Faces were a blur before her. There was crying and screaming. She was trying to run, but there was nowhere to go. Then she was sparring with someone, only she could not see his face. He had hurt her somehow... and then... then... she found herself trapped inside a shuttle. Suddenly, alarms sounded and the whole vessel jolted. She could feel a great heave and her stomach jumped. With sickening dread she knew the shuttle was plummenting down toward the surface of a planet. She was going to die! She was really going to die!!
Cole had just started to doze off when Jenna suddenly woke up, bolting upright in a cold sweat. Suddenly Cole was shaken from his reverie. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asked, panicked. He really didn't know how to treat a head injury, or what to expect.
Her hand was under the pillow as if looking for something, but retreated as if not knowing what she was searching for. Gazing at him she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I just had a nightmare... I guess..." she said. She rubbed her temples as a dull ache began. Strange blurred images whisked through her head and then were gone again, but the ache remained.
"Try this," Cole said, handing Jenna a cup of tea. "I get them sometimes too. Not sure why, or how." The first of Coventry's two suns was just beginning to show itself above the horizon. Insect noises could be heard outside as the dew rose off the melons and beans.
She sipped it. "It's not what I'm used to," she said. "But it's good... But then again. How would I know what I'm used to?" She sighed and took another drink.
Cole chuckled. "It's made with fungus. The entire ecosystem on this planet seems to be about 300 million years behind Earth's. No angiosperms, or grasses, or even trees as we know them. I was able to replicate the melons and beans and other crops I grow before my replicator died. Absolutely no genetic variability here, but then again there's nothing here that will blight the crops either."
"Beans and melons and your cricket friends and... bugs... Quite an interesting place," she replied. She took another sip of her tea. "How long have you been here?"
Cole sighed. "As best as I can figure it, about two years. I'm not sure how I crashed, but it was nothing nearly as spectacular as yours." He deliberately avoided telling her that he knew exactly how he crashed. "It hasn't exactly been what I'd call a trip to Risa, but I could have fared far worse."
"Did you lose people?" she asked. She sensed that she had been the one in charge of the mission she had been on, for she must have been on a mission. She knew that. Otherwise she wouldn't have been out in a shuttle... Somehow the deaths of those with her weighed very heavy on her heart. They had been her responsibility...
"In a manner of speaking, yes," Cole said. Unbidden memories came forward--the last mission, a desperate trip to 20th century Earth, to save the lives of two U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima whose descendents would be play vital roles in the defeat of the Eriarti in the 24th century. That mission had been successful, but the follow-up, a jump to the 24th century to ensure the survival of their descendants, had been thwarted by the Suliban. One had gotten aboard and sabotaged his chrono-navigator; the fight with the saboteur had damaged critical systems aboard his ship, crashing him on Coventry well before the time of his mission. "It's going to be a hot one today. The great thing about being self-employed is that you don't have to go to work if you really don't want to," he said as he looked out at the rising sun.
She nodded. "I was in command of that shuttle, I think... I can't remember it. It's just a feeling... I just... I just feel responsible for their lives..." She stopped for a moment and looked down into her tea. "And I don't even know who they are." She felt very vulnerable suddenly and did not like the sensation at all, but there was very little she could do about it. Her whole situation left her vulnerable.
"Ensign Ivan Sergei'evich Fedorov and Ensign Daniel Jesse Samuels," Cole said, producing their mangled identity cards. "I figured someone would want to know what happened to them should I get off this planet," he said, holding back his thoughts of somehow being able to reverse the deaths. He'd tried that once before, and failed. It wasn't something he liked to think about.
She willed some memory to come back. Something... But there was nothing. It was just a blank. But their rank said it all. They were Ensigns... There had to be a higher ranking officer aboard. That would have been her. "Where is my identity card?" she asked.
"Check your pockets. It would have been rather impolite to frisk you without your permission, seeing as how you're still walking around," Cole said with a laugh as he suppressed quite another kind of thought.
She picked up something in his thoughts, but with her headache, it was nothing more than that, but she returned the gentle smile. As she began checking, she found it. As she looked at it, she saw her name - Jenna Wolf... Commander. She at least knew who she was, though there were still no memories to go with it and it did confirm what she had suspected. She was the one in charge of the mission that had caused the lives of those two Ensigns. "Commander Jenna Kairadelle Wolf... You were right that my name was Jenna."
"Lucky guess," Cole said, sensing he might have been caught. "Anything else coming back to you?"
She shook her head. "Do you suppose this amnesia is permanent?" she asked with a tinge of concern.
"Not usually," Cole said. "You would have had to have been hurt far worse than you were. Considering how bad that crash was, you got out rather clean."
"Then why don't I remember anything?" she asked. "I need to know who I am... More than just a name."
"It's only been a few hours, Jenna. Give it a few days. You should be better soon. Just rest, and you'll be fine," he said, reassuring her.
"I suppose I'm not the patient type when it comes to myself," she replied, with a bittersweet smile. "Grant you, that's just a guess..."
"Probably more on the mark than you realize," Cole replied. The briefings were correct. She's got fire in her!
"I don't suppose 300 million years too early is also too early for there to be anything in the way of herbal remedies for headaches?" she asked, as the pain grew a bit worse, and as she moved a bit, her head began to swim. For a moment she felt nauseous, but it passed.
"Try this," Cole said, handing her a small tin. Inside were several white tablets.
She took one and swallowed it down with the rest of her tea. "What was that? It looked like old-fashioned asprin... wait... Now how would I know what asprin looks like, but not who I am?"
"It looks like old-fashioned aspirin because that's precisely what it is, my dear!" Cole said triumphantly. "One of the first things I replicated were as many pharmaceuticals as I could think of--the simpler, the better, for ease of use. Antibiotics and pain killers. Good old aspirin still works just as well as it ever did," he said. It was all a lie, of course. While he did replicate a number of drugs, the aspirin was part of the kit he'd brought to the 20th century--and still bore 20th-century military markings he hoped fervently she wouldn't notice or recognize.
"Good thinking," she replied with a sigh, closing her eyes. "If this is having a concussion, I think I should try to avoid them in the future, don't you?" With that she looked at him through half-opened eyes.
"Generally adviseable," Cole replied with a laugh as he refilled her tea. "When it cools down, maybe we can gather some mushrooms. They're good around here!"
Finally, Jenna smiled. "I like mushrooms," she replied. "If I can get up without my head exploding later, I would love to get out of this bed for awhile and actually see what it looks like out in Coventry..."
"All in good time. I wouldn't advise getting out of this hut for the next eight hours, though. It gets to be about 45 degrees centigrade outside, and the humidity is pretty nasty as well."
"Ugh," Jenna replied, "I suppose you're right. So... what do we do until then?"
"Stay in here," Cole said. "See what else you can remember. I've got a few books here as well."
"You have books?" she replied with an excited glimmer in her brown eyes. "Not that I'll be up for reading until this headache is gone though."
"Well, it's not like I can get the latest holoprograms here," Cole said, laughing. "My ship's database was pretty badly damaged, but I was able to replicate some of the better stuff. Shakespeare, the Bible, Analects of Surak, the Saga of Kahless, the Iliad and Odyssey, a few other things. The Crickets aren't exactly great literary geniuses just yet, so you pretty well have to find your own entertainment," he explained as he shuffled through a trunk woven of fern stalks, quickly covering something that glinted in the now-glaring sunlight. He produced a lute made of a gourd. "I tried to make my own lute. Only five strings, and I've never been what you'd call a great musician, but it's something to have fun with from time to time. One of these days I'll work my way up to a Vulcan harp, or maybe even a harpsichord, but I doubt it."
"How long have you been playing your lute?" she asked, with interest.
Cole began strumming the lute, which appeared to have been tuned in an entirely new and undiscovered key. "I started making it when the gourds came into harvest, about six months after I got here. I'd say about a year and a half now. You might ask why I didn't replicate one. I tried, but that was the morning the replicator finally gave out. Halfway through 'Finnegan's Wake,' too!" he said sadly.
"Well, that one would have kept you busy for awhile, I think... But I can't say I remember anything other than the title..." she replied. "Well... it was written by an Earthman right? From Ireland?"
"Absolutely. I'd always wanted to read that one, but never had the time. Now I've got more time than I know what to do with, but only the first seventy-five pages," he sighed. Now that he had finally found someone with whom he could hold a conversation, suddenly he realizedjust how lonely and isolated he'd been. He suppressed a tear as he gazed at his makeshift bookshelf, seeing a particular volume he wanted to read again. Should I? Would she know? he thought.
She caught his glance. "What are you looking at?" she asked curiously. "Anything interesting?"
"Do you know Swedish?" he asked.
"I don't know," Jenna replied. "But I don't think I do..."
"My mother was Swedish," Cole explained. "This is a book of philosophy by none other than Gustav II Adolf, the greatest of Sweden's monarchs. He was one of the most brilliant rulers Earth had ever known. A philosopher, an artist, and a military genius who turned one of the poorest countries in Europe into a major power during the 17th century." What Cole did not say was that he knew Gustavus Adolphus personally from a mission, and that this book was in the King's own hand, and never published.
Her headache was ebbing, and as she looked at the book and at him, she sensed that there was much more about the book and himself that he was not saying. It was more personal. His admiration went beyond that of some historical figure. That kind of admiration was reserved for personal relationships. She wasn't sure how she knew this, but she knew it. "That's very interesting," she said. "And this book was passed down your family line?"
"You could say that," Cole said, "although I don't think I'm directly related. I may have become delusional these past two years, but I doubt I'm the King of Sweden! For one thing, this is far too hot for Sweden!" he said as he wiped his brow with his floppy hat. "I'm going to fetch more water before it gets too hot. I should be back in a few minutes."
As she watched him leave the hut, she slowly got to her feet. She stumbled and was unsteady, but wanted to see what she could find. She suddenly had a feeling that Cole wasn't telling her everything. Using the strength she suddenly realized she had in her, she went to histrunk. There she opened it. She rummaged through a few items and suddenly, she noticed the pill box... She hadn't noticed it before, but now she looked at it closely. It was an early 20th century asprin container, with the makers name on the top. And then she found another item. What looked suspiciously like an 18th century military pin of some sort, though she didn't seem to recall it. Her head was swimming. What did he need with this stuff? Was it just random items he'd had with him? But what sense would that make, she thought. Her headache was beginning to come back as her mind was analyzing her findings. Just as she was about to look in a black pouch, she sensed his return to the hut. She returned everything to where it had been and quickly returned to the bed. She tried to relax herself as much as possible before he re-entered the hut. By now, that wasn't that difficult. She had quite expended her energy.
Cole entered the hut, nearly completely exhausted as he carried two large gourds of water. "A bit more difficult now that I need twice as much water!" he exclaimed. "Not that I'm complaining, of course!"
He looked around the hut and noticed that a black pouch was mislaid. "Odd...I don't seem to recall leaving that out," he said, carefully trying to control his alarm that Jenna may have spotted his hand computer. The technology was far beyond anything she would have seen--as far beyond Jenna as Jenna would have been to Adolphus. Gingerly he set the pouch in his trunk, not noticing (or not caring) that the contents may have shifted.
"I'm not feeling so good," Jenna replied. "I feel very nauseous..." And she actually was. Her instinct was to trust Cole, but she didn't understand his deceptiveness or what all these ancient things added up to.
"Lay down a while. I wish I still had some anti-nausea tablets, but I ran out of those last year sometime. Not sure just when," Cole said. "The heat will take it out of you too, particularly if you overexert yourself. We'll have plenty of time to talk in the evening," he said as he poured her some water.
"Thank you," she said, as she took the water gratefully. She took a few sips and then handed it back to him as she settled back into the bed again. As her eyelids began growing heavy once again, she tried to keep them open, but it was a losing battle. "Cole... What's your full name?" she asked.
"Cole Mathias Hunter," he replied. "That should help you keep me straight from every other Cole on the planet," he joked.
She laughed softly. "Yeah, that'll help." As her eyes closed, she whispered to herself and half asleep already, "Cole... Mathias... Hunter..." Within moments she had drifted off to sleep again.
As she slept, Cole cursed himself for having been so careless. Why am I even bothering? What's she going to do, leave the planet and tell the Suliban in this era? Maybe spill all my secrets to the Crickets? I could tell her and she'd think I'd gone insane here anyway. And sooner or later she's bound to find out--the handheld was almost a give-away. Maybe I should just tell all and get it over with, he thought as he collapsed himself. He'd had a long, sleepless night, and the heat was starting to take its toll on him as well. The second sun had risen, and not even the Crickets could be found out and about.
Jenna awoke as the light in the hut was not very intense. She got the sense she had been asleep for several hours. This time she had slept peacefully... In fact, she had dreamed about Cole. She reasoned it was because he was the only person she could remember. As she looked for him, she found him sleeping on the floor beside the bed.
Cautiously, she stood up and then knelt down beside him. He looked peaceful in sleep, she thought. She didn't know why, but she had the desire to gently run her hand through his dark hair, which he had tied back in a pony tail. She didn't know why, but she got the feeling that this wasn't like her, and yet... that's what she wanted to do, and she also had the feeling, she did what she wanted for the most part. Gently, she touched his head and then caressed his face. As his dark eye opened, she pulled her hand away.
"Wake up," she smiled. "The suns are going down, it looks like."
"Oh, yeah..." he said groggily. "Looks like the mushrooms will have to wait. This planet has no moons and it gets dark out at night. A Big Nasty is not something I like running into during the daytime, let alone at night!"
Cole got up off the mat he'd fallen asleep on and placed a pot of mushroom porridge on the fire. "This is actually pretty good. One of the few things I've found here that's just as good as on Earth."
"That's good," she replied. "I'm not sure I've had it, but maybe... I did say I liked mushrooms." She sat down on the bed.
"You'll get all the mushrooms you can handle here!" He ladled out a good-sized portion of the porridge for both of them. "Not much in the way of seasoning, I'm afraid. The jalapenos aren't in season yet, and I'm fresh out of thyme!" he explained, wincing at the pun he'd just made, not entirely accidentally.
"Thank you," she replied as she took it. "It does smell pretty good though." As she ate, she looked at his meager shelf of books and looked at the titles. Suddenly, her eyes stopped on the Bible. She could feel something making its way into her consciousness... The image of something furry - soft and warm. Sweet... She had named him Michael, but called him Angel... It was her kitten! And someone had given him to her... But it was then that the memory began to fade...
"Cat got your tongue?" Cole asked as he attacked the porridge with a complete lack of table manners. Certain niceties had fallen by the wayside during his isolation.
"I... I have a cat!" Jenna replied with a smile. "Well, he's a kitten. I call him Angel. I can't believe it... I just suddenly remembered that!"
"See? I told you it would start coming back!" Cole said, rejoicing with her. "What else do you remember?"
She sighed. "That's it... I know someone gave him to me, but the memory faded before I could see who."
"It'll all come back. There was a time many years ago when I faced a similar problem. Time and the help of a good friend pulled me through it. The least I can do is repay that," Cole said.
"So you'll be my good friend?" she smiled with a twinkle in her eye.
"Of course!" Cole answered, replying with the same twinkle. "What can this good friend do for you?"
"Well, too bad you don't know a surefire way to get my memory back!" Jenna said, "But maybe you can read to me from one of the books later?"
"Certainly," Cole said, knowing exactly which book to read from. More than ever now he wanted to tell her the full truth, and he could think of no better way of doing it. Cole hoped that his ability to translate from Swedish to English was up to it, in any case.