“That’s unfortunate. It just goes to show that you can’t be too careful these days.”
Sam returned after what seemed like a long time with two drinks of the same kind. One for Ava and one for Alicia.
“Thanks Sam!” Alicia exclaimed.
“Yes, thank you. That was nice of you.” Ava hadn’t asked for another drink, but what the heck. Two drinks wouldn’t hurt. She promised herself that she wouldn’t stay too much longer.
Alicia happily chattered with Sam and Ava about work, her family drama, and all the while sipping frequently on her drink as she was thirsty. Ava, by habit, sipped hers slowly. It tasted good, like a sweet tropical fruit drink.
“Ava, have you made many friends since your arrival on Orionis?” Alicia inquired.
“Yes, a few.” She continued to sip her drink. It tasted so good she could hardly put it down. “Do you know any of the cargo transporters who come and go off of the station?”
“No, I never go near the hangar. I hate starships and space travel. It’s a miracle I even made it to Orionis.”
Ava laughed, feeling amused by that statement. “I met some of the crew of the Andromeda several months ago and we have become pretty good friends. However, they come and go a lot.” Sam seemed to be watching Ava intensely slowly rolling his drink between his hands. Ava did not notice. “They took me to see a comedy show last weekend.”
“Wow, that was nice of them! Who did you see?” Alicia seemed interested now. Ava continued to drink and divulge the details of the past Saturday, feeling proud that she actually had something interesting to talk about. After all, not many people could afford to go out to shows like that too often, except for Wesley and his crew, who always seemed to have credits to burn. She glanced at her watch. Was it really 12:30 a.m.? She thought she should be going home soon. She did not like to walk home alone in the wee hours of the morning. Something Wesley would never allow to happen, if he were around to prevent it.
Ava suddenly started feeling somewhat strange and noticed that she seemed to be tongue tied. She rarely had trouble finding words when she spoke but became acutely aware that she felt very tired. Another fast-paced song came on. The strobe and laser lights began flashing and gyrating around. Somehow Ava felt fascinated by this and started to laugh for some reason she could not explain. How could she be feeling this giddy so late on a Friday night?
“I love this song!” Alicia immediately ran out onto the dance floor and blended in immediately, leaving Ava with Sam.
“I think I should get going . . . home now.” Ava had set her glass down gripping the small table with both hands, looking down, almost leaning on it.
“Why don’t I see you home safely, I could walk you.”
“No. I’m fine. I think I just need some air.” What was wrong with her? She couldn’t possibly be drunk from having just two drinks. Ava tried to think, but her thoughts seemed muddled. She hesitated. She didn’t know what to do. Had Sam slipped her something in her drink? What should she do now? She had her PCD with her, she could contact the police on Level 8, if she could figure out which buttons to push. Everything looked like it was happening in slow motion. Then something bizarre happened. She suddenly sensed that the club seemed to be filled with a powerful energy, as if the room felt like it could explode. No-one else seemed to notice. She had never experienced anything like it. Ava sensed she should be panicking but felt unusually calm. Sam apparently did not notice.
“I insist.” He started to walk around the table toward her and stopped abruptly as a tall man with dark hair suddenly approached Ava’s right side and put his left arm protectively around her shoulders.
“Wesley!” The electricity in his touch she hadn’t noticed much since they met almost shocked her now. Ava almost jolted and looked up at him with wide eyes but she did not release her grip on the table; she might lose her balance if she did. She wondered how he could possibly be here; wasn’t he due back in the morning? Wesley didn’t look at her, he broke his cold stare from Sam only briefly, to look down at the drink on the table and then back to Sam. Ava glanced around the room and thought she saw Naomi and Andre walking around on opposite sides of the room seemingly checking things out, but she wasn’t sure it was them. Why would they do that? She needed to leave as soon as possible, she started feeling faint.
“Ava, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” It sounded like an innocent polite request. Wesley still didn’t look at her. She could feel his anger, his eyes burned into Sam.
“Sam, this is . . . my. . .” She couldn’t think. She totally blanked, what was Wesley to her? She tried again “This is my . . . Captain . . . Wesley.” She had no idea what she had just said. Something was terribly wrong.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Sam replied nervously as he extended his hand. Wesley politely shook hands with Sam. He subtly gripped his hand like a vice. Sam’s nervous eyes widened with terror and his mouth dropped open in horror as Wesley’s effortless grip smashed an unknown number of the small little bones in his right hand. The intense loud music made it impossible for anyone to hear the sick cracking sound of breaking bones. No one noticed anything other than two people shaking hands. Ava felt too ill to observe anything, she leaned heavily on the table. Wesley released Sam, who promptly ran to the back of the club holding his right hand with his left, and turned his attention back to Ava. He looked down at her with worried eyes.
“Wesley, I don’t feel well,” she managed to say. She was getting worse.
“I know. Let’s get you home,” he said softly as he smoothed back the piece of hair that had fallen down over her face, gently guiding her out of the club. They walked out into avenue of Level 8, very few people were out and about at this hour. The quietness and cool air helped a little, but it would not be enough. She leaned heavily on Wesley as they walked. Ava did not converse with him because she needed to use all of her concentration to stay steady. They had covered a decent amount of distance away from the club when Ava started to stumble. She did not feel sick to her stomach, but felt extremely dizzy.
“I think I’m going to faint.” She started to slide to the ground. Wesley picked her up in his arms and carried her without an interruption in their pace. She closed her eyes and the ringing noise in her ears ceased as she succumbed to the tainted drink she had been given. He continued to walk with her in this way for a short while, until he sensed that no-one was around. He then changed his course quickly down a dark avenue that was deserted at this hour. Wesley selected a heavily darkened corner on a side street where there were no surveillance cameras and stepped into the shadows. He closed his eyes and within moments they vanished.
Chapter 8: Recovery
A few seconds later Wesley, with Ava still unconscious in his arms, materialized in the small living room of her quarters. He walked into her room and set her down gently on the bed. Sitting on the side of the small bed he fussed over her for a minute, repositioning her until he felt certain she looked comfortable. He reached down and pressed a few buttons on his PCD and then began to work on removing Ava’s boots. In a few minutes there were two quiet knocks on the front door. He could see it from his position in Ava’s room and quickly cast a brief look at it, which was all he needed to do for it to open. Rowan and Justin walked in quickly as the door slid shut behind them. Justin carried a small medic bag and Rowan had a small backpack, they both headed straight for the bedroom.
“How is she?” Justin inquired, looking down at Ava as he placed the back of his hand and then his palm on her forehead.
“Terrible, she’s been drugged. What do you think she was given?” He said matter-of-factly as he retrieved a small blanket from the closet nearby and laid it over her.
Justin leaned down hovering slightly above Ava’s lips and inhaled. “Smells like Rohypnol with a little GHB mixed in,” he said, naming two popular date rape drugs.
“What can we do? Is there an antidote?”
“There is nothing that is not intravenous; but
that won’t be necessary. Usually something like this just needs to run its course,” he said solemnly as he checked her pulse, respirations, and blood pressure. “Her vitals are stable; she’ll have to sleep it off. Ava will be groggy tomorrow but she should be back to normal in a day or two. She most likely won’t have a problem going back to work on Monday.”
“I’ll never understand why humans intentionally do such appalling things to one another,” Rowan commented softly. “I’ve brought her some herbal tea and a few other small things she can eat tomorrow if she feels up to it. I’ll put them in her refrigerator.” There were two more quiet knocks on the door, Rowan opened it on her way to the kitchen. Naomi and Andre filed into the small apartment and then into the bedroom. “How is Ava?” Naomi asked with concerned eyes downcast on Ava.
“She will be all right in a day or to,” Justin replied.
“I should kill that little punk for this,” Wesley seethed.
“I wouldn’t go that far yet, after all we did stop him before any permanent damage was done,” Andre commented with a slight laugh.
“Where is he now?”
“We took him to the Orionis Central Authorities (OCA) department on Level 3. He still had the drugs on him so it was a piece of cake getting him arrested after we told them what he did. The OCA has a zero tolerance policy for that kind of thing as you know. He freaked out after you smashed his hand, and cried the whole time to the officers about it, it was actually pretty funny. Of course they didn’t believe him after they reviewed the surveillance video of you simply shaking his hand. Right now he’s being supervised in the emergency department at the OMC, having his hand evaluated. The authorities are planning on shipping him back to Earth first thing in the morning. We’ll monitor it and make sure it happens,” Naomi reported.
“Good.”
“Poor Ava. I can’t imagine how she would recover from this if we hadn’t found her in time. She never seems to get a break.”
“I’m just relieved that you sensed something was wrong with Ava, Naomi. I owe you a huge thanks.”
“We all love Ava, Wesley. None of us would want to see anything bad happen to her.”
The group continued to converse for a few more minutes until they decided to call it a night around 3:30 a.m. Justin took one last set of vitals on Ava before he, Rowan, Naomi, and Andre left, leaving Wesley to watch over her. He sat on the edge of her bed until he sensed that her breathing transitioned into a more awake pattern and then moved his vigil to the living room couch where he could still see her. He didn’t know how she would react waking up confused and finding him sitting on her bed, they didn’t have an intimate type of relationship like that at this point. On the way to the living room he paused and picked up the small picture Ava kept of herself and Nathan on their wedding day. He studied it briefly and set it gently back down in its place and continued to the couch. He pretended to watch television as she stirred slowly. After a few minutes she sat on the edge of her bed and looked around her, and then out to the living room where she saw him.
“Wesley?”
He stood up and moved towards the bedroom as she slowly walked towards the living room, stopping to steady herself against the doorframe of the bedroom.
“What are you doing here? What time is it?” She looked back at the small clock on her nightstand. It was 9:30 in the morning. She rarely slept this late.
“How do you feel Ava?” He touched her face and rested his hand on her shoulder. She sensed his concern and knew by the way she felt something was wrong.
“I feel so out of it. What happened last night? All I remember is that I went to a club with some people from the gym.”
“Yes, you did go to the gym last night with some of your so called work out friends, to a club called Labyrinth on Level 8. A man named Sam Benton spiked your drink with combination of drugs. He was intending to rape you,” Wesley explained slowly.
“What! I don’t remember any of that. How could this happen. How could I be so careless and stupid! I don’t believe this. . . I have to notify the authorities!” She put her hand on her head and started to move towards the phone.
“It’s already been done. We took care of it all last night. When we found you at the club, I brought you home while Naomi and Andre caught the bastard and hauled him off to the OCA. The fact that he still had the drugs on him and the evidence from the club’s surveillance video was enough to prosecute him. The OCA is a 24 hour operation and they don’t tolerate crime under any circumstances. He was sent back to the authorities on Earth this morning and will never step foot on Orionis again. You don’t have to worry about him, he never touched you. Naomi said you can still contact the OCA if you have anything else you’d like to tell them, but that it wasn’t necessary since you were not seriously harmed. They are very hands off in clear cut cases like this for budget reasons I assume.” His explanation was upsetting and comforting to her at the same time. She started to cry.
“I knew there was something wrong with him. I’m so stupid. Why don’t I ever I listen to my instincts?”
“You’re not stupid Ava. You were victimized. You could not have seen that coming. It wasn’t your fault.” He embraced her slowly, she accepted it.
“How did you find me? Weren’t you coming back today?”
“Actually we finished up our assignment early and arrived back late last night. It was almost midnight and I didn’t call you because I figured you were sleeping. The crew was hungry and pumped up after a long mission so we decided to go out for some food and entertainment. That club seemed to be the only place open and Naomi suggested that we go in. We were surprised to see you. We knew something was wrong; you were hanging on to that table for dear life, practically hunched over it. The rest you know.”
“I’m very lucky then. Thank God for you,” she whispered in his ear.
Wesley left Ava after a few minutes, promising to return in the early evening to check on her. She wanted to shower, put on some clean clothes, try and eat something, and go back to bed. She had a terrible headache and still felt drowsy. Perhaps this is what happened to Helena Ava thought sadly; unfortunately she had not been so lucky. The shower sobered her a tiny bit. She put on her pajamas and made her way to the kitchen. Not that she wanted to eat much; her throat burned with thirst more than anything. She saw the tea Wesley said Rowan had made for her and poured herself a small glass. It tasted so good, cool, minty, and refreshing with a hint of sweetness among a few other spices. She saw a few other things in the fridge that she did not recognize and pulled out one of the small containers that Rowan must have packed for her. She popped it open and found a small, neatly chopped fruit salad dusted with some spices. She drank some more tea and ate a few bites. The salad’s fresh flavors were a treat. Next to protein, fresh fruit and vegetables were the most expensive things to buy. Ava wondered if Rowan grew fresh fruit on the Andromeda. This was the first time someone had cooked for her since she left Earth. She didn’t feel like eating much so she put the lids back on the containers as she reflected back on her life since arriving on Orionis and went to bed. As she drifted off to sleep again she remembered that she wanted to thank Wesley for her birthday present last week.
Ava woke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She sluggishly got up and wandered over to it. She checked the security monitor and opened it as soon as she saw that it was Wesley. He walked in carrying some heavily packed re-usable bags, a strong aroma of Italian food wafted in after him.
“I thought you might be hungry.” He smiled at her.
“A little. I’ve been sleeping all day. What time is it?” She felt a little self conscious. He had never seen her sans makeup, with her hair un-styled, and in her pajamas.
“Almost six.” He set the food down on the kitchen counter and hugged her. “How is your head?”
“A lot better actually. At least the pain is gone and I don’t feel drunk anymore, just a little out of it.”
“I’m glad to hear that, I was worr
ied about you all day.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine after tomorrow. Mmm, that smells good. What’s for dinner?”
He laughed, amused by her sudden change of subject. “Normally I’d offer you a nice wine with a dinner like this, but under the circumstances, I think we’d better stick with some iced tea.”
“That’s fine by me.” She smiled as she went to the kitchen to get some glasses, plates and utensils. He almost had everything unpacked when she returned.
“Did you try any of Rowan’s tea today?”
“Yes, it was excellent. Tell her I said thank you.”
“Sure.”
“Wesley, I realized earlier today that I haven’t thanked you for my birthday present,” she said as they ate.
“You’re very welcome. Happy belated birthday.”
“How did you know it was my birthday? I don’t even think I mentioned it. I almost forgot myself. And, how did you know I sold my earrings? How did you know where I sold them?”
“You’re very inquisitive tonight.” He smiled. “You’ve been here for six months. I figured your birthday was probably coming around soon. I didn’t want to miss it so I looked you up on the ITO resident directory. All of the registered captains have access to it in case they need to locate someone. It lists your name, place of birth, date of birth, date of residence on Orionis, phone number, and level of residence. I was fortunate. I almost missed your birthday, it’s a good thing I looked. I noticed your earrings were missing last weekend so I decided to replace them. I didn’t think I’d replace them with the exact same pair. Naomi helped me look, she was the one who found them actually. That was just luck. Why did you sell them anyway?”
Ava accepted his explanation of things easily, it sounded reasonable and realistic. She told him the story about her computer hard drive going out and the expense to replace it, breathing a sigh of relief that the issue was behind her.
The Solar Wind Page 7