The Quest for Skye: Chapter 25

Recap: Markus the reporter has been rescued from the island (and is going home to visit his very sick, possibly tumor-ridden daughter). Lance the Tennis Player was a major jerk to everyone involved in taking him back to Greece. Also, we've learned that the Leontious' island is its own country.

The next few days the Hamiltons began to feel more comfortable in their new surroundings.

Somebody else must have given them another couple tours. Seriously, though, are they going to make a decision at any point? They're just kind of lounging around, and given the fact that the fate of the entire world apparently hangs on them adopting Skye (as they clearly want to do) and running the clinic (as they clearly want to do) and their only reason to not move here is because they don't want to live in Greece (which they won't have to do anyway because this island is apparently its own country now) ... you'd think they'd have said yes by now. Heck, even if only so they could get the key to the Locked Door.

Tammy and Dr. Rozak work together installing new equipment. Apparently "[s]oon the facility would be fully functional". What? It's not functional now? That is not safe for a bunch of really extremely sick girls. Why isn't it functional? Is it because they lost records when Markus hacked their computers? Is it because of the fire that killed the Leontious? (I guess I would argue that the fire occurred because important things like, ya know, doors weren't fully functional before they started doing dangerous explosive experiments.)

While his wife was busy at the clinic, Morgan investigated the island thoroughly.

I TOLD YOU THERE HAD TO BE MORE TOURS. This one is just self-guided. Seriously, is Morgan ever going to do anything besides wander around the island? If he's prepping to maybe take over as administrator, maybe he should administrate. Apparently he hangs out with Skye all day, but then at noon she goes to eat with her friends. This is important because he gets randomly suspicious of it later.

Oh. Huh. The old lady in the wheelchair isn't who died in the ER, because Tammy sees Skye talking to her several times. Or maybe the old lady's a ghost. That'd be a fun twist.

[The old lady] always seemed to disappear before Tammy could reach her. When she asked Skye about her, she would reply, “She’s just someone special.”

...Well, dang. She really might be a ghost.

It had been six days since the Hamiltons arrived on the island. Each night they would get together and talk about the day’s events. It was quite a contrast from back home, where they barely spoke a word to each other at the end of the day.

Well, here they get to do exciting things like take tours and install equipment. Back home they were just treating sick kids and accidentally video chatting.

Morgan wants to take the job, but Tammy is hesitant. I feel like Morgan doesn't really have a feel for the actual job yet, seeing as he's doing absolutely nothing but wandering around the island with Skye. Tammy at least is trying to work alongside the doctors she'd be working with in the actual clinic, so kudos to her.

One night, Tammy reveals that though there are only 23 patients in the clinic officially, she found "three additional screens" from her work on the computer. I have no idea what she means by screens. As she goes on, I think she's talking about files she found on the computer, but she keeps calling them "screens," and listen to how she describes them:

“What’s weird is that there are no pictures, no names, no birthdates, only medical information, and a number.”  

“What color are the screens?” 

“One was red, with all indicators in the critical area. The second screen was green, but the vitals were declining on that patient, also. The third screen was completely black.”

Now that doesn't sound like files anymore, it sounds like she actually somehow physically found three separate monitors somewhere that are showing this random information. But every child doesn't get their own monitor as far as I know, so I don't know why she would see these and be like, "These are for three extra people!"

“Could those screens be the average of the twenty-three patients?” 

“I thought of that possibility, but I don’t think so. They were password protected, so I couldn’t access them.”

What? If they were password protected how could she tell that there were no pictures, no names, no birthdates, only medical information and a number and what all the indicators said on the screens?! What the heck else did she think there was to access? And I don't understand why all the secrecy. Can't she just be like, "Hey, Dr. Rozak, these 'screens' have a password, what are they for?" They clearly have a problem with keeping their data secure, so password protection isn't sinister so much as it is a basic security precaution.

Morgan asks if she's made any progress on The Locked Door while he's been off gallivanting, and she says the old lady in the wheelchair isn't dead. So we're caught up there. She comments on how strange The Locked Door is and says once she tried to get in and a guard appeared behind her. And also there are security cameras.

Morgan then comes up with the worst plan of all time.

“Now, on a different subject. I made an executive decision. This is what I think we should do. I’m going to spend time with Skye tomorrow. When she leaves at noon, I’ll follow her and watch where she goes. Once I discover that, I’ll meet you in the room across from the ER. Since I know she’ll be gone the entire lunch hour, we’ll have time to figure out how to get into that room. We’re going to find out once and for all what’s going on, if anything. I believe what’s in that room holds the key, but time is running out. We have until morning to make up our minds about staying here. We deserve answers!”

What the crap?

Let's begin at the beginning.

1) That is not on a different subject. That is the exact same subject: What To Do About the Locked Door Which Is So Freaking Mysterious and So Much More Important Than the Fact That a Communist Is Trying To Use the Hamiltons To Destroy the World.

2) I don't think Morgan should be the one making the executive decisions here. Tammy's doing all the detective work, including picking up on things like Markus' confession two chapters ago.

3) Way to trust Skye, Morgan. She says she's meeting her friends for lunch and you're being a jerk about it and being like, "That's what she says, but where is she REALLY going?"

4) For that matter, why do you care? Can't you just let her have some time by herself?

5) You've been puzzling over what to do about The Locked Door for like three or four days now, and you're convinced you're going to figure out in the span of an hour how to get into it, what with the cameras and the guards and the lockedness?

6) "What's in that room" holds the key? To what? The Leontious' death? The restoration of Greece's economy? Killing the communists? Giving Tammy a baby? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

7) Besides, Lance the Tennis Player has already told you that Skye is the key and to ask her about it. But have you done that? No, you've decided Skye is not the key, the Locked Door is the key and communication is for losers. Sneaking around is much more fun.

8) WHY CAN'T THEY ASK FOR THE KEY TO THE LOCKED DOOR? They can just make it contingent upon their decision to stay. "We want to stay here, but we need transparency. What's going on in there?" How is this plan not umpteen times better than his? You say you deserve answers, but, dude, the solution to your problem is right there in the Bible: "You do not have because you do not ask."

There is so much ridiculous conspiracy "lookee me, I'm a spy now!" nonsense in that paragraph.

There's a movie I really love (which I'm not revealing the name of because I have to get super spoilery here to make my point). The basic idea is that an extremely paranoid man ends up getting very close to a very lonely woman, and by the end of the movie, the relationship has gotten all psychologically tangled up in the paranoia, which she has kind of latched onto in her mind as a way of relating to him. The final scene is this completely terrifying scene where he helps her create this enormous conspiracy encompassing nearly everything that's ever happened to her, making it fit, making the inexplicable facts of one person's life fit someone else's. It's a horrifying almost-monologue as you watch her just spiral and spiral and spiral into madness.

That is what that paragraph was like.

(Chapter 26.)