I do like the Bray/Mega friendship so far in All of Me. 
Chapter 15: Diagnosis Murder
Jay froze, mouth working as he desperately tried to find the words to explain to Spinner why Trudy and Gel had their arms around him.
‘I’m obviously interrupting…something,’ she said. ‘Maybe I should just go.’
As she turned to leave, her body moving even more gracefully now that she was no longer encumbered with the biohazard suit, he finally managed to wriggle free and rushed over towards her. ‘No, no!’ he blurted out. ‘This is a perfect time!’ Leading her back to the rest of the group he saw that Trudy looked mortified, whereas Gel was calmly putting her tape measures away. Apparently she hadn’t quite grasped the situation, or perhaps she had and just didn’t care. It could be hard to tell the difference when it came to Gel. Lex, meanwhile, had stopped laughing at Jay’s misfortune long enough to scowl at Spinner, who wasn’t paying him any attention at all.
‘Um, Spinner this is Trudy and Gel. You’ve already met Lex. Gel, Trudy, this is Spinner, an old friend of mine.’
‘Less of the old, thank you!’ she joked. ‘Although I suppose in this day and age…anyway, I’m sorry I’m late.’
‘I thought maybe you weren’t coming.’
‘It was touch and go with Cable for a while. He took a lot more convincing than I thought, and then I got distracted by my work, you know how it is. Or was, rather. We’ve made a lot of progress; I reckon the virus will be safe by the time I get back.’
‘That’s great news!’
‘Yeah, it is. But that’s not why I’m here, is it? Where’s the patient?’ She held up a large chrome-coloured box that he hadn’t noticed at first, that obviously contained whatever instruments and equipment she needed to examine Jack.
‘He’s upstairs,’ he answered. ‘Just follow me and I’ll take you to him. I’ll have to run the idea past his girlfriend first though.’
Spinner rolled her eyes. ‘Now you tell me. You know, Cable won’t be very impressed if I’ve come all the way out here for nothing, Jay.’
‘I know. I’m sorry, I guess I just hadn’t thought everything through when I asked you.’
‘Relax Jay, I understand.’
He began to climb the stairs, followed by Spinner and Lex.
‘Gel, can you watch the kids for a bit?’ Trudy asked before joining them. Gel nodded, squealing when she turned around to find Brady and Bonnie throwing her sketches up in the air and dancing around underneath the falling paper.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Jay went straight to Jack’s room and stuck his head through the thin curtain. Ellie sat by Jack’s bed holding his hand and running her fingers through his mousy brown hair. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
‘Ellie?’ Jay said quietly.
‘Huh? Oh, it’s you Jay. Come on in.’ He entered the room, followed by the other three. Trudy immediately went over to Ellie and put her arm around her. ‘Hey Trudy. Still no change.’ She sighed and received a squeeze and a sympathetic smile from the other girl.
‘Just give it time, honey,’ Trudy said confidently.
Ellie looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time, a look of confusion on her face when she saw the Techno woman. Jay thought he had better introduce them.
‘Ellie this is Spinner,’ he said. ‘She’s a Techno, a friend of mine. I asked her here because I thought she might be able to help Jack.’ Ellie’s eyes suddenly lit up and Jay prayed he was not giving her false hope. ‘She’s agreed to have a look at him, if that’s alright with you?’
She nodded her head vigorously. ‘Anything! I just want him back!’ Jay nodded to Spinner and she stepped forward, putting her case on top of the table by Jack’s bedside.
‘Can I have everyone out of the room please?’ she asked. ‘I work better alone.’
‘There’s no way we’re leaving you alone with Jack and whatever you’ve got in that box!’ Lex shouted.
‘I can’t leave him!’ Ellie cried. ‘Please! I’ll be quiet, you won’t know I’m here!’
Spinner looked mildly irritated but after giving it some thought she pointed at Jay and Ellie. ‘You two can stay,’ she conceded. ‘But keep out of the way; I’ll need to be able to concentrate. You two, out.’ She dismissed Lex and Trudy with a wave of her hand. They looked annoyed but decided there was nothing they could do about it and left the room, Trudy giving Ellie a hug on her way out.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’ Lex whispered angrily to Jay before he left.
‘Thank you!’ Ellie gushed as soon as the other two were gone.
‘Don’t thank me yet,’ Spinner said. ‘I can’t promise I’ll be able to do anything for him.’
‘That’s ok, I know you’ll do your best.’
‘I wish everyone else felt that way.’ She flicked open the clasps on the case and opened it, revealing a laptop computer and various accessories, each neatly inhabiting its own space cut into the box’s foamy interior. From one of these spaces she took out a headset that was wired to the computer. Ellie gasped in terror.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked nervously.
‘This is so I can see what’s going on in his head,’ Spinner replied calmly. ‘He won’t feel a thing.’
Ellie looked to Jay. ‘It’s your decision,’ he told her. Hesitantly she nodded her head and Spinner hooked Jack up to the headset. Switching the computer on she logged in and started up the programme she needed. Jay stepped forward so that he could get a better look at what was going on, and he saw an image of a brain appear on the screen. A push of a button and the image moved to the right, a set of axes for a graph appearing alongside it. A box flashed in the centre of the screen with the word ‘ACTIVATE?’ inside it. After checking that all the wires were connected properly, Spinner pressed another key and the programme burst into life. The lights on the headset flashed; three coloured lines appeared on the graph, rising and falling all the time, and the image of the brain rotated showing red blobs flashing in various places. Jay realised Ellie was clinging to him and put an arm around her, while Spinner calmly punched away at the keyboard.
‘What’s happening?’ he heard Ellie whisper. ‘What’s she doing to him?’
‘I’m not sure,’ he whispered back. ‘But it looks to me like she’s monitoring the activity in his brain.’
Spinner raised a hand to silence them, although she did not take her eyes away from the screen. ‘Be quiet back there,’ she said. ‘I need to focus on this!’ She clicked on the image and it enlarged, so that she was looking at an area of Jack’s brain in which there seemed to be very few red blobs. She stood there in silence, peering intently at the screen as if she were searching for something deep inside the image. Ellie and Jay looked at each other but didn’t dare say anything just in case they distracted her and she missed whatever it was she was looking for. Finally she switched off the computer, causing the lights on the headset to go out at the same time. She rubbed her eyes and turned around to face the two Mallrats.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Ellie asked. ‘Did you do anything? Is he going to be okay?’
‘I’ve been looking at what’s going on in his brain,’ Spinner replied. ‘And I’m satisfied that his condition is stable.’ She removed the headset from Jack and placed it carefully back inside its compartment before calmly continuing. ‘As things stand I would say there is only a twenty percent chance of recovery.’ she said. Ellie burst into tears and looked like she was about to run for the door. ‘However,’ she continued, stopping Ellie in her tracks. ‘With your help I believe that this figure can be significantly increased.’
‘Stop playing games with me!’ Ellie snapped. ‘Just tell me what I have to do to get him back!’
‘It’s not going to be easy for you. It could take a while for him to fully recover, if he ever does.’
‘Listen lady, we have been through so much together and Jack has never given up on me. I’m not just going to ditch him now, as soon as the tables are turned and he’s the one who needs me. Now are you going to stand there and keep beating around the bush or are you actually going to help him?’
‘Ellie!’ Jay whispered, but Spinner seemed amused.
‘That’s the spirit,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how he puts up with you but you’ve certainly got the determination to pull this off. One thing, though; if you want my help you’re going to have to show me some respect, got it?’
Ellie folded her arms and stared back at Spinner defiantly, but eventually relented with a roll of her eyes and the barest of nods. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled reluctantly.
‘Well, I guess that’s the best I’m going to get. Now, back to your little problem.’ Jay could see that Ellie wasn’t happy with Spinner referring to Jack as her little problem, but she wisely held her tongue, which impressed him. ‘I believe,’ Spinner continued. ‘Although I can’t be sure, that Jack here is perfectly healthy, apart from the area of his brain controlling movement. It seems that when he integrated with the computer’s systems he went too far and something, I don’t know…shifted, I guess, in his brain, essentially blocking off the signals to the rest of his body. I did notice some very faint signals getting through, however, so there’s still hope.’
‘What exactly are you saying?’
‘I’m saying he’s not unconscious as such, merely paralysed.’
‘Big deal! What difference does that make?’
‘I think what Spinner’s trying to say,’ said Jay. ‘Is that Jack is still aware of everything that’s going on around him. He should be able to hear everything we’re saying, even if he can’t feel anything.’
‘That’s right, and if you and Jack work together there’s a fair chance he’ll be able to regain control of that part of his brain.’
‘I’m listening,’ Ellie said.
‘Good, and you listen too, Jack. Now Ellie, I want you to do exercises with him every day, moving his arms and legs, that kind of thing. Make sure you tell him where you are touching and what you are doing exactly as you do it. Jack, when Ellie tells you what she is doing I want you to try and do the same. I can’t make any guarantees but hopefully that will help re-establish the connection between brain and body.’
‘Isn’t there a more hi-tech way of helping him? I mean, computers did this to him, surely they can fix him too?’
‘There’s the possibility of using electrical pulses to artificially stimulate the dysfunctional part of his brain, but it’s risky and could do more harm than good. Besides, with the power still out I don’t have enough battery power to be able to do that. Maybe in a couple of days, but one thing I’ve learned in the last two days is that technology can’t solve everything. I think the old fashioned way will be safer and more reliable in the long run, even though it will take longer and involve a lot of hard work, especially for Jack.’
‘We can do it,’ Ellie said, resuming her position by Jack’s bedside and putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘Thank you.’
While Ellie started working with Jack on his exercises, Jay took Spinner to one side so as not to disturb them. ‘There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,’ he said quietly.
‘Really?’ Spinner said, giving a suggestive smile. Her eyes twinkled mischievously causing Jay to temporarily forget what he was going to say.
‘Um…have you…have you heard of a Techno called Elsa?’ he asked, wiping sweat from his brow.
‘It is rather warm in here, isn’t it?’ she said, unzipping her uniform a little. ‘Here, let me help you with yours. These zips always have a habit of sticking, don’t they?’ Despite his stammered protests that it wasn’t necessary she did the same with his uniform, her hand lingering a while on his chest.
‘There, isn’t that better?’ she said.
‘Ah, no…not really. Do…do you know her?’
Spinner pouted. ‘She must be very special for you to be so interested in her.’
‘She’s dead.’
‘Oh.’ Spinner’s voice became more serious and spots of colour appeared on her cheeks. ‘The name does sound familiar,’ she admitted. ‘But I couldn’t put a face to the name.’
Jay pulled Elsa’s identity card out from behind his belt and handed it to Spinner. ‘You don’t have to. Do you recognise her?’
Spinner frowned. ‘No, but I can scan this on the computer and see what it tells us.’ She took a small handheld gadget out of her case and pushed the card into a slot in one side of the machine. It beeped and a file appeared on the computer screen which Spinner read through with interest. ‘Aha!’ she said finally. ‘That’s why her name sounded so familiar. She was one of a group of Technos that went missing towards the end of Ram’s leadership. Officially they ran away because they couldn’t hack it in the tribe, but the truth is we have no idea what happened or where they went. The strange thing was that from what I’ve heard none of them really knew each other, and their friends claimed to know nothing about what happened, although that was hardly surprising. I didn’t take it any further though. I knew better than to pry into things like that.’
‘And nobody ever heard anything about them after that?’
Spinner laughed. ‘Even if they ran away, did you ever look a Virt in the eye on patrols? Well, maybe you did, but the average Techno wouldn’t. If they were in Virt clothing they could have done Riverdance in front of one of us and still not have been noticed.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘How did she die?’
‘I’m not sure. There was a mark just here on her right arm where it looked like she’d been injecting herself with something.’ He indicated the location of the mark on his own arm. ‘But it doesn’t mean that’s what she died of.’
Spinner frowned and checked the file again. ‘Actually, I think that was very likely the cause of death. She was right-handed, so she would have injected into her left arm. It looks like she was murdered.’
I have jumped in here a few times and read snippets off chapters, as you do. HAHAHA.
I enjoyed the addition of Jay and Gel in this chapter. Reading Gel always puts a smile on my face she is pure entertainment. This little interaction between them as got me thinking, Jay & Gel as a couple could work. This is just my opinion, HAHA. Wow you can write, I felt like I had been taken into the system!!!
Slade at stepping up, he turns me on, LOL. I would happily tend to his cut he got from the glass. Lex and his mouth as usual are really getting on my tits. It’s nice to see Ram wanting to do something good but then tragedy strikes. 
Is Ram someone you were not keen on, or you just felt it was the right decision to make for this story? I’m glad to know the city is safe, but I am so worried about Jack.