Star Fallen Lover

by Lakes, Lynde

  “Give it time, Greg,” the doctor said. “The mind can’t be hurried.”

  The intercom rang. Dr. Steina told her secretary to send Darli in.

  The lovely creature stepped into the room and hesitated. What did he expect? He had run from her. He resisted an urge to reach out—to draw her close. A strange lilting tune throbbed in his head…a tune that expressed the fullness in his heart. He wanted to say how lovely she looked in that white dress…curiously familiar. But he simply nodded a silent greeting.

  “Greg and I just finished our session,” Dr. Steina said. “He understands there’s no pressure on him to remember. So, just relax and get reacquainted.”

  ****

  Sure…no pressure, Darli thought to herself, just shock treatments if he doesn’t get his memory back!

  Darli wanted to question the doctor about electroshock, but not until she talked with Cortz. Tension built within her as she and Cortz headed for the waiting Jeep.

  Jones’s irritable mood matched Darli’s. He jerked the ground’s Jeep into motion while mumbling loud enough for her to hear. “Darn foolishness. Why can’t they meet in the lounge like everyone else? Humph! Picnics for patients…Steina thinks this place is a blasted resort.”

  As though Cortz felt the tenseness in Darli’s hand, he gave it a squeeze and smiled. She returned his smile but doubted that the expression reached her eyes.

  “Don’t pay any attention to Jones,” Cortz whispered. “He’s grumpy because he had to work a double shift.”

  Jones screeched the Jeep to a halt at the top of a manicured knoll. He shoved a blanket and a picnic basket into Cortz’s arms and muttered that he would return in a few hours.

  “We’re still on the institution grounds but at least we can’t see the buildings,” Cortz said. He spread the blanket under a graceful old sycamore and motioned for Darli to sit down.

  She felt him snatching quick glances at her. “You’re exquisite,” he said finally.

  She smiled. “You’ve been watching old movies again.”

  “Perhaps. But I can think up things to say on my own. For instance, that wide-brimmed hat casts a mysterious shadow across your eyes…”

  “I don’t want to be a mystery to you, Cortz…I mean, Greg.”

  “Call me whatever makes you comfortable. I’m not partial to the name Greg. I don’t even know if that’s who I am.”

  “When we first met, you told me your name was Cortz and that is how I think of you.”

  “Then by all means, call me Cortz.”

  “All right, Cortz.” She closed her eyes to the threat of tears. It felt so right to call him that.

  Chapter Thirty

  After they spread the institution-gray picnic blanket under a big leafy sycamore, Cortz lowered his gaze from Darli’s face to where a breeze played with the skirt of her knit dress. The graceful ripple of provocative, lacy hemline reminded him of the stirring of a calm sea. Her skirt lifted slightly, showing shapely legs. He swallowed and cleared his throat. “I want to apologize for my rudeness yesterday. When I ran out of the room with no explanation, it was not what I wanted to do. I couldn’t remember more than disconnected images and it frustrated me.” He felt heat creeping up his neck. “Dr. Steina told me this morning how you dropped everything to come here to help me. I’m not sure why you would do that, but I’m glad you did.”

  “We’re friends,” Darli said softly. She stared down at her hands resting in her lap. “And when I care for someone, it’s a hundred percent.”

  What a tender-hearted lady, Cortz thought. He must have cared deeply for her…cared even now.

  ****

  Darli felt his gaze and met it. Her bare arms prickled, and a shiver went through her at Cortz’s disconcerting nearness. She had to distance herself from the sensations awakening within her. Time was crucial. “You said you remembered images and flashes. Will it upset you to tell me about them?”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid if I do, it might embarrass you.”

  “I guess I can stand a little embarrassment,” Darli said softly. She took off her hat and placed it beside her. “Maybe together we can fill in the missing pieces.”

  “The thoughts are disjointed, so bear with me. The first image is a tide flowing to and from the shore. Dark waters with millions of silver zigzagging lines undulate in cross directions, and far out beyond the reef white caps break in the moonlight. Then, there you are…sitting on a floating deck with your hair rippling in the breeze. Moonlight frames your silhouette.”

  Darli’s face grew warm.

  “I’m in the vision too,” he said. “I put my arms around you. My lips inch toward yours…”

  He was mixing things up, jumbling them, Darli thought, but his words reminded her of their last night together…the intimacy they shared…before her questions ended it.

  Cortz ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s all I remember. It’s not enough. But I sense you were a special part of my life…I want you to be again.” His voice was low, passionate.

  “You remember me! At least a little.” Joy filled her. “I was afraid I’d lost you.” She wanted to throw herself into his arms.

  Cortz’s gaze held hers.

  Darli wasn’t sure who moved first, but her eyes closed in relief as his arms wound around her. Her mouth eagerly met his. Time and surroundings didn’t matter. Cortz’s breath was hot against her lips, her face, her neck. Unquenchable desire consumed her.

  Was she insane? She was out it the open, revealing her weakness for him to anyone who might be watching. And patients were always under observation.

  When she pulled away, Cortz said, “I’m glad one of us has some control. They probably have a camera on us.”

  Straightening their clothes, they stared wide-eyed at one another in a passionate haze for a moment, then she forced herself to regain her composure. “With so much at stake, we can’t let lust—or whatever that was, get in the way.” Darli knew the only way to avoid the shock treatments was to jog the sketchy details he recalled into full memory. “I think now would be a good time to tell you about the time we spent together,” she said hoarsely.

  His eyes remained clouded with longing. “I remember the taste of your lips and the feel of your body next to mine. Pulling away from you just now was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do since I’ve been in here.”

  Darli ignored her yearning to be back in his arms. “Darn, Cortz, talk like won’t help us keep our perspective. We have more important things to discuss.”

  “For instance?” Cortz asked.

  Discussing the shock treatments too soon might upset him. First, she’d tell him about their time together—make him remember more than hazy images. “Let’s see what’s in the picnic basket, and I’ll tell you all I know about you while we eat.”

  “Eating is the last thing on my mind right now.” His grin was teasing, his eyes gentle.

  “Mine too, but remembering must be the first thing on your mind.” Her words were firm, her resolve strong. “I want you well and free of this place.”

  “You’re right.” The playful ruby glint faded from his eyes. “I’m nobody until I remember, and you deserve a somebody.”

  “You could never be a nobody.” She smiled. “Help me lay out the picnic and we’ll talk more.”

  After the fried chicken, potato salad, and cornbread were laid out, Darli filled their tall plastic glasses with lemonade. Then she relaxed against the trunk of the sycamore tree. While they ate, she related how they met, fell in love, and how he had told her he was from the planet Uraticus.

  Cortz shook his head. “I said that? It’s a wonder you didn’t run for your life.” He reached for another thick slice of cornbread.

  “Believe me, at first I wanted to, but you wouldn’t let me.”

  “That proves I wasn’t totally crazy.”

  Darli smiled. “And you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” She told him a few things about her work. When it seemed right, she eased into
the things his sister had shared about the tragedy in his life.

  “I don’t remember a wife or children. How could a man forget them? Darli, I can’t stand it. I must find a way to remember at any cost.”

  “You mustn’t say that! Some prices are too high to pay.”

  “You don’t know. There is nothing worse than having no sense of myself. Was I a good man or a bad one?”

  She touched his arm. “I’ve never met a gentler, kinder man. It was because you were so loving and caring that the loss and pain caused you to escape into a fantasy world.”

  “Why doesn’t any of this sound familiar? I could believe I was an alien as easily as I could believe anything else you told me.”

  After a while, Darli and Cortz repacked the picnic remnants to go for a walk. She put her hat on and they strolled down the knoll. They hadn’t gone far when Darli slipped off her shoes and ambled barefoot in the soft sun-warmed grass. It was comfortable and natural to tuck her hand into Cortz’s large, strong one.

  “It’s lovely out here.” Darli motioned at the tree-laden landscape with her strappy sandals dangling from her free hand. “But I’m an island girl and more at home with the surf and sand. Do you remember walking along the shore like this…hearing the gentle slap of waves along the shore? We held hands and walked into the breeze. She looked up at him, hoping.

  Cortz shook his head and shifted the picnic basket he held under his free arm. A squirrel darted in front of them before scurrying up an aged sycamore trunk. Had Cortz fled his old life, his old identity, and his short stay with her so easily? “He doesn’t seem afraid of us,” Darli said softly, to hide her disappointment.

  “They like people,” Cortz said. “Some of the patients feed them.”

  As Darli looked up into the thick branches above them, a gust of wind lifted her hat and sent it sailing high into the tree. “Oh…no…”

  “No problem.” Cortz winked at her. When he was Cortz the alien, she would have thought he was copying the actions of one of the heroes he’d seen in a movie. But as Greg, she had no frame of reference. “I’ll get it down for you,” he continued. He put the basket he was carrying on the ground and started up the tree.

  “My knight in tarnished armor,” she said. If only something as simple as a little silver polish could make him bright and shiny with full memory again. When he reached the limb that cradled the hat, he grabbed it and tossed it down to her. He hadn’t descended far, when his foot slipped. “Be careful,” Darli shouted.

  Cortz smiled. “Don’t worry. I seem to be a natural-born climber,” he said, and continued his descent.

  He was almost to the bottom of the tree, when the branch under his foot snapped. He tried to catch himself but gravity worked against him. When he landed, his head thudded heavily against the base of the tree. Darli screamed and rushed to his side. He rubbed his eyes as though groggy. “Cortz, are you hurt? Oh, my God, what should I do?” She lifted his head carefully onto her lap and gently smoothed the spot where a lump was forming.

  “It’s all right, Darli. I’m just a little dizzy. Let me rest here for a minute.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay? There’s no blood, but you have an ugly lump developing.”

  “I’m fine. But I feel as if we’ve been in this same situation before. My head in your lap, your sweet face looking so concerned.”

  Excitement made her words tumble out quickly. “You remember! You fell down the stairs outside my apartment. I pulled your head onto my lap”

  He sat up slowly, rubbing his forehead. He drew his brows closer together. Darli knew he was struggling to remember. Her pulse raced.

  After a few moments, he shook his head. Her spirits plummeted.

  “I wish…” His words faltered. Then he gained control of his voice again, “I would do anything to know who I am.”

  She didn’t want to hear him say that! His frame of mind made him vulnerable to the type of drastic therapy Mona contemplated. Darli had to find a way to make him remember.

  The lump on Cortz’s head had gotten bigger. When Darli saw Jones driving toward them in the ground’s Jeep, she let out a sigh of relief.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The first thing Darli did when they entered Dr. Steina’s office was to alert her about Greg’s fall.

  “How do you feel, Greg?” Dr. Steina asked.

  “The fall didn’t hurt me. What hurts is my failure to remember the important things in my life. Can’t you do something?”

  “I was just on the phone with your sister discussing that.”

  Darli’s breath caught. Would the doctor say what she feared?

  “Then there is something you can do?” Cortz asked.

  “There are other treatments.”

  “I want to hear about them.”

  “Each one comes with risks, Greg. And I prefer to go cautiously. I’d like to continue a few more days with associative stimulation. If we’re lucky, Darli’s visit will trigger your cerebrum memory banks and unlock a series of recollections until total recall is reached.”

  “And if that doesn’t happen?” Cortz asked.

  “A low voltage electrical shock treatment has been helpful in a limited number of cases. But the risk is great. Its use in the treatment of amnesia is rare. The process is one in which the brain is actually damaged. And rather than gaining memory you could lose what little you have. I recommend it only as a last resort.”

  “Aren’t there other options?” Darli asked.

  “There is a new serum that some doctors claim to have had a measure of success with. Outwardly it appears to be less risky than shock treatments, but it’s in its first year of use, which means there’s no data on long-term side effects. It could be more dangerous to the patient than electroshock.”

  Darli shuddered, but her voice was steady when she spoke. “Cortz…er…Greg, we’ll work through this together. You’ll remember without either of those treatments. I know it.”

  Dr. Steina smiled. “With faith like that, how can you miss? After we’re finished here I want you to take the x-ray slip to Jones. We want to be sure there’s no concussion. He’ll give you an ice pack. Use it and get some rest. Now let’s have a look at that bump.”

  Dr. Steina touched it lightly. Cortz winced.

  “A little tender?” Dr. Steina asked, shining a small light into Cortz’s eyes.

  “Not bad,” Cortz said. Suddenly he stood. His abrupt movement made the doctor drop the light. It rolled under the desk, the thick carpeting silencing the sound.

  Darli and Dr. Steina stared at Cortz. He bent, picked up the light and handed it back to the doctor.

  “Sorry.” His voice was soft at first, and then it grew in strength. “I’ve made up my mind. I want the treatments. Now.”

  ****

  Back in her room, Darli was ashamed of the anger she felt for the birds creating a squawking ruckus outside the bathroom window. She stepped into the scalding shower and the sound of the water beating against tile drowned out the noise. Her tears flowed faster and mixed with the curling steam.

  Later, before climbing wearily into bed, Darli took one of the pills the doctor had given to her. Despite taking the sedative, the sound of Greg’s voice demanding the shock therapy echoed in her ears. Even though Dr. Steina preferred the cautious approach, would she give in to Greg’s demands? With pressure from both Greg and his sister, it wasn’t likely that she would hold off for long.

  Searching for a way to get through to Cortz before it was too late kept Darli awake for hours, and it wasn’t until a howling dog was mysteriously silenced that she forced her eyes closed against the first hints of early morning dawn and finally drifted into a fitful sleep.

  She was thrust into a nightmare: a giant was chasing a moth and dropped a net over it. The moth fluttered its wings against the steely mesh. Suddenly it was Cortz in the net, struggling to get out. The giant laughed as he tightened the cord of the inescapable net. The giant had Fox’s face! Darli fought her sheets to re
lease the helpless moth.

  ****

  Commander Olsen answered his office intercom on the first ring. “Yes, Fox?”

  “Everyone is here.”

  “Send them in. Let Ensign Higgins take over out there and you come in too.”

  Fox followed Ryker and Parker into the room.

  “Sir,” Ryker began, “Parker and I have new information on the UFO that went into the ocean six months ago.”

  “It’s about time.” Olsen stood abruptly.

  “The search up to this point, as you know, resulted in zilch,” Ryker said. But, early this morning the frogmen found an old volcanic cave under the reef wall. It was hidden by tons of seaweed and debris. They discovered an oval-shaped steel object wedged tightly inside.”

  “I knew it!” Olsen shouted. “Where is it now?”

  “It’s still in the cave,” Parker said. “No one has figured out how to dislodge it. It’s as if it’s cemented to the volcanic mass.”

  “Well, dynamite the blasted thing!” Olsen bellowed.

  Parker shook his head. “Impossible, sir. Dynamite would crumble the whole reef. We have our best engineers working on the problem and the area is under tight security.”

  Commander Olsen scrubbed at one of his thick eyebrows until the hair stood pointed like a devil’s brow. “Have you determined its origin?”

  Ryker pointed to a photograph. “Sir, this was taken by underwater cameras. It isn’t a vessel from Country Code X3. The design is far superior to anything they have. The structural alloy is foreign. We can’t identify the mixtures, but there are traces of platinum and diamond.”

  “Glad to hear you ruled out the Code X3,” Olsen said. “I’d hate to think what it would mean if it were theirs. What’s inside?”

  “So far no entry or exit doors have been located.” Ryker glanced at Parker for agreement. He nodded.

  Olsen frowned. “Drill an entry!”

  “Too risky,” Parker said. “It could be a bomb of sorts.”

  “A bomb?” Olsen squinted.

  Parker tugged at his collar. “Maybe it’s an unmanned craft, or maybe any beings aboard are dead.”