A Cosmos Without Radu
Back to Diana's Space Cases Fanfic
Back to Part 1 of A Cosmos Without Radu
Click here to e-mail me!
When he dared to uncover his ears and lift his head, Radu found himself back
on the cold metal floor of the strange room. Before he could control them,
the images he’d seen came flooding back into his head . . . Catalina,
a mere shell of herself because the Spung didn’t allow her to acknowledge
the only friend she had left; Bova, so hungry that he was taking food from
two five-year-olds; Rosie, in her own mind a young female Spung; and Harlan
. . . shot, maybe dead.
Perhaps it was the sheer horror that he’d seen over the last hour; maybe
it was simply the struggle of coming to terms with himself, realizing that
he was important. Whatever it was, Radu couldn’t take it any more.
No! he cried silently. Don’t leave me here! I changed my mind!
I want to go back! I can’t stay like this forever, knowing that I left
my friends that way! I want to go back! I want to live!
Rosie woke up with a start. She’d only closed her eyes for a minute
- when there was a patient in the medlab, she never got much sleep, but she
hadn’t wanted to leave Radu unguarded for long. What had woken her?
Suddenly, she realized that it had been him. He was thrashing around, murmuring
something about “I want to go back . . . ” Abruptly, he sat up,
wide awake.
“Hey,” she said, going over to him, “how are you
feeling?”
Radu, looking around him as though to ensure that everything in the room
was still there, turned to stare at in surprise. “I . . . I feel
fine,” he said with a weak smile. “But how did I get here?”
“We found you out just past the edge of the campsite. You fell down
a pretty steep cliff, and gave yourself a pretty serious concussion. But
you’re going to be fine in a couple of days.”
Radu turned toward the doorway suddenly at the sound of another familiar
voice.
“Hey, buddy, how you feeling?” Harlan said with a grin.
Confused, Radu narrowed his eyes. What is he talking about? Buddy? I thought
he was mad at me . . .
“Look,” Harlan went on, “I didn’t think you’d go
out and do something stupid like that - I didn’t want you to get hurt.
Anyway, Thelma found a glitch in the navigation station - it wasn’t
your fault after all. I guess - I’m sorry.”
He continued talking, but Radu no longer heard him. He was too focused on
the other boy’s face. In particular, he was eyeing the thin white scar
on his lip. The scar marking the place where Radu had seen Harlan’s
lip get split open by the rival gang member only moments before . . .