Sac'a'rith by Vincent Trigili Page A

said.
    “Cloudy? How so?” he asked.
    “It’s hard to think and to remember. There’s something important I need to recall, but I can’t seem to focus on it,” I said.
    “I see,” he replied.
    Might he be a doctor? I was in pain, and maybe he could help. If I could just think, I could figure this out.
    “Can you give me something to clear my head?” I asked.
    “No, it’s probably just the medicine wearing off. It should pass soon. Now, what was the last thing you repaired at your job?”
    “Um, I’m not sure,” I said. I struggled to remember my day at work. “Oh, I think it was a food transport. Its wheels were sticking; easy job, but it yielded me some chocolate cake.”
    “Yes, cake is good, especially chocolate. What about your first repair for them?” he asked.
    “A Mark III loader,” I said as some of my memories started coming clearer, but nothing that helped explain why I was here.
    “Excellent. And what were you doing before that?” he asked.
    “I was looking for work, so I was wandering the maintenance hub,” I said.
    “I see. What happened to your previous job?” he asked.
    “I quit,” I said.
    “Why?” he asked.
    An image of Raquel came to mind, and her offer to join the Wizard Kingdom. I started to answer, but again I caught myself. There was something I shouldn’t tell him, but I couldn’t think of what it was. I noticed I was still holding the water and took another deep drink. Fire ran down my throat, but this time I was ready for it; I embraced the pain, as it brought clarity to my thoughts. “I was jumped!” I called out. That meant I was a prisoner, and this was an interrogation!
    I forced myself to stand. The room was spinning around me, but I was sure I could correctly time my move to reach the door as it swung by. I took another gulp of water and teleported myself over to it. The door didn’t open as I reached it, so I hit the ‘open’ button. It slid back to reveal the same steel-eyed man who had jumped me in my room.
    “Leaving so soon?” he asked.
    I tried to push past him and escape, but ended up falling into him as my newfound strength and balance failed. He picked me up and carried me back into the room. I was too weak to mount an effective resistance. The door snapped shut behind him, cutting off my line of sight and any hope of teleporting away.
    The old man walked over towards me and passed his hand in front of my face. I felt my consciousness fade away as he said, “I have what I need. Take him back.”
    ~~~
    I awoke lying in a hospital bed, connected to various machines which I assumed were doing something to treat or monitor me. To my left sat Marcus, reading something on a datapad. I started to sit up, but pain shot through my eyes into the back of my head. I was sure there must be scorch marks on my pillow from the pain bursting out the back of my head.
    Marcus looked up as I yelled out in pain. “Doctor!”
    I took a steadying breath which sent pain down my throat. “Where am I?” I tried to croak out. Instinctively I grabbed the bed, willing the room to stop its incessant spinning.
    “Easy, friend,” said Marcus. He was trying to speak in a gentle, calming voice, but his vocal range was too gruff for that to be effective. “Try to stay still.”
    “Good plan. Hurts too much to move,” I said. I didn’t know why I was there but it was comforting to hear Marcus’ voice, no matter how gruff it was.
    Marcus was the closest thing to a friend I had on board. He was another robotics engineer, and we shared a repair shop down in the hangars. Before I came on board he was their only technician and simply couldn’t keep up with the workload. We worked well as a team and, given that he was the social type, I think I saved him from going insane working alone all those hours in the shop.
    “Then take the hint and stay put,” he said firmly.
    I decided he was probably right. I tried to reconstruct the events that had put me in this bed. It was a