Ghosts of Ophidian Read Free Page B

wake you when dinner is served?” she asked.
    “I’d love that,” he replied.

Three
     
    Conner woke to a gentle pat on his shoulder. He groaned when he opened his eyes and saw Commander Schultz standing there.
    “You’re one ugly sight to wake up to, Commander,” Conner muttered.
    “Why don’t you get your sorry backside out of bed and join me for dinner,” the Commander replied, “Besides, you need to get moving again before your muscles atrophy.”
    Conner groaned as he turned on to his side and executed his slow attempt to sit up. Every muscle and joint in his body ached and combined with the painful rash; he had to fight with clenched teeth not to burst forth in tears.
    “They already atrophied back there in Korea,” he said, “And my skin is on fire.”
    “Ah, bed sores and rashes – the unmentionable wounds of a POW,” the Commander said, handing him a set of Navy sweats, “Put these on and let’s get moving. I’ll drag you if I have to.”
    Conner shook his head and chuckled. He knew the Commander wasn’t joking. He had no pity for those who refused to make a full-hearted attempt to overcome an obstacle.
    He eased his hospital gown off and managed to slip into the dark blue T-shirt. He noted that it was only a size large where only a month ago, he could ha ve never worn anything less than XL.
    “So, tell me about this NASA crap, sir,” Conner groaned.
    He gasped suddenly when he drew his leg up. The Commander turned away and feigned interest in one of the motivational posters on the wall. That was another thing he remembered about his old boss – he gave you y our space when you needed it. He managed to tuck that leg into the sweat pants, then he drew up his other leg, withholding that particular gasp of pain.
    “Not much to know, Steele. Over the past couple weeks, we’ve been on high alert. All of our military is poised, armed, ready, and watching the skies non-stop,” he said, “What else can we do? It’s not like we trained for interstellar war.”
    “No, I mean why are they asking about me?” he asked, tugging the pants up, then slowly easing off the side of the bed.
    Conner was hunched over for a moment, but quickly found the strength needed to stand up. He attempted a step in the direction of the Commander and realized that he indeed could still walk.
    “Well, that’s all guesswork on my end, but I’d say that they intend to put you on the boarding party,” he replied.
    Conner laughed, “We’re boarding that ship up there? Have we tried any communications?”
    “We’ve sent every possible communiqué on every possible frequency, but we get no reply whatsoever,” the Commander said, turning to Conner, “Virgin Galactic even sent up one of their high orbital jets within twenty miles of the thing and still the ship doesn’t respond in any way.”
    “Virgin Galactic?”
    The Commander opened the door and motioned for Conner to lead the way out into the passageway.
    “They’re that private space organization out somewhere near New Mexico I believe,” he replied, closing the door and leading Conner down the corridor.
    “Are there any rational theories out there? I mean, it can’t be alien, can it? It’s just not… I mean, it’s got to be a joke.”
    “No joke, Steele,” he replied, ducking through a hatch, “We entered a whole new world while you were busy crapping out diamonds in North Korea.”
    Conner tried to keep up with the Commander, but now it seemed he was purposely trying to make it hard on him. He’d already scraped his shins on the base of two hatches so far just because his legs seemed to weigh more now.
    “And this new world contains aliens, I take it,” Conner said.
    “Would you like to propose another explanation for a three-mile ship orbiting our planet?” he asked.
    “Time travel,” Conner said, “One of our future ships got sucked into a black hole and dropped them off here.”
    The Commander laughed, then paused by the hatch leading