In The Orbit (Part I)

40. Strom

We get to the hospital, and they ask for phone numbers for legal guardians. I give them my aunt's and not my parents'. I don't really feel like having them know I ran away. They would flip out, and also I need to give my aunt a chance to explain what the heck is going on.

They rewarm our extremities, and the damaged skin blisters a bit. Kellina's doctor says that if she hadn't been wearing my socks, her feet would have gotten so much more frostbitten and might have had to be amputated. We sit in our rooms for about thirty minutes. Then my aunt walks in the door.

"Strom. Do you even know how scared I was to get a call from a random hospital in Washington saying that my nephew who is supposed to be IN SPACE?!"

I know when I need to keep my mouth shut.

"Why are you here? Was this some kind of messed up experiment?"

I decide I should just tell the truth.

"Auntie, they have been so manipulative. They control every aspect of my life. I can't trust anyone, because of all my suspicions. I feel like there is some kind of... underlying evil driving the whole program." I pause and look at my aunt. She is deep in thought, but she waves her hand to tell me to go on.

"We've been there for three weeks. It was so random. One of the officers demanded to know all about my thumbs. And they said I'd have to get them removed for investigation. I can't just get them removed. It doesn't work like that! There are nerve endings and stuff threaded through them! I had to just get out. Nothing made sense, and my thumbs are so important to me."

"I see," says my aunt. Neither of us says anything for a few minutes.

"Can you just tell me why they are so controlling?"

"That is just the way they are. You guys are going to be basically spying for us. They need your ultimate loyalty and that you will do anything they say. They have to do this. You need to be completely trusted. Do you see why they need to investigate your prostheses?"

I slowly nod. "Is there any way they can do that without taking them off?"

My aunt thinks for a few minutes.

"No, I don't think so. They will most likely issue you a new set of prostheses. But, would you feel better if we did it here, at a real hospital?"

My thoughts are rushing. Ideas about how to get out of this are running through my head at top speed. I nod again.

"That would make me feel a lot better. Especially if we can get a specialist like the one who made my first ones."

My aunt nods and smiles. "We can do that. There is a specialist up in Seattle that can make ones to get approved. I'll let you rest, and by tomorrow I will have gotten this approved and we can get it all over with so we can send you back up there as soon as possible.

"Hey, auntie, one last thing. Can you not mention this to my parents?"

"Of course. No need to worry them."

She hugs me and leaves.

A nurse comes in a bit later, and I ask her if I can talk to Kellina. Apparently she is with her brother. Her parents are on Satellite XVIII. I say I need to talk to her brother too. And I do. He will help me get this prosthetics issue under control.

I walk into Kellina's room.

"Hey," I say. "I'm Strom," I say to her brother.

"Benjamin," he says. "Kellina was just telling me about your situation."

"Yeah," I say. "I think I have a sort of solution. It's getting done here, so if I can get the new ones and the old ones somehow switched..."

"Oh, really? I was trying to come up with ideas of how to do that if you were on the satellite, but this makes it way easier. We can get new ones made easy with the old special features and also make it identical to the new ones you will get. Who is your specialist?"