Under the Influence nr 1
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dchktwkh_999ftc2h
Under the influence? A series of stories from memory - Montpellier CHU February 2006
The same authority where “Nostradamus” had studied many centuries before, I can hardly imagine that this has any relevance, but since I find that the events could be construed as “a look into a possible future”, I simply mention the fact!
I have no idea whether these events were simply as a result of the medical treatment involved (high doses of morphine based medicaments) or whether they actually did happen. Proof is not available, but I write down the events as I thought they happened, either as proof of a vivid imagination, or proof of “hidden activities” within Hospital (and other) closed societies!
Although only 4 months have passed, I find that I am slowly forgetting details, and at the same time being plagued by the odd nightmare, to the point of locking all windows and doors to my apartment, on certain occasions!
This is quite a large project, and my memory is fading, but I want to try to get a series of articles out before I've forgotten everything! The preparation and then the publishing take time, but all the stories/articles will be published on "Chez le Marquis du Galipot" and on the Web individually (a link will be given, normally around the title lines, which will take you directly to the published page).
The Arab question.
It all started, I recall, when I heard a distant voice calling my name. “Mr. Mitchell, we must wake up now! It’s time to wake up! Come on now, it’s all over!”
On reflection, all over was probably the largest mis-statement possible, because, in fact, it was all just about to start!
Slowly memory came back, and I recalled that I was lying on a somewhat hard hospital trolley, awaiting my turn to pass under the Surgeon’s knife- then nothing at all, until this voice, calling me back to some place I didn’t know.
I recall that I slowly opened my eyes, and slowly took in my new surroundings. I recall speaking, in a somewhat broken voice, to a face covered with a mask, and I recall eating and drinking. I had absolutely no notion of time, the Intensive care areas being permanently illuminated by artificial light, but I do recall looking at the roof, and seeing the long batteries of what I thought was daylight, only to be told that the night staff was coming on duty! Since we were still in the month of February (I presumed), my mind worked sufficiently well to tell me that when a Night staff arrived, the daylight would no longer be present!
My body and mind said that it was breakfast time, but logic told me that it must be evening.
Looking over the Intensive Care Unit (as far as I could oversee it), I noted the transparent windows on the opposite side of the room, the glass being slightly frosted, as though they didn’t want one to be able to see clearly through it. This seemed reasonable, since there were, doubtlessly, other patients being treated on the other side of these windows. The effect given was a little hazy, but one could define the various movements of Staff, in white, and one could hear various noises, only to be associated with rooms in Hospitals.
All seemed to be correct, reasonable - for a Hospital, and yet something seemed to be out of place.
It took me quite a while to understand what it was that disturbed me, and finally I noted that it was a sort of “smoke” or flimsy cloud, which drifted around the other side of the windows. Over what seemed to be a long period, this flimsy cloud slowly took on the shape of beautifully coloured creatures and objects.
There were butterflies, dogs, cats, fish, flags, little dwarfed persons, all of a detailed fabrication which I had never seen before, anywhere.
What they were, and what they were doing there was beyond my understanding, but since they seemed not to bother any of the Staff, who continued their routine, I presumed that it was all right, and they were on the other side of the windows!
Then (I recall it was on the first day), these objects, shapes, creatures or whatever you wish to call them, slowly managed to pass through the windows, with ease, and entered my room, where I was installed with 3 or 4 other patients.
This disconcerted me, since I felt vaguely, that an Intensive Care place should be kept as sterile as possible, and I didn’t know where these things had been or where they came from, but it seemed to me that this was not the place they should be!!
After a lot of signalling to Staff passing by, I finally managed to attract the attention of one of them, and asked what was happening.
It seemed to me that the information was given reluctantly, almost as if the Staff had orders not to tell patients, and to play down the whole situation, but finally I was informed that this had been going on for some days. It appeared that some new form of menace had started outside the Hospital, where hordes of people, mainly of Arab origins, together with their sympathisers, had taken to installing themselves every evening, led by their Atollah, who had developed and controlled a whole new system of weapons. Basically an “informatique” (ie from Computers developed) programme or system, he was capable of launching innocent shapes, forms, shadows, which could change shape and form, enabling them to pass through obstacles and (having gained entrance) achieve their aim, to sow virus, and eventually disease and death at their target.
It seemed that nobody actually knew for certain whether these “intruders” actually were dangerous or not, the only thing being known about them was that they were destructible, with the aid of a simple strip of aluminium foil (similar to that which one finds in every kitchen). This strip of aluminium foil, if directed so as to touch the intruder, instantly turned the shape or form, into a sort of “sticky mess” - rather like melted plastic, which could then be scraped up and thrown in the bin. Until the authorities had detected and analysed the intruders, this was the only thing which could be done.
Unfortunately, the Atollah’s people were working on their side as well, and had come up with new creatures, which were partly resistant to the aluminium foil treatment to the extent that the foil destroyed only that part of the intruder which was actually touched. This enabled the intruder to “self-repair” over a period of time, and continue its aim.
Apparently the Authorities outside the Hospital were powerless, the politicians and Police were holding urgent talks with members of this Arab assembly, to try and come to some agreement, but until then, we could expect the nightly attacks.
This information, as can be imagined, was sensational, hard to believe that something of this nature could happen in a City like Montpellier, without drastic CRS police action being taken. As a patient, bound to his intensive care bed, one felt helpless, incapable of doing anything, and generally at the mercy of the intruders and their creator outside the Hospital.
This situation went on for a long time, punctually after the evening meal, the lights dimmed in the Intensive Care block, vague shapes and shadows started to form outside, and eventually it was easy to see the Atollah and supporters assembled outside the Hospital block, in the street, where they had installed their large heavy vehicles, crammed full of modern computer weaponry, to which the surrounding CRS police force, armed with their batons and some with rifles, had literally no reply.
I could see that the shapes and forms had started to take on different aspects, those of people. People capable of passing, like shadows, through closed doors, capable of taking on the form of Hospital Staff for their purposes.
I spent a long time trying to figure out just what this purpose could be, and in particular how a little Arab from wherever could have such detailed information on the Intensive Care Section of a Hospital at Montpellier. I also wondered why the Authorities didn’t close the Hospital, and move us all out - elsewhere. I presumed that this was to avoid causing panic in the population!
So far as the internal knowledge of the area was concerned, I could only suppose that there were certain members of Hospital Staff who sympathised with whatever cause the Arab element represented, and were giving active help.
With this in mind, I started to look more closely at the sympathisers standing around in the street outside, and looking more closely at the Staff inside.
A couple (three or four) of younger nursing staff, female, had certain tendencies in the “sympathiser” direction, and had already made varied comments along the line of “over-treated, pampered Western patients” and the same members of staff were always talking between themselves of Computer’s/Programmes/Games/Amusement etc, and they seemed to be anywhere, mentally, other than actually on duty when present on the Unit!
The Director of the IC Unit, a woman in her late 50’s, seemed not to know how to deal with these younger colleagues, and would defend them by saying that she was sure they didn’t mean any harm. In fact, the mothers of 2 of these younger Nurses, also worked on IC Unit, and refused to believe that their daughter’s could have anything to do with such a situation.
Time passed, the heat was intense on the intensive, and regularly the strong lights of the Arab transport outside lit up the Unit, and the shadows commenced. Now they passed without problem through the doors and windows, anything transparent was their entry point. Now and then I saw the Nurses concerned deep in consultation with the Arab chiefs, and finally I was able to convince the Director in charge that they had “5th columnists” within their ranks.
The condition of the patients’ seemed to be suffering a lot, and she decided to get the Nurses and their mother’s together, and make the point. Surprisingly, the young Nurses concerned did not deny anything, and confirmed that they had large and important contacts within the Atollah’s outside forces. They had, according to them, made contact over the Internet, and had become involved to an extent they had never imagined.
They seemed to realise the position was serious, and were given time to contact by Internet their own contacts outside, to try to arrange a solution!
After some time, they returned and said that the Atollah had decided to give them a chance to rectify the situation, but there had to be a sort of ritual which must involve the patients being put into the same sort of “humiliating” position as many of his Arab colleagues and followers. This meant that all the patients in the IC Unit must be transferred to a larger room, where TV cameras would be installed to transfer images to the home Arab TV station, where the Atollah and his colleagues would be assembled to witness the “humiliation”. At this point, 2 male Nurses would be allowed to enter the HQ of the Atollah, and armed with a new weapon (a double strip of aluminium foil!) they would be allowed to touch each and every item in the HQ, which would immediately be deleted from the programme. Any mistakes made would result in the immediate re-installation of the whole programme and the stopping of consultations!
All this happened as predicted, and the image we, the patients, saw, was of a large zone, somewhere in a hot, sandy area, where a large number of Arabs had been assembled. Some very old Arab persons were installed, and were amusing themselves enormously at the images from the discomfort of the patients in the IC Unit.
The two male nurses went slowly and carefully about their job, and slowly, but surely, the programme was closed down.
The last image was that of the old Arab gentlemen grimacing and waving clenched fists in our direction, followed by a final statement from the Atollah himself warning about the future.
The final moments were very tense in the Unit, because we had to wait for the final “uninstall” information to have the proof “uninstallation completed successfully” on the large screen installed for that purpose.
From that moment on, the “spook” was banned, and the normal (!) life in the Intensive Care Unit was resumed!
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