Chapter Three: Finding Calm
"If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable."
Martin moved from the mid-section of the shuttle to a seat in the front of the ship. He took the only chair in the cockpit. Inside, the shuttle was very dim. Only illuminated by the few small lights spread around the ship. The interior was spartan, very utilitarian, with various hues of gray, metallic silvers, and browns. The hum of the ship faded slightly as he sat down, looking out of the front window.
Martin sat there staring out into the darkness, feeling awkward. He debated within himself whether or not to attempt conversation. She wasn't human, and he wasn't sure if she could even be completely trusted.
"I never got your name," he asked while looking over at her. She kept looking forward, then down at the screens in front of her. "Velpia Palitis," She quietly replied. "Martin Winters," he responded. The two looked ahead; Martin was amazed and somewhat terrified at what he saw. He wasn't sure if he was feeling excitement or slight horror. The pitch-black background dotted with tiny white specks made the small hairs on his body stand at attention. Or, it could have been the fact he was talking to an alien.
"I have never seen so many stars before," Martin said quietly. Velpia chuckled, "You've never been off-world before?"
He smirked slightly; unsure how he should respond. "No, can't say that I have." He began thinking about everything that had happened and tried to put the pieces together, but his thoughts and memories weren't adding up.
"So... where are you from?" Velpia asked.
"A planet called Earth."
"Oh yeah? Never been there myself. Not that Turians are very welcome on Earth." she commented with an inflection as if he should know this information. Martin adjusted himself in the chair, leaned back, and propped his left leg on his right knee. "They have heard of Earth?" He thought to himself.
"Why do you say that?" She stopped and looked at him, keeping her head tilted.
"Were you razed in a cave?" Martin turned his head towards her and raised an eyebrow. "I swear some of you Humans were raised under a rock." She stopped to judge his reaction and leaned toward him a bit. "Do you know what year it is?" Martin remained silent and thought about the question. He never actually gave it any thought beforehand.
Velpia slowly reached out and grabbed his arm, and took his Omni tool. His first reaction was to pull away from her grip, but instead, he allowed her; he didn't sense any harm. She fiddled with it for a while and gave it back. "Here," She started it up for him, and the orange hologram appeared, covering the top of his arm and hand. A screen unfolded from the part of the hologram that was on his arm for him to look at.
It read "July 6th, 2182." Martin's eyes widened, and his heart started to beat rapidly. He stared at the calendar for some time. At first, he didn't know what to make of this information, but his subconscious did. After a few moments, he closed the Omni tool, hunched forward with his elbows on his thighs, his face into his hands. His mind was rushed with dread; what happened? Was his entire life before just a dream, or was this all just a cruel joke? Was he even himself?
"Are you alright?" She asked with sincere concern in her voice. Martin stood up, his dread turning to a burning sensation in his chest; it didn't make any sense. He had to be dreaming! He headed towards the ship's rear, which housed a pile of small supply crates stacked in the back, and other supplies and some weapons. His thoughts began to run away from him. Flashes of a life spent and seemingly gone within moments without so much explanation. He needed to prove he wasn't just hallucinating or dreaming. He clenched his fist and violently punched a crate across the ship.
"What the fuck is going on!" He picked up another and tossed it into the first one.
The loud clash of objects hitting each other reverberated through the small ship; Velpia leaped from her seat, startled, with his hands on the top of his head. Martin was breathing heavily and looking up at the shuttle's roof. The anger turned into deep frustration.. "How am I here? Why can't I remember!"
Velpia stood up from her seat and kept her distance, watching him lose it on the defenseless cargo. The burning, tense feeling in his chest gave way as he sat on one of the crates in the face-in-hand position he was in earlier. He didn't want to believe it. His mind grew louder, with flashbacks, noise, and memories. She stood over him, not really sure what to do or say. She wasn't really entirely sure what he was upset about. She sat near him, although not too close, just in case.
They both sat there for several minutes. The violence in his mind began to fade as if he was trying to close the door on himself, to keep it contained. Slowly he began to come back to reality. He sat on the crate in a cold sweat staring at his feet, releasing his hands from his hair. Noticing that she was still there.
"What happened?" She asked quietly. "Where or when were you from?" Martin dropped his hands, not knowing how to put it into words. After a few moments, some numbers came into his mind. "2099... the last thing I remember..." Martin paused, still staring at the floor, unable to recall what led him to that moment. "I don't remember." The anger was replaced by a heavy, sickening feeling in his stomach.
Velpia was quiet, letting him work through whatever was happening. "Do you remember anything at all?"
"Nothing that would lead me here." He used his hand to wipe the sweat off his face. He was starting to feel antsy, and his hands began to shake slightly as the sickening feeling began to spread. He stood up and walked back into the cockpit. Hoping the change in seating would calm the feeling of unwellness in his body. He sat annoyed and shaken by the situation, his emotions bouncing from various states of slight anger and quiet desperation. He leaned back and propped his leg on his knee and his right arm holding his head on the armrest. Velpia joined him and sat in the pilot's seat.
"Can you explain to me what we just went through?" She could tell by the slight shakiness of his voice that he was still trying to process or make sense of the situation.
Velpia leaned forward in her chair. "We were in a Batarian sorting facility" She paused for a moment contemplating if she wanted to continue the conversation until he was better. "I thought those places were only rumors though, well, hoped they were anyways."
He was again quiet for a few moments; he still felt uneasy he thought it best to try to dial his emotions back. Martin turned his head toward her direction. "People sorting?"
"Oh, yeah, forgot... The Batarians and Humans... well, Batarians and most of the Council races generally don't get along. But they were pissed off since the Council gave the Alliance colonization rights to the Attican Traverse."
Martin looked back out the front window. "So this Alliance is a Human organization, I take it?"
"Yup, Humanity is still fairly new to the community, so it was a big surprise when the Council turned its back on the Batarians. So now they are in a sorta proxy war or something, but the Batarians are bastards; they take slaves, move them to Sort facilities and then sell them back to Batarian corporations and private citizens. General overall, bastards. Not very popular."
"I wouldn't have made a great slave..." He thought to himself.
The ship became quiet, making it hard for him not to focus on his situation as the queasiness began to subside. "How did you end up at the facility?" Martin asked.
Velpia took a deep breath, leaned back in her chair, and turned her head slightly towards Martin. Only half of her face was now illuminated by the panel in front of her. She looked into his eyes for a moment before dropping her sight to the floor. "The way I guess some people do;" She was silent, gathering her thoughts.
She took a deep breath before continuing onward. "I got into some debt on Omega, and the debt collectors took me instead of my credits. It was a scam: give someone a loan they can't pay, then take them instead of their credits, I was stupid, but I didn't have much choice."
"They must have liked what they saw." Martin quipped
Velpia's gaze sprang back to him, and she seemed to have enjoyed the remark as if complimented but tried to hide it.
The two got quiet for a while. They both turned back towards the large window in front of them. Martin decided the best thing to do was stare into the dark void before him. It was a distraction from the horror he felt. It still made him feel a bit uneasy, but at least it was pretty to look at in a weird and depressing way.
"Still find it all of this hard to believe. I shouldn't be up here, in space like this."
"Yeah, you'll get used to it after a while, but just don't go opening any hatches. It tends to make you not alive," Martin chuckled quietly in his chest.
After a few moments, Velpia then perked up. She turned quickly to Martin as if she was excited.
"Wait, if you are from 2090, whatever, does that mean you never saw 'Aliens' before?"
Martin kept his eyes forward, trying not to feed into her suspicious excitement. "Nope, we were still wondering if there was anyone else out there; if you would have told me then, I'd be kidnapped and forced to flee with some tall-ass alien with bent knees; I'd laughed myself to sleep." Velpia let out a hearty laugh; the sarcastic insult was too good for her to contain.
"That's rich coming from a squishy pale-faced Human." She fired back. Martin shook his head while cracking a small smile before settling into the quiet that followed.
After a few hours, Velpia started looking uneasy and jittery as she rose from her chair and returned to the crates scattered around the shuttle. She began to open them, searching for something. Martin, now alone with himself and the ship's controls, decided to join her in the rear of the ship.
Velpia knelt down, searching through one of the containers on the shuttle floor. She looked up at him as he approached her. "Don't like being alone, huh?"
Martin gave a small smile. "Nah, I just didn't want you to blame me if something happened to go wrong up there... I feel too stupid to be left alone with all those buttons and lights."
She gave a slight chuckle. Then continued moving things around in the crate.
"What are you looking for?" Martin asked while standing over her.
"Food, hopefully, something I can eat." She shoved the crate aside, turning on her knee to look at another one.
Martin bent over to the one crate she discarded and took out what looked to be a food packet. He opened the plastic wrapper; it looked almost like a soft pretzel stick or a kind of hard bread. He took a bite, chewed on it, and examined the taste. "Not bad... beats the hell out of that paste. Little dry, though." He thought to himself.
"Damn it." Martin gazed up at her, now bent over in front of him, on her third crate.
"Can't find anything you like?"
She stopped, sat upright, and turned around to see Martin chewing away at this bread stick.
"No, it's not that. I can't eat any of this; I'll get sick." Martin looked at her, a bit perplexed, then took another bite without looking away from her eyes.
"You allergic to gluten?" He joked while chewing and then looked at the three-quarters-eaten stick as if he was starting to get suspicious of the food.
Her mouth dropped open a little bit, and her eyes squinted as if stupified by his question. "What?... No, you idiot. If you haven't noticed, I'm Turian; I'm dextro..."
Her explanation confused Martin; he stopped chewing and just stared at her. He had no idea what that word meant.
She placed her hands on her hips and sighed. "Dextro-Amino..." She raised her hands and motioned to stir his intelligence.
"That sounds like biology, and I failed that in High school."
She quickly dropped her hands, slapping her thighs. She then took a massive breath of air, contemplating what kind of stupid she was encountering. "I can't eat 'regular' food; you are Levo-amino acid based; I am Dextro. If I eat your food, I'll get sick, cramps, violent trips to the bathroom... that kind of thing."
Martin stood there for a second; a mental picture arose in his mind as he took another bite from the breadstick... "Gotcha."
She turned back around, slightly annoyed about that conversation. He felt as if he was a Neanderthal trapped in the modern world or his version of a modern world. "This must be how Billy Madison felt."
"Jackpot!, she said with anxious excitement." She turned around with several small red colored plastic wrappers full of food in her mouth and hand. She sat on the floor, opened her mouth to drop what she had, and opened the packages. "I'm starving, don't watch me."