The Outer Rim | Book One: Far From Home

Chapter 5 Infirmary

Cracking my eyes open, I am greeted by a brilliant white light, my eyes shutting tight once more as I let out a groan. Rubbing my face to get the last vestiges of sleep from my mind, I push myself up, eyes adjusting to the brightness in the room. I haven't slept that well in ages, my body no longer full of aches or pains. In fact, I felt great, my mind clearer than ever.

I was sitting in a bed, white sheets covering my lower half while white walls surrounded me on all sides, planet life breaking up the dull monotonous color and providing a change of scenery and a sense of serenity.

In each corner of the room were smaller versions of the security turrets like in the courtyard. They watched me intently, swiveling on their little metal arms anytime I so much as shifted.

I do a double take as I notice a window off to my right, a lush forest visible outside, sunlight breaking through the treetops and illuminating the ground with golden rays of light.

Confused at what I am seeing, because I knew I was still on a space station, I look closer, only to realize it was a display screen, a monitor embedded into the wall to simulate a natural forest. The only thing that broke the illusion of where I am, being the whitewashed walls, medical equipment, and large glass cylinder next to my bed.

The cylinder was easily large enough to hold a fully-grown man, perhaps even an overly tall Venmar. A transparent blue liquid with the consistency of gel contained behind the glass. Tubes and wires connecting the container to the walls and ceiling.

Turning my attention to the left, I find a device beeping ever so softly monitoring several of my vitals, heart rate, blood flow, brain activity, and even breathing. Next to the machine was an IV bag full of red liquid, a tube trailing from it to my wrist.

I look away quickly, trying not to think of the needle currently jammed into my vein. Had I really lost so much blood that they needed to put me on an IV? Furthermore, where did they get the blood type I needed? Only Venmar shared similar blood types to--Oh right, I'm a Hybrid. It is a bit surprising how easy I forget that.

At last my attention is drawn to what I'm wearing, a white medical gown with bandages wrapped around my chest and neck. Only now did it really start to sink in that last night had occurred and that it wasn't all just a bad dream. Had it not been for Nala and everyone else... well... I'd rather not think about what might have happened.

The cool metal and soft padding of the suppressant collar around my neck was oddly comforting, but for some reason I could not feel the effects of it. My mind is clear and calm, like I had just been released from a pair of shackles.

I try to activate my neural implant and am reward by a flicker of red static, my heads-up display appearing then disappearing as quickly as it came. Something was not right here, something that I could possible use to my advantage.

I try it again, booting up my implant in safe-mode. The results were almost instant, a red hued heads-up display appearing before my eyes. It was lacking in more advanced options, safe-mode booting up the implant with the most minimum settings it could manage. Loading the most basic drivers and bare essentials to function.

At least I had access to my scanner, cracker, and relay. Activating my scanner, I analyze the suppressant collar, a 3D diagram of it appearing before my eyes. Green dots with pointers hovered over the diagram, showing the parts of the collar that seemed to be functioning correctly, however, there were a couple of red dots, showing that the collar had sustained damage and needed repair.

Most of the damage was superficial, nothing more than scratch marks and chipped metal, most likely from Numa's assault. However, I noticed one of the warning dots pointing to an internal component, a power source I think, most likely a battery.