Left Handed

21

Why me?" I asked. We were in the dining room. Apart from the configuration of the tables, the whole spacecraft had a strong Apple Store vibe to it: all white lines and impeccable order and cleanliness.

Frzzzbo sat across from me, a mug with some kind of tea in his hands. It smelled sweet and flowery but unlike any flower I'd ever smelled. The whole place smelled strange, come to think of it. I've read stories of the sailors of the golden age of piracy where in every port on every island they would be assaulted by a new and alien smell. That was how I felt on Frzzzbo's craft. It wasn't unpleasant but it was mildly irritating.

He took a sip of the tea. I had a similar cup in front of me. I did not dare try it.

He nodded at my cup. "You should really drink that. It helps wake up your new body."

I picked up the cup, glowered at Frzzzbo and took a sip. The taste was...well, it tasted like anything whose taste one isn't accustomed to: chicken.

"There. Now answer my question. Also, what's in that tea?" I asked.

"Chicken." Frzzzbo answered, "Although, not strictly Earth chicken. So much for panspermia." He looked wistful.

"Oy!" I snapped and slapped the table so that the not-really-chicken soup spilled a little. "Why am I here, man? Stop fucking around."

"Okay, okay. Calm down." He said the words but his demeanor was utterly unperturbed by my outburst. "You do remember your incapacitation? We had to bring what was left of you up here to save your life."

My stomach lurched but I was able to keep from throwing up. That last moment of my head doing a somersault was burned into my memory. It played back again and again without my control or consent.

"You did this to me," I whispered. In a sort of detached way I noticed my hands clenched, white knuckles showing.

He folded his hands and I saw something in his eyes. Regret? Pain? I know it's selfish but I hoped it was pain.

"I...yes. It had to look like you died. It was the only way to set you free"

"Who were these people," I asked. I was still mad at Frzzzbo but I had to admit that he made an alright point.

"It was a collaboration between Interpol and the Spanish Armed Forces Intelligence Center. Don't worry. They think you're dead."

"Uhm...I do worry cuz I still have my mother down there"

"Down there? What makes you think we're 'up'?" he asked bemused.

"Aren't we?" I asked. "I thought this was a spacecraft?"

"Come on." He stood and beckoned me to follow him.

Reluctantly I did. In a short while he placed his hand on a door and it slid open. No dramatic hiss. No ominous mist. We stepped into a room with a wide wall on the other side of the door. Frzzzbo said something in a foreign language. It sounded African - although it probably wasn't, ey?

The wall turned black. Frzzzbo said another word and lights went on outside the ship. My breath caught.  We were on the ocean floor.

Swarms of fish swam in between forests of benthic fauna, ancient ruins and sunken ships. It looked like a scene from Ariel.

"This is my favorite spot in the ocean. We call it the old town," he said.

"Is this...?" I stammered.

"Yes," he said. "Atlantis."

"Shit. But where are we? Like, geographically. And if this is the old town, where is the new one?"

He grinned. "I'll show you. The old town is close to Gibraltar."

He spoke again in his language and the scene before us changed. We were moving up from the ocean floor and through the strata of the sea. It gradually became less murky and the lights switched off. The fish changed. I saw a whale in the distance. Or maybe it was a submarine. Finally the ship crashed out of the waves and rose into the air.

We were dizzyingly fast. One moment I saw the white surf from where we emerged, next I saw The Spanish mainland in the distance, dropping away like spilled coffee. Because there was no g-force, it felt like i was in a VR immersion.

"Won't we be spotted?" I asked.

"With your tech? Hardly."

"Alright Mr Frzzzbo. You're being very smug. But you still haven't answered all my questions. Is my mother safe?" I crossed my arms and raised one eyebrow.

"We took her to the New Town," he said. "She is fine."

That was a relief. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if someone hurt her. Also, this whole thing was kinda my fault, starting with that stupid trip to the beach with Cristina and her friends.

The space/ocean ship now entered the stratosphere. Stars popped into the sky, I saw the curve of the planet, the blue turning into the black.

"Are we leaving Earth?" I asked.

"Yes. But not by much."

I left it. He probably wanted to surprise me. I guess I really should be grateful to him. After all, he didn't have to replace my arm. That I then went on and brought Interpol's attention down on me was hardly his fault. I could have done things differently. On the other hand, I would never in my life have seen these wonders if I hadn't done the things I did.

I looked out at the receding planet and up at the moon. It looked like that's where we were heading. When we got close, the spaceship circled around it to the dark side, then plunged down toward the surface. Surly we should brake.

"Shouldn't we stop?" I shouted.

He laughed. Asshole.

Still, it was scary as hell and I clamped onto his arm, watching in morbid fascination as we hurtled down and down towards the rock.

Shortly before impact, a giant gate irised open and we sank to the inside of the moon.