It all began after the crew of the Leviathan intervened on the Stardancer. I remember it like it was yesterday. I mean, you know me, I´m not really the guy the runs away scared from anything… but these beasts… these giant beasts with their claws and jaws and… well, you know them. You know them good.
I mean on this day one of them took your second heart. Well… now that I say it, it sounds weird to call what the shit it did to you like that. I mean this oversized grasshopper pierced your chest with his claw… Okay, okay. I interpret the look you give me now as a broad hint to start telling.
Well, you weren´t the only one who took damage on the ship. But in comparison to you my wounds were nothing. Just a broken arm and a broken leg. I remember I sat on a stretcher in the crowded med bay. You remember, our ship was hit pretty critical by this assimilated Cekirge ship and still some of the crew fought with death.
Anyway, I waited for Ryan, or anyone who could tend my wounds, as Isaac rushed into the room. He not only looked like a wreck with his dirty lab coat and messy hair, also the worried look on his face showed that his mental condition was not a bit better than his outer looks. At first he looked around in panic before he stumbled towards me.
"You… René, right?" He panted heavily. He must have sprinted the whole way from his lab here. As far as I know, quite a distance.
"Yes." I hissed as he held on my broken arm.
"Where is your Captain?"
"I don´t know, last time I hav…"
"I did not ask for the boring story of your life. Just tell me where he is!" Though he seemed still out of breath he had gathered enough air to scream that last part.
"I said I don´t know, idiot!" I screamed back angrily. Nobody screams at me without a reason. Yeah, okay, don´t look at me like that. I know that this was a shitty idea. Isaac is a bastard. And he was back then as he tightened the grip around my arm. I groaned in pain while I heard him ask "Where is he?" again.
"I don´t know." I screamed and repeated screaming "I don´t know. I don´t know. I don´t know." Until he finally stopped. Not because he had the answer he wanted, more because Ryan pushed him away from me.
"You imbecile!" Cursed the doctor and pointed with a scalpel at Isaac. "Dare to do this again and I swear I´ll practice the first autopsy on a living person."
"Ryan!" Isaac seemed surprised and relieved at the same time as he saw him.
Quickly he asked him the question with which he had bothered me already. "Where is Dudley?"
"He is here." Meant Ryan now very formal. "And to preempt your next question. He is in a stable state."
"Thank god…" breathed Isaac and for a second I thought he would break down on the floor now because of his relieve. "What happened to him?"
"Well…" Ryan turned to me and started to scan my body by tapping on different body parts with the white glove he wore on his left hand. After every tap various holograms appeared which he eyed for a moment. "He didn´t comply with Powers order and thought defending the bridge was a good idea. He got into a fight with two Cekirges. He could kill one but the other has rammed his claw through his chest."
"Have you…"
Again Ryan preempted Isaac´s question. "Yes, no infection."
This time Isaac actually had to sit down. "This lucky idiot." He laughed panting heavily.
"Indeed." Meant Ryan as he tapped my arm. He looked at the holograms for a second then he formed a pistol with index, middle finger and thumb and then pushed his fingers on my skin. I immediately felt a how the pain in my arm faded. A good feeling.
"Well, what about you? Need help to get up again?" Ryan asked looking at the ground next to Isaac after he also tended my leg. It seemed that he had already forgot about me again. Even if I don´t know if he had realized that I was there in first place. This asshole really thinks his patients are just pieces of meat.
"I am okay." Said the scientist as he slowly got back on his legs. Again he laughed and said. "Let me guess. The Cekirge was in the second metamorphose state, right? Otherwise he would have had not the slightest chance to be not infected. "
"Your guess is right." Ryan nodded. "Also notable is that he has the worst injuries from his whole crew. I´m a little confused about the why though."
"Well, he did what a real leader does." Said a voice and not long after hearing it I saw its owner. The tired but besides that normally looking Captain Powers built himself up next to Ryan. "Always first in the battle. Always the last one who fights."
"Captain." Said Ryan and coldly nodded towards Powers.
"Hey Sly." Smiled Isaac.
"Hey." Smiled Powers but pretty quick also he asked Ryan. "How is Dudley?"
"Stable state. Currently in stasis. Not infected." Ryan summarized in a military tone.
"Excellent." Meant Powers and also his face showed signs of relief. "Even if he didn´t comply I am very glad he made it."
"You two should really sort out your little dispute." meant Isaac.
"I really try, Izzy, I really do." Powers shrugged helplessly. "He blocks all of my attempts to talk with him."
"I can imagine this… he is so unbelievably stubborn." Sighed Isaac and shook his head in desperation.
"I know… and he´s still angry that I haven´t told him about the sector and his nonexistent homeworld." Meant Powers sighing.
"He also still believes that someone implemented this memories with your help into him?"
"Yes. But…" the captain made a helpless gesture. "That´s nonsense."
"I shouldn´t have given him the data about thought altering." Said Isaac and groaned annoyed. "I should generally stop giving him things that fuel his fantasy."
"How could he even invent such an absurd story? I mean implementing false memories into a dog mutant. For what purpose? That´s so pointless. Why should anyone do that? And why should I help?"
"I agree, Sly. It´s maybe the only thing that makes sense for him. But still I think…" Isaac stopped in mid-sentence looking like he was pondering about something that troubled him for a while already.
"What?" Asked Powers interestedly.
Isaac turned to Ryan who was tending the wounds of another patient nearby. "Ryan, how possible is the theory with the implemented thoughts? I mean you would recognize if a thought gets implemented into a brain, right?"
"Indeed." Meant the doctor without honoring them with eye contact. "I would recognize that."
"And you have scanned Dudley´s brain several times. Did you find anything like that?"
"I found a higher activity in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, so signs that are usually detectable in a brain that recovers from an severe amnesia, but no traces of an extrinsic inference into one of these regions." He meant.
"And could the whole thing just be imagination?" Asked Isaac skeptically.
"It´s hard to say… there would be more active brain regions if the whole thing was just imagination. I´m pretty sure these are real memories."
"Is it possible that his memories were maybe changed with a new technique."
"That´s a stupid question, even for you." Ryan meant and turned around to Isaac and Sly. "The one who changed his brain must have done that about 600 years ago. By now this new technique from back then must be well known to every practicing physician in the whole universe. Especially I would know about the technique by now and no. There is no new technique. His mind wasn´t altered."
"Okay… thanks." Said Isaac sheepishly and turned back to Powers. "But that just confirms the theory I have."
"Spit it out Isaac." Said the captain who became more and more inpatient.
"It´s all true… All his thoughts…"
"Oh, not this again." Powers massaged the ridge of his nose irritatedly with two fingers. "We already discussed this. That does make less sense than Dudley´s theory. I mean where is the planet with his species? We should at least find rests of a civilization somewhere."
"Yeah but what if the black hole we pulled him out is not just a recklessly matter devouring voracious abyss but also gate to another world?" Isaac´s eyes blazed in convincement as he smiled almost triumphing at Powers.
"You know I can suspend you for being drunk during your shift?" Mocked the captain.
"I am serious. What if next to our empty universe there is a universe full of live and variety. What if we are really alone… but just here?"
"You mean that seriously, don´t you?" Probed the captain.
"Imagine we could pass this border and step into this universe full of life. What would we see, hear, smell, taste? What could we learn? Sly, for one second, imagine it. We would not be alone any longer. We would be part of something bigger, part of a community of thousands of races and stars."
"You sound crazy… and I know what crazy is, I work with Meternagel." Powers meant and looked worried at Isaac whose eyes almost teared up because of the mere impact his own words had on himself.
"I am not crazy, I will prove it, you will see!"
"Do that if that´s what makes you happy, but leave Dudley alone. I don´t want him to get disappointed."
"Do not worry." Laughed Isaac. "But he will be the first to hear about this when I have the proof."
Well, after that the only thing that happened was that first Isaac and then Sly left the sickbay. Just Ryan stayed and tended the wounded. But I think you already know what you need…