Pink Planet

Chapter Five

Dencil Macbeth falls asleep on the night before the launch, in truth, very quickly after Green; he does worry very much, but as Icey contemplates the course of their future, Green drifts towards something strange and Valania dreams of launching time, Dencil finally resolves his mind in that the course he's set is the one that is right, and everything fades after that.

He wakes up and falls out of his sheets as he hears a thump above his bed; he falls asleep briefly then gets up again and leaves the room, but the sky is already bright. Green is gone, and soon Icey is stumbling down behind him.

"What's up, man?" Dencil asks worriedly as Icey trips and falls then stumbles back up; when he looks at Dencil with glazed eyes, he stares at his trembling hands and feels himself fading in and out.

"I don't know, man," Icey says, "I just can't stay awake somehow."

"Come on," Dencil says, and helps him to his feet, and laying the man's arm around his shoulder, he helps him down the hall.

Icey's condition improves with food- or with time- Dencil and Icey can barely tell. Valania is there for a while, Icey thinks; does she have food? He doesn't think so, and Dencil is getting water and can't verify. When Icey is done eating, the man feels much clearer, but Valania is nowhere to be seen.

Ampersa is there, indeed, and she eats a stack of pancakes with maple syrup, Dencil eats syrupy french toast sticks with cream, and Icey looks down and sees that for some reason he's eating thin air. That's when he gets his food, Dencil looking concerned at his facial expression but letting him go (as he didn't see the man spooning at nothing); neither did Ampersa see his empty plate, and she eats only sparingly. Dencil and Icey speak, Icey with more and more fervor as he eats food, and a lot of it; only after two plates full, the second really full, he's done.

Ampersa finally looks up at Dencil and Icey, and smiles at them and waves as she heads for the women's wing, and Dencil and Icey nod and head towards the men's wing, brushing their teeth and heading off for activities.

"Where do you think Green is?" Dencil asks Icey, and Icey frowns, returning the pitched tennis ball, nearly missing it and shaking his head.

"I don't know," he says. "Green, you sure you didn't see Valania?"

"I'm Dencil," Dencil says, and Icey frowns. "Icey, you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," Icey says, shaking his head, "Just really tired for some reason," and as if admitting it fixed the problem with the next return he felt awakened, as if breathing cool air on a summer day.

At 11:00 PM, Green does show up, face pale and beaded with sweat and picking up a racket to hit a ball against the wall in the court next to Icey and Dencil. Dencil, wiping the sweat off his brow, goes to get water without mentioning the doctor's absence; Icey, however, looked over and walked up to him, and when Dencil came back he listened to what they said.

"I don't know, Icey, I had a strange dream," Green says, dragging his fingers down his cheeks and blinking himself awake. "I think we left in the morning for the mission, and then... and then..."

"Tell me, Green," Icey says, but Dencil holds him back, peering into the doctor's face and the pale skin and newly sunken eyes.

"Green," Dencil says, suspicion rising, "Have you been taking opium?"

Green blinks and stumbles back, for a second considering that maybe in fact he had but then, reaffirming that he wasn't crazy and he didn't just forget things, shook his head and opened his mouth. "Of course not, Dencil, you can take my readings. I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm doing." Sure, I used to, he adds to himself, but you know you can trust me.