<section>


    <section>They asked us to keep journals. Something to pass the time while we travel to the next galaxy, I guess. I ain’t never been one much for writing, though. Guess I got bored enough to try, huh? Bet you’re wondering who I am. Or maybe you ain’t. I wasn’t a volunteer like a lot of them others; this is my life sentence. Death by boredom for good ol’ Te’chik. Well, there are worse ways to go.</section>


    <section>-Log C, Fragment 1. Te’chik</section>


    <section>---------------------------------------------</section>


    Maggie barely felt the gentle pressure of the device Doctor Tomas pressed against her neck. Or the sting of the chemicals injected straight through her skin. But she felt the sudden relief from the pain and the startling calmness that followed.


    “Take some slow, deep breaths for me, Maggie.” Doctor Tomas’ voice sounded as if it came from far away, even though he was beside her.


    She took a ragged breath, shaking as she tried to breathe slowly. It felt like there was a vice around her chest, though, and each breath was a struggle. Slowly, her muscles loosened, and the next breath came easier. Doctor Tomas pressed a button on the side of the exam table, the mattress squeaking as it folded into a chair.


    “How do you feel?” Doctor Tomas peered into her eyes, shining a light he had gotten from somewhere into them.


    Maggie sat silently for a moment, staring at him. The tears had started to dry up, but she knew her face must be a mess from them. She remained convinced that there was no such thing as a pretty crier. “The- the pain is gone.”


    “Good. And? How else do you feel?”


    “Better? I think. Like I just took a weed gummy but without the munchies.” As she said that, she thought of the pizza left on Theseus’ ship and the brookies she hadn’t touched. “Maybe a little bit of the munchies. Does anyone make pizza out here?”


    “I am certain we can find you some pizza. I’m sorry I had to administer so strong a dose, but the Key was reacting to your emotions.” Doctor Tomas said gently. He pulled bandages and something that looked like a tube of toothpaste out of a drawer in the wall. “But I believe it helped speed up your healing as well.”


    “It did?” Maggie slumped back against the exam table-turned-chair and looked down at her hand. The wound was still as ugly as ever, burst blisters seeping silver and clear liquid into the deep gouges left by the original explosion. “Ew....”


    Doctor Tomas chuckled. “Yes, ew. It isn’t pretty, but it is healing faster now. For better or for worse.”


    “Why would it be worse?” It was amazing how calm she felt, even though her hands trembled. Her mind tried to slip away from the subject as Doctor Tomas squeezed some cream onto her hand and began to bandage it.


    “Because it means that the bonding progression has accelerated as well. I suggest you wear long sleeves and gloves when out in public. There’s no sense in advertising what you have. Especially not here. Tell me, what did you do before you came here?”


    Maggie blinked and refocused on the sudden change of subject. What did that have to do with anything? “I was a student and worked at a laundromat. Oh, and I helped at my aunt’s coffee shop.”


    “What did you study?”


    “I was taking Philosophy of World History 132. But it was so boring. I would have rather been taking Aerial Yoga, but I needed something to fill the humanities credit slot. You know how it is; you’re a doctor. I bet you had to take a bunch of boring classes.”


    “Not as such, no. I will give Theseus your medicines and some extra bandages, and arrange a place for you to stay while you’re here.” Doctor Tomas helped Maggie off the exam table, holding her steady until she could stand independently.


    “What about a translator? They said you could give me a translator so I could understand people.” She thought back to Theseus’s conversation with Nurse Veela, the heated discussion that had so obviously been about her, but that she hadn’t understood a word of.


    “Ah, yes.” Doctor Tomas hesitated for a moment that felt long for Maggie. “Give it a few days to acclimate to your body, and you’ll understand what others say, even if they don’t speak English.”


    Stolen novel; please report.


    “Alright.” She felt a weight lift from her mind; no more talking about her in strange languages she couldn’t understand! And if she got back to Earth and wanted to travel, a built-in translator would be awesome!


    If she ever got back to Earth.


    Dread tried to creep in through the calm like a snake through the grass. She’d never go home.


    Her thoughts slid away from the thought like oil, refusing to let it stick.


    Doctor Tomas took her arm, gently guiding her to the waiting room. “This way, Maggie. Theseus will take you to the living pods and ensure you’re settled. I’ll continue to monitor your progress and make you as comfortable here as possible.”


    “Pods? Are there pod people here?” Maggie looked at the doctor, a giggle bubbling up in her throat.


    Doctor Tomas sighed and shook his head. “No, there are no pod people here.” He stepped into the waiting room, where Theseus and Nurse Veela glared at each other. Theseus stood up as they came out, looking at the doctor expectantly.


    “Can you take it out?” He asked, earning another stern glare from Nurse Veela.


    “Not so loud, you fool.” She hissed, her ears laying back against her skull. “You’ll disturb the other people waiting politely to be seen.”


    Theseus shot another glare at Nurse Veela. But he did lower his voice, moving closer to Maggie and the doctor as he repeated the question. “Can you take it out, Doc?”


    “It’s unlikely. I gave her something to help with the pain and keep her calm for now. She should sleep well tonight. Take her to R-38; I’ll call ahead and arrange a pod for her, and I’ll speak with Flame about our next steps.”


    “Shit... alright. Can you try to keep her from flying off the handle? This mess is my fault, not Maggie’s. She shouldn’t have to pay for it.” Theseus spoke so softly that Maggie could barely hear him. She thought maybe she had misheard, but her thoughts slid away from the conversation, drifting over to the ‘I Love Lucy’ episode on the television. It was less depressing, and she didn’t want that peaceful, sleepy glow to fade already.


    She knew she’d have to deal with Flame, the Key, and all that other nonsense. But for now, she was content to put that off. It had been an exhausting couple of days, and all she wanted to do was curl up with some junk food and watch old TV shows.


    “I’ll deal with Flame. For now, take care of our guest.” Doctor Tomas gently guided Maggie to Theseus and handed him a bag that Maggie hadn’t noticed him holding before. “Remember, R-38, I’ll call ahead.”


    “Come on, Maggie. Let’s get you set up with a room.” Theseus held her shoulder and guided her through the array of chairs to the door. They got a few odd glances but nothing that seemed to bother Theseus. Maggie’s eyes strayed to the strange otter creature and its human baby, and she offered the creature a smile.


    “Cute baby.” She said before Theseus steered her away from the pair, his grip tightening on her shoulder for a moment. Maggie looked up at him, wondering at the lines of tension that aged his face. She was silent for a moment, contemplating whether she should tell him the obvious.


    Finally, she nodded, deciding to speak up. “You’re really tall.”


    “So I’ve been told,” Theseus said dryly. He looked imploringly at the doctor but continued out the door with a mutter. “I hope this stuff wears off soon. I’m not exactly the best babysitter.”


    Theseus sighed and guided Maggie out of the waiting room into the plain blue halls of the medical sector. “R-38 isn’t far from here, not with the lifts. It’s not in the towers but underneath the laundromat.”


    “Laundromat? A laundromat in space? Does it have super high-tech washers and dryers? Will it fold your clothes, too?” Bobby’s dad would have a laugh at that! Who would have thought? A laundromat in space! Maggie giggled, picturing little green men folding their little clothes fresh out of the dryer.


    “It does. I’ll show it to you tomorrow when some of those drugs wear off. Or maybe I’ll have Robin show you, he’s a better babysitter than me.” Theseus grumbled.


    “I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fine!” Maggie paused as the words seemed to echo back in her head. She shook her head as if to clear it, stumbling a little as she lost balance.


    Theseus grabbed her arm so she wouldn’t fall. “Of course you’re fine. But you don’t know your way around, and you don’t know who not to talk to. So you need—let’s call it a guide. Is that better? Not a babysitter but a guide.”


    “That’s better.” She said firmly.


    They stopped in a small circular room, the ceiling domed above them, decorated with stained glass. Maggie leaned against the wall, staring at the beautiful colors as Theseus programmed in their destination. “This is one of the lifts. They all follow the same routes, and they can move pretty fast. You just program in your destination- why am I trying to explain this to you? You’re not going to remember in the morning. God, I need a drink.” Theseus ran his hand across his face.


    “Do they have beer out in space? Space beer?” She mused. The door to the lift slid shut, sealing with the barest whisper of sound before shooting off through its tube.


    “Where there are people, there will be booze. Or other mind-altering substances. Do you really think that, over all these centuries, they didn’t abduct someone who knew how to make a still?” Theseus said.


    Maggie nodded. He had a good point there. Humans had a talent for finding ways to make themselves drunk, regardless of what they used to get there: corn, potatoes, barley, hops. Where there was a will, there was a way. And she was sure that there was plenty of will after being abducted into space.


    “Hey. The doctor called you Goodfellow. What’s up with that?” Maggie focused on Theseus, caught by a sudden curiosity.


    “That’s my last name. Goodfellow.” Theseus blushed, shooting her an anxious look.


    “Does that mean that your brother is Robin Goodfellow?” She started to grin, the memory of where she had heard the name before surfacing through the haze.


    Theseus groaned and buried his head in his hands. “God, I really need a drink.”


    Maggie giggled, finally getting the jokes about A Midsummer Nights Wet Dream. “As you like it.”


    “I hate you so much right now.” Theseus muttered.


    muttered.</section>