No Charity Here
27 Sep 2018Gurutez
Right OK, So I have no idea how long its been now.
Still stuck in this lifeless body, cant move, cant react to anything. Just trapped in darkness weaving in and out of awareness. BUT....
Its not as bad as you might think. One word... Morphine, mmmmmm oh yeah.
Anyway I get to listen to everyone around me. Or at least that's how it used to be. I tend to come into awareness nowadays with nobody around. I think people are forgetting, Well not Simione and TigerTiger, but they seem to be gone more and more. Things changed after that last conversation I heard between Dr KITCHNER and Tiger.
Tiger sounded a little desperate "But you helped me!"
"Yes! But that was different, you were an experiment. There was an investment placed in you and it payed off. This is not a charity. I'm not going to take research and materials worth millions and risk it on seeing if we can help your friend, with no prospect of any return on that investment. But you know that, so what are we doing here?" She sounded like she was holding back pure fury.
"I would owe you one!" His tone was almost jovial.
"Fuck you Tiger!" This came out like a punch to the face.
"What, I think that's a bit harsh." he sounded genuinely shocked.
"You already owe me. The fact he is even here means you owe me again, and you already owe big time. You could spend the rest of your life working at it and never even come close to covering your dept...... What am i doing?" She sounded angry with herself now.
"Your helping a friend, an old Friend!" He winked
"Friend! You used and manipulated me for your own ends, and as soon as you had a ship you were gone. A cheeky smile, some drinks, a hotel room for the night and i was acting like a teenager again. This has to stop!" Now she was pleading with herself.
"Oh come on that's a bit of an over reaction isn't it." His voice like velvet now.
"No! This has to stop!" Her mind was made up you could hear it. "I'm going to give him a basic patch up like he would get anywhere else, its a 40% chance of full recovery over a 10 month period. That's all your getting."
"OK I'll concede to that, I'll cover his bills each month." He wasn't trying to work her anymore.
"No you wont! He will be discharged 1 week after the operation no matter his condition, and then I never want to see you again! I cleared your being here with the BOARD and I will confirm your status as unwanted with the BOARD 8 days after his op, meaning..."
"Kill order, shoot on sight. Yes i know very well. Am i supposed to thank you now" Things had swung against him, there was just a touch of venom in his voice now.
She sounded exasperated "Oh god Tiger... Do whatever the hell you like, but just leave me alone." Her footsteps faded away to the door where she turned "You know just for a moment when they told me you had returned, just for a second i thought you might have been here for me. I was that stupid teenage girl again for just a second." She paused for a beat. "I hope this doesn't sound to hateful, but if you die I don't want to know. We are done here" Then she was gone, heels clicking away on the floor
After some silence Tiger stirred "Well buddy i gotta be honest, that went a hell of alot better than I expected." I heard him leave and drifted out of awareness.
I drifted into awareness and Tiger was right in my ear whispering breathilly.
"You... yoo don't even know do yoo? Hey I'm talkin to you... haha." OK he was drunk, really drunk and his speech was fragmented. I heard him stumble about and turn on a tap, gulp gulp gulp, spill spill spill.
"Ahhhh, diztilllled water, soooooo good. Ahh What waz i zayin.... oh yeah. You don't even know who Simione iz do you? Little weirdo thinkz your still awake, keeps saying you can hear us hehe" This was new, actually I completely missed how they met, I was trying to keep Simione secret from everyone.
"Don't worry Brew that's a secret I can keep. I kinda owe him, well his kind anyway. Haha his/hers that's an interesting question with them. BUT anyway he or they are the key to everything, well everything Thargy related. Its about the communication man. They have the genes you see. You ever wonder about those spinez hey? You ever wonder about my eye? Well im gonna tell you" I heard him step towards me to finish his monologue, heard him slip on the spill't water and crash to the floor. After a moment heard him moan painfully and then start to softly snore. I drifted off too.
I drifted into awareness, I heard some movement in the bathroom. The door slowly opened and i could sense something move into the room and under my bed. Its hard to get scared when as high as i was but i did my best. My thoughts started to speedup as to who or what was under my bed.
"Hello Boss" Simione phew.
"Sorry to come so late, but bossfriend Tiger tells me bitter news from Dr-Lady. Im itching, no no I mean Simione scared. You my only Boss, you my only friend, you only person to not see me as a thing. Even Bossfriend Tiger thinks i'm not real man. Simione protect you like you not throw me off ship." oh god i so should have thrown him off the ship this is excruciating. (I'm glad I'm a vegetable i might have actually cried).
"I will read all human manuals, I will read human engineering books, become Dr and fix you boss just like GOR....... other ships." That's when i remembered GORMONGANDER was gone, and if there was anyone who was going to take it worse than me, he was hiding under my bed.
"Bossfriend Tiger was talking with slippery words yesterday, hard for Simione to follow thoughts. He said there was a way, said Dr-Lady know how to fix you. Said he had my hair in his eye and his arm. Said Dr-Ladies undergarments where tangled so she couldn't help. Then he left to go speak to someone and i got alone feeling so came here." He paused as if listening.
"I never came without Bossfriend before so had to plot my own course. came through service tubes like on GOR... on ships. This place have many rooms that are not on schematics, has smells and tastes that make Simione want to run away. Like smells and tastes from long time passed before I meet you Boss but not exactly the same."
"OK boss I sleep now, i leave before first shift start." After a few minuets a soft purring sound radiates under me, and the room fills with the smell of wet hair.
I had taken in alot over what seemed to me a short period of time. Simione purred away and my mind spun like a neutron star.
Some time later, no idea how long, i hear footfalls in the passageway outside, they were getting closer. I heard the door open slightly, Simione's purring had stopped.
"Psst, Simione..." It was TigerTiger
"Psst, Bossfriend." simione replied.
"Figured youd be here, come on hurry we now have a plan. We have to be ready for tomorrow after the surgery." wow it was surgery time already, that meant a week had passed since he spoke with Dr KITCHNER. I heard Simione give a little squeek as he did when excited and scrambled out from under the bed. Then another voice.
"Come on hurry up! We'v got a 70 jump round trip to make in the next 6 hours befor....... Oh FUCK NO!!!!!" The voice seemed familiar, sort of.
"MrE Chill out. This is why I called you, I need old school trust." TigerTiger's voice was silky smooth.
"Fuck Tiger, Fuck no. You weren't there. So many died. I will never forget that system name 41 Lambda Hydrae."
"Yes I know MrE but he has. He forgot all about it, I'v even been back there, I swear we are the only one's to remember, and you seem to forget it was all for HER." Tigers Voice was firm but soothing.
"Fine but after Im paid Im out, I want nothing to do with that Junkie phsyco."
"Fair enough but also never forget who saved us all at the tribunal."
I didn't feel the needle but i did feel the Morphine wash over my system and i became one with the cosmos again...