Important notices: Switch POV
CHAPTER FIVE: Attempts were made.
It's all cool. All good. It went… better than it could have, that’s for sure.
Dave’s condition has improved. Slowly but surely. His levels are stable, he’s gotten out of bed a few times and walked around his room. But he’s still very quiet.
Not that I’ve seen it, no. The medical examiners have kept me in the loop. Specifically Basin, oh he’s a sweetheart.
The reason why I haven’t seen it with my own eyes isn’t because the conversation failed and I’m a coward— which it didn’t! No, it’s because Cliff has been on me like a bloodhound. He wont let me in there, he perceives Dave more as a threat than another human.
I know Cliff is just looking out for me, but sometimes he just doesn’t understand. He’s as stubborn as I am.
And so, here I stand in the medical lab, surrounded by Eridians behind their own airlock glass and Eridians on my side of the airlock. Between me and Dave is a large wall of glass. He can’t see through this side, he probably should be able to so it doesn’t freak him out. Being watched wasn’t fun when I first came here.
I lean further into my cane, staring through the thick glass. Basin stands behind me with a solid metal tablet in hand for scribbling down things, Eridian technology.
The sight of another human is still heavy on my shoulders, but it’s rather nice knowing that he’s doing well.
Dave is sitting up in his bed against the wall, his arms crossed as he stares ahead at the opposite wall. He doesn’t look too enthused to be stuck in a hospital room. Nor does he look happy to have been left alone for a week.
I know he knows I exist. We talked. He’s probably wanting company.
Cliff doesn’t have to know.
I swallow, gripping my cane. This feels like sneaking out from your parents as a teenager… why?
“Basin?” I whisper. Basin turns his carapace to face me better. Adapted body language.
“Don’t tell Cliff, alright? Not a word.”
Basin nods, turning away. I shuffle towards the door that leads into Dave’s room and I slowly push it open.
My eyes are straight ahead, zoning out as I stare at the blank white wall. It’s getting a little boring. They left nothing entertaining in here. Feels worse here than Dystopia…
The door to my left moves, the light reflecting off of it. I’m expecting one of the rocks from before. They haven’t done anything threatening yet— but I know better.
Instead, it’s the freak. As if they couldn’t get any other human to check on me. Surely they can.
He pops his head through the crack of the door, his curls bobbing lightly. He waves faintly before fully moving into the room. I track him with my eyes, watching all of his movement.
He walks closer to my bed and finally speaks up. “Hi! You look well rested. How are you feeling?”
He wants to know my condition… hm.
I stare blankly at him, silent. His eyebrows furrow a bit. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer that.”
That’s different. Usually somebody would demand me to give them answers one way or another. Man, this guy is a weirdo.
I believe his name was Kirk. Kirk looks towards a chair by the left wall. He grabs the back of it and pulls it closer to my bed. Kirk sits down and lays his cane on the floor below his shoes.
“I figured you wanted company, it seems so boring in here. I’ll tell the Eridians to get you some entertainment.” Kirk smiles softly, clasping his hands in his lap.
I blink, then look back towards the wall.
“If uh… you don’t want me in here, you can tell me to leave. I don't mind. Just trying to get you comfortable here.” He speaks with a soft voice.
I look back at him. I still don’t say anything, the only thing different I do is that I look downward at my right hand on my stomach.
He nods, rolling his head back and inhaling. I see the movement out of the corner of my eye. Kirk looks back at the shinier wall to my left and wiggles his hand.
“Hey, got any music?” Kirk cranes his head as he speaks to the wall.
“The wall?” I quietly question.
“It’s ah… one-way glass, don’t worry.. we aren’t spying on you.” Kirk explains.
Something itches me in the wrong way.
“Yeah. It sounds very weird. It’s only so you can have alone time, while we can also make sure you’re medically okay. It seems like you’re well now.” He nervously smiles.
“I don’t care about alone time. I’d much rather have people walking in and out of here. This place feels like a fucking…” I drone off.
“Prison? Yeah… I can see that.” Kirk nods, pushing his hair back with his fingers. “Don’t worry. It’s not.”
I inhale, shaking my head. “Why am I here? Just… somebody tell me what’s going on.” I sigh.
Kirk blinks behind his glasses. “Right. Sorry— I should have explained it sooner.”
I raise my eyebrows and nod.
“The Eridian astronomers found signs of intelligent life surrounding Petrov. Wreckage and such. So, we got a team and went to check it out. Eventually we found you in pretty bad shape…”
“Yeah. The red man floating towards you? That was me.”
“Huh. It’s all… really foggy.” I tilt my head, my voice still a quiet mumble.
“I’m sure..” Kirk chuckles a bit, “At that point I’m pretty sure you were running on straight adrenaline. You were bleeding everywhere, I mean covered in blood. No arm, bad gash on your face..”
I still, looking around the room in a more solemn state.
“But we found you, and got you cleaned up and now you’re much better.” Kirk says, then cranes his neck back to look at the spying wall. “Where’s the music?”
A series of musical chords run through the speakers. I thought that was the music but it ended rather quickly. Then Kirk talked back to it.
“Well then go to my house. I’ve got some cds there.” He moves his hand around in a gesture.
Something chirps through the speakers again.
Kirk sits back into his chair and places his hands back into his lap. “Sorry about that.”
“You were in the suit, you are here now. How come there's no other humans checking in on me?” I already know the answer, but it’s better to ask the one with information.
He pauses. Kirk looks up at me, then sighs and darts his eyes to the left. “Right… yeah… It’s just me.”
“You’re the only human in this place?” I squint.
“On the planet.” He wrings his hands, “Besides you now…”
“It’s just me and you?” I ask, my voice louder now.
“Yep. And… a bunch of rocks.” Kirk shrugged, laughing under his breath.
“So I’m stuck with you.” I glare.
“What?” His eyes dart back to me.
“You of all people. You?”
“Yes! God… you just…” I reach up with my right arm and tug at my red hair, they feel clean. “You’re too nice. You’re way too nice. I shouldn’t be here at all. The better option was to just let me die out there!”
“Let you starve to death alone in space?” Kirk cocks his head.
“Yes! Yes exactly! What in the fuck am I useful for? Taking up resources?”
“You don’t have to be useful.” Kirk reaches a hand out, I wave it away.
“And now I’m stuck here! With a bunch of rocks, and you..”
Kirk sits back in his chair, hands fiddling with his pants. He looked down, up at me, down again. Then he sighed. He really had to take a moment. “You aren’t stuck here. I don’t want you to think that.”
I’m silent. This has to end with something he wants from me. My soul? Possibly.
“The Lux Aeterna, my ship. It’s docked in orbit, fully fueled.” He takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. “You can always leave. Anytime you want. Just please, stay another week so we can make sure you’re physically okay.” Kirk takes his hand away, eyes sincere as he gazed at me.
I squint my eyes at him, “Right…”
Kirk sighs, placing his face in his hands. He pulls away after a moment and reaches down to grab his cane. “I’m sorry for bothering you, Dave. I hope you feel a bit better in the morning.”
He stands up, “Think about my offer, It’s absolutely on the table.”
I don’t nod, nor shake my head. I just track his path, watching him walk to the door. It opens… then closes.
I’m alone again. It feels good, but something I can’t place still lingers. I leave it up to being annoyance that I’m feeling.
A minute passes, I’m staring at the wall across from me once again. The speakers crackle awake again.
Sounds come through it. Not anything like how the rocks spoke. No, it was like music. Much different than what I knew— but it must have been what Kirk was asking for. It’s a nice sound.
I lay back in my bed, neck cradled by my pillow. The music is… really nice. So odd and new, but better than what I grew up hearing. It felt… full.
I can’t help but get lost in it…
Okay. Dave isn’t the friendliest but—
Hey! That’s okay! He’s probably just disoriented. I get it.
I pull away from the speaker system, my hand leaving the cd player that I had just turned on. I look back through the glass.
He seems to like music. Good to know.
I turn from the table behind the glass and walk towards the metal door that heads back into the main biodome. As soon as I push the door open—
Cliff is standing there. His body language clearly showing that he was pissed. Maybe it was the leg pressing deeper into the dirt, or his carapace twitching a bit. Either way— he was really pissed.
Cue Kirk being scolded for 8 hours…
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