Dream Or Not

[Ritah Lowen 0]

It was an unpleasant sensation and, at first, Ritah wasn't sure what caused it. She felt like the lights blinked off for a moment. When they came back on, she felt disoriented and confused. And then a wave of nausea washed over her followed by a sharp pain in both temples.

 

Ritah leaned against the translucent wall of the crystal beast. She did so slowly, knowing the walls were pliable. She was more than a little surprised when the bulwark remained rigid and unbending. But her shock was quickly forgotten. She was far more concerned about the pounding in her head and controlling the wretched queasiness now overwhelming her.

 

She looked down, squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard, willing her stomach to calm down. At the same time, she gingerly rubbed her temples trying to massage away the blinding pain. It only took a few minutes but it seemed like an hour before the nausea gradually retreated and the headache ebbed a bit. She finally opened her eyes and drew a deep breath. Her temples still throbbed but she could deal with that. Nausea was another matter altogether.

 

Dr. Lowen opened her medkit and quickly located one of the hyposprays. A moment later, she pressed it against her neck and activated it. Hopefully, the Terakine would eventually eliminate the headache. As she dropped the hypo back into the medkit, she pushed away from the crystalline wall and turned to examine it more closely.

 

Not more than ten minutes earlier, these walls were pliable. She had personally walked along the corridors of this crystal ship, pushing against the bulwarks and marveling at how malleable they were. She distinctly recalled others on the team doing the same thing. So how was it these same walls were now as rigid as titanium?

 

Ritah slowly reached out and tapped the strange, crystalline wall yet again. There was no give at all. She pushed on it harder but it remained solid and immovable. Was the molecular structure of this material able to change at will.....rigid one minute and pliable the next? Or had she been dreaming? Or was she dreaming now?

 

The Terakine was taking effect....her headache was quickly disappearing. So she had no doubt she was thinking straight. She turned and looked at the other members of the team and wondered if any of them were as confused as she was. She again looked at the wall, wondering if she should say something to Dr. Mele. This was her first away mission. Perhaps she was suffering from some kind of psychological trauma that might endanger the rest of the team.

 

She quickly decided she had no choice. She had to tell Dr. Mele what was happening. Just as she started to turn away from the wall, she caught a glimpse of a bright light off in the distance. It wasn't a star. Stars didn't flash like this. She stared at it for several seconds before it dawned on her she was looking at a ship's running lights. And those lights weren't there ten minutes earlier.

 

Ritah backed away from the wall, keeping her eye on the lights blinking at them from afar. Just as the lights had winked away a short time ago, now they were back. And maybe, she wasn't going crazy after all.

Edited November 18, 2007 by Ritah Lowen