Never Dead: Beyond Nightmares

XXV

Three hours, thought Gavin despairingly. Three hours, I've been trudging through this godforsaken desert... But then he though of what he had just said and laughed, just as he sank to his feet in exhaustion and dehydration. Godforsaken... yeah, right. He was just trying to ensure that only those devoted to Him could get to His Monolith. And I am devoted.

Just then he heard a noise above him. He looked up at the oddly-shimmering sky and saw – what? – no, it couldn't be – but yes, it was – the Tyr Monolith... with wings, flapping happily through the air, glowing beautifully as it drifted into space toward the UMC Jericho. Something wasn't quite right there... but no, it seemed perfectly legitimate to him. At least as legitimate as Fred was.

Hang on, what was that? How was Fred any less legitimate than this flying Monolith? Or any more? It was all real, of course.

But... there's just something off, something not quite right about both Fred and the Monolith. Something that, if he could only put his tongue on it, might solve his problems...

No, but of course, it was all real. Nothing to doubt in this universe! God just must have decided that Gavin's workers were too incompetent to remove the Monolith without damaging it. And even with the strict limitations I imposed upon them regarding mining tools... no plasma allowed, no less. I must have damn incompetent workers. At that moment, Gavin looked back to the surface of Tyr and saw, on the distant horizon, a smudge of what looked to be... buildings.

Very good, very good... that must be the main colony. Gavin had figured out earlier that he had crash-landed on one of the more distant mining outposts on Tyr, one tasked with trying to see what was below the surface of the planet; whether or not it had self-sustaining properties, or if it would be dependent upon inter-stellar trade. Gavin hadn't had any reports from any of the outposts. Incompetence is everywhere, thought Gavin with a small sigh. No doubt they had wasted all the equipment and funds he had given them on booze and women.

Gavin had been struggling to rise again to his feet since he sank to them, but to no avail. He simply hadn't the strength necessary to do so. His throat was parched, his stomach growled, and his limbs were leaden. He could not go on, but he knew he had to – or die.

Finally, his vision popped black and white in the corners of his eyes, and his head spun in ridiculous margins. His vision began to darken, and he fell face-first into the sand.

When he finally awoke, he did so to the strange sensation of being dragged. He looked down and saw the sand go by him, and then looked again, doing a double-take; he was strapped to a hastily-made wooden sled, and being dragged on it across the desert! He craned his neck to see who was dragging him, and did yet another double-take.

"Fred?" Gavin asked skeptically. "How the hell did you find me?"

"A true brother always knows. By the way, bud, you can't keep almost dying. I hate having to rescue you all the time. Makes me divert from the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing now," Fred replied.

This this normally wouldn't strike Gavin as something a brother would say, but his brain was so fuzzy now he didn't notice, instead merely nodding and apologizing. Suddenly, the pops on the corner of his vision appeared again, but this time they were the weird glowing white symbols instead of the black and white dots. Gavin closed his eyes and breathed deeply until they went away.

"So, Gavin, what happened?" Fred asked, seeming to want to pass the time while he dragged his brother across the desert.

"Well... I got dehydrated. And didn't have enough food. I still am thirsty and hungry. Or, well... no, I'm not. How odd," Gavin replied.

Fred just winked slyly at him. "We should be at the main colony within a few hours. I want you to sleep, okay, Gavin? It'll make it easier for me to do this. Just... sleep."

With that last word, the symbols appeared again, except this time they weren't popping or in the edges of his eyes; they dominated his vision, swirling around, crowding him, growing until all he could see was just pure white – and then black.

He awoke a few times over the next few hours, each time seeing the sky, the three ships in orbit, the sand beneath him, and the pleasant feeling of him being pulled across it, before each time Fred whispered gently to him, "sleep," and he did, until the last time he awoke it was all the same except he was surrounded by buildings as well. This time he stayed awake, as Frank did not command him back to unconsciousness.

"We're in the main colony, aren't we?" Gavin asked.

"Yes," Fred replied.

"Where are the Lurkers? Scared."

And then Gavin blacked out again. When he woke again, he was strapped to yet another medical table, completely alone, in a locked medical room. As he regained consciousness, the straps receded back into the table and Gavin swung his legs off it and sat up. His head complained loudly for a moment, and he put his hands around his skull as if trying to strangle the pain, but then it passed and he stood. He looked around the room and found, on a nightstand next to the table, his plasma saw.

Thanks, Fred, he thought wryly as he picked it up and activated it to be sure it still worked. It did.

He moved around the room and found a semi-hidden heap of dried rehydratable food containers and jugs of water. On it was a single sheet of paper with writing on it clearly in Frank's hand. It read:

Dear Gavin,

Hey, it's Frank. Sorry to leave you abandoned again, but I really can't spare much time for you right now, honest. It's really important.

Anyway, this food and water should be enough to keep you alive for a few days. Stay in the medical bay until it runs out – I accidentally stirred up the Lurkers considerably when I left, and there's no way in hell you're getting out of there alive with how it's like out there.

The med bay is well-barricaded. There are no doors that will lead in anymore, and the only way out is through Exit 4B as marked on the emergency exit map by the door in your room.

So, you can go anywhere you like in the med-bay. It's totally safe. Stay in there until your food and water run out. There's a plasma gun in the basement, but it's all dark down there; no power to the cellars. I rerouted the generator so its limited capabilities will be directed only toward your comfort – like the spa rooms and the entertainment centers and all that. There's even a luxury suite in the place. For a colony-surface med-bay, it's totally decked out. There's a flashlight in the lounge anyway, so you should be good. It's low on battery, though. Sorry. Best I could do.

Hope you don't die a horribly painful death while I'm away (I really do need you, Gavin)!

-Fredrick Borne...

Obviously the med-bay was all decked-out – he'd designed himself, for himself! It would be where he would stay if he ever went down to the surface – that way, he'd never be more than a hundred meters away from a highly trained professional doctor at any time in the building.

Of course, that wasn't the case anymore, but Gavin would take what he could get from the bay. At least Fred had cleaned out the Lurkers from the place. He was glad to have a place of respite after all of his ordeals for the past few days – traitors on-board blowing the ship up, – That was how that happened, right? – crash-landing on the surface of the planet, getting his arm torn to shreds, becoming dehydrated in the desert... ending up here seemed to be God's way of saying, "You've been through a lot recently, here's my gift to my most dedicated follower."

He couldn't wait to relax.

***

The End!