Duncan needed a moment to process the information he got bombarded with by Wazsh. The Mahondrians being a war-worshiping species was one thing but a whole solar system clashing with another one was not something he even thought was possible until Wazsh brought it up.
"Does this sort of thing happen often?" asked Duncan.
"What thing?" Wazsh replied, not having the slightest idea what Duncan was getting at.
Duncan amended his question, “Solar systems clashing.”
"It's rare, but it happens. When you have over 100 billion stars in a galaxy, rare things become a frequent reality," Wazsh explained.
"My galaxy has 100 billion stars?" exclaimed Duncan.
Wazsh shook his head, "Yours has more than twice as many stars if I recall correctly."
"The Milky Way has over 200 billion stars?" exclaimed Duncan. He'd always been passionate about astronomy and this information about his home galaxy was new to him.
Wazsh grinned as he looked at Duncan, "Are you telling me you named your galaxy the Milky Way? That's to be the dumbest name ever."
Duncan frowned before he explained, “It’s named after a myth from our ancient times. It is said to be where Hercules spewed a few drops of the goddess Hera’s milk when she pushed him away.”
“Why would a mother push her child away?” Wazsh asked with curiosity.
“It was not her child. Her husband was a womanizer. Hercules was a product of an affair and his father Zeus brought him home to his wife to breastfeed him. Never mind that,” Duncan replied in a hurry.
“You could learn a thing or two from that guy Zeus,” Wazsh told Duncan.
Duncan rolled his eyes and continued, “Tell me what happened with those Mahondrians.”
Wazsh’s facial expression changed when Duncan mentioned them.
“Those stupid morons were the dumbest sentient beings in our part of the universe we met. Well, they were the only ones but that’s beside the point. Our scientists have long ago determined that the two stars are closing together at an alarming rate and plans were made to find other planets to colonize for us to survive. We sent out scout ships to distant stars which reached one-tenth the speed of light. We found a few suitable places in the span of three centuries and launched our colonial ships which were all intercepted by Mahondrians and destroyed. Without warning, they killed 3 million Gormians.”
“They would not listen to reason. Instead of working toward the survival of their species they blindly believed their gods would save them if they killed enough Gormians instead. I don’t know how their technology could even develop to that point with that mindset. We had to switch from an evacuation operation to a full-blown stellar war to prevent them from killing our defenseless people.
In the end, things got so bad my current employer intervened and to my dismay, they saved those good-for-nothing morons also. I bet they are organizing a takeover of the planet we are on. Remember the only good Mahondrian is a dead one. Unfortunately, even if you kill them here, they won’t die since our deals are different from yours. They will just stop existing on this planet.”
Wazsh sighed at the end of his tale.
“Do you think the Mayor works alone?” Duncan suddenly asked.
“I don’t know but I doubt it. This village is too small. They are probably just using it for some nefarious scheme,” Wazsh explained his thoughts.
“I will try to find out more and if it is as you say help you stop her. I have to go now and deal with my own issues,” Duncan replied.
Wazsh nodded and they parted company.
Duncan came to his room and got out of his clothes and under the blanket. He checked his time off and it was at 4 hours 29 minutes.
“I hope it’s enough,” he mumbled as he activated the transfer.
Breathing in the air filled with the smell of antiseptics he knew he was back even before he opened his eyes. He quickly pressed the button for calling a nurse which he knew from the time his father was at the hospital.
A few moments later a nurse showed up.
“Mr. Russel you are awake. Is there anything wrong?” she asked.
“No. Everything is alright. I want to get discharged,” Duncan said in a hurry.
The nurse visibly frowned. “Are you sure? I can call the doctor for you to do the discharge papers but I am not sure that’s wise in your condition,” she tried to reason with Duncan.
“Yes, I am bloody sure. Let me out of here,” he thought.
“Yes, please call him,” was what Duncan replied.
The nurse was unpleased but she left to fetch the doctor and the paperwork.
Duncan picked up his phone and called the taxi service he found on google. He thought about using Über but his prepaid credit cards were too broke for that. He explained to the dispatcher he will need a ride in half an hour to up to an hour and a half and that he will gladly pay for the waiting time. They didn’t bite and hung up on him.
He called another service and this one was actually willing to send a driver to wait for him.
“They must have a slow day or a driver nearby,” he thought.
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The admitting doctor finally came to his room.
“Hello, again Mr. Russel. I hear you want to leave us?” Dr. Crenshaw asked.
Duncan nodded, “Hi again, I have some urgent business to attend to. If you could just get me my discharge papers that would be great.”
“More urgent than your health?” the doctor asked.
“Yes. How about those papers?” Duncan asked again.
The doctor frowned before nodding, “Alright but let me first tell you what the CT and MRI tests told us. First I have to tell you that you don’t seem to be in any immediate danger or I would not let you out of this hospital today. The MRI and CT showed a sort of veil over your cerebral lining which seems to somehow interfere with your signal processing in the brain. I studied around two dozen similar cases all across the world and none were fatal or permanent. At least the patients didn’t do follow-ups. It’s a good thing it does not interfere with your autonomous nervous system and you are breathing normally. Do you have anyone to take care of you at your place of residence?” the doctor explained.
Duncan quickly thought of an answer, “Yes, my girlfriend will take care of me.”
“She does not go to work?” the doctor asked.
Duncan frowned before answering, “It’s OK. I will just stay in bed when she is off at work. I can usually tell when I am going to sleep.”
“You do?” the doctor replied with surprise and scribbled on his tablet.
“Yes. It just happened at an inconvenient time when I was on a bus last time. It has been a while since I had a spell,” Duncan continued with his lie.
“Alright. I am not allowed to keep you against your wishes anyway. Please refrain from driving or operating machinery. Keep company whenever possible. That is all I am afraid I can advise you,” the doctor replied in frustration.
“Thank you, doctor Crenshaw,” Duncan replied.
“Oh. your memory is rather good. That’s reassuring. I will get the nurses to bring your discharge papers as soon as possible. Is there anything else I can do for you?” the doctor asked.
“Do you know the nurse who paid for my fare?” Duncan asked after a thought.
“Yes. That would be nurse Miller. She is at the front desk. You can stop by when you are discharged,” the doctor replied.
Duncan nodded and got up from his bed and tried to unplug himself from all the monitoring devices making a mess of cables.
“You are in a real hurry I see. I will let the nurses know and they will help you. Goodbye. I hope I never see you again,” the doctor said with a smile and started leaving.
“Same here,” Duncan replied with a smile as he got the joke.
Soon a nurse came in and unplugged the cords attached to his forehead, his finger, and his chest.
“Do you need any further assistance? If not I will fetch a wheelchair now,” she asked.
Duncan knew it was hospital policy to discharge patients to the door ridding wheelchairs to avoid being sued and he nodded.
He quickly got dressed and sat on his hospital bed after taking the envelope with the money and taking out $200. The nurse didn’t take long to bring the wheelchair and he sat on it.
She started pushing him when Duncan said, “Could we take a stop at the front desk? I need to talk to nurse Miller.”
“We are going there anyway. You have your discharge papers to sign,” she quickly replied.
Duncan shook his head at his stupidity and they drove off.
“Beth he says he wants to speak with you,” the nurse said to a woman in the same uniform who looked to be around thirty.
She was typing something on her computer and replied, “Just a moment.”
The other nurse took some prepared papers and a pen and gave them to Duncan to sign. He understood what they were since they were the same as he got when he got his ankle broken.
He signed the dotted lines where the nurse pointed and gave the papers back.
“What is it?” nurse Miller said and looked over.
“It’s you, Duncan!” she exclaimed
Duncan had a look of surprise on his face at the greeting but managed to ask, “Do I know you?”
“No, but I know you. Well, I know your mother a lot better. She was my teacher in highschool and helped me a lot. Last time I saw the both of you was at your fathers funeral,” she replied and saw the expression in Duncan’s eyes change from surprise to sorrow.
“You attended?” was all Duncan could muster.
She nodded. “I was home from nursing school at the time and heard about what happened. I knew your father too. He and your mother gave me a lift from school sometimes. Your father was a lovely man,” she explained.
“They let me out for a day from the juvenile hall for the funeral,” Duncan explained with a sigh.
“I heard from your mother what you did and why. You deserved better than to be stuck in that hole for two years. Why didn’t you return home?” she asked.
“My home was gone. I could not face my mother after everything I put her through,” Duncan said and sighed.
She shook her head and before she replied, “You are wrong about that.”
Duncan looked at her sternly but held his tongue before he asked, “You paid for my cab fare?”
“Yeah. I recognized you from the funeral and confirmed it when we found your wallet. Forget about it. I owe your mother at least that much,” she replied.
“No. My debts are my own. Take this and keep the change,” Duncan replied and gave her a $100 bill.
“This is too much. Please take it back,” she protested.
“Visit my mother if you can when you are back home. I am sure she could use the company,” he replied and motioned the other nurse to take him out of the hospital. Nurse Miller stood there with the money and sighed as they crossed the double door entrance.
There was a cab parked not far away and Duncan checked his time off. It was at 3 hours 43 minutes. Plenty of time.
Duncan stood up from the wheelchair and thanked the nurse and made his way over to the cab. There was an african american taxi driver leaning against the hood of the car smoking a cigarette.
“Are you waiting for Duncan Russel?” he asked.
“Yeah.Finally. I was thinking the bloody dispatcher sent me on another wild goose chase,” the cab driver replied as he put out the cigarette.
“Thank you for waiting and don’t forget to split the tip with her,” Duncan replied.
The driver looked at him suspiciously and shook his head. Looking at Duncan’s clothes he expected he would bargain for a lesser rate sooner than give him a tip.
“Sure. Where to?” he asked.
“Worthington boulevard 39,” Duncan replied.
The driver had a disturbed expression, shook his head and started muttering to himself. Probably something about his impression of Duncan and that he will never see that promised tip or probably even the cab fare.
Duncan looked at him and presented him with a fifty dollar bill before saying, “The rest you get, when you get me there.”
The expression on the taxi drivers face changed immediately and he started the car with excitement.
“Sure thing. I am George by the way,” the cab driver said.
“Duncan,” he replied and nodded, that he understood.