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Chapter 10

A dark room stood empty. The white walls curved around the edges. A dim blue light illuminated the room around the ceiling. The steady hum of electronics working sang quietly.

Suddenly, the computer activated and the lights became brighter. The panels on the wall flashed on to show readings and measurements. A globe rotated on the middle screen with a light marked, "Origin."

Lights from the consoles sprang to life. Over on a platform, a bearded, thin man materialized out of thin air.

He yawned and rubbed his face as he stepped off of the platform.

"Welcome back, Samuel." A female computer voice spoke.

He walked over to the wall to type in a code. "Thank you, Friday."

Sammy stood at the console and typed in a few commands. He stood in silence as he looked over the read-outs. He nodded and spoke to himself. "This is looking better."

The lights in the room seemed to dim due to a power surge. Sammy grinned knowing that it meant his friend had entered the room.

"If you're trying to slip up on me, you need to practice." Sammy grinned without turning around.

A tall, muscular man with dark hair laughed. "It's these old circuits."

Sammy turned off the console and turned to face his friend. "So, how is Tony?"

He sighed, "Man, it's hard seeing him like this. I didn't know it was this bad."

He pat his friend on the shoulder. "Walk with me, Soli. I was just on my way down there."

They left the transport room and walked together. Soli wore light brown slacks and a grey jumper. A pair of sunglasses were hanging from his collar.

"Rhodey is asking a lot of questions and I have no idea how to answer any of them."

"Well, we're going to have to tell them something. Has he spoken to Pepper?"

"I don't think he's spoken to anyone."

They stepped onto the lift together. Sammy touched the button to take them to the med bay of the ship. As the lift began to move, he put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I'm not sure about Danny."

"What did you do?"

"Just….moved some thoughts around. Boxed some stuff up."

"I wish you could do that for me, man." Soli groaned.

Sammy smiled. "That would be a good trick."

Soli, or Soler, was one of the last Khlere species. Khlere's were species of Legend. All of them were able to absorb electricity and redirect it to their will. Just being on the ship was difficult for him with all of the electricity running in the walls. Without being able to stop himself, he naturally absorbed the power and had to redirect it back into the ship regularly. Usually, his eyes would begin to glow when he had taken in too many amps.

But, he seemed fine for now. His brown eyes looked at Sam in fear. "Tony is going to be alright, right?"

The lift stopped.

Sammy grinned at him. "Your Dad is tough. He makes it through this. Don't worry."

Soli stopped him. "He has a hole in his chest. A freaking hole, man."

"He had that before-"

"Did he?" Soli asked. "I don't remember."

"He did. Trust me. He'll be fine."

They stepped off of the lift.

The hallways were rounded and no one would suspect they were actually in orbit within several hundred miles of the South Pole. The natural magnetic field of Earth helped hide them from both the modern technology that would normally pick them up from the surface, but also from other ships that may be passing through.

The ship was quiet, but that was normal for space travel. Sammy turned his arm to look at his bracelet. It displayed the time on his arm. It wasn't that late, but he felt it was in the early am hours.

They stepped into a small medical bay. Sammy turned the corner to see his patient lying on a bed. Tony Stark had been found in the desert after his escape from the people who had attacked the convoy he had been a part of. They had looked for him for weeks, but the minerals in the cave system blocked all of the ships' sensors.

Tony had constructed a metal suit to escape but had injured himself when he landed in the desert sand and began to walk to find help. Soli had managed to find him using the ships' sensors.

With an opened chest wound and a very deep gash from his navel to his spine, Sammy had insisted on sedating him before they brought him aboard. He had immediately operated to remove as much of the debris as he could. It was a matter of time though to see if Tony's body could fight off the infection that was now working its way through his entire body. Not to mention, if his heart could heal on its own from the damage it had sustained.

The arc reactor had been removed, leaving a large void in his chest. Tony was very pale as he lay under the thin sheet. Wires and sensors seemed to run all over him, including a small device that was placed on his forehead. The blue lights on it blinked to show it was working. A mask pushed oxygen into his lungs through his nose. His hair could use a trim and his beard had grown in.

A tall, black soldier wearing desert camo sat next to Tony's bedside.

"Hey, Rhodey. How is he?"

Rhodey stood up and shook Sammy's hand. "No change, Doctor. Several things beeped while you were gone, but…"

Sammy stood at the wall looking over readings that were displayed on a console. He nodded and seemed to become lost in thought. "Right…"

Rhodey looked back at his injured friend. "I should have been in that Hum Vee with him."

"Nah. Don't tell yourself that. Trust me. This had to happen. Just as it did. Otherwise, I would have been able to stop the attack." Sammy told him and pressed some buttons on the screens behind Tony's bed.

Rhodey put his hands on his hips, "I don't understand any of this."

"Yeah, Soli said you were asking for an explanation."

"I'm a soldier. I'm used to not knowing the complete story."

"But?" Sammy smiled.

"But, this is rather….too much to ask someone to accept at face value. Who are you people? Where are we?"

He grinned, "I understand. It is a bit much to take in at once."

"Hey. I'm friends with this guy." Rhodey pointed at Tony. "I'm used to not understanding what the hell is going on."

Sammy laughed. "Yeah, he's like that, isn't he?"

He sighed again. "What can you tell me?"

"I can tell you that you are both safe. And I'll get you back home as soon as I can."

Rhodey nodded, "What can I tell Pepper?"

Sammy crossed his arms. "I haven't thought of that. They aren't….like…together-"

Rhodey laughed as if the very idea was insane. "Pepper and Tony? Please."

Sammy smiled and looked back at Soli.

Rhodey became serious. "Is he going to be alright? Just answer that."

"He's in the best place he can be at the moment, and I'm doing everything I can. Alright?"

Rhodey nodded. "I can accept that. Only. Doc."

"Yes?"

"This is my best friend right here. He's all I have. I'm all he has. Can you give me some odds? What are we looking at?"

Sammy looked back at the screens, "He's doing well. But, he needs to rest before I can answer a lot of these questions."

Rhodey nodded. "Alright."

"Listen, there are several rooms on this floor. You're welcome to go shower and lay down to sl-"

"I'm not leaving." Rhodey insisted. "I'm going to be here when he wakes up. As far as he knows, I didn't make it out of the attack, either."

Sammy nodded. "I understand. He's going to be sleeping for a while. The device on his forehead is keeping him unconscious. Feel free to lay in one of these other beds here. You need to get your rest, too."

Rhodey nodded. "I may do that. Alright."

Sammy looked over the information. "I'm going to have to go back into his chest in the morning. I want to take another look at his heart. He has two small pieces of metal that need to move so I can reach them easier."

Rhodey nodded.

"It's alright. I expected this." He reassured him. "How about we meet again, after that? I'll explain what you need to know."

Rhodey nodded and rubbed his face. It was clear he was exhausted. The days of searching for Tony without sleeping had finally caught up with him. Before he knew it, a yawn escaped his mouth. "You know. I think I may grab a rack and sleep."

Sammy grinned, "I'll take the watch. If anything changes, I'll wake you."

Rhodey looked back at Tony.

Sammy and Soli left the room together. They walked around the corner to a small office inside of the med bay. The room, even though it was on a ship, gave the comfortable appearance of something someone would find on Earth. The white sofa had a grey blanket tossed across it and looked well worn. One entire wall was taken up with a large window that showed the beautiful blue globe that hung outside. The other wall was filled with monitors.

As Sammy walked into the room, everything turned on automatically. Soli sat on a chair. "Well, this is just…"

Sam collapsed onto the sofa. "Just what?"

"I don't know. I just….I didn't realize all of this was that bad."

"It's bad. But, it had to happen. Otherwise, we would have been able to find him these past few weeks."

"Yeah, what has he endured in these past few weeks?"

"Sol. Don't think about that-"

"How can I not? When we found we had landed where we did, I thought…well, I guess I just thought we would be able to keep this from happening, too. We've been able to change everything else."

"Not everything. Sol, we're not there yet. Our point of departure-"

"Yeah, yeah." Soli interrupted. "I know we haven't met our departure date yet."

Samuel rubbed his eyes. "Have I've said that before?"

"About seven million times. Sam, just let me use the Vortex Manipulator to go back and get Tony-"

"No."

"But, we can save him from being hurt like this-"

"No! Look, I know it's hard to see him like this but we agreed. No more time travel until we-"

"Meet back at our point of departure. I know."

"I know it sucks, but….there's so much at stake."

Soli stretched his legs out and crossed his arms. "I do like Rhodey though. He's exactly how I expected him."

Sammy grinned, "Saving him will help Tony. We still have to work on that, though."

Soli smiled, "I have figured that one out."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yes. Anyway, how is Lewis?"

"Wound up. Arla is pregnant."

"What?"

"One child. Not twins."

"Well, what does that mean? Is it Arles?"

"I don't think so. But, I have no idea."

Soli shook his head and sighed. "Maybe I should take my own advice."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Before I left, I spoke with my grandson."

Sammy laughed, "I can't even imagine that, man."

"Imagine how I feel. But, I told him to be sure to make the best decisions he can based on the information he has at the time. So, that's what I'm telling you. We have made the best decisions we could with the information we have."

"Even if we're cheating by already knowing what will happen?"

"Not cheating, Sammy. No. Improvising."

"Improvising?!"

"Yeah, your Dad told me that once."

Sammy groaned and propped his hands on his head.

"Every time I mention The Doctor, you seem to….."

"We don't have the best relationship," Sammy admitted. "But, that's something I can count on in my life, no matter what happens and what I do, Dad will never agree with the decision I made."

"He's not that bad-"

"Come on, Sol. You know I'm right."

Soli looked back at his friend. "Sam…."

"I just hope I don't agree with him."

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