CHAPTER 10

WAITING

In the days that followed Jason's surgery, Mel had divided her time between watching over the comatose Alterran as staff came and went, and sitting in as one language expert after another tried and failed to translate his words from a tape that had been made when they arrived. While all this was going on, she had been able to collect a great deal of information about the Base. Despite the fact that the Colonel was not very forthcoming, his subordinates were, as they were much more impressed with her newfound security clearance than he was. When she was satisfied she had as much information as she could gather, she planned to activate the beacon and pass her investigation over to the Doctor

Mel had managed to learn that the Base had originally been a private airport that had gone bankrupt several years earlier, which explained the mismatched buildings and sparse number of residents. When she asked how the military's presence was explained to the local population, she was amused to learn they had been told it was being used as a location for the production of training films. She then learned that the entire Base was being renovated to a certain set of specifications and the group known as UNIT was in the process of officially taking control, something that did not seem to set too well with Colonel Hildebrand. Mel had also managed to learn that UNIT stood for United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, and that they specialized in UFO's and the like and apparently had been dealing with alien "arrivals" on Earth for decades. Even though she felt she should not be surprised by the fact that she had never heard of the group, she was a bit surprised to learn that not only had alien activity on her home planet been prevalent enough for such a group to be deemed necessary, but it had also been going on for nearly forty years.

Mel eventually learned that the wreckage of Jason's spaceship had been taken to NASA and was in some secret hangar at the Kennedy Space Center being dismantled and scrutinized by a legion of scientists. The crash site had been cordoned off and was being meticulously searched for debris. Something Mel wished she had not learned was that Jason's crew had not faired as well as him in the crash. They had been virtually pulverized, only a few scattered and scorched remains being all that was left. They had been identified as human, which seemed to cause a wave of excitement among the researchers. Mel found their reaction amusing and wanted to tell them that it was not unusual for humans and non-humans to travel together, but knew it would only open up another can of worms. Such as, how did she know this for a fact?

The image of the Doctor's plane touching down not far from Mel's location came swirling up on the globe.

"You see? I told you he'd be back," l'X'el announced, not wanting his brother to know how relieved he was himself.

"Yes, but for how long?" K'ell'k replied soberly.

l'X'el gave him a dark look, altering the image to display the events in the Critical Care Unit. "I'm going to lock onto the mental energies of the Doctor's companion rather than him." He did not mention that it was actually Jason that he was locking onto rather than Mel, as he knew this information would just trigger another argument. "Less likely to lose him that way."

"Less likely to keep track of him too."

Mel was jotting down her latest tid-bits of information in a small notebook when she was roused from her thoughts by a sound from across the room. She looked up and saw the figure in the bed stir. She observed this without surprise. Jason had been stirring for the past day, his eyes sometimes opening slightly. The first time this happened she had called the duty nurse only to be told that what she was seeing was perfectly normal in coma patients. She was about to settle back to her notations when Jason suddenly came awake all at once and started fighting the straps that held his broken limbs immobile.

Mel was on her feet and at the bedside before she realized. "Calm down, calm down," she soothed, putting her hands on the Alterran's arm and shoulder. "You've been in an accident." Two striking sapphire blue eyes fixed themselves on her face. "You're in a hospital, do you understand?"

Unable to speak because of the tube in his throat, and groggy from the drugs in his system, a bleary-eyed Jason struggled to focus on the woman beside him, having no idea where he was or what had happened to him. He stopped fighting at the sound of Mel's calm, reassuring voice, although he still had no clue as to who she was.

"That's better," Mel sighed relievedly. "You were in an accident. You're ship crashed. Do you remember?"

Jason's eyes narrowed. My ship…? The ARGO? No, that's not right… I was on…was on… He closed his eyes, but could access nothing in his drug-numbed brain.

"Well, just incase you don't remember," the woman beside him said, "I'm Mel. I'm the one who found you. Now if you think you can stay calm a minute, I'll go get the doctor, or nurse, or somebody and tell them you're awake."

Suddenly feeling too weak to even think, let alone fight, Jason nodded weakly to signify he understood. With a quick smile, Mel dashed out the door leaving the bewildered Alterran staring after her. It was obvious from the amount of bandages he was wrapped in that he had been in some sort of accident. His right arm was in a cast that was suspended from an archaic contraption above the bed. His left leg also had a cast on it and it too was suspended. He could not see his right leg because of the respirator but suspected it was in bad shape too, judging by the pain he was feeling. Other parts of him felt like they were on fire, and his head….

At that moment Mel returned with a nurse who made certain the Alterran was actually conscious before leaving. A minute later an excited Dr. Miller entered. He quickly checked his confused patient, remarking on his progress as he went. "The lab boys will love this news," he said softly. "You're not going to crumble away to dust on us, are you?"

Jason's eyes narrowed as he struggled to concentrate his muddled brain.What is this fool going on about? He threw a questioning look in Mel's direction and she gave him a don't-look-at-me shrug, being as clueless as he as to what the physician was talking about. The effort of staying awake against the powerful drugs proved too difficult, and Jason lost consciousness.

Miller continued his examination, checking the monitors and making notation after notation into a thick notebook. A UNIT soldier whom Mel had not seen before appeared during this, having somehow learned the Visitor had regained consciousness.

"Did you tell him anything, Miss?" the soldier asked suddenly.

Another voice from home, Mel thought upon hearing the man's British accent and turned to look at him properly. When she did, she almost burst out laughing. He did not have what she would have described as the typical military look. In fact, he looked more like someone's big brother who had gotten a uniform for his birthday and never bothered to take it off.

"I told him he'd been in a crash and was in a hospital. Why?" she said at last.

"A language specialist is on his way. Orders are that no one is to communicate with the Visitor until he arrives"

"What?" Mel could not believe what she was hearing. "Not again!"

"I'm only the messenger, Miss," the Lieutenant said apologetically. "The orders come from UNIT HQ in Geneva this time."

"I don't care if they come from the Queen! Who's to say thislanguage specialist will have any better luck than your last six? They haven't been able to decipher a single word from that recording, have they?"

"Oh, I wouldn't fault them," came a familiar voice from the door. "I'm told the tape was very poor quality."