Star Missions - Book One - Part III

Chapter 25 - Zorag

There was very little light in the medical transport when the ex-governor woke up. Victor had been in and out of sedation for the better part of the day. Now, though, he was wide awake. The pain medication was working. The discomfort he felt was due primarily to his being unable to stretch his legs or move his arms.

He remembered his dream when named Hydra. The time he and David Soliski speculated of Hydra's future. He was so optimistic and was so convinced that he belonged there. Hydra would be Belter's future. He shook his head.

He felt almost betrayed. It only took one to lose everything. He questioned everything. He had always known that working in space was dangerous, but he had always been cautious. He had such high hopes for Hydra, and everything was going so well. Why did it have to end? Why did he decide to raise a family so far from Terra? Why didn't he order the alien shuttle destroyed? That would have been best. Why did they save that damn bug? Why? If only he had done this or that, things would have been different. He started to dispair again. He knew that it was useless to keep asking himself those kinds of questions. He felt that maybe all of his work on Hydra was worthless - that he was worthless.

He listened silently to the low humming sound of the medical transport gliding through the vacuum of space. He fixed his seeing eye on the dark shadows that reflected on the interior structure of the compartment. While he pondered, the EMT unit automatically activated to administer the latest round of medications through Belter's IV. The small sound it made was the last thing he heard before passing out again.

It seemed as if the dream Victor was having was a continuation of the one he remembered having just prior. In this new dream, Victor had just woken up. And he always knew that once he woke up, there was no going back to sleep. So he figured he might as well get a jump on breaking camp and preparing for their departure. Belter stretched, pulled on a t-shirt, and left his tent.

But there was uneasiness. A feeling that Victor couldn't quite identify lodged deep in his gut. The rising Strolla star was dimmed by a thick fog that hung over the water and beach near the camp.

Belter's nose told him that the coffee was hot and waiting for him. His vague disquiet followed him to the mess tent where Samuel was already working on breakfast.

"Good morning, Victor," Samuel said, with his usual early morning enthusiasm. "You're up early."

Belter gave him a tired smile and began filling a cup with the steaming liquid that would allow him to match the other man's energy level. "A strange feeling woke me up."

Samuel nodded and looked out over the fog that obscured the sea. "Yeah, there's a lot of energy in the air." They stared out through the mists in silence for a few moments, and then Samuel shrugged. "Maybe it's the excitement of going home today."

Belter didn't disagree. But he felt that it was something else. Something bigger. He just didn't know what.

Jeremiah called the feeling Victor would get from time to time a "spidy-sense" based on a twentieth-century comic book character. It was a strange sixth-sense that something was about to happen—usually something unexpected or out of the ordinary. That was the problem with this odd sixth sense of his. He seemed to be able to tell when something was going to happen, but not what it was.

He and Samuel were the only ones up. Belter took his cup of coffee and sat at the folding tables set up for meals and stared into the mysterious white fog over the water beyond. Strolla was rising, but the fog was still thick and seemed to get thicker. He was still watching it when he neared the end of his second cup of coffee. By that time, a few other expedition members were up and started to huddle around the mess tent. Breakfast was close to being ready. The day grew brighter as the Strolla star rose higher in the clear sky. But above the water, the fog persisted. It seemed to impress them as much as it had Belter.