Endosymbiosis

1. Pacients

Part 1
Hospital

Seventh circle of the Empire
Oasis

I woke up to the sound of screaming outside.

I opened my eyes to the lights that were always on, feeling in my nostrils a familiar smell that I hadn't felt in a long time... A smell that was like a drop of water on the tongue of a thirsty desert traveler, after living countless adventures that ended so badly.

I took a deep breath. That was the aroma of mineral engulfed in flesh, like blades dipped in...

Blood.

And a type of blood I knew very well, from all the times when valleys opened up in the paleness of my own skin...

Human blood.

That human screamed so loud that even as he walked away down the hall, I could still hear his voice. Maybe he too had gone through a journey that had a bad ending... At least one that was worth the effort of those screams.

I should have been used to this sound by now, since it was such a big part of my job, but tolerating it was a difficult art... Especially when some soaked into me as deeply as scars and gave my imagination pains I hoped I would never feel.

Each and every noxdiem I woke up to welcome the unfortunate - or the stupid - and spare them the pain that caused those screams. Deep down, they were all just unlucky to be here, - some even with the misfortune of being stupid - but I couldn't help but wonder what made a creature put itself in a suffering like that... What took a being to experience so much pain that nothing could be left of it but the screams, echoing down empty corridors and begging for some kind of anesthesia for pains that were beyond the body?

It didn't matter how many years I had been working there... I still wanted to keep away from those screams.

But, this time, I felt compelled to follow them.

Not because the pain was being felt, but by who it was: a rare type of unfortunate traveler in that portion of the Interstellar Empire.

And one I've been waiting for a long, long time.

• • • ֍ • • •

Clover was already late to her job interview and her ride had also decided to take its time. Her foot was furiously tapping on the ground while her eyes flew down the chaotic street, but there was no sign of the car she waited for. Clover was starting to feel her head heat up... When the vehicle finally came around the corner.

The girl got into the car and closed the door harder than usual, what the driver pretended not to notice. He got back into the frantic flow of the street and, a few yards later, the Artifact plummeted from the sky and smashed into the car in front, saving Clover's life by a 2-minute delay.

She gave him 5 stars.

I don't really know if that's exactly how it happened, but that's the way the movies told this story. Maybe there never even was a Clover (when was there such a lucky human?) but many people, with various other names, witnessed the real arrival of the Artifact on Earth.

• • • ֍ • • •

I got up off the floor among the cleaning supplies and hit my head on one of the shelves, making a noise almost as loud as the screams outside. Damn it! I had hidden in the janitor's room to take a secret nap, after all, and the last thing a secret needed was to be discovered. Not everyone in the Oasis had to get as much sleep as humans, so they didn't understand how unproductive we were if we didn't spend a few hours being unproductive; so I needed to hide if I wanted a sleep half decent.