Awaken

Earlier that morning, chief Makaizul received an alert from the commander that the Captain was almost ready to come out of his stasis. Estimating from the given time, he did as he was expected and went ahead to ensure he was ready to brief him about everything that has happened in the past month.

He was right on schedule, until he bumped into the new arrivals, the humans. Ever since he had heard about them from the Captain, he had been wary of them. The commander might have trusted them, but he failed to do so in the case of those earthlings. He was reluctant, but he gave his introduction anyway.

After everything, when he finally reached the center he was greeted by the commander. "Welcome, we have been expecting you"

"Is he… is he really alright"? The chief hesitated to ask.

"According to this device he is. But, we still might have to observe the Captain directly." The commander informed him.

"Wait, is it safe to take him out"? The chief wondered.

"I can assure you it is" The commander declared with glee.

He pressed on some buttons and adjusted the code which led the pod to open up gradually. After a whole minute, the Captain's eyes finally lit up, indicating that he was awake. "Captain"? The chief asked.

"Chief" Came a reply from Captain Kazaliur as he got out of the pod.

"Captain Kazaliur, I am gonna need you to do something for me. First, tell me how you feel"? The commander prompted.

"I… I feel fine" Captain Kazaliur nodded.

"What about your powers"? The commander asked.

The Captain took a glance around the room before moving a remote using his telekinetic abilities. Having to exert more than required strength on earth, Captain Kazaliur almost slammed the remote to the wall, almost… as he stopped it just a millimeter away. The Captain smiled. "My powers are much easier to access now. Thank you so much Commander, for helping me recover".

"I am glad" The commander nodded. "But, I still need you to stay here for a while. Not only a long distance intergalactic travel is a bit of a risk right now, but we also need to monitor the after effects of this treatment for a while, to ensure there are no unprecedented complications" informed the commander.

The Captain went quiet and turned to the chief, "How long have we have been here"?

"About a month" The chief informed him. "And we can extend it. Our crewmates are much more settled than they were earlier"

"Is that so"? Captain mused. "Very well then, we must stay here for a few more days" The Captain declared. "Chief Makaizul, I would like you to brief me on everything while I was gone."

"We have contacted ZMR-47 about our halt and informed them we will be arriving later than usual." Chief Makaizul began. "Apart from that, the crew here had been doing well. There hadn't been any significant activity, apart from recent arrivals of humans"

"Human"? Captain Kazaliur was indeed taken aback. "How can they survive here"?

"We have arranged an airtight Vault with a higher oxygen concentration. It will help them survive" The commander voiced.

Worried that the humans have managed to track him down here, he asked. "What is their reason for the visit"? Captain Kazaliur asked.

Chief Makaizul and Commander Nexer explained everything that the humans have told them, once they were done, Commander Nexer added, "What do you think"?

"About"? Captain wondered.

"Their visit. In this planet, you're the only ones who has experience with humans, I want your opinion. Are they trustworthy?"

Captain Kazaliur went silent for a moment, "It's hard to tell. Humans don't always work as a unit, which means you can trust some of them. Some, you can't. I don't know about the ones that arrived, but if they are indeed from IAEA, you should be careful. That place had a lot of secrets" Captain explained.

"Would you meet them? You might recognise them" Commander suggested.

"I am not sure that is such a great idea. I dunno about the ones that are here, but many of them were after my life on earth. Sure I appear different, but what if they manage to recognise me"? Captain sighed.

"Then maybe I can show you who they are. I have some of the footage from the time they communicated with us, requesting landing" Commander Nexer declared.

"Very well then, put it on" Captain nodded.

Commander Nexer put on the footage, showing their interaction and everything. Once it stopped playing, the commander asked again, "Well"?

"They might be trustworthy. I worked with these people." Captain explained. "But, I'll still be careful." Captain turned to Commander Nexer and spoke, "Try to find out more. What I mean is that use your daughter to verify their details"

"Are you insane"?! The commander was taken aback. "If the horrors they have faced are real, why would I subject my daughter to the same thing. Quetama might be good at reading memories, but that's not all she reads, She also reads their take of emotions along with those memories. She imbibes them, and they affect her a great deal".

"Emotions…" Captain trailed off. Zimerians weren't emotional beings, but Muinors were. And maybe reading Kazaliur's memories didn't put her in jeopardy, but Kazaliur knew from experience that humans were very much engrossed in emotions, and that if Quetama were to read them, she will definitely be affected. "I guess you will need another way then" is all Kazaliur mumbled.