Huxley came back to his remaining senses like he was waking up. The whirring helmet added to the usual background of his life-support system, blending in with the rest seamlessly.

“I’ll get to be more machine than man at this rate.”

The synthetic, inhuman timbre of the voice coming from the wall-mounted speaker only drove the point home, turning his weak joke into more of a sad admission. His head lifted slightly, and then slipped out of the helmet to land with a helpless flop on his pillow. Hux squinted into the bright overhead fluorescents and an even brighter smile.

“Welcome back Sergeant. How was your trip?”

Huxley closed his eyes. He didn’t answer right away. How could words do a game like that justice? Even calling it a game felt wrong. It was so much more.

“I didn’t go anywhere. I just had a little dream.”

“Was it a good dream?”

“Yeah,” Hux smiled. It had been so long that his atrophied facial muscles felt strange, and he stopped. “Mostly anyways. It was full of these kids who have no respect at all, but when I got away from them and into the woods… It really felt like I was there. I literally stopped to smell flowers, eat wild berries, just to breathe in the fresh air, and I can’t even tell you how good it felt to go for a jog again.”

Something wet slipped out from the corners of Hux’s eyes and he opened them in shock.

“I…” he stammered to nurse Grace as she leaned in.

“I…”

His heart rate monitor started beeping faster. He couldn’t do anything to hide his tears. He couldn’t even turn away. Grace had tended to Hux’s physical needs for long enough that the indignity had mostly faded, but letting her see his broken spirit was a fresh ache, a new betrayal from his failing body.

Grace gently wiped away Hux’s tears and his heart rate slowed.

“It sounds like a truly beautiful dream.” She held up her handkerchief so I could see the wet spot.

“And this is just proof that you still have your heart, mister tin-man. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Her gentle smile brought Huxley’s heart rate the rest of the way down.

“It’s still embarrassing when it falls out like that.”

“Don’t worry Sergeant, your secret is safe with me. I happen to take patient confidentiality very seriously. I won’t tell anyone that you have…” She glanced to each side before leaning in and whispering, “Emotions.”

There was an uncomfortably long pause while Grace continued to smile down at him. Huxley looked off to the side.

“Thank you, not for that, but… You know.”

Huxley's eyes flicked towards the glossy helmet Grace had returned to its case.

Her smile grew a notch wider.

“Just doing my duty Sergeant.”

A soft knock on the door broke the spell and Hux stuffed his feelings back into their lockbox and slammed the lid shut. Before Nurse Grace could cross half the room, the door opened on its own.

“Pauline? What are you doing here?” Grace asked, sounding a little too pleased and surprised.

Hux narrowed his eyes. She might be an angel, but she was a lousy actress. He would bet anything that this visit was planned out ahead of time. After the gift she had just given him though, he figured that he could play along.

“Good evening Gracie! We were just chatting about “New World Online”, and I thought it would be nice if we got the whole gang together. Since Quintin can’t come to us, I decided to bring everyone else to him.”

Pauline’s cheery tone was easy to recognize, but her voice sounded thicker, more gravelly, and even a little bit slurred.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Oh, that’s terribly sweet of you Pauline. Come on in. I take it you all had a good time?”

“It was incredible!” Pauline babbled “I’ve never imagined anything like it. The good lord really outdid himself inspiring the people who made this modern miracle.”

She rolled herself into the room on an electric wheelchair and Hux saw that she was almost entirely covered in thick bandages. Her head was completely encased, only leaving gaps for her eyes and mouth. The slim, pink fingers of one hand were free, and she used them to work her chair’s controls while the other was sealed in a thick mitten of plaster. Her bandaged legs stuck straight out from a pale-green hospital gown and Grace stepped aside to make room for them while addressing the others filing into Hux’s room.

“Wonderful! And how are you Barry?”

“Better than fine now that I’m with you again Nurse Grace.”

A big, broad, brick of a man had to bend a little as he came through the door so his head wouldn’t hit the frame. His right arm ended at the elbow, making him look distinctly lopsided.

“And Gregory, how are you feeling today?”

“Same as always,” grumbled the man with messy salt and pepper hair stooping over one of those four-legged walkers that old folks use. He shuffled into the room, grimacing and scowling at everyone around him like they killed his dog. His glare passed over Hux and he snorted.

“So this is the famous Sergeant huh? Not much to look at is he?”

Barry gave Hux a serious once-over.

“You better be careful Greg, it looks to me like they’re already halfway done turning him into a robocop. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side when they’re done.”

Gregory turned the full force of his glare on Barry, who didn’t seem bothered in the least. In fact, it looked like he took the response as a small victory, standing taller and smirking.

“Can’t you two give it a rest for one minute?” Pauline chided them.

“Yes mam.” Barry drawled.

Pauline swiveled her chair back towards Huxley’s bed.

“It is a pleasure to meet you in person Quintin, or do you prefer sergeant?”

Huxley hesitated. It was overwhelming to suddenly have so many visitors, but he eventually managed a simple response.

“You can call me Hux.”

“Hot damn!” Barry said. “You’ve got a robot voice? That’s so fuckin’ metal! Where can I get me one-a-those?”

“Watch your language!” Pauline snapped.

“Better yet, you can stop speaking altogether,” Gregory grumbled.

Barry shut up but looked like he just scored another point in a game that only he knew the rules for.

The conversation carried on like that. Just a few friends shooting the shit. No one asked about Hux’s injuries. They didn’t fuss over him and ask if he needed his pillows fluffed up. They treated him like another member of their crew from the start. He kept quiet for the most part, still self-conscious about his “robot voice”, but Pauline kept drawing him back into the conversation. She asked what Hux got up to in the game, and the others were rather impressed with all the fame points he earned, not to mention all the skills and titles he was able to unlock.

Hux turned the questions back on them, and for a while they gushed about their own in-game accomplishments. They spent the entire time in the Ancient Harbor, hunting down rats while keeping clear of the major guilds fighting for dominance.

“You shoulda seen Pauline smiting those rodents,” Barry said, swinging an imaginary club. “She was a true blue hero, standing tall in her shining armor, keeping Greg and me safe. I sure do love a gal who knows how to protect her fragile menfolk.”

“Oh please. I just let those critters chew on my armor and used my self-healing ability every now and then. If you didn’t find all those hidden cellars we would’a been stuck with the guilds’ scraps, and Gregory was the one who did most of the monster-slaying anyhow.”

“You’re right. He was a regular doctor death with that poison fog of his.”

“How many times am I gonna have to tell you that it’s not poison?” Gregory huffed. “It’s a cloud of malevolent spirits.”

“Like I said,” Barry continued, “a regular doctor death. Most of the rats in those cellars rotted away before they could even get to us. We just took care of what was left”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t think I didn’t see you using those knives of yours like you were at the Benihana world championships.”

“Aw shucks, there ain’t nothing to it. You just gotta hold onto the not-pointy end and poke. I woulda been overwhelmed if it was just me down there.”

“Well, that’s what teamwork’s all about ain’t it?” Pauline asked rhetorically. “I, for one, just can’t wait to see what kinds of rewards we can get with all those contribution points were racking up.”

No one said it outright, but there was a buzz to the conversation, an obsession over the game that could only have come from being able to step out of their crippled bodies, and into fresh ones. From all of their glances at the clock hanging on the wall, Hux could tell that he wasn’t the only one counting the minutes until he could log back in.

Eventually, Nurse Grace put her foot down and ushered everyone out of Hux’s room, but he lay awake for hours. He felt like a kid on the night before Christmas, his mind whirling. There wasn’t any room for self-pity in his head that night, and for the first time in ages, he looked forward to what tomorrow might bring.