Hybrid
03 Jan 2024Kasumi Goto
December 13, 3309A woman walked into the room... not a doctor. Dressed in... normal clothing. But I was still in the strange gown, which I didn't like. Currently, I was in a partially active state, observing from the edge of my vision, otherwise remaining motionless. The woman approached, and the memory clicked. It was the same one that had visited me for the last two... maybe three, days, always coming alone. Not with others, like the doctor. Except for the man with the weapon at the door. I observed her with the same innocent, childlike curiosity as before, head tilted slightly while I was curled up on the bed, arms wrapped around the legs.
"Hello, Kira. How do you feel today?", she inquired.
The previous days... I still hadn't been able to speak, at best producing unintelligible sounds. Responding by nodding or shaking my head and making gestures. But now, something felt... different. Like a few pieces in my brain finally connected to each other, and the impulses began to go through properly. I opened my mouth to try answering, but struggled to make the correct sounds.
" ... w - "
The woman, a 'psychologist', as they called her, leaned her head to the right. "Is everything alright? Do you need something?"
I shook my head, and... coughed, as if to clear my throat, making another attempt.
"W - w - "
"What are you trying to say? Please, don't strain yourself. If you can't talk yet, just show me on a paper. Like before."
I shook my head. I wanted to talk, not use the paper to write, now. And focused what little energy my ravaged brain could manage to muster. It took a few seconds before the words finally came out, feeling rough, almost forceful... yet in a soft, low tone.
"W... why... do you call me... Kira?"
The woman looked at me confused, even if... seemingly glad, that I was speaking.
"Is that not your name?" I shook my head, eyes closed. "Then... can you tell it to me, please? If you know."
I remained silent. Going through... trying to go through whatever memories I could find. There were a lot of blank spaces, voids within it. Or walls, keeping me away. Where the brain didn't work. But I did find... one.
"K - Kasumi."
The name came out in my neutral English accent, the light Japanese one, and the corresponding pronunciation of it, currently missing from my brain. The psychologist had a thoughtful expression on her face for a moment, holding a hand to the chin, then noted something down on a datapad, before speaking again.
"Hm... okay, Kasumi. It's good to hear you talk. You're making progress quickly. Do you have any questions for me today?"
"Where am I?" A simple question with a simple answer.
"We're on a ship. Far away from danger. As long as you're here, you're safe."
I didn't answer that, and looked at my right hand. Slowly removed it from the knee. Balled it into a fist... an oddly familiar gesture. Feeling a tingle inside my body, crossing from the shoulder to the hand. Then placed it back on the knee.
"I feel... broken. Wrong. Why... why?" Simple sentences was all that I could seem to form at the moment, without feeling overwhelmed.
The woman opposite of me sighed. "Something... bad, happened to you. You barely survived it, and we're trying to help you get better now."
I remained silent, thinking... of what to say. "They ..." I moved my head to where I thought was a window, but could only see solid metal now. "They talk about other people. Taken from ..." I couldn't remember, breaking off the sentence. "Are they like me?"
The psychologist thought about whether to tell me the truth outright, but decided to be gentle about it and settle on a half-lie, nodding lightly. "Yes. But you need a little more time before I can explain it to you properly."
"Ok."
I began to stare blankly into a random direction, distracted by fleeting thoughts that refused to take hold properly, and became unresponsive again. The woman stood up from her chair.
"You're doing good. Ki - Kasumi. Keep it up like this and you'll be back to normal in no time."
My brain didn't particularly register the words, or her leaving, instead remaining stuck in my head with thoughts that I forgot about almost as soon as they left my focus. Eventually, I felt sleepy, and lay down.
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I was in the void again. But this time, it was not a black emptiness. It was filled with a dull, blue light in the distance, and slightly hazy. Lightning occasionally flashed in the background, along with thunder, and there was a feeling... one of emptiness. Desolation. A shattered landscape, broken, barely holding together, yet still trying to repair itself. Nothing made sense, and yet everything did, from lacking meaning, as isolated pulses of electricity passed throughout it.
I walked across a path, at first invisible. It began to visibly form in front of me after a while, of chasing a low hum that seemed to be in front of me, and yet everywhere.
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"So, let me get this straight.", a doctor standing in the medical bay near my quarantine cell said. "The data from one of her scans says her immune system attacked the implant and the link it formed to her brain?"
"Correct.", another replied.
"How? And why then, instead of before?"
"It's possible she managed to direct it against it to sever or weaken its link to her brain to regain control. Unfortunately, not without consequences. As for the timing, well, I'll be honest. Her immune system was probably manipulated to not attack her cells even in the altered state while she was nearly dead, so it knows she's going to die if that implant is destroyed."
"Which doesn't explain how she'd assume control over her immune system directly like that."
"There's a lot we don't yet understand about the changes the Thargoids made to her. So it is entirely believable some part of her, the subconscious perhaps, can direct the body's defenses more actively if necessary."
"Right. But the implant isn't the only thing that got damaged, considering how she doesn't remember who she actually is, or what happened to her."
"It is still connected to her, so that damage to the implant might have sent uncontrolled electrical pulses through it. If it repairs itself, it might also get the rest of her brain working again."
"That's assuming if it does, which it hasn't shown any signs of. It's been hibernating ever since she was recovered."
"Maybe it just needs a little more time. It's not like we can just tell it to wake up again. Or rebuild the link to her. But it might have preserved her memories for that case."
"So maybe it will let her remember herself." The doctor didn't really seem believe in that idea, thus not pursuing it. "And what happens when the link does form again?"
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Strange structures floated throughout the once empty void, broken apart. Some were closer together than others, connected through strands of blue electricity, some drifted apart or closer together. They were formed of... a strange, grey material, shaped almost like bricks at an individual level.
Throughout it all, the ever-present hum remained, increasing in intensity, but I was getting close to its source - which itself was close to the inner edge of the storm. It was getting louder, yet not invasively so. I stood at the edge of a platform of this strange grey material, mostly intact, with no path ahead, and a fall into the void below as the only option. The platform was pulling a few remaining bricks in to complete itself. When it did, a bridge began to form, allowing me to walk ahead...
I couldn't tell where I was going, only that it led me somewhere. Eventually, I reached... something that looked even stranger, unlike anything in my body, yet I perfectly knew what it was. The source of the hum, which had deliberately drawn me to it, and... was keeping the storm at bay. I equally knew what to do, barely hesitating.
My right hand moved forward and gently placed the palm on the surface of the alien object, which reacted by emitting a pulse, lifting me up with it, as strange green-ish roots crawled from it across the bridge to the platform, spreading throughout, and from it to the shattered structures, looking to bring them back together.
The object pulled me closer and closer to it, until it made contact, surrounded my body, then... disappeared within it. And the roots began to spread from me instead.
I woke up, feeling strange, and sat upright slowly. Nobody was in the chamber with me. A few fragmented memories of the dream floated around my head, not making sense. There was an odd, low hum inside my head, and I felt... something happening within my body, making it feel tingly. A new presence at the back of my head.
But I was still tired, and night time hadn't passed yet, so I lay back down and listened to the hum, which was oddly comforting, until I fell asleep again.
The next day, a doctor came inside merely for a physical checkup of the incision that had been made to inspect the new organ within my body, which I hadn't yet been informed of being there. The strange sensation of something changing within my body hadn't gone away yet, and when the doctor lifted the gown up to check the wound... she found it to be oddly absent, only a small mark remaining where the skin hadn't healed up entirely, yet.
"Hm... that's... odd. It's not supposed to heal up that quickly." She thought things through for a second, then quickly came to the only conclusion available. "Follow me to the medical bay, please."
I didn't object and came along without a word. Once in the medbay, I was subjected to a physical examination of... something, at the back of my head, hidden underneath hair, and a scan, then sent off to the quarantine chamber again, only briefly overhearing talk about some kind of "implant" and how it was "active" and "fixed" again.
A short while after, a person came by to drop off a bundle of clothes, then very quickly walked away again, inciting only mild curiosity at why they came and left so quickly. Then I abandoned my huddled up safety ball on the bed to inspect the clothes, in all black. A pair of gloves, a shirt, underwear, pants, and a hoodie that, oddly, lacked a hood.
I tried them on in a bathroom connected to the main chamber, and found them to fit perfectly, feeling... much more comfortable than the gown, which I just left where it was on the floor. Were they mine? I couldn't remember, but I liked how they fit without revealing anything, and the gloves covered my hands. I decided to not wear the hoodie, however, and left it on a chair.
Over most of the day and the next, the strange sensations within me persisted, with the hum slowly, almost imperceptibly, becoming more noticeable, transitioning into something more like voices. Yet I couldn't understand them, unlike the people around me, who kept performing many different tests on me. I didn't tell them about the voices, not feeling bothered by them in the few hours of the day I spent awake. Or the strange sensations inside my body, which seemed to be most focused around the stomach, occasionally feeling bloated before it returned to a normal size, and the right hand.
Sometimes, I was given things. Gadgets, computers, to keep me entertained, but with no connection to the external world. And they weren't 'mine'... though I didn't remember which 'mine' were, I knew I would recognize them if I saw them. Then, I received a visit from someone that was neither a doctor, nor one of the other people working... wherever I was.
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December 15, 3309
When I woke up on this morning, some day in the month of 'December', I felt a strange... stinging sensation in my right hand, on its back. It quickly transformed into a hot, almost burning sensation underneath the glove, yet didn't char it, nor did it feel painful. Strange, red, itchy spots had begun to form elsewhere on my skin as well, periodically, disappearing without a trace again within minutes, making them hard to spot unless there in the moment. And the skin felt no different to touch when they went away, yet something was clearly happening with it.
I gently pulled off the glove from my right hand, focused on the odd sensation left behind on it. And... I saw a strange, white glyph-like mark on its back, a large, roughly circular dot in the middle connected to a larger piece of a circle, which itself was separated from the other two parts of that circle by a gap at each of its ends.
I took my left hand glove off and ran over this newly formed mark. It was... less smooth than the rest of the skin, but not extremely rough either, though it clearly stood off by a millimeter, maybe two. And with its central placement, it looked as if there was still room to add to it. Then, when I was done inspecting it, I quickly put both gloves back on, not sure what to make of the fact that that strange, and yet familiar, glyph had formed there, suddenly.
I was left with my thoughts about it for a few more hours, until the guard returned to the inside of the quarantine chamber, followed by two women, while I sat on the bed in my usual legs at knee level, huddled up pose. Not in a locked-up state at this time, I recognized the first woman as one of the psychologists that had been working with me, but not the other. They stayed at the edge of the strange, double-door passage for a moment, talking in a low voice, then the woman that I didn't recognize, and yet seemed familiar, approached, while the psychologist left again. I waited for her to get close.
"Who are you? I'm Kasumi.", I said, still speaking in that low, soft tone, the only thing my brain seemed to be able to produce at the moment.
"I'm Alba.", the woman replied. "I wanted to check on you personally."
"Do I know you?", I asked her, before she could say anything else. "You don't look like a doctor. But ..." The words stopped coming to me, and I gestured at her to indicate 'You look familiar'.
"We met before, Kasumi, yes. But you might not remember it."
"Oh." The response was... marked by an odd lack of emotion, as I couldn't even tell that I didn't remember. Yet I felt oddly comfortable near this woman, a feeling that originated from... somewhere at the back of my head. "There are always people that come by. They talk. Ask many questions. Want me to do things. It is tiring sometimes."
Alba nodded empathetically. "I know. But it's necessary to help you."
"Is it... because of the voices... in my head?"
She lowered her head slightly and sighed. She'd hoped I'd be free of them entirely now. "... yes. It's why. And we need to be sure it's safe for you to be with other people."
"Why? Did I do something bad?" I felt distraught at the idea, and it reflected in my tone.
"No.", Alba said, partially reflecting the truth. "But they can tell people to do bad things. What are they saying to you right now?"
I remained silent for a moment, listening... inward. But there wasn't much. "It is quiet. They are not singing right now."
"I see. How do you feel today?"
"I feel... strange."
That elicited a curious, mildly concerned look from Alba. "How so?"
"It... tingles inside my body. Sometimes, itchy spots on my skin. And my hand burned today."
I pulled off the glove from my right hand, revealing the glyph on its back. Alba immediately recognized it as the core glyph present on any Thargoid ship, and various of their constructs.
Thargoid core glyph, just for clarity.
"Are you saying it only formed today?", she inquired, looking slightly disconcerted.
I nodded. "This... morning."
"Can I take your hand?" I allowed it to happen. Alba let it go again after a short moment. "Interesting... it looks like there's still space for it to complete." She looked back at my eyes. "Is there anything else that's been happening to you?"
I nodded. "Sometimes... before it tingled, and the itchy spots come... my belly bloats. I don't understand."
As if on cue, I could feel it begin to happen there and then. I lifted my shirt up to show how it was, for some unknown reason, beginning to swell up, if slowly.
"You should have told the doctors earlier. Please, come to the medical bay."
I slowly moved off the bed and walked with Alba, while I felt the bloating continue, making me uneasy. A minute later, I lay on a medical bed with my arms crossed underneath the chest, a scanner pointed at my stomach, which had pushed my waistline out noticeably already.
"Can you tell us what's happening?", Alba inquired, evidently worried.
The monitor displaying the readings of the scanner flickered to life, showing... something moving around within my stomach cavity. And within the cell walls of it, too.
"It seems like... something is releasing a significant amount of material into her stomach.", the doctor doing the scan mentioned.
"To what end?"
"I can't be sure, but those readings suggest it is biomechanical material designed to bond with human cells, and it looks like it is entering the walls of the stomach cavity, integrating itself with non-altered genetic material there. The remainder of it may end up broken up, to spread through the blood stream."
My stomach groaned as it became more and more filled with this material, already extending out by several centimeters beyond its usual size, and showing little signs of slowing down.
"Is there a way to stop this release if it gets out of control? And why is it trying to alter her this rapidly now?", Alba questioned, sounding slightly frustrated.
"I'm afraid not.", the doc replied. "As it is, we're not aware of any way to influence the implant. Nor can I say why it would be doing this now. It seems as though her stomach is the only remaining organ that hasn't been fully converted yet, aside from her skin and circulatory system. This amount of material has to be getting created for them."
The swelling stopped for a moment. My pants were kind of getting pushed away by the overfilled belly. Alba looked to me for a moment, then back at the doctor.
"Is there any human genetic material left within her? At all?"
"As matter of fact, yes. There appears to be a small amount of it preserved within each of the secondary implants on each organ, possibly to replace anything that cannot be replicated by them."
I groaned myself, as I further felt my belly become distended, swelling up twice as much within a rather short time. Then it rested there. I put my hands to its round shape, oddly enjoying how that felt - though not so pleased by the view it presented - and jostled it around with both hands a little, which earned me some curious looks by everyone present within the room.
"Is there any risk of it... 'overfilling' her?", Alba cautiously asked.
"There shouldn't be.", the doctor replied. "Whatever the cortical implant is doing, it seems to know her biological limits rather well, and that ..." He gestured at my belly. "... seems to be as far as it can go without posing any risks."
"Has it gone this far before?", Alba then asked, looking at me.
I shook my head lightly, keeping my hands placed on my belly, pushing inward lightly through some subconscious impulse, as if my partially functional brain enjoyed it. Or perhaps it wanted to shuffle the material around a little to make more space and get it worked through more easily. Not so much sparing a thought of what was happening in there... or, maybe, the implant merely kept me distracted and focused on the positive feeling. Which I couldn't have realized in my state if I wanted. Somehow, this reminded me of... being full after eating far too much of a good meal, a memory that reactivated from the sensation. So I just wanted to be lazy and lie in place.
"Please stay here.", she told me, then looked at the doctor. "If it starts to add more of this material to her belly, don't be afraid to empty it."
"Of course.", the doctor replied.
My stomach grumbled, and I began to feel some movement inside as it... did whatever it would with that stuff inside it. Then, some superficial spots began to quickly appear on my skin, prompting me to absently move my arm to one to scratch one of them, on the right arm. Alba moved the wayward hand off it quickly, but gently.
"I'd like to get a sample of that taken, please. Will you allow it?"
I said nothing and just... looked back. There was nothing more than a very light pinch as a sample of the seemingly irritated spot was taken, then the blemish disappeared and looked like my normal skin again, unchanged in color. Then my hands found their way to my restraining belt, and undid it. Which promptly 'allowed' my belly to get filled a little more.
"... it may also have been her belt holding back some space.", the doctor remarked, possibly to add some levity to the situation.
Alba ignored the remark and looked at me.
"Kasumi?" I raised an eyebrow slowly and titled my head as response, to show I was listening. "If you'd like, please write a personal log about yourself and what's been happening to you. It should help you get your brain working as it should again. And I'd like for you to make it publicly readable to let people see you're on our side."
I couldn't quite understand the reason behind this, or why people thought I was not on their side, like they were fighting, but accepted it. "Okay."
I somewhat drifted away, suddenly feeling sleepy as my body fully set itself to work in... working off whatever had been dumped in my stomach in generous quantities, while it was kept full of them, and maybe filled a little further over the next few hours, until I finally passed into sleep, as if to simply keep up the pleasant sensations I derived from it. Though, most likely, there was a larger purpose to it than just keeping me distracted and happy. Yet I didn't much care - the implant said it was necessary, and I believed its voice.
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December 17, 3309
I woke back up in the quarantine chamber, with a once more flat... mostly flat... belly, and an empty head, no dreams this night. The voices were silent today, and I was glad for that weight in my stomach to be gone. There was a datapad on the small table next to the bed, drawing my attention to it. I picked it up, and found it allowing access, but only to some sort of report. My brain was getting slightly better, but still hurt if I read or heard someone speak too quickly, so I took it slowly. Remembering only a few points, about how my skin was getting 'hybridized', but showed no superficial signs of it. Something about pigmentation not changing.
Rather than sit upright and huddle up... I decided to remain in a flat, laid position, stretching my arms and legs out, closing my eyes. Letting myself feel warm under the bed covers. The warm sensation continued to spread through to my right hand, where it culminated, in a pleasant way. That eventually caught the curiosity of my brain, and I lazily pulled my right arm out to where it was visible. The... glyph-thing was... glowing, in a warm, dark blue color, as if it responded to my emotional state of being pleased in a lazy way. I liked the color, which slightly intensified the glow, but also found it interesting that it was. Maybe I would bring it up with one of the doctors.
I put the hand back under and let it rest to the right of my thigh. Laying there for a little longer. Then I found myself distracted, again, by some kind of thing on the night desk. A semi-circular... technological looking thing. Fishing for it with my right hand, I found it perfectly fit on the wrist, as if made for me. Studying it more closely... a memory flashed through my mind. This same... wrist computer, its screen active, on my arm. It was mine.
There were... a lot of personal, private logs on it. Too many for me to read. And I didn't want to read much, it was tiring. So I looked at a picture of me, in this same clothing, with... somewhat pale, yet still partly colored, skin. I then put it aside, for now, and stood up slowly, still in my clothes. Explored the room I was in, with its bathroom somewhere off to the right from the bed. There were some furniture items to sit in if I wanted, other than the bed, a desk that looked like it could hold a larger computer under it, and a monitor on top. It was currently empty. The wardrobe caught my attention... more.
Opening it revealed a few more of my clothing items. The same, unrevealing underwear, pants, shirts, hoodies and... an oddly tight-looking jacket. I decided to leave the last one where it was and proceed to a change in attire. The other clothes... had begun to smell a little, after a few days in them. And I found, my sense of smell was very sensitive, so it was rather bothersome when I noticed.
Coming back out, I placed myself in front of a mirror, looking at... oddly weary eyes. I hadn't felt like I'd slept badly at all, yet it looked as if I hadn't slept much, or well. Perhaps I'd just been sleeping too much. But the most curious thing was... that I looked paler, not by much, though still more than on the picture. Which was odd, and seemed difficult to achieve to me. Yet I was.
I closed the wardrobe and returned to the bed, sitting down in my - at this point - normal, huddled position, only now realizing I wore no gloves yet. And didn't care to put them on, I was alone. I also noticed that the skin on my hands was equally more pale, while the strange glyph itself was... also white, currently, but looked as if it was of a different material, still standing out as a result.
My attention went back to the wrist computer. I began browsing its files again - after attempting to get web access, only to receive a message that it was denied for 'security reasons' ... - and had my interest caught by a folder named 'Naughty stuff'. In it, I found... rather odd pictures of me with upsized breasts and hips, alongside another woman who was equally 'big', in a few poses showing those "features" of the female body off quite nicely.
Then a third woman who looked stupidly tall joined in on those pictures, and while I had not much of an idea where these were from, or who those people were, I found those appearances... greatly amusing, enough to giggle at them because they were very silly. The glyph on my right hand changed color to something more along the lines of a deeper green color, though I only partly noticed thanks to my giggling and amusement.
Yet... something about me liked these for more than just their entertainment value. My eyes were repeatedly drawn back to the way my curvature was quite nicely enhanced in these, without being 'too much', or at least, that was how it looked to me. Then, I heard the door open, and quickly hid these. Partly working brain or not, I just 'knew' I didn't want other people to see the pictures. And I rapidly put on my gloves... not wanting the glyph on my right hand to be seen either, for some reason.
A single woman had entered... alongside the usual armed guard. But she was... different, not like the people working on this... ship. Younger, maybe not much older. A little bit less tall than me, if I had been standing, and a similar build. Dark brown, short hair, emerald green eyes. I remained quiet and simply followed the movement toward me with my eyes, staying completely still otherwise. She stopped near the bed, at its side, then... just stood there. Holding a strange box, wrapped in funny colorful paper.
"... Kasumi? Or is it Kira?", she asked, a little hesitantly, for no clearly apparent reason.
I didn't actually answer, and kept studying her appearance with a mildly curious gaze. A half-length, red jacket going to the elbows and waist, a tight black shirt, baggy cargo pants with a mixed red and black color on different sections. Then my eyes fell on the box, and kept it in the center of my view with laser-like focus.
"Can I have it?", I asked, an odd flame lit up within my eyes and brain from said box. I wanted to open it so badly.
"I was here to give it to you, yes. But I wanted to - "
"Box. Please."
She handed it over and placed it to my side on the bed without further questions. I took it and began to furiously work on opening the paper in which the box was wrapped, with a certain care applied to open it with as little tearing of that paper as I could manage, getting reminded of happy memories of 'birthday gifts'. The wrapping revealed something called a 'full simulation VR headset'. I handed its carefully peeled paper back to the woman, without looking away from the box.
"They... didn't warn me you would be so happy with a box.", she remarked.
"Kasumi.", I said, still hyper-focused on the box. "'V R'." I pronounced both letters with a distinct pause between them, in a wondering tone. "What does it mean?"
"It stands for 'Virtual Reality'. You can put it on your head, and it will feel like you are in a game yourself. I'm Jana, by the way."
I finally had enough of the interesting box, and looked up again. "You look... familiar. Is it you on these pictures?" I showed the 'Naughty Stuff' folder to her, without hesitating. Like I wasn't aware of possible consequences of showing such a private thing to someone, but I was lucky here.
"Yes. It's where we met, but you might not remember. They told me you might not."
I shook my head. "Why are we so... big?"
That seemed to amuse this Jana, making her chuckle. "It was an experiment. We wanted to see how it would feel like that, and... well, it was a success."
"But you're not like this... here."
"No. But I like it like this. It makes the... other space, special."
"Ok."
I wasn't quite sure I understood. I looked at the box again, holding it in both hands at... roughly waist level. Turning it, looking at its sides.
"You can use it. It's still programmed, and I think they want you to. To help with your memories. But it won't be connected to anything yet."
"I know. They say, they want to be sure I'm safe. But I don't know why I'm not safe." I looked at her... a little more directly, still holding the box.
Jana moved down slightly to be at face level, maybe slightly below. "They'll explain it to you soon, I promise. But if they thought you weren't safe, they wouldn't have let me in with you."
"Did I know you... before?"
She shook her head. "No. Sorry. We only met once in that... virtual space. And no one else can come right now, but the people caring for you said it was a good idea for a friend to visit you. And I wanted to, too. I helped rescue you."
I gave my brain time to process this information, becoming absent lightly during the process, then put the box aside and wrapped my arms around my legs again. "I hear voices in my head... sometimes. Do you know why?"
"I... don't. Not enough to tell you, but the people here do. There is something in your head causing it, and they can tell you more."
"Can you help make them quiet... when they come?"
Jana shook her head. "I'm not sure there's a lot I can do, sorry. But listening to other voices might help."
"I... will try."
"I'm sure you can do this, Kasumi. But I can't stay for too long today."
"Can you say where we are?"
"It's... a ship. In space. Where they brought you when you were rescued."
"Space ..." The word returned a memory. Gazing at stars from a planet, laid flat on grass, arms crossed on my chest. Filled with curiosity, desire, to find out. "I always wanted to be there. To see... the stars. In the night sky. But there is no window... here."
"I think there's a good reason why they gave you a room without a window. But I could ask them if they can project stars and a sky on the ceiling."
"That would be... nice. I would like it."
"I'll ask them, then. Are you going to be okay if I go now?"
"Will you come back?"
"Yes, as soon as I get time. But I'm very busy at the moment."
"With... what?" I tilted my head to the right slightly.
"Helping... people. So what happened to you doesn't happen to them. Or what I can to stop it, at least."
"Oh."
Jana stood up. "Alright... it was nice to meet you, Kasumi, but I should go now."
I said nothing and simply looked after her, wondering if I actually would see her again. There was... something of a pained look on her face, as if seeing me in this mental state hurt her, while she left.
A few hours later, someone brought in a small holo-projector and placed it on the ground, turning it on, which placed a simulated night sky on the ceiling. I fell asleep to it rather quickly, laid flat on my back, relaxed at the view, immersed in it and a sudden flood of childhood memories and feelings.