Chapter TWO: The Heart of Fire! Rockit Boy in the Clutches of the Terra Nova!

The Heart of Fire


He tried to move but it hurt. So instead he focused on opening his eyes. The the entire room was vibrating double like a tremor. But the only earthquake he felt was inside his eyes.

"Whoah," said the man on the table.

"You've got a concussion," said a voice. "I wouldn't try to open your eyes quite yet. Between the concussion and the meds we got you on, there's not much to see. Unless of course you like fluttery picture shows."

"Thanks." said the man, "Don't mind me asking, where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary. Before that you were in an intensive car tank for a few weeks. Before that you were in deep space for gods knows how long. Before that, you were caught in some sort of explosion. You're lucky to be alive."

He could hear the man polishing something as he talked. He tried opening his eyes before. He didn't dare try that again. Instead, he asked, "which infirmary? Where am I?"

"This here's a local infirmary. We're attached to a truck stop for all the interstellar freighters that come through here. We're local not federal. The biggest heartache we usually get around here is a trucker with a backache. We had to call in to the local planetside just to get you the medicines you need. How much you remember?"

"I remember the explosion. There were about five of us. We we searching a derelict ship. Something went wrong. I think the others are dead."

"You got a name?"

"I'm sure I do but I can't remember it."

"Then I guess I just lost 20 bucks, Rockit Boy. We got a pool going down at the nurse's station. You just cost me $20 bucks of credits."

He was telling the truth, mostly. He couldn't remember his name or anything else other than the explosion. The 'nurse' was lying about something. A local truck stop infirmary wouldn't have had an emergency rehabilitaion tank like the one he had described. He didn't know how he knew that but he knew it--surer than he knew his own name. He used to belong to something. He was something like a cop or a spy or both. And his instincts told me he was being held captive. He would gaurd what little facts his dreams told him, gaurd them well. It wasn't yet time to trust anybody.

Terra Nova. The name popped into his head. Synonymous with distrust. Who were they? He would wait until he had his eyes and ears as well. And legs and arms too. No sense investigating until all his systems were online.