head and stared at the floor again.
“What happened to the rest of the colonists?”
Vasily shook his head once again, slowly, his eyelids taking a part of a second too long to cover the eyes and then to open back up again when he blinked.
“What is the last thing you remember?”
“Ya ne… I don’t remember.”
“It’s all right. You are safe now.” Doctor’s voice sounded reassuringly. Rebecca saw Vasily’s hands grip into the mattress as he repeated the words over and over, “I don’t remember. I don’t remember…”
Doctor Dawson filled the glass from the water dispenser. Rebecca approached him and said, “What do you think?”
“Partial amnesia. Possibly caused by shock.” He made a sip out of a paper cup shaped like a small pyramid.
“Do you think he might be lying?”
“We’ll just have to find out. The Traveler has landed twenty minutes ago. I am expecting Arthur to report in the next half an hour. Let’s hope it’s going to be good news. For all we know, there was no way off the planet, not for a hundred and fifty-seven people to leave all at once.”
“Do you think they’re still there? All of them?”
The doctor kept silent and tilted his head back, finishing the remaining water and then crumpling the paper cup and throwing it into the bin.
“Do you think they might still be alive?”
“Alive…” he stretched, staring into the empty bin, only the small ball of paper at the bottom of it.
Rebecca held her arms one on top of the other and turned to face the large window. The man behind it was still sitting on the cot, an empty expression on his face.
(•••)
Rebecca walked down the corridor towards the tram and took a seat on the yellow line that would bring her to the mess hall. Jen barely made it as the doors slid shut and the tram took off. She landed heavily onto the seat next to Rebecca.
“Hey,” she said, panting, holding on to the metal railing of the seat in front of her.
“Hi, Jen.”
“Have you seen him?” She asked and looked around the car of the tram where a couple of others were seated, some with e-books in their hands, others dozing. When a puzzled look appeared on Rebecca’s face, she added, “You know, Mister Tall-and-Handsome…”
It took Rebecca a second to realize that Jen was talking about her new ‘addiction’, as she called it. “No, haven’t seen him.” Jen was prowling on a hunt for one of the bioengineers.
“Weren’t you seeing…” Rebecca tried to remember the name of the guy. “Ralph or Rudolph, was it?”
“Oh, him… Nah… That would’ve never worked. You sure you haven’t seen him today?” Jen still kept looking around the car of the tram with a flicker of hope in her eyes. Because of this new guy she made Rebecca take a lunch break twenty minutes earlier every day now.
“Not today, no.”
“Damn,” Jen swore and looked at Rebecca. “Anyway, I’ve heard that the sleeping beauty has woken up.”
“Yes. This morning.”
“So? What did he say? What happened down there? Did he go psycho and kill everyone?”
“Not funny.”
“Oh, come on. You know I’m joking. But seriously, what did happen down there?”
“He said he doesn’t remember anything. And doesn’t know where everyone else is.”
“Wow, creepy.” Rebecca could see Jen was enjoying their conversation. She loved everything mysterious. This translated into her choice of guys as well. As soon as she know ‘too much’ about them, she quickly lost interest.
“Yeah…” Rebecca stretched, looking at the banner occupying the right wall of the car, large glowing letters spelling: Healthy spirit in a healthy body. Regular exercise promotes a longer and healthier life.
The quiet music filled the car.
“I don’t know. I have this feeling that he is hiding something,” Rebecca said.
“By the way, have you heard?”
“What?”
“I’ve seen Mike last night. You know, the navigator.” She put her hands together and then drew them apart measuring the distance between them.
“Oh, Jen. Really? You’ve got an unhealthy addiction. Not now, please, don’t spoil my appetite.” Jen gave out a short laugh.
“Oh, get over it. You could use some ‘physical exercise yourself. It’s only healthy,” she nodded towards the banner and emphasized the last word, “Maybe it’d make you less of a grump.” She pouted her cheeks at Rebecca and both laughed. “What I wanted to say is that he told me that the guys from the communications have lost the signal from the Traveler soon after it had landed. Some kind of a sandstorm or something on the surface of that black rock. He said it’s a miracle we picked up the distress signal in the first place.”
“You mean there is no contact with the rescue team?” Rebecca wondered why Doctor Dawson hadn’t mentioned anything about it. She tried to recall who was sent down. Arthur and James were among the rescue team.
“Nope. He said that they are trying to get the communications reestablished but with no luck yet. Not until the storm quiets down. The Captain doesn’t want the word to spread so is keeping it all hushed. Not to cause panic or something.”
“It means that we won’t be leaving until the storm’s subsided.”
“Probably. Anyway, I’m starving. You?” Rebecca was used to Jen’s switching from one topic to another all of a sudden. But she could not make herself think about food now. Her thoughts lingered on the cold dark sunless planet. The more she thought about it, the more she had to find out what had happened down there. But there was also something about the idea of staying in the orbit of the planet that pinched Rebecca’s stomach. Since they got here, all she wanted was to get as far away from this place as possible. Call it an instinct of survival, she could not explain what it was, but every hour spent near this wandering dark planet made her feel uneasy.
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