The emergency room lights flashed on again. The words "Under Resuscitation" glowed a ghastly, blood-red—so intense it made everyone outside clutch their hearts in dread.
Bobby Brooks and Glasses Girl looked completely lost. Sure, they’re great when flying solo, but seeing their captain collapse? That rattled them hard. If Susan Morrow hadn’t been here, those two would’ve been running around like headless chickens.
Charlie was holding it together better than Bobby and Glasses Girl. He stood at the ER door like a javelin, face blank, fists clenched—ready to throw down with anyone, anytime. His dark face looked even stormier than usual, like thunder brewing.
Ding—the red "Under Resuscitation" sign shut off. The door swung open, and out came Susan Morrow and Dream Monroe, walking side by side. Instantly, the trio rushed up, anxious: "Aunt Susan, how’s the boss...?"
"He’s stable now, just resting inside. Go on in." Susan Morrow waved them in, and the three dashed into the ER. Once they were gone, Susan slumped onto a bench in the corridor, rubbing her temples and pinching her nose, looking deeply troubled.
If it happened once, you could call it an accident, chalk it up to coincidence, and keep a bit of hope. Medicine’s full of weird cases and oddball diseases that rarely come back. But when it happens over and over, you can’t fool yourself anymore.
Jonathan Black—her nephew—there had to be something deadly lurking inside him. But no matter how many tests she ran, she just couldn’t find it. She felt like a helpless bomb squad tech, knowing there was a ticking time bomb somewhere but unable to locate it, just listening to the seconds tick down to disaster.
It was absolutely heartbreaking.
Susan Morrow took a deep breath. It wasn’t time to give up yet. "By the way, where did she go?"
Dream Monroe knew exactly who Susan meant, and replied seriously, "She went to investigate."
"Investigate?"
"Yep. She knew she couldn’t help here, so sticking around was pointless. She went off solo to investigate." Jill Young had told Dream Monroe before leaving, so she knew the gist: "From Jonathan Black’s memories, we found some clues—turns out it’s all tied to a big ship. That ship was captured ages ago and is now docked at a secret port for research and upgrades. That’s where she went."
"A ship?" Susan Morrow was baffled. What kind of illness is connected to a ship? And a disease triggered by memory recall—sure, that sounds psychological, maybe mental, but she’d never heard of one so intense it could stop a heart. She frowned, thinking hard, but came up empty. All she could do was shake her head and sigh, "Maybe your world’s just out of my league now…"
Suddenly, she felt that powerless sense—her kids growing up, the world getting more and more unfamiliar.
Dream Monroe caught the drift and wanted to offer comfort, but had no idea where to start. The perfect goddess was tongue-tied, stuck in place, anxious but silent.
Seeing this, Susan Morrow smiled again. No matter what, the future belonged to the kids. As long as she saw them moving forward, finding someone they could trust for life, a parent’s job was done. Not wanting to see Dream Monroe so upset, she changed the subject lightly, "Any other clues? Even if I can’t figure out the cause, I can ask around and see what my contacts know."
"Nothing else, really." They hadn’t found any memories about the illness, so Dream Monroe just said, "But right before he blacked out, he shouted a word—maybe it’s got something to do with his past or the disease."
"What word?"
"PROJECT." Dream Monroe mused, "There’s probably more to it, but he couldn’t finish. I’ll ask him again when he’s better. No clue what this ‘PROJECT’ means."
"When it comes to English, I’m totally useless. Little Jill’s just as clueless—guess she inherited that from me. Those squiggly letters, I just can’t learn them." Susan Morrow chuckled, took a deep breath, and stood up to get her energy back. "I’ll head back to the ER to keep an eye on things. If you two find anything, be sure to—be sure to—be… sure…"