Hope - Levy, Marc (web ebook reader .TXT) 📗

promised his friend he would keep quiet.

Hope’s dad called to ask whether she had lost the credit card he had given her.

“I needed glasses,” she replied sheepishly.

“That explains the charge at the optometrist. What about the purchases from the mall and the deli? Or the truck rental?”

“Is it warm in Honolulu?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“We’re freezing our asses off here. We needed coats. And heaters too.”

“You could have just asked me, Hope.”

“I didn’t want to bother you while you were chilling on the beach with Amelia.”

“Don’t disappoint me. We should be able to trust each other, okay?”

“We can’t go on like this.”

“We’ll be back at the end of the week. I’ll call you when we’re home. How are you, otherwise?”

“Good, why?”

“You just sound a little strange.”

“I’m tired, that’s all.”

“Get some rest.”

Sam hung up, and Hope sat there for a few seconds, the phone pressed to her ear.

Thinking of all the stuff she had bought with her dad’s money, she was suddenly hit by a wave of guilt. She wanted to get out of the loft. She wanted to see Josh, to throw herself in his arms. Her dad had been right. She didn’t feel great. She missed Josh, and although the winter had only just started, it was getting her down. Where had her hunger for life gone? She refused to fall apart like this. She rummaged through her notes for her Japanese friend’s phone number, and gave her a call. As luck would have it, she was still on campus, and she had a car. The girls arranged to meet, with Kasuko telling her she would pick her up in half an hour to go to the Center.

As Kasuko headed off to her lab, Hope rushed to Josh’s workroom. But he was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Josh?” she asked Luke.

“With Flinch, I think.” Luke was embarrassed.

Hope sat down at one end of the table.

“We haven’t spoken in a while.”

“Well, you haven’t been around much lately. And I don’t think you were a big Betty Boobs fan.”

“Josh has such a big mouth. We didn’t mean it in a nasty way, but I have to admit . . .”

“What do you want, Hope?”

“Josh. But he’s not here.”

“As soon as he gets back, I’ll tell him he should go find you,” Luke reassured her. “Are you going to work with your new friends, or have you decided to return to your people?”

“If you still want me . . . I miss Josh, but I miss you too.”

“Hey, we never wanted you to disappear. But since you’re back on board, I do have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?”

“I want to take electric measurements of someone else’s brain, not mine or Josh’s, so I can compare. If I can just run an EEG on you, it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.”

Hope agreed and followed Luke over to the chair. He fitted her with a headset covered in electrodes linked up by wires to a computer system unit.

“Have you ever done this before?” Luke asked, tightening her chin strap.

“No, it’s my first time.”

“Just open and close your eyes when I tell you to. I’ll also be asking you to raise an arm, think of something pleasant, and then something unpleasant. Nothing too intense, just a few stimulations while I record your brain’s activity.”

“I think I should be able to manage.”

Hope followed Luke’s instructions, opening and closing her eyes whenever he asked, rifling through happy memories of her father, the first time she met Josh, their first kiss. She forced herself to dismiss any thoughts as to what Luke was seeing on his screen, of the traces left by her brain waves. Luke stared intently at the curved lines and asked her to lift her left arm three times.

“I’ve already done that, goddamn it!” Hope complained when he raised his voice.

Luke looked over at her and saw her arm stretched up to the ceiling. He frowned, leaning in closer to examine the lines.

“Okay, drop it.” He sighed and wheeled his stool over to her. He readjusted her headset, tightening the chin strap for good measure.

“Hey, you’re strangling me!”

“Sorry,” he said, and loosened it some more.

Back at the machine, he ran her through the steps again.

“Is something wrong?” Hope asked. She could see he was confused.

“Something’s definitely wrong. The equipment isn’t working. It looks like an entire series of electrodes has just stopped.”

“Maybe my brain made it blow a fuse,” joked Hope.

“Don’t tempt fate. Shit!” he shouted. “I’ll never get a replacement helmet before the New Year. That’s an entire week’s work down the drain.”

“If you’re saying that Josh is going to have a whole bunch of free nights, then all hail the god of faulty headsets.” Hope unclipped herself from the device. Running a hand through her hair, she stood up and hugged Luke. “Can I go now?” She smiled.

“Sure. Thanks anyway.”

“Come and have dinner with us tomorrow. I’ll fix sticky ribs to make it up to you.”

“To make up for what?”

“The fact that my superhuman intelligence broke your machine.”

“Tomorrow’s our scanner night. I hope that’s not out of bounds too.”

“Should I come with you guys? Give me a chance on that one too. I’d love nothing more.”

“Sounds like a good plan. See you tomorrow, Hope,” Luke drawled.

Fifteen minutes later, Josh arrived at the lab. Luke had scoured the electrodes but couldn’t find a single one out of place.

“Where’s Hope?”

“In the fridge.”

Josh looked confused.

“I’m only kidding. She’s not here. She’s probably with her BFFs.”

“You know, the day I see you in a good mood is the day I’ll start worrying. What’s wrong this time?”

“Nothing. I’d just love it if we could work with equipment that actually functions. Sit down. I need to try something.”

Luke put the headset on Josh and ran him through the same tests he had carried out on Hope. The mechanical pens that had remained motionless earlier sprang into action when Josh raised his arm. Luke watched the curved lines