Moving back so the medical team could look Vareen over. Mica could only stand helpless as they removed the tubes in her arms and assessed her health. A moment later her body started convulsing and jerking in the chair.
“She’s going into shock. We need to get her to The Maxon.” The doctor was putting devices on her temples and then he ordered, “Maxon, emergency transport to medical.”
The desire to stay and inflict as much damage as possible to this facility and it’s occupants battled with his desire to be with Vareen. The latter won out and he ordered, “transport me as well.”
Then he was leaving Cestori and he promised himself he would never come back to this cursed planet, or let Vareen anywhere near it again either.
Chapter Nine
“Wake up Var. You can do it for me. Open your beautiful purple eyes.”
She was so tired and it was hard to hear the voice. It was garbled slightly like she was listening under ten feet of water. Why would she want to wake up and who called her Var? Her name was Vareen Nas thank you very much. She needed to sleep and you’d think that annoying male would let her. The floating sensation was rather nice and soon her mind was drifting again.
“Why won’t she respond?” there was frustration in the male’s voice. “It’s been a week.”
“She’ll wake up when she’s ready Mica. You can’t force it.”
She’d been asleep for a week? That really wasn’t very professional. Struggling against the lethargy she pushed herself to open her eyes. Why was it so difficult? It felt like weights were pulling her eyelids the other direction. Trying to put her hand up to her eyes to check, her arms felt leaden. What was going on?
“Did you see that. She moved her hand.” The male was very excited, but she was more irritated that it hadn’t worked.
“It could have been another unconscious twitch. Let me run a scan and see what it shows.”
Vareen didn’t feel anything happening, so the scan they performed must not be invasive.
“All this time listening to you chatting away at her must’ve worked. Her stats have improved. I think we’ve kept her in hydro-isolation long enough. I hope that our method of electro-muscle therapy worked on her physiology. If not, we’ll have extra work to reverse any atrophy. It’s time to move her to a rehab room and find out.”
“Is the process going to be traumatic?” the male seemed worried.
“No. We just slowly release the fluid levels and then transport her to a medical room.”
What did that mean? What kind of fluid was she in? As the thoughts raced through her head, she could feel a slight change in the pressure around her body. The temperature changed from what she would liken to a nice warm soak, to a few degrees cooler. Her body started to feel weighted again as if she’d been in zero gravity.
“Her responses are holding steady. Let’s transport her. I’ll keep you informed of her progress.”
“I’m going with you,” the male argued.
“No, you’re not. There is no way to know how she’ll react to seeing any of you. You need to be patient and wait until I deem it safe for you to see each other.”
“I don’t want to—”
“Maybe it’s best if you listen to the doctor.” That was Cali talking. At least someone she knew was here, wherever “here” is.
“I know it’s hard, but do what’s best for Vareen. Not what you want. I’ll see you when I’m done examining her.”
From what she was hearing, it was logical to assume that she’d been ill and with all the medical talk around her, this was a hospital. So what injury or illness did she have? Trying to remember gave her a headache. The last thing she recalled was being assigned as the second officer of The Reliant. She had been called to duty and arrived at Thalesti with Nellia and Diandra. Why did thinking of Diandra give her a headache? For some reason everything was fuzzy.
There was a tingling sensation and then she heard a friendly voice. “Hello, Vareen. I’m your nurse. You can call me Daizie.”
Vareen felt out with her hands, she couldn’t breathe and was going to be sick. When she tried to talk, her voice was hoarse. “I-I’m going to b-be sick.” Speaking that one sentence was extremely difficult and ended when she started gagging.
“It’s the hydro-oxygen gel you’ve been breathing,” Daizie reassured her. Vareen felt the cold surface of some type of bowl. “If you need to be sick, here’s a basin.”
“What is hydro-oxygen gel?” Vareen rasped.
“It is just what it sounds like. A super oxygenated liquid that helps the healing process. The patient is submerged and breaths the liquid as they would normal air. Your body was able to remain calm while unconscious, but now that you’re awake it might make you nauseous for a few moments. It will pass. Take deep breaths and when you feel ready you can try to open your eyes.”
Vareen did as the nurse asked. At first, it was painful, but after a moment her nausea died down and she felt better. When she was ready she tried to open her eyes. She blinked rapidly at the light and then closed them again.
“Lighting to forty percent.” The nurse called. “Try again. The lights can be hard when you’ve come out of hydro-isolation.”
Vareen peeked her eyes open the slightest bit and then a bit more when it didn’t hurt. Finally, she had them opened fully and looked around. It appeared as if she was in a typical medical room. There was a doorway to her left, and another straight ahead. A window on her right was covered in some type of blinds. The bed was standard, about five feet wide and adjustable, with a giant mirror that took half the wall behind her bed.
“Well, you have the most beautiful purple eyes I’ve ever seen. Mica did say they were unique, I thought he was exaggerating. He really wasn’t.” Daizie exclaimed and Vareen remained quiet. She wasn’t very good with accepting compliments. “Are you feeling any pain? Or discomfort?”
Vareen shook her head. She felt fine. A quick assessment of the rest of her body showed the same thing. Slowly moving her limbs and flexing her muscles she noticed a marked weakness, but that was all.
“That’s a good sign about your body.”
The nurse moved to the side of the bed and clicked on a holo-chart. “I will be putting all of the information I gather from you into this chart. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask to see it, and if needed one of the staff can explain any remarks.” Daizie held up what appeared to be a slim computer tablet with various symbols and images on it.
“There, done. We can move on to rule number one: we need to get you on your feet so the blood starts pumping the way it’s meant to. I’m going to let you take a shower and then you’ll surely feel better.” Grabbing her arm, Daizie pulled her to a sitting position. There wasn’t any discomfort at the sudden movement and Vareen began to wonder what the nature of her injury was exactly. With help, she swung her legs over the bed and went to stand. Her legs felt like jelly but she was able to walk slowly into the bathroom.
This room had a sink, small mirror, toilet and curtained shower. When the nurse turned on a handle, Vareen’s body jerked in surprise. This wasn’t a solar shower. There was real water jetting from the nozzle. Cestori hadn’t used water for cleaning in centuries to conserve the precious resource. Wherever she was must be blessed with an abundance of water to be able to use if for this purpose. When the nurse helped her under the spray, she tensed at how odd the substance felt pouring over her. After a few seconds, she was able to relax and allow the warmth to soothe her. Daizie sat on a chair outside of the curtain and waited for her.
Taking a handful of soap, Vareen rubbed her head. Her fingers worked through the short strands much faster than normal. Short strands? Had it been cut because of her injury? Feeling around her head she could feel a few even shorter patches. She really had been sick. She felt no grief at the loss of her hair, no remorse over her long illness. Not even confusion, she was blank inside. Wondering at the oddity of not feeling anything she determined to ask the nurse when she got out.
With a shrug, she rinsed off and moved to step out. Daizie was there with a towel and some type of garment. Vareen took the towel and patted until she was relatively dry.
“Would you like to try to get dressed?”
“Yes. I wonder if I might speak with you about what my illness or injury was. Also, if you could tell me where I am? What ship am I on?”
“The doctor will speak with you about that.” Daizie held up the material she was holding. “This is a medical gown. I know it’s not very fashionable, but it comes in handy if we have an emergency and need to work on you. Not that I think we’ll need to, it’s just a precaution.”
“That will do fine.” Taking the medical gown, Vareen put her arms into the required holes and wrapped it around herself. The fastenings were easy to arrange and she was covered in no time.
“It’s very comfortable,” Vareen offered a compliment so as not to offend the nurse. “Thank you.” When Daizie remained silent Vareen looked at her quizzically. “Is something the matter?”
“No. You just look so much better. I’m used to seeing you in hydro-isolation.” Daizie helped her walk to the sink. “When we start working on your rehabilitation, I’ll give you some pants to wear as well.”
Vareen looked into the mirror and examined her appearance. Her hair was cut short in layers around her head. The longest points reached her shoulders and there were a few spiked points as well. Her face was sunken from whatever had put her into the hospital. Her cheeks were more prominent, but at least they had some color. Her eyes seemed huge in her face, but that could be due to the style of her haircut. Overall, she looked the same. Perhaps a bit of darkness under her eyes, and she’d lost weight, but nothing extreme.
With a shrug, she moved away from the bathroom.
At this point, a male came into the room. He was very tall, with lovely wavy auburn hair. His eyes were a strange mix between brown and amber colored. Similar to her friend Cali’s, but darker. His face wasn’t chiseled but slightly rounded with a square chin and high cheekbones.
She knew there was something she should remember about the red shirt he wore. She’d been told it signified something, but she couldn’t recall what exactly. The harder she tried to grab the memory the further away it got. Moving on in her perusal of the doctor she saw he had on nice black pants, military style boots, and a white doctor’s lab coat.
He stopped before her and held out his hand, “Hello Vareen. You’ve given us quite a scare and I’m happy to finally be talking with you. I am Dr. Jaden Takari, please, call me Jaden.”
Vareen smiled in relief and shook hands with the doctor. Here was someone she could relate to. “Doctor Jaden. Can you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Not doctor,” his smile was wide and showed perfect white, even teeth. “Just Jaden. Have a seat on the bed and we’ll go over everything that’s happened.”
Vareen quickly turned and sat on the bed. She was ready to hear what had occurred to make everything feel so fractured.
Chapter Ten
“What is the last thing you remember?” Jaden asked her. He had positioned himself at the end of her bed. The tablet in his hand that Daizie had mentioned earlier held her medical records.
“I remember being assigned to The Reliant. I was to serve as the science officer and second in command.”
“Anything else?” The doctor encouraged, his fingers tapping away.
“No. I just remember arriving at Thalesti and getting my gear ready. Making sure my plants were being watered while I was away. That sort of thing. Is there something I should be remembering?”
“You don’t recall arriving on The Reliant?”
Vareen tried but she had no memories of being on The Reliant. It was like watching everything underwater with her eyes half closed. The memories were just out of reach. “I’m sorry. The harder I try to remember, the cloudier it becomes.”
“Okay. I can fill in some pieces, but I think the best course of action is to let your memories return or not as your body can manage.” The doctor took a deep breath, “First let me assure you that you are safe and have friends here. No harm will come to you.”
Vareen found that odd and not very reassuring but nodded anyway. “Okay. I believe you.”
The doctor took her hand. “Vareen, you spent some time on The Reliant. While in space you found escape pods and rescued the humanoids inside those pods. Do you recall any of that?”
“No.” Vareen found what the doctor was telling her to be fascinating. “How long were we in space? How long were the humanoids in the escape pods?”
“As I said. I think some of your memories need to return at their own pace.”
He looked uncomfortable and Vareen frowned back. “There has to be more. Why can’t I remember being on The Reliant? How long of a period of time have I lost?”
“I know you don’t recall the details, but you were given command of The Reliant and returned to Cestori,” he shifted in the chair and tapped his tablet again.
Vareen sat feeling…nothing. The information the doctor gave her resulted in no response. It was just a piece of a puzzle being put into place.
“I had command of The Reliant?” Vareen asked calmly. “I heard Cali talking earlier, so I know she’s okay, but why wasn’t she with us on the ship?”
Vareen’s brain started to throb with a headache from the strain of trying to remember. Her hands flew to her temples in frustration.
The doctor immediately held an instrument to her eyes. Frowning he asked, “Your pupils are dilating. What level of pain are you experiencing?”
“It isn’t bad,” Vareen was able to answer truthfully. “It’s just a slight throbbing. Why am I experiencing pain from trying to remember? Do I have a brain injury?”
“I am going to answer truthfully, but I want you to remain calm.”
At his words, her anxiety amped up. Nobody said that if they were going to give good news.
“There were consequences when you returned to Cestori. I won’t go into details, only to tell you that a realignment procedure was done to try to erase your emotions. You were rescued and brought to this facility to heal.”
“Was this procedure to erase my emotions completed?” Vareen was stunned at the news, so she was able to feel some emotion.
The doctor held up his hands helplessly. “I don’t know. Your brain is very traumatized and you’re still healing. Even if you feel fine physically, your mind will take some time to catch up. I’m not sure to what extent you will be able to feel things. You might feel very strongly, or nothing at all. We’re just not sure.”
Vareen tried to hide her unease at the scope of her memory loss and brain injury. “Did the others have this done? Cali, Nellia, Vathral, Diandra...”
“You are worried about your friends?”
“Yes. Something important had to have happened to get Cali off The Reliant. Was she taken to have this realignment done?”
“No. Cali is safe and unharmed. Would you like to see her?”
“She’s still here? Yes, I’d like to see her.”
The doctor nodded his head and after a few moments, there was a knock at the door and it opened. Cali stood there with a tall, dark haired male.
“Vareen.” Cali ran to her and drew her into a hug. “I’m so sorry.” Before Vareen could blink, Cali was in tears, crying on her shoulder.
“Cali,” she pulled back to examine her friend more closely. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“It should be me.” Cali cried harder. Her friend’s amber eyes were pools of misery and Vareen was stunned.
The male who’d joined them in the room’s face darkened, “Cali don’t say that. You couldn’t have known. None of us could.”
“What should be you?” Vareen looked from Cali to the male with her.
“Drake, it should be me sitting there,” Cali gestured at the medical bed. “I should’ve taken The Reliant back to Cestori. I knew Diandra was evil—”
“
I took you from the bridge. It is my fault.” The male looked miserable and Vareen was busy trying to figure out who he was and what about Diandra?
“Diandra? What about her?” Vareen’s eyes watered at the intensity of the pain in her head with trying to think. Seeing her distress Jaden was suddenly hovering over her, examining her eyes again. After looking at first one eye, then the other, he backed away. Grabbing a tool off the table by the bed, he pressed it to her neck and Vareen felt instant relief.
Jaden frowned faintly. “I don’t think discussing this topic is in the best interest of my patient.”
“No,” Vareen objected. “I want to know. Please, let her tell me.”
The doctor nodded reluctantly to Cali, “Okay, but keep it short.”
Her friend hurried to say, “Diandra was working for my mother the whole time we were at the Academy. She wasn’t a true friend. She told my mother to use you, Nellia and Vathral against me. That’s why you were picked for realignment, because of me.”
Vareen nodded, taking the news in stride. “I think I understand.” She smiled reassuringly at her friend. “It’s not your fault. I was in command of The Reliant, and I’m sure it was for a good reason. Don’t blame yourself for what your mother did. Can you tell me if others are still being held for this realignment?”
Cali sniffled a few times, “No. When the males from Titus rescued those being held at the Realignment Center the destruction was quite…intensive. My mother was forced by the people to modify the new law she’d tried to implement, but she kept her hold on the council. Those with emotions are going to be allowed to leave Cestori. They aren’t welcome to stay and spread their emotional propaganda, but they won’t be punished if they leave. My father is helping to relocate them to Atheon. Conndra, Markus, Tobias, Nellia, and Phineath are all either on Atheon or traveling between the two worlds to help.”
Vareen & Mica (The Alliance Book 2) Page 6