ATALIS

CHAPTER 11: WAKING UP

"You must understand, they won't leave her. Any of them. They refuse to leave her side."

I gain an awareness of a voice talking. I blink a few times and open my eyes. Above me is a light, which shines far too brightly above me. I close my eyes and grunt, raising my hands upward to shield my vision from the light.

My body is better. I don't feel pain. I run a full diagnostic of all my systems and wait for that to finish while I listen to what sounds to be a nurse talking to someone else. And then, I feel something move on my chest. I open my eyes again to find one of the monkeys sitting on my chest.

The monkey looks at me and chitters, then smacks my cheeks with it's paws. I laugh and the monkey looks around. I blink a few times and allow my vision to clear, then look around the room.

The room is definitely a medical bay. I glance around the room and see the nurse talking to the Captain on the far side of the room. The Captain glances my way and then quickly walks into the room, heading for my side. The monkey reaches up toward him and jumps onto the Captain's shoulders, much to his surprise.

"Hayden. Thank God. You're awake." He kneels down beside me, a big smile on his face. The smile falters as the monkey climbs up to sit on his head. "This thing doesn't have rabies, or interstellar rabies, or ticks, or lice, or anything like that—right?" He glances over at the nurse, who shakes her head.

"No sir. Nothing like that. They're remarkably clean. I'm very impressed with them and their behavior."

"How long was I out?" I ask, realizing that I'm not on the Godspeed. I can hear the wind whistling outside.

"Twenty-two Earth days. There were a lot of complications. First we had to find you, then we had to get you out of there. There were lots of those scorpion creatures. You really were in the only safe area in that temple place. It opened up and became truly an impressive structure. There's an entire city down there. More on that later. For now, I'm glad you're awake. Our goal to begin colonizing the planet is nearly complete. We just have to map a few more areas before we begin sending people down in large groups."

"An entire city?" The monkey jumps back onto me and I reach a hand up. The monkey grabs my hand and puts my hand on it's head and I pat it, which it seems to appreciate.

"Yeah. The other hard part about getting you out of there was these little fellas." He gestures to the monkey, and then across the room, where I look up and see 12 other monkeys sitting on the far wall. They hop down and then quickly cross the room and head toward me, where they jump up onto my stomach and chest, or remain on the ground below. Their high-pitched chittering fills the room.

"I killed one of the scorpions. They sort of helped me." I look at my right hand, which is now covered in light scars.

"Candice killed one of them too." The Captain seems impressed. "Nathan apparently went down and it was just Candace up. She not only took care of everyone for two days alone, but she managed to kill one of the scorpions that attacked them. Got a nasty scar on her face."

"Is she okay now?" I ask, sitting up, to the chagrin of the monkeys.

"She's fine. Though she wants to keep the scar." The Captain shrugs, and now that I'm sitting up, he hugs me. I wrap my arms around him.

"I'm glad you're safe, Hayden. I want you to know that. The road ahead is paved with challenges, but I know with you, we're going to make it."

I appreciate him. I hug him tightly and then let go, gesturing to the monkeys in the room.

"So... they just won't leave me?"

"Nope. That's why you're not on the Godspeed. We're still on the planet, in a tent not far from the temple. This is probably going to be one of our initial landing sites. Not only is this the archeological find of possibly all time, but it's also just a great landing place in general and a good place to get away from the strong winds in this area."