Descent: An Epilogue

First published in 2017 by Tom Dawn

Copyright © 2017 Tom Dawn. All rights reserved.

Tom Dawn has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs

and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Apart from any permitted use under UK copyright law, no part

of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or any information, storage or retrieval

system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places,

events and incidents are either the products of the author’s

imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely

coincidental

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Epilogue

Major Eugene Maddox composed his thoughts for a moment

before starting the email to his commanding officer.

Dear Colonel Hughes

Following your instructions I moved our patient,

Dr. Magnus Miller, to a more conventional program of

treatment. We observed immediate positive indications.

As you are aware, it has always been my

recommendation that the current treatment was the

preferred one. This view has now been vindicated. As

the Attending Neurologist here at Mountain View Army

Medical Center, I must point out that not only was the

experimental medication a complete failure, but also that

it was unjustified in the absence of abnormal factors and

likely detrimental to the patient’s health.

I hope that this evidence will give you pause

before countermanding the professional advice of your

staff again in future.

Eugene hovered over the Send button for a moment before

deciding to sleep on it, and saved the message as a draft

instead.

Elsewhere in the hospital, the patient lay in his recovery

room, having woken at long last. The room was bright as the

sun penetrated the closed blinds. His glassy eyes suggested

that he was not yet fully connected to the mortal world, but

he looked up when he saw a graceful, tanned and very

beautiful woman enter his room and sit down on the edge of

the bed beside him.

“Magnus, darling, the hospital called me to say you were

waking up, and I came straight over,” she said. “It’s like my

birthday and Christmas come together!”

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It was a visible effort for him to speak, and he hesitated

over her name for a moment as if he had to dredge his

memory for it.

“Izzy, my love. You look simply amazing, as ever. Where

am I? The staff all sound American.”

“We’re in Palo Alto, California, darling. Near where they

offered you a job.”

Magnus frowned intently as if peering through a fog.

“Yes, I remember now,” he said. “Thank you for coming

for me.”

“Darling, you’ve been out for the count for such an

amazing long time. Things have been happening, there’s so

much to tell you,” Izzy began, then in a hushed voice she

went on: “I got your letter about the dead man’s handle.

How your research paper was going to be published

automatically if you weren’t around to stop it. I mentioned it

to the … you know … secret service people. Then only a few

days later you’re on the mend. Isn’t that a coincidence?”

“We don’t believe in coincidences, do we?” he said.

“No, we jolly well don’t,” she said. “And the threat to

publish was an inspired idea on your part. You should have

told me about it.”

She leaned over to give him a kiss, and then rearranged the

tubes in his arm so that she could lie down beside him. A

nurse came into the room and announced the doctor would

be doing his rounds soon, and the visit would have to end.

“Darling, you’ll never believe it, but they’ve given me a

job too,” Izzy said.

“At the university?” he asked.

“No, silly. The secret services. I’m on some sort of

operational team, as a kind of foreign freelancer. A

professional international law-breaker. I can’t tell you much

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about it now, but when I write my memoirs it will make your

hair curl. Do you mind awfully?”

“Whatever you want to do is fine with me,” he said,

stroking her hair.

“I knew you’d be good about it. Now we just have to get

you mended and installed at the university. And maybe you

ought to delay that research paper before it gets prematurely

published?”

“Yes, it’s coming back to me. Can you bring in my laptop

tomorrow?” Magnus said, though his eyes were now closed.

“I’m quite tired. OK if I have a little snooze?”

“Of course darling, it’s just wonderful to have you back,”

she said, snuggling against his chest. “We’ll have you out of

here in no time. You’re going to be a star.”