Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Why the fuck do I hear beeping?
Beep.
Beep.
Collecting my consciousness together I yawn and blurt out in slurred speech:
''I'm so tired, just, just give me 5 more minutes.''
I receive no answer.
Over the course of a few minutes, I slowly open my eyes which surprises me. Compared to yesterday's struggle to control my senses when I woke up this is a refreshing morning.
And I'm greeted by the sight of curtains, medical equipment, an IV bag connected to my blood, and some monitors hooked up. That explains the beeping. If only the tube connected to my veins didn't feel as if it was not real and actually felt like plastic. Then I would say this actually felt like a good morning.
Never mind, it wasn't the morning, After looking around a bit more I see a clock on the wall which reads the time as 21.53 19.01.1097 only question left in my mind is where the fuck am I?
This probably isn't the public healthcare center of Rhodes Island, if the people realized there was a man who just looked like an alien on the Island they would probably freak out.
Could this be like a private doctor's office? But whose could it be? Again, it probably is not Kal'tsit's. The place also doesn't look like the experimentation/clinic area where I spent most of my time. Kal used to be my personal doctor for a long while until, well, the story picked up, and she was busy with, well, the main story I guess.
I know for a fact that only the upper echelon knows of my existence. But even then only Kal'tsit and her personal medic team have seen my face, maybe Closure as well if she really does have access to that camera in my living room. ((If there is even a camera))
The others only know that I exist, not who or what I am...
Eh. Who gives a shit, I'll probably meet the medical worker of this place soon.
I didn't meet them soon.
I've been lying in this bed for roughly the past 2 hours, the clock now pointing to 00:13.
At least I had time to think, to think about what comes next. I'm done with the depressing spiral, I need to be productive right now.
Think!
I potentially have an entire year in my hands before the story picks back up again. From what I can tell of conversations I wasn't meant to hear while moving between my cell and the experimental zone, and the shit I've seen, I could tell that something had to be done. While I did achieve, potentially, the best ending I possibly could think of, it will probably disintegrate before my very eyes if I don't continue intervening.
The only reason why being a slight miscalculation on my part.
For fucks sake.
How was I meant to know that the Doctor wouldn't be as competent as in the in-game story?
Also, how was I meant to know that they had very complex and powerful arts?
Wait a minute...
Oh fuck. The in-game teleportation of operators and the sheer synchronicity... It all makes so much sense if you consider them not just game mechanics but also as powers of the Doctor. Ding ding ding. A revelation!
How the fuck was I meant to know that they would have depression, sociability issues, and other mental problems? White women man! Always ruining things.
How was I supposed to know that they would actually remove their mask, to reveal themselves a Lupo woman with dark hair and eyes like mine, the only differences being that her hair is longer and straighter and her eyes are a lighter brown compared to yours truly?
She also, like everyone else, looks like an anime character, so even though she sometimes looks more like a person about to collapse even compared to me she still looks better due to the sheer aesthetics of what makes her very being in this world.
Truly, people inside anime-style stories have it easy compared to ugly sufferers like me from real life.
At least they still had the battlefield smarts so we didn't lose any battles but holy shit, the woman is a fucking mess. And now due to her mental issues and refusal to talk as much as possible, the Island is filled with unrest and uncertainty. Since she had problems speaking to people she didn't manage to boost morale and unity on the Island as much compared to the original storyline as I would have liked.
I guess sometimes even knowing the future isn't enough to save yourself from the cruel hands of lady luck. I hate this.
''YA IBN EL SHARMOOTA!''
Whoops... Didn't mean to shout that out loud. I guess the brain damage is continuing to pick up. I wait a couple of minutes to see if I hear or see anyone. Nope. Still alone I guess.
Time to ponder as to why that experiment failed, it was meant to be an experimental drug to fix the damage I caused my neurons over the years with the meds. Did my body just reject the drug outright? This would explain why I am in a hospital bed connected to an IV bag.
Oh yeah. Speaking of health.
Fun fucking fact of the day, my blood isn't compatible with any kind of blood from Terra. Yippie! Even tho there is no reason why it shouldn't because I have B- blood, there are people on this landship with B- blood. The only difference we found between my blood and the inhabitants of Terra 2 motherfucking years of research was that I have some extra: Amino acids, vitamins, proteins, and minerals. Which theoretically my body should supply the cells with on its own, but guess what, IT FUCKING DOESN'T!
Which is why they had to extract MY blood 10 DIFFERENT TIMES and keep it frozen so that they could give it back to ME in case of blood loss in the future. I don't like getting my blood drawn. I feel like shit after the procedure.
Probs because I am dying 24/7. Makes sense.
Also, I'll never forget Kal'tsit's reaction when I told her she caught the FLU from me. A rare moment of confusion on that bitches face, breaking her facade. Serves her right.
I hate characters that act all cool and distant in stories so much, you wouldn't believe me. Stop being all mysterious I just want to read the funny story ma'am.
It was almost a repeat of American colonization but on Terra! Killing the natives with diseases that they weren't accustomed to. I did give her some pills on hand that I had, which were cautiously taken after multiple tests that luckily didn't kill her!
God that would have been fucking hilarious, killing Kal'tsit, one of the best doctors in Terra with a disease...Ah...Oh.
Just realized if that actually happened I'd be dead right now, killed by their personnel, yikes, guess it wasn't that funny after all.
Suffice it to say I was quarantined and had to go through 2 weeks' worth of ''Detoxification efforts'' to clear my body of Earthly diseases so that I wouldn't just kill everyone.
Buuuut I did manage to save a small vial filled with the micro-organisms as a bio-weapon after I managed to trick them by calling it medicine which was potentially poisonous.
Weapons of mass destruction are always valuable. Russia's war on Ukraine has taught me that.
Just as I am about to close my eyes again, happy with the amount of thinking I managed to do before my mind degenerated into silly little thoughts like the absolute goofball I am, I hear shuffling, shuffling of the curtains. Shit.
Lo and behold, it's my favorite employer.
Drumroll please!
Dr. Kal'tsit!
The moment she opens the curtains I begin bombarding her with questions, I can't let her take control of the conversation, not when I'm in a hospital bed.
"Oi Kal, care to explain where the hell I am?"
"..."
As usual, she gives me the neutral stare that I fucking hate so much, pauses for a few seconds, and then she speaks:
"You are currently in an emergency room at the main clinic. I ordered it so that no other medical personnel would enter this room, even if they heard shouting from the patient ."
She crosses her arms.
"We had to carry you here and not the experimental clinic due to system-electronic failures, which have now been fixed."
Keep firing. Never slow down.
"Oh. So that's why I, and now why you are here, they probably reported my delirious shouting to you, yeah that one is my bad, whoops, sorry I guess."
She closes her eyes, exhales, inhales, opens her eyes, and returns to staring into my soul again.
"The reason why you passed out was determined to be-"
Don't let her lead.
"That my body rejected the drug right?"
"..." Staaaare.
"C'mon Doc. You should already know by now, I'm not stupid, you don't have to explain everything in micro-detail."
She sighs. Closes her eyes, opens them back again, back to staring, distanter, colder.
"I truly despise you and your personality, if it wasn't my duty to keep you alive, the oaths I swore and the fact that you were a valuable asset at the time, I'd have already left you to die."
Crack a grin, spew some bullshit.
"Trust me Dr. Kal'tsit, sometimes in life, you are given a shit deck during a high-stakes bet.
It's up to you to keep gambling higher and higher and take the risks for even better payouts or just fold and eat shit."
I cough a little. What am I even saying, this shit makes 0 sense. How do I close this? Right.
"You don't have to like the cards in your hands to keep going, just trust in your bet and luck."
Saved. Hopefully.
She sits down on a chair near the bed I'm lying in. Never breaking that motherfucking stare.
Inhales. Exhales.
"I was informed that you wanted to sign a new contract, you do know that I have no reason to agree to another contract right?"
"I could leave you to die right now and just be done with it, Rhodes Island is already in a superb position."
She starts writing in her medical notebook.
I sit there silently, I think for a few seconds, eyebrow raised, staring right back into those eyes.
And then I crack the loudest, heartiest laugh I think I've ever had in Terra at this point.
I'm laughing so hard that my eyes have begun tearing up. I try to calm myself down.
"Ha..Haha...Ha."
She is still writing, staring at me, probably thinking that I've gone crazy at this point. She knits her eyebrows for a second before she goes back to being a brick wall. That's a victory in my book.
"Kal, Kal Kal Kal. That's the best joke I've heard since I've imprisoned myself in this battleship."
"We both know that at this point, you can't get rid of me, that was the worst bluff I've ever heard in my entire life!'
"Maybe you should stop being a doctor and become a clown, hmm?"
...
...
...
Ah shit, I think I made her maybe a little too angry. I can feel it, under that distant stare, I've just sparked a cold fire. It's fucking jover.
Deep sigh. Hate seeping through small cracks.
"Okay then, Mr. Azmych , tell me why that is the worst bluff you have heard in your life. You have 10 minutes to convince me before I have you killed and just continue the experiment efforts on your corpse instead."
She slams her small notebook shut.
...
Panic.
Fuck, fuck fuck fuck! I was actually bluffing myself, she IS right. Rhodes Island is in the most prosperous state it's been ever since its creation, at least 3x stronger and wealthier compared to what it should have been in the main story due to my mingling efforts.
She has all the right to be cocky right now.
Think man THINK! How do I get out of this...
Wait a minute...yeah..yeah. Yeah that could work. Here we go. Steel yourself.
It's time to gamble my life once again, just like when I first came here 2 years ago.
While she may be the best at giving those cold-neutral glares, I have a weapon of my own, I call it the "Zombie Death Stare".
Half-open eyes? Check.
Relaxed facial muscles? Check.
Mouth shaped like a line? Check.
Looks as if I'm boutta drop dead? Check.
I open my mouth, slightly, and speak slowly.
"I would love to have this talk on an actual negotiation table and not in a hospital, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"
Raise yourself with a pillow. Height matters.
Start making hand gestures, and emphasize your points.
"So Kal'tsit, you want me to tell you why you can't get rid of me? Ok. Buckle up, bonehead."
Sound cocksure and arrogant. Raise a finger.
"Fact number 1: While yes Rhodes Island really is prospering right now the matter of fact is that it's on a breaking point, about to crack."
Closed fist.
"The employees, Operators, personnel, they have all factionalized, even as we speak there are disagreements, rifts, and issues forming between coworkers, threatening to mess up the symphony that is this place and its ideals."
Hold an open palm, stop sign.
"Try to reject or hide this all you want, it is the truth."
Take a breath, and gather your thoughts, but don't break the stare, keep eye contact.
Fight fire with fire. Stare with a stare. Raise another finger.
"Fact number 2: While you may not need me alive to continue experimentation, killing me would be a waste of time, effort, and wisdom"
Tap your brain.
"I may not be the most knowledgeable when it comes to the medical field, but I do know some things as I have demonstrated before which may help develop Terra in the medical field, saving lives."
Point to yourself.
"I also know that I am the closest thing that you have that may help you develop a cure for Oripathy or a breakthrough in Originium research. I still don't fucking know why Originium doesn't react to me no matter how hard I try, or why it completely ignores my body, but since I'm the only one of my kind on this planet, killing me would leave a lot of questions unanswered."
Final stretch. Plead to her personality. Raise the 3rd finger. Point to her with your other hand.
"Fact number 3: You are not the type of doctor to purposefully hurt her patients."
Inhale. Exhale. Keep the stare, fight back the pressure. Continue spewing your bullshit.
"I would love to go into more detail, if it wasn't for the fact that I am in a hospital bed I probably would, so I hope what I've said thus far you find satisfactory since this is all that I'm willing to share right now."
At this point, I'm fucking sweating. I used my brain capacity too much to pull bullshit out of my ass. Let's hope that she takes the bait, otherwise, this is the end of the road.
A minute passes.
Silence.
Still staring into each other's eyes. Fighting the urge to collapse and surrender.
2 minutes.
3-
With a sigh, she is the one to break the stare and rub her temples with her hands.
She gets up from her little chair and starts unplugging all the cables and tubes in my body.
Is she gonna end it here? I don't know, I'm not a doctor for fucks sake!
After I am left untubed, a little shaky maybe, either from the stress or the fact that I was in a hospital bed for a reason she opens her mouth to speak:
This is the most stress I've faced ever since my college entry exam. I have no clue as to what she might even be thinking. Am I about to die? If she wanted to kill me why am I still alive. Please no. I haven't finished Doom Eternal yet.
"Fine.''
''I'll concede, for now, you are worth keeping alive, maybe. You still seem to hold valuable information, I still don't know how you get them but you do have it nonetheless.
We shall discuss new terms once you feel better and ready the next day."
The voice tone changes, from an oppressive cold to a tired worker in a blink, doctors be like.
"Now I need to conduct some medical tests on you, it is already almost 1 AM, so wear that mask that I brought and you can find your clothes in the room.''
'' We are moving up to the experimental clinic, we shouldn't meet many people along the way since it is late into the night.''
She leaves the small curtained-off area, and steps outside the room, not giving me a chance to talk back.
...
Victory.
YEAAAAH BABY THATS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT, WOOOOOO. WE LIVE, WE LIVE!
Don't let it show on your face when you get out.
BUT WE LIVE, SUCK MY DICK WHATEVER, WHOEVER BROUGHT ME HERE. I WON'T DIE, WE STAND STRONG. I DEPICT MYSELF AS THE CHAD WOJACK. SOY DRINKERS!
I put on the clothes that I fainted in literally the exact same day, at least they don't smell.
But there are extra pieces as well, cloth to cover my ankles, gloves to cover my hands, and finally a mask to cover the parts of my head that the hoodie doesn't cover. The mask in question is just like the ''Doctor's'' visor, the only difference is mine was painted white after confusion and request and the vizor part is thinner, just to make extra sure that no one can sneak a peak into the absolute horror that lays inside. Boo bitches.
I really am getting sick of this whole Human-Anime business, if only I could just fucking walk around like a normal motherfucking person, and not look like a:
180+ giant, covered in medium layers of clothing, cowering as if I'm an introvert at a party, god fucking DAMNIT. Got no drip.
We gonna get 0 hoes like this bro. Harvests aren't bountiful on this side of the universe.
I step out of the clinic room, looking as if I'm about to sell teenagers crack cocaine on a side street in LA. God bless anyone who actually lives in the shithole, and soon I am silently walking behind Kal'tsit, albeit at a slow pace, I don't think I'm meant to be walking right now after directly being discharged from my bed, it hurts, but hey, it was approved by the head doctor, and, well, Aliens can't be choosers, especially ones that are dying.