The gentle hum of the engine brought me back to consciousness. I opened my eyes and saw the backdrop of stars and darkness from outer space through the large window on the ceiling. I sat up and looked around. The walls were shiny and glimmered like the outside of the spaceship, but two large circular windows were evenly placed in this room as well. The room was quite small and contained two cots, covered in white linens. This appeared to be some type of resting area. I was alone in here and I wondered where that man had gone.
Realizing I was now able to breathe, I could feel something on my face. My fingers drew forward and felt a thin, smooth mask covering my nose and mouth. Had that man done this? Was it helping me? Panic rose inside me and I wondered what this foreign object on my face was actually doing.
Quickly, I tore it off me and threw it across the room, but once again, I began to choke and heave, unable to breathe. I fell to my knees and clawed at the ground, desperate for air, when suddenly the doors to the room slid open.
They revealed the man with the silver eyes, who looked on at me in a panic. His gaze drew to the mask on the other side of the room and with speed, he grabbed it before kneeling at my side. He brought it back to my face with eyes that urged me to allow it. Desperate to breathe, I nodded.
With the return of the mask, I slumped over in relief as air once again filled my burning lungs.
"Ke st ciendo?" the words flowed from his mouth in a questioning tone, but it was completely foreign.
I shook my head. "I don't understand you," I replied, but his eyes narrowed in confusion as well. We couldn't understand each other.
He stood up and motioned for me to follow him, but when I stood, pain shot through my leg and I fell once more. With the absence of adrenaline, the pain now sank in.
He again knelt down next to me and felt my leg. I squealed in agony as he squeezed it. Surely something was broken.
He sighed and muttered another strange phrase, "St froto."
Without a word, he scooped me up in his arms and I gasped in surprise. What was he doing?
He carried me through the doors and I saw the main hall where I had made my entrance on to the ship. We entered the control room and he placed me down on the second pilot's seat.
On his wrist, he wore a watch that looked much like a smartwatch, but when he tapped it, a hologram screen floated above. I watched as he sorted through strange symbols and diagrams until he landed on one. It appeared to be a frequency bar and it fluttered ever so slightly upon capturing sound. He held it out towards me.
"Yaba," he said, motioning towards the bar.
I looked at him in confusion. I didn't understand what he wanted from me.
"Yaba," he said again, but this time he pointed to his mouth.
"You want me to speak?" I asked as the bar fluttered strongly now and a red line scanned the frequency before flashing through several different letters and symbols before finally landing on something I recognized. "English."
I watched as he tapped the word and small yellow lights gathered at his finger and formed into a small orb. It remained on his fingertip as he moved it up to his temple, where the orb was absorbed and his temple remained aglow only for a moment.
He looked down at me again and smiled. "I suppose that's better, now isn't it?"
My jaw dropped. "H-how did you...?"
"I've downloaded your language into my memory so that we may communicate," he said casually.
My eyes were wide while I tried to form words. So many questions, but none were coming out.
Suddenly, a bright flash in the distance caught my attention and I looked forward out the window. Before me was my giant blue planet, but I could see fire erupting and smoke billowing. It tremored and a cracked formed down the middle as it began to tear apart. Lava and fire seemed to ooze from the wound. Large chunks were breaking away and floating off into space. My planet was falling apart.
"It's gone, "I murmured the only words I was able to say.