When I tried to speak, my voice broke. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m fine, but I’m confused. What happened? Where am I?” My voice sounded strange to me, different somehow…
“You are presently at Station Maztec — Althar 3’s newest research base,” he said proudly as he gave me a slightly warmer smile. “This is actually where you were destined to do most of your research and case studies. You were only to be stationed at Jannali for a few weeks.”
Yes, I could remember Jannali, but not Maztec. I couldn’t recall anyone mentioning a second base on the planet. So the memories relating to me being a clone from Earth, sent to Althar 3 to study new alien races, had to be real. From this new information, I guessed we did get attacked in the jungle and I was in a Medical Facility.
The theory of the memory implant was looking very unlikely, but where did all those memories come from? I had no answer.
I must have been injured and taken to a Medical Facility, but I couldn’t feel pain anywhere. I felt fine. And who was this man before me? My doctor?
I frowned. “Who are you?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I cleared my throat again. Why did my voice sound so strange? It sounded higher pitched or something. Was my throat affected somehow from the attack?
I forced myself to think about what I could remember. I was face-down on the floor of the jungle with bugs and crawly things wriggling all over me, trying not to freak out or scream. The painful surge I felt before everything went black could have been a stunner. Maybe stunners contract your muscles enough to give your voice a higher pitch temporarily.
The man apologized and introduced himself as Dr Leonard Starrick. “I am in charge here at Maztec.”
So he was a doctor. I started to worry again and my heartbeat picked up speed. How bad was I hurt?
“I hope you will forgive me,” he continued, “I become so involved with my work that I forget my manners and my head, so I apologize for my rude behaviour.” I realized I was sitting there staring at him and looked away toward the mirror. “I’m pleased you are feeling well and that you are finally conscious. You gave us quite a scare when you first arrived from the jungle.”
I looked back up at him. You’re kidding, right? I gave you a scare? I could have been killed!
His expression changed to that of deep concern and I wondered if he’d practiced it in a mirror. “Now, I need to ask you some questions to see how you are going. Are you feeling light-headed, disoriented or nauseous?”
“No.” I coughed to try to clear my throat. Maybe that would help. Maybe a drink of water would help.
“How do your muscles feel?” he went on. “Do you have a headache at all?”
“Well… my muscles do feel a bit stiff, but otherwise I feel fine,” I replied. My voice was wrong. Could it just be from a stunner? Or was it more than that?
“Do you have a sore throat?” he asked.
“I, ah — no,” I replied. “What... What happened? I have all this stuff spinning around in my head...” I pressed my fingers on my temples. I needed to make sense of it all. And get my heartbeat to kick it back a notch or two. It was still all over the place.
My brain wouldn’t slow down either... So, if I was Zhenna, who was Sifayah? And also, I felt different somehow. Not just my voice. Something else. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was only the stiff muscles...
My thoughts returned to what had happened in the jungle… After the flying dinosaur thing had spooked us all, we’d all breathed a sigh of relief. Then we weren’t paying any attention to anything around us while we were telling Kami what we thought of him and his pathetic ideas about Talents.
The attack came from out of nowhere and I was glad Mosuti had pulled me down to the ground.
I remembered Bazeelia getting hit by laser fire. My stomach dropped. “Where are the others? Are they okay? There was laser fire and — Bazeelia — is she alright? I saw her fall…”
“Well, er... let me explain what happened…” he said, his voice taking on a sombre tone and he shifted his weight uneasily. He told me they had been monitoring the shuttle’s progress as we entered Althar 3’s atmosphere and landed in the jungle. Another ship carrying the Varekai had followed us undetected, apparently using a very sophisticated cloaking device. So I’d been right about who was responsible.
The pirates had beamed down to the surface and attacked the group, but by the time Dr Starrick’s men had discovered them and sent troops to intercept, it was too late. They didn’t have a Transporter at the base, so they couldn’t beam there in time to help us.
“You were in a bad way when you arrived here at the base,” Dr Starrick continued and my stomach sank. “You actually died a short time after your arrival at the base. Your major organs had completely shut down.”
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Author's Note: How did this chapter make you feel? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know.
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