9781543427417

Calendar Reset

Beginning - 255 Days Beginning

This timeless vacuum was interrupted by a sound, indefinable, almost imperceptible. It happened again. With repetition, a perception started. Savanna was rising in darkness as it sounded another time. It became a voice, far distant and incomprehensible. She continued to rise slowly in perfect blackness. When it sounded the next time, there were indistinct words. A light slowly wedged open the long night.

“Are you OK?” the voice intoned from above the well of nonexistence.

She tried to respond but found no air. She took the first deep breath. “Yes,” she whispered.

She felt a hand, warm and gentle, stroke her brow and her cheek. It dabbed gel to her lips. She opened her eyes to blurred shadows of slate and gray. She lifted her hand. It was met by another that squeezed. “Savanna,” the voice said.

“Yes, I’m OK.”

“Do you hurt?”

“I can’t see.”

“You will not have good vision for a while. Don’t worry, your sight will return. Keep your eyes closed.”

Savanna began to be aware of her body and slowly, foggily took inventory and assessment. She moved her feet one at a time and then each arm. They were heavy. She felt saliva and swallowed. Hunger. No pain. She took another gulp of air, which triggered a cough. A plug of mucous arose.

“Here, spit it out.” The hand turned her head and placed a cloth over her mouth, and she spat.

“Thank you,” Savanna croaked. She opened her eyes to colors, faded; indistinct and run together like a weak watercolor. The hand caressed her lids closed. The head of her couch was raised, and her consciousness increased. “When will I be able to see?”

“Your vision will improve quickly over the next hour, but it will not be perfect for a few days. Do you want a drink?”

“I am hungry.”

“I’ll get you some food later.”

She was cold. She reached for something to pull over her and found a silky sheet. The covering was good. She felt the rim of a cup pressed to her lips and took a swallow. Warm chicken broth soothed her mouth and warmed her chest as it hit the acid pit that was demanding more than a little trickle. Over a vague period, she sipped and warmed without thought. Soon, she was able to take the cup and serve herself. She sat a little higher.

She reopened her eyes after draining the cup.

“Hello, Savanna,” the voice said. The Scandinavian tinged voice now had a body with long blond hair. Two blue dots floated in a palate of dull light-drab green.

“Ivanna?”

“Yes.”

“I see colors, but they’re off.”

“My face is green. Is that what you see?”

“Yes. Why?”

“It has been a long time in too much nitrogen. All the gases should have been inert. I don’t think the engineers predicted what changes would occur to our skin hue.”

Savanna tried to focus but could not. She looked around. She was in Medical. It looked the same except the colors were different. She saw someone green standing a couple of bays down. “Who is that?” she asked while gesturing with her left hand.

“That is Lola.”

“Is anyone else awake?”

“She is taking care of Maricia.”

There was the beginning of a feeling high up in her nose that went down the back of her head and made her think she was going to vomit. She turned to face forward and took in a couple of breaths deeply through her nostrils and out her mouth as if to wash the unpleasant feeling away. She looked around for a container, but the sensation subsided quickly. “Is there any tea, Ivanna?”

“Yes. It is a bit stale.”

“So am I.”

Savanna slept off and on for the rest of the day. She was able to eat solid foods but remained ravenously hungry. She got out of bed and moved like an arthritic, decrepit old woman. Ivanna had a hold on her upper arm with one hand. Her other hand was on a web belt that was around Savanna’s waist. “It’s amazing I can walk at all,” she said.

“You had physical therapy.” The pods were spacious enough to allow for range of motion exercises as well as bathing. “However, your muscles are weak, and your bones are thin. This will improve with exercise.”

They turned and walked toward the bay with Maricia. Lola greeted them. She had a dark, drab, green complexion, and her hair that had been dark, lustrous brown was a lighter dull taupe. Maricia appeared no longer young. She was asleep with a sonorous breathing pattern. Savanna did not speak to her. She looked at Ivanna. “I need a mirror.”

They shuffled off to the bathroom. In the mirror, she saw a middle-aged black woman, lean and tight with streaks of gray in her long, curly hair. She bent closer, but squinting would not resolve the blur. “My hair is too long.” After a pause on the commode, they left the bathroom and returned to bed. The nausea returned. “I feel sick.”

“It is probably morning sickness, Commander.”

“Oh. That’s right. I’m pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, dear.”

“No, ma’am, it’s human.”

Savanna looked at her for some sign of humor. Finding none, she nestled in her bed, facing away from everyone. The lights dimmed, and it was night.