“Where am I?”
“You’re in a hospital. This is also Doctor Borshchevsky and the shuttle captain, Paul Stones.”
“Shuttle? I’m in a shuttle?”
“No, you’re on…” she hesitated not sure whether to tell him about the artificial planet. “You’re on board a spaceship. Do you remember anything? Do you remember what had happened to you before?”
The young man winced.
“The lights are too bright here.”
“Reduce the lighting by 30 percent” said the doctor to the space in front of himself and the ward lighting became very dim. “Is it better like this?”
“Yes… a little…”
“I’d suggest that you wear protective lenses,” added Borshchevsky.
“Will I be able to open my eyes then?”
“Well, you could at least try.”
After the patient nodded lightly, the doctor carefully put a pair of sunglasses of some sort on his eyes.
“Everything is floating…”
“This is temporary,” Borshchevsky reassured him.
“If you find it difficult to talk now, we can come later…”
“No!” the young man moved his fingers and touched Lora’s hand. “Don’t go. Silence is more deafening than sounds.”
“Alright, just take it easy.” Lora tried to calm him down. “Is your name Derek?”
“I think so. That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I was asked. But what ship is it? How did I get here?” the patient tried to turn his head but stopped wincing in pain.
“We’ve found your rescue unit in the open space not so long ago. You were in stasis. We also know that your ship was launched from Earth.”
Millions of questions troubling Lora were about to burst out, but the realization that this man was too weak and probably didn’t know the answers even to one tenth of them helped her control her emotional avalanche.
“I remember Earth… But everything is so vague. Like flashes, different disconnected pictures…”
“Try to relax,” said the doctor. “You’ll remember everything. Just give yourself some time.”
“Also, I remember that I have very little time…” added Derek quietly.
The next day a truce was announced on Taria allowing the ’Solar Flotilla’ to slow down the evacuation pace and to give a break to all those involved.
Chapter 3
“The hospital is not the most suitable place for a man in his condition,” said Doctor Borshchevsky confidently when Lora showed up at his office the next morning.
“Does he need anything special in order to get better?”