Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining the ride! I hope you are enjoying it!

This section is dedicated to _HannahArlene_, who is one of the nicest and best people I have met on Wattpad.  

"Elliot, wake up."

The sleepy young man flinched with partial wakefulness and wondered why he was hearing this voice right now; familiar to him, soft and gentle, a female's voice. Of course, he recognized it. It belonged to Mimi, his childhood friend. Memories of the two growing up together began flooding back -- playing hide-and-seek, eating twirls and twizzle pasta, learning about the stars...

"Elliot, what are you doing here?"

Here? Elliot thought. Where am I?

He found himself off in a faraway field, gazing upon Mimi, who was wearing a full-length white dress as she strode through waist-high grass and grain. A cool breeze blew, and the girl gently moved between rustling stems and leaves. She stopped and reached for a blue flower, hidden amongst the yellow thicket. She twirled the tiny blossom and placed it to her face.

Elliot smiled.

Somehow he was closer to Mimi now. Visually, he followed the petals of the flower she held over to her face -- burnished brown eyes, sun-kissed skin and dark, wavy hair that flowed wistfully about her happy face. The girl appeared clean and innocent, like a teen at her thirteenth birthday party; an angel singing in a children's choir; the first maid at her sister's wedding...

Wait, am I dreaming?

"Elliot, you're drooling, ya nom-nerd! Wake up! What are you doing here?"

Everything was coming back now. He remembered. He had fallen asleep at the control desk in the pathology lab.

"Ahhhh!"

Elliot startled himself awake. He sat up and was shocked to find Mimi there, standing in front of him, with a quizzical look on her face. Instead of down, her straight hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and instead of being dressed in all-white, she wore her usual tan and black camouflage as an officer of the Human Protection Unit.

"Is that how you greet a fellow space marine?" Mimi asked, smiling. She referred to the times growing up when the two friends pretended to be starship troopers, chasing each other around, laughing and screaming until breathless.

As it was currently, Elliot was the only one hyperventilating. He couldn't tell what was happening or what he was doing. The last thing he remembered, he was supposed to have been watching over...

Elliot gasped.

"For shermin's sake, what's wrong with you?" Mimi asked.

Elliot whirled around, looking through the observation glass and into the adjacent room. There, he saw an empty exam table with a warming blanket strewn halfway off. The boy stranger from Earth's past was nowhere to be seen.

"Fuck!" Elliot cursed.

"What? What's the matter?" Mimi asked. Her eyes narrowed as she studied her childhood friend. He was wearing a wrinkled white coverall, and his hair was misshapen from his awkward sleep. His eyes were tired and large in size. He blinked a couple of times and stared at an empty space in the other room.

Mimi followed his eyes to the vacant metal table. "Don't tell me you're sleeping in the lab now, are you?"

Elliot was too disoriented to understand. "What?"

"Look at you! You're even sleeping in your work clothes!"

"Uh, Mimi?" Elliot stammered as he looked about the place. "Can we, umm, can we talk about this later?"

"I don't understand," Mimi persisted. "Why is Berman working you to death? What's going on? Is it because — "

"Not now, Memes!"

"If you're not getting an appointment, why are you doing this?

"Mimi, I don't have time to explain!"

Mimi's face snarled.

"Don't treat me like some kind of lotell, okay?"

"Mimi, you have to go now! I've got work to do!"

Mimi's mouth hung open.

"Elliot, I haven't seen you in weeks! You're lucky I had to stop by Robotics today! I made a special side-trip here, just to see you, just to make sure you're okay -- you should be happy to see me!"

"I am, Mimi! Please, you have to go!"

Mimi shook her head.

"Fine, I'll go, but you need to talk to Berman about all this!"

"Okay, okay!" Elliot answered quickly.

"I'm serious, Elliot! What about the other docents? Can't you talk to them?"

"I will, I will!" he said and nudged Mimi from behind, toward the exit.

"Elliot!" Mimi pleaded. She turned and bumped into her childhood friend who was following too closely behind. She threw her hands up and found them planted at his chest. Face to face, she stared up at Elliot's lips before looking into his eyes. "I worry about you!"

"Uh, huh," Elliot said, looking elsewhere. "Okay! I'll, uh, I'll talk to you later! Okay? Goodbye!"

The door closed in Mimi's face, her arms left raised in the air. She pouted in place for a moment. She wanted to knock again but refrained. She gave a long sigh, and left.

That finished, Elliot darted about the control room in a frenzy.

"Interlink, call Dr. Berman!" Elliot called out.

"Calling Dr. Berman," the automated intercom repeated.

Not waiting for a response, Elliot raced into the lab to examine the mysterious scene.

Out of view, the boy from Earth's past lay plastered against the far end of the table; dangling sideways, partially suspended by blanket and belt, as if caught in a sticky spider's web. His oxygen mask lay crooked over his nose and mouth, its tubing disconnected.

Disconnected? Elliot thought.

Also, hanging from the administration device at the ceiling, straggles of tubing dripped residual medication. The boy's IV line had been pulled out.

What in the world? Elliot thought. How am I going to explain this to Dr. Berman?

On cue, Dr. Berman promptly came upon the scene, joining Elliot in support of the boy stranger. "What happened?" the senior physician asked.

"H-he must've tried to get up," Elliot explained, "a-and, uh, slid off the table."

The two men lifted the boy back onto the exam cart.

The senior doctor placed a scanner over the stranger's chest and began a thorough assessment.

Seconds stretched beyond mere moments.

"He's still weak, but he seems to be alright," Dr. Berman finally remarked.

"Whew," Elliot exhaled. He half-laughed. "I guess he isn't ready to go around the Center quite yet, huh?"

Dr. Berman glared. "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

Elliot lost his grin.

"You can't just take him around like some kind of... new best friend," the senior doctor said.

The barbed comment lingered.

"I know, but he's passed all of his tests," Elliot protested. "He's not a danger to anyone."

Dr. Berman glowered. He opened his mouth to reply, but caught himself. He looked at the unknown test subject, then snatched Elliot by the elbow and dragged him out of the exam room.

"What the devil is wrong with you, Elliot?"

"What, Doc? I just thought that -- "

"Why do you think someone put that boy in a capsule in the first place? Someone deliberately put him in a coma for a reason we haven't determined yet! Until we know why, we cannot just take him out for a walk! We cannot tell people about him! People aren't ready! People are afraid of things they don't understand!"

"We can't tell anyone? The other scientists?"

"In due time! We must ensure the boy's own health and safety first! People must see him as one of our own, and not as a threat!"

Elliot's face furrowed. "Does he look like a threat to you?"

The two scientists turned to view the boy through the observation glass once more.

The youth was now sitting up, his security belt detached. Alertly, he watched Elliot and Dr. Berman as they talked from the other room.