Sang the Stray (Completed)

7. Headache

I've spent two weeks in a medical center since I was discovered at Camp Sang. It's been less than pleasant...actually plain awful.

I woke up and had a mild panic attack until I realized that the pod cover slid off with barely a touch. I glanced around, seeing no one at first. I felt a pang of unfamiliar loss when neither Steel-eyes nor his doctor-soldier friend came. I wasn't alone long though. The woman in purple escorted me from the ship, now landed in a large hangar and protected from the outside storm I could hear raging, directly to the Medbay that I've been stuck in.

Almost everyone I see now wears the medical purple tunics. The person I most see is a kind, older gentleman who was first to communicate a name to me. He pointed to himself and kept repeating Ista Flips, at least that's what it sounded like. I pointed to myself and told him Sang. He just smiled like my name didn't sound weird at all to him...that was a nice change. He gave me a small pinkish cube and gestured to eat it with a wink. It was strawberry candy. Things went downhill from there.

Ista Flips did use the cylindrical device that Cherub-face had not. He placed one end next to my right temple, gave a pitying grimace then depressed the other end.

Pain, pain, pain....blurry vision...squiggly lines all over...lots of nausea and more pain. Then blackness.

When I woke again another day passed where I suffered a terrible headache and purple- tunics came in and out of my little room checking vitals, leaving food, escorting me to the bathroom. When Ista Flips saw me, I tried gesturing to my head to show him I was in pain, but just like the others he only shook his head and smiled with pity. Surely, these people were advanced enough for Tylenol!?! I was poked and prodded, given vaccinations and such. Thankfully, I had no bad reactions to any of those like the Cylinder of Torture.

Eventually, my headache lessened and two days later I was left with a dot, right in the center of my vision. Occasionally, other squiggles would pop up and I got a sense of understanding the meaning, but it wasn't until they took me to a room and started talking to me, these sensations of understanding flitting about, that I realized they'd somehow injected a language into my brain. I was amazed. However, even having sudden access to all those words, I still didn't have a grasp of mechanics or structure of the language. It was rather limiting, but using pictures and repeating key words the purple-tunics started relating information as best they could.

Through the rudimentary exchange and the pseudo-dictionary in my brain giving general impressions of words, I learned that I had been found on a planet called Muina and taken to another called Tare. Centuries ago the Lantar people lived on Muina, they were connected to the Ena but had messed with Ena, which seemed to mean 'spaces', and then they 'broke the spaces' releasing monsters called Ionoth that attack and eat people. That's why the Lantar left Muina settling in other planets like Tare. Settling Tare was really hard, but they adapted, though sometimes Ionoth come to Tare.
Recently, Tarens have started to move between planets to find a solution to the Ionoth problem. All the people I've met so far are part of a research and development offshoot of the government. It is called KOTIS, that is some acronym which does not translate. Evidently, about twenty or so people accidentally get transported through the 'spaces' to the known worlds that Tarens have access to. Half are found dead from Ionoth attacks. The living are returned to their world, but occasionally someone from an unknown world shows up and are labelled Strays. After some questioning back and forth, it was clear that Earth was not one of the known worlds. At least, that's what I could make meaning of  from what they shared. I also got the impression they were surprised I had been found alive and not eaten since Muina is dangerously populated by Ionoth. Yikes.

I've started learning plenty more since that initial conversation. I actually didn't get just a language but entire computer system that grew from nanocytes injected from the Cylinder of Torture, which they have a different name for. Anyways, they refer to the Interface which is connected like some wireless Internet that all Tarens have. They do everything with this Interface. I never had a cell phone back home but watching kids at school, this is like a virtual reality iPhone in the brain. For example, I am doing the equivalent of preschool, watching colors with the Taren names dance across my vision but behind all that I still see the room I am physically in. There are drop-down menus to access and send messages to contacts. The Interface even tells me when a purple-tunic is at the door, no need to knock. I started recognizing the mealtime schedule alerts first.  It was a small victory when I turned the lights off and on myself.

I've been told that once I pass some basics in virtual interaction, my sponsor Sa Lents will take me to live with his family and learn the language and about Taren life, since they won't be able to return me home anytime soon.  Really, I don't have anyone to miss back on Earth.

Today, I met with Sa Lents who is an anthropologist studying Muinian descendent worlds and my DNA indicated a match.  He was amused by my journaling since Tarens don't physically write.   When I graduated to learning the alphabet on the Interface lessons, I realized the kids only learn to read.  Even though Tarens have art, like painting and drawing, there is no need to write or type when the Interface allows users to recognize and mentally choose letters/words to compose messages.  He helped me work out time conversion too.  An Earth year is equal to three Taren years and a day is about 26 hours. 
Jodan = minute
Kasse = hour
Kai = day
Ista seems to translate to "doctor" and Sa to a general honorific. It's not gender specific, so may the joint meaning of Sir or Ma'am. There is still so much to learn.