Chapter 4: Bus Ride

Caleb was escorted from the building to a waiting bus about two hours later. The bus had a 'Go Army' logo on the outside, and a paint scheme to match. The inside looked like a typical Greyhound bus, except cleaner. Caleb was still wearing his gray, short sleeved, coveralls since his own clothes had been confiscated. The only other belongings he had in his pockets were his billfold, his keys and a pocket knife which had been returned to him.

He found an empty seat with no one nearby, since the bus was only about half full. Caleb sat down and started thinking furiously. This was the first time he had been alone, without someone, or something, watching him, since he had stumbled from the canyon the night before. There had even been cameras in the head when he went to take a leak that morning. He had to figure out what was going on. He could get accustomed to the awareness of everyone around him, and even the jolt of more information whenever he brushed someone, but he knew it wasn't normal. What was happening to him?

Caleb's mind replayed the scene at the crash site, almost unbidden, but apparently in answer to his mental question. The strange conversation that seemed to be all in his head could be written off as shock. The sudden blinding headache and full feeling in his head could be written off as breathing some unknowable fumes from the burning material. His awareness of people couldn't be written off as a figment of his imagination. That was real. He was observant enough to verify many of the impressions that he had received from people that he had encountered.

"Good deductive reasoning," someone/something said.

Caleb froze. He didn't think he had said anything out loud, so how could someone have answered him. He fought down a growing sense of panic when he realized that he hadn't heard someone answer him. It had the same sound, or sensation, or feeling, from the night before, at the crash site.

"Do you mind if I set here?" a voice asked.

Caleb remained frozen, staring at the seat in front of him. Had he heard that, or were those words in his head too?

"Mr. Connor, are you okay?" the voice prompted, sounding concerned.

Caleb looked up at a frowning Doctor Janis.

"Doctor Janis! Yes, yes. I'm fine," Caleb replied in relief, and fear that his borderline, or maybe not so borderline, insanity may be discovered. "I guess I was lost in a day dream. Probably from all the stress in the last twenty-four hours. I didn't sleep well, either," Caleb replied, almost stammering.

"Okay," the pretty doctor said slowly, doubt clear in her tone of voice, and still frowning.

Caleb realized she had asked to sit beside him, and he answered that question. "Please, sit here Doctor Janis," he said lamely. "At least I'll have someone to talk to on the way back to Phoenix."

JJ's eyes smiled, but her lips formed themselves into a stern line, as she said, "I won't if we are back to Doctor instead of JJ."

"Sorry, JJ," Caleb replied with a weak smile.

"Okay then," JJ said as her mouth caught up with her eyes and she settled into the seat next to him.

She wasn't in her army fatigues, and she looked fine. She had tan slacks with an off-white blouse that emphasized her curves. Caleb certainly approved.

Their bare arms brushed as she settled herself in the seat. Caleb was more aware of her than anyone else he had met today, or in his life for that matter. Something told him that the awareness was because of the flesh to flesh contact, and was being amplified because of the initial contact they had experienced the previous evening. It had been his first time to touch another human being, skin to skin, since the incident. Maybe the knowledge was his own reasoning, or maybe it was something he had picked up at the crash site that was feeding him information. Either way, the rush of emotions and experiences were almost enough to overwhelm him.

Caleb saw/felt her first kiss and the first time she made love. He learned that JJ's husband had been killed in a car wreck, a little more than five years earlier. He learned that she had two children, a son and a daughter, and could see their faces in her mind, and feel her love for them. He could see how she felt about the Army, and the resignation that she had to deal with the harassment that she got from her male counterparts. He could see her dating attempts, over the last five years, since her husband died, and the dismal failure of each attempted relationship. There was so much more though. The bone grinding loneliness of the first Christmas without her husband was there. The fear for her daughter and son in the Phoenix public school system was there. He saw/felt her anger towards the hospital where she worked. They docked her wages when she had to do a National Guard drill weekend, even though she wasn't an hourly employee. There was so much more. It was an avalanche of information, and he struggled to understand it. Caleb's only reprieve was that he only received the highlights. Still, it was a lot of information, and he wondered how so much could be communicated in such a brief amount of time.

"Thought has no time," occurred to him, or was told to him.

Something must have shown on his face when the jolt of experiences, and the answer to how it was possible, hit him. JJ suddenly looked concerned again.

"Are you sure that you are okay, Caleb?" JJ asked with a frown.

"Ah ... yeah, I am," Caleb mumbled in reply. "I still have a little bit of headache, body ache actually, and I really am tired."

"Would you prefer I sit someplace else?" JJ asked, starting to rise.

"No. Please stay. I'm okay," Caleb replied in a rush, feeling awkward about his reply.

JJ hesitated for a moment before settling back in the seat, and saying, "Thanks," with obvious relief.

Caleb could feel her relief, almost a physical thing, through the light touch where their arms brushed. He wondered why.

"I really wanted to ride with someone that talked about something besides rifles and blowing things up," the pretty doctor whispered quietly, so the other passengers couldn't hear her.

She had leaned towards him slightly when she whispered, and their arms pressed against each other again. Caleb could hear the words with his ears, but heard them in his mind too. It was almost like an echo in his head. He also heard, or felt, a snippet of anger at the General for suggesting that she should stay close to Caleb. She didn't appreciate being told to do something that she had already been vaguely considering, and not for professional reasons.

Caleb felt the truth of her statement, and the truth of what she didn't say. If she had sat alone, she would have been fencing with some would-be suitor all the way back to Phoenix. She didn't object to flirtation from the opposite sex. She did object to the testosterone-fueled advances of some of the Army officers. Especially when they failed to accept her 'not interested' rebuffs.

'This was definitely going to take some getting used to, ' Caleb thought to himself. Out loud he said, with a smile, "I can see how that could bother a doctor. Here you are trying to fix people, and repair the damage weapons cause them, and your, ah, associates can't talk about anything else," he said, focusing hard to answer her vocal comment, rather than her silent observations.

"Oh, it doesn't bother me talking about those things, but if that is all someone talks about, it gets pretty old," JJ said smiling.

That echo was still there, but it seemed a little less.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me talking about those things. I don't like to shoot things, or blow them up," Caleb replied, smiling back.

"I, ah, I saw your record Caleb," JJ said with a more serious note. "You know a lot about shooting things, and blowing them up."

The echo was less now for sure. It was almost gone, even though he was completely aware of hearing it with his ears and his mind. It was almost like a radio station reception was being fine tuned. He could also feel the uncertainty JJ felt at admitting she had seen his record. She truly wanted to be honest with him, but wasn't sure how he would react to knowing she had seen his personal information. She wanted to tell Caleb about the General's orders too, but didn't know how to broach the subject without alienating him.

"I didn't say I didn't know how. I just said I don't like it," Caleb said seriously. "I'm an investigator for DES that has a hobby of geology on the side. What I did, and how I performed in the military, was in another life." He shrugged and continued, "I really don't mind that you saw my military record. I don't care if you know that I can shoot and blow things up. Knowing something, or how to do something, doesn't mean that you like it. I didn't like it when I had to do it on active duty, either. Those skills were simply something that I was very good at."