It tingled. It felt like the nerve endings were dancing in celebration at the end of agony. The absence a tender reminder of the torment endured. The tickling sensation spread over Tane’s leg, nerve clusters picking up on the joy of nothingness. From semi-stasis, Tane could feel what was going on within and without. His consciousness doing whatever it wanted, no matter Tane’s mental grunts of effort to keep control.
Even in the midst of the relief and soothing emptiness, Tane Bridges felt Counsel’s probing of his mind. The Counsel was searching threads of memories. Tane had no idea what ones it was looking for. That no longer mattered. He felt dizzy as the edges of reality began to fade into opaque shadows. Colours merged and oozed into coagulated smudges. Around the edges of the blobs, light began to poke through. White dispersed into myriad shades and hues. He threw up on the floor, thankful the Counsel’s metallic hands propped him up so none went on him. Counsel lay him back down and removed all of the jacks from Tane’s implants. Tane instinctively pulled back from Counsel’s proffered hand offering to help him up from the bench. Tane sat up and swung his legs over the side, feet on the floor.
“How long, Counsel?”, Tane murmured.
