“You’re gonna live,” Lizzy heard through a fog of anesthetic. “You’re not gonna die. You’re gonna live.”
Nice. She was gonna live.
Live what?
“I don’t want you to worry,” she heard a female voice say, the same voice that told her she was going to live, “but you need a doctor. A real doctor.”
That’s nice.
“You have to agree to it. To be seen by a real doctor. Do you agree to be seen by a real doctor?”
“What’s on my hand?” Lizzy mumbled.
“I know. I’ve been in your shoes. It can be scary and confusing. But trust me. The Hrwang are just as human as we are and their doctors know how to operate on us. So, trust me. Please.”
“Okay.” The word was hard to say. A pain grew in the front of Lizzie’s forehead and worked it’s way back through her skull.
“Can we take you to a doctor? A real doctor?”
“What’s on my hand?”
“Please. Focus.”
A lovely male voice spoke strange words and the nice English speaking voice replied in strange words.
Where am I? Lizzie thought. What’s going on?
The nice woman’s voice spoke in English again.
“It’s an IV. It has anesthesia and medicine to stabilize you. One of the Hrwang combat medics gave it to you. But you need more. You need a real doctor.”
“Tell him thank you. Why do I have an idea?” Lizzy couldn’t concentrate.
“An IV,” the voice almost shouted at her. “Intravenous. You need a doctor. The Hrwang need your consent. Can they take you to a real doctor? One in space?”
“Space? I wanna go to space.” It sounded fun. Lizzy would be like an astronaut.
“That’s good enough for me,” the voice said. She spoke in the funny words Lizzy didn’t understand and suddenly Lizzy felt herself floating against restraints.
“Am I in space?” she asked.
“Yes. We’re taking you to the Hrwang hospital. It’s on a big ship.”
“I’m in space,” Lizzy cried. “Wheeee.”
“Hrwang anesthetic is powerful. You’re higher than a kite, girl.”
The voice sounded familiar, like a voice from a dream and Lizzy forced her eyes open, expecting to see stars and astronaut’s helmets and space shuttles. Instead she saw a young, black girl with frizzy black curls looking at her with sympathy and concern.
“I know you,” Lizzy said and grinned. “I got busted for you.”
“What?”
“I was an officer. Chief idiot. And I screwed up. I let aliens abduct you.” Lizzy laughed hysterically at her joke, couldn’t make herself stop. Why should she stop? It was so funny. She was funny. Alien abductee was funny.
“You’re gonna be okay. The ship’s going to dock in about two minutes and then doctors are going to take you away and operate. They say you’ll live.”
“Surgery?” Surgery was a big scary word. Lizzy didn’t need surgery. Why would she need surgery? Her spotter, what was his name? He needed surgery. He needed to be stitched all back together again so his guts and his brains wouldn’t spray all over the place.
Lizzy felt her face screw into a wail and tears came. She couldn’t have surgery. Did her friend, Lindsey, know where she was? Did her parents know where she was? Did her boyfriend know? Oh wait, she dumped him like a year ago. Why did it feel like yesterday?
“You’ll be okay. I promise. Do you want me to have them put you to sleep now? It won’t be so scary that way.”
“I’m Mormon.”
“That’s nice.”
“No. I’m Mormon. That’s important.”
“Okay.”
Lizzy had to make her understand. “I can’t have surgery without a blessing first.”
The girl was quiet for a moment.
“I bless you to have surgery,” she finally said.
“It doesn’t work that way.” Why couldn’t the girl understand? Didn’t she know Lizzy needed her father to lay his hands on her head and give her a blessing of comfort and healing before she could do something like have surgery. Why was it so hard to explain? Lizzy’s brain didn’t want to think straight and she felt like she was back in Primary, her children’s class at church, adults using big words she tried hard to understand but couldn’t. She knew her Primary teachers loved her, so she always wanted to go back, but she didn’t know what they were talking about most of the time.
Did this girl love her like her Primary teachers did?
“Do you love me?” she asked.
“You are so out of it, girl. I don’t even understand half of what you’re saying.” The person behind the nice voice grinned at her. A large man standing behind her looked perplexed.
“I know,” Lizzy exclaimed. Suddenly everything made sense. “You need to talk to the missionaries. They’ll explain everything.” Lizzy was happy with her answer. Missionaries could explain anything. That’s what her brother told her when he returned from his two year mission to Argentina. Satisfied, she closed her eyes.
“Okay. We’re going to help you get some sleep now. You’ll feel better when you wake up,” the nice voice said.
“Sleep. Good,” Lizzy said. She could feel herself slipping away. “I still need that blessing,” she tried to say but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth and she blissfully gave in to the drugs in her idea. Her IV. Her ivy?
It didn’t matter what nice voice called it. The drugs worked.
For the first time in the several trips she’d made to space with the Hrwang, Jayla was finally able to look around while they unloaded the Utah border guard who’d been shot in the head just as the battle ended. The bullet had only grazed her, not penetrating the skull, but it had knocked her out. The two shots in her stomach were more serious, but the medic on Fifth Under Captain’s squad assured her the woman would survive.
At least the Hrwang had saved her.
Once the medical team left, Fifth Under Captain with them, the rest of the squad merely sat in the combat craft and waited. Some dozed. She’d been told to stay with them.
The hatch remained open and Jayla longed to exit it, to explore the large spaceship she’d glimpsed out the cockpit windows. She finally gained enough courage to ask one of the pilots for permission to leave the hatch. She asked in Malakshian, proud of her language skills.
“Don’t go far,” the pilot replied in the same language.
She grinned at him, then bolted for the hatch before he could change his mind. She inadvertently tumbled in the zero gravity, falling out of the hatch rear first, her feet catching on the side and spinning her around. She could hear the entire crew laughing at her.
She spun sideways through the air, enjoying the sensation once she overcame her shock at floating around and spinning. A tie down point flashed by and she had an idea, reaching out for the next one she saw. She couldn’t hold on to it for long, but it did slow her down and she succeeded in grabbing the next one. Her momentum slammed her into the deck then back up in the air, upside down, as she held on.
A Hrwang soldier carrying a tablet walked up to her, grinning.
“Need help?” he asked in Malakshian. He clearly wasn’t Malakshian. At least Jayla didn’t think he was since she’d been told all Malakshians were black. Maybe he thought she was Malakshian and he knew the language somehow.
“Yes,” she replied in her best, accent free pronunciation.
He slipped his tablet back into a pocket and grabbed her torso with both hands. She let go of the tie down point and he spun her halfway, righting her. He spoke more Malakshian, but she didn’t understand and shook her head.
“You’re female,” he said.
“Duh,” she replied in English. She didn’t know if Malakshians had a similar word.
“Who are you?” he
asked.
“I’m with them.” She pointed to the Hrwang combat craft containing the rest of her squad.
He stared at her in disbelief and spoke more Malakshian.
“I don’t understand that much,” she answered.
“Are you,” and he used a word she didn’t understand. She shrugged.
He pointed to his feet and picked one up off the deck, then set it back down. He did it again. His boots where magnetized. That’s how he could walk in zero gravity.
“Look. Space,” she said, not knowing how to ask for what she wanted, which was to look out a large window at space. Maybe to see the Earth. He seemed to understand anyway and put his arm around her waist and kicked off.
They went straight up and he pointed over their heads. Jayla looked up and gasped. A large window out to space.
The soldier caught a railing expertly with one hand, propelling them over the side and onto an observation deck. His boots clicked on the floor and he was stationary. Jayla still flailed a bit and would have tumbled away if he hadn’t held her. He showed her how to hook a foot under one of the railings and hold on, which she did. Then she looked up at a magnificent sight.
Earth.
She’d seen Apollo and Space Shuttle pictures. She’d seen videos from the Martian missions, large, complicated spacecraft assembled and launched from orbit. But actually seeing Earth from space, with her own eyes, was beyond her immediate comprehension, was beyond anything she’d experienced.
Her Daddy would be proud if he’d seen her now.
She wanted to drink in the moment. To stare forever at the blue orb that was her home, but the soldier with her tugged on her sleeve and pointed down. Fifth Under Captain stood below them and looked up. He looked solemn. Something was wrong.
Afraid the Utah border guard had died, Jayla started to climb over the side to go down, but the soldier with her restrained her.
Physics. She shook her head. Force equals mass times acceleration. Zero gravity wouldn’t cause acceleration, but if she pushed herself down too quickly, the deck below would come up fast and she could break something.
She had so much to learn.
He clambered over slowly, then pushed off gently toward the deck below. She followed his example. Her mind immediately lied to her, telling her she was falling over seventy feet and only certain death could follow.
“Calm down, Jayla,” she whispered. “Calm down.”
Fifth Under Captain actually caught her, slowing her landing, and she smiled and thanked him in Malakshian. He didn’t smile back, didn’t say anything in return, but held on to her and pushed off toward the combat craft.
He went in first and Jayla followed. Inside, he gathered the squad together and spoke in rapid Malakshian, Jayla unable to follow. The men looked disgusted at his words and two exited through the hatch before he was finished. He let them go.
After the captain was done talking to his men, most of them returning to their seats in a sulk, she forced him to explain, via the tablet when her Malakshian was too limited, what was going on.
She learned that someone was mad at them for fighting an unauthorized battle. The two soldiers who had left had filed an objection in a battle report. Fifth Under Captain Third Assault was now Sixth Under Lieutenant Second Grenadier and the entire squad had been demoted in rank and transferred to a new unit. They seemed more upset at the transfer than at the demotions.
“Why?” she asked, wanting to understand their aversion to becoming grenadiers.
“Mighty soldiers fight,” he replied in English, making his words sound harsh. “Grenadiers guard.”
She asked more questions in both languages and learned that the unit had been transferred from combat to security, which meant less pay and significantly less prestige, particularly for Malakshians. The two who’d left were transferred to a different assault unit. It surprised her that they left without even saying goodbye to their former comrades-in-arms.
Her captain, it was hard to think of him as a lieutenant now, didn’t seem to want to blame her, but she gathered that the others held her responsible since she had talked him into saving the border post.
He finally stopped answering her questions as they prepared for reentry to Earth.
She apologized. He didn’t respond.
With everyone in a funk and no one speaking to her, Jayla didn’t realize they weren’t returning to their old duty station until they arrived after reentry at their new one.
A duty station that took her breath away.
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