Page 5 of Experimental Voyage
The doctors had promised, over time, I would adapt to the loss of my hearing. After all, hadn’t I grown in other ways? They’d focused on what I could do, accepting my fate. They wanted me to do the same.
Until every possibility proved impossible, I refused.
I decided to take the man’s stance, his expression, and the hints of doubt as a challenge. If he thought I’d fail the qualifications, I would conquer every test thrown at me. If he believed I lacked the gumption and drive to succeed, I would remain, more persistent than any burr. If he said I couldn’t, I would.
I engaged him in a staring contest, and to indicate I would not be backing down without a fight, I narrowed my eyes. Otherwise, I kept my body language relaxed and calm, aware animals perceived more than mosthomo sapiens.
His mouth moved again, and Palta lashed her tail. After a few moments, the cat decided the best place for her was stretched out over my feet. While she still beat at the floor with her tail, she vibrated. I couldn’t tell if she purred or growled, but something about her behavior irritated Waldren.
I assumed he had attempted to call her over, and the cat had opted against listening to him.
With a rather amused grin, Olivier wrote something on the board and showed it to me.
I almost laughed at the request to see if I could pick up the cat and carry her, as it seems she had opinions, and Waldren had not been wise enough to harness and leash her.
I bent over, petted the cat, and worked my hands beneath her. Once I had a good hold, I hauled her up, situated her front paws on my shoulders, and made certain to cradle her back legs against my arm so she wouldn’t claw the hell out of me trying to secure her position.
Palta’s rumbles intensified, and I stroked her thick fur with my free hand.
Olivier gestured for me to follow. Careful to keep from startling the cat, I obeyed. As I refused to be brought low by some stranger’s doubt, I engaged Waldren in another staring contest, and rather than express doubt, I went with open skepticism, doing my best to raise a single brow.
For some reason, my brows appreciated uniformity, so rather than skepticism, I tended towards a more jovial expression. Either I’d managed to get my face to cooperate with me for once or he’d read between the lines, but it was his turn to narrow his eyes.
I allowed myself a smile and gave Olivier my full attention, as he retained control over the one viable way of communicating with me. With my first victory in hand, I worried about handling the cat more than the scowling man with vivid blue eyes who would become a significant part of my future, like it or not.
Rather than returnto his ship after leading me through the mercy ship, Olivier stayed, and his job was to write down what the doctors said and handle basic communications. The method worked well, especially as Palta enjoyed being petted and tended to mouth at my hand if I ignored her for more than a few seconds. A rather grumpy Waldren decorated one of the nearbywalls, keeping a careful eye on his cat. While I recognized I played with fire and would get burned, I found his jealousy over the animal’s affections intriguing.
He resented the feline’s abandonment of his person. Personally, I couldn’t blame Palta. When given an option between sitting at his feet or occupying a warm lap, I would pick the lap, too. While my loss of hearing scarred me, nothing hampered my vision. If he descended to Schwana Major, I held zero doubt the single women would drool all over him and do their best to take him home.
Every time someone new and handsome came to our world, the single women hunted, often in packs. The man in question typically escaped when the women fought among themselves, resulting in nobody winning. Before the accident, I’d managed to lure off three handsome gentlemen, but I’d never done anything nefarious to themortaken them home.
I’d offered them an easy escape route, as I’d gotten the feeling they hadn’t gone to the local watering hole to be the latest addition to the menu.
In one of the many waits for the medical staff to clarify part of the procedure to Olivier, I considered what I would have done had Waldren gone to one of the local watering holes. He would have become one of the planet’s grand prizes, and had he greeted me with a smile rather than a scowl, I might’ve been tempted to test my luck. I drew lines, however.
I wouldn’t fight other women over a man.
After what felt like an eternity but couldn’t have been more than fifteen or twenty minutes, Olivier tapped my elbow to catch my attention and handed me the digital board along with a clipboard loaded with papers. According to his notes, the papers explained the procedures, the requirements for the voyage I would take to cover the costs of care, the risks associated withthe procedures and the journey, and the waivers required for the operation to begin.
Then, to my dismay, I learned Waldren was only part of the group that had come calling. He owned and cared for the donor animal, Palta. He also held responsibility for the team of four surgeons and the medical equipment required for the link installation and the genetic manipulation to restore my hearing.
Most importantly, they had the machines required to determine which color of crystal resided within my brain.
I took my time reading through the papers, making notations on the digital board for clarifications, particularly regarding the voyage. The paperwork simply stated I needed to go, not what I would be doing.
I handed the board to Olivier, who spent a few minutes conferring with Waldren and the doctors. I regretted I couldn’t read lips.
What did I miss in the conversation? What tiny details did Olivier gloss over that might make a difference for me? I longed to listen to the tone and nuances of their discussions, identifying what wasn’t being said through the subtle pauses and changes in someone’s voice.
My inability to comprehend the discussion added to my resolve. Even if I needed to stay on the mercy ship before venturing out into space, I would. Sending word to my parents would pain me, as the paperwork made it clear they could not control all circumstances and I might never return to my home again.
Some risks were worth taking.
Olivier wrote a note and held it out to me, and I frowned at the indication I would essentially be the experiment, and my job would be to endure being monitored. Should I become bored, I would have sufficient educational opportunities, and if the voyage happened to venture to habitable planets, arrangementscould be made to allow me to test my training in a controlled fashion.
I could work with that, and I nodded, returned to the paperwork, and signed in the appropriate places, initialed where requested, and triple checked everything before handing the clipboard over to Olivier.
No matter what, I would be ready.
