Under a Starless Sky

Chapter 90

“Clear!”

The uniform applied Defibrillator pulse. Jon gasped. Hands came up automatically to push the light out of his eyes. The light was attached to a hand. It took a moment to focus. Normal room lights filled him and saw a new reality. Medical bay. It was all so damn familiar he suspected it to be unreal. He felt his arm stretched, and a Velcro arm band secured snugly. ‘Lactic ringer’ the nurse said. Loxy was suddenly in his eyes.

“Welcome back,” Loxy said.

Jon tried to get up, but hands kept him down. Loxy touched him. “Shh, we got you. I am here.” She took his hand in hers. A mobile, doctor’s stool came to her, adjusting itself for the appropriate height, and she sat with a knowing that she wouldn’t fall. Once in under her control, she adjusted her proximity the old fashion way, pulling the chair to where she wanted. She smiled into his face, wiped tears. “Shh, breathe, we got you.”

“Are you real?” Jon asked.

“You mean really here?” Loxy asked.

“Loxy?”

“Yes, Jon,” Loxy said.

“I am not Jon,” Jon said.

“Confusion is to be expected after an event of this magnitude,” the Doctor said. The Doctor’s voice was familiar. His face was too familiar.

“Fiction…”

“The fact that I am here, or that I save you?” the Doctor said.

“House,” Loxy said.

“Seriously, the existential banter that pseudo explains my presence in his world is overplayed,” House said. “We got it, Jon. I am an admired hero in your world. Thanks for allowing me to bring you back one more time. Get some rest. Stop fucking dying on my shift.”

“Why do you keep calling me Jon?” Jon asked.

“Who do you think you are, Ion Light?” House asked.

“Maybe we should wake Jung,” Loxy said.

“He is sleeping. Most normal folks are sleeping. You should be sleeping, Jon,” House said. “We got you. The ship, the nurse, your suit’s AI, the bed’s AI, we all got you. You’re not going anywhere. Now rest.”

House walked away. He didn’t have to say, ‘notify me if there is any change.’ He said it, ‘you expect me to say it to comfort you but you should be comforted by the fact I can’t get any sleep because all these damn bells and whistles are always calling me to comfort someone, which just stupid because everyone knows my bedside manners suck, but you didn’t hire me for bedside manners…’ the door shut behind him.

Loxy smiled down at him. “You can stay here, or our quarters. Do you have a preference?”

“Are you real?” Jon asked.

“Yes, Jon,” Loxy said.

“Forever?” Jon asked.

“Yes, with caveats,” Loxy said.

Loxy’s uniform pulsed, heart badge illuminated; the chime for being notified. “Yes?” she said.

“Commander, your presence is required on the bridge.”

“Are we about to go into battle?” Loxy asked.

“No, Mam…”

“Then you got this. Loxy out,” Loxy said. A reassuring smile was offered. “See, not going anywhere.”

“It might be important,” Jon said.

“It’s always important,” Loxy said.

“I want to get

“Tomorrow,” Loxy said.

there is no

“Then we’ll do it the next day,” Loxy said. She kissed him, squeezed his hands, and he

निर्मित

always someone with him, even though he didn’t need a physical person with all the AI partnerships. Loxy, Fersia, Alish, Keera, and Lester

ready,

of slime. It had operated as a living things that had simply punctured the ship and vomited over him. The contents also moved as if alive, flowing faster than lava, a liquid storm that captured him in a glittery, golden, greenish slime. The outer edges of it hardened in the air. He and the command chair were completely encapsulated, like an ant stuck in amber. The reports said he was so

his first thought. “I was gone for…” He couldn’t put days on it. Years. A life time. He had to resist not to fight

a solar system. One

corridor on the saucer section. The never ending corridor, one of the few that completed an uninterrupted circuit. Others used it for the same purpose, stretch the legs, talk. The faster folks tending to be on the outer wall. A person could be a celebrity here and still walk unmolested. Here, on the ship, he held celebrity status, and he was the Commanding Officer. And he was allowed to walk in peace. They neither avoided eye contact nor made eye contact. He was treated normally. It felt surreal. He wondered if the weirdness was just being back, or that he craved attention, or he wanted

tagging him. He stopped, closed his

Loxy said. “There are people on the

him. They went a quarter of

this is weird. You’re

“How so?”

curious?”

“They’re human,” Jon said.

was under the impression, you weren’t reading

we hail

“No response.”

sending an away

team

like to go,”

you would. Not going to happen,” Loxy

Staff, High Conference, please,”

of the Candace and the ritual. He was able to track that while the other officers and staff members were arriving. The dome afforded a view of the planet they were orbiting. There was nothing particularly noteworthy. Nothing that looked like home. Was it all a dream? It became apparent that everyone

on the Away Team. I might know these people,” Shen

bombarded with a bunch of questions. Loxy spoke for the group. “You’re going to have

experience. They listened to the whole of it

a death

House said. “He wasn’t dead. Dead

dead,” Loxy said. “No heartbeat. No brain activity. Not

he was engulfed in created a stasis field that slowed time within the gel,” House said. “That’s

he was dead over an hour,” Jung

took us ten minutes to revive his heart. His brain activity

tunnel and saw

the end of the tunnel. Except the birth canal sort of counts as a tunnel, and there was a light at the end of that. No. I am not saying I had a NDE. I had a

This is an

nodded. “Yeah,” he

any reason

anyone that could master the three-body problem, creating a stable orbit of a star and two black holes, that would

gateway, or structure attuned to that other universe. It could be a

could be a

to find

from nowhere,” Sacagawea said. “Are you factoring that in? And

“Coincident,” House said.

planet out of the pocket universe through the black hole?” Jon

talking about tech far greater than anyone in

missing nebula has the same mass as the star and planet that has arrived?”

odds of us finding humans on a

didn’t evolve here, then the presence of humans is explained,” Chan

Jon, his offspring,” Uhura

seemed

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