The Dark Silence
Very early in his life the lad developed Measles, a common malady way back then and medical science really didn't know how to deal with it properly but they did come up with some medication and David survived. The price he paid was that his eyesight suffered and he had to wear glasses. Not a problem as such as being so young he quickly learned to adapt to having the bike on his nose as some of the nasty children would remark. Here comes specky four eyes they would shout derisively. Never in the hearing of a parent or teacher or any adult for that matter. Cowards are like that, nice as homemade pie when there are witnesses. Bullies when they are trying to show off to their gang.
Such was life for the lad in those days, he learned to live with it and for the most part without them. The plus side was that he could channel his energies into other things. Over the years he made a valiant effort to read the local library dry of books. The reading caused him to think about writing stories of his own which he did with some gusto. Mostly his thoughts wandered into the supernatural and being a great fan of Dan Dare Pilot of the future, as he was billed on the radio,and also in The Eagle, the lads favorite weekly mag. His stories seemed to gravitate into that realm. When his English teacher gave the class homework in the form of an essay on a subject of their own choosing the lad had no trouble rattling off a 500 -1000 word essay. To his delight he always got a star or a big tick for his efforts. His teacher said that he might think about writing some short stories and maybe , if they were good enough, he could actually sell them and make money from them. His teacher said that he had a raw talent. Yes, those were the words he used, a raw talent. The lad didn't really know what this meant and him being a somewhat shy lad, he didn't ask. He saved money from jobs and used some to buy cheap exercise books in which to write his stories. Some would seem to pour out of his mind like water from a tap and then others he would start and stop and keep going back to until he got it right. His pile of books grew and yet he never told anyone. He was a real bookworm then, still is late in life, always had his nose in a book. His family derisively called him the 'professor' because he always tried to speak proper, he knew things, he learned things from books. When he tried to add his pen'orth of knowledge to any conversation he was told to be quiet, so in the end he was.
From that start as a young lad he developed his own way of life which , maybe subconsciously, kept him apart from folk, even then he was poked at for being standoffish and aloof,. Heads you win Tails you lose.
There came a time when it was not only his eyesight that was deteriorating but his hearing was becoming noticeably weaker too. He found himself having to ask someone to repeat all the time. For some reason folk seemed to associate his deafness to a low intelligence and when he did ask for them to repeat what had been said it was repeated as one would speak to a little child. he would then get angry and state that he was hard of hearing not bloody stupid. These outbursts when they came caused folk to steer clear and again he was left on the outside. What became of his stories, no one knows, mainly because no one knew in the first place. At some point he stopped writing. The box in which he kept them all slipped from his memory and one day when he came home he decided to have a read of some and maybe start writing again. The box was nowhere to be found. He asked and received a shrug of the shoulder and a snigger from one of his brothers which he took to meaning he knew but wasn't saying.
So back to the now, many years later, he started to write again but his eyesight being so very poor now it was hard.
His deafness got worse almost on a weekly basis , he thought.
He decided to write one last story before both gave out and he wrote about himself as the main character. He was like his life long hero Dan Dare. He had been blasted into space on a one way trip to explore the universe and send back any information that he found in Deep Space. he was chosen for the mission because he was expendable, he was terminally ill from a very rare form of cancer although it would not debilitate him, he would eventually die within the next 10 to 15 years, maybe 20, who knows what breathing almost pure but recycled Oxygen might do to a body over many months or years.
He passed through the galaxy without reporting anything at all. Why should he , he thought, they already knew all about the Galaxy and they would just say that he was reciting from science literature.
He saw strange things that caused him to question his sanity. Did he just see those lights hovering above Saturn's rings?
Would a message sent back to Mission Control be believed? They may think it was another case of space sickness that others had suffered from. He kept it to himself for the time being and anyway if it was trouble he was well beyond any help. Even a cry for help would take many weeks to get back.
He saw the blinking warning lights and his reaction was slow. what was wrong, why did he see , just see the lights and not hear them. He banged on the console, no sound, he shouted, no sound. No one goes deaf that quick, even though he was getting very hard of hearing but for it to switch off like a light?
OK, Let me think rational about this. I have absolutely no hearing so no sounds around me. I can feel the vibration of the ship so that seems in order, except for the red warning lights they were showing an ingress into the ship. That was impossible. It needed to be checked out. Connecting his life support for leaving the capsule to enter the mother ship, he punched in the code to open the airlock. On entering he punched the close code and then the entry code for the main body of the ship. he had not been in there for almost a week, having enough rations for a month at a time in the capsule. Nothing seemed untoward as he made his way back. Everything was operating normally. When he checked the outer airlock log he saw that it had been opened only a few minutes before but was now in sealed mode.
What was going on. how can anyone enter when the codes needed to be entered from inside and he was the only one inside. A one way mission he reminded himself. One way for one.
And then he remembered the lights passing through the rings of Saturn. How did they do that for the rings had much loose stuff in them to cause any amount of damage to a craft. That was why his was programmed to pass by clear by over 50,000 kms. As he thought about the lights he saw a strange glow much further down the ship, near where the supplies were kept, supplies that would keep him alive with food and regenerating life support.
He glided down the access tunnel and the light became more of an aura of drifting blue gas.
It began to solidify into a being. He saw shadows that became deep eye sockets with smaller lights in them. Tendrils formed and ended in something like fingers. The whole thing saw soundless, it could have been playing The Star Spangled Banner for all he knew. As he got closer it, whatever it was, raised a hand and if that eerie face could smile , it did.
Who are you? He asked. Why are you here and how did you get in my ship? No answer, just that enigmatic smile, if it was a smile. It seemed to be studying him, it's head cocked top one side as if in thought.
Then the lights went out. Dan, as he now called himself, reached out to where the control panel was but he could see nothing. There should be warning lights flashing, nothing. It slowly dawned on him what the problem was. He was the problem. He was blind. He was blind and he was also now deaf. In deep space with an alien being.
His thoughts were now running riot. and with a supreme effort he took control of himself, and hopefully the situation.
I knew I was going deaf, but this was too sudden. I knew my eyesight was deteriorating again, this was too sudden.
Now I have something on my ship that should not be here and I can neither see or hear it and it is right in front of me, or was. Dan felt his sightless eyes getting heavy and his mind started to fug, it was closing down. He tried to stay alert but knew he was drifting, almost like the alien, he felt he had no real form when he passed into an unconscious state.
Dan knew he was awake, he was conscious of something happening even in the dark silence state he was in.
He felt warm. When he patted himself he was naked. He was disorientated, was he lying down, he felt nothing below him. When he reached out he touched nothing, in front or above. He yelled out even though he couldn't hear, it might tell others that he was awake. Nothing happened. He lay there, trying to make sense of this, It should be easy, he was after all, Dan Dare Pilot of the Future. Yet he still didn't know where he was, upside down, in a room, on his ship, was he being watched? Now that thought gave him an eerie feeling as it brought back the memory of someone else on board the craft. At that moment he sensed a presence, yet he didn't feel scared or nervous and God knows he should have, so far out into Deep Space and all of a sudden he has company!
Dan felt something touch the side of his face and then a probe entered his nose so delicately it was almost like a sneeze developing. Then another probe seemed to go through his chest and pierce his heart. The blackness of a dreamless sleep overcame him. He was awakened by a noise behind him and he sat up. he found he had sight again, in fact it was almost blinding after the darkness. Noise invaded his ears, it was deafeningly loud. What the hell was happening to him now?
When he touched himself he was fully dressed. When he looked at the instrument array all was blinking and showed normal running.All of a sudden all lights went out as the hatch behind him hissed open.
A face followed by a white coated figure.This time it was not the hollow eyed being with the tendril like fingers it was a normal man with a beaming smile on his face.
"Well Mr Smethurst", he said jovially, What do you think of our Space Simulator?"
Dan just sat there, wondering what he was talking about.
"It's the best version yet, we have added many refinements from the info we have had back from Hubble and Voyager. Beyond that I'm afraid it is pure guesswork".
When Dan found his voice, he seemed to croak. "Are you telling me that I am not in a real spaceship?"
The technician burst out laughing. "Of course not Mr Smethurst, we gave you the first chance to 'fly' the simulator in honor of your father".
"My father passed away last year", said Dan. "what has he got to do with all this?"
"Why do you say that?" The Technician had a puzzled look on his face. " He designed the whole thing, and he is very much alive, at least he was when I had coffee with him about an hour ago".
"No ", said Dan, "that's impossible, my father was just a technician like yourself".
"This is crazy",Dan said, Something must have happened to me while I was in that Spaceship, it must have affected my mind, could it be space delirium do you think?" It happens, according to the theorists, when one is in prolonged space flight in deep space".
"OK" I get this, you guys planned this", said the technician, "but I'm not falling for it,I must admit you had me going for a minute".
"NO", shouted Dan, jumping out of his seat, "it's you playing with my mind and I don't find it funny at all".
The Technician stared at him for a long moment, his eyes agog and his jaw slack.
"I..I..I have to go get help, stay right there please". With that he leapt out of the capsule, shouting into his headphones. Within seconds it seemed that all hell let loose, there were people crowding round the doorway looking, no staring at him.Then Dan got the shock of his life. His father appeared wearing a white coat and a look of sheer disbelief in his eyes. Dan fell back into the chair in a dead faint.
He woke in a white room filled with light. it was so blinding that he could only vaguely make out forms around him. When he reached out he found he was attached to wires, he thought he must be in a hospital.
As his eyes adjusted he was noticed by the figures in white. One approached the bed and he looked very like his father but that was impossible as he had seen him buried in the Spring of last year. Yet here he was.
Dan croaked again and asked for water. His father raised a tube to his lips and he sucked in cool water that eased his parched throat. He tried to gather his thoughts in the midst of this madness.
"What is going on?" He asked in a tremulous voice.
His 'father' reached out and placed his hand on Dan's shoulder.
"Philip",he said, you must have had one heck of a dream while you were in there. yet we saw no record of REM sleep".
"Do you remember anything else"? You were only in there for 90 minutes, the program is set for that time".
"if it was a dream", Dan said slowly, "why are you all so excited about it"? "To me it is only a story"
"I don't understand said his 'father' "what story?" "Please tell me everything".
So Dan did. By the time he was finished everyone in the room was silent and staring at him.
His 'father' then sat down and started to talk to him.
"I don't know what happened to you in that capsule Philip, but something certainly did".
"You are my son who I love dearly. You were born with no larynx and paralyzed from the waist down".
"You are 23 years old and have been diagnosed with incurable cancer".
"That was the reason for this once in a lifetime chance to 'fly in a Space Capsule Simulator"
"When I saw you stood up in that cabin, I thought I was going crazy and then you spoke"
"Why you should believe me to be dead I cannot even begin to understand"
"You have been unconscious for 2 days and in that time we have done a huge battery of tests on you with results that as a scientist I cannot explain.
"There is no trace of or has there ever been any cancer in your body.Your larynx and spine are as perfect as any of the specialists here have ever seen. Your muscle tone is that of an athlete. There is something in your blood system that we have never seen and cannot explain, apart from the fact that it seems to be regenerating itself perfectly."
"In short, you are one of the most perfect specimens of a man that anyone has ever seen".
"We have decided to keep this under wraps until we can understand more"
"The senior consultants have allowed you to be released under my guidance and you will be requested to volunteer for some further tests at a later date".
"Your Mom and brother are waiting outside, I cannot keep them there much longer, but, before they come in there is one visitor that I want you to meet. We will leave that for tomorrow"
Philip, as he now realised he was, beamed a smile as his Mom and brother came into the room with a million questions that all seemed to gush out at once. They smothered him with hugs and kisses. he saw, out of the corner of his eye, his father talking to the technician that was first on the scene. He heard them whispering crystal clear. His hearing was better than he had ever known it and so was his eyesight. He had no need for his spectacles. He was tired and the doctor asked for the room to be cleared so he could rest. With a kiss and a hug from his parents and brother, the room went quiet. The lights were dimmed and the only sounds were the monitors that he was hooked up to. Philip closed his eyes and suddenly felt a touch on his forehead. He opened his eyes expecting one of the nurses but instead he saw one of the beings from the spacecraft. He decided that he was dreaming until the being spoke.
"We have been watching you for many years Philip and decided that you were to be our subject for regeneration".
"We have the technology to remove you from where you were without anyone knowing, this was done by slowing down your earth time to almost zero. You were with us for many months of your time but only 90 minutes in real time on earth.
We have replaced damaged parts and fixed others so that they will work much better and for much longer. Your people will never be able to understand our level of technology as they are to us still far to primitive. We , like your earth scientists will continue to monitor you for all your life , which will be much longer that you expect. We wish you a good life Philip Smethurst, or Z/0001/Humanoid species". You can sleep now but you will not remember anything when asked.
© Dave Timperley April 2017
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