Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 88/?] (Patreon)
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“I think the question we should be asking here is: should we tell him at all?” I responded reflexively, before just as quickly second guessing myself before the contours of the alien’s features could begin to scrunch up to show his open disdain at my answer. “Wait, no, sorry. That’s just wrong. I’m just being… very dumb.” I managed out with a frustrated breath. “Sorry. It’s just that… I don’t know what to think right now Lysara.” I instinctively reached for my forearm, wrapping my right arm across my chest in the process. “You’ve been hitting me with revelation after revelation, Lysara. So much so that I don’t know what to feel about Eslan now. And I know this is sounding like I’m using that as an excuse to think and act immaturely, but it’s really not that. It’s just… difficult, you know? To make heads or tails of what’s right or wrong for Eslan when you’ve just been hit with the reality destroying revelation that the galaxy, no, the universe is completely messed up, and even more screwed up than your bombed-out irradiated world.” I admitted outright, unsure at this point if I was trying to justify my own indecision, or whether or not I was just venting at this point.
“It was my fault for being too conservative at first with regards to the divulgence of such… sensitive information, Evina.” Lysara replied in the most reassuring tone he, and his translation software, could muster.
“No, no. I mean, yeah maybe, but I could see myself noping out of there when we first met if you started this off with: I’m in a massive fight against an ancient alien conspiracy and your planet is now in the crosshairs. So yeah, no, starting off slow was fine. It’s just a lot to take in. And while I would say I need time to process everything, right now it’s clear we don’t really have that luxury when it comes to Eslan.” I managed out with a deep sigh.
“We could start a few more scans, buy ourselves more time to discuss this matter-”
“No. No more lies.” I shot down that idea reflexively, before realizing my outburst and its effects on the alien’s features. “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…” I let out another breath, placing a palm against my face, before squeezing the bridge of my snout tightly; a quirk of my first iteration. “I need to face him. I don’t want to buy anymore time, especially if that time is based on covering up more truths. He’s outright lied to my face for years about his ‘inheritance’. And if we start our whole conversation off with yet another lie, or hell, my first idea of simply not telling him anything… then I’d be no better than that. Now, one of my prior iterations might have been more inclined to do that, but not me. At least, not when dealing with allies, let alone friends.”
The alien nodded slowly. “I admire your candid nature, Evina. All I can say however is that we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions just yet. I… have reason to believe that interloper influence could be the reason behind Eslan’s condition. I do not know specifically how, but I do know that given the track record of their meddling, that this wouldn’t be out of the question.”
I let out a sigh in response to that, my eyes averting from his, as I tried my best not to chew him out for the: it’s the conspiracy’s fault argument. An argument which I heard one too many times down in the bunker as a catch-all term to explain away everything. But then again, I didn’t know what to think right now. My mind was running at a million miles a minute and I was completely out of my depth right now. Heck, I was wearing my heart on my sleeve more than I should be at this point.
“Fine.” I relented. “I won’t jump to any conclusions. I won’t… get mad I guess. Or at least, I’ll try not to.” There was a pause as the alien nodded with yet another ‘smile’. “But just know, Lysara, you’re not the one who has to come to terms with the fact that the person who you trust the most, who you risked your life for time and time again, turns out to have been completely faking a vital, key, integral part of themselves for nearly a decade. You’re not going to be the person who has to come to terms with the fact that someone you considered family looked you in the eye while spouting out thousands of hours’ worth of heartfelt conversations about experiences that never existed. Because if it were me, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t lie to someone I cared about for that long, even if it was a deep dark secret. So… I’ll try my best Lysara, but understand if we don’t get the answers we’re looking for… I don’t know.”
Lysara actually stopped what he was doing at that point, putting down his tablet face up, before placing a single hand on my shoulder. “I won’t specify exactly what I went through. This isn’t that type of conversation, nor would it help. However, I’d just like you to know, Evina, that I myself… have suffered greatly at the hands of having what were once unassailable truths, something so concrete to my own life, being ripped out from underneath me; revealed to me as nothing but complete fabrications. I… understand how you feel, Evina. And I just want you to know that it’s okay to feel these sorts of emotions. Nothing I say right now will probably make you feel any better. These things take time to come to terms with. But I want you to know that you’re not alone in these feelings, and that I’m here should you need to talk further about this. I’ll be with you throughout every step of this whole journey.” The alien spoke earnestly, his eyes despite being so different, managed to convey those emotions perfectly; as his empathy momentarily calmed my growing bout of conflicting emotions… allowing me to coalesce on something more productive.
Instead of focusing on the hurt that stemmed from what was potentially the greatest lie told to me, I instead focused on the other big point at hand - Eslan’s confounding condition.
“Thank you.” I spoke through a tired breath. “Just get him out of there so we can talk to him.”
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75 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. Medbay.
Eslan
At first excitement welled within me, as I realized that I was finally going to receive some long-deserved answers to exactly why I was the way I was.
Then, there was concern, upon finally being placed inside of the scanning chamber resembling one of those MRI machines that the bunker’s clinic had stopped using a few centuries ago due to maintenance issues.
Concern, stemming from a fear of exactly what I was going to hear.
Because frankly, whilst I knew there was something wrong, I never really paid it much mind with Evina around. As the only thing I focused my mind on were on the actual symptoms that disrupted my life, rather than the long term concerns over what this condition could mean for me.
But now? Now I was faced with the realization that I would finally know exactly what was wrong, and there was no more denying or hiding away from it.
…
But was that really a bad thing though?
Because even if it were life-threatening and severe… I was on a spaceship. I was in the care of aliens that had the capacity for interstellar travel!
My worldly concerns probably meant nothing compared to what they could offer me in terms of medical treatment!
Sure, I was an alien.
Sure, they didn’t have much to go off of purely in terms of the quantity and quality of research materials or reference materials they had.
But they had Evina to cross check me with!
They had a healthy baseline, and enough texts that allowed them to help her recover from her own life threatening injuries!
That meant there was no reason for me to be worried.
In fact, the longer I sat here, the longer I sat reflecting about everything… the less I feared what awaited me on the other side of that door.
All I was really afraid of however, was the dark, as the machine dimmed and I was left in here for probably much longer than I should’ve.
But then again, I didn’t know how any of these things worked.
And eventually, after some prompting, I was released from the confines of the metal tube.
A hopeful grin was plastered across my face as I met Evina and Lysara’s eyes.
However, that grin was tempered somewhat by the worried expressions of both.
In fact, my faith in everything was shaken by Evina’s signature stoic face taking the place of the formerly chipper and upbeat one she had just moments ago.
Worry started to well in me again.
But I braved through it with a simple question.
“So… what are the results? What do you have for me, doc?” I asked in as upbeat of a voice as I could muster, chuckling nervously in an attempt to quell the intense mood.
The pair took a moment to meet each other’s eyes before turning towards me again, Evina reluctantly agreeing to let Lysara take the charge.
“The lab results told… quite a conflicting story, Eslan.” The alien began with an attempt at positivity. “Do you recall what your own tentative self-diagnosis was, Eslan?”
“Yes.” I responded with a nod. “Some form of neurodegenerative disease, as part of a wider syndrome of accelerated musculoskeletal degenerative conditions; Atkarparling’s Condition if my memory serves me right.”
“Yes, the reference texts we managed to scrounge up does cover that. And indeed, if we were to take a look here-” Lysara gestured towards the results of my scan, at several aspects of my brain and brainstem. “It is clear that the studies would support the diagnosis. However-” That word hit me hard, but I tried my best to stay calm. “-that’s not the whole story. Because despite confirming the fact that you do have a form of accelerated neurodegenerative decay, the other lab results told a different story.”
The alien paused, bringing up several other lab samples I had no concept of.
“Eslan… it is difficult for me to put it in a way that a medical professional may otherwise be able to properly phrase. So I do apologize if my bedside manners are not up to par.”
“That’s alright… please, just, give me the full picture.”
The alien nodded. “You see… the results point to a different pathological profile, one that I am unable to determine the exact cause of. Because your body, and its different organs, are all aging at rapidly different rates.” That answer… took me by surprise, as I had literally no prior knowledge to pull from to determine just how bad that actually was, or what it even meant. “Moreover… the results from your bone core biopsies are most telling. Tell me, Eslan, do you know Aslenparmouran’s rule?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I had quite a bit of time to browse old medical texts during my downtime. Wasn’t that the principle that determined that precise age could be determined using bone core biopsies?” I answered truthfully.
“That is correct, Eslan. And, barring a few key anomalies, this is generally one of the most surefire ways of determining a person’s age. Now, after testing, and double, triple, and quadruple checking, your age, your actual age Eslan… was determined to be roughly a decade, give or take a few months in variability.”
My mind didn’t register that at all.
In fact, I felt part of me simply going blank at that answer, as if there was something in the back of my mind that understood its significance.
But nothing came through.
“I… I don’t understand.” I responded truthfully.
“We’re unfortunately in the same boat right now, Eslan.” The alien spoke empathetically. “What we do know is that your various organ systems are aging at rapidly different rates, but the markers of your actual age are simply not lining up with the timeline of events that is your life.”
“But that doesn’t make any-”
“Eslan.” Evina finally spoke up, her voice teetering on the edge of breaking that otherwise stoic expression. “Just tell me the truth. Who exactly are you?”