Chapter 2
Ujurak slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. He felt like the ground was moving. He saw he was lying on some sort of bed in the belly of the metal bird. He looked and saw the senator giving him a bottle of water.
"Take it easy son," he said. "Here, take this."
Ujurak gulped down the water and then the senator told him to lay back down. As he looked out the window, all he could see was clouds and sky. He felt for the three carved bears that Tiinchu had given him. I'm a bear! He thought to himself. Bears don't fly!
"What's your name?" asked the senator.
"Ujurak" replied Ujurak.
"Where are you from?"
Ujurak didn't answer.
"Where are your parents?" asked the senator sounding puzzled.
"They're dead, I think" Ujurak replied unsurely.
"What a mystery you are young man," sighed the senator. "You're sick, you don't have parents, buy you're not scared, are you? Not one bit?" Ujurak just shook his head. "Some kid" the senator muttered.
The metal bird began to drop.
"Where are they taking me?" asked Ujurak in a croaky voice.
"We're gonna get you fixed up young man" replied the senator.
The metal bird landed and the beating of the wings became slower and stopped. Ujurak noticed one of the men opening a panel and getting out. He noticed they had landed on some sort of black path.
"Okay Ujurak," the senator spoke up. "This is where we get off."
Ujurak saw a white firebeast coming to a stop outside the metal bird. A male flat-face looked in through the door.
"You must be Ujurak?" he asked.
Ujurak nodded.
"I'm Tom," said the man said. "We're gonna take care of you from here."
Tom picked up Ujurak and carried him to a white firebeast and laid him on a bed.
"You're in good hands now," said the senator kindly. "Don't worry about a thing. We'll get you fixed up. I'll be back to check up on you later."
He spoke with Tom for a brief moment and left.
Tom got back in the firebeast with Ujurak and the other flat-face shut the doors and started the firebeast.
Ujurak wasn't sure how long the journey would take, but he felt drowsy and fell asleep.
Eventually he woke up when he felt the firebeast stop.
"Here we are kid," said Tom. Ujurak tried to sit up, but Tom gently laid him back down.
He felt the bed being lifted out and was pushed along inside.
"Welcome to Eisenhower medical center" declared Tom.
Two female flat-faces wearing white pelts approached and looked down at Ujurak.
"Welcome," one said. "Don't worry, we're here to look after you."
Tom said goodbye to Ujurak and left.
The two nurses took Ujurak through the passage and into a tiny room with metal walls. The doors slid shut which made Ujurak alarmed, but the nurses assured him it was just the elevator.
The door slid open again and they took him down another passage way with green walls. They took him into a small room with a bed and window. Then they undressed Ujurak from the pelts he wore and dressed him in a set of pale green pelts and set him in the bed.
One of the nurses left and the other stayed back.
"What happened to you?" she asked
"I ate a fish hook" replied Ujurak in a raspy voice.
The lady looked surprised. She left for a minute and came back with a male flat-face and he checked his throat.
"Did they give you any medicine in the arctic village?" he asked.
Ujurak told him about the herbs Tiinchu gave him.
"There were these little white things called pills," he added. "I had to swallow them with water."
The man nodded.
"I think we'll give you some more of those pills" he declared.
Ujurak watched them leave and went to sleep.