The Golden Curio Box (Astrid Amundsen Military Science Fiction Series Book 6) by Alan Householder

Author:Alan Householder [Householder, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

38

RECALLED TO LIFE

I awoke to find myself in dry clothes, on a jerry-rigged cot, and with an olive-green blanket over me.

The rest of the squad was nearby, also in dry clothes.

I felt truly rotten. My head ached, my body ached, everything ached.

I said, “What?” Then I forced a little laugh.

Downs said, “I guess you know, you caught a little side-splash from the lightning.”

“What about the chest, the chest!”

“All is fine. We took care of you first, of course, and when I say ‘we,’ I’m including the chest.”

Gloria said, “Arwore and I hadn’t even reached the Celeste. We kept looking back, because the lightning strikes were so frequent and furious. We saw the strike that hit you. We saw you fall.”

“Yeah,” Downs said, “they both were with us, before I knew it. I had already begun CPR. I had dropped the little box. The thought quickly occurred to me: The box had replaced your finger. It could probably take care of you now.”

“Yes,” I said, “it gave me a new finger, but it seemed as though it was only curing one problem per person, and lots of people have been near it who haven’t been cured at all.”

“Right,” Downs said. “Point is, we didn’t really know when it would work. But you were unconscious and were not breathing, and you were already turning blue. So, any port in a storm. Anyway, I yelled to Gloria to bring the chest over. She placed it on your stomach. Immediately, you sputtered and coughed, and at that point you were breathing on your own and had a pulse. Then you sort of passed out again. Then Tinubu arrived, followed immediately by Hope, Lamar, and Hale.”

“Yeah, I was bored,” Tinubu said, “and I felt too dry, you know, my uniform and all. So I headed out into the rain to see what was taking everyone so long.”

I now was beginning to feel better. I said, “Tinubu, that sounds a little fishy.”

“Actually,” he said, “we had been running scans the whole time, and we saw you fall and knew something was wrong. I took charge, because I figured it was implied that you had left me in charge—”

Lamar said, “An obvious lie, Tinubu.”

Tinubu shook his head and said, “Anyway, I took charge. And I told Lamar and Hale, and Hope as well, to stay with the Celeste. But since, as I’ve said before, Lamar is in love with you, he was insubordinate and said something surprisingly harsh about the Celeste. And Hale, who is quickly learning C-Squad culture, was also insubordinate and tagged along with me and Lamar. As to Hope, I doubt that she was insubordinate. I think she went with us as navigator. It was dark and rainy, and we needed some guidance. And that’s about all.”

I was starting to feel more alert. My aches had faded quickly, and I now felt almost back to normal.

Downs helped me up, into a sitting position on the cot.

I said, “Thanks, all, but you haven’t told me what happened with the golden chest.

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