Coming from Nowhere

CHAPTER SIX

After the group left Feiss, it was going to take them three days to make it to Simmstiniga. JD had been placed in a room with Chris so that she would be comfortable and be able to keep an eye on him. Dale continued Chris's care while on the ship, and he was in the room at least twice a day changing his IV bag. Chris was getting stronger and healthier, but he was still a long way from being one hundred percent. At least he was out of the danger zone.

"Is everything OK?" JD folded her arms over her chest and propped herself against the wall.

"Sure. This is just a precaution. He's far from being completely healed, and he may have overexerted himself," Dale fastened the bag to the top bunk, "so I'm hooking this up so he doesn't have to strain his body anymore."

"How long do you think it will take before he's better?"

He placed his hands on his hips. "A few months before he's one hundred percent, but the cuts and bruises should be healed in about a week." He stepped forward and examined her face. "We'll be able to take your stitches out in a week. How are your ribs feeling?"

"It's still painful to breathe, and this wrap isn't helping matters much, but I'll live."

Dale smiled. "You know, Chris is going to be asleep for a while, and I was going to go to the mess hall for some coffee." He nodded. "You can come with me if you want."

On the way to the mess hall, Dale explained how the three rooms like Chris's were originally designed to house the pilots and copilots, while the crew bunked in a large room on the bottom floor. He stopped talking when they descended the ladder at the end of the hall and stepped down into a large storage area. There were doors, one each to JD's left and right, a few crates on the floor, but nothing else. Dale pointed to the door on the left and identified it as the crew's quarters, explaining that since the crew was so small, they used that room for extra storage and everyone slept upstairs. They then went into a room with four long tables and benches set in a square pattern; there were two windows with counters and a door to the left that led to the kitchen, and undecorated silver walls formed the other two sides. McKinnon, Alex, and Maxx were all seated at the table next to the window with steaming cups of coffee. JD followed Dale across the floor and sat down next to Alex, across from McKinnon and Maxx, who nodded in JD's direction. Dale placed a cup in front of her, then took a seat with the other two men. It was silent, so she sipped at her coffee. Alex finished half of his before he folded his hands on the table and leaned forward.

"We're all aware of the trouble we've gotten ourselves into." Alex took a deep breath and averted his gaze to the table. "We can no longer hide the fact that we are traitors to the Martian system." He turned and looked at JD. "I don't expect you to understand any of this, but just know, what we did by taking you out of the school was an act of treason."

JD glanced from Alex to the three other men, hoping someone would explain what was going on; none of their expressions changed from the mundane stares. She looked back at Alex. "What are you talking about?"

Alex took a drink of his coffee. "JD, you're special. There is something about you that Roger is trying to use to construct the perfect soldier. He would never harm you, but he will kill anyone who gets in his way. Chris knows how special you are, and he is trying to keep Roger from exploiting you to raise an army. He wants to leave Mars, JD. He wants to conquer other planets."

JD's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What is so special about me? Does it have to do with my past?"

Alex nodded. "I think so. Although I don't know what it is. Chris and I first met in the army...about ten years ago."

"Chris never told me he was in the army."

"We saw and did some really terrible things. We don't like to talk about it. Anyway, Roger was also in our unit, and on one particular assignment, we were sent to Earth to squelch a political uprising. Roger was always overly ambitious, and while we were there, he stumbled across some highly classified documents and used the information in them to move up to a position of power." He shook his head. "I'm sure you already know this, but after Earth all but destroyed itself, there was a mass migration to other habitable planets in the galaxy. Mars was populated the fastest because it was the closest. They set the government up sort of like a democracy with one elected leader and two houses, but it didn't work very well. There were too many diverse cultures that had never and didn't know how to function in that kind of system. Civil, political, and religious war grew out of hand and eventually, martial law was enforced. Mars has been in a police state ever since." He finished the liquid in his cup.