by J. Naomi Ay
“Dr. Ron will pay anything to get her back. You were the one saying we needed to go to him.”
“You mean the Emperor? What makes you so sure? Maybe he's the one paying the Big Doc to keep her here.”
“No,” I cried. “No way. I know them. I know him. She is everything to him. Marisa said he comes at night and holds her.”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that? You've lost it, Adamson.” Kira pushed the door open and sneered at me with disgust.
I realized how crazy that sounded.
“Okay, forget what I just said. But think, if we get her out of here and bring her back to him, we'll be heroes.”
Kira scrunched up her face again and thought about it for a minute. “I don't believe it,” she said. “He's Mr. Emperor of everything and if he really wanted her back, he sure as hell would have a figured out a way to get her back by now. I mean come on, look at him. He can have every woman in this galaxy if he wants. Why would he want…that?”
“She's been in a mental hospital for a few years,” I snapped. “She'll look better when she's herself again. And anyway, he never cared about looks because he can't see. But consider this. Even if he's not going to pay us, Katie owns half of SdK. How many billions is SdK worth these days?”
Kira smiled like a cat. “A lot. Okay, regretfully so, I am agreeing to assist you. What do you want me to do?”
“First, I need to speak to Katie. Then we need to convince Noka to cut back on her meds but do it real quietly so no one will notice. If she starts this afternoon, maybe by next weekend Katie will be lucid enough that we can get her out of here. By then, we should have a plan in place to steal a speeder or something.”
“We are going to take that dingbat Noka too?”
“If she wants to,” I said. “I don't see how we can't.”
“Ok, but what if cutting Anna back on her meds makes her start screaming her head off or something?”
“Do we even know she was Spacesick to begin with? I don't think so. I think they've been giving her stuff to keep her comatose. She probably won't scream at all. Do you think you guys can sneak her over to the men's or something? If the orderlies are watching out for me, I can't go back there.”
“Yeah,” Kira nodded. “Ok. Let's take her to visit her friend Neniver.”
A few hours later I was working with another of my patients when Noka pulled me aside.
“Anna is visiting with Neniver,” she whispered.
I put Paulo back in his room and follow Noka down the hall. Two orderlies were pushing patients in wheelchairs to the dayroom. They glanced at me, but I just smiled innocently. Nonchalantly and calmly, I walked into Neniver's room. Anna was sitting on the bed next to him, and he was holding her hand. I looked at her, and my heart began to race.
“Did you cut back on her meds already?” I asked Noka.
“I give her half of each pill and threw away in the toilet the other part,” Noka replied proudly.
“Look, Anna,” Neniver said. “Nurse Caroline is here to visit. Nurse Caroline is our friend.”
Anna didn’t respond. She sat straight and stared at the floor. I knelt on the floor at her feet and tried to look into her eyes.
“Nurse Caroline fixed my skin,” Neniver said.
“What?” I cried. Neniver said such funny things. “How did I fix your skin?” I did notice that Neniver had a skin graft on his left thigh.
He made hissing and swishing noises and waved his arms around. Then he touched his thigh and screamed.
“Dr. King fixed my skin and Nurse Caroline helped too,” he nodded proudly.
“Dr. King did that skin graft, Neniver?” I sat back on my heels and tried to remember. “And I helped?”
“Who is Dr. King?” Noka asked.
“The only time I remember doing skin grafts with him was after the Rehnorians attacked one of the spacebases, and we were completely swamped and Jerry asked him to help. We had so many patients. I don't remember Neniver there.”
He ignored me and made more swishing and hissing noises. Light swords?
“Neniver?” I said. “Did you see the man who came to the dayroom yesterday? Was he there when you got hurt? When you needed the skin graft?”
Neniver was waving his arms around fighting dragons.
Anna mumbled something.
“What?” I gasped.
“You speak, Anna?” Noka cried.
“What did you say?” I practically begged her. “Hush Neniver, Anna is trying to say something.”
Neniver stopped his noises and picked up Anna's hand again.
“Zem fight on spacebase,” he said seriously, his voice deep like Zem’s once was.
“Yes, but was that man there, too?” I asked. “Do you remember Neniver? Do you remember, Anna?”
“Thad,” Anna whispered.
“Thad,” I repeated loudly. “That man yesterday was Thad from SdK.”
Noka looked at me curiously.
“Yep!” Neniver cried.
“Katie?” I prodded. She looked at me, and I saw there was something happening behind her eyes. No, it wasn’t spaceworms. She was thinking. She was remembering. “Katie, I want to take you home.”
“Zem take Cap'n home,” Neniver said solemnly in Zem’s voice again. “Zem promised Dr. King to bring the Cap'n home.”
“Katie,” I said steadily. “Nurse Noka is going to give you less medicine this week. You need to wake up. You need to remember who you are. Please don't scream or cry or attract any attention. If you can do this, by next week, we can escape from here. Okay? Can you do this, honey?”
She stared at me blankly.
“Please, Katie. Tell me you will do this.”
No response.
“Cap'n need go back to work. Cap'n has important job,” Neniver said.
Katie turned and looked at him.
“Right,” he nodded emphatically. “Dr. King’s gone crazy without the Cap'n. I saw him on the vid. He’s all crazy looking. You need to go home.”
Katie looked confused. Her brow furrowed. “No,” she said and shook her head.
“What do you mean, honey?” I cried. “Don't you want to go home?”
She didn’t respond. Her face was blank again as Noka led her back to her room.
Chapter 25
Katie
The last thing I remembered is that bastard throwing me out of his office because I wanted to go back to Earth for five lousy days to say goodbye to my father. It wasn’t like he would miss a meal or anything with me being gone. He had paid me absolutely no attention what so ever for months on end. What were five days to him?
We took one of our spaceplanes to Talas III and then transferred to a Talasian government plane that Zem had leased. I took Fruph and Siria with me, fake id, and plenty of cash figuring I could buy my way out of any situation.
Shortly after entering the Derius system though, we met up with a dozen or so pirates. Zem did an excellent job trying to dodge them and I held them off with our lasers but this ship was nothing like the Discovery's shuttles or even our SdK spaceplanes, and they got lucky. We took a shot to our heat shields and lost our starboard engine, and the next thing we knew, we were plummeting down to the nearest planet, trying to prevent ourselves from burning up during re-entry by rocking the ship from side to side. After that, my mind went blank.
My head hurt. Oh lord, my head hurt like never before. It was a million migraines all at the same time. I couldn’t see straight, the light was too bright and the smell was making me nauseous. I closed my eyes, but the light was forcing itself into my head. I needed morphine, but I couldn’t manage to say it. Who was talking to me? Why were they trying to talk to me now?
I was in a bed. There was a window next to me, and I could see the stars. These were not the right stars. I was not home. This was not Mishnah, this was not Takira-hahr, this was not Seattle. I didn’t know where I was.
“You are on Derius II in a mental hospital,” the woman in the bed next to me said.<
br />
“How do you know what I am thinking?”
“My friends tell me. My friends hear you even when you do not hear yourself.”
“Who are your friends?” I stared at her curiously. There was movement in the whites of her eyes. She had spaceworms that were making her telepathic.
“Your husband is telepathic,” she said. “He can hear you call him.”
“This is what your friends say?”
“He came to you when you were sleeping,” she reported. “My friends saw him. He stayed with you for awhile because he was hurt.”
I lay back down on the pillow and stared at the mixed up stars. I swore that man had more lives than a cat.
“What did he do this time?” I sighed.
She laughed. “He didn't say.”
“Maybe your friends should have told him to get me out of here.”
“We don't get into politics,” she replied.
Noka came in the morning. She pretended to give me pills. I pretended to swallow them. She gave me St. John's Wart and Valerian which Caroline said would help me stay calm so I won't scream as I withdrew from the Catlizone and Remicol. I couldn’t see Caroline. She was here, and she recognized me. She was going to rescue me. The orderlies and the Big Doc were watching her, and she was not allowed near me.
“Kira tried to steal the keys to one of the vans, but the Big Doc caught her and she had to fuck her way out of that,” Noka whispered. “Caroline says we need to steal keys. We need a speeder.”
“The laundry truck comes at 6AM on Fridays,” I said. “The driver is stupid. Tell Caroline I need a gun. Tell her to get me a laser and a handgun, a Glock if possible. We will leave on Friday from the laundry.”
“Ok.” Noka tightened my sheets and left.
My arms were strong. I had lifted huge bags of laundry for many years now, but my legs needed work. I got off the bed and did squats. I ached like an old woman. There were surgical scars on my thighs, and I tried to remember where they came from, but I couldn’t. Marisa got out of her bed and did squats with me. We counted off three reps of fifty each.
We stood, and I pretended to spar with her. My kicks were weak and sloppy.
“Captain?” she asked when I was done. “Will you do me a favor when you are free?” She whispered, and looked around as if someone was listening.
“Who are you afraid of?” I asked.
“My friends. They shouldn't know this. When you are free, will you come back and take me to a SdK hospital?”
“If you wish.”
“They will cure me there,” she said, and her face began to contort. She started to cry. “Now they are angry with me. They are biting me.” She started to scream. An orderly ran in and then a nurse.
The orderly yelled at me. “What is wrong with her?”
I pretended I did not hear him. I pretended I was still Anna. They took Marisa away.
On Thursday evening, I lay in my bed and looked at the stars. I was alone as Marisa was still in isolation. I was fully cognizant now. I had been off the pills for more than a week. My legs were stronger, and my roundhouse kick was not too bad. Noka had brought me a laser and promised me a Glock, too. The laser was under my pillow.
Tomorrow morning, I would get up at 5:30 and go to the laundry. I would have the laser in my apron pocket. Caroline, Noka and someone named Kira were coming. I told them Zem and Marisa must come as well even if they did not understand where they were going. I would not leave without them.
After we left this place, I wasn’t sure where exactly we would go. I would check Marisa and Zem into the nearest SdK hospital, but I was sure Caroline and the others envisioned a quick trip on a luxury spaceplane back to Mishnah.
I was not going back to Mishnah. If I was free of this place tomorrow, after eight years of not even knowing my name, I would not check myself back into prison, even if it was disguised as the Palace of Mishnah.
Chapter 26
Caroline
“Where do you think you're going?” The orderly was blocking the door to the laundry. “What are you doing here, Caroline?”
Noka, Neniver and I were walking with Katie, pretending that she was still comatose. Kira was coming. An orderly posted by the lifts had tried to stop us, but Kira opened her blouse and showed him her three boobs which distracted him while we ran down the hall. Now Kira had gone to get Marisa out of isolation.
“Anna is coming to work,” Noka said.
Katie had her hands in her apron pockets. She had both a laser and Glock in there. Her hair was still curly and wild and there was more grey in it than before, but her eyes had life now, and she was starting to look like herself again.
“We are in lockdown, doofus,” the orderly replied. “Big Doc called lockdown after the guns were stolen. That means nobody goes to work today until they are found. Take your zombies back to their rooms and get back to wiping butts or dispensing pills or whatever it is you nurses do.”
Noka looked to me. I tried to think up an excuse. Before I could open my mouth, Katie said, “Oh darn! I forgot to tell you. I found the guns, and they're right here in your face!” She pulled out the Glock, and it clicked as the bullet fell into the chamber. “Open the fucking door, asshole. I'm going to work today.”
“What?” The orderly screamed, but he raised his hands and backed against the wall.
“Open the fucking door,” Katie repeated and jammed the barrel of the gun in the orderly’s mouth. “You want to eat this bullet?”
The guy quickly reached around and unlocked the door. It swung open.
“You first.” Katie shoved the guy through the door. She kept the gun pressed on the back of his neck. We followed them into a room full of steam and giant rumbling washing machines. Neniver was jumping up and down like an excited child. I tried to hush him.
“You do what the Captain says,” I whispered.
He nodded emphatically. “Yes Ma'am. Of course, Ma'am.”
“Zem,” Katie snapped. “You take our friend here and lock him in the soap room. The key is on the wall over there by the dryers.
“Yes, Ma'am,” Neniver replied in his Zem voice and grabbed the orderly with a sudden burst of strength.
“Zem is also a third degree black belt,” Katie told the orderly. “I wouldn't mess with him if I were you.”
“Neniver is brain dead,” the orderly spat and twisted away from him. Something clicked in Neniver's brain, though. He leapt in the air and pounded the orderly's gut with his foot. The orderly collapsed on the cement floor, and I winced as his head hit. He was out cold. Neniver picked him up, tossed him over his shoulder and threw him into the soap room.
“Lock the door now, Neniver,” I reminded him helpfully.
“Zem,” he announced and locked the door.
“Good job, Commander,” Katie said and waved her pistol at the loading bay. “Noka, you and Zem go see if there is a truck out there yet. If there is, Zem, you secure the truck. If not, stay hidden until the 6AM delivery arrives. Caroline, have you got your laser?”
“I do, Captain,” I said and squatted down behind a big dry cleaning machine. “But, you know I'm no good.”
“Just don't shoot Kira or Marisa. Shoot the ceiling if you have to just to scare the orderlies.”
I pulled out my laser and pointed it above the door. Presently we hear a commotion outside.
“Open the damn door!” a man was yelling, and when the door burst open it was the Big Doc who stormed through. I nearly dropped my laser in fright.
“Caroline,” he said, spying me. “What are you doing with that gun? Put that thing down before you hurt yourself.”
Several orderlies were following him, and they were holding Kira and Marisa. Kira was swearing like a spaceman and Marisa was crying.
“Do you have Anna here with you, Caroline?” Big Doc asked, walking toward me. He held out his hand as if I were just going to hand him back the gun. “Anna needs to go back to her room. She needs to take her morning medicine.”
“Don't hurt anyone,” the Big Doc said softly. “If you hurt someone, your friends are going to get hurt, too.”
“Shoot him, Caroline,” Kira yelled at me but then got herself pistol whipped by an orderly. Marisa shrieked.
“Is Anna behind you, Caroline?” The Big Doc was just steps from me. The laser in my hand was shaking so badly, I couldn't hit the machine right next to me if I tried.
“No,” I cried. “Don't come near me!”
“Caroline!” The Big Doc reached for my laser just as a stream of light burst across the room right above my hand.
“Back off!” Katie yelled, pointing both the laser and the Glock at the Big Doc.
“Anna, there you are.” The Big Doc turned and moved closer to her, holding out his hands.
“Anna is dead,” Katie said. “And Katie is back. I don't know who paid you to keep me here like this, but your meal ticket is as dead as you are.”
“The Emperor paid me, Captain. How do you feel about that?”
“What?” Katie faltered.
“Don't believe him,” Marisa screamed. “He lies! He lies!”
“Shut up.” The Big Doc turned back to Marisa and in that instant Katie whipped around and whacked the Big Doc on the side of his head. She pummelled him easily three or four times, and he fell back against a machine.
“Tell me the truth,” she said through her teeth, aiming the Glock at his temples.
“Anna...” he pleaded.
“Fuck you, I'm not Anna,” she spat and waved the laser at the orderlies holding Kira and Marisa. “Let them go, or you all are going to get blasted.” A third orderly made a move to raise his laser, but it fell on the floor along with his hand.
“You think I'm screwing with you?” Katie yelled. “Caroline, get up and blow these assholes away. I've got you covered.”
I stood up with my meanest expression, and aimed the laser at the orderly holding Kira. He released her and ran off before I could shoot.
“What are you doing?” the Big Doc called after him. “She can't shoot!”
