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Authors: Steven L. Hawk
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check of his body. He started with his toes and worked up. His muscles slowly came alive. He flexed them to help quicken the process.
As he waited for his body to catch up to his brain, Grant opened his eyes to study the man sitting next to him. He seemed smallish, with close-cropped brown hair and a clean, well-proportioned face and body. Grant estimated his height at 5 feet, 2 inches and felt confident his guess of 130 pounds was within 5 pounds of the man’s true weight. The most startling aspects of the young man, though, were his strange, cloud-colored eyes. They immediately became even stranger, though, when the clouds lifted and dropped in a sudden blink of motion. The man had secondary lids that covered his eyes!
“Good. They are coming inside the nature-cage. Try not to move as you will frighten them.” The man – Tane -- blinked again and Grant gawked at his eyes for a few seconds before hearing the words.
“Frighten easily? Frightened of what?”
“Frightened of you, my friend. Of you.”
“Me?” Grant asked. He saw other figures approaching from the periphery of his vision. “I can barely move. How can they be scared of me?”
“It is a long story, but one that you will hear soon.”
“I can hardly wait,” Grant choked. His throat felt like fresh sandpaper. “How about a drink in the meantime?”
Grant saw Tane take something from one of the figures just outside his vision and lean over his body. He was in the process of asking what was happening when he felt the pressure to his thigh and a slight prick. He never got the words out.
“Take him to the room that’s been set aside,” Tane said.
* * *
Sergeant First Class Grant Justice awoke to find himself lying in a bed, his eyes opened toward the white ceiling overhead. He was no longer thirsty, but he still could not move his arms or legs.
He let his gaze travel down the wall – also white – and glanced around the room. It looked like a hospital room. The door opened and in walked the man from the garden – Tane something or other.
Grant noticed that the door seemed to lock behind the man, and he studied the smaller man closely as he approached the bed. He again noted the clouded, secondary set of eyelids. Other than the eyes, the man’s face was nice and hinted of intelligence and humor. He liked the man almost immediately but not without chastising himself for the unwarranted reaction. For all he knew, this could be a doctor for the European Front Army with orders to perform a de-nutting.
“So, who the hell are you?” he asked, never one to let unanswered questions remain unanswered. “And how did I get here? The last I remember, I was headed for the bottom of a frozen lake. With no arms or legs.” There were other memories -- memories of death, and memories of endless memories – but Grant didn’t think he wanted to get into that with this guy. All he wanted to know was where he was and how he got new parts for what had been a very fucked up body.
The small man smiled and nodded.
“My name is Tane Rolan. I am a Senior Scientist of the N’mercan Culture.” The lids covering his eyes rose and fell as he spoke and Grant got a closer look at the deformity. The lids appeared somehow opaque, but it was obvious that the man could see through them without any difficulty. He had seen the same trait in certain reptiles at zoos he had visited. The lids for those animals served to protect their eyes underwater and he wondered if Tane’s lids offered the same benefit for him. The question was pushed out of his mind by more important ones, though.
“Okay. I can buy that. But what the hell does that mean, Doc? Where am I and how the fuck did I get here?”
“Please. Do not use profanity. It represents a verbal form of violence.” He spoke as though reprimanding a child and Grant was slightly amused by the apparent scolding. The small man had balls. “And what do you mean by ‘you can buy that?’”
“Wait a minute, wait
As he waited for his body to catch up to his brain, Grant opened his eyes to study the man sitting next to him. He seemed smallish, with close-cropped brown hair and a clean, well-proportioned face and body. Grant estimated his height at 5 feet, 2 inches and felt confident his guess of 130 pounds was within 5 pounds of the man’s true weight. The most startling aspects of the young man, though, were his strange, cloud-colored eyes. They immediately became even stranger, though, when the clouds lifted and dropped in a sudden blink of motion. The man had secondary lids that covered his eyes!
“Good. They are coming inside the nature-cage. Try not to move as you will frighten them.” The man – Tane -- blinked again and Grant gawked at his eyes for a few seconds before hearing the words.
“Frighten easily? Frightened of what?”
“Frightened of you, my friend. Of you.”
“Me?” Grant asked. He saw other figures approaching from the periphery of his vision. “I can barely move. How can they be scared of me?”
“It is a long story, but one that you will hear soon.”
“I can hardly wait,” Grant choked. His throat felt like fresh sandpaper. “How about a drink in the meantime?”
Grant saw Tane take something from one of the figures just outside his vision and lean over his body. He was in the process of asking what was happening when he felt the pressure to his thigh and a slight prick. He never got the words out.
“Take him to the room that’s been set aside,” Tane said.
* * *
Sergeant First Class Grant Justice awoke to find himself lying in a bed, his eyes opened toward the white ceiling overhead. He was no longer thirsty, but he still could not move his arms or legs.
He let his gaze travel down the wall – also white – and glanced around the room. It looked like a hospital room. The door opened and in walked the man from the garden – Tane something or other.
Grant noticed that the door seemed to lock behind the man, and he studied the smaller man closely as he approached the bed. He again noted the clouded, secondary set of eyelids. Other than the eyes, the man’s face was nice and hinted of intelligence and humor. He liked the man almost immediately but not without chastising himself for the unwarranted reaction. For all he knew, this could be a doctor for the European Front Army with orders to perform a de-nutting.
“So, who the hell are you?” he asked, never one to let unanswered questions remain unanswered. “And how did I get here? The last I remember, I was headed for the bottom of a frozen lake. With no arms or legs.” There were other memories -- memories of death, and memories of endless memories – but Grant didn’t think he wanted to get into that with this guy. All he wanted to know was where he was and how he got new parts for what had been a very fucked up body.
The small man smiled and nodded.
“My name is Tane Rolan. I am a Senior Scientist of the N’mercan Culture.” The lids covering his eyes rose and fell as he spoke and Grant got a closer look at the deformity. The lids appeared somehow opaque, but it was obvious that the man could see through them without any difficulty. He had seen the same trait in certain reptiles at zoos he had visited. The lids for those animals served to protect their eyes underwater and he wondered if Tane’s lids offered the same benefit for him. The question was pushed out of his mind by more important ones, though.
“Okay. I can buy that. But what the hell does that mean, Doc? Where am I and how the fuck did I get here?”
“Please. Do not use profanity. It represents a verbal form of violence.” He spoke as though reprimanding a child and Grant was slightly amused by the apparent scolding. The small man had balls. “And what do you mean by ‘you can buy that?’”
“Wait a minute, wait
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