My eyes felt heavy, and my body was sore. The only thing I could make out was a bright white light. Something didn't feel right, it was eating at me what it was. I had the sudden sense that there were others around me. It's never good when your fight or flight kicks in gear.
My eyes were adjusting and I could now tell that I was in an all-white room with no obvious door or windows. Four other people in the room were wearing what looked like white medical uniforms. Their skin was gray from what I could tell as only their eyes and forehead were exposed. They wore surgical masks, caps, and gloves and their eyes ranged from light pinks to light blues but seemed more to the side than a human would be. The heads of these people seemed more elongated and it took me a moment to accept what I knew to be, and that was they were not humans. Are these Aliens? Where exactly am I, I wanted to shout but found no words. I was lying on what seemed to be a metal bed, and I was wearing a white patient gown if I had to guess. They were moving all sorts of gadgets all around me, as beams of light would come from these instruments. It felt like they were scaring and taking measurements.
They seemed to be human-like in most ways for they walked on two legs, and had two arms with the same kind of hands. The fact that I wasn't wearing an oxygen mask meant that we shared the need to breathe oxygen. The only difference seemed to be their skin color and head shape. They were murmuring to each other in a language I didn't understand but that means there is the potential for communication. They so far didn't seem interested in talking with me, just running tests which so far were painless.
What appeared to be one of their Doctors spoke to me. "You're awake, good, don't be afraid we aren't going to harm you." It was in English and I understood it clearly.
"How is it I can understand you? You speak English?" I found myself finally able to speak.
"We surgically installed some of our technology in your brain and amongst other things Nothing that will have any long-term effects or be of concern. These are strictly for your benefit." The one that seemed to be a doctor said.
"Well, as grateful as I should be, I generally prefer to be asked before people install anything in me, especially my brain. Can you give me a detailed list of what you put in my body so that I can decide if it needs to be there?" I passive-aggressively asked.
"So sorry, but I'm afraid you'll just have to accept it. It is a strict policy of our Government that this is done to all Eoji. I know this is very overwhelming for you to take in." He tried to calm me.
"What is an Eoji? How can you understand English? Why am I here? Why are you performing surgeries? What is going on?" I was now demanding.
"Yes, these are natural questions. I can give you some answers but not all. We can understand each other because of a language chip we installed, it is standard practice amongst our people. We all have it so that all the different cultures and people can understand each other. That includes Eoji and other alien life forms like yourself. Eoji is the name we have for your kind, those that have come from 314-737-AZ44. I believe you to call it Earth. As I said, the surgeries are to help you adjust to our world. You are here because we rescued you, and so we needed to vaccinate you from us as well as us from you. The rest will be explained in time for we don't wish to overwhelm you, as you should need some rest." He tried to console.
"Rescued me? I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate on that. What I need is for you to take me back to my planet as soon as possible and we can all pretend this isn't happening." I was getting livid and at that moment I wasn't thinking about how extraordinary the circumstances were.
"Please calm down or I'll have to sedate you again." The doctor said.
"Sedate me? Can you blame me for being upset? You've kidnapped me from my home and taken me to God knows where. To do God knows what. I'm surprised I'm this calm." I didn't seem to be restrained but I didn't know where the door was. I wasn't sure of my options at the moment. I knew I had to get out of this room.
The doctor gestured for the other three people to leave and they left through a sliding door. I mentally noted its location. The doctor moved closer to me and he removed his surgical mask and cap to reveal a tuft of white hair. He had light blue eyes and a white beard. He didn't look like the grey Aliens with black eyes. His grayish skin was wrinkled and he must be older than the others. "I know you must be confused." He said calmly. "You must be patient for everything will be explained in time. For now, I wish to bring you to your temporary room until we can clear you to be released. Understand if we just let you wander and interact with our people without the procedures, you'd pose a public health risk. You might be carrying viruses from your planet that could wipe us out for we are not immune. I apologize that we didn't simply ask you but it was necessary." He did his best good, caring doctor act. I couldn't tell if it was sincere but I don't have much choice but to accept.
I went quietly with him to my room, on the way there I received strange looks from the passing aliens in the hallways. A door slid open to reveal a spare room with a bed and little else. No windows but it did have a private bathroom. The doctor left me to explore and privacy. I felt the mattress, flipped light switches, and ran water in the bathroom, everything seemed to be the same as the Earth counter-part. Was it because they designed it to be familiar to me or were their lives so similar? I tried to open the door but I couldn't. They had waved a hand near it and it opened but I tried all kinds of things but it never opened. They most likely locked it to keep me from wandering or to keep the rat in the cage.
I felt all over my body to see what else they may have done to me. I couldn't tell any obvious wounds or devices. I couldn't even detect the surgeries they told me they did. Should I trust that they are being honest and that whatever they did to me was only to aid in my adjustment to this world? Is this a deception and I should run as soon as I can away? Where would I even run to? I don't have even the first notion of where I am in the universe much less this planet. How far from Earth am I? I decided to take a shower, and it seemed to operate like any shower I've ever used. It shouldn't have surprised me that they used water in the same ways we did. Animals on Earth needed it to clean and drink so I guess there is a certain logic to the fact that all living things in the universe need and use water the same.
I paced back and forth waiting for them to come for me again as I knew they would. Some Aliens came in with some food for me. It looked like white meat, the sides were orange and yellow, cut up in bite sizes. They tasted like a vegetable of a sort. It was actually pretty good, the flavors were different but had a familiarity to them. Later on, the same Aliens came in to take away my dishes but they didn't say a word to me. I waited and paced until I finally found myself asleep. I couldn't say how long it had been since I spoke with the doctor, or how long I had been asleep. I was startled awake by the sound of my door opening and the Doctor came in.
"Morning, How are you doing?" He greeted me cheerfully.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Fine, I guess."
"Can I ask you something, do you remember your name?" I thought it a strange question until I searched my mind and found I didn't know the answer. "No, I don't remember it." I was now a little panicked wondering why I can't think of it.
"Do you remember where you're from or anything about your life on Earth?" He probed "No, I don't remember any of it," now in a state of distress.
"This is very common after these types of procedures. I can confirm that in every case so far the memories came back after a little time. Right now it may seem frustrating but it will get better." He tried to console but it only made my anger grow. "We've been calling you patient X amounts ourselves. Will that be OK with you if we continue to call you X until you remember what your real name is?"
"I don't think I have much of a choice." I wanted to say no, that's a ridiculous name but I didn't have something better. "It will take a week or two to get all of your tests back, and when everything comes back clean we can let you out of our clinic. You'll be free to explore our planet as you like. There could be other groups who wish to meet with you though. I know it isn't perhaps you wish to be here but given some time you might change your mind."
I stood up and turned my back to him, "Yeah maybe." "There is one other thing I feel you should know. When I said we rescued you, it is because you are the last of your kind." He said remorsefully.
I turned in anger, "What do mean, what has happened? Explain what you mean."
"It seems your planet had a nuclear disaster, which contributed to an environmental catastrophe that has made life unlivable on your planet. We had sent ships to save as many of your kind as we could after scientists on our planet detected the event. Not all the people made the journey back to our planet or the transition to our planet. We think you could be the only one."
It was a lot to take in. I just stood there stunned. "I don't believe you. That can't be true." I couldn't remember if I had a family but I must have had someone. They're all gone now. The realization that there wasn't going to be any going back was starting to sink in. My head lowered and sat down on the bed. "I'd like to be alone right now if you don't mind."
"By all means, I know this is a lot to take in. I've prepared this data card for you. You put it into the wall over there and it will allow you to see videos and articles. Everything we have on your planet. Let us know if you need help but otherwise, I'll inform the others you wish to be left alone. I'm sorry X." He turned and left. I put the card where he told me and an explosion of information was before me as the wall was revealed to be a touch screen in that section. I poured over, and over the information and my mind was in a fog. It seemed too surreal to be true, but the truth was right there in front of my eyes. At some point I had fallen asleep, taking in a new reality is never easy. My dreams provided no insight into my past, they only played on all my new fears. I was awakened suddenly by the door opening and in the dark of the room, I could see someone covered head to toe in white armor. The face had some sort of helmet and they were holding what I recognized to be a gun of some sort. This shaped me awake in no time.
"I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you escape." An altered voice whispered in the dark.
"Escape, what makes you think I want to escape with you? I don't even know who you are. You're holding a weapon so I guess you can make me go with you by force." I whispered back. I stood up to get a better look at this person.
"You have a feeling in the back of your mind that you can't trust a word they say, and you'd be right to do so. You don't have to trust me, just trust your feelings about them. Grab anything you need, we leave now!" He moved to the door as it slid open.
"OK, let's go." I didn't have anything to grab. My instincts told me to trust this person.
He went into the hallway, in his altered voice, "Stay behind me. I say stop, you stop. I say go, you go." I nodded in agreement. I was wearing the hospital gown they gave me but I didn't have shoes. The floors were cold but the hallways were just a blinding tunnel of a sterile white. They were curved because we couldn't see too far ahead. A door slid open and he gestured for me to move back. Some Aliens like the ones that had come out of my room entered the hallway but turned away from us. We moved down the hall following them until we came to a T. He peeked around the corners and had his hand up to signal to wait. I heard voices coming down the hall behind us getting closer so we had little time to remain in this spot.
"Stay Close." He said as he moved down the left hall, he pulled his gun into a firing position. His gun looked to me like a machine gun or high-powered rifle. He was moving fast now, and I was doing my best to keep up. He came to a room that he ducked into, and I followed. It seems we were undetected. I don't know what time of day it was but it must be late.
We were in what looked like a utility room and he was tinkering with some wiring in a box. "This will keep the alarms from going off. I did something similar to sneak into this place." He explained. He cut into a ventilation duct and we climbed in. We crawled on our bellies for a short distance before we reached the main shaft. There was a cable that led toward the top of the shaft. "We have to climb up this shaft, I have a ship waiting. It's how I got in. Do you think you can do it?" "I'll try." I grabbed the cable and balanced my weight with my feet against the wall. I leaned to keep the pressure so I could walk up the side of the shaft. It wasn't easy but it was working. He was following up behind me, but was 10 feet or so under me. My feet slipped once or twice but I managed to reach a part of the shaft that had grips for maintenance workers. I let go of the cable and climbed up the grips to the top. It was nighttime and everything was dark. There were lights around the facility, and I could make out some trees but it just looked like a giant concrete facility. He joined me shortly at the top, and he started running through the rooftop heading towards his ship I presumed.
I was right behind him when I heard shots being fired. He ducked behind some kind of obstruction, and I moved behind him. It seems some armed guards are on to all our sneaking around. "We can't afford to let them pin us down here. I've got to rush them and flush them out. Wait for me to clear and then follow." He instructed.
He moved out and was spaying the general area where the shots came from. Both sides were firing bullets as far as I could tell. His armor was absorbing fire and he was catching some of the guards as they moved out to fire. It was clear he was good at this, much better than the guards. He signaled for me to join his position as he must have taken out the guards so far.
We ran through the roof of the facility and I could now see his vehicle. More guards were surrounding it. I couldn't believe his courage as he went right out and started to take out the guards with gunfire. I don't know what his armor was made of but it held up incredibly. They didn't have a chance against him.
He reached the ship and signaled for me to join him. He was punching a code and a ramp lowered for us to enter. We both ran up, and he went to the cockpit as I followed. He started to hit switches and the ship became alive with activity. The engines were firing up and smoke was filling up the space behind us.
The ship was disc-shaped and silver, just like what I thought an alien ship to look like. He hit a button that opened the windshield of the ship. He told me to stop in. I could see guards below us shooting at the ship with no effect. He moved a steering wheel like the ones you'd see in an airplane and we lifted off the ground. Before you knew it we were moving at a tremendous speed. The facility and guards were far behind us, and so was the atmosphere. The stars were all you could see as we moved away from the blue dot of a planet. He seemed to set it to autopilot as he turned towards me.
He took off his helmet, revealing himself to be the same species as the doctors. He had the same gray skin and light blue eyes. I couldn't say if he was good-looking for an alien or not but he seemed pleasant enough.
"Elgin Mox." He said as he extended his hand. I shook it, "I can't remember my name just yet, but they were calling me X." He grabbed some type of device, "I need to use this to locate and deactivate any trackers, this may hurt."
It took me a second to realize he was talking about trackers in me. He waved it around until the device beeped. He pressed something and I felt an intense burn in my shoulder, right by my neck.
"That takes care of that." He seemed satisfied. "I've got a bunk in my room if you want to lie down. It will take a little bit before we get to where we're going."
"And where is that?" I very much wanted to know.
"Home to the resistance against the King." He said.
I shook my head as if I understood all that had just happened, said my thanks for rescuing me, and went for a rest. Maybe this will all make sense after some sleep I told myself. One can always hope.
