrils filled instead with the sharp scent of alcohol and disinfectant. I felt cool and comfortable and extremely calm. Where was I?

“Anna?” I tried to speak and almost choked. I bit down and felt the rubbery resistance of a tube running down my throat. To my left was a metal tower supporting a bottle filled with pink liquid and a tube that wound its way down and into my arm.

Hospital. I’m in a hospital! With great effort I turned my head to face the strange sounds. As I suspected, I saw the electronic monitor and the wires connected to my body. But something wasn’t quite right. It didn’t look like any vitals monitor I’d ever seen before. Instead of the spiky sine wave indicating my cardiac function, a prismatic bar pulsed through a select spectrum of color. The numbers that should have indicated my pulse rate and other parameters were as unintelligible to me as Sanskrit. What was wrong with me? If this was a hospital room it was like no other I’d ever seen before.

I felt no pain, but my body sensations were fully alive, fully awake. The bed was so comfortable, almost too comfortable. I felt I was floating yet a slight downward press with my arm met resistance without the softness of a sheet, only pressure. I moved my legs and arms as much as I could, but they felt strapped down, as did my head. I wiggled my fingers and toes. Without seeing them I knew they moved. Nothing broken, nothing missing.

From what I could see, my room had no corners, only rounded walls that, like the ceiling, emitted a somber, green glow. To my left I spied one area that stood out: an arched, unlit semicircle. As I tried to discern what it meant, it emitted a whoohishing sound and slid from view. A dark shadow stood in the doorway.