Whumpay Day 8: Wake Up/Passing Out.
There are lots of reasons for passing out, John reflects. The one particular reason that it is happening to him escapes him for the moment – along with a lot of other things like where am I? – but he knows many, many reasons.
A sudden drop in blood pressure. John tries hard to think. Did he stand up too suddenly? Was that what happened? If so, then reasonably he should be on Five and EOS is already in frantic communication with, if he's lucky Virgil, if he's unlucky Scott. If she's really worried then Grandma, and that thought causes John to pause.
If he is still on Five why can't he hear anything? Sure Five is in space and is a tightly sealed environment, but contrary to popular opinion you can hear in space – well, you can hear on Five, because she is a well-oiled machine, and machines make the barest of noises. He is so in-tune with Five that the noise no longer registers. But it is still there, and here it is not.
Anxiety, fear and emotional stress. Well, John does have plenty to worry about in his day-to-day life. What with sending his four brothers and sister off to daily death and destruction and praying that today is not the day that one of them…yeah, well.
Was there anything in particular today that had caused his anxiety to spike? No, nothing he could think of. In fact, he couldn't think of anything he was doing. Were his brothers out without him to direct, to safeguard them, to keep them safe? Now he could feel his anxiety ratcheting up a lot. So, anxiety was not the main cause of his passing out, but if he continued down this path it might well be the cause of the second.
Hunger and Thirst. Yeeeaaah. That was a distinct possibility. John so frequently forgot to eat and drink while working that EOS had taken to locking him out of all electronics until he did. That, and threaten to tell Scott and let him up in the elevator. John shuddered. That was almost a fate worse than death, the threat of smothering older brother up here, contained on Five.
Yet all of these reasons didn't feel right. For one thing, any and all of these reasons still placed him on Five, and he definitely wasn't there. For another thing, if he had succumbed to any of these the other place he would be was the island, with his family fussing around him.
And here he was most certainly alone.
There was, of course, one other reason why he might have passed out.
Alcohol and/or Drugs. This one worried him. John wasn't a big drinker, sure he had his occasions – these usually involved Scott, or bizarrely Penny – but they were few and far between events. Had he been on shore leave? There was a tentative flare of memory at that thought. He had been on shore leave.
He'd been shore leave.
And he hadn't been alone.
He was assailed by a memory so strong, of a bar, bottles of beer. And red flannel. And dancing, not him of course. But Virgil, kicking it back and relaxing, had been asked to dance by a girl sporting more red flannel than his brother was. And John had watched, amused, as Virgil line-danced with the best of them.
What the hell had happened since then? And where was Virgil? John racked his brain. Or, he tried to, his brain was having none of it. Why couldn't he remember? Why had he passed out?
Only one thing for it then, John decided. Struggling to sit up, John had an epiphany. Of course, finding out where he was and where Virgil was would be far easier if he just opened his eyes.
One eye peeled open at his demand, and John was most definitely on the floor. The room was sparce, even by John's standard. Just a cot attached to the wall and a toilet. There was a familiarity in the room. Oh, not for him, but yeah. He knew where he was. There was a certain relief in that knowledge. Now John just needed to work out why he was here and where his brother was.
John turns over onto his back and closed his eye again. And groaned. The movement set of nausea, but he doesn't have the energy to move to the toilet and thus fights the feeling the only way he knows. Astronomy. Murmuring the equations for calculating the distance, age and composition of pulsars soon had him back in control. And he laughs.
The laugh. He remembers. The girl had been laughing as Virgil swung her around, straight into a fist. And then all hell broke loose. There had been a fight. Of course John had got involved, Virgil was being swamped.
John sighs. All this for a girl. He'd expect that from Scott. From Gordon even, but never from Virgil. Maybe I should just get up off the floor, John thinks. And of course that suddenly brings all the pain to the forefront.
He decides to catalogue the hurt. Bruised cheek, black eye, split lip. Hmm, sore ribs, cracked knuckles. John laughs. It had been a good fight.
There is a clang. The door opens.
A very disappointed Scott stands on the threshold, a very sheepish Virgil behind him. And the policeman is smirking.
'So, you're awake then.'