Amataya woke in a blur, she had been having strange dreams about voyaging on a great waka across vast oceans. Looking around the room she saw Paul in the bed next to her. Instinctively she went to feel her belly and check in with the baby. it was then she noticed her left shoulder was seized and the arm felt a little numb. She pulled back her bed covers and gown and saw the bandages and tape wrapping around her shoulder and chest.
Determinedly she went to get up pulling off the monitor cables that were taped to her body. Alarms rang as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Shit, how long have I been here for" she wondered feeling dizzy.
Paul had woken with the alarm "Hi Amataya good to have you back."
"Where the fuck are we Paul."
He didn't have time to answer before Dr Sue came rushing in.
"Don't stand up yet, let your body adjust. I'm Dr Sue." She added.
Amataya felt a wave of dizziness and lent back on her good arm.
"I might just lie down again for a moment.”
"Good idea, I admire your determination though, it will be a good asset for your rehabilitation." Sue helped Amataya lie while reattaching some monitors.
"What happened, whats going on?”
Sue told her the basics with a few additions from Paul.
“It's probably best for you two to chat over things together. Ring the bell if you need anything.” She said as she finished checking the monitors.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“I don't know about you Paul but I'm hungry. What's the food like around this pace?” said Amataya feeling her belly rumble.
Paul smiled, it was good to have his friend back. “The food is marginal, but the place is next level. They say I can get out tomorrow for a walk, well not a walk.” he said pulling back the blankets to show Amataya his stumps.
“Shit Paul, you're a mess, are you OK?” she asked.
“Sometimes” he said looking at them again before pulling the blankets back over.
“Shall we call Shige? I can get him on this tablet.”
“Is he ok?”
Paul told her all he knew from his visit yesterday.
Shige handed his shift over to a Trices cousin as planned and headed to the hospital as soon as he got the message. He was relieved to find Amataya snacking on a tube of food while chatting in a lively way with Paul.
“You are fucking joking aren't you.” She looked from Paul to Shige after they told her more about where she was.
“Well, it's about as far away from a shotgun wedding as I can get. My Parents will go ballistic.” Amataya said jokingly.
“On that note I applied for us to be able to send emails to our parents. The management sent a mail back, they want full access to our email systems and will check every message before sending it. Calls by phone are not possible. There was a whole list of restrictions about email content but essentially, they don’t want any information about where we really are getting out on earth.” Said Shige.
“I suppose that’s better than nothing.” sighed Paul.
“I read some of the list of pre-approved messages we can send. Over half of them explain how we died, what prison we are in, are copies of missing persons reports and angry letters saying we are never coming home. All of the responses will come from the right sources, these guys must be well connected on earth.” Shige reported with some bitterness.
"I don’t think any of us want to go that far.” said Paul looking to his friends. “Can I forward you a message for my family from this tablet?” asked Paul.
“Fire away but we should sit down and sort out what giving them our emails really means. Let me ask around a bit to see what I can find out before we commit” Shige suggested.
“Thanks Shige you are a champion” Amataya was wondering how she was going to break the news to her parents that she was not only not going to get married but that they wouldn’t be able to meet the baby and watch it grow up.