Waking Moments

Finding One's True Self: Part 8

By Xan Steel

There was a sudden chill in the air as he began breathing deeply. The air smelled sterile, the bed felt more like a metal table, cold and uncaring. It felt like he had something over him like a blanket, but it was thin and didn't keep him warm. He shivered from the cold and opened his eyes to look around.

Daniel discovered that he was back on the ship, in the small medical room that Maria asked to have installed so that she could continue with her work. It was 2 AM according to the clock. He suddenly heard loud beeping to his right and turned to look only to see a heart monitor alert going off for rapid heart rate. He peeled off the cables he was attached to only to have the device go nuts with not sensing anything and the heart rate flat-lining.

He heard the sound of someone running and Maria crying out "No please I can't lose you!" He turned to look at her just as she came into view. She stopped and stared with her hands over her mouth and tears running down her cheeks. She took a careful step forward, "D, Danny?" She called out meekly.

He smiled at her, "Hey sis."

She dashed forward and grabbed him in a tight hug and broke down as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Hey, why the waterworks?" He softly questioned her.

Through her tears and sniffles, she answered. "You've been in a coma for four months. I thought I'd lost you," as she continued to weep in Daniel's arms.

He held her close to comfort her gently while rubbing her back as he saw Mathew and Sandra standing at the door to the room. "Welcome back Daniel," Sandra said as she walked over to look him over.

"A coma huh?" He said while continuing to comfort Maria.

"Yeah, it was very odd to have that happen overnight in your sleep." She explained. He was in thought as she explained in greater detail of how he was, and how confusing the read outs were when they examined him, which lead them to believe he was in a coma.

Daniel looked at them when a sudden feeling of loneliness came over him. He shook it off as best he could and turned on the table and went to stand, only to fall on the floor as his legs had almost no strength. "Ow," he cried out.

"Danny, you can't walk yet," Maria said as she leaned down to help him up as she dried her eyes. "Your muscles have some atrophy it will take some time to regain your strength." He didn't listen and applied more effort into his walking. He took it slow and steady and was able to stand again. The others just stared in amazement. "Th-that shouldn't be possible," Maria said stunned while taking a scanning device over Daniel.

"Hmm, apparently the gravity on Travaina IV is less than that of the earth." He thought aloud and slowly started walking around the room. Mathew look at him before speaking "Travaina IV?" Daniel nodded in response as his stomach spoke up.

"Well, I can see that he's at least hungry. Let's go and get him something." Sandra finished.

Daniel took it slow until he got used to the gravity again. Maria was with him for every step. He was thankful for her help. He honestly had missed her for the last four months. Making her worry like this reminded him of his attempted suicide and how it had hurt her. He'd need to find a way to make it up to her.

As they got to the dining area, he sat down and took deep breaths to relax. Walking that short a distance took a lot out of him, more than he expected. While relaxing Maria had the duplicator make a dinner that they had earlier for him. He began to eat the plate of food she placed in front of him as Sandra and Mathew looked at him with some mild excitement, waiting for him to continue. Maria leaned on him for comfort as he looked at both Mathew and Sandra "What?"

"Travaina IV?"  Mathew repeated with firm excitement.

"Oh, right. That's where I've been. Well, at least subconsciously anyway. Still unsure if it was real or not." He said in an uncertain tone.

Daniel began his trip down memory lane as he finished his dinner. Telling his first day there and meeting Julyna who used telepathy to be able to converse with him. The three of them sat there enthralled with his story, as Daniel sat there chatting away most of his full experience, only leaving out the intimate parts between them. When he suddenly started speaking in her language. "Å ñÿ? ?œñê," Daniel said. They just stared at him. He saw their confused look in their eyes as they stared at him. "Žÿô?"

Maria turned his head to look at her. "Daniel, you're not making sense." He just looked at her confused as he couldn't understand her. He suddenly began to feel dizzy sitting there, which got worse and worse over the course of a few seconds until he passed out in front of them.

Maria had Mathew bring him to the medical room as she began to examine him. She placed a scanning unit on his head to see his brain wave patterns. For someone who was passed out, his mind was highly active while the rest of his body was at rest. She began the process of deep scanning him to try and get a better understanding of what was going on. Sandra came over to her and spoke, "I wonder if this is the result of this other person having used telepathy to talk with him?" It was both a question and a statement. "I don't know. I don't believe any human has that ability, or if they did, never mentioned it." Maria said.

Mathew came over and looked him over, "Well if someone on earth did have that ability they would have been studied, not a good life to be honest," as the ladies nodded in agreement.

As the deep scan finished, it made a note of a small growth just under the right and left hemispheres of his brain near the stem, which appeared to be connecting them together. Maria reviewed the information that it had gathered and was becoming more and more confused by it. While regular exams would state, he was in a coma. The deep scan indicated otherwise. After an hour of reviewing information, Maria sighed heavily and sat down in a chair. "I don't understand it." She said as Sandra came over to study it. She also noticed the growth under the two hemispheres of his brain and began to cross reference it with her parapsychology information she had. And to her surprise, she discovered something amazing.

"Well, well, well, this is truly unexpected." She began.                    

Maria looked up from her work, "What is it?"

"His mind is forcing his body to grow a paracortex," Sandra said.

"A para-what?" Mathew asked.

"It's a part of the human brain that never evolved. Parapsychologist believe it might be capable of telepathic communication." Sandra finished as she began comparing the scan with the one from four months ago.

"Wait, does that mean he's telepathic or at least becoming one?" Maria questioned as she went over to Sandra to see what she was comparing.

She showed Maria where on the scan it was building in more detail. "And you're sure it's not cancerous?" Maria asked.

"Positive. Even the scan says it's not," Sandra finished.

Maria let go of her emotions and began to cry in relief. Sandra pulled her into a tight, comforting hug, knowing how hard this was for her. And to top it off, saying he was on another planet with someone else probably didn't help, regardless of whether it was true or not.

She turned to look at Mathew as he looked deep in thought before turning to look at several star charts and the map of the Galaxy in the other room. In a way, it made sense to find some point of reference to what Daniel was talking about, whether or not it existed.

After Maria had calmed down, she began to look Daniel over again when she noticed his shorts were completely wet and slippery. She began to unbutton and unzip his shorts to reveal a large amount of semen covering his gentiles and midsection. "Well, I would have to say whoever this Julyna is, she must be someone extraordinary."

Sandra turned to look at what Maria had commented about and was surprised by what she saw which caused her to blush. "Oh my, that's quite a load."

Maria did her best to stifle a laugh. "Did you need to say it like that?" Sandra just smiled as Maria began to get the stuff she needed to clean him up.

Daniel woke up a few hours later and was talking normally without any issues. The others asked him what Julyna and her race looked like, which made him nervous and caused him to clam up. Because he didn't want them to think that he was having random furry dreams. Though, Daniel guessed at this point he let out too much information to begin with and decided to tell them. "Well the reason I mentioned before about not knowing if what I experienced was real or not, is because they look like my fursona. Mind you with differences in color and sexes," he finished nervously.

Maria jumped up and ran to a storage room in the back and brought out her suitcase. "You mean like this?" She said as she pulled out his fursuit and laid it across a few chairs. The head with its antlers and pointed triangle like ears. The red diamond shaped eyes. The broad yet somewhat pointed muzzle and white pointy teeth.

He nodded slowly in surprise. "I thought I left it back on earth."

"You did, I grabbed it before we left the house. I knew it was something you enjoyed doing, so I figured I bring it along for you." Maria finished.

Daniel was unsure how to respond. He wanted to leave it back on earth because he was starting a new life. Maria looked at him with a desire in her eyes which he picked up. "I take it you want me to wear it right now?" She nodded with a bit of excitement.

Mathew stood up as he before heading to the storage room. "It's been a while since I wore mine. Perhaps a bit of a cuddle pile is in order, to relax away some stress." He stated as he left.

Sandra turned to Daniel, "Go ahead and put it on Dan. I'll join you and Mathew once I put on mine. You do remember Miss Bunbun, I hope." She said smiling as she walked to the storage room.