Raife: An Aquadomina Novel Read Free

She could feel the
previously calm water start to swirl and she was moving around with it. She had
played in her uncle’s swimming pool one summer and the neighborhood children
had run in circles, around and around until there was a swirling vortex. This
is what that felt like. She swirled around in the water, with the light still
burning against her closed lids. Just as suddenly as it started, everything
stopped.
    She felt searing pain shoot through her whole body and it spasmed until
she thought her limbs would break from the tension. When the pain reached a
pinnacle, her overtaxed mind did the nice thing and shut down. It was lights
out and blackness took her.
    *~*~*~*
    “Can you hear me?”
    Sophie woke with a start. She was alive? Forcing her eyes to open she had
to wait for a second for them to focus. Then she blinked several times trying
to make her mind understand what she was seeing. When she tried to turn her
head to look around further, she found that she couldn’t move.
    “Good. You are awake.” A female voice sounded to her right. “I was
beginning to worry. Please remain calm and let your mind adjust.”
    Sophie took in deep breaths and tried to remain calm like the female
voice had asked, but it was hard when she was being kept immobile. “Where am I?
Am I paralyzed?” Her voice was close to breaking.
    “You are in a medical unit on Aquadomina. The clean-up to your cerebrum
should be complete in a few minutes. The paralysis you are feeling is only
temporary while the computer works on you.”
    Sophie struggled against the force holding her, “What are you talking
about? What are you doing to my brain?” She couldn’t help the panic that
sounded in her voice.
    With a sigh, the female moved into her line of sight. She was so small,
maybe about five feet tall at most. Her face seemed a bit odd at first glance,
as if it was stretched out longer than normal. Other than that, the woman was
very pretty. Her eyes were the most striking blue color Sophie had ever seen.
    “The clean-up of your cerebrum makes it so that you can adapt to life
here on Aquadomina. It won’t harm you in any way. It just makes it so that you
are more susceptible to suggestion.” The female moved her hands in front of a
floating screen and said, “It frees you for the next few suns from the doubts
you would normally suffer from. If you feel strongly about an issue, the
clean-up will not block that feeling, so don’t worry that your free will is
being taken away.”
    Sophie tried harder to move, “How is that possible? What kind of dream is
this? The last thing I remember is getting shot by that stupid jerk of a guard
and thrown in the water.” She laughed a little hysterically, “If I am losing my
mind, why can’t I forget that memory?”
    An angry growling noise sounded to her left and the hairs on her neck
stood on end. “Someone dared to do this thing to The Chosen. How is that—”
    “Commander Raife that is enough.” The woman interrupted his tirade. “I
have released the restraining field holding you down.” The woman moved her bed
so that she was sitting up, “I think you misunderstand the clean-up. It isn’t
going to block your memories.” Holding her face to flash a light into her eyes
the female said, “It might take a few hours, but you should start to feel the
effects of the procedure. Again, let me assure you that your mind will remain
intact.”
    “Why are you doing this to me?” Sophie was feeling a bit dizzy.
    “You are The Chosen, which is why you need to adapt to life here on
Aquadomina. If I remember my basic science class, it works like this. The
wormhole that brought you here somehow adapts your body to live on Aquadomina.
You are immune to our disease, you are able to eat our food, breath our air,
speak and understand our language. It is your mind that has to be able to accept the new reality. So we “open”
you to suggestion so you are able to understand faster.”
    “I don’t want to