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Chapter 2: Awakening:
Before he opens his eyes he takes note of himself. His body hurts, his head aches, points all over his body sting. The adrenaline that had kept his wounds numb had long ago flushed from his body so he uses meditation to lower the pain levels. But first he finishes assessing his situation. He knows he is no longer in the metal container that had very little padding. Wherever he is is soft, warm, and comfortable. His skin is dry and he is not wearing the clothing he was previously dressed in. He analyses the likelihood that he is in a Vulcan hospital; 58% chance after noting the softness of the bed and the lack of speaking off in the distance. He reaches out and feels the length of the bed, his feet threatening to spill off of the edges; 48%.
He slowly opens his eyes, taking deep breathes. The room is bright and his head turns and looks out of a window; the greenery indicative of worlds not his own. The air is moist, humid from a recent rain-shower, and cold. He notes the warmth surrounding himself as coming from the light brown blanket tucked around his body.
He sits up and turns to the left and notes that his mouth is dryer than he is used to. His body is adept at conserving water and a dry mouth, one of the first signs of dehydration, tells him that he has not consumed water in quite some time, meaning that he had been unconscious for at the least of an entire day and night cycle. He absentmindedly wonders at how long exactly he had been here, and why. Why is he in this room that is so obviously not a hospital room, and after remembering that the closest planetary body in his sector that contained intelligent life was Terran, not a laboratory or dissection chamber. No government officials where in sight and the technology in the room was far from what he understood to be the capabilities of modern Terrans.
He turns his body some more and notices a pitcher and glass of water on a side table. He picks up the pitcher and examines it for a moment deciding the water is relatively safe; 36%. If someone here was planning to poison him then it is logical that killing his would be abundantly possible. He pours the water into the glass and takes a reluctant sip before downing the liquid.
He slowly places the glass on the table, careful to not make any noise, but when he hears the creak of the door opening he sits ruler straight. The door opens slowly at first as she sticks her head in to check on him and then all at once when she sees that he's awake. She smiles widely in the entrance before pulling out the chair next to him and sitting down.
"So your finally awake."
He doesn't respond, just stares at her.
"I'm Abigail."
No response.
"You can't understand me, can you?" she says slowly and with the look on his face and his silence, she sighs. "I thought as much." she looks slightly disappointed and turns to her right. She pours him a glass of water, noting the moistness inside, and holds the glass to him. He takes it from her and holds it in his lap. They sit there silently studying each other. After a moment she stands up and opens the closet door.
"I don't have too much clothing that would fit you" she starts as a way to fill the silence, "my grandfather was a tall man, but not as tall as you." she rummages through the clothing. "You've been in those clothes for a while" she picks out an outfit and turns to him. "Here, you can change into these" she puts the outfit on the bed and opens the door. "Then we can figure out what you can eat" she closes the door behind her.
She sits at the kitchen table and waits for him to walk out. He takes a few minutes and enters the room in his new outfit. She stands up and ushers him to sit down, which he reluctantly does. He sits ramrod straight and watches her as she pulls food from her cupboard and fridge and places then on the table in front of him.
"I don't know what you eat, but maybe you have an idea, so take your pick." He doesn't respond to her so she tries to break the language barrier by gesturing from the food to her mouth and then from the food to his mouth. He scans the selection before taking a fork from beside his plate and impales an apple before putting it on his plate. He examines it for a moment before using the butter-knife to slice it up before putting it into his mouth. She smiles when he does. She silently watches him until he finishes and when he makes no move to take any other food, she cleans up the table and puts the dishes in the dishwasher. She sits down next to him.
She seems to remember something from studying his face and stands up. She walks further into the kitchen and takes the first aid kit from the top cabinet and places it in front of him. She places her chair closer to him and sits down opening the kit. "I need to change the bandages" she tries to explain to him and is slightly surprised that he doesn't move away from her when she moves to remove the bandage.
"Your healing fast" she says quietly as she puts neosporin on the narrowing wounds and places another clean bandage over them. She awkwardly unbuttons his shirt, remembering that the most serious gashes were there, and repeats the process quickly and allows him to fix his shirt. He doesn't look embarrassed and continues sitting calmly the entire time. She cleans up the kit and places it back in its cabinet before moving the chair back and sitting down.
"You know after all this I should really know what to call you." She looks at him and smiles. She thinks about Tarzan and points at herself "Abigail" she says very quickly. She points at him, but he remains silent. She repeats the process and in return he opens his mouth and says "Saren."
"Saren" she tests the word aloud and smiles further. He looks more alert when she says the name.
"Abigail" he says slowly and she giggles in response.
"I guess if you're going to learn this language there is no better time to start than now." She spends the rest of the day pointing at things, saying their names, and waiting for him to repeat them. He catches on much quicker than she anticipates and when she quizzes him at the end of the day he receives a "B." She didn't expect this much progress and pulls out a pair of pajamas and hands them to him before going to bed.
She is climbing up a ladder as the sun starts to rise. She hears some of the roasters crying out and reminds herself to collect the hen's eggs when she is finished. She places the rest of her material on the roof and curses when a hammer falls through a medium sized hole and lands in the mud of the barn. She descend the ladder and as a second thought decides to take the animal's out of the barn before starting on the roof. She opens the large doors and ushers them all out before taking the hammer and climbing back up to the roof.
"Abigail!" she hears as she starts hammering wood over a particularly large hole. She places the tools down gently and looks over the edge of the roof. She finds Saren standing next to the ladder. "What is do?" He asks and she remembers that she used very little verbs and their tenses in her lesson yesterday, she mostly focused on objects.
She holds a hammer above him and yells, showing different objects and movements as she does so, "I'm hammering wood over holes to protect the barn against rain." He nods, mostly understanding.
He starts climbing up the ladder and in response to her questioning look says "help?" She starts to say no but then thinks about all the work and then the opportunity for a lesson.
"Okay" she says reluctantly and lets him climb up. He stands up unafraid and walks over to her. She explains/shows him everything she is doing and he is soon patching up holes. She tries to carry on a conversation with him as a way to teach him how to better structure sentences as well as a way to get to know him.
"Have you ever done this before?"
"Done what?"
"Patching up holes" she says gesturing to what they are doing.
"No" he says simply.
"You're quite good at it."
"At what?" he asks.
"Patching up holes."
"Thank you." He doesn't miss a step in the process.
"How did you sleep?" She makes the gesture for sleeping when he raises an eyebrow.
"Adequately." She nods, uncertain of where he picked up the word, then she remembers that she taught him how to work the TV before bed and figures he must have watched some this morning before going to find her. He seems to remember something and asks "how did you sleep?"
"Adequately" she mimics with a smile. She watches his productivity "can I trust you up here? I have other chores that I need to finish this morning."
He takes a moment to process exactly what she said and replies "yes" not lifting his eyes from his work.
"Don't fall through the roof" she says as she climbs down the ladder and she misses him again arching an eyebrow.
First she collects the eggs from the coup and places them in the fridge, usually this is the first thing she does every morning but she didn't know how long the weather would stay dry and she needs to get the barn fixed during the break.
She takes the clothing off the line and folds them up. She takes his old jumpsuit through the sewing machine before placing it in the spare room dresser along with some of her grandfathers clothes that would fit him. Their isn't much that would fit and she decides that the next time she goes into town she'll take him along and get him some clothes at the old big and tall store. After she decides that the barn is good enough for tools to not drop on her head she goes in and shovels up the animal droppings and placing new hay into the stalls.
She finishes around noon and wipes the sweat from her brow as she stands up all of the way. She can still hear Saren working so she goes into the kitchen to prepare lunch. From what she has figured out the man on the roof doesn't eat meat, she doesn't eat much herself. She relies mostly on what she herself produces on the ranch and when she has to take an old animal to the slaughter house, she sells the meat. She does go into town every month for supplies and to sell some things, so she does have some spam and little wienies in the cupboard but she has never had much of a taste for meat.
She does a last minute check on the eggs before placing them into a carton. She makes peanut butter and honey sandwiches from the bread she made the other day and the honey she collected last fall, she notes that she has to collect more this season. She pours out two glasses of orange juice as Saren walks in though the kitchen entrance.
"I finished the roof" he says blankly.
"Sit down" she gestures and places the food on the table. She grabs a knife and fork for him before she sits down and starts on her food.
"Thank you" he says and she smiles when he starts cutting his food slowly.
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