chapter 2, meet Mike
#3 of Earth, take two.
His eyes refused to focus. He could tell that he wasn't alone but the moving objects around him were just a blur. Trying to move his body achieved nothing, it was as if his mind was detached from it. Slowly sounds started to change from a dull hum to muddled voices, but there was still nothing understandable to his ears. His attention was still on the light that was shining directly above him, every now and then being obstructed by one of the blurry objects standing over him. Slowly the light began to dim, and his eyes could no longer focus on anything as everything went black.
"He's one of them." The doctor stated with a harsh tone. "We have no reason to save his flea bitten hide." Kim looked at her doctor with a puzzled expression. It wasn't like the doc to act this way. He could be an angry person every now and then, but he never turned down a person in need before.
She turned her attention back to the patient on the bed. He was indeed one of "them", the ones that had exterminated the entire human race, but nothing about him seemed like the fabled monsters. He wasn't so different from her kind, maybe a bit larger, and with digigrade legs, and quite a bit longer of fur, but other then that he was almost identical. She had been brought up to believe that the Second's were monstrous, with fangs a foot long, and claws that could slice through steel. But this one seemed to lack any of the evils described to her by her elders.
"You can't mean that." Kim said. "He's in our care and we have the responsibility to help him, regardless of what his great great grandparents had done."
"Who's to say that they have changed any since then?" The doctor retorted. He reached down and unsheathed one of his patient's claws, exposing a very large utensil. "But you're right. He is in our care now. But just to be safe," and with that, the doctor removed the claw with a cutter. Kim looked on, relieved that the doctor was doing his job.
His brain was racing, trying to think of anything that might help him understand what was happening to him. Nothing but a jumbled mess of emotions and questions filled his head. It was as if everything was a blur, outside his mind as well as within. The figures standing around him were starting to slowly come into focus now, and the voices were almost understandable. He could make out the form of what seemed to be a young woman, but something wasn't right about her. What wasn't right about her he didn't know, but whatever it was it was totally unfamiliar to him. He continued trying to move, something, anything that would respond to his mind, but with little success.
He felt a hand holding his arm. He shifted his eyes to see the other form, larger and obviously male, removing claws from his hand. Now something definitely wasn't right, not just that body parts were being removed, but body parts that he had no memory of having in the first place! He tried to say something, something like "Stop!" or "Don't do that!", but instead only a murmur escaped his mouth.
"It seems that our patient is awakening." Kim said, looking at the pathetic creature on the bed.
"Heh, lucky for him, I was about to start filing down his fangs too." The doctor said as he cut the last claw. He pushed a button on his armband and the restraints holding down his patient tightened. "You're going to have to speak up, I can't understand you." He said to the now totally secured wolf.
"Ssssdop" he replied back.
The doctor looked at him with amazement. He had given this thing enough anesthetics to knock out a bear, and yet his patient was regaining consciousness at an alarming rate! He tapped the button again just to make sure this thing wasn't going anywhere. "Kim, I think you should leave. On your way out, tell the guards to come in please."
"Are you sure?" Kim said, now totally transfixed on the patient. He seemed to be staring back at her! But not in a way that made her frightened. She was more concerned the safety of the patient then with the doc.
"Yes. I think this matter might be for higher authorities, and we should limit our contact with this, creature." The doc replied back.
"Alright, be careful with him, John." Kim said as she moved towards the door, keeping eye contact with the large wolf on the bed.
Finally Kim was out of the room. The doctor had other reasons why he wanted Kim to leave. Every time a new guy arrived at this station Kim would pay a little too much attention to them. She would flirt around and generally be a typical female in heat. The last thing this doctor needed was for her to take an interest in some beast from space. He almost felt jealous, all the attention that she paid others, but he had in fact turned her advances towards him away more than once. He knew her mother, and what she would do to him if he messed around with her daughter!
Kim opened the door to her room. It was a complete mess, but that was quite normal for her. She removed her nurse's outfit, and headed for the bath. It had been a long day, and a very weird experience. As she filled the tub, her thoughts stuck on the eyes. He had looked at her with eyes of a hurt child, yet his form was that of a fabled monster. She slowly entered the warm water, feeling the past 20 hours melt away as she submerged herself. She noticed some fur that was not her own floating in the water. Hmmm. She must have got some on her when she had helped get him on the transport to the station. The patterns in his fur were so much different than hers. So much more like the wolves of old. The scent of his fur also stuck in his mind. Almost overwhelming at first, so different, but there was something appealing in it. She wondered what thoughts he had in his head, and if he knew how much trouble he might be in. He was so completely different then her kind, and yet so similar. At least in appearance.
Kim woke to the sound of alarms. A few seconds went by and then there is the familiar sound of running personnel in the hallway.
"3am! I can't believe this! Cant any emergencies happen in the middle of the day?" she whined as she looks over at the clock. She slowly, but dutifully rises out of bed, checking the computer for the latest in what seemed to be a trend of pre dawn alarms.
"Wow! I am impressed!" The doctor appeared on her monitor. "At this rate you'll only be five minutes late!"
Kim quickly looked down. With much relief she realizes that she is fully dressed this time. "What's going on now?" she asks.
"A purifying station about 300 clicks away has had an accident. Apparently something went wrong in a chem room and a good sized explosion occurred. Early reports say that hundreds have been injured."
"What!? There's no way that we take care of that many wounded here!" Kim exclaims.
"There is half a dozen other teams from elsewhere rushing to seen right now. We are the closest and best equipped, so we are bring the worst of them here."
"I will be right down." Kim sighed as she left her apartment.
Upon reaching the main transport hanger she sees the doc and his special crew of hazardous materials experts. These were the guys that dealt with the dangerous stuff. Many times old land mines and various weapons were found so a need for such people existed, even in these peaceful times. And Kim knew them all by name. On her arrival at this station three years ago she had managed to wreck her car into a very expensive transport owned by the head doctor. The resulting explosion destroyed his car and did a fair amount of damage to hers. She met them for the first time when they came to put out the fire. But that wasn't the only time she had a run in with them. Even though the station was quite large, it was nearly devoid of interesting guys. She had managed to date everyone of the team at least once, but not for any length of time. Mostly a bunch of muscle heads.
"Alright, is everyone ready to head out?" Asks the doc.
"Yessir" the team responds in unison.
"I'm ready too." Kim chimes in.
The doctor looked at the expressions on the faces of his team. Most of them were ear to ear smiles. One of them licked his chops. There was no way Kim was coming along with them. This was not a time for them to be distracted.
"Uhhhhhh, no, I don't think so." Doctor John says slowly. "I need you to, ummm, ready the ER for the incoming."
Kim looks over at the guys. Even though she was upset at having to go so early, she had been looking forward to being with them. Now she had to stay and prep the ER while they went out and had fun without her.
"But what about the, you know, guy from outerspace that's in there now?" Kim questions.
The doc put his hand on his head. He had forgotten about that.... creature. He was not to keen on leaving her alone with it. But unfortunately he had no real choice at the moment.
"Find a place for him. Out of the way. Locked up." He also realized he was taking the guards with him. "If he gets to conscious or causes any trouble, use this." He hands her a small tranq gun. "That has enough power to kill someone, so be careful." And with that he shuts the door to the shuttle. Kim just stands there as they jet off at high speed.
"Great. I'm going back to sleep."