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“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 disco
“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 a
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?”
“He needs company,” clarified the doctor. “Thanks to our know-how, his physical condition is improving incredibly quickly. In the last 24 hours he has shown unbelievable progress. However, his memory and some brain functions’ recovery is a more complicated process. Medicine plays an important role, no doubt; but in my opinion, his integration back into the society will prove to be even more significant. Unfortunately, we’re unable to return him to his normal life, which is the generally accepted method… But what we can do is to accommodate him in an apartment, show him Titanium, tell him about the life of ‘Solar Flotilla’.”
“But what we have to show him may shock him.”
“It’s quite possible, but keeping him in ignorance of it all can be even harder. I think it’s best if we tell him the truth, but carefully.”
“I see. I need to discuss this issue with the other members of the Council.”
“Of course. But I don’t think they’ll be against it.”
The top floor of the ‘Unity’ tower, boasting a high dome with bright blue sky and a few slowly floating clouds, housed the ‘Solar Flotilla’ Council. Year after year the seven members of the Council meet in this spacious hall and make the most important decisions on behalf of all Titanium citizens. On the one hand, they managed the collaboration between different key departments such as Universe Studies; Medical Technologies; Engineering and I
“So the doctor suggests helping our guest adapt to life on Titanium,” clarified Councillor Bella Groster calmly, after Lora had finished her short report on the results of the new project.
All the seven Council members were present around the table in the middle of the brightly lit colo
“Exactly. Derek’s quarantine has been lifted because he poses no biological threat to us,” noted the girl.
“Well, what about other types of threat?” asked John Simps, fixing Lora with his steady wise glance.
“What threat can a young man pose with severe memory loss, weak physical state and unarmed after such a long and dangerous journey?” Lora shook her head perplexedly. “It’s true we are still unable to say exactly why the earthlings had launched that ship. However, keeping the only survivor locked and in quarantine until all the details are clarified is, I believe, really cruel.”
“I agree,” nodded Andrey Volkhontsev. Being the youngest Council member and a former employee of the Universe Exploration department, Andrey had always been profoundly interested in diplomatic contact with other races and emphasised the necessity of collaboration with them. “This man is our guest. Our people have worked tirelessly in order to successfully save his life, not to take his freedom and make him a ‘prisoner’ of the Central Hospital. Sooner or later we’ll learn everything from him or from the engineers analysing his spaceship computer. Until then, it seems sensible to follow Doctor Borshchevsky’s recommendations.”
“What you say is not without logic, but still the fact remains that the earthlings attempted to kill Andre Mendes. Two hundred and fifty years ago, it was a deadly feud with the Earth governments that forced us to leave the planet. It was the only chance for us to stay true to our beliefs and avoid a world war.”
“But this happened more than two centuries ago,” insisted Lora.
“Our guest has been in stasis for the past two hundred years, so our perception of time and past events long gone is dramatically different to his” said John Simps. “His parents had witnessed that confrontation.”
“Anyhow, suspicion as well as trust to that man stem only from our assumptions,” summarized Jean. “What’s going to be the Council’s decision?”
“We all trust that the decision will be the right one,” Maria Fernandez’s voice sounded quiet and calm.
“So, you may follow Doctor Borshchevsky’s advice,” Jean pi
“Thank you,” Lora bowed a little, putting her hand on her chest.
After she left the hall, no words were uttered for a while.
“I’d like to suggest something,” John Simps, the eldest Council member, broke the silence.
“I think I know what it’s about,” Andrey Volkhontsev smiled uneasily.
“Arrange an espial after our guest and an additional investigation into the destruction of his ship by using alternative information sources,” continued Councillor Simps, ignoring the last comment.
“Why didn’t you suggest it while Lora was here?” said Jean, looking at him very intensely. “It’s her project, so she has a right to know everything about it. There are no secrets here on Titanium.”
“Yes, I agree. This decision is an unusual one for us indeed, but the situation is far from ordinary as well,” said John Simps. “So, what’s going to be the Council’s decision?”
Lora was worriedly watching the medical assistants help the guest from Earth make himself comfortable in the mobile chair on the electromagnetic pillows, as he was still very weak to be able to move on his own.