by Linn Schwab
The Lieutenant looked at her in panic.
Major Richards crossed her arms and sighed. “Never mind,” she said, shaking her head in resignation. “If she wants me to know, I’m sure I’ll find out sooner or later.”
Veronica let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the pilot’s face again. “He seems so peaceful,” she said in reflection. “Do you think he’s ever killed anyone?”
Without warning, the pilot’s hands began to move. Major Richards quickly reached for a syringe.
“What are you doing?” Veronica asked.
“He’s waking up. I need to keep him unconscious.”
Veronica could see the major’s hands trembling. It was obvious that she was extremely nervous. “Why? Don’t you want to talk to him?”
The major turned to face her with fear and uncertainty in her eyes.
“You’re afraid of him, aren’t you,” Veronica said, easily interpreting the look on her face.
“It’s not so much him,” the major explained. “It’s just ... I have no idea how to handle this. What do I even say to him? I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before.”
Veronica moved closer to the major and wrapped an arm around her waist. “You can’t keep him unconscious forever, you know. You’re gonna have to face up to this eventually. Just let him wake up,” she suggested. “Let’s just see what happens.”
Major Richards took a deep breath and exhaled, and reluctantly set the syringe aside. “Right,” she said, trying to gather her nerves. “Just don’t leave me here alone with him, Lieutenant.”
Veronica nodded in acceptance. The two of them held hands with each other and inched their way closer to the pilot’s bedside.
“Careful,” Major Richards warned. “He might be a little grumpy when he comes to. He hit the floor pretty hard when we dumped him off the gurney. Let’s try not to mention that to him, okay?”
AWAKENINGS 061
Dave heard unfamiliar voices. At least two of them. Both of them female. As faintness gradually gave way to consciousness, he realized he was lying on his back and his eyelids were filtering a bright source of light.
“How will we know when he’s awake?” he heard someone whisper.
“Watch his eyes,” another voice replied. “You’ll know when his eyelids start to twitch.”
Where am I? he wondered, trying desperately to keep his eyelids from twitching as he struggled to get a hold of his bearings. A series of images surfaced in his memory: a silent cockpit ... an enemy pilot ... the outer walls of an unfamiliar space station. That’s right, I’m a prisoner, he remembered. I need to be very cautious here.
Since he could already hear people talking, he considered pretending he was still unconscious to see if he could learn something about his captors. His main concerns with that idea, though, were how long he could go before they found out, and how upset they might be if they discovered he’d been deceiving them. It was a plan that was fraught with risks, he realized. He’d have to weigh his options carefully.
“How long do you think before he can talk?” one of the voices asked.
“It’s hard to say,” the other responded. “We can’t even be sure if he’ll understand us. Earth was a world of many different languages. There’s no way to be certain which one of them he speaks.”
Dave suddenly came to the conclusion that it was hopeless trying to pretend he was unconscious. It was just too difficult to fake it. Eventually, they would catch on to him.
“I understand every word you’re saying,” he said, deciding it was best just to be honest with them. He opened his eyes and saw two attractive females leaning over him. One of them seemed vaguely familiar to him — the girl he’d been looking at before he passed out. She appeared to be in her mid to late teens, and wore an olive green dress styled in military fashion. The other seemed a little older — perhaps two or three years older than himself — late twenties or maybe just barely thirty, and wearing a tight black uniform dress. Their faces both seemed to have a radiant glow, as if their skin possessed a faint luminosity.
“Did I just wake up in heaven?” he asked, smiling at the older of the two women.
“You’re lucky to wake up at all,” she told him. “So don’t try to cause us any trouble.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed. “Are you a doctor?”
“I’m a medical officer. My name is Major Richards.”
“Major Richards,” Dave repeated. “Have you got a first name?”
“You can call me Major Richards,” she replied.
He shrugged. “Major Richards it is, then. What about your friend?” he said, looking at Veronica. “Does she have a name?”
“I’m Lieutenant Marlowe,” Veronica answered, following Major Richards’ example.
“You and I share the same rank, Lieutenant. My name is Dave,” he said. “Dave Samuels.”
“Yes, we know,” the major informed him. “It says so right on your flight suit, Lieutenant.”
Dave glanced down at the left pocket of his flight suit. “Oh yeah,” he said, “I guess it does, doesn’t it.” His eyes caught a glimpse of his left foot while he was looking. He tried to lift it but winced in agony as pain shot up through his lower left leg. “I see you decided not to take my left leg,” he said, looking up at Major Richards again.
“Don’t give me any ideas,” she warned. “If you want to keep it, you’re gonna have to stay off of it for a while. It still needs a fair amount of time to heal.”
“Doctor’s orders?” he said with a grin.
“Call it whatever you like,” she said. “Just do what I tell you, or you may still lose it.”
“Whatever you say, Doc,” he agreed. Feeling a sudden throbbing pain, he started rubbing the lower right side of his back. “I seem to be really sore all over. Is that normal for being shot in the leg?”
The major exchanged a quick glance with Veronica before hastily offering an explanation. “You … collapsed after climbing out of your plane.”
“Oh, that’s right,” he said, continuing to rub his lower right back. “Funny thing is, though ... I could’ve sworn I was falling to the left.”
* * * *
Janine scurried along the spur to the dock where the Terrapin had just arrived. As soon as the airlock doors slid open, Commander Eldridge stepped out to greet her.
“I received your transmission,” the commander said. “What’s so important that you had to call me back here?”
Janine led her to a nearby intercom panel and called up an interior view of the hangar, with the enemy fighter sitting front and center. “Take a look,” she said, pointing at the captured fighter.
The commander seemed unimpressed. “We recovered an enemy fighter?” she said. “It may have been a while since we’ve bothered to do so, but it’s not like it’s never happened before.”
“Look again,” Janine insisted. “Notice the landing gear is down.”
A look of shock now appeared on the commander’s face as the significance of the image became clearer to her. “Are you telling me there’s a live enemy pilot here?”
Janine pursed her lips and nodded. “At least he was still alive the last I checked. Apparently, he was critically wounded and fell unconscious as soon as he arrived here.”
Commander Eldridge quickly considered her options. “Who knows about this?” she asked.
Janine rolled her eyes and let out a terse laugh. “Everyone on the station knows he’s here.”
“But no one outside Volaris?”
“No. Not that I’m aware of, anyway.”
“That’s good,” the commander said. “Where is he right now?”
“He’s in the infirmary. I assume Major Richards is probably still with him.”
Commander Eldridge gestured for Janine to follow her and started walking in the infirmary’s direction. “Do we know if he said anything when he arrived?”
“I was told he said nothing before he lost consciousness.”
�
��Any idea how he managed to find his way here?”
“From what I’ve been able to gather, it seems one of our pilots latched onto his fighter and was somehow able to drag him back here.”
“One of our pilots? Remind me to have a talk with her. I’ll decide later whether to thank her or strangle her. While this is certainly a very gutsy maneuver, it could also prove to be quite dangerous. Let’s just hope he didn’t have an opportunity to compromise this station’s coordinates before landing.”
Arriving just outside the infirmary, the commander and Janine stopped and listened. As usual, the infirmary door was wide open. They could clearly overhear Major Richards and Lieutenant Marlowe conversing with the enemy pilot. After listening in on the conversation for a moment, Commander Eldridge pulled Janine away from the room and into the nearest elevator.
Janine seemed puzzled by the commander’s actions. “You don’t want to talk to him?” she asked.
“No. At least not yet. You and I should keep our presence here unknown to him for now. Major Richards seems to be getting along quite well with him. Let’s not do anything to interfere with that. If she can get him to trust her, that could work to our advantage.”
The elevator came to a stop. Both of them headed to the control room.
“Lieutenant Holden,” the commander called out, “has there been any recent activity near the combat zone?”
Miranda shook her head. “No, Commander. Everything still seems quiet out there.”
“Take the station off full alert, then. There’s no sense in keeping everything locked down when there seems to be no immediate threat.” She turned to Janine and lowered her voice. “I have another mission for you,” she said. “Consider it an official investigation.”
Janine perked up and listened closely.
“I want you to dig into this station’s history and see if you can find out why its guns are disassembled.”
“Disassembled?” she responded with a look of surprise.
Commander Eldridge nodded in confirmation. “Apparently, they’ve been like that for quite some time now. What I’d like to know is why, and who’s responsible for leaving them in that condition.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Janine insisted. “Oh, uh ... one more thing, Commander. Don’t expect to get any use out of Command–net right now. Apparently, it’s experiencing some technical difficulties.” She flashed a quick wink at the commander and headed off to begin her investigation.
* * * *
When the announcement came to stand down from full alert, Robin’s battalion left the cafeteria and headed for their quarters to try to get some sleep. Virginia decided to tag along with. “Are there any extra beds in your room?” she asked. “I don’t really want to be alone right now. The rest of my squadron is still out near the combat zone.”
“You can sleep in Tabitha’s bed,” Christy told her. “I think she’s out in the combat zone too.”
Virginia seemed surprised to hear this. “Why would she be out there?” she asked.
Christy shrugged. “All I know is, someone told me they saw her with Delia. So I’m pretty sure she’s on the Calypso.”
“Well, I hope she’s alright,” Virginia said.
“Yeah. I really hope so too.”
* * * *
A scream rang out from the Calypso’s bunk area, where Audrey and Tabitha were trying to get some rest. Delia ran back from the bridge and found Tabitha sitting on the edge of her bunk, clutching her abdomen as if trying to make sure it was all still there.
“Tabitha, what happened?” she asked. She dropped to one knee in front of the young Sentinel.
“I dreamed that bullets were hitting me,” she sobbed. “They were making holes in me.”
Audrey sat down beside Tabitha and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Those bullets were a little too close for comfort,” Delia said. “I can see why they might cause you some nightmares. I shouldn’t have brought you out here. When it’s our turn to go back and refuel, we’ll drop you off as soon as we get to Volaris. Just hang in there for right now, okay? Hopefully there won’t be any more fighting for a while, and we can get you back there before anything else happens.”
Tabitha nodded, closed her eyes, and tried her best to stop herself from shaking.
Delia returned to the bridge and looked out through the forward windows. When the enemy fleet had pulled back from the engagement, the Sentinel destroyers had all scattered and retreated to hiding places overlooking the battlefield. Enemy ships were popping in and out of range now, as if hoping to lure someone into pursuing them.
“What are they doing,” Tammy complained. “They have to know we’re not stupid enough to fall for that!”
“I know,” Delia said. “Something’s definitely suspicious here. But until they make a move, we won’t have any idea what they’re planning. We’ll just have to be ready for anything, I guess. If any of you start to feel tired, go try to get some rest. I want at least one pair of fresh eyes on the scanner at all times.”
* * * *
“So, Doc,” Dave said to Major Richards, “can you give me some idea what you’re planning to do with me?”
“I’m not sure yet, actually.” She signaled Veronica to leave the room and waited until she stepped out of sight. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I assume you’re regarding me as a prisoner?”
“Right now, I’m considering you a patient. But that doesn’t mean you have free run of this station. Consider yourself restricted to just this room, and the bath chamber through that side door over there. If I find you’ve been outside this area ... and I will,” she said, pointing to a security monitor, “I won’t hesitate to implement harsher treatment.”
Dave chuckled. “I guess that means I won’t be getting a tour of this facility, then.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. But, if you have any military secrets of your own that you’d be willing to share with me, I’d certainly be more than willing to hear them.”
“Yeah,” he said, “I see what you mean. This is gonna be awkward for both of us, isn’t it. I don’t suppose you happen to be aware of any prisoner exchange arrangements between our two sides?”
“If you care to tell me where you’d like to be delivered, I could have you loaded into a cannon.”
“That wouldn’t be my first choice, actually. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.”
A smile briefly crossed the major’s lips. Dave instantly recognized he’d just caught a glimpse of her true personality. She’s just putting up a front, he realized. She’s not nearly as gruff as she’s pretending to be. The revelation made him feel more at ease, allowing him to see her in a slightly different light.
“What about meals?” he asked, hoping to break the ice a little further. “Is there a buffet in this room somewhere?”
“I’ll have someone bring rations to you on a regular basis. Once your leg is healed, we’ll see about making other arrangements. Assuming you survive that long, anyway.”
“Survive that long? What’s that supposed to mean?”
The major pointed at his leg wound, as if to indicate it might still be a problem for him. “And, in case you’ve forgotten, we happen to be in the middle of a war right now. I can’t promise you this station won’t come under attack. If it does, you’re going to be in just as much danger as the rest of us are. Of course, if there’s anything you can tell me that might help prevent such an attack, like I said, I’m more than willing to listen.”
Dave frowned and let out a sigh. “This really is going to be awkward. Do you get the feeling that both of us are just going to end up talking circles around each other?”
“You won’t be in my care forever,” the major told him. “You may want to take that into consideration.” She turned away from him and started walking toward the exit.
“Wait a second, Major,” he called out to her.
She stopped and turned back around to face him. �
��Yes?” she said, hopeful he might be ready to divulge some information.
“The girl who ... rescued me, I guess you might say. Is there any chance she might stop by here to see me?”
“I don’t get the impression she really wants to speak to you. Would you like me to deliver a message of gratitude for you?”
Dave considered the offer for a moment. “Maybe it can wait,” he said. “At least until I’m certain I should actually be grateful.”
The major grinned and headed for the door. “If I see her, I’ll tell her you said thanks. In the meantime, you might as well try to get some rest. I’ll have someone stop by with some rations in the morning.” She dimmed the lights and stepped out of the room, then headed straight for Commander Jeffries’ office. When she arrived there, she was startled to find Commander Eldridge sitting on the edge of the desk.
“Commander Eldridge,” she said in surprise. “I didn’t realize you were back already.”
“Come on in, Major,” the commander told her. “And close the door behind you. We need to have a little talk.”
* * * *
The sun’s first rays peeked out from behind a distant mountaintop where a covering of snow glistened in the early morning light. A soothing breeze blew across Robin’s face as she took in the peaceful imagery before her. She felt a yearning deep inside her to travel to the mountain. It seemed to possess some kind of pull over her. She leaned forward to take the first step of her journey but quickly realized there was nothing underneath her feet.
Flailing about with her arms as she fell, she found herself plunged into darkness again. She twisted and tumbled, reaching out in vain as her senses screamed at her, Where is the water!
Waking to a trembling, sweat drenched body, Robin sat up on the edge of her bed and held her palms firmly against her forehead. She forced herself to take steady deep breaths while trying not to disturb the other girls around her. She peered through the darkness toward Sheri’s bed and saw Chrissy sleeping peacefully there. A movement at the very edge of her vision drew her attention to the room’s open doorway. A lone figure was standing just outside in the corridor, staring quietly at the wall straight across from the room. That’s Mindy! she realized, getting to her feet. She moved cautiously along the inner wall of the room, hoping she could remain out of sight until she could get a closer look at Mindy. But when she reached the room’s entrance and looked out through the doorway, Mindy was no longer anywhere to be seen. She looked both ways along the corridor, but there was no way to know which direction she’d gone.