The first thing he saw was a blank pale face, devoid both of emotion and expression, glazed eyes with no meaning stared back at him without blinking. The black hair on the man’s face was as equally dark as the strings of biomass that clung to his naked body and face. Despite this being the first thing that this man had ever seen, he held no fear nor confusion at the situation: these few seconds of consciousness was all he had ever known.
Then the face moved. Though it only looked like it moved, the reality was that what he thought was a face was actually just a reflective black glass mask. The sudden revelation dawned on him and the indirect conclusion that he was not looking at a man’s face but more accurately his own. The man with the dead eyes was him. Before he could delve into his mind about the knowledge of his appearance, a voice called out to him.
“Hey, are you alright?” The glass mask asked in a warm voice. The query prompted him to look at his position more clearly, he was being held in the arms of the glass mask. Around him were five other similar individuals, each one armed with railguns and focused on him. Slightly intimidated he tried to stand up. His legs failed him.
“Wait, relax!” The glass mask holding him said as it pressed its hand on his chest to put him back in its arms, “Don’t move so suddenly, just tell me if you are okay.”
Taken aback that his body had failed him, he resorted to the next best course of action: dialogue. Knowing he was in a disadvantageous position he tried to answer the glass mask’s question. Am I okay? His body felt no pain if not a little bit weak, and even though he could not remember anything from before, he did not feel as though there was something wrong with him currently. Attempting to answer in affirmation, his mouth opened only to release a tongue that merely flopped around without being able to produce a meaningful sound.
“Can’t even speak yet.” The glass mask observed with a pitying tone, realizing that the figure was right was hardly a shock to him anymore. His body was not in a condition to move or even use fine motor skills. Attempting to create strength in his hands as he grasped the metal arm that held him yielded a weak grip that would be broken by a slight tug from the glass mask.
The glass mask stood up and supported him with its shoulder, “Troy get a cloak for this man.” The glass mask named Troy nodded and headed off out of his sight. The glass mask holding him began to pull off the excess black biomass that had not yet fallen off him with its hands, “Don’t worry we will get you home.”
Home? Not being able to remember where one’s home was or even what it looked like might be frustrating to some, but no matter how much he thought it over he could not seem to generate any sentiment at this misplaced memory.
Troy returned with a dark over-sized cloak that was quickly used to cover his body and warmth quickly enveloped his naked body. It was becoming apparent the whatever these glass helmets were, they were friendly to a large degree.
He was guided to sit in a corner of the bright cave-like room while they continued to go around the room inspecting and taking everything that they could. What exactly was going on was not something that he had been able to piece together, there was so much that he did not know. But that was fine with him for the moment, with each second more and more became clear to him. He knew that it would be better if he was able to communicate with the glass masks, at the very least they both spoke English, it was a starting point. If only my body would work properly…
“I don’t know how long you were kept in here but you don’t need to worry anymore, we’re Groundbreakers and that means that its our duty to protect you.” The glass mask spoke as it approached him, he could tell that this one was the one that he had originally seen. It wasn’t just the size of each one that told them apart, though some were obviously bulkier than the others, but this one had a red pin on the left side of its chest. The red bird insignia stood out among the dark grey armor that it wore, it was the only glass helmet with one.
Focusing all his meager strength into his mouth, his lips trembled at the new source of might found within them and drew the attention of the glass helmet. But his efforts were rewarded with a faint broken, “Wh-where are we?”
The glass helmet that had begun to lean on the wall next to him suddenly pushed itself off and focused intently on him, thinking that he had made a mistake he felt a small amount of panic build up in his throat.
“Oh you can speak! That’s great, I was prepared for you to stay like that for a few more hours but this is perfect, now we can talk.” The glass helmet moved to stand directly in front of him and crouched to reach his level. “Can I ask you a few questions first?”
Not wanting to refuse it and not wanting to have his voice fail again, he merely nodded in confirmation at its question.
“Great, then, do you have any remote idea of where you currently are?” This basic question quickly made him realize the fallacy of letting someone interrogate him, he knew essentially nothing. His name, background, and even his inner thoughts were lost to him. That was not to say he was completely in the dark about the situation. He knew that he was very likely on Earth, if not then Venus, or maybe Mars. Placing his bet on Earth, he once again made a conscious effort to have his tongue be productive, “Earth.”
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The glass helmet seemed to chirp up at the quiet response, “Well yes, but I was hoping for more of a specific answer, I doubt that the Thorn took you from too far from here.” It explained with clenched hands as it mentioned the name Thorn. “Are you from Eve or another place?”
Eve? What’s that? A city? Saying no to this question would be akin to lying in his eyes, after all he was not sure if he was from this place or not, if he said that he was not there and then ended up being a lie then he would find himself in a disadvantageous position. Liars would not be trusted.
“I don’t know.” His raspy voice answered truthfully.
“You don’t know?” Came the bewildered voice from the glass, he was able to tell that this was not what was expected of him. Once again being pressed up against an unknown variable he felt tension begin to build up within him, thinking that perhaps it would have been better to lie made its way into his head. Then a discovery dawned on him. Liars are only untrustworthy when they are caught. He would have been fine lying as long as he made sure that he would not be discovered…
Before he could develop this thought further, he was interrupted by the glass helmet, “I suppose this might be very confusing to you, being taken by the Thorn and all, but could you give me your name?”
Knowing it was too late to start lying and not having the smallest idea of what a suitable name he could come up with other than the mentioned Troy, he stuck to telling the truth, “I don’t know.”
The glass helmet suddenly grew quiet and stood up from its position, staring at him for a few tense seconds, it spoke, “Please wait here, I will be right back.”
And the glass helmet was gone, turning on its heel it marched towards the one that had already identified as Troy. Being too far to hear their conversation he instead focused on the room he was currently in. The wet rock that made up the majority of it did not seem to mesh with the sleek and clean computers and panels scattered across the large space, but the thing that drew his attention was the centerpiece of the room. Where he came from.
The shattered tank still had a bit of liquid pooled at its bottom, he had been in there before the glass helmet had pulled him out. What exactly he was doing or what was being done to him was beyond him. But that hardly mattered to him, he only wished to understand the now and the future, for that he would need the glass helmets.
The conversation between the glass helmets seemed to draw to an end as now both began to approach him. He was no longer as alarmed as he had been prior to speaking to them, he knew that they expected him to know somethings and him not knowing them was causing some sort of problem, but they seemed to know what he was. It said that their duty was to protect him, at the very least they would not kill him.
“Hello, I’m Troy and I’m part of the Edith Groundbreaker squad.” The voice introduced itself, the word Groundbreaker once again used led him to believe that they expected him to know what that was. “Could you tell me the last thing you remember?”
His recollection did not span back greatly, the last or rather first thing that he was able to recall was waking up to seeing his deadpan expression, it would have to suffice. “Waking up… here.”
“What about a name, city, colony, or anything from before this?” It furthered its questions. “Do you remember anything from before we took you out of that tank?”
“No. I don’t.” He replied with an even tone, he supposed it was strange to not recall such simple things, but he did not let that bother him too much. After all, it was hard to miss things he never knew.
Troy stood up and turned to face the original glass mask, “This is awful, not being able to remember anything. Could it be repressed memories from the trauma that the Thorn inflicted on him? What do you think Edith?”
The now named Edith shook her head, “No, I doubt that. If he had made himself forget those things for whatever reason then he should still have some idea as to who he is. Amnesia is the only other choice.” She knelt back to his level. “The only question is whether it was medically induced or not.”
Troy nodded at her observation, “Either way this is more complicated than what I thought, he could be housed in Eve if we speak to Dr. Shin. I know that the waiting line to enter is large but the people still waiting are capable of living outside by themselves. This guy would be toast if left alone.”
Edith, still leveled with him, reached up to grasp the top of her neck and pressed on two points. An audible hiss was released as her helmet lifted up slightly. Raising her hands her helmet was taken off and held with her right hand.
Piercing green eyes bore holes into his own and for the first time since waking up he felt a true tinge of fear bloom within him. Although the eyes were the first thing that caught his attention, he was quickly drawn to her other features. Slightly pale skin and red short length hair, a facial structure not too different from his own. Similar eye shape and overall appearance. It was unmistakable. Whatever these things were, he was one of them.
Not being able to reign in his curiosity his hand reached out to her, as if trying to verify what his eyes were telling him were true.
The red-headed woman was caught off guard by the sudden movement, letting him poke her face with a finger she asked in confusion, “Are you okay?”
Ignoring her question he merely muttered, “We are the same…”
“Same?”
Troy spoke up from behind her, “The Thorn must have messed him up more than what we thought, we should really start heading back.” He turned back to see that the rest of the Groundbreakers were waiting on them. “They are probably waiting for us back home with celebration by now, I’m sure we are the last ones to head back.”
Edith looked at the hand that poked her and gently grasped it with her own, “He’s right, please come with us. There are people who can help you with whatever was done to you.” She picked him up from the ground with ease. “Don’t worry you will get better, trust me.”
The small smile on her lips was able to offset her sharp eyes and instilled a small sense of trust in her words. Deciding that going with them was his best choice he responded. “Okay.”