Chapter 102 Jumping off the brink of death

The flight was hell, Luke lost consciousness several times. He regained consciousness when the systems beeped. Clicked through the automatic landing system, landed. Switched off and dragged himself out of the ship. 

Sickbay was a huge hospital, if you didn't like system hospitals or wanted to be controlled by the government, you came here. It cost more, but the services were better. 

He wasn't quite out yet before a med team arrived.

"We got word they're coming, have a seat" came from a female alien who looked almost human if she hadn't had 2 more pairs of eyes. 

He sat down in the wheelchair, exhausted from pain. At some point while rolling into it, he lost consciousness again. When he regained consciousness, he was lying in a bed in a bright, friendly room with plants. 

He felt weak and tired. He looked around and the nurse who had admitted him came in. She smiled when she saw him.

"You're conscious, that's very good."

"What exactly do I have?"

" The doctor said he hadn't seen anyone this broken in a long time. "

She pulled out a crystal tablet.

"You had broken ribs, your spine was cracked, 16 different toxins in your body, internal bleeding, injured organs and your heart was damaged. What did they do?"

"The ribs and spine probably from sex." 

The nurse looked at him.

"The only ones I know that can do that are from the central system, and you have to get them going properly."

Luke nodded.

" I did, but I got me one of those med kits for the internal injuries..."

" The kits are for temporary stuff, whatever they got wasn't enough. Unless they have regeneration abilities from the Lunars, they even grow their brains back if you get shot."

"Okay."

She continued clicking.

"That's just the current stuff, the damage they took earlier." 

She looked up from the tablet.

"What do you do for a living? I mean, they're a normal age for the Empire."

Luke sighed. That being over two hundred was considered normal in the Empire.

"I was a soldier for a while and then a mercenary..."

She looked at Luke scrutinizingly.

"The doctor, suspected something like that. It's a wonder you can still move. "

Luke looked at his hands. 

"But. Since you came to us, we can heal you, if you pay up front, we can start the rehabilitation." 

"What does it look like?" 

"The doctor said you'll spend two days in the recovery tank and then two days of exercise to get your circulation going."

"Good."

She handed over the tablet, Luke looked at the total, sighed and confirmed. 

 Then he was put straight into the tank, where he calmed down and fell asleep, after waking up, 2 days of sport, relaxation sessions and indescribably bad food followed. Luke was of the opinion that the food at Gino's was a gourmet experience.

So on day 5, feeling much better, he boarded the spaceship, stopped off on a planet to eat and buy things and flew back. Landed on the moon and was greeted by a relieved looking Nad.

"They said you were fine."

He nodded. 

"Yep."

She looked at him.

" Wait, you're back to original form, aren't you?"

" Yeah. Why?"

" Because your scars are almost completely gone."

" Oh yes, they said. They even reduced the crystal growth a bit. "

Ned came rushing over and hugged him tightly.

"Not too tight, I just got out."

She looked at him chastisingly.

" Nad said you were in the hospital and since I ..."

" Well, they said your spit stabilized my circulation. "

She looked at Ned.

" Could that be? "

" Yes, mostly narcotic. "

Ned let go of her.

" And was there anything exciting? "

"Nothing much when it comes to you."

He smiled.

"All right, then. "

" Hey Luke, what's going on? Where have you been?" came Earl's voice.

Luke looked at him.

"I had a skin treatment, looks like new," Earl examined the skin. Wich back.

"Bah, did they put fruit on you?" 

" Yes, then a sand shower and peeling and then "

" Luke, you could have used lubricating oil from the Gen 7 engines. Same effect. Where's your sled anyway, I haven't seen it for a long time."

"It's in the workshop, engine damage and hull damage from asteroids."

"Oha." 

He sauntered off, Nad looked at him.

"Why don't you tell him you were at the hospital? And that the teenager hurt him?"

Luke thought about it.

" Oh, it's just burned into my brain, what I've been told since the first time I met Earl. Earl's nice, that's good. Don't believe everything he says and don't trust everything he says."

Luke grinned. 

"Yeah. Who said anything like that about him? Right, Uther, he kept Earl on a very short leash."

Nad nodded.

"You're right, Earl was the only one who cheered when the accident happened. "

Ned looked at them both questioningly, then seemed to remember how she knew the name.

"Oh, the one from the documentary who had Earl so under control?"

Ned nodded.

"The way I read the reports, he had Earl very much under control after he started recovery. Earl he says, but from the reports I've seen even from his people. It was Uther who ordered the control etc. "

" Hhmm how did he get them to do that?"

" He gave them old cask ale and since they're addicted to the stuff. Well, he got the deal and if Earl did anything. He knew about it and was there. If he couldn't, then one of his soldiers was there and Earl turned tail. "

Ned seemed to ponder.

"Then I don't have to worry about treating him badly anymore. " She grinned.

"At least we're lucky with Zed, he grumbles all the time, but he's a workhorse and glad to be away from his clan."

"Do you know what Zed did before?"

Ned pondered, Zed came shuffling past with a toolbox in his hand. 

"Yo Zed," came from Luke, Zed looked at him, raised an eyebrow, made a grumbling noise. 

" Yeah turned out good didn't it occur to me. Your tuning on the ship 1A."

Zed nodded, mumbling something.

"Sure. Power goes to the edge sector and back. " 

Zed came closer looking at Ned and Nad, humming something.

"He wanted to know what you were doing before this," came from Nad. Zed looked at Luke.

Mumbled something again, but longer.

Luke had to grin.

"Well, I have to say I haven't heard so much swearing in a long time. So you were chief engineer and had a bunch of idiots with you on the main planets?" 

Zed nodded and held out his hand to Luke.

"I see."

Luke reached into his bag and pulled out holo-magazines, novels, nuts and drinks. Zed looked at everything, nodded in satisfaction and packed everything into the toolbox.

Ned looked at the two of them.

"You two do business like this? Zed, you can have gossip magazines like this delivered here too."

Zed looked at them, pulled out a nut, threw it in his mouth and ate it.

"They just don't deliver the nuts."

He flopped away, satisfied.

Nad shook her head.

"I didn't think he'd read something like that."

" He said Earl's chatter was bad, that the holochannels weren't enough, and that he needed more culture. " He thought of something.

"Ey Zed."

Zed looked at him.

" My heat pump downstairs isn't getting really warm, I can only offer you holotv with lots of channels as payment."

Zed asked humming what.

"Yeah, literature channel too."

He grumbled something and sauntered off.

"What do you want with that? " came from Ned.

"The pump's really out of order."

" I'll go down then."

" Good. And you're on office duty. You need to rest first, where are our presents?" 

 Luke sighed, pulled out candy and gave it to them, they both left satisfied, he zapped downstairs, stood in the bedroom, it looked untouched. He found his cell phone and Crystal lying on the bed. Went over, picked up his cell phone, nothing new, pocketed it. Took the crystal, activated it, 16 missed calls, all from Teheen. He pressed call, she picked up.

"About time, why aren't you answering my calls? "

He lit a cigarette.

"I was at the hospital."

A silence spread on her side.

"What? Why?"

"I was in more pain than usual. Broke a few ribs and my spine too."

" I see..."

" Then internal bleeding, heart damaged."

"You're kidding me, aren't you? Sounds more like you've died."

He took a drag on the cigarette.

"In that direction, yes. Slowly. "

Silence from her side.

" Teheen?"

" If you feel so bad, why didn't you come here?"

" To worry more? "

" Did you at least go to a normal..."

" Only the best, believe me, I got the tip from you. Because one of the nurses went into rehab."

" But they're expensive, very expensive."

" Don't worry about it. I'm fine again, I even got rid of the cold. "

" Good, I ..."

" Your Majesty, the ceremony is about to begin," we heard.

She hung up.

Luke pocketed the crystal and went downstairs. It was messy again. He sighed, tidied up, did the laundry. Terror rang the doorbell. He opened and Bonnie stood at the door.

" I've got stuff, but uh..."

" Come in!"

He went into the living room, sat down on the sofa, it still had the relaxing effect. Took a drag on the cigarette. Bonnie handed him a bill, he took it, looked at it. It was all stuff for the security system. He put the bill on the table, which scanned it and asked for payment. Luke confirmed. 

"You can start."

Bonny grinned, ran out, came back with the box and Uthe's daughter, left them and disappeared. Luke sighed, switched on the holotv, flicked through the channels. 

"Uh... I'm sorry about... " she began. Luke looked at her.

"Don't worry about it."

" But I mean ... "

Luke sighed. 

" Look, you almost got the title that would have killed the Specter to protect her dad. But only almost."

He grinned. 

"How do you actually know Bonnie?" 

"She and I were in the same group..."

" Bonnie in the Kikamura Group... thought she was in the armed forces."

" Well, after basic training we were poached, she did more to annoy her father. "

" I see..."

" That's right, she was always on fire when it came to her father's company and is there a reason why she's such a fangirl of yours?" 

Luke took a drag on his fag.

"Me?" He looked at her in surprise. She nodded. 

Bonnie came back.

"Are you going to help me or not?" she said. 

"I'm coming, Miss Fangirl." 

" Miss Fangirl herself." 

He looked at them both.

" Then why aren't you two still in the group?" 

Bonnie grinned.

" I was bored and Tina here was dealing with the younger generation."

" Same " 

The two left, cackling, Luke sighed and looked at the HoloTv.

There was nothing new on Earth TV. He switched to the alien thing. Found the channel that Teheen was on.

She was wearing her usual elegant dress, styled hair and makeup to match the jewelry she was wearing. He looked at her hair, went upstairs and looked into the bathroom.

"Unbelievable ... She's stealing my shampoo."

He went back downstairs, the ceremony was still going on. It hadn't even really started yet.

He sat down, took out the crystal. Tyreen came in.

" Luke, is it all right if I bring visitors?" 

" Depends what kind of visitor."

" Just the one you know."

" Fine with me..." 

He thought about what to write. 

He looked up and saw his little sister and the other three standing there.

"Wow, it's litaly a villa " came from Sandy.

" You say it" came from Jin.

"Is it really okay for us to be here?" came from Katy.

"Sure, as long as you clean up the mess you make."

"Ey, I'll clean up, mom and dad leave everything lying around. " came from her.

Jin stared at the holo-TV.

"Wow, are those real or CGI?"

" Real, why?"

" Yes. Because I just wanted to know and she's just been studying lately. "

" It's real, hold on," he stood up and got 3 sets of translators, handing them to the other 3.

" Put them on and you'll understand what's being said. "

They looked at him doubtfully, Tyreen nodded. So they did and looked at the TV, puzzled.

"Awesome, I understand what they're saying. "

" The one with the clunkers and who is in depri blue right now, hangs out here from time to time. "

Katy looked at Teheen.

" I see, so that's the daughter-in-law Mum was talking about."

"Now that you mention it, my mom told me that too," Sandy said. Jin nodded in agreement.

"Mine did too. She just said that Luke has a new girl."

"I see, and what do the grannies say?"

" They said not as long as Kia has been." They looked at the television.

" Isn't that a statue from here? " Came from Jin.

" Yes, and an ugly one at that."

He texted her that her hair looked good. I wonder if it's from the shampoo he stole.

"So you can see it's live. Blue is more of a boring color. See the others that are more red, that's normal and good humored. "

" Aha, and why do they almost all look like they've just come out of the mukli booth?"

" Body cult Jin, the more muklis you have, the hornier you are for them. "

"Oha!" 

Luke sent the message and looked at the picture. Teheen looked annoyed at her bracelet, clicked it on and saw the message. Her skin suddenly turned bright red. 

"Gross, what did you send her? Something dirty?" 

"Well, she stole my shampoo."

"I see, and what does the color mean now?"

"Has a good mood."

"Uh-huh!"

Teheen handed her sister the present.

"It took me a long time to find a present for you," she began.

"She took the first thing she found. " Luke commented.

"My choice was a fertility statue, according to the custom where I got it. It is placed in the house and gives fertility to the house. So that you are blessed with fertility."

The sister, who was two heads taller and had the stature of the HULK. Looked at the statue, her skin color was light green.

" What does the color mean."

" She's confused, she only got weapons or jewelry from everyone else and didn't expect to get anything from her. You have to imagine it like this. Until puberty, girls and boys are the same in stature, more like us, nothing special. When puberty comes, the muscles appear. Just like us, there are beauty standards, some are luckier than others."

"I see, so why does yours have more to say?"

Luke grinned.

"Well, that's one thing, the regents have always been of the same stature as her. She has a total of four sisters and seven brothers. But only the two are from the same genetic donor, a harem fuck, no... the others. Oh, now I know, an affair with a temple priest. The regent mother, the one on the right".

He pointed to an old woman in ceremonial dress, you could see her age, her skin was red.

" Female playboy. "

" You know a lot about them..." came from Katy.

" Had to listen to a lot."

The regent came over to the two of them and looked at the gift with satisfaction. 

" Very nice and something exotic. Is it from the planet Olichgrachen?" 

Teheen seemed to be searching for an answer. 

Luke sighed.

"I say yes, hothead, when it comes to smacking his sister."

His phone buzzed, he looked at the cell phone, it wasn't there. Looked at crystal, looked at number he didn't recognize, picked up.

"Here."

A funny laugh rang out from the crystal.

"Exclit, how did you get my number?"

"I got my ways, the statue I'm looking at right now."

Luke glanced at the TV, seeing the berobed figure holding his hand to the hood.

" Ah, I see you just now, nice robe, yes it's from here. "

" Ah very good, it looks familiar from your stuff, please tell me the truth. "

" Well, Teheen bought it here five days ago. Nothing big, you know her. She really put some thought into it. Didn't think she'd take them. Thought more like cheap shoes or something."

Another amused laugh.

"Good. So?"

"Well, according to the information we sent you, she comes from an African religion that is still practiced there today. A sacred statue to their goddess of fertility and no it's not an artifact. well maybe it is, I don't know it's from an antique store. But he said he got everything from legal sources and the statues are from manufactories there. They're supposed to be about 200 years old."

He heard a chant. 

"Ah, the others confirm to me that there is such a thing. Thank you. But how is it possible that she is visiting you? "

" Mini vacation I would say and where can she do that best? Right at the ass end of the galaxy "

" You're not that far out on the edge, I should pay you a visit, have a look at your places of worship. Thanks Luke."

He hung up. Luke sighed.

" And who was that? "

He grinned. 

"Oh, just a curious cat."

The Berobed stepped closer to the holo, the Regency Mother backing away in awe. He pressed a translator on the robe.

"May I have a quick look at the statue?" 

Teheen nervously held it out to him. Exklit took it, looked at it and stroked it with his crystalline hand.

"And what is he doing now?" asked Sammy.

" Hhmm, he has no idea, but he checks that I haven't been talking nonsense. When it comes to religion, he can't take a joke, just like the rest of his kind." 

Sandy looked at him, irritated.

" Really? So they're having religious wars?"

" Not any more, but they used to."

"A very nice gift," said Exklit and handed it to Teheen's sister. She accepted it rather reluctantly.

"We know its provenance, and having examined the statue myself, I can say that it is 900 years old and stood in a temple before it was plundered. It does indeed represent what the monarch said. "

"900 years ... and she only paid 200 ..." came from Luke. 

Exclit turned to the regent's mother, whose skin was bright red. Then he turned back to Teheen.

"You weren't monarch at the ceremony, that's why I'm here."

Teheen suddenly turned blue.

"Well, she's shirking. "

" Luke you've never been to church ..."

" True, but when I was there I was dragged to the stuff. Very bad."

" Monarch, as penance for your absence, a personal sacrifice. Something emotional."

Teheen looked at him, lowered her head, pulled something from her neck, a golden necklace with snow-white crystals the length of a middle finger. 

"I ... give Your Excellency the ..." 

The others looked at her indignantly. Exclit looked at the necklace and took it. A bright, crystalline clink could be heard. 

"What's so special about it?" Katy asked.

" It's a necklace I gave as a present, I've been working on it for a good year."

" Oha ..." 

"Monarch, are you sure you want to give that away?" came from Exclit.

"Yes, Your Excellency. It may not be the most precious of treasures, but it is the most precious of emotions. "

Exclite touched a crystal, his hand briefly shimmering a different color.

"I am very pleased Monarch, the crystals tell me that it is a truly personal piece.

"What's so special about a crystal necklace..." came barely audible from one of Teheen's brothers. Exclit turns his head to the speaker. 

"Tirkonn! " it sounded. The speaker bowed deeply.

"Even if the monarch did not know it. Emotions and memories are stored in these crystals. They show me a very intimate side of the monarch. Something that is more than enough for a penance. "

The crystals of the necklace were sucked up by his hand, leaving only the necklace, which he tucked into a pocket of his dress.