Visitation - Exodus (book 2 of 2)

The darkness was all around. I was warm and wherever this was it did not matter, I did not care?

I had sunk willingly, I tried to recall my last thoughts or did I? This existence was comfortable. I was most pleasantly warm. I was deep somewhere. I felt nothing physical, I had no pain. The bright figures had not come, or had they?

Had I passed on?

Surely I had died in those last moments as the stars shone bright in the blackness? No, somewhere I had been met by welcoming strangers, priests, doctors or something else that I could not identify. This had to be the remnants of a strange dream that sat in the back of my mind; it would not go away.

Sink back into this strange sleep of the same darkness; yes sink into it, who cares if there are no bright spots of light in wondrous display. I cared for my comrades but what had become of them; were they with me somewhere?

I admired and respected the Senior Keepers; were they here or waiting for me somewhere? Had the two figures of my imagination been Senior Keepers that I had not seen previously? I wondered.

I let the warm darkness take me again. I had no pain; that seemed to be long since gone. I did not sink any further and I did not go back into sleep. Was this somewhere between an eternal sleep and living or was it another and very different kind of experience?

I was thinking, of that I was aware. Was this some sort of dream within a sleep that I had no control over, neither the sleep nor the dream?

“Oh those lilting strains of the Merry Widow; Franz Lehar, how lovely to the ear and gentle on the soul,” came to prominence within my mind yet again. I had thought those words before somewhere and they fitted the sounds coming to my ears. I was hearing them, wasn’t I, or was this yet more dreaming? Nevertheless, the sound kept coming, a gentle and lilting melodic sound of such beautiful music. Oh such a dream as this or were my thoughts bringing to reality a sense of the music?

“That had to be the Palm Court Orchestra playing as it did in memories from my childhood. What a lovely way to pass on, in a soft warm bed with soft pillows, a loose quilt and beautiful, gentle music.”

I had thought that I was in a soft bed because this was how it felt. I was coming to believe that these were pleasant dreams or recollections of memories of a real occasion in time so long ago.

“The Palm Court Orchestra was in the 50’s during my childhood.”

“I’ve said this before somewhere, I’m sure. A few moments ago wasn’t it?”

I had to be dreaming, I heard myself dreaming, I sensed myself dreaming, I was dreaming wasn’t I, yet I did not know? I was thinking to myself, perhaps. Perhaps I was dreaming of recalling another dream, perhaps, perhaps. I had to be thinking not dreaming, I could detect myself thinking, I was thinking wasn’t I, or was I still dreaming within a dream?

“You can definitely hear the gentle music,” I found myself saying, or was this more thinking out loud to myself?

“I believe he can hear the music,” I heard another voice echoing mine and it was not in my thoughts.

Was I speaking to myself in this halfway place or was I dreaming that I was speaking or perhaps I was dreaming that I was thinking that I was speaking? I was confusing myself greatly but I heard the words most certainly and they were not my words. I was hopelessly confused, yet pleasantly so.

“He is showing signs, I believe he will be with us shortly,” the same disembodied voice intoned. This wasn’t me thinking, it was from someone or somewhere else. I was more than hopelessly confused. Was I awaiting the moment to move on, would the shining tall figures now come for me, is this the finality? Were the two figures I recollected vaguely these same figures who told me to go back, back to where, to here?

The darkness seemed to relax somehow and started to change from blackness to an uneven greyish sort of misty lines, a series of misty vertical lines. There was movement, a slow movement of dark figures, I guessed, across in front of the misty grey.

“Is he with us?” I heard somewhat clearly, yet a little muffled, but I understood the words. This had to be the presence of guides, someone to take me to the next place; the Other Place ?

The greyish, vertical mistiness started to resolve itself into some sort of intermittent brightness amongst the grey. The music welled to a prominence, definitely the Palm Court Orchestra and my eyes started to focus but the figures were still silhouettes of darkness against the light and grey. This was beautiful, it was relaxing, what a way to pass on.

I let myself come to a full realisation of where I was.

I was laid on my side in some sort of bed; the quilt laid over me was warm and relaxing.

“Strange,” I thought most clearly now.

“I’m passing on, I feel no pain from my injuries, and I’m in a comfortable warm bed and with my favourite music playing. However, what should I know? This only happens once and nobody returns to tell of the process, do they?”

I had a need to query myself.

“I hear your thoughts Ian and I assure you that you are not passing on,” one of the dark shapes spoke, really spoke.

A cold shower just engulfed me and I shuddered at the effect.

“My thoughts can be heard, with a reply, a spoken reply,” I definitely thought to myself.

“That is correct, Ian. I can hear your thoughts,” a voice from one of the dark shapes responded again.

“Try, you must try, Ian, come back to us,” another voice from a different direction addressed me.

“Try a little harder and you will be back with us.”

“What’s this fantasy that’s leading me a dance? Who or what are the dark shapes, where have I been sent? Where are the tall shining figures? Who’s doing the talking?”

The confusion that had started as a unknown now seemed a certainty and was hurting. The more it hurt, the more I slipped away from the darkness and into this reality, if that’s what it was, or somewhere else perhaps.

“Try letting in some light,” the first dark shaped voice spoke.

The grey vertical lines seemed to separate slightly and I was suddenly exposed to a bright shimmering light.

“Is this where the tall, bright beings existed, was I to join them now?”

“No Ian, you are still with us and you are going nowhere, so come on, please try to wake up. Look at me, I’m the one talking to you, I’m real, I’m of this world and so are you.”

It was the first dark shape speaking again.

The cold shower insisted upon saturating the thoughts in my head yet again, but this time there was a sense of reality that accompanied the sensation. My eyes were sticky but I managed to force them further open; the bright light hurt and I flinched, turning my head away. I had opened my eyes. I had moved my head. This was real.

“If I am living, is it in the world that I had known, was this not an experience of passing on, was I not in some in-between place?”

“You are in the real world Ian,” I was told again. “You are alive and well even if you have been extensively repaired,” first voice started explaining.

There was something in his voice that carried with it a certain intonation that was telling me that this was most real. I was alive. I had survived death, if that made sense.

“Where was I, what was going on?”

“Good questions, Ian. Keep trying, reach for reality, pull yourself together,” first dark voice seemed to be doing all the talking.

I reached for my eyes with both hands which was a real effort. I rubbed them gingerly. They were sticky and a little sore but the rubbing seemed to help as light came flooding in to replace the light show brought on from the pressure of knuckles against eyes. My arms ached from the effort. I became aware of my surroundings.

I was half sat up in bed, against an inclined set of pillows. I managed to roll off my side onto my back, or did I. The sensation of helping hands being removed, when I had not felt them in the first place, told me the correct story. I was in a room that was clearly not a hospital; a large room surrounded on three sides by full length curtains, of cotton weave or something similar. Daylight was finding a partial route through the weave, the vertical grey of my earlier impressions, and a slight opening in those directly opposite was providing the blinding light.

Either side of my bed was a nurse; I recognised this from their uniforms and the particular smell of disinfectant or something very similar. They were gently smiling as I gathered my senses.

“Hello Ian, remember me?” the nurse to my left asked.

I turned my head to look at her straight in the face making a very easy eye-to-eye contact; I felt a flicker of recognition. "I am more than a nurse Ian and the last time we met it was back at the base; do you not remember?” she asked me.

Her face was familiar and so was her gingery coloured hair, but I couldn’t quite pin a name to her.

“Silena,” she offered.

Then I remembered her being at the meeting with all the base Seniors, that seemed so long ago, where I had gone through my ‘visions’ and also afterwards somewhere or other.

“She’s more than a nurse, she’s in psychiatry or something similar.”

The old grey stuff was making its own enquiries of itself and coming up with an answer.

“Quite correct,” she said.

“You have just read my thoughts, haven’t you,” I queried out loud.

I was speaking the words, not using my mental abilities. I tried to ‘think’ the same all over again but I now felt myself unable to do so, not without a supreme effort . I tried once more and while there was the sensation that I was possibly achieving what I wanted, it was not only noticeably weak but was edging into something almost painful.

“Correct again,” this time with a slight laugh.

“Your talent hasn’t deserted you Ian, but it has taken something of a battering. I did manage to hear your attempt but go easy, give it time, all your faculties will come back to normal eventually, perhaps sooner than you think, feel assured.”

“Thirsty Ian?” the nurse, or whatever she was on the other side of the bed, asked me, interrupting my train of thought, albeit a fairly weak one.

I managed to turn my attention to her by rolling over slowly with a stiff neck. It hurt somewhere and indeed everywhere, so that I could see her also.

“Please,” I offered and she poured out from a glass jug filling a small tumbler sat on the cabinet that was at the side of the bed. Before I could take a drink, a thousand thoughts hit my head with a vengeance and I tried verbalising them while running behind by an increasing margin.

“What happened on the craft leaving Mars? I was almost killed, was I not?” The first of the plethora came in an explosive flash somewhere in my head. “How did we make the Ark; is this the Ark I’m in now?”

The thoughts were starting to come thick and fast.

“Did Ivan die; my last sight of him tells me he did?” I questioned.

I wanted confirmation, to tie myself to at least one real event, albeit a dreadful one and there was a lot I needed confirmation of. “And what about John, my good friend John?”

“The Relic; what happened to it?”

“My family, where are my family; are they well?”

“This is the Ark isn’t it?”

“Did we get away; I guess we did but where are we now?”

“How long have I been here?”

I poured out the questions without waiting for any replies, despite the tiredness my efforts invoked. Something was definitely switching on upstairs or perhaps a panic was setting in. I had a desperate need to be told answers, of any sort, but they had to be true not imaginary. Unfortunately my horizontal frame did not have the same strength of recovery; I felt really weak physically. I needed desperately to sit up as remaining in this semi-prone position brought with it the urge to stay laid back and enter into another warm, deep sleep. I needed to wake up fully but to do so I had to sit up first.

  Both young ladies took me by my arms and gently, but forcibly, brought me to the sitting position and plumped up some pillows behind my back and head to keep me from falling over. Silena I recognised but the other ‘nurse’ I did not.

“This is Julsy,” Silena explained having read my thoughts yet again.

“I’m more of a regular nurse,” the other nurse offered.

I turned my head to face her

“Not like Silena who is gifted,” she finished with a smile.

My head started to clear but the questions would not go away. I had just awoken and I didn’t want my head swimming with loads of questions, nor answers but, yes I did. I also wanted to be quiet and gather my senses. It seemed that this was not going to be allowed by whatever was operating inside my head and I found myself yet again, hitting the ground running.

“The way I’m sat up in bed seems like I have been here only since last night. I remember being badly hurt and Shara saving me from falling through a big hole in the craft,” I verbalised which seemed to be less painful than trying to use the old thought processes.

Memories were coming back at a rapid pace and although they were adding to the sensation of being given too much to consider so soon, they did not continue to perturb me unduly. My head was switching on as sharply as I had awoken. I could not stop myself and the amount of questions was not that disturbing, but the lack of answers most definitely was. Perhaps I should pause to let the answers slowly catch up with the questions.

“What about Shara; did she make it?”

I couldn’t stop it even though I wanted to. My tongue was running away at speed with the thousand questions still bouncing around inside my suffering cranium. I needed answers but the more I asked the questions the less well I felt. I had to slow down. I now felt incredibly weak physically and guessed that somebody must have done a patch-up job on me.

The tumbler was offered to my lips by Julsy and I tried to lift my right hand as I might have done normally. It didn’t have the speed to catch up with the arm of the nurse. I sipped gratefully however and let my arm finally reach its target; Julsy’s arm.

My mouth was dry, or was that the result of the adrenalin rush as my senses responded to my waking, realising that I was alive and needing answers. The drink was familiar or possibly just similar to the juice that I had enjoyed on the base and of late, but how late, on the Ark. A few sips cleared the way for a small mouthful, which in turn led me to sip first of all and then to start to drink fully, the entire tumbler worth eventually.

The taste was not right but perhaps it had no need to be if I had been out of it for a while. Perhaps it was the smell of hospital disinfectant which seemed stronger than ever. Perhaps it was my sense of smell coming back fast.

“You can have another one, if you wish,” Silena chipped in.

It took no effort to say “Yes” and I was duly served by Julsy with another tumbler of the same chilled juice. This went down a little easier and slower than the first. The taste was still not as I recalled it, even allowing for the disinfectant smell. The pleasure of a dry throat being cleared was wonderful however.

“We shall leave it at that,” Silena instructed.

“Your next drink will be under the auspices of a Doctor. He has been advised that you have come round, as planned, and will be with you shortly. In the meantime, I am allowed to answer all the questions you have if I can do so. Let me start with some explanations that will help remove the anxiety you currently feel and stabilise your thinking. I think we can improve your sense of well being immediately by opening the curtains a little more to let some of the daylight in; are you up for that?”

I nodded and muttered, “Yes, whatever you think.”

The more I was now awake, the more my head was buzzing yet becoming confused with so many fresh questions. The more my head was engaging, the worse my body was feeling. I ached and my arms lacked any strength but I had to go for it, I had to pull myself out of this, whatever ‘this’ was.

Silena pulled back the curtains that were already slightly apart and the blast of bright light hurt badly; it caused me to shut my eyes tight, really tight. I took a few moments to accommodate it coming through my eyelids, but it still seemed over strong. Then I ventured to raise my lids gently to accept the dreadful brightness. Not a word was spoken by the nurses until at last I found that I could accept the visual onslaught.

“Are we ready now?” Silena enquired.

“Go for it,” I responded.

“But first,” I wanted an answer, “what happened to the two guys in the white robes of the Keepers or priests, whatever they’re called?”

The only response I received was querulous stares and a sense that I was being comforted in the experience of some delusional dream.

“You were very seriously injured in the escape from the alien craft on Mars,” Silena started, ignoring my question.

I wasn’t happy at this lack of a reply but what else could I do, I needed to move forward.

“A lot of bones were broken, some of your internal organs decided to shut down from the damage and you were slowly dying from asphyxiation as your suit was torn and losing air. Shara saved your life. She not only grabbed at the tear but by sharing her life force with you, you lived on. She came very close to losing her own life by these actions. You are very lucky it was her that was with you.”

I recalled the last moments on board the last craft and my experience of heading for death.

“Has she recovered from her ordeal?” I asked with some seriousness, now putting aside my previous request for an answer to the two figures.

I was looking for answers to another question beyond the last; my head was trying to race.

“A long time go,” Silena responded with no hint of surprise.

“A long time ago?” I queried repeating the words.

“How long ago is long ago?”

“Well that leads me into the next piece of information, Ian,” she went on. “This is only your second day in this room and in this bed.”

“Yes, but you used the words ‘a long time ago’,” I interrupted.

“Patience Ian, patience,” she came back at me.

“Let me get there in my own time.”

I was impatient to find out what ‘a long time ago’ meant and how long had I been in this bed? A tiredness was building within and I was certain that I could not go on indefinitely like this. I needed some answers before it was too late. Why was I thinking like this?

“The craft you were in avoided further contact with the alien ship”

I remembered that now, the terrific blast, Ivan’s demise, the big hole and falling back to the surface.

“You flew up to the Ark,” she continued, “where it docked safely. Unfortunately for poor Ivan, he had been killed in the attack and it was not him flying the craft that took you safely to the Ark.”

I had lost a good friend whom I had known from my earliest involvement with the Settlers; a man who taken great risks in the pursuance of the project and had given it all at the last. I was saddened by his loss and the tears welled up at the memory and came easily.

“But how?” I started. “Not how he died, I know that, but how did we make it to the craft with Ivan gone?”

“We think it was the fast action of the Keepers who re-energised the Relic,” Silena continued. “Or perhaps it re-energised itself; no-one was too sure. Somehow it realised the danger that you were all in and it took over control of the craft, but we are also still unaware of exactly how it did this.”

“You were immediately attended to by the medical staff on the Ark and you were rushed to the hospital section where the doctors there managed to keep you alive despite the massive injuries that you had sustained. Their work on you was, by the very nature of what they were treating, very slow and had to be carried out most patiently.”

Silena looked straight at me and I nodded simply to say that I was listening carefully. I glanced over to Julsy who simply raised her eyebrows with an accompanying smile.

“Silena knows all the answers,” Julsy told me almost as a confidence.

I wanted her to continue; I had a need to know. She had clearly read my mind again and continued in a matter of fact manner. “You were placed into and kept in a coma-like state within the Ark until the Mother Ship was located and everyone in the two Arks was transferred.”

“Two Arks were used?” I asked.

“Yes. The second one was definitely needed.” Silena responded. “In fact it brought itself into operation and stationed itself in the same orbit without any control from the pilots. You were the last to be transferred into the Ark,” she continued, “and as gently as possible. By then you had stabilised and been placed on the best life support equipment the Ark possessed. The two Arks journeyed outwards of the Solar System and eventually located the great Mother Ship. It took nearly six months to find them during which time you were kept alive.”

“Clearly,” Julsy added with a smile.

That little bit of humour was all that I needed for a pick up. It was strange how such a silly word could have such an effect.

“After everyone else and all the heavy work had been completed, you were transferred last of all into the Mother Ship but not until the medical people had confirmed the location and capabilities of the medical facilities on the Mother Ship. To your great benefit the facilities were much better than anticipated and they exceeded anything we had seen on the Arks or those in the destroyed base on Earth.”

Silena paused for breath and I took the opportunity to jump in again.

“But how long is a long time?” I queried.

Silena looked me straight in the eyes again and told me.

“In the Ark we travelled for nearly a year in the direction of where we, or rather the Ark’s controls, believed the Mother Ship to be. This was at the extreme of your Solar System well beyond the orbit of the small planetoid called Pluto.”

“Twelve months in a coma,” I asked rhetorically. “No wonder that I feel weak and tired.”

“Don’t jump ahead yet Ian, there’s a little more to come,” Silena cautioned.

“There was the further six months locating it properly, as I have just mentioned.”

“Both Arks disembarked into the Mother Ship successfully, including the injured and with yourself coming last after all others had been moved across,” she repeated her previous tale.

“Having been transferred, finally, to the medical facility it was found that there was sufficient and the most advanced of technical equipment that we could employ to keep you alive, albeit in a coma. Your damaged organs could be slowly and carefully rebuilt but that was going to take a tremendous amount of time, the medical teams spent many hours viewing the record information on the ship before attempting any of the processes. The repair of your broken bones was the easy part.”

“I have been advised that the re-growth of your liver was the hardest and the longest process, starting with a much damaged organ. It can re-grow to some extent of its own volition but you had split it into several parts and it was not capable of repairing that much damage. I cannot tell you the details of the process; I know it involved culturing stem cells not only from your own body but also from several of our kind, specifically from several selected people that were among the Mars survivors.”

“For the details of what was involved you will need to speak to the doctors.”

“But how long,” I persisted, “how long?” I was becoming frustrated and increasingly tired.

“You have been kept in the medical isolation areas until five days ago when it was decided to bring you out of the induced coma very slowly,” Silena continued.

“Including the time spent in the Arks, keeping you alive, and your time here in the Mother Ship until the decision to revive you was taken, is a total period of nearly three years,” she stated in a matter of fact way finally answering my question.

This came as an anti-climax. For some reason I had built myself up to an expectation of an answer of great significance but I felt deflated somehow.

“Three years,” I echoed rhetorically. “Three years?”

“And in that time you have not only been regenerating internally. We, that is Julsy,” she pointed lightly in the direction of her companion, “and myself have been working in shifts, with two other teams of nurses that you will meet in time, to keep the muscles of your body and the circuitry of your mind, exercised.”

“For the last twelve months this has been our full time job.”

“But my arms are so weak,” I protested but without any great strength.

“Do not expect miracles, Ian,” Julsy chipped in.

“You are alive and, shall we say,” Silena continued, “in one piece, or rather one massively repaired set of pieces, so to speak. Be thankful.”

“I am, I am,” I managed quietly.

“And you will get stronger, but that will take time and right now you have all the time in the universe,” Julsy added, "but you must take care of what you are now; a collection of living pieces held together precariously.

I was swapping my attention from one to the other and back again but pleased that both of them were now talking to me. Were they testing me perhaps or making my neck muscles put some work in?

Silena just smiled. She had read my thoughts and even as I thought that, her smile broadened.

Then suddenly a new face appeared who replaced Silena. It was the Doctor that I had first encountered at the base at the start of this crazy adventure and I still did not know his name.

“Silena and Julsy have provided you with a brief explanation,” he said, “of why you are still alive and I think that is sufficient information for the present. You have been a long time repairing and there will be no jumping out of bed as I recall most vividly you were once quite capable of.”

“You were brought here because this is to be your new home and we thought it best that you were brought back to consciousness in these surroundings. It has taken an extra day or two but I can see that it was well worth the patience. Your mind is lively, you are speaking well, you question what you are being told and that is what we hoped for. Your body is something of another matter.”

He stared at me with his serious face and more eye-to-eye contact.

“It may take another year or two to get you fully back on your feet and you will be expected to help in the process. For the present, we removed all those tubes and needles stuck in your arms and feet and the damaged tissue has repaired nicely. The sensor electrodes attached to your body, your arms and legs have also been removed and you may notice significant quantities of bare skin amongst the hairs where they were once attached.”

“Oh yes and I nearly forgot,” he almost joked with a big smile. “We removed all of the breathing assistance equipment that kept your damaged body in the sphere of life although it was some time ago, almost a full year ago, when we found that you could finally breathe unaided.”

“Does that answer your questions for now?” he asked.

I was stunned by the depth of the answer.

“I guess so,” I responded trying to think of another one.

I continued with my persistent questioning.

“If we have been travelling on this Mother Ship for two years, after the year taken to locate her, where exactly are we?”

“Now that I cannot answer you,” the Doctor replied.

Silena just shrugged her shoulders.

“Given time, I’m sure that you will be allowed to visit the flight deck to find out. You are something of a celebrity, despite so few having met you; the stories have you portrayed as a hero Ian. This and so many things will be explained and shown to you by some very grateful people, but all in due course and moreover slowly.”

“All I know is that we left the Solar System more than two years ago and that we are moving at an incredible speed in the general direction of another spiral arm of our galaxy, the Milky Way,” he replied.

“Come let us change the subject,” he stated simply.

“Open the curtains please nurses,” he instructed, “but not too fast, please.”

Silena and Julsy moved to the curtains directly to my front.

As each of the long vertical curtains were drawn back slowly, the daylight came beaming in causing my eyes to squint severely again. By the time that half of the curtains were fully open, my eyes had just about adjusted fully. I was in a large room with the three walls to my front and sides of full height glass, against which the heavy cotton weave curtains had been drawn.

“An extra blanket please Nurse,” the Doctor requested and from somewhere or other Julsy produced a thick, woollen type, grey blanket. This was placed over me and I was requested to keep my arms inside. That was not an issue as they were too weak to lift it off; I did try and failed.

“Now open the doors please Silena,” the Doctor instructed again.

Silena walked casually over to the glass wall to my front and with deft movements of her hands slid back sections to produce a wide gap, much greater than a door’s width. No vanishing doors or walls, but genuine sliding French windows.

“Right nurses. Let’s work together. You two push from the rear and I will assist at the front,” the Doctor again issued instructions.

“Ian is going to benefit from the clean outside air and the good sunshine we have here.”

Within a moment, I found myself being wheeled forward towards the large gap in the glass wall and then outside onto what I could only describe as a large patio area. The floor was of some sort of crazy paving and the low walls of a stone balustrade design, reminding me very much of a classical Georgian pattern.

“This has not been specially constructed for you Ian, but was already in existence; we found it like this and thought that you would like it also.”

“I do,” I replied.

“But is this truly inside the Mother Ship?” I queried.

“It most certainly is,” the Doctor responded.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

I was wheeled over the expanse of stone paving to a position where with the bed at a shallow angle to the classic walling, I could overlook it and was truly shocked, but pleasantly so. There before me was a downhill slope of a meadow in the full bloom of colourful and beautifully scented wild flowers, some that looked very much like poppies. The slope ran down to the edge of a forest of fir trees, which were at their thickest to the right. Through the sparse trees to the left, I could see the beautiful expanse of a large lake. The sun was shining and the skies were clear and blue with just a few hints of wispy clouds strolling lazily.

Bells were truly ringing in my head as a sense of déjà vu caught me. This was a day to be alive; I had to try to make this so; this weakness was not pleasant.

“We cannot be inside a Mother Ship, surely. This is nonsense; I cannot understand this,” I tried albeit with a fading strength of voice. Not only was the voice fading but any sensation that some semblance of physical strength was being restored was disappearing quickly.

“We are inside the Mother Ship, Ian. This is much bigger than any of us dared to expect,” the Doctor confirmed placing a firm stress on the words, 'We are'.

“In size it is a little larger than the Moon circling your Earth, the same spherical shape, and from the outside did not look so dissimilar. The protective coating, many kilometres thick, cratered and with mountains and valleys, looks most natural.”

“Of course, it does not have an external atmosphere; that is kept here inside. Well not exactly here, this is only the fifteenth level. There are another sixty or so with similar natural interiors like this in which all our people live. You are an engineer and will be fascinated to see eventually, no doubt I’m sure, the systems that keep all of this ticking over nicely. You feel what is a normal gravity effect because the drive systems of the Mother Ship are the same as those in our crafts but much, much larger.”

To coin a phrase from the part of England where I started this adventure, I was ‘gob-smacked’ The amount of information was pleasantly received but I truly found it tiring to take it all in; the 'memory banks' were starting to fill too quickly.

“If you look through the thinning of the trees to the left you should be able to see the sandy shore of the lake, Yes?” Silena asked rhetorically.

“Yes,” I replied, “and . .”

“And who are those people on the grassy slopes to the left of the shore?” she asked me again.

Then I realised that I was making out the children and grandchildren of my family and there stood amongst them was Hazel. I wanted to wave but I could barely get my arm out from under the heavy blanket never the less raise it in a wave.

“Steady now, Ian,” the Doctor started. “They will be told you are awake and they will be up here to see you very shortly.”

I was feeling very happy now, all seemed to be satisfactory and I had survived, a little weak - no, very weak, but I was alive, really alive.

“I’m glad that you feel like this Ian,” Caterin’s thoughts entered my head.

I could not turn round or even roll over to see her but I was aware that she was leaving my room to come onto the patio. I sensed her presence and that in itself made me feel more normal.

“I’m alive,” I thought with the joys of spring singing away.

The effort to communicate this way had been almost exhausting but with the realisation that I had now actually managed to respond automatically.

“Ian, you are still shouting, and it still hurts,” she thought back but with a large hint of satirical humour in her words. “Not really,” she laughed, “I can barely hear you.”

My thoughts must have been just about ‘audible’ and she was joking with me.

Caterin, the strong leader was now relaxed and in humorous mood. I had been ‘out-of-it’ for a very long time. I felt her warming acknowledgement and her ending of this with a laugh, the first I had ever sensed from her and then another. She positioned herself at the foot end of my bed and in a clearly happy mood sporting a big smile across her classic features.

“We came through thanks to a great effort from you,” she spoke audibly as her hand was placed gently on the blanket covering my right arm.

“This is recognised by all our people now travelling to our new destiny. This you will come to realise more fully and in due course; for now, you must build up your strength. You have the rest of your life before you and this is a wonderful place to spend it.”

“None of us here will see our final destination, which will be the privilege of the people who are descended from us, generations hence. We have the joy now of relaxing and enjoying life as we see fit for the remainder of our time.”

“This in the knowledge that we carried the responsibility for the survival of our races and that, as a team, we succeeded in our efforts. It is most sad that our great friend Ivan cannot be here to witness this. He gave his life for this moment and we will never forget him,” she reminisced.

Changing the subject quickly she told me, “You are a part of my family as you found out when you hijacked the last flight to our base to rescue my daughter and mother. And then later and most significantly when you were on Mars. There is much to consider but we have all the time in this world, so to speak.”

She almost chuckled at those last words.

“This is your house behind you; there are many more like this but we thought that this particular one was most appropriate considering the view from the patio. You have much to see beyond the single room of your awakening, but all in due course. When you are well you will get to see as much or as little as you wish. There are many who would like to meet you especially the new Senior Keepers; you have much to offer.”

“The Mother Ship is yours to roam freely or you can stay here in this beautiful spot and watch the seasons go by as you wish. Yes, this ship has seasons, perhaps a little shorter than we are used to, but just as interesting. When the snow falls it is a most beautiful place.”

I let my mind wander where it wished to go, back to seeing snow falling, for the last time at the viewing screen in the base hospital. My thoughts went to all those I had left behind on Earth. They had had the option of coming with me but that did not remove the sadness at the loss when they chose not to. This had to be the feelings of all adventurers seeking a new place to live, either from crossing an unknown ocean to a strange land or as now, the depths of interstellar space to a new world.

I relaxed back into my pillows, accepting my current physical weakness, but with the knowledge that I had done what had been asked of me and what I considered I had to. I believed I had performed to my best, what else can a man do? I had survived much onslaught in the process, and could now be in a state of peace and tranquillity as I recovered for the last time.

“Look Ian,” Julsy quietly brought my attention to the group of my family playing on the grassy slopes by the lake-side. “The children are waving at you.”

Indeed they were but I did not have the strength to even raise my arm to respond and acknowledge them; did they know it was me laid here?

I could see them clearly and it was obvious that they had simply broken whatever game they were playing to wave in my direction; I appreciated that and really wished to find the strength to respond. Hazel's hand went up and that was nice and I could see she was trying to round up the grandchildren to come up the slope with her.

My thoughts wandered to what I might now occupy myself with as soon as some strength returned. Writing was not that hard so perhaps I might decide to write another book, but with a further lingering thought that changed my mind, perhaps not, not for a long time. I was tired, indeed a heavy tiredness was building up in me. I had been awake only a short time but this and the information and events channelled my way were proving to be a little too much. I needed to close my eyes, be taken back inside, although perhaps not yet; there were others to consider here. Am odd sensation that there was still much more to come here laid its opaque blanket over me; I truly was tired.

My eyes wandered as if by themselves, across the lake edge away from the family to a lone figure standing close to the trees; I knew who that was or so I thought I did. Now I really had to find the strength to wave to all down there on the beautiful gently swaying grasses of what was really a flourishing meadow with its plethora of coloured patches of wild flowers.

My eyes continued to drawn to the lone figure who, without looking in my direction, seemed to be telling me who they were but I couldn't as yet work it out.

“What the hell,” ran through my thoughts, “try harder, come on man.” Even the effort to think was almost proving to be too much.

I was hoping that Caterin had not picked up on this despite my mental abilities being at such a low ebb. She hadn't moved and was still watching Hazel's efforts at having the grandchildren come away from their play by the lake to find their way slowly up here.

My eyes again turned with an urge I did not expect and could then not divert away from the lone figure also by the lake. It was exuding an unworldly attraction that I simply could not refuse. I felt as though I knew who it was but who, how and why?

“Come on Ian, try, put a little more effort in,” I urged myself on.

With just a little extra effort and a new found strength albeit minimal, I managed to swing my legs from under the blankets, in a direction away from Caterin, the doctor and nurses. They had not noticed nor made any move away from their attentions were focussed. I didn't want anyone to stop me now.

My feet were on the warm stone floor and I was finding further inner strength to walk away from the group. My leg were a bit wobbly but increasing in strength with every step forward., towards the ornate steps that through an open section of the ornate balustrade led down to the unkempt meadow. I didn't believe that I had not made a sound and glanced back to be sure my escape had not been noticed; it had not.

Somehow the legs, not to mention the whole body, was recovering at a surprising rate. Was it the warm sun, the clean country air, the odours of fresh herbs? I didn't know but whatever it was it was surely working. I glanced back to the group next to the trolley and it was only too apparent that their focus was on my family group well down the slope still .

"Keep going" passed through my thoughts."Not one of them has noticed, keep going."

Where I was going and to what purpose was not yet clear, but I let myself tread a path that was being laid out before me. On to the grass, still with the warmth from a strong sun I couldn't see, my bare feet found the sensation most pleasant. I had barely moved two paces when who should I encounter but two tall figures in shimmering white robes.

I seemed to recall having met these two before but unsure of the exact circumstances; maybe it was something to do with country meadows but no, I knew that was not it. I certainly recalled their happy smiling faces.

“Hello Ian,” spoke the first one, “This IS your time now, welcome.”

“This wasn't really expected,” the second one added, “but matters can sometimes change very quickly.”

“And we have had to respond just as quickly; here and now,” first one spoke again.

  “Do you remember the last time we met?” this time the second one.

I didn't but felt that perhaps I should. As my favourite music of Franz Lehar started up somewhere in the background, first one offered me a clue.

“Would the names Tweedledee and Tweedledum ring any bells?”

They most certainly did.

I stood for a moment with a surprise that slowly changed to a profound sense of shock. I was lost for words and turned again to look back at the group round the warm trolley bed I had departed a short while ago. They were no longer to be seen, nor was the house or the stone balustrade and the steps. I looked across for Hazel and the children but they were not to be seen either; I was confused.

I returned my gaze back to the two figures but they were no longer there either. I looked down to the water's edge and that figure was still where it had been a few moments ago. Whoever it was turned round to face me and it became clear; it was ‘her’ and she was waiting for me once more.

I didn't or couldn't hesitate any more as my feet moved on by themselves and trod carelessly through the gently waving grass. The colourful and scented flowers interspersed among the waving grass were a delight as I moved onwards and down to her. My pace picked up as the aura she projected came up the slope to meet me and replace the sensational scent of the flowers. I let it surround me, something that I had not experienced for such a long time and was long overdue.

It was the lady by the lake, my love of the vision, the vision of my love, but not just to me, but to whomever I had once been, the person who once strode down the hill through the pines to the lakes edge. Now I was here and finally coming face to face with a love that had no need of explanation; it had an existence all of its own, as we two did also.

 “You are still what you were once before Ian,” the clearest of gentle voices spoke to me from within the vision that was the Caterin I first knew, there now standing before me.

 “My sweetest love,” that gentle voice continued. “In our younger days and even when we were joined as one couple we would meet like this as often as we could. After the great and sad catastrophe we had departed to this other place, still together even after our physical existence was terminated.”

  “But then you were taken from me in this place, so long ago, to be born physically again and again until your last physical self arrived. Someone that possessed the necessary gifts and ability to achieve the rescue of our people. That has now finished, your work is over, and you have at last returned to me.”

 “Now we are one, you and I, together again and for all time.”

 o

The tears flowed freely from Caterin's eyes as having touched Ian's arm in his stillness found it quite cool and lifeless.

The Doctor confirmed that it was so; he was no longer in this world but had departed to where he surely belonged after his body could take no more. There would be no further work to revive him or attempt repairs on a body that was much more than simply exhausted and totally worn out.

All the work on his damaged body over the long years seemed to have saved a hero to enjoy his final years resting and telling tall stories, but now to no avail.

His big adventure; a people saved, their new journey underway, his real self returning to the other place, this epic saga was now truly over.