PART ONE; The Owl Wakes to Daylight.
Standard Disclaimers
Thanks to JP for betaing.
Dedicated to all of you who think that G5 should have more airtime; Here▓s a special mission for the Owl.
I was sat in the Snack, talking to Mark. Mark was talking about flying; he was making a most unconvincing argument that flying a small plane required more finesse than a large one. I was only half listening, concentrating more on my big plate of spaceburgers. What a bore!
Princess was wiping the counter down, and Keyop was cooking more spaceburgers for me, while a cheerily whistling Jason sliced gherkins.
But I knew this was all a dream.
Funny how that even in my more lucid dreams, I know I am dreaming... I can even direct the dream at times.
So I settled down to wait for morning.
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When I awoke I was in a hospital bed. I had a look around. Had I been injured? I could not remember. I had been in the woods on the outskirts of a village. This was upon the neutral planet of Hainaught. Princess was with me. We were investigating mysterious attacks. We had suspected Spectra. It was not the infirmary of Centre Neptune. Strange. I could see a magazine on the table by me. The writing on it was in Spectran. And I was restrained; not so I couldn▓t move, but enough to keep me in my bed. Bad, very bad.
I took a further look around, vitally important to observe as much as possible. There was not a lot of interest to see. I found a call button next to my hand. Taking a deep breath, I pressed it. What else could I have done in the situation?
A young girl came in. She was not in uniform, and did not appear to be a nurse. She smiled happily at me as if my predicament was all of her making. ⌠So you▓re finally awake!■ She said in gleeful Spectran. ⌠Dr Wilmot put me to watch you on the camera; She said you were showing signs of coming round.■
⌠I am awake.■ I replied, after a moment to find my Spectran. I will admit I am not the best speaker of that language.
Another person came in. This one obviously something official, for she wore a lab coat, putting me unhappily in mind of Chief Anderson. She was a pleasant woman of middle years with short curly hair; she introduced herself as Dr Wilmot, the person in charge of this faculty.
⌠You may leave, Delen.■ She gestured to the girl who reluctantly exited, closing the door behind her.
⌠Pleased to meet you.■ I was not sure what to say.
⌠Not as pleased as I am to see you back in the land of the living.⌠ She smiled at me, ⌠We thought you were a goner.■
I was bemused. ⌠Dead?⌠ I scratched my head. "I seem to have no injuries."
"Not to your body, no, but you were badly brain damaged when they brought you in."
"My head is fine." I felt my scalp. My hair had been clipped much shorter than it had normally was, but I could find nothing amiss.
"You were in a bad way. Look at the wall." She projected some pictures upon the white wall to my left, some CAT scans; They were truly awful, massive damage to the back and down one side of my head. But I had survived, and not only, that, healed.
"How did you do this?" I was awestruck. No one should have survived that. Not even me with my thick skull.
"Nanotechnology."
"Ah." Now I understood. I had expected it to be by a regrowth system. So that meant my grey matter was full of Spectran junk? Very worrying.
And of course my suspicions were founded, -weren't they? I was dealing with my best enemies here.
She gave me the sort of smile that I was familiar with from Zoltar when one of his plots were coming together. "Do you have that sort of technology in your Federation?" Her tone was challenging.
I shook my head dumbly. As far as I was aware, we did not have such advanced technology.
⌠I thought not. This puts you and I in a very interesting situation, doesn▓t it?■ She smiled again.
I again shook my newly reconstructed skull. ⌠But I remember nothing. Some guy hitting me upon the head...that was all.■
"No wonder you know nothing of our work. You were in a deep coma when they brought you in."
"That is why I▓m so weak." I looked down at myself. "And thin." I paused. "How long has it been?" I asked.
"You have been here seven months."
"And before then?" I was working out how long that was. It came to about five Earth months.
"I don▓t know. General Gorfang▓s troops brought you in from Hainaught, you and that black haired girl."
"Princess!" I was worried. "Where is she?" Don▓t say that Princess was a prisoner of the Spectrans too?
"I do not know. The Luminati brought you here. They told me that she had been with you." replied Dr Wilmot exasperatingly. It was sadly obvious that she had no interest in the whereabouts or welfare of my team mate.
"I want to find out." I was very worried. If the Luminati had custody of my sister...
"I will ask them."
"Thank you Doctor." I replied, though I did not sound convincing.
I was in a situation here. -What was I to do?
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I was in the infirmary for about ten days. Though I was not counting. I was very depressed. When I got stronger my keepers put me in a cell of my own.
The cell was fairly roomy, oddly arranged. No furnishing, No proper bed; just a raised platform covered with a thick foam pad. No other bedding. There was nothing else in the cell; I had to call on the intercom every time I needed the toilet. This guard in unfamiliar body armour would come and lead me to the facilities.
The toilet, well, it was not a toilet. Just a small room with a gutter down the middle. Not Very civilised. Nor, I thought, very like the Spectrans. (Who like proper sit down loos; Dare I say they still use ceramic crappers?) There was also showering facilities. My keeper had told me that I could wash whenever I felt like it. I was far too gone to care.
I began to wonder if I was on Spectra after all. Dr Wilmot was a Spectran, that I was sure of, but so far she had never admitted to being upon Spectra. What was this place anyway? That was anther thing I did not know. I hoped to find out soon.
They never gave me any clothes, not even a hospital gown. I am used to being seen by total strangers naked. I was very shy when I first moved in with the Chief ages ago. I soon got used to it. None of the others were bothered. We were used to seeing each other▓s bodies. We always showered together, and if one of us was at all injured, the others all demanded a look.
Food was not at all bad. But it was also odd. Chunks of coarse bread, chopped raw vegetables and fruit and a few roughly hacked lumps of cooked meat. My keeper used to bring me it in a big metal pan. No eating utensils. Water was served up in a bowl. Once a day I would get milk, about a pint.
I got used to these strange facilities. They were nothing like what I expected a Spectran prison to be like. Not that I have ever been in anything more secure than a holding cell. Why was I being treated like an animal?
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After about a week I got a visitor. She told me her name was Borra, I got a lot of information from Borra, much more than my keepers, who though in many ways kind, did not volunteer or give answers much.
Borra was a Spectran girl of a few years older than I was. She was wearing a brown shirt and
greyish denim dungarees. (Spectran denim is very seldom blue. Normally black, brown or white)
She regarded my unclad form with a slightly amused expression.
I curled up in affronted shyness. "Don▓t stare!"
"Hostile are you? No wonder you aren't allowed to join us." She commented sadly.
"I don't know." I paused. "I can be...if I feel like it." I warned.
"There's no need to stay in there if you don't feel like it."
"Oh," I said, this was news to me.
"Didn't they tell you? What a bunch of idiots. I will complain to Dr Wilmot. She said you are to be treated same as any other patient."
(I later found out that it was on Dr Wilmot▓s orders I had been kept so ignorant; Keep me out of the way while she discussed my future with Mala and the Great Spirit.)
"Are you a patient here?"
"Yes, I am. People get sent here if they have a condition that cannot be cured any other way. I have had a mysterious cancer these past eight years." Borra said. "You wouldn't know it now but I was wasting away."
"I had a brain injury." I told her.
"A lot of people here have. Its possible to regrow injured parts by other means, but with nanones you don't suffer from loss of memory or functions."
(I had been bothered about this for some time. I appeared to remember everything; but how could I tell?)
"Dr Wilmot did a good job. I didn▓t realise I was injured until she told me and showed me the scans."
"I bet not." She laughed. "You need clothing. I will find you some." She looked at me as if measuring with her eyes.
The next day I was given clothing. Not a prison uniform, nor even army surplus, but a bundle of second hand civilian wear. Where was I? Didn▓t they realise I was G Force? The scan I saw showed my cerebionics clearly, but Dr Wilmot had not commented upon them, -a brain specialist too! Puzzled, I got dressed. I sat idly in my cell. I suppose I could have gone out but I was nervous. I preferred to wait until someone told me more than I knew.
Next morning Borra brought her two fellow patients, "Delen had a head injury too," she pointed to a blonde girl of around Princesses age, "Erik here had leukaemia."
⌠I have already met Delen.■
⌠You are stronger now.■ Delen said. She turned to Erik. ⌠When he first came round he was as weak as a kitten.■
Erik smiled. ⌠Tiny▓s not the only one.■
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After that, my fellow patients visited me every day.
They told me lots. I told them lots. They said that my room was not an exception. ⌠We are all treated like big laboratory animals here.■ Delen told me. ⌠We are them after all.■
⌠I don▓t like it at all.■ I admitted.
⌠Just what is your situation, Tiny,■ Borra asked, ⌠you are always very uneasy.■
I nodded. ⌠I have lots to be uneasy about.■ They left it at that.
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"You're not a Spectran. Your accent is very strange. I don't think it▓s your first language either.■ Borra said next day during dinner. We were eating in the staff canteen; Better than being treated like a pet.
"I'm from Earth." I told them.
"That's a long way away." Said Erik, amazed. (If I had a dollar for every time Spectrans said that to me...)
"Yes. I did not intend coming quite this far.■ I continued.
"So you▓re a slave, or a POW." "You can't be in the military." Said Delen. "You have no military bearing."
I gave my biggest knowing smile "I'm in G Force.■ Everyone else here knew this. It was no secret.
Everybody looked surprised. "G Force?"
I nodded. "Only a minor member; I pilot the Phoenix."
⌠Do you?■ Borra looked doubtful.
⌠I▓m the best pilot there is.■ I boasted.
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I don't think they believed me.