Consciousness returned with effort, like a man digging himself out of an avalanche. The darkness lifted, bringing pain in its stead.

  Zed’s first thought before he’d even opened his eyes was one of anticipation. Either he was about to get an eyeful of the afterlife, or he wasn’t dead and was about to get an earful from his mother.

  Unfortunately for Zed, he was not dead. He opened his eyes, all too aware of every muscle in his face it took to do so. He lay on a cot that was set up in what he assumed was some corner of the medical bay. A curtain had been drawn beside his bed, obscuring his view of the rest of the room.

  How am I here in Naug? Did I take a bad fall and just dream the whole thing?

  The curtain was swept aside, as if by a magician revealing his now-vanished assistant. In this case, it revealed one of the doctors. Zed didn’t know her name. Considering his mother spent all her time down here, he’d made every effort to avoid the area.

  The doctor was in her late forties with a few threads of gray starting to show in her hair. The gray, combined with her no-nonsense demeanor, gave all the signs of someone who had been in the medical profession for decades and somehow survived.

  She stepped up to the cot, fingers flicking through the air, presumably scanning through a virtual version of Zed's chart. When she looked up and saw Zed looking back at her, her scowl gave way to wide-eyed shock. She let out a string of expletives.

  “Good grief, Zed! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” The startled woman bent over, letting her head hang as she caught her breath. “Phew! OK, since I see you’re awake, how about we start this whole thing over? I’m Doctor Tina Bailey. I’m on call right now, but if you’ll hold on just a second, I’ll ping your mom.”

  “Wait!” Zed said, a little more forcefully than he intended. His dry throat cracked, making the word sound extra pathetic. Tina paused mid-hand gesture.

  “I mean,” Zed said more quietly, clearing his throat, “can you at least tell me what happened first?”

  Zed thought he saw a flicker of fear pass over Dr. Bailey's face.

  “Uh, I should really let your mom know you’re up. I’m sure she can answer any questions you have,” Dr. Bailey said, and continued her small CIG interactions.

  “Yeah, except I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the only one answering questions,” Zed said under his breath. “That is, if I’m allowed to get a word in at all.”

  If Dr. Bailey heard him, she didn’t acknowledge it. “Great, she’ll be here shortly. Let me go find some food for you. I’m sure you must be starving.”

  Dr. Bailey made a hasty retreat, leaving Zed to wait for his mother’s arrival in silence.

  As Zed watched Tina walk away, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was off to bring him his last meal. He really was hungry, though. How long had he been here?

  “Hey, Douglas,” Zed said, glancing around for the little astronaut boy.

  He repeated the greeting but saw no sign of the orange space suit. Zed poked at his eye gingerly. No contacts. He looked around the room. Well, wherever his CIG was, it wasn’t here. Nothing to do but wait.

  He didn’t have to wait long. Even before she threw back the curtain, Zed could hear his mother’s forceful steps bearing down on him like the human equivalent of one of the Monstro transports.

  “Good. You’re awake,” Ana Marsh said, though without any hint of relief in her voice. “I’d hate for you to die before I get a chance to give you a piece of my mind for that little stunt you pulled. The first kid on Mars, and what do you do with the honor? You act like a total delinquent, that’s what you do. Skulking off in the middle of the night to risk your life violating direct orders from the base commanders. Your father was mortified. The resources they had to pull together to find you! It’s shameful, Zed. And what’s more, it’s an absolute embarrassment.”

  As Ana raged on, she went through the motions of dispassionately checking Zed’s chart and vitals as if on autopilot. Zed sat in bed, holding as still as possible, waiting for whatever the final outcome would be. His hopes were not high.

  “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, your CIG is gone,” Ana said. “You won’t be getting it back.”

  Zed’s lips parted. He could feel a frustrated response building, just begging to be unleashed. Instead, he clamped his mouth shut. This small shift did not go unnoticed by Zed’s mother.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I see that’s finally getting through to you. Good. You’ll have access only as needed for the purpose of finishing your daily schoolwork. If you’re wondering how you’re supposed to get around without it, don’t worry; you won’t be. You’ll either be in our quarters or here in the med bay, where I can keep an eye on you.”

  Zed could feel the muscles in his jaw twitching, but he said nothing.

  Satisfied with Zed’s lack of a response and his clear unhappiness, Ana changed tactics. “I’m just glad you’re okay, of course,” she said in a soft and tender tone that was jarring in its sudden contrast to her previous volume. “I just hope whatever you brought back turns out to be worth something.” And then, with the edge returning to her voice, “Something has to distract from the shame you brought on us.”

  With that, she brushed past the curtain and out of the room.

  As soon as Zed could no longer hear his mother’s retreating footsteps, he took a deep breath, pulled the pillow from behind his head, and screamed into it, as long and as loud as he could.

  This was not what he had wanted. He’d gone out to the cave to try and bring some meaning to what had felt like a pointless waiting game. The only thing he’d managed to accomplish so far was to lose what little meaning and joy he’d had in the first place.

  Zed still had no idea what had happened or how exactly he’d been rescued. And what about his leg? He pulled back the blankets, revealing a gel cast on his left foot that extended up his calf.

  “Yup, definitely broken,” Zed muttered.

  Just then, Dr. Bailey returned with a tray of food.

  “Hey now, no getting up without help until you get used to that thing, mmkay?” Dr. Bailey said, positioning the tray in front of him and checking his IV bag.

  “Tina, how did I end up here? Like, really, why am I not dead?”

  Dr. Bailey stopped fiddling and looked at Zed. “Didn’t your mom tell you?”

  Zed shook his head. “She talked more at me than to me.”

  “Ah, well, in that case.” Dr. Bailey pulled a stool over and sat down beside the bed. “First off, that was all night before last.”

  Zed took that in. “Wait, I’ve been out of it for two days?”

  “Yep. I don’t know all the details, but when you went into the cave, it cut off your suit’s normal signal check with the base and triggered an automatic alert. It didn’t take long to figure out that someone was out in the middle of the night exploring places they shouldn’t. And, well, you are literally the only teenager here, so…”

  “That seems like an unfair assumption. As if I’m the only one here who could break a curfew,” Zed protested, though at this point he was feeling more embarrassed than indignant.

  “Hey, if the shoe fits,” Dr. Bailey shrugged.

  Zed had no reply, so he filled his mouth with a bite of the stew.

  “Anyway, Ethan Johns thought you might go out to that off-limits section and volunteered to go after you since he was at least somewhat familiar with the cave stuff. I think that new priest or chaplain guy went with him. The old Asian guy. Can’t remember his name.”

  “Baat?”

  “Yeah, him! So Johns and Baat found you passed out with your oxygen nearly depleted and on the verge of shock. Seems like you must have conked out from the pain. Your ankle was pretty messed up. Lucky for you, passing out probably saved your life. It slowed your breathing and heart rate down enough to make your oxygen last. Close call, huh?”

  Zed felt an involuntary shudder. He was on death's door and could have just as easily died as not. There was no obvious mental category to put that in, so he just said, “Yeah, close.”

  Dr. Bailey stood.

  “Well, I’m off. Believe it or not, you aren’t the only patient I have to look after today.” She stepped around the curtain and called over her shoulder. “Ping me if you need something.”

  There were a lot of things Zed needed, or at least wanted. Most of all, he just wanted his CIG back. He felt completely isolated without it, which was, of course, the whole point. It wasn’t just a convenience either. The list of things he could do in Naug without it was, well, nonexistent. He could eat, but even then, as he’d learned his first day on Mars, he couldn’t actually know what he was picking.

  I guess it’s going to be Russian roulette between oatmeal, potatoes, or leftover surprise for breakfast going forward, Zed thought with growing frustration.

  At that moment, the dam gave way, and all the stress, terror, excitement, and helpless frustration came crashing down on Zed. He sat there in the corner of the med bay, silent tears running down his cheeks, just hoping that Doctor Tina, or worse still, his mother, didn’t choose that moment to poke their head around the curtain.

  But this was not Zed’s day.

  “Oh good, I’m glad to see you’re still capable of at least a little remorse,” Ana Marsh said as she brushed past the curtain and picked up Zed’s chart.

  Zed wiped his eyes as quickly as he could and sealed the emotional leak that had sprung. He hated crying, but he hated it all the more when someone saw it.

  “Alright, if you’re done with your little pity party, I’ve just talked with the surgeon, and the gel boot should be well set by now, so we can get you discharged and back to your room as soon as Tina clears you.”

  Ana paused as if anticipating pushback. She received none.

  Zed was too tired to fight. And in truth, getting back to his tiny closet of a bedroom sounded kind of nice. He just wanted to sleep and hope that when he woke up, things wouldn’t be as bleak as they seemed at this moment.

  As Zed lay there staring at the ceiling, his mind wandered back to the cave and the samples he’d taken. He wasn’t sure how he’d feel if they turned out to be nothing significant. He wasn’t sure how he’d feel if they turned out to be the first proof of life outside of Earth either. Neither outcome felt like it would fill the dark hole he now found himself in. Even being stuck in that cave hadn’t felt as hopeless as having no say in how his own life played out.

  He’d done the hard part but probably wasn’t going to be allowed to have any real role in what happened next. Zed’s indignation at this thought temporarily overrode the guilt he felt at having to be rescued.

  One final thought drifted through his mind as he started to doze again.

  I wonder what ever happened to the sample I put in my suit pocket?