First Contact Fallout by Aer-ki Jyr (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📗

a cascade of malfunctions that would destroy the rest. At first he hadn’t even been able to walk, for pieces of his motor program were suppressed in the coma. Those he had reached for, trying to use, and those pathways were then tagged and manually repaired for the next session. They wouldn’t say how long he had been here, insisting on his need to focus on trying to remember himself, and that whatever they told him he’d forget anyway so there was no need to get too detailed. To Tu’vac it felt like this was the beginning, but apparently he was far along in his treatment.

How many sessions had he been through? No one here could tell him, for they had all arrived after him. He didn’t converse with many of the other denizens, for most here wanted to be left alone, as he did, but some had sought him out and given him what answers they could. They were all Era’tran, as were most of the healers. A few Zen’zat were around, but no other races. Tu’vac felt that was an important fact, but he couldn’t remember why. Many things bothered him that he could not remember, and more often than not he would roam out here to look at the horizon and the sky, wondering where he was and who he was, for that wasn’t even certain. He had no memory of his past life, but it was there just beyond his reach teasing him.

Tu’vac pressed for it again in his mind, feeling a stiff resistance that he could not move. He relented, as he always did, but it frustrated him. So much of him was missing, yet he couldn’t even isolate what that was. He’d been told his psionics were suppressed, and that was part of the itching sensation he felt inside his mind. They didn’t want him to hurt himself or others, but they also didn’t want him to damage his skills by trying to use them with incomplete mental software. The pieces of which had not been repaired yet, for they’d been focusing on the barest essentials first and progressing onward with each session.

It had been three days since he woke, and since then he’d been told to roam and relax. There were training facilities here, therapy pools, and telepathic counselors…the latter of which he could not use. But Tu’vac didn’t feel the need for any of them. He sought out isolation but did not want to be indoors. A part of him yearned for the jungle beyond, but he could not go there. The gates were shut and the guards were not to let anyone out without the healers’ permission, but he felt he needed to go. Something here was not right, for he could not rest. There was a spike in his mind that did not belong, and until he got it free he was vulnerable. His instincts told him that. And if he was vulnerable he did not want to be around anyone else that could take advantage of that weakness.

“Greetings, Tu’vac,” another Era’tran said vocally, as they all did to him, for his telepathy had been repaired enough to receive, but not to transmit. That too was locked down, but he had some memory of how to use it…which was how he knew it was unresponsive. He reached for that part in his mind but it was as if his mental claws were slippery and missed each time, but still he tried hoping he would eventually have success.

“I prefer to be alone,” he said stiffly, not looking at the female Era’tran who had been pestering him ever since he woke. She was one of the healers assigned to him, and he did not like her constant questioning.

“You always say that,” she said, circling around to stand beside him with her tail parallel to his. She was just as large, but without the numerous tattoos that Tu’vac had earned over the course of his life, though he couldn’t remember what they were for, only that they were significant. “But you need the interaction to help you remember. There is only so much you can accomplish alone.”

“Be quick about it, healer.”

“What troubles you today?”

“Can you not read my mind?”

“I cannot.”

Tu’vac finally turned his muzzle from the sky and looked at her directly. “Why not?”

“Your brain will not transmit back. That portion of you is currently disabled.”

“I have been shielded?”

“Shielded how?” she prodded.

“As a Zen’zat…” he said, stopping short as his mind slammed into the barrier again. He pressed against it in frustration, but it would not give way.

“In a way,” the healer said. “Their minds are permanently blocked without losing function. Your block is because you lack function. However the mechanism, the result is the same. I cannot sense your thoughts, so tell me what troubles you.”

“I do not wish to be near others,” Tu’vac admitted with a sneer as he turned his face back to the sky.

“Do you fear me?”

“I do not know who to fear or trust.”

“You do not remember, but I know you well. You need not fear me. You restoration is my mission, which is why I press you to remember now. The more connections you try to make, the better we will be able to restore that which is essential to you. You are guiding our path, Tu’vac, so you must be prodded to explore the boundaries of your thoughts.”

“I was doing so before you interrupted me.”

“What else is bothering you?” she asked, sending a wave of telepathic soothings to him that ate away at his resistance, but the spike in his mind did not relent.

“I feel there is something inside me that should be removed, but I cannot find it. What was my injury?”

“Nothing that could leave behind residue. Your brain did not take the hit, your heart did. Lack of blood caused