Across The Universe With A Giant Housecat (The Blue) (4 page)

“Anything,” said Katelyn. “Though maybe they like fish the best. Isn’t their natural habitat near water?”

“I thought it was in forests.”

She shrugged.

“All right, Leo, you’re getting a little bit of everything,” I announced, heaping a tuna steak onto his plate next to a boiled egg and some broccoli. Next, I reached for a roasted chicken leg.

“Nothing with bones. I don’t want him to choke,” said Katelyn as she heaped pancakes on her plate and covered them with chocolate syrup.

“True.” Instead of the chicken leg, I searched for something boneless.

Eventually, all three plates were filled and we sat down to eat. The food was delicious. Leo ate everything on his plate of variety, licking the plate afterwards.

“I’ll get him seconds,” I offered, getting up, since I was ready to get seconds myself. Three days with no food was really taking its toll on my appetite.

Leo ate four full plates of food. I ate three myself, but got too full to have a fourth. Katelyn’s meal consisted mostly of desserts.

“What time is it?” I wondered aloud as I finished my last bite. We never cared about the time of day in space, where it didn’t matter. Now, I knew I would have to remind myself to check the time every so often as long as we were on the base.

Katelyn glanced at her tablet. “Local time is three in the afternoon.”

“Ugh! I thought it was still morning here.”

“What’s the hurry?”

“I’m supposed to get to Medical, remember? Before I go see Northe.”

“Go now, then,” Katelyn suggested.
 

“Really? You’ll be ok by yourself?”

“I’ll keep Leo with me. Don’t worry. I’ll finish eating about nine more ice cream cones and then we’ll go explore the base.”

“Don’t do anything idiotic or dangerous. This isn’t space; there are rules here.”

She pasted on an angelic expression. “Of course.”

“Good. I’m holding you to that.” Wiping my mouth on a napkin, I left her at the table and headed for the nearest elevator.

Four decks up was Medical. I found it easily, since I had practically lived there during the weeks following the accident. It hadn’t changed much since then.

Inside, a palm scanner awaited me in the entrance to the waiting area. I pressed my hand into it, and a pleasant voice spoke. “You have successfully signed in, Alan Michael Wolf. Please take a seat.”

I complied, selecting one of the plush chairs against the wall. Several colorful potted plants, probably engineered to emit soothing aromas, stood nearby. Inhaling the scent, I relaxed into the chair’s fluffy embrace. How long had it been since I had sat in a chair like this? Certainly the seats on the
Dragontooth
were not nearly so plush. Soft music played in the background: a mixture of pianos, flutes, and harps.
 

I hadn’t had much opportunity to relax this well in—well, I didn’t know how long. I hadn’t slept well after Randew Larsen’s initial declaration of intent to murder me. After he was gone, I’d been anxious with curiosity over this trip and what the Stellar Intrepid could want from me. Well, I still hadn’t found out yet, but for the moment, it didn’t seem to matter.
 

My eyes wandered to the newsfeed monitor perched on one of the walls. A newscast was playing about some odd radiation activity a pack of scientists had noticed off in some corner of space. Good. Nice and boring news. Nothing about destroyed planets or kidnapped sisters, like the newscasts I had stumbled upon last year.

The plush chair felt so warm around me. All the food I had eaten was starting to make me sleepy…

Chapter 6

“Mr. Wolf? Alan?” Someone was tapping me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes—when had I closed them? A woman dressed in a teal nurse’s outfit stood over me, her hair pulled tightly back and her expression pleasant. “I’m so sorry to have to wake you! People sometimes fall asleep in here—we try to adjust the atmosphere so it relaxes patients. I’ll have to adjust it again; it’s not supposed to make you completely fall asleep.”

Well, that feature was certainly new. Scrambling to my feet, I shook my head. “No, it’s probably fine; I was just tired.” So I had been right—the place was designed to soothe its occupants.

“Follow me. It’s not this way in the rest of the rooms, so your head will clear in a moment.” Of course. They didn’t want the doctors about to fall asleep in the middle of their work.
 

I followed her through the door on the far end of the waiting room, taking one last appreciative sniff at the engineered soothe-plants.
 

The hallways that followed were, like the waiting room, finished in pale grays, teals, and whites. The nurses and doctors we passed were dressed in those colors as well, their soft-soled shoes quiet on the tiled floor. My guide, who introduced herself as Leah, walked at a brisk pace, glancing behind her to make sure I was following.

Turning a corner, Leah stopped in front of a door, opened it, and beckoned me through the doorway.

Beyond was a typical exam room: padded table, chairs, sleek equipment for unknown medical purposes. It was familiar to me: I had seen and experienced it all after my accident. The surroundings, coupled with the faint disinfectant tang in the air, jogged the memories of that time. I shifted uneasily. That had been an uncomfortable time, to say the least.
 

Picking up a tablet, Leah began asking me all the typical health questions that came before any doctor’s visit. I answered them absently, a cold feeling of worry coming across my chest.

Visions of cold lab tables, needles and tissue samples being drawn flashed through my head. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just wanted one or two, I mused, but what if they wanted to keep me around indefinitely, to perform tests? After all, I was the only known Space Reader alive.

I swallowed as Leah rattled off questions about my diet.

“Leah,” I began firmly, determined to get this uncertainty over with. “Why am I here? Is it because of the medical vest, or something else?”

“Oh, they didn’t tell you?” Surprise registered in her eyes. “Dr. Kassa wants to check your healing progress.”

“So I could re-join the military?” I asked as relief washed over me. “Is that what they want?”

“Probably. Maybe. You’ll have to ask her to be sure.” She tapped something on her tablet. “Yes, it says that they want to see if you are fit for active duty.”

I nodded, and the questions continued.
 

So the military wanted me back. But why did they go through all this trouble to find me and bring me here? Surely there wasn’t a shortage of twenty-year-old males with incomplete military training? Why not just find someone new? It wasn’t like I had received any special training or knowledge beyond what was standard at Horatio Nelson Military Academy.

Leah finished her questions. Thankfully, she didn’t hand me a gown to put on. The padded table was already uncomfortable enough.

Almost immediately after Leah had finished, the door opened and Dr. Kassa came in.

She hadn’t changed in the time since I last saw her. She was still the gray-haired, bespectacled woman who had kept the pain at bay after the accident and was responsible for the fact that I could walk now.

“Alan,” she said warmly, coming over to me. “So good to see you! I trust the vest has served you well?”

“
Very
well,” I answered. The thing had stopped me from getting killed on several occasions now.

“Great! Let’s take a look.”

What followed was the usual round of poking and prodding with various instruments, followed by more questions. Then I was told to strip down—to my annoyance—and get into some sort of scanning tube. When that was over and I had my clothes back on, Leah pulled out a device to draw blood.

I was instantly on guard. “Why do you need my blood?” I asked.

“I want to make sure you haven’t contracted any latent diseases since I last saw you,” answered Dr. Kassa, looking surprised.

That made sense. Even so, I was uneasy as I held out my arm. What if there was something in my blood that told her I was a Space Reader? I couldn’t see any way to get out of it without having to give a reason, so I gritted my teeth and let her take her sample.

 
“All right; we’re all done,” said Dr. Kassa, picking up a tablet Leah had been using and looking over it. “According to your scans, your spine has completely healed,” she said.
 

“Already?” I blinked.

“It has been two years since your accident.” She cocked an eye at me. “Most people with your injury heal within two to four years.”

“Right.” I hadn’t thought of that. “Does that mean you are taking this thing off me now?” I asked, knocking on the hard surface of the medical vest as my heart beat faster in anticipation.

“Yes. I want to look over the scans one more time, but I think we can schedule a removal appointment.”

“When?” I asked eagerly, sliding from my seat on the padded table to my feet.
 

She selected a time tomorrow and sent me on my way. As I left, I was walking on air at the prospect of seeing my torso for the first time in years.

As I walked along the pristine halls to my new quarters, I wondered how my chest would look after all this time encased in technology. Probably pretty pale.
 

I touched it gingerly through my clothing. The vest had done its work well, even saving my life. If it hadn’t been for its hard carapace, I would have had several knives end up between my ribs by now. In addition, it had broken my fall and had kept me alive after Trilloque threw me from my ship last year.
 

Unbidden, the memory of that time came to my thoughts. It had been a nightmare—stranded motionless on the surface of a deadly planet and powerless to stop a massive conspiracy no one else knew about. Then there had been the hallucinations of Useia which had turned out to not be hallucinations at all.

Useia. I missed her. If only I had some way of knowing she was alive and not dead on some remote world. I hoped she hadn’t been discovered by someone keen on revenge, the way Randew Larsen had found me.

That was a chilling thought. Pushing it out of my head, I decided to wander around a bit.

Iron Horn Base, like most other bases, had a central shopping and dining area that was always swarming with vendors and customers. Hoping to find Katelyn and Leo, I headed there.

I found them standing next to a booth where a man was selling quartz necklaces. Katelyn was haggling over price with him, hands moving as she spoke. She had several shopping bags in her arms and several more were somehow attached to Leo, making him her pack animal.

“Alan!” she said as she caught sight of me. “How was everything? I’ve done some shopping! First time in a year!”

“I see that,” I observed. “And everything was fine—great, actually. Dr. Kassa wants to take the vest off me tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow! That means you’re healed? You could go back to military school!”

“Well, it means I am healed enough, but probably not enough for the rigors of the academy,” I speculated. I glanced at the bags hanging from her arms. “Just exactly how much stuff did you buy?”

“Oh, not that much. Don’t worry. All the bags make it look like more than it is. It’s just a few outfits and I think one pair of shoes. Alan, you should see this place! The shopping is amazing! I’ve been so deprived in space. You should do some shopping, too. It will get your mind off everything.”

“I don’t need anything,” I protested. “I have a ship. I have you and Leo. That’s all I need.” Except Useia. I needed her, too, wherever she was.

“Aww!” She smiled. “But really, you should see what they have here. There’s a shop that makes bubbles out of candy.” She looked me up and down. “You could get some new clothes.”

She had a point. The clothes I had worn in the desert were ruined, leaving me short one set of clothes. “But what if I’m not wearing civilian clothes for much longer?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Then they do want you back!”

“If they were going to dissect me, they wouldn’t bother with the exam, right?”
 
I clenched my fists behind my back in frustration. Why wouldn’t Northe just tell me what he wanted? Why did he keep me swimming in guesses like this?

“True,” she agreed.

“When am I supposed to go see him, anyway?”

She fished her tablet from one of her shopping bags and frowned at it. “It says eleven in the morning. In his office.”

“Good! The earlier the better. “

“Hey. I have a great idea, Alan. Let’s go get some food to celebrate the return of your chest skin to the light of day.”

“Huh? Oh, the vest. Sure!” My stomach had been rumbling during our whole conversation anyway—it had been several hours since we had last eaten.
 

We made our way to the cafeteria again, stopping along the way to drop off Katelyn’s purchases at our quarters.

At the cafeteria, Katelyn dug into another plate of desserts, while Leo ate a plate of everything.
 

After loading my tray with several of my favorite foods, I sat down to eat with them. Katelyn chattered merrily about the sights she had seen so far; Leo nearly got a corn muffin stuck in his throat during an attempt to swallow it whole.

After dinner, we headed back to our quarters, where Katelyn took a long bubble bath and insisted I take one as well, after her. I found it surprisingly relaxing.

The day ended and night began. However, I could not sleep, even with the help of the relaxing bubble bath. I lay awake in my bed, the first real bed I had touched in over a year, and stared at the ceiling. Such a blank ceiling—no wiring or pipes overhead, as was common on spaceships.

Leo slept at the foot of my bed, snoring. Yes, actually snoring. Somehow, the air passageways of a kvyat were designed to help snoring reverberate and emit the same level of noise as the average in-atmosphere spaceship landing. Or at least, that was what it seemed like.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 7

“Alan! Alan, wake up! Wake up! Your appointment with Standing Admiral Northe is in twenty minutes!”