lab box; the samples within silver lab bags, created a bulky mass, which looked like a giant shopping bag. The two colleagues went their separate ways and Celestial went into the Coordination Centre with the boy’s retrieved possessions.
Later that week at the Hospital the boy stirred, it had been just over six days since he had been brought in. As he lay on his side his eyelashes flickered and his eyes rolled underneath his eyelids, he was becoming restless as his body awakened from sleep. As he regained consciousness he began to dream about the rescue, he could recall that there had been a bright light out of the crafts window, but everything near him remained blurred. He could feel a tension spread through his body as panic gripped his breathing, he tried to take control, but he was a boy who felt alone, very alone. As the feeling returned to his numbed body he remembered touching his forehead with his fingertips, they were covered in blood. He remembered the vivid taste of fear, as he had realised there was no one to help; his young brain registered his cold confined environment. The interior was hard to define through the line of smoke hovering in mid air; burning metal he could still smell in his nostrils as he breathed heavily. A few moments later he recalled a red flashing light on a box and above his head the badly damaged shell of the craft. There was a grown of metal as the craft fought against the outside pressure - the pressure of space all around him.
The room was spinning out of control. What had happened? Why was he there? Why was he alone? He was shocked that he could not remember and did not know the answers.
The boy remembered being disorientated as he sensed the presence of someone on the outside of the craft, he took three unsteady steps toward the red flashing light when an explosion ripped through the compartment, the force pushing him to the floor where his head struck a metal container. Another impact to his head had left the boy semi conscious, he remembered only hearing muffled sounds and a bright light, before his vision failed. He fought the blackness, the lack of oxygen in the cabin and gasped out for air sinking his nails into the soft fabric of his life support unit. It was there in the cocoon that his mind reconnected with his body, he began to move over onto his side, the body was still weak and his ribs hurt from his original injuries. Frantically the boy’s movements increased as he confused his dreams with his new surroundings and began to panic.
The boy looked around the confined space of the cocoon frightened by his ordeal; he placed a hand over his eyes to divert the bright light, which pierced his brain like a knife. He ached from the affects of the crash, but was eased a little by the warm soft interior that surrounded him. He raised his other arm above his head and pushed up against the clear lid of the cocoon, it raised itself after his slightest of touches. He slowly moved into a sitting position and as he raised his head he made eye contact with Dr Palantine who was observing. The cooler air entered the cacoon and made his body him shivered, some goose bumps rose along his arms and back before the Doctor moved toward him with a blanket, she stood over him and placed it around his body. As they made eye contact he could see her friendly face and decided she wasn’t a threat. But as she reached toward him she pulled a tube out of his arm. The sight of blood made him panic as he fought her contact. She held him tight; but gentle so his resistance declined. She quickly applied a patch over the vein in his arm and re-covered him with the towel.
The boy tried to compose himself, he could hear her calm and smooth voice, but didn’t understand her commands. He registered her gesturing arms open wide to encourage him to leave the Cocoon, but it took a while before he reached out to her. Only a brief moment past before the doctor started to talk again, this time he followed the movements of her lips but again couldn’t understand what she was trying to say to him. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the sounds, but what were their meanings? The sounds were familiar. He had heard them before but couldn’t think of where. He heard her talk again and recognised the word accident from the conversation.
The boy frowned but said nothing and sat down on a chair as the doctor handed him some clothes. He looked up to her name badge, the letters spelled out her name and then he recognised the alphabet, was it a language he had been taught? The characters of the letters looked familiar, so in his mind, he tried to make sense of them until eventually, he said out loud, ‘Hello, Dr Palantine.’ He raised his right hand to his mouth in shock as the Doctor slowly sat down beside him.
She started talking again very excitedly, all the words spilling out; he placed his hand over her lips to stop her from talking. ‘Slowly,’ again he felt shocked at what he had just said. The room fell into silence and then the doctor pointed to the clothes on a chair beside them. ‘These are for you, they will keep you warm,’ she gestured by rubbing her arms.
The boy understood and said, ‘Yes.’ He stood and dressed himself pulling the soft material top and bottoms over his aching muscles and bruised skin. He bent over and slid his left and then his right feet into some space boots and felt his body warm up against the material. After a moment he raised himself from the seat and walked stiffly towards the life support system he had been sleeping in, he looked inside at the contours his body had left on the foam surface. The boy turned toward the doctor and caught a glimpse of his reflection in a mirror near the doorway; he looked himself up and down, at the white uniform with its green trim. He then peered closely at his brown hair and eyes, his iris changed to an orange colour before returning back to a shade of hazelnut. He then ran a finger over the scar above his left eyebrow; the skin was soft and sensitive to his touch like the other scar running across his hand, here there was stiffness in his knuckles. Apprehension and panic gripped him with the sudden realisation that he knew nothing about who he was, where he was or more worryingly where he came from. ‘Who am I?’ His eyes looked at the uniform, stitched onto it was a name, he pulled at the material and twisted it around in his hand, the badge spelled out characters, which read Magellan. The boy became emotional and started to cry, tears streamed down his face and fell to the floor. He broke away from the mirror and turned to the doctor. ‘Where am I?’
He tried to compose himself but needed to steady himself by sitting back down before sobbing uncontrollably. ‘Why am I here?’
The doctor looked directly at him. ‘We rescued you from a nearby planet.’
The boy nodded. ‘Yes I know but why can’t I remember anything else?’
‘You had a bruise on your brain and a fractured skull from the crash, it will take time but you will remember you’re past eventually.’ Dr Palantine comforted her patient.
The boy reluctantly smiled. ‘Where am I and what will you do with me?’ he asked.
‘You need to talk to the person who brought you here, Commander Celestial. He’s spent the last week trying to find out more about you and may be able to answer some of your questions.’
The boy looked back to her and used a tissue to wipe away his tears. ‘Everything is so strange, so different.’
Dr Palantine spoke and the boy listened carefully to her words. ‘Would you like to meet Commander Celestial? I could arrange for him to meet us tonight?’
He paused for a moment and wondered what the Commander was like? Could he trust him? Would the man be helpful? Could he trust him? He was nervous about meeting with him and cautious because of his unfamiliar surroundings. He replied with an unconvincing. ‘Yes.’
‘O.K,’ the doctor said, as she stood and walked towards the emergency room door. ‘Would you like to come with me and we’ll get you something to eat, we can sit in my office, around the corner, while I contact Commander Celestial?’
He opened the door to the office and was startled by the automatic lights. He composed himself before walking over to a table and easing himself into one of the cushioned seats. Around the walls were pictures; they looked like a collection of medical skeletal scans arranged in an arty way. On the other wall, were pictures of planets and space stations, they were all different dwarfed by the nearby planets.
Min
utes later the doctor brought into the room a tray of food. ‘I have taken the liberty of bringing quite a few meals; there is some pasta, chow mien, a selection of burgers and some snacks. I wasn’t sure what you’d like,’ she said angling the tray so he could see what was on it.
They sat opposite one another on the comfy chairs and began to pick at the food in front of them. His throat was so dry, so he opened a sachet of water to quench his thirst before picking a cheeseburger to eat the succulent beef. ‘Yum, this tastes nice.’ His mouth watered as he ate.
Suddenly Celestial arrived the man approached in a blue and white uniform that signified his rank and authority. He grasped the handle of a bag, which he had slung over his shoulder, as he spoke softly. ‘Welcome to Space Station Maverick, young man,’ he addressed the boy, and then sat down near the doctor. ‘I hear you are making a excellent recovery, so the good doctor here has told me,’ He faced the boy as he placed the bag over his lap. ‘I have brought you a few things from the space ship you were travelling in.’
The boy swallowed his food and looked down as a small case was produced from the bag. Celestial placed it on the table where the light