The Tower Read Online Free PDF

time, no. The pain was agonizing. I felt as if my bones were cracking, reforming themselves, and then cracking again. When the pain jolted me semi-awake I’d seen vague, unfocused visions of people coming and going. Avenger and Deanna; those names flitted in and out of my consciousness and in-between bouts of my own world of hurt I recognized them.
    Avenger, Deanna, Avenger, Deanna…get the names straight. I tried calling out but couldn’t as the tube down my throat prevented me from speaking. They must have seen me. I remembered them coming over to look at me from time to time. Deanna often gave me a “thumbs-up” gesture; I tried doing the same, but had zero strength. The world unfolded little by little and all I could do was look out at everything through half-closed eyes.
    â€œDid other people come in while I was in there?” I asked. The question was posed as I’d seen people fly in and out. Flying? It must have been the drugs. People didn’t fly. Airplanes flew, rockets flew, birds and insects flew, but people didn’t. Yet, I saw some of them fly in. Semi-conscious or not, it freaked me out big time.
    â€œYes,” Deanna replied, “some of the other members of the Association came in to see you. Do you remember anything else?”
    â€œAll I remember is coming out of the tank.” The liquid had suddenly drained off and some kind of invisible door on the sphere opened. Then the tubes in my arms were pulled out abruptly and I screamed once the tubes running up my nose and the one down my throat had been yanked out. The tube which had been downstairs hurt the most of all and I knew I’d be having a lot of trouble going to the bathroom for the next few days.
    â€œHow do you feel?” she asked.
    â€œUh, okay, I guess.” Wow, my voice sounded funny: Hoarse and rusty, like it hadn’t been used in a while but it also sounded more adult, deeper and stronger. What had happened to me? Deanna helped me sit up a bit more and handed me a small mirror. I took it and stared at my reflection, then touched my face all over just to make sure it was all real. What had they done to me ?
    Apparently, a lot: My jaw was squarer, eyes were blue instead of brown, my hair was black instead of dark brown, my unhealthy pallor was gone and even though my bones jutted out from the lack of fat, I could see that my new face, when filled out, would have a square look to it. I was older , older and better looking. Were these the side effects that Deanna had spoken of?
    â€œBig change,” I said, handing the mirror back, still in awe of the new me.
    â€œOur medicine works a bit differently than the medicine your world uses,” Avenger answered. “Whenever this treatment is given, some aging is inevitable. In some species, the aging is quite rapid; it depends. In your case, since you’re human, there wasn’t much of a difference.”
    Not much of a difference? Hell, yes, there was! I was way better looking than when I went in, and….
    â€œHow old am I now?” That was the most immediate question that came to mind.
    â€œYou’re now about nineteen or twenty years old. Are you unhappy with the way you look?” Avenger asked.
    â€œNo.” I was still trying to process this.
    â€œGood enough,” he said flatly, then walked out.
    Deanna pushed me gently but firmly back into bed. “You need to rest,” she said softly. On a signal from her, Fustus gave me a needle. I started to feel sleepy almost at once. “We’ll talk later.”
    Sleep. Good idea. As I felt myself nodding off, I thought, Not bad; not bad at all . And I’d remembered their names.
    * * *
    Waking up again a few hours later, the room was empty and I took a look at myself in the full-length bathroom mirror. Not only was I older, I was taller, maybe a little over six feet but still very skinny-looking, though, a bony 140 pounds, if that. While I looked and felt a