**********
Adrian took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and quickly sat up. His wife grabbed his shoulders and gently tried to lay him back down onto the bed. "Where ? wha ? what happened?"
"Shh ? you're all right," Anyta said.
Adrian tried to get up again, but this time he felt the effects of the collision with the base floor. His head throbbed, and his shoulder felt like someone was stabbing it. He lay back down and spoke. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"
Anyta smiled at him as she spoke. Adrian loved Anyta's smile; it seemed to make everything better, even when certain disaster loomed. "Everyone's fine. You're the only one that suffered any injuries besides what Celeste already had. You've been out of it for almost two hours. Doc said you sustained a concussion and a separated shoulder. He popped your shoulder back into place, but said you will have to keep your right arm in a sling for a few days to keep it from popping out again. All of you were lucky. If those air bags in the hovercraft hadn't deployed, all of you would have been killed." Anyta stopped, leaned down, and gently kissed Adrian on the cheek. Adrian felt her tears.
"What about Celeste? How is she doing?"
"She's fine. Doc just finished operating on her. She's resting now, and Doc is helping Jake with battle preparations."
Suddenly, the entire sequence flashed through Adrian's mind. "Oh no! Bantyr! I don't know what happened. I saw his Chati go down. Is he okay?"
"We don't know," Anyta said as more tears began to roll down her cheeks at the mention of her son. "Sean has been trying to reach him, but there's no reply."
Adrian managed to sit himself up. He embraced Anyta. "I'm sure he's okay. He's been trained well."
Anyta began to sob. "I pray that you are right."
Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1) Page 50