It was, as her mother would have said, a shit show.
She could hear the angry Canadian professor from the elevators loudly cursing out unfortunate hospital staff and demanding a lawyer. Leta wasn’t sure if that rule still applied in this country, but even through her broken Greek, she made it difficult for the nurses to say otherwise.
“Please, lower your voice, Miss.”
“I will not be lowering my voice until-” Her rant cut off as the nurse opened the door and pushed Leta’s wheelchair inside.
Even enraged, she still managed to look like she’d just rolled out of a dig. Her graying blonde hair was haphazardly twisted into a bun on top of her head, and she was wearing well-worn boots, loose jean shorts, and a light linen shirt. She must have gotten here in a rush because she still had her straw gardening hat on site, and her arms were still smeared with dirt.
When she saw Leta, her angry expression turned to relief, and she strode over and hugged her, nearly pulling her out of the wheelchair in the process.
“Oh my god, you scared the hell out of us.” She mumbled into her hair.
Leta awkwardly patted her back reassuringly. “I’m okay. Did you know there’s weeverfish in the Med?” She commented sarcastically.
“Don’t try to be cute.” Dr. Galloise scowled at her humor. “Do you know how freaked out I’ve been for the last few days? Your mom has been blowing up my phone practically every hour on the dot. I’m surprised she hasn’t booked a ticket to get you herself. You’re going to give your parents a video call the moment you have a second to spare. No negotiations.”
“Thankfully, that should be very soon.” The same doctor from before said as the nurse helped Leta onto the bed.
The doctor went over her charts with them and parroted the nurse from earlier that all of her tests had come back clean. They wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but he was optimistic that she would be released tomorrow morning.
Dr. Galloise had a ton of questions. Could there be any lingering side effects in the future? What medication would she need to take for hypothetical symptoms? What were the dangers of her taking a plan?
After what felt like a thousand questions, the nurse and doctor left the room for Leta to get some rest just as Vigo stepped into the room, looking a bit more put together but still sporting the beginnings of a sunburn.
He smiled when he saw her on the bed, “You’re up!”
“Surprise,” Leta smirked as he placed a tote bag on her lap.
“They called us when you woke up. I got your phone and some clothes since they had to cut off your wetsuit. I didn’t go through your stuff.” He held up his hands as if to show that he was unarmed, “I’m not dumb enough to go through a woman’s clothes unsupervised. Pilar picked some clothes for you that night when you finally got out.”
“So you had faith that I’d be walking out.”
Vigo laughed, “Like hell, you’d be done in by a stupid fish.”
“Thanks for the confidence.” She chuckled as she fished out her phone from the bag. The screen had cracked, but at least they’d been kind enough to ensure it was still charged.
She winced when she saw that her mother had left her at least fifty voicemails and what she estimated to be about a thousand text messages from her parents and friends.
“Yeah…” Vigo drawled, “I’d probably give her a call. Even if it’s about one in the morning, I’d bet money she’d pick up.”
Dr.Galloise chuckled at Leta’s uncomfortable look before giving her another hug, “Well, stop by again with the crew later this afternoon. For now, please talk your mom off the cliff before she does something crazy.”
They turned to leave, but Leta spoke up, “Oh, wait! What happened at the dig after I was gone? What about the trap door?”
Dr. Galloise frowned, “What trap door?”
“There was a trap door where, uh, the weeverfish was,” She caught herself, “It had a copper latch that I activated.”
Vigo and the professor shared a look, “How could there be copper exposed under water?” Vigo asked, “The time frame of the building means they wouldn’t have had the capability to make sophisticated trap door in such a structure. And even if they did, the metal or wood mechanisms would have deteriorated to dust ages ago.”
Leta chewed on the inside of her lip, wanting to say more, to push the subject, but what could she say to convince them?
Telling them that it was probably propped up with alien technology would end in a mental evaluation.
The professor sighed, “Well, the site has been closed temporarily while they do another survey of the area to ensure there aren’t any other dangers lurking down there.”
“Damn…” Leta sighed, but Dr. Galloise waved her disappointment away, “Don’t be upset. This is not the first time something like this has happened. The survey team went out this morning, so hopefully, we’ll get the all-clear to get back in the water by the time you get discharged.”
“Now, stop stalling and call your mom.” She laughed as she closed the door, leaving Leta alone and looking at her cell phone as if holding a grenade.
Bracing herself, she dialed her mother.
On the second ring, Naomi Black answered the phone with a screech, “Why the hell haven’t you been answering my calls!”
“Because I just woke up two hours ago,” Leta responded quietly.
She heard a sniffle on the other end, followed by a watery, “Oh my god, Letty… I was so scared…”
Leta’s lips pulled back in regret. Her mother had always been a bold, unapologetic woman who wore her feelings on her sleeve but was always sincere.
“I’m okay, mom. I’m fine. Doctors have done many tests, and everything has returned all good.”
“S’that Letty?” She heard the groggy voice of her father in the background.
“Yeah, she’s awake. Letty? We’re going to put you on a video call.”
“No, mom. You don’t have to- oh, okay, you already did.” Leta protested by stopping when she saw her phone light up with the video call request. Sighing, she accepted, and her screen filled with a darkly lit image of her parents in bed, huddled together to see the screen.
Her mother had those great Scandinavian genetics that made her oval face, blonde hair, and blue eyes look like she was in her late thirties rather than well into her fifties. She never wore makeup, but even in a shirt she’d stolen from Leta’s dad and her hair disheveled, she still looked beautiful.
Her father, Theodore Black, was the epitome of a gentle giant, tall and naturally muscular with an even temperament. His salt and pepper hair had always been well maintained, and his hazel eyes crinkled lovely as he smiled at his daughter.
“Your mum has been hard at work drilling a hole in the kitchen floor with her pacing.” He chuckled in his Manchester accent, then coughed when he saw the look her mother was giving him, “Naomi, my love, you know it’s true.”
“All you sent us was ‘heading out, love you,’ and then the next thing we get is a call from Annika saying you were in the hospital because you got stung by a poisonous fish.”
‘Lord, if it were only as simple as that.’ She thought to herself. “Mom, it’s not like I just scheduled an appointment with the hospital. It was a freak accident, with emphasis on the accident part. Look at me, I’m fine.”
“You’re in a hospital gown, love.” her father pointed out, “It’s hard to be ‘fine’ right now.”
“I already booked a flight out in the morning to get you.”
“You didn’t.” Leta’s palm connected with her face, but her mother wasn’t having any of it.
“My daughter is in a coma in a foreign country after being stung by some poisonous fish. Of course, I am coming to get you.”
“You’re not going to come get me,” Leta said firmly, “I am this close to a historical breakthrough! I can’t go home now.”
“You are coming home-” Her father held up a hand to stop her rant and said, “If I may, Naomi? Please?”
Her mother didn’t look happy at being interrupted but nodded her consent.
“Letty Love, we have been apprehensive these last few days as the doctors who contacted us didn’t have a lot of information other than that you were in some coma. I understand you wish to continue your work - believe me, we have both been there.” He looked pointedly at Naomi, “We understand that feeling of being on your first dig and discovering something new. But, Letty, nothing will ever be more important to us than your health.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
‘Proof of an ancient race of aliens colonizing Earth might say otherwise.’ Leta mused to herself but said, “Please, just hear me out on this.”
Her father sighed and then gestured for her to continue.
“Before the… weeverfish, I was helping unearth the interior side of a wall. You know how crazy it is to find a Mesopotamian-era building underwater, right?”
Her father nodded along sagely, “Correct. The organic materials will easily break down and decompose. It’s a miracle that it was buried in sediment to protect it.”
“Right! And you know how bricks were stacked horizontally and then plastered over? Well, I was unearthing the interior wall, and I noticed a very clearly defined brick in the wall that was vertical.”
Her parents frowned, going straight into archaeologist mode. Her mother’s nose was scrunched when she retorted, “That doesn’t make much sense. Was it a door frame?”
“Nope.” Leta shook her head. “No door or window frame, just an interior wall.”
Her father shrugged, “Probably some sort of structural support.”
She grinned like a child about to reveal a secret, “It wasn’t a support beam. It was a trap door.”
Her parents paused, trying to register what she was saying. Her mother blinked and then chuckled awkwardly, “Uh, what?”
“I touched the brick, which moved like an old-school switch button. Then a trap door opened up on the floor.”
“No…” Her mother denied skeptically, “It must have just been a cave-in with all the activity.”
Leta shook her head, “A cave-in wouldn’t be a perfect square and open up to reveal some artifacts, would it?”
It took a moment, but soon, her parent’s faces turned from confusion to shock as they started to ask more and more questions. What was the shape of the brick? How far off the floor was it? How deep was the hole? Did she see any internal mechanisms?
The more she talked, the more excited her parents got at the idea that possibly the first recorded mechanical device had been discovered, and it was still functioning after thousands of years buried in sand underwater.
After an hour of describing, debating, and hypothesizing, her parents had gotten as excited about the discovery of sophisticated technology as she was.
Had she succeeded in getting her parents to forget about her being in a hospital?
No.
Was her mother still thinking about flying out to Santorini to bring her back home?
Maybe.
Leta was on thin ice at this point but had been appeased by a text from Dr. Galloise, who said that Dr. De Mar at the museum was willing to take Leta on as an intern so she could still get her hours for her internship. She wasn’t particularly pleased with the idea of dropping out on the Mesopotamian site, but she felt she wouldn’t get a choice in the matter.
Maybe she could convince Dr. Galloise to let her back on the boat, but for now, she comforted herself with the idea that there was an option for her to work with the artifacts they’d brought up.
The discussion of the dig and what she’d found - minus the alien technology part that she didn’t bring up - was enough to calm her mother down and get her to cancel her flight out in the morning.
It was probably about three in the morning for her parents when the nurse returned to check on her, smiling at her.
“Parent’s checking in on you?” She asked as she closed the door behind her.
“Convincing them not to freak out,” Leta replied, then realized her mistake when she saw her mother’s frown.
“Your Greek has gotten good.” Her father commented slowly.
“Thanks. Those language apps have been beneficial.” Leta lied.
“Very good, dear.”
The nurse looked between her and the phone, “I can go through this quickly with you. Would you like to translate for your parents?”
“I guess. Go for it.”
Thankfully, the nurse kept it short and reiterated what the doctor had said. Everything looked good, and she was to stay the night for observation but would most likely be released.
This interaction with the nurse finally seemed to take all of the manic energy out of her mother. Naomi yawned, leaning her head against her husband’s shoulder. “Okay, I am so happy that you’re not hurt. I will not be flying to Greece tomorrow morning but getting much sleep because it is… tomorrow.”
Leta chuckled, “I’ll be out tomorrow, so I’ll text you once I’m out.”
‘Talk to you later’ and ‘Good night’ were shared between them before Leta finally closed the video call.
“Well, it’s just you and me, Gada.” Leta relaxed into the bed.
[Would the Host like to practice their new skill?]
She smiled wickedly. “Absolutely.”
With the giddiness of a child running downstairs on Christmas day, Leta steeled herself and focused on her phone.
It smoothly lifted into the air as if held aloft by graceful hands until it was at her eye level.
Leta’s breath rushed out of her in elated wonder as she watched the device float in the air as if by magic.
The phone wobbled in the air at Leta’s lapse in concentration, so she took a deep breath to refocus, willing the phone to rotate slowly.
[Congratulations, Host. You have succeeded in preforming your first action of the software, Magician’s Hand.]
She held out her hand and willed the device to lower into her open palm gently.
“This is so cool.” She giggled and looked around the room for other things to play with.
She pulled out her phone charger, toothbrush, and deodorant from her bag, laying them in front of her. She willed the toothbrush to rise into the air and set it to float at eye level before trying to lift her charger.
It was harder to do two items than just one, like trying to look in two directions simultaneously. The moment her focus moved from one item to the next, the first would wobble before falling to the bed.
After a few tries, she changed up her approach and put the two items right next to each other. She focused on them as if they were one object instead of two. They thrashed unbalanced, but with some effort, they floated at eye level as one before she lost control with a gasp.
‘Damn… why do I feel so out of breath?’ Leta huffed.
[The performance of the software is based on the host’s statistics. Mentally training software such as a magician’s hand relies on higher levels of mental fortitude to execute actions. The host currently has a mental fortitude rating of 15, which is slightly higher than that of an average human. This allows the host to perform the desired actions, which an average human cannot perform. To increase the output for skills, statistical numbers must be increased.]
‘How do I do that?’
[Statistics can be raised by repeated use of the skill or action. Additionally, the host can invest inert nanites into specific statistics on a one to 1,000 ratio.]
Leta chewed on her lip as she thought that over. She could grind out, exercise the skill repeatedly, or use the nanites to jump ahead.
It seemed like, even in the world of alien nanites, there was still a pay-to-play scheme.
Sighing, she mentally opened up her stats.
[Height: 165 centimeters
Weight: 68 kilograms
Bone Density: +1.2
Power: 11
Speed: 10
Stamina: 10
Reflexes: 12
Constitution: 10
Mental Fortitude: 15]
‘Can you explain what all of the statistical measurements mean? I’m assuming Power makes my muscles bigger, and Mental Fortitude makes me smarter, but I’d hate to assume wrong.’
[Measurements listed are necessary factors for program output. Increases in these statistics will result in physical and cognitive changes as nanites are rerouted to support these new developments. For example, an increase in power would increase muscle mass to produce an increase in output force. An increase in mental fortitude would result in an increase in gyri and sulci in the brain, which allows for faster and deeper cognitive processes.]
‘Um, I studied history, not biology. What’s the gyri and sulci?’
[To put it simply, these are the folds of the brain which increases the brain’s overall surface area and thinking capabilities.]
‘Oh. Well, now it makes since when they say people have a smooth brain. So, Speed decreases fat in the muscle and increases endurance, right? What about the others?
[Reflexes focus on the speed of nerve-to-brain communication, allowing the host to register, categorize, and respond to an outside force. Stamina governs the distribution of energy within the body. A host could have high levels of power, but if their stamina is low, they are highly susceptible to becoming sluggish and slow as their bodies cannot distribute the energy needed to sustain their mass. Constitution is the overall resilience of the host’s form to physical harm. High constitution ratings indicate the amount of outside trauma a host’s body can withstand before injury.]
‘I’ll be honest I don’t like how you labeled that as ‘trauma.’’ Leta articulated with a raised eyebrow.
[An external attack such as blunt force is considered a trauma. The Host should also note that changes to stats can also affect the Hosts in unexpected ways. For example, a significant increase in power can increase overall body weight and decrease reflex stats. Increases in Mental Fortitude may weaken the Host’s energy and stamina as bodily functions are redirected to supporting an overworked brain.]
“Jeez, thanks for telling me that now before I start dumping points.” Leta grumbled.
[The Host should not be too concerned at this time. points available for stat increase are not significant enough to warrant caution. However, the Host should keep this in mind for future upgrades. By balancing your stats, the Host can avoid medical issues resulting from sudden increases in a particular stat. It should also be noted that internal characteristic additions can also increase stat numbers without affecting other stats.]
‘Awesome. Okay, so what’s my budget then?’
[The Host currently has an available inert nanite count of 3,507, which equals to an increase of three if the host would like to use 3,000 of the available total.]
‘Hm… any suggestion on where to put those points?’
Gada was silent for a moment, but Leta could almost feel a buzzing in her blood, as if the nanites were whispering among themselves.
After a minute, Gada answered. [Current uploaded software such as Electric Misconduct and Magician’s Hand require high mental fortitude to execute desired results. It is suggested that the host use all available nanites to increase this stat, thus increasing the output of this software.]
Leta nodded, “Okay, then. If I’m not in danger of a stroke, please put 3,000 points into Mental Fortitude.”
A sensation of fingers trailing over her brain sent shivers down her spin as her vision momentarily went white before suddenly coming back online.
Leta blinked, waiting for something to happen.
[Mental fortitude has successfully increased from 15 to 18.]
“That was it?” Leta asked quizzically, fully expecting something more dramatic.
[Correct. The Host already had an above average mental fortitude due to software uploads during class integration.]
Leta focused back on the items in her lap. As before the toothbrush and phone charge wobbled drunkenly into the air, but this time if felt easier, the strain on her mental muscles lighter. Where a handful of times Leta had felt out of breath, she now felt like she could comfortably keep this up for a few hours.
The handle to her room rattled, breaking her concentration as the objects fell back onto her lap just as an older woman with a hospital staff badge came in carrying a tray of food.
A slice of bread, small star shaped noodles in what looked like chicken broth, a baked chicken breast, half a lemon, and a glass of water.
“Delicious.” Leta smiled as earnestly as she could despite the mean reminding her of some bad cafeteria food she’d once had in high school.
She was starving though, and at this point she’d eat a paper bag if they told her it was edible.
‘Anyway can you turn off my taste buds?’ Leta spooned the soup, realizing that the broth was a lot thicker than she originally anticipated.
[Negative. Under extreme circumstances, pain messages between nerves and the brain can be temporarily shut off. However, dinner is not considered an extreme circumstance.]
‘I think it’s about to be.’ She whined, resigning herself to eating what was given to her and hoping that sleep would at least come easy tonight.