《Time flies by when you’re sleeping》


 Chapter 1: Cryogenic

    A small pod was drifting through space in no special direction. The pod was human-sized and looked like an escape pod, however, something was off about it the pod. The human inside it was in cryosleep and looked peaceful, but alive. In the distance, there was a ship coming towards the pod. As the ship came closer to the pod, it directed a beam of light at it.


    The ship was massive. So massive in fact that it was actually carrying a planet beneath it. It was almost as big as the planet it was carrying beneath it. The planet was beautiful, it was surrounded by some kind of shield, with iridescent rainbow colors, protecting it from space, it was blue like Earth, but at the same time, something about it looked magical.


    If the human in the pod was awake, he would forget how to breathe and would be speechless from the sheer beauty of the whole scene unfolding before his eyes. Compared to the ship and the planet, the human pod looked like a piece of sand in a sand storm. The beam of light pulled the pod into one of the openings on the massive ship and as soon as it put it on the ground inside the ship, it disappeared.


    The pod didn¡¯t open right away, there was a control panel on the pod that had to be activated to open the pod. This was a problem because the robots on the alien ship didn¡¯t understand the language on the pod console. The robots were intelligent so they tried to open the pod in a different way. They removed the top of the console and connected directly to the pod itself. They still had a problem opening the pod because the programing language was so old and rigid that it took them a couple of tries to get the pod open.


    When the pod finally opened, the human inside sat up, saw a bunch of robots around him, leaned over the edge of the pod and vomited, violently. The robots looked at each other and stood there until the human was done vomiting.


    ¡°Sorry about that guys. I don¡¯t like cryosleep. It always makes me nauseous, this time it really did its job on me.¡° The human said.


    The robots helped the human out of the pod and put shackles around his feet and arms.


    ¡°What are you doing? I¡¯m not a criminal. You could have just asked me to come with you.¡± The human said and one of the robots pressed a button on the hand shackles. He started levitating and two robots grabbed his arms and pushed him forward while the other followed. ¡°Uuuuu¡­ Levitating shackles. I like that. Thank you science for not making me walk when I¡¯m falsely imprisoned.¡± The human said with sarcasm in his voice.


    As the robots were taking him somewhere, he looked around the ship. The ship walls were white and the shapes clean, oval and smooth. ¡®At least it¡¯s not all black and covered in skulls. Maybe these guys are good.¡¯ Ha thought as the robots pushed him through one of the oval doors. The room was divided into two sections and he had no idea what the sections were for. One of the robots pushed another button on his shackles and he stopped levitating. They took of his shackles and one of the robots gave him a box.


    ¡°What?¡± The human asked.


    The robot pushed the box into his hands.


    ¡°What do I do with this?¡± The human asked and the robot mimicked taking off his clothes. ¡°Ooooooo¡­ You want me to take off my clothes. Why? Can¡¯t you disinfect me like this?¡± The human asked but got no answer, just more robot mimicking taking off its clothes. He felt like he was in a cheap striptease bar, but he listened to the robot, took off his clothes and put them in the basket.


    The robot took the basket and put it on the table in the right section of the room. ¡®Why do they sterilize the clothes separately?¡¯ The human thought because it made no sense. It was a waste of energy. On Earth ships, all personnel went through decontamination with their clothes on. It was faster and more efficient. A robot grabbed his hand and put him in the left section on the room inside a red circle. The other robot did the same thing with the box of clothes.


    All of the robots stood back, except one. The one that remained first pushed the yellow button and in both sections, a glass wall came down. A small red light was glowing over the red button and when it stopped, the robot pushed the red button. A cold flow of air rushed through the left section leaving the human whining and twisting from the cold. ¡°I see that nothing¡¯s changed. Prisoners still get cold showers.¡± The robot waited for the light over the red button to turn off again and pushed it again.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    In the left section, a beam went over him. In the left section, a machine came down the ceiling, aimed straight at the box, fired a laser beam and incinerated the box and its contents. ¡°You bastards! My Pokemon trainer badges were on my jacket. I had five of them. Five! I needed just one more to be a Pokemon master! You barbarians!¡± The human yelled and let out a quiet whine as the robots took him out of the left section ad gave him new clothes. While he was putting the new clothes, he looked over to the pile of dust on the floor of the right section and a tear run down the right side of his face.


    The robots put shackles on his arms and legs again and levitated him towards another room. This time, they were walking for a long time, but the ship looked the same everywhere they went. Everything was white, oval-shaped with clean lines. They passed some of the bigger rooms and came to an elevator. One of the robots pushed a button with a strange symbol on it and in just a few seconds, the elevator stopped. This part of the ship looked a little different.


    Here there were small rooms with small long doors on the floor and robots standing guard at each door. ¡®So this is the prison.¡¯ The human thought. The robots opened one of the rooms and levitated him in. They removed his shackles and closed the door, locking it.


    ¡°Is there a biological being I could talk to so we can sort this mess out?!¡± The human yelled after the robots but got no answers. ¡®Why is nobody telling me what¡¯s happening? Am I a criminal? Were the pod and the cryosleep me serving my sentence? But my uniform wasn¡¯t a prisoner uniform. Wait¡­ What¡¯s my name?¡¯ He thought but couldn¡¯t remember. ¡®How can¡¯t I remember my own name? I remembered the Pokemon badges.¡¯


    He heard about this before. People that were exposed to prolonged cryosleep could experience temporary amnesia. They could remember some parts about their lives, but completely forget things like who are they or what happened to them before cryosleep. This was well known because when cryosleep became popular the prisons implemented it as a way to make prisoners serve their punishment. That way the prisoners were in cryosleep, didn¡¯t have to eat or drink and didn¡¯t kill each other. However, as it turned out prolonged cryosleep had bad side effects on the human brain and the prisons stopped the practice fearing lawsuits.


    He was sitting on a flat surface, which was probably the bed, trying to remember his name and what happened to him before cryosleep, but his mind was a complete blank. He decided to look around the room, who knows, maybe something will jog his memory. The room was small, it had a flat surface attached to the right wall, a table, a chair and a door on the left wall. He came closer to the door and they slid open revealing a bathroom. The only unusual thing about the room was that the ceiling was high.


    Nothing in the room jogged his memory, but he still had to have a name. On Earth, every time they couldn¡¯t identify someone, they called him John Doe, so he thought why not use that as his name. Instead of concentrating on things John couldn¡¯t remember, he turned his attention to the things he could remember.


    He could remember that his clothes were a uniform and that that meant he was probably working on a ship. The uniform seemed filthy and old and that could only mean that he was working on the ship for a long time, as for the filth it could mean that he was an engineer or that it got filthy before he got into the pod.


    Suddenly, the small long door opened and a metal tray was pushed inside. There were two bowls, a bigger and a smaller one, and a glass of water on the tray. The bigger bowl had a reddish gelatin-like liquid inside it and the smaller wan a portion of grass. John was still feeling ill from the cryosleep but he decided to at least try to eat something. He scooped out some of the reddish gelatin-like liquid and put it in his mouth. He almost vomited again. It tasted so bad that his entire digestive system cramped. It felt like he just put a watermelon, coconut, grapefruit, walnut, chestnut, almond, a rubber tire and someone else¡¯s vomit. He tried to get rid of the awful taste out of his mouth with the grass but the sharp leaves cut his tongue. With nothing to get the taste out he hurried to the toilet and vomited.


    When he felt strong, enough to stand up he returned to the metal tray, drank the water and pushed the tray to the long small door on the floor. ¡®What kind of beings could stomach food such as this? I thought I would die just from one bite. Maybe these guys aren¡¯t as good as I thought.¡¯ John thought, sitting on his bed, rubbing his stomach and burping silently. After a few moments, the lights in his room turned off. ¡®So it¡¯s night time. I could use some sleep after a day like this.¡¯ John thought, lay down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

 Chapter 2: Artificial

    The lights in the room turned on, but John was still lying in bed, tired. He felt like he slept for only five to six hours so he decided to sleep a little more. John was disappointed that he had no dreams because dreams were god for people suffering from amnesia. They were a good way to jog someone¡¯s memory. He fell asleep for a while. He was awoken by the noise from opening the small door made. Again, a metal tray was pushed into his room.


    John was hungry, his stomach was rumbling. He didn¡¯t eat anything yesterday, but with food like yesterday, he feared that he also wouldn¡¯t eat anything today. He lifted his head to look at the metal tray, expecting the two bowls again, but instead of the bowls, there was a light brown brick in the middle and dried fruit on the side. ¡®So breakfast is different from dinner. That¡¯s good to know. Let¡¯s see if this tastes any better than the stuff from yesterday.¡¯


    John got up and sat on the floor in front of the tray. He examined the light brown brick from all sides and ate one of the dried fruits. ¡®Ok, the fruits are a bit bitter, but at least they are edible.¡¯ He took a bite from the brick, it didn¡¯t taste as horrible as the stuff from the bowl, it tasted like it was made from different ground nuts and walnuts. There were no other flavors so John ate it together with the dried fruit, looking suspiciously at the glass, on the tray, full of red liquid. He smelled the red liquid but couldn¡¯t recognize the smell. He tried a sip and instantly spit it out. The red liquid tasted like rotten tomatoes filtered through dirty socks. It was a good thing he had a bathroom and water.


    After breakfast, John noticed a small camera in a corner of the room, so he started jumping and waving his arms saying. ¡°Is anyone there? Can I talk to a biological being? I think we got on the wrong foot. Can you let me out? I didn¡¯t do anything and there¡¯s nothing to do here.¡± John stopped for a second to see if someone will answer him but he got no response. ¡°Ok. If you don¡¯t want to let me out then please don¡¯t give me the reddish gelatin-like liquid to eat, please.¡±


    With nothing to do and still feeling tired, John lay down on the bed and fell asleep. He was awoken by his stomach rumbling. He looked at the floor by the small door but there was no metal tray. It occurred to him that he had no way to tell time. Although if he had, there would be no point. He didn¡¯t know the alien¡¯s day cycle. Earth day cycle was twenty-four hours, but to these aliens, it could be anything. He hoped that their cycle was close to Earth¡¯s because he was starving.


    ¡®He got in the shower and saw a green and a red button and a lever that turned left and right. There were alien symbols on each side of the lever but he didn¡¯t understand them. If this was anything like sonic showers on human spaceships the lever adjusted the temperature of the sonic wave. If you turn the lever left, the sonic wave was warmer, if you turn it right, it was colder. With that logic in mind, John turned the lever halfway to the left and pressed the green button. What followed could only be described as a scream of someone whose tooth was pulled out alive.


    John quickly turned the lever all the way to the left thinking that the sonic wave will warm him. That was a huge mistake. The sonic wave was so hot that it burnt the top layer of his skin. When he got out of the shower, he looked like a sausage that walked off a grill. Pissed, he went over to the sink, pulled the lever to the left, and cooled his face with the cold water.


    Jon entered the room and tried to find a less painful position to sit on the bed so he could get dressed. He grabbed his shirt and put one arm into a sleeve. He let out a quiet whine as tears started to form in the corners oh his eyes. He went back to the bathroom and took two towels with the intention to put them on the bed and try to lay like that until the pain stopped.


    As he finished putting towels onto the bed, he heard the door to his room open. Outside the door was a machine, waist-high, and a robot behind it. The machine entered the room and the robot closed the door. The machine moved forward, not caring that John was looking at it confused and asking. ¡°What are you? What are you doing here?¡° The machine stopped a few paces away from John and extended a red tube towards him. The tube stopped and at the end of it, like a hand fan, a platform unfolded.


    John looked at the platform and then at the machine and asked. ¡°You want me to stand on that?¡± The machine started making gibberish noises. ¡±Why?¡± He asked and the machine made more of those noises in that gibberish language as if it was answering him. ¡®So it¡¯s talking but in an alien language.¡¯ John thought. ¡°I¡¯ll step on it but if that¡¯s a scale I can already tell you I¡¯m not fat, I just have denser bones.¡± The machine answered in the gibberish language again, but this time faster like it was unpainted so John stepped onto the platform.


    In a split second, an oval-shaped bubble surrounded John and another tube came out of the machine and attached itself to the bubble. ¡°Hey? What is this?¡± John asked and got an answer in that gibberish language the machine spoke. A lukewarm liquid started to fill up the oval-shaped bubble he was in and John started banging on the inside of the bubble yelling. ¡°Hey! Stop it! I can¡¯t breathe underwater! You¡¯re going to kill me! Stop the water!¡± But the machine ignored him. The water was filling up the bubble quickly, As John was banging at the bubble sides with his arms, legs and elbows, trying to break free, the bubble was already full of water to his waist. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Nothing John did, not yelling and begging the machine to stop, did anything to stop the bubble from filling up with water. When the water reached his neck, he took a deep breath. After a few seconds, the water filled the bubble completely. John could hear the muffled sound of the machine talking in the gibberish language but couldn¡¯t understand it. A few bubbles of air escaped his mouth, so he put his right hand over it. As he did that, he saw the top layer of the skin on his hand peel away piece by piece and he screamed, losing all the air in his lungs. He started to panic because without air he will die, so once again he started banging on the sides of the bubble. Looking at his arms, he saw that the top layer of the skin was peeling all over his body, revealing healthy skin underneath. For a few moments, he forgot that he had no air and was shocked when he realized that he could breathe normally.


    When all of his damaged skin was fixed, the machine drained the water from the bubble, the bubble disappeared, the platform folded back and was pulled back into the machine. The machine said something in the gibberish language, the door opened and it left. John was left sitting in the middle of the room, naked and wet. At least he didn¡¯t look like a fried sausage anymore. ¡°Now I have to take another shower. Damn it.¡± He said.


    This time he was really careful while taking a shower and when he was done a metal tray was on the floor in front of the door. ¡®Finally, I¡¯m starving.¡¯ John thought and sat in front of the tray. On the tray, there was a small bowl containing a yellowish clear liquid that smelled like a herbal tea, a plate with a big piece of some kind of fruit and a few smaller ones, a plate of greens that reminded him of a salad and a weird black cube. The cube didn¡¯t look edible so he left it for now. The yellowish liquid was a herbal tea and the rest of the lunch was edible, it just lacked spices. It wasn¡¯t even salted.


    With his belly, full John turned his attention to the black cube. He picked it up and sat on the bed looking it over. It looked like some kind of a puzzle cube. The cube was the size of a rubrics cube, its sides were smooth and all the sides were black except for one. One side had a small white square in the middle. ¡®This is probably a test of my intelligence. They give this to their children to solve and they are giving it to me. If I can¡¯t solve it they are going to think I¡¯m stupid.¡¯ John thought. For a few hours, he tried to solve the puzzle, but couldn¡¯t. That just made him frustrated. He looked at the camera and said. ¡°I¡¯m hoping you¡¯re laughing your buts off now. Can you at least give me a hint where to start?¡± But he didn¡¯t get an answer.


    ¡°God damn puzzle cube. I¡¯m not going to let you beat me.¡± John said. He knew there had to be a reason why the white square was in the center of one of the sides. He tried pushing it, pulling it, pushing the opposite side of it but nothing he did had any impact on the white square. ¡°Hmmm¡­ I know that the white square has to mean something. But what?¡± John said aloud, raised the cube towards the ceiling light and saw that it was slightly see-through. He saw machinery inside it that connected the middle square of each side of the cube in a specific way.


    John pushed the white square and the machinery for the underside unlocked. He pressed the middle square of the underside and it that unlocked the backside middle square. Pressing the squares in the order they were unlocking John finally unlocked the cube, he solved the puzzle. The cube occupied his mind that he didn¡¯t realize how much time had passed. The small door opened and a metal tray was pushed into his room. There was no bowl with the red gelatin this time. John looked at the camera and said. ¡°Thank you.¡± The dinner was edible and he even got a sweet candy-like treat. John looked at the camera and said. ¡°I know I solved the puzzle, but I¡¯m not a dog. I don¡¯t need treats.¡±


    For the next few weeks, the aliens kept him in the room and gave him puzzles to solve. Each puzzle was more difficult than the last one. It took time, because some were more intuitive than others, but he solved them all. One day the doors to John¡¯s room opened, the machine came into his room again and started to speak the gibberish language again. ¡°How do you not understand me? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying.¡± John said.


    The machine came closer to John and he said. ¡°Keep away from me. You see I¡¯m healthy. There¡¯s nothing wrong with me so keep your tentacles away from me.¡± As he said that, the machine scanned him with a beam. A small compartment opened on the side of the machine and the machine injected him with something with a gun-like needle injector. ¡°What did I just tell you. Keep away from me or I¡¯ll shove you where the sun doesn¡¯t shine.¡± The world around John started to spin, he was losing balance and could barely stand up straight. ¡°You bastard! What did you...¡± Was all that he managed to say before he lost consciousness.


    John woke up, shackled, while two robots were pushing him through corridors. They entered a massive hall. If John wasn¡¯t heavily drugged, he would appreciate all the beautiful sculptures, the ornaments decorating the walls and the magnificent chandelier depicting different animals holding glowing crystals. In the center of the room on an elevated platform were six chares. One stood alone and the others were facing it. The robots put John in the chair opposite the five chairs and attached his shackles to it.

 Chapter 3: Biological

    Still under the influence of the drugs, John murmured to himself ¡°Stupid machine¡­ I¡¯m gonna kill it¡­ I¡¯m gonna make him eat his processor...¡± He looked around and saw the hall and two robots beside him. ¡°You guys sure know how to decorate. I have an apartment on Earth, can I hire you guys to decorate my bathroom?¡± He said to one of the robots but got no answer. He heard a commotion in the back but couldn¡¯t turn around to see what the fuss was about. The drugs started to wear off and his mind got a bit clearer. He heard footsteps approaching and thought ¡®Finally, someone I could talk to.¡¯


    Five aliens walked in front of him and sat in the five chairs. They looked like human-shaped deer. They had deer horns, but smaller, elongated faces and black fingertips like hoofs. The biggest one sat in the middle chair. They all had a device on their left ear and the one in the middle chair, told something to one of the robots in the same gibberish language, giving him a similar device. The robot took the device and turned towards John, grabbed John¡¯s head ad put the device on his left ear. ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing? You could have just asked me, you know.¡± John said.


    ¡°What would be the point in asking when you wouldn¡¯t understand?¡± One of the deer aliens said.


    John looked at the aliens sitting in the chairs and said. ¡°You¡¯re not talking gibberish anymore. How?¡± John asked.


    ¡°First things first. I am Shundi, the ambassador of our planet.¡± Shundi said. He was the biggest of them all and had the posture of someone important. He had brown fur, with a few gray hairs. He was dressed in a robe that was dark blue at the shoulders, decorated with an intricate silver pattern of different stylized animals running through the forest. The robe¡¯s color got lighter and at the bottom until it turned turquoise and depicted marine animals in silver stitched in silver thread. However, the robe was not the thing that made him look like the leader it was the scepter. It was taller than he was and made out of intertwined wooden branches that, at the top, ended looking like deer horns. At the top, in the middle of the horns, the scepter had leaves, flowers and the biggest sapphire John has ever seen. It was bigger than his hand.


    ¡°To my right is the defense minister Noxu and his assistant Zerzo.¡± Shundi said and extended his right hand to the colleagues on his right. Noxu¡¯s fur was black and he was muscular, he had broad shoulders and a look that could squish an ant. Even his assistant looked afraid of him. He was probably the reason that John was up here on the ship for so long.


    ¡°To my left is the alien rights minister Saiyani and her assistant Tati.¡± Shundi said and extended his left hand to the colleagues on his left. Saiyani was the only one that looked normal. She had a red dress laced with a white pattern on the edges, glasses and a small notebook on her lap. Her assistant Tati was so cute. The chair she was sitting in looked five times too big for her. She looked like a three month old puppy you just had to play with.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you all. I¡¯m John.¡± John said.


    ¡°We are sorry we had to keep you here for so long but we didn¡¯t know what you were and couldn¡¯t understand you. The device on our ears is a universal translator and it can translate over three thousand languages, but it couldn¡¯t translate yours.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°How couldn¡¯t it translate mine? We occupy fifty planets in the galaxy. It should have our language in the database.¡± John said confused.


    ¡°Fifty planets? Are you sure? Because we have never seen any being like you before.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure. After we won the galactic war we freed the planets that were occupied and built our colonies there.¡± John said.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ When our ship picked you up you were the only one.¡± Shundi said. ¡°With no other way to get information and to know more about you we had to make you talk so our universal translator could translate your words. You call yourself John, is that the name of your species?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°No, my species is named Human and we are from a planet named Earth John is the name we give members of our species we can¡¯t identify. What about you?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We are the Godeer race and come from the planet Poin that is underneath this ship.¡± Shundi said.


    Yeah, I¡¯m impressed with your ship. But why are you moving your planet?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Our sun was destroyed by a black hole and we found a similar solar system to our own. So, we are traveling to that solar system to put our planet there. We have been traveling for four generations now.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Wait. Four generations. How long do your people live?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Around two hundred years. Why?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°So you have been traveling max for two hundred years. Right?¡± John asked.


    ¡°A little less. But it will take us around four hundred years to get there.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°That means that I have been in cryosleep at least that long. But that isn¡¯t enough for you to not see humans.¡± John said.


    ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°What galactic year is this and what galaxy is this?¡± John asked.


    Godeer looked at one another confused and Shundi said. ¡°It¡¯s the galactic year sixty-four thousand, five hundred and twenty-five, and we are at the edge of the milky galaxy.¡±


    ¡°You mean the Milky way galaxy?¡± John asked.


    ¡°If you call it that, that then yes.¡± Shundi said.


    John sat in the chair very still, speechless. He was in cryosleep for twenty-five thousand years and his pod drifted to the outer edge of the galaxy. No wonder that the godeer never saw a human, humans were light years away from here.


    ¡°Where is your planet Earth?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°Huh?¡± John was still in shock so he didn¡¯t hear the question. ¡°Sorry, what did you ask?¡± He said.


    ¡°I asked where your planet is.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± John said with a blank look on his face staring in the distance.


    ¡°I think this is enough for today. We will continue tomorrow.¡± Saiyani said and the robots took John back to his room. A metal tray was waiting for him in his room, but he wasn¡¯t hungry.


    So much time spent in cryosleep explained why he didn¡¯t remember anything. He was now worried that he¡¯ll never remember. He tried to wrap his head around that he was twenty-five thousand years in the future and that he¡¯ll probably never see another human again. With thoughts of despair keeping him awake, even after the lights turned off, he felt like the loneliest creature in the universe.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    After the lights turned on, and the metal tray was pushed into his room, John was still lying on the bed awake. The door to his room opened ant the machine came in.


    ¡°I mean you no harm. I am a medicine machine and I am here to help you.¡± The machine said.


    John lifted his head and angrily looked at the machine. ¡°I can understand you now. Was that what you were saying all the time?¡± He said.


    ¡°Yes. I am here to help.¡± The machine said.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t help me. The first time I thought that I would drown and the second time you scrambled my brains.¡± John said.


    ¡°I am only trying to help.¡± The machine said and started moving towards John.


    ¡°Get away from me you lunatic!¡± John yelled at the machine as it was taking the gun-like needle injector out of the compartment on the side. ¡°Stick that thing in me again and I¡¯ll kill you.¡± John said.


    The machine pointed the injector at John¡¯s leg and John kicked it so hard that the machine fell over on its side. The robot at the door heard the commotion and rushed in. He grabbed John and pulled him out of the room. As the robot was putting shackles on his arms and legs, John yelled at the machine. ¡°This time you were lucky that your friend stepped in! Next time I¡¯m going to make you eat your own processor!¡±


    Another robot showed up and they took him back to the same hall as yesterday. They sat him down in the chair and attached his shackles to it. John thought about things that he would ask the godeer. Surely, the technology would have advanced in thirty thousand years, so there must be a way they could send him home, to Earth. As he thought about the questions, the godeer came into the hall and sat in their chairs.


    ¡°Hello, John. How are you feeling?¡± Saiyani asked.


    ¡°Alright now that the machine didn¡¯t scramble my brains.¡± John said and bent over to scratch his nose with his right hand. When he lifted his hand, he saw four of the Godeer hiding behind their chairs and Noxu standing up ready to attack.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What did I do? My nose was just itchy.¡± John asked confused.


    Shundi, behind the chair, said. ¡°You told us that the machine didn¡¯t give you an injection today.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so? What¡¯s the problem? Why are you hiding?¡± John asked.


    The Godeer stood up, looked at each other and sat back in their chairs and Shundi said. ¡°Those injections are mild sedatives.¡±


    ¡°Mild sedatives? Yesterday that mild sedative scrambled my brain so much that I drooled all the way here.¡± John said. ¡°Why did you even give me sedatives?¡± He asked.


    ¡°We were watching you solve the puzzles we gave you and every time you yelled and threw pieces of the puzzles at the walls or the floor. You even put one in the sonic shower and blasted it with the hottest setting. Another one you almost destroyed by jumping on it, hitting it with your head and yelling at it.¡± Shundi said. ¡°We also saw you destroying your food. We saw you take the bowl with red Kazu, throw it against a wall, pick up the pieces, throw them in the toilet and urinate on them. After that, you looked at the camera and extended your middle finger towards the camera. What does that mean?¡± He asked.


    ¡°I did that in the spur of the moment, I really didn¡¯t like that reddish gelatin thing. I¡¯d rather not explain what the finger means, trust me.¡± John said.


    ¡°So, after all of that, you can see why we are cautious. You seem to us as a violent being.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Oooooooh¡­¡± John said. ¡°That¡¯s just a misunderstanding. I tend to overreact when I¡¯m frustrated but I would never hurt anyone. Don¡¯t you ever get angry or frustrated at something and just want to lash out?¡± He asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°You know. When your wife is angry with you...¡± John started to say but was interrupted by Shundi.


    ¡°My wife is dead.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Uff¡­ Sorry.¡± John said. ¡°Well then, when you tell someone to do something, and how to do it, and he doesn¡¯t do it. Are you not angry at that?¡± John said.


    ¡°Aaah! I see your point. When something doesn¡¯t go as you want it to and you can¡¯t do anything about it you feel irritated and you go home.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Yeah, like that.¡± John said, happy that Shundi understood him. ¡°It¡¯s a bit different for humans but you get the point.¡±


    ¡°Tell me more about humans.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Shure, but only if you tell me more about godeer.¡± John said.


    Shundi looked at him and his colleagues said. ¡°We are a peaceful and timid race. We don¡¯t like outsiders. We had contact with other aliens and it never ended well because the other aliens hunted us for meat as if we were common animals. Our planet is mostly covered in water and forests. We built our cities in the forests and we live in balance with the nature on our planet.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°We put a lot of resources in technology and defense technology because we are not fighters. Only a small percent of us have the courage to go into battle and those are celebrated as heroes.¡± Noxu said.


    ¡°But we did encounter some aliens that were peaceful like us and we traded with them. It all stopped when we left our solar system behind so we are hoping that we¡¯ll met new peaceful races in the new solar system.¡± Saiyani said.


    ¡°Yeah, and if we come across an unfriendly alien race we have the ship and the shield around the planet to protect us.¡± Shundi said. ¡°Now tell us about humans.¡±


    ¡°I will but don¡¯t judge all humans by what I¡¯ll say. Humans are all different. There are no two humans alike in the universe but we all have one thing in common. You saw that when you were watching me. I¡¯m a good guy, I wouldn¡¯t hurt a living being but I get violent when I¡¯m frustrated or angry. ¡± John said looking at the godeer faces. Godeer were nodding so he continued.


    ¡°The best analogy I found was that humans were like magnets. Every human has a positive and a negative side. The only thing guiding the sides is our moral compass. Some humans are evil, murderers, thieves, liars, while others are good, honest and unselfish. However, unlike you, we are a warrior race. In the past, we were at war with each other almost all the time and at the same time, we were also at peace. I know that doesn¡¯t make sense to you, to be honest, it doesn¡¯t make sense to us humans either. We want peace but we wage war to achieve it.¡± John said looking at the confused faces of the godeer.


    ¡°When we reached the level of technology so we could travel through space, we stopped fighting with each other and started fighting evil alien races that enslaved planets and aliens living there. We were so successful at freeing the occupied planets that the evil aliens united and attacked us. What they didn¡¯t know was that we¡¯ve been at war with each other for thousands of years and knew every war tactic. We destroyed all of their ships and won that galactic war in less than a decade. We lost only two ships out of tens of thousands.¡± John said.


    Godeer were looking at him as if he was some kind of monster.


    ¡°I told you not to judge me by what I said. Not every human is the same. We humans know what¡¯s right and what¡¯s wrong. I have a strong moral compass that¡¯s telling me to be good. And humans only fought in the galactic war to free the planets and the enslaved aliens, they didn¡¯t do it just to kill the evil aliens. That¡¯s a noble cause.¡± John said.


    ¡°But you said you made colonies on those planets.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Yeah, to help the aliens recover from slavery. We are not the bad guys.¡± John said. ¡°But what I really wanted to ask you is if there was a way you could send me back to my part of the galaxy. I mean, you have a ship carrying a planet. There must be a way I could go back to Earth.¡± He asked.


    ¡°Maybe there is. However, we don¡¯t know where your planet is. The galaxy is big and finding a planet is not an easy task.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°I can point you in the right direction. I know approximately where my planet and the colonies are. That would narrow your search, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± John asked with a hopeful voice.


    ¡°It would, drastically. Nevertheless, we still can¡¯t guarantee that your planet will be there. A long time has passed since you last saw it.¡± Shundi said. ¡°Get the shackles off him.¡± Shundi said to one of the robots and it obeyed the command.


    ¡°Come, let¡¯s see the galaxy map.¡± Shundi said to John, stood up and walked over to a console. He typed something on the console and the Milky way galaxy appeared before them.


    ¡°Whoa!¡± John said looking at the 3D image of the Milky way galaxy. ¡°Where are we now?¡± he asked.


    Shundi typed something on the console again and a green dot appeared on the map on the outer edge of the galaxy. ¡°We are here. Where is your planet?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Can you zoom in on this section?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Shundi zoomed in on the section John pointed and the map showed a cluster of stars and the Helix Nebula.


    ¡°That¡¯s it! That¡¯s the nebula closest to my planet and the colonies. My planet is the third planet, blue like yours, in a solar system with eight planets and a dwarf gas planet. Will that help you search for it?¡± John asked with hope in his voice.


    ¡°Yes, it will. However, I don¡¯t know how long it will take. Do you mind staying on the ship until we find it?¡± Shundi asked.


    ¡°No problem. Just keep that medical machine away from me and we¡¯re good.¡± John said.

 Chapter 4: Galactic

    One day John was in the bathroom washing his hands but the water in the sink was cold even dough the lever was turned right. Curious, he pulled the lever off and saw that the pipe for the warm water was dislodged and that the warm water was leaking. The supporter, for the warm water pipe, attached to the wall was broken. John ripped a piece of his sleeve and tied the pipe to the part of the supporter that was still attached to the wall. He tried to attach the pipe back to the lever part and while he was doing that, he cut his hand and it started bleeding.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± John said, took one of the towels and pressed it against the wound, but the bleeding wouldn¡¯t stop. A few moments later the door to his room opened, he stepped out of the bathroom and saw the medical machine come in. ¡°Oh no! I had a deal with the godeer that you won¡¯t pester me again.¡± John said.


    ¡°I am here to help. You have injured yourself. I have come to help you.¡± The machine said.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, It¡¯s just a scratch. I don¡¯t need your help.¡± John said angrily as blood dripped on the floor.


    ¡°I can see you are losing blood. An injury like that can become infected. I am here to stop the blood and disinfect the wound.¡± The machine said.


    ¡°But o injections this time. Understand?¡± John said.


    ¡°No injections.¡± The machine said and came closer to John. It removed the towel and cleaned the wound with gauze. It sprayed it with a white spray that turned into foam and the bleeding stopped. It removed the wound and continued to disinfect the wound. While it was doing that, John saw a dent on its left side and some wires sticking out.


    ¡°Is the damage on your left side from me kicking you?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The machine said.


    ¡°So why didn¡¯t they fix you?¡± John asked confused.


    ¡°I am scheduled for maintenance in three days and seven hours. There are machines that are more damaged than me.¡± The machine replied. ¡°I have cleaned your wound.¡±


    ¡°Then let me fix you. It¡¯s my fault you are damaged.¡± John said.


    ¡°I am scheduled for maintenance...¡± The machine started to say but was interrupted by John.


    ¡°Yeah, I know. But you fixed me, let me fix you. Open the panel on your left.¡± John said and the machine opened the panel.


    The damage wasn¡¯t severe, there were some loose wires and a bent plate. John looked at the wires and matched them to the corresponding ports. He took out the bent plate, put it on the floor and hit it with his shoo until it was straight. Happy with its shape he put the plate back in place and closed the panel. ¡°So, did I fix the...¡± John started to say but something about this situation triggered a memory.


    He was in a situation like this, fixing a machine on a ship. Yes, he remembered, he was an engineer. He was fixing a machine on a human ship on its way to one of the planets to help the enslaved aliens. As he was fixing the machine, an evacuation alarm activated. Al the people on the ship rushed to the escape pods and he followed. John got in one of them and launched immediately. As the pod was living the ship, he saw an alien ship ten times bigger than any ship they had in their fleet coming closer to the colony ship. It fired some kind of bright light towards the colony ship and the explosion destroyed the ship and the pods close to the ship. The explosion impact pushed the other pods. Like his, in different directions. The last thing he remembered was the low oxygen warning. That¡¯s when the pod probably put him into cryosleep.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡±  The machine said.


    ¡°Yes. I need to go.¡± John said.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t bandage your wound.¡± The machine said but John already left the room.


    John told the robot in front of his door to take him to the main hall as fast as he could and when they arrived he walked over to Shundi and asked. ¡°Is there any news? Did you find my planet?¡±


    ¡°I think so.¡± Shundi said and looked at him. ¡°Why are you in such a hurry?¡± He asked.


    ¡°I remembered something. I remembered a massive alien spaceship attacking my ship. It was bigger than any ship we humans had at that time. I¡¯m worried that they enslaved my people. Can you show me what you found?¡± John asked.


    Shundi zoomed to a solar system he found and asked. ¡°Is this your solar system?¡±


    ¡°Yes, good job. That¡¯s it. That¡¯s my planet. How far away is it?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Twenty-five thousand light years.¡± Shundi said.


    John looked at him speechless for a few moments. He looked at the map and back at Shundi. ¡°I don¡¯t have twenty-five thousand years. My people could go extinct by that time.¡± He said.


    ¡°We can help you get there faster but it¡¯s a one-way trip.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Thank you that would be awesome. But I¡¯m still worried about the aliens. If they see me they will kill me on the spot.¡± John said.


    ¡°We will give you one of our ships that has cloaking technology so that they won¡¯t be able to see you.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Thank you, but I could never repay such a gift.¡± John said.


    ¡°You already have. You warned us that we share a galaxy with evil species and now we have time to prepare our defenses. Consider the gift repaid.¡± Shundi said.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± John said and walked over to Noxu.


    ¡°Hey, Noxu. I wanted to ask you something. You said that you have weapons to defend your planet. Well, does the ship you¡¯re giving me have any weapons?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Only basic weapons. Why?¡± Noxu asked.


    ¡°In my memory the ship that attacked us was big. It was half the size of this ship and I¡¯m worried that basic weapons won¡¯t do any damage to ships like that. Is there a chance you could put stronger weapons on the ship you¡¯re giving me?¡± John asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t give others our weapons. They will only use it against us.¡± Noxu said.


    ¡°Look, I won¡¯t tell anybody about you. I don¡¯t even know where you are going. How am I going to use your weapons against you if I don¡¯t know where you are?¡± John explained.


    ¡°I will think about it.¡± Noxu said.


    Noxu was so stubborn that even hearing that he will think about it was a big step forward.


    While the godeer prepared the ship for John, he was sitting on the bed in his room thinking about what awaits him on Earth. The door of his room opened and he saw a robot standing on the other side. He stood up walked over to the robot who started walking and he followed. The robot took him to a room with two chairs. In one of them, Saiyani was sitting. She invited him in and said. ¡°Sorry for not coming to get you myself self but this is protocol. I invited you here because this is the only place we can talk freely. The cameras in this room record only the image, not the sound. We will pretend to have an Interview but I have something important to say.¡±


    Saiyani put a small round device on the table, pushed one button and said. ¡°Please sit. I am Saiyani Vorte, the minister of alien rights and I am here to see how you have been treated here on this ship. I understand that your name is John. So John. Would you like to drink or eat something before we begin?¡± She looked at John with a serious look.


    ¡°Yeah, I would.¡± John said.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Then I am pausing the recording and we will continue after we get refreshments.¡± Saiyani said and pushed another button. She got up and pretended to look for glasses and food.


    ¡°I heard your talk with Noxu. He is never going to give you our weapons, he¡¯s too paranoid and I completely understand why. Our weapons are based on making space anomalies like wormholes and black holes. They are very dangerous weapons in the wrong hands. However, for the past months, I have seen that you are a good person, so I will have my team attach the black hole weapon to the bottom of the ship we are giving you and hide it with the bottom door hatch. I trust you will not use it against us.¡± Saiyani said showing him a bowl of almonds.


    ¡°You can trust me. Nether I or other humans would use it against you.¡± John waved his hand and Saiyani showed him a bowl of fruit.


    ¡°If you use the black hole weapon on a big ship it might not disappear completely, but the damage would be so severe that it would incapacitate it. So use it wisely.¡± Saiyani said.


    ¡°I will.¡± John said and nodded. Saiyani put the bowl of fruit in front of him and sat in the chair. She pushed the button on the device again and said. ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡±


    They continued the interview and when they were finished, John was happy that he now had a fighting chance if he needed it. After two days, everything was prepared for John to leave. They all said their goodbyes, John thanked them once again for everything that they did for him and got in the ship. They explained to him how to pilot the ship, how to activate and deactivate the cloak and he was ready to go. He looked to the left side of the console and saw two buttons, one green, one red, and a small sticker with deer horns on it. So that was Saiyani¡¯s work. Green to activate it and red to fire it, he chuckled a bit and flew out of the big ship.


    He heard Noxu say. ¡°Stay put for a while.¡± He stopped and saw a white beam create a sphere in front of him. ¡°That is a wormhole leading to your solar system. Activate your cloak and go through. After you come out on the other side, the wormhole will collapse. Got it?¡± Noxu said.


    ¡°Heard you loud and clear. Goodbye and thanks again. I wish you good luck.¡± John said, activated his cloak and entered the sphere. In an instant, his ship was next to Jupiter. He saw an alien ship fly by him towards Earth, he looked at the ship, trying to figure out if it was human or alien. It looked more alien so he followed it. The alien ship docked into one of the bigger ships hangar. John stopped in front of the hangar and waited, he wanted to see the alien that was piloting the ship. The pilot got out of the ship. The alien was tall and lean, its skin and hair were white and it had three tentacles coming from the top of his head, falling down its back.


    Those weren¡¯t the aliens humans were fighting against in the galactic war. John decided to circle around the Earth. A fleet of these alien ships surrounded the whole Earth. He descended into the Earth¡¯s atmosphere to fly over the ground and see if there were any humans left on Earth. There were humans on Earth, but as he feared, the white aliens enslaved them. It was probably the same on the other planets, on the colonies. He needed a plan. He didn¡¯t know anything about these aliens and their weapons. If he attacked one ship at a time, they would eventually find him and kill him.


    John went back in space and faced the Earth looking at the fleet of ships, thinking how he can win a galactic war with one small ship. He got an Idea and headed out of the solar system. As he left the solar system, he tested the black hole weapon to see how long the black hole lasted. It lasted for fifteen minutes, which was more than enough time. The next test he did was to see what would happen if he fired a black hole into another black hole. The black hole got bigger. That was the result he was hoping for and now he had a plan on how to win.


    John went back to Earth, positioned himself in front of the biggest ship in the fleet and deactivated his cloak. As he expected after a few moments a few smaller alien ships came towards him. He flew behind Jupiter where the big ships couldn¡¯t see what was happening and fired the black hole gun. The black hole sucked the small ships as if they were nothing.


    John flew back and positioned himself in front of the biggest ship again. This time they sent even more ships after hem, he repeated the same maneuver and circled back to the biggest ship. After a few of the same laps, one of the bigger ships came after him. John flew behind Jupiter again but the bigger ship didn¡¯t follow. The bigger ship circled around from the other side, but it didn¡¯t matter. John fired two black holes at it and the bigger black hole tore it to shreds.


    Once again, John was in front of the biggest ship of the fleet. For some time nothing was happening, no ships were coming after him, which meant that they were calling for backup. After some time, a thousand ships surrounded John¡¯s small ship. Three of them were as big as the biggest one he was facing. ¡®So four motherships. This is going to be fun.¡¯ John thought. Backup arrived but still, nothing was happening. John activated his cloak to give them something to talk about and moved over one of the smaller ships. Still facing the Earth¡¯s mothership, he deactivated his cloak.


    The other alien ships immediately started firing at their own ship underneath him, destroying it. John activated his cloak again and moved to another ship. When he deactivated it, the aliens started firing again, destroying that ship to. He cloaked again, moved away and started laughing. He could win just by jumping from ship to ship so he tried it again. This time the aliens didn¡¯t fire. John returned to his original position, in front of the Earth¡¯s mothership. ¡¯Well, it was worth a shot.¡¯ He thought.


    There were still around a thousand smaller ships and four motherships left. John had to get them to attack him somehow. He didn¡¯t have to worry about that for long. Five hundred smaller ships started to charge their weapons. His smaller ship was more agile and a smaller target so he decided to start flying to the edge of the solar system, to Pluto, where he had more maneuvering space. The five hundred ships followed him, firing at his ship.


    As soon as he reached the edge of the solar system, he fired multiple black holes towards the sips following him. Six ships turned around and headed for Earth. They were probably going to report how the small ship destroyed so much bigger ships, but John couldn¡¯t let them do that so he fired at them and damaged their engines. They crashed into Saturn. ¡°Ufff¡­ That was a close one.¡± John said and returned to Earth.


    Again, John stopped in front of the Earth¡¯s mothership. This time one symbol on the console was blinking. ¡°I think they¡¯re calling me.¡± He ignored the blinking symbol and just sat in his ship waiting for their next move. The symbol started to blink again but he just ignored it. A few moments later, the rest of the smaller ships and the three motherships changed formation and started charging their weapons.


    ¡®Finally, some action.¡¯ John thought, turned his ship and headed out of the solar system. The fleet and the tree motherships followed him. When he, by his calculations, was far away from the planets, he stopped and waited for the fleet to catch up with him. When all the ships were in the range of the black hole weapon, he activated his cloak and started firing black holes one after another. The black hole got bigger and bigger and started sucking in the smaller ships whole. John backed away from the black hole and kept firing. The black hole was so massive now that it sucked the mother ships in.


    John returned to Earth and stopped in front of the last alien ship, the Earth¡¯s mothership. This time he pressed the symbol that was blinking before and on a screen, in front of him, a white alien appeared with confusion on his face.


    ¡°A human?¡± The alien said.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a human. I¡¯m John and I can¡¯t say that it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± John said.


    ¡°What did you do to my fleet?¡± The alien asked.


    ¡°You know, you have manners like you were born in a sewer. Your fleet is gone. Puff!¡± John said.


    ¡°You will pay for this.¡± The alien said and the ship started charging weapons.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will.¡± John said, aimed the black hole weapon at the alien ship¡¯s weapons and fired. In an instant, the alien ship¡¯s weapons were gone. ¡°You have anything else you don¡¯t need?¡± John asked.


    All kinds of alarms went off on the alien ship and the alien was shouting orders. When he finished he turned towards John and said. ¡°How did you undo the Brakubra?¡±


    ¡°The what?¡± John asked.


    ¡°The enslavement ritual.¡± The alien said. ¡°How don¡¯t you know about Brakubra?¡± The alien asked confused.


    ¡°Ooooooh¡­ That¡¯s an easy one. I¡¯m twenty-five thousand years old. I wasn¡¯t here when you came.¡± John replied. ¡°So, let¡¯s see what else you don¡¯t need.¡± He said and started shooting black holes all around the ship.


    ¡°So what did I hit?¡± John asked with a happy voice.


    ¡°Stop shooting at my ship!¡± The alien said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s make a deal. Tell me how to undo the Braku bla bla. Whatever you call that enslavement and I¡¯ll stop.¡± John said.


    ¡°Alright, you have to perform a ritual and chant a specific set of words.¡± The alien said.


    ¡°Wait, let me record this. My memory is not what it used to be.¡± John said. ¡°Go. Tell me the words.¡± He said and the alien explained the ritual and said the words.


    ¡°Are we done? Can we leave now?¡± The alien asked.


    ¡°Just a sec.¡± John said and pushed the red button for the black hole weapon a few times. The black hole destroyed the mothership. ¡°Now you can leave.¡± He said, landed his ship on Earth, performed the ritual to break the enslavement on a group of humans and thought them how to do it.


    In a few years, all humans were free and all the white aliens were dead, even those on other planets, on the colonies. John was celebrated as a hero and savour of all mankind. He received all kind of medals,  awards and they even named a day after him. There was a statute of him on every planet.


    Technology development didn''t stop for the last twenty-five million years he was gone. It made a giant leap forward but humans couldn''t use it for themselves because of the white aliens. Now that the white aliens were gone humanity used the technology and built all the things they have been building for the aliens. The black hole weapon was a discovery of the millennium and was implemented as a defense system on Earth, ships and all colony planets.


    But all of that didn''t matter to John. The only thing that mattered was getting his memories back and the thing he missed the most, his name.


    One day he went to see the statue they made of him. They totally messed up his chin. Behind the statue was a wall of names and pictures of people that died in the first galactic war. There were more than two thousand names written there. Two thousand for two ships lost in battle and the rest from the ship headed for the colony to help the aliens. On the colony list, there was a picture of him.


    Next to the picture, was his name, Leon Dawkins. He put his hand on the wall, next to his name and said. "It''s good to finally meet you Leon."