Read Online Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead - Free Book Online

cheerfully as he could. “I'm taking up too much of your time.”
    “Not at all. We're having a special this week. Free tune-ups for all first-time customers. You're a lucky guy.”
    “Thanks, but if it's all the same to you, I'll take you up on that some other time.” He made a move to get up, but a troubled look from the doctor stopped him. “What's the matter?”
    “I was hoping you would tell
me.”
    “I—I don't understand. Have you found something?”
    “No, you're perfectly healthy as far as we can determine. But I think we should have a talk.”
    Spence had a sinking feeling. “There
is
something wrong.”
    “I think so, yes.” The doctor drew up a stool and sat down beside Spence, who chewed his lip nervously, “Not physically,” continued Williams, “that is, at least not in any of the areas we have checked out.”
    He gazed at his patient intently and Spence got the idea he was being measured for his tensile strength, like a spring being stretched to see how much it could take before snapping. He waited for the tension to break.
    “Spence…” The doctor started, then hesitated.
    Bad sign,
thought Spence.
Whenever they use your first name it means trouble.
    “Do you have any idea why you're here?” The calm physician's eyes watched him carefully, his face a mask of impassive interest which gave away nothing.
    “Yes,” Spence laughed. “I tripped over a stool in the lab. I bumped my head, that's all.”
    “You weren't in your lab, Spence.”
    Spence had had another blackout—that much he knew. He thought his story about bumping his head had been accepted without question. He cringed at the thought of—what? His memory was blank, and that scared him more than anything.
    “No?” Spence asked, more timidly than he would have liked. “Where was I, then?”
    “You were in the cargo bay air lock.”
    “Impossible! Who told you that?”
    “The workers who found you. They brought you in. And I see no reason to doubt their story; it's on videotape. All air locks are monitored for security.”
    Spence was dumbfounded. He could not believe what he was hearing.
    “There's something else.”
    He didn't like the doctor's tone of voice. “What's that?”
    “The air lock was depressurizing. You were bleeding off air preparatory to opening the outer doors.”
    “That's absurd! Why would I do a thing like that?”
    “I don't know, but I'd like to find out.” The doctor pulled a thin metallic object out of his pocket and began fingering it.
    “Look, if you think I wandered into an air lock and then depressurized it on purpose … you're crazy. That would be suicide!”
    The doctor shrugged. “Sometimes people can't take it. They want so badly to get out they don't wait for a shuttle. You were lucky. A cadet saw you heading for the air lock and reported it to the crew chief. There were some workmen in pressure suits nearby. Another few seconds and you'd have been … beyond repair.”
    “No. I'm not buying it. I'll have to see the tapes before I believe it.”
    “That can be arranged, of course. But I was hoping you'd level with me. If there is something bothering you I could help.”
    “You don't understand. I don't know what you're talking about. I tripped and bumped my head.
That is all!”
    “That's
all
you remember? Nothing else? No unusual feelings lately, nothing uncomfortable? Other blackouts, perhaps?”
    Spence winced at the word “blackouts.” Did the doctor know something more? “No, there is nothing else.”
    The physician sighed heavily.
    “What are you going to do now? I mean, what will happen to me?”
    “Nothing. You're free to go.”
    “But—you won't… I mean, have to…”
    “Report this? No, I don't think so. You don't seem to me to be in any immediate danger. You are stable, in other words.”
    “Thanks,” Spence said darkly. “Then I can go?”
    “Yes, but I hope you will remember that my door is open— if you think of anything else, or want to talk about it