by Elin Wyn
He was muscular, more than the two outpost guards, and there wasn’t a single hair on his head. His skin was completely white, except for slight tinges of red, and he struck a more imposing figure than the aliens from before. It seemed that he was their superior: the guards saluted him almost right away, and then they started speaking in what seemed like a formal tone. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I was pretty sure they were talking about me.
Nodding to the guards, the white alien then turned on his heels and started heading toward Kanna’s small store. My heart started beating anxiously, but Kanna didn’t seem too concerned with the newcomer. Apparently, to have aliens pop out of nowhere in the middle of the street was a normal occurrence.
“Is this Kanna’s?” the alien asked, scanning the inside of the room. He had a stern expression, one that almost made me want to shrink and disappear, and he was even taller than I had thought. If he wanted to, he could pick me up and tear me in half without breaking a sweat.
“Yes, it is,” Kanna nodded. “I’m Kanna. Are you here because of—”
“I am,” he cut her short, his eyes now focused on me. He had acquired his target, it seemed. “I came to pick her up.”
“Very well,” Kanna continued, getting to her feet slowly. “She has already eaten, but you must get her to a doctor. As I’m sure the guards have told you, she’s suffering from memory loss and—”
“I’m aware,” he grunted. I wasn’t sure if the aliens had any special abilities but, if they had, small talk was definitely not on the list.
“My name’s Zarik,” he introduced himself, stopping just a few feet away from where I was sitting. He was so tall that I felt as if I had a skyscraper in front of me. “Please come with me.”
I hesitated, not sure if I should trust him. Perhaps feeling my anxiety, Kanna laid one hand on my shoulder and tried to soothe me. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” she said. “They might look mean, but they’re real softies when you get to know them.”
Zarik raised one eyebrow at that but didn’t say a word. Apparently he wasn’t too keen on being described like that.
On that, we agreed: if I had to describe him, ‘soft’ would definitely not be one of the adjectives I would use.
“Okay,” I finally said, pushing my chair back and standing up. As if on cue, the alien turned around and started walking out of the store. Not knowing what else to do, I thanked Kanna hurriedly once more and followed after Zarik.
“Have you ever used a rift for travel?” he asked me, and only then did I notice he was pointing at what seemed like a portal. It was right there on the street, light streaming out of it, but no one really seemed to pay any attention to it.
“No, I haven’t,” I admitted, already dreading the experience. “At least, I don’t think so.”
Did he really expect me to walk through that thing? I felt the palms of my hands grow damp with sweat and, for a moment, I considered making a run for it. Was I really going to trust this guy?
In the end, though, he didn’t give me a choice.
“It’s not hard,” he said, laying one hand on my shoulder and guiding me forward. “It is not, technically, painful.”
I stumbled through the portal with him.
It felt as if I had dived headfirst into ice water.
My nerve endings came alive with the shock and, even though the experience didn’t hurt, it still left me completely disoriented.
So, yeah, not technically painful was accurate.
Still not something I was looking forward to repeating.
In the blink of an eye, I had left the small outpost and now I was standing inside a building. Zarik and I were in a small room that was almost completely bare, but we didn’t stay there long: the moment we stepped out of the portal, he marched out of the room and then down a long hallway. I trailed after him, my eyes growing wide as I saw even more aliens roaming the corridors of the building I was in.
Green, hulking ones, with purple stripes. Gray-skinned ones with … circuitry embedded in their skin?
Broad, tall ones that looked a little like Zarik, except they were all shades of red. None were like him, not exactly.
And that probably wasn’t the top of my list of concerns right now.
Maybe all the ghost-white aliens were in another building.
Having a party.
“Where are we going?” I asked Zarik, trying to get my thoughts back under control, but he said nothing. Either he hadn’t heard me or he simply didn’t care about me. I thought about repeating my question, but decided against it and remained quiet.
At the end of the hallway, Zarik made a sharp left turn and stepped inside what looked like a doctor’s office. There was a large desk in the center of the room, and a small stretcher bed to the side of it; one of the walls was covered with tall cabinets, but another was lined with tables filled with medical equipment I didn’t recognize.
Sitting behind the desk was a woman wearing a doctor’s white coat. She smiled the moment she saw Zarik walk through the door, but her expression turned into one of concern the moment she laid eyes on me.
“This is Dr. Evie Parr,” Zarik announced. “She’s going to fix you.”
Zarik
“Let’s keep calling you Miri for now, alright?”
A pretty name. And I hadn’t thought to ask her.
She nodded, eyes wide and worried, but Dr. Parr continued. “If you don’t object, I’d like to run a couple of scans of your brain to see if there is any kind of damage or anything else we can discover,” Dr. Parr said. “I’ll run the results by one of our resident brain experts for a second opinion before I come back to you.”
“Okay,” Miri said hesitantly. I could see that she was nervous, but Dr. Parr was fantastic at helping people feel comfortable.
Even me.
Miri ran her hands through her hair. It was very dark, cut roughly along the same line as her chin.
Many of the women here had short hair, but hers looked choppy, almost as if it had been cut in a hurry. Was that the intended style?
She was pretty by human standards. A bit too skinny, but pretty.
I had learned to look at the human females differently after many of our crew had begun to get into relationships with them.
This young lady, Miri if I had heard her name correctly, was pretty. She had bright eyes and full lips that I found appealing, and her light-colored skin was similar to my own.
“It’s okay,” Dr. Parr said with a smile. “Nothing is going to hurt, and Zarik will be here the entire time.”
That didn’t seem to comfort her much. Seeing Miri’s look, Dr. Parr looked at me. “Did you not treat her nicely?”
Ah.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Parr, I may not have been focused on politeness and protocol,” I admitted. I actually did feel bad. I’d been focused on the first step of my mission: retrieving her, bringing her back to the hospital so that she could be reunited with her family.
Manners had fallen by the wayside.
Regret must have been clear in my tone, because Miri cocked her head, looking at me differently than she had before.
Dr. Parr shook her head. “You know better, Zarik.” She turned back to Miri. “He’ll be nice, I promise. If he’s not, then tell me and I’ll kick his ass for you, okay?” Dr. Parr’s easy smile seemed to relax Miri, because she smiled in return and nodded.
“Good,” Dr. Parr said with a nod. “Now, let’s get you all set up for the scans. If you could lie down on the table?”
Over the next few minutes, Dr. Parr positioned and repositioned Miri however was needed for the scans, then when she was finished, she told us that she was going to go take a look at the results. She would be back soon.
There was an awkward silence in the room for a bit after the doctor left. Miri didn’t look at me much, and I tried not to look like I was staring at her. I did notice that she had a jagged scar on her right arm.
I wondered where she had gotten it from.
> “I, ahem,” I croaked, trying to clear my throat. “My apologies,” I said as I cleared my throat again.
She gave me a perfunctory smile. It was more than I deserved.
“I wish to apologize,” I started, “for my earlier behavior. I was rude and inconsiderate.”
“Why?”
I looked at her and found myself staring at her eyes. They were a bright golden brown and seemed to be filled with loss and pain. I suddenly found myself wanting to take that loss and pain on myself just so she would feel better.
I opened my mouth to answer, but was unsure of what I should say. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her the truth - that I was trying to help her to redeem my own past mistakes - or if I should tell her that I was trying to help because I understood the patronizing sympathy she would face as someone without her memory.
“I meant, why are you apologizing?” she asked. “It’s not like I’m someone important. Am I?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “You know more about who you are than I do,” I said.
“Not like that’s saying much,” she remarked. Then she looked up at me and seemed to study me. When our eyes locked, I wasn’t sure what I saw in her look, but I found myself hopeful that she wasn’t disappointed. “But, why are you apologizing?”
“You deserved better treatment from me,” I said. “I…I am not normally rude towards people. It’s not generally within my nature.”
“Then why were you rude towards me?”
I shook my head as I shrugged. “I haven’t had as much contact with humans as my crewmates have had. Among my people, the Skotan, niceties are not always universally prized, especially soldiers fighting a galactic war against an oppressive foe. I failed to tailor my approach to you.”
“I see,” she said. Then she looked at me nicely. “Thank you for apologizing. At least you’re being polite now.”
I nodded. Before I could say anything more, Dr. Parr came back into the room.
“That was fast,” Miri said.
“I got lucky that our resident brain specialist was already in the building,” Dr. Parr responded. “Dr. Daphne March has the most experience with the effects on the brain that some of our local issues have caused, so I had her look over the scans with me to verify what I was already seeing.”
I could tell by the tone of Dr. Parr’s voice that Miri’s brain scans troubled her. Local issues could probably only mean one thing.
“What is it, doc?” Miri asked.
Dr. Parr smiled. “Call me Evie. As for your scans, they’re clean.”
“Clean? What does that mean?”
Dr. Parr took a seat next on the exam table next to Miri. “What it means is that, structurally, your brain is fine. There’s no damage to the tissue. Now, that’s a good thing,” she said quickly. “But, the downside is that it also means we don’t know what caused your memory loss. What we’re getting from you doesn’t match up with any of the scans from the people that were affected by the Puppet Master.”
“Puppet Master?” Miri asked.
“Oh,” Dr. Parr blinked. “There’s been some contact with vines that have a memory inhibiting gas,” she summarized. “We’ve tried to make a detailed study of the people who were affected, how their neurons behaved.”
“Right.” Miri shook her head. “Just one of those things I need to catch up on.”
Dr. Parr nodded sympathetically. “I’m afraid so.”
“So…I’m confused,” Miri said. “Not just about the memory altering vines, but if my scans don’t match the other people, then what about any of this is a good thing?”
Dr. Parr smiled. “It’s a good thing that your brain is healthy and fine. It’s a good thing that, if you weren’t attacked by the...vines, we can rule that out.” She shrugged. “Sometimes that’s half of what medicine is.”
“Okay.”
“However, what that may mean is that you were dosed with something, and that is the troubling part,” Dr. Parr explained. “If you were given something, or exposed to something, it’s new. We don’t recognize it at all.”
“So, again…how is any of this a good thing?” Miri questioned again. I had to agree with her. I was confused, as well.
“Given how your synapses are reacting on the scans, Dr. March and I suspect that you don’t have permanent memory loss,” Evie said. “That’s a good thing. Whatever is causing your current memory issues is probably temporary.”
She tapped her fingers on the desk before her. “I could give you some of the serum we used on the people that were affected by the Puppet Master’s memory-loss gas. It might help, it might not, but it’s harmless if it turns out to be ineffective.”
Miri looked at me, seemingly lost. “I…guess so, doc. I mean, if it helps me get my memory back, I’ll try it.”
“Okay. Give me a few minutes, okay?” Dr. Parr said, a smile still on her face. “We’ll help you, I promise. Okay?”
Miri only nodded.
I wasn’t terribly excited, though. She was still going to be without her memories, and that didn’t seem to be right.
From an entirely selfish standpoint, if I turned her over to the city officials for them to help, I had still done a good thing and that was at least a start to fixing my lost honor.
But it seemed wrong to just drop her case off with someone else. The best course of action for me, but mostly for her, would be to help her regain her lost memories. It was something that I would have appreciated if I had been in the same situation.
I needed to help this woman. She deserved it.
I just had no idea how to go about doing so.
How do I help someone regain their memories when no one knows how she lost them?
Miri
I liked Dr. Parr. She had a way of making the most catastrophic event seem like it was an easy fix so long as everyone kept a smile on and was willing to put in some elbow grease. I almost forgot that my memory loss posed serious medical concerns, that’s how calming and effective Dr. Parr was.
“Is there somewhere I can take you for you to recover?” Dr. Parr asked with a kind smile. Before I could tell her no, the Skotan who’d rescued me stepped in.
“That won’t be necessary,” he answered.
I was momentarily grateful that I didn’t have to admit I couldn’t remember where I lived or even who I knew.
“She should stay here in the medical wing so her progress can be monitored,” the Skotan said.
Wait, what?
“I would’ve liked to be asked, Zarik.” Dr. Parr narrowed her eyes, though her smile never wavered.
“As would I,” I quietly chimed in.
“Do you have a bed to spare, Dr. Parr?” Zarik asked.
“As it happens, I do,” Dr. Parr replied.
Zarik turned to me.
“Is there another place you’d rather be?” he asked. I shook my head, feeling out of control and kind of pathetic. “Then there’s no problem.” His grin was charming, but there was something behind his eyes I couldn’t identify.
Something hard.
I looked away before he could catch me staring. I had no right to be critical of him after all he’d done for me.
“There’s no problem,” Dr. Parr said. “Now that you’ve assumed the role of her primary guardian, can I talk to you for a moment?”
“I’m her what?” Zarik sputtered.
“It’s on your orders that she’s remaining here. I need someone to call if there’s an emergency.” She quickly turned to me with a reassuring smile. “Not that I’m anticipating one. Aside from your memory, you’re in perfect health. Or at least you will be once we get some food in you.”
“Right.” I pulled the hospital blanket up to hide my embarrassingly thin body. Wherever I’d been, there clearly hadn’t been enough food.
“I’ll have some brought up from the dining hall,” Zarik added.
“It’s called a cafeteria when we aren’t on a ship,” Dr. Parr corrected.
“Is it a big r
oom with food and tables?” Zarik replied.
“Yes,” Dr. Parr nodded.
“Then it doesn’t matter what we call it.”
“Talk. Now.” Dr. Parr put her hand on his pale shoulder and pushed. Zarik rolled his eyes but did as he was told. They didn’t go far, just to the other side of the room. They tried to talk in hushed voices, but that didn’t stop me from hearing every word.
“Can’t you tell me anything else about her?” Dr. Parr asked.
“How would I know anything? I was simply sent to retrieve her,” Zarik replied.
“All right. Fine. I’m sure you’ve already worked out that the dose I gave her has a pretty low chance of reversing her memory loss,” Dr. Parr continued.
I frowned. I had agreed to take the medicine with the assurance that it wouldn’t have any negative side effects, not that it wouldn’t have any effect at all.
“Then why did you try it?” Zarik asked.
“I can’t think of anything else. There are no signs of head trauma or brain damage,” Dr. Parr answered. “Do you know of anything else causing spontaneous amnesia besides the Puppet Master?”
“Too much ale and a serving of bad swampfish?” he smirked.
I let out a small, quiet chuckle. I didn’t want them to know I was listening. I assumed Dr. Parr wasn’t saying all of this to me directly in a kindhearted attempt to not overwhelm me.
“This is serious,” Dr. Parr replied. “I’m going to give her another brain scan in a few hours. We’ll know for sure if she was exposed to the Puppet Master.”
“I hope for the general’s sake that it’s something else,” Zarik said somberly. “If it was, that truce is as good as over.”
I didn’t have a clue what the Puppet Master was. Dr. Parr had said something about vines, but that made no sense. The name alone made me uncomfortable. I decided I wasn’t ready to find out more about it until Dr. Parr confirmed that it did something to my brain.
