Gronth Ch. 04 Matt Recovers

Matt awakens

Matt awoke, feeling individual digits in his hands and feet come alive and tingle again. He could open his eyes to stare at a sterile, blank ceiling, but he could still not move. He had no idea where he was or how long he'd been there.

He was no longer near the patch of vegetation he had been near on Zandor though. The humanoids. He'd seen humanoids. His dreamlike state must've been real after all. His mind shot back to his last memories of his crash. Had a building actually magically appeared in front of him? It all seemed surreal. His most vivid memory, though, involved an angel.

"We have good feedback on all sensory and motor pathways," A male voice said.

"The central nervous system is functioning at full capacity," A woman confirmed.

A middle aged Indian woman, wearing surgical garb, stood directly in Matt's line of sight. No, not Indian, but she had a dark skin color. Maybe she was from one of the planets that the Middle Easterners had settled. Sharolie perhaps.

"You're doing well. My name is Lela. I helped put your spinal cord back together again. It was severed in a few places by the crash. Our translator tells me that your name is Matthew Seabolt."

Could the U.Te.P. surgeons mend the spinal cord? No surgeons on Earth or even Terra Nova could even attempt that. Had medicine advanced so far since he'd left home?

Matt was slightly amused by the fact that the motion of the woman's mouth didn't match up with what she was saying, but Matt was used to that feature. The computerized translator implant all officers wore would translate any Earth Analog language to another. This doctor wasn't speaking any form of the Terran language however. He could hear the beautiful singing language of the doctor, but ignored it and listened carefully for the English translation.

The doctor glanced up at a monitor above Matt's head and seemed pleased by what she saw.

"We will release your head and body slowly so that you do not injure yourself," she said.

Matt tested his abilities by turning his head and looking around the room. A myriad of sensors covered nearly every surface of his nude body. Several pieces of unfamiliar but obviously medically necessary equipment filled the room.

"Where am I? Why am I naked?"

"You are in a medical facility on Ralajan. Don't be afraid. We are humans, just like you are. We just live on a planet far away from your home."

The idea of humans living on planets far away from Earth was not novel to Matt. His squadron was stationed on Terra Nova, three-hundred and fifty light years from Earth. He'd never heard of Ralajan before but new planets were being colonized every day. Why was he naked?

"I'm no longer on Zandor?" Matt asked.

'If that's what your people call it," the male nurse in the room said. Matt assumed that the man was a nurse due to his slightly different clothes, and the adjustments that he was performing on Matt's sensors. The man was not quite as dark as the woman, but appeared to be from the same race, but much younger, about Matt's age.

Matt immediately wondered if he hadn't been picked up by the rebels. People from U.Te.P. still called the planet by its scientific name, HD-8865.

"No, You are no longer on Zandor, but we translocated to Zandor to treat your injuries immediately. We didn't know if you would be able to make the trip back to the hospital on Ralajan, so we brought the hospital to you. It's a good thing we did. We began treatment on Zandor even before the Gronth pulled back. Once we began surgery in our hospital, we translocated back here."

He wasn't still on Zandor. That much was clear. Did she say translocated?

"Fortunately, Terran physiology and medicine are compatible with ours. I shouldn't have been surprised, we are nearly identical to Terrans except for a few codons," Lela said.

"So I've been captured? I'm on a U.Te.P. hospital ship?"

The word Terran made Matt think that he was definitely onboard a U.Te.P. hospital ship. The people on those planets referred to themselves as Terrans. The United Terran Planets they called themselves.

"You are not on a ship. I am not from UTP as you say. We were sent by Beta to rescue you from Zandor."

Thankfully, the nurse that Lela had called Ando, had finished removing sensors from his feet and legs and had covered his lower body with a sheet at Matt's request. Ando didn't mind covering the patient up with a sheet. Patients were sometimes a little cold when they first woke up. He would increase the temperature a few degrees when he left the room.

"I'm a Terran?"

"Yes. You're a Terran and you were on the planet of Zandor. Your people are an extension of the human race that was established on Terra a long time ago." Lela explained.

"You're not a Terran?" Matt asked.

"No, Actually, I'm Elani. Same thing."

Now Matt was even more confused, but was slowly beginning to make sense of it all.

"Terrans are Elani that relocated to Earth?"

"A very long time ago," Lela said, believing that she had cleared up Matt's confusion.

The complete picture had started coming together for Matt. He was not on a U.Te.P. ship, he was nowhere near Earth. To these people he was a Terran and they were not Terrans. They were humans as well though. The Terrans had left this place long ago.

'You are Elani?"

"Yes. And you are Terran. You were in battle with the Gronth. Do you remember that?" Ando spoke, seeing that Lela was having a tough time getting her message through.

"The Gronth?"

"The Gronth are the Reptilian species that attacked your scientific expedition.

"The Gronth."

"That's right. Our scientists tried to warn you about them. We tried to tell you that you were endangered by them as soon as we could. Your team did not respond. We were standing by to rescue any survivors," Ando continued.

"No communication. The Crab Nebula interfered too much," Lela said.

"Yes. The Toran-Rona Nebula is what we call it. We are inside of the nebula."

The Gronth. At least Matt had a name for the enemy now. The Gronth.

Matt tested his arms and legs, moving them about freely and feeling no pain anywhere. Even the rotator cuff he'd injured while exercising on board LeJeune had obviously been repaired. Ando reminded Lela that Joya was waiting in the hallway with food for their patient when he awakened.

Matt's heart picked up a beat at the mention of Joya's name. An image of Joya sprang into Matt's consciousness.

"Our translator, Joya, has been waiting to talk to you for days," Lela told Matt.

"Are you up for a little lunch and a visit with her?"

Matt remembered dreaming about Joya. She was the angel he'd met on Zandor after he crashed. Matt didn't know if Joya was real or just a figment of his injured brain.

"Does she look like an angel?" Matt asked, recalling that Joya was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen before.

"She's the closest thing to an angel that I've ever seen," Lela said, smiling at Matt.

"I've asked her to bring you something to eat." she added.

Ando just rolled his eyes. Sure, his little sister was pretty enough, but an angel? Please.

Joya was as beautiful as Matt remembered her to be, maybe prettier now that he could see her and study her face. Joya didn't have medical clothes, but her simple tunic was white, just like Lela and Ando's clothes had been. Joya had a light brown complexion and deep green eyes. Her lustrous brown hair was short and fell slightly past the collar of her tunic. The combination of the shape of her eyes, flawless skin and beautiful smile had caused Matt to confuse her with a heavenly creature earlier.

"Are you hungry? Lela said I could give you some broth."

Unlike Lela who Matt could tell was speaking in her native tongue and being translated, Joya actually spoke English. Her accent was hard to nail down exactly, but it fit her. Whenever she spoke, her mouth and lips moved to her words.

Matt reached up to the right side of his temple to feel the implant. Nothing was there.

"My translator implant."

"Lela just altered a few brain cells. Now you can understand Elani and even Gronth. Later, you will learn all that your implant can do."

"I don't need an implant with you."

"I've been studying Terran languages for years, especially English. Your people speak so many varieties. You really should really just decide on one," Joya jokingly scolded Matt.

"Take the word tip for example. I could be referring to the end of my finger, a small amount of money for good service at a meal, a helpful piece of information. It's all so confusing."

Matt got the point. English was a difficult language to learn, especially with some words having multiple meanings. Matt spoke many languages. These had been relatively easy for him to learn. English, on the other hand, was complicated except for a native speaker like himself.

Matt couldn't help but laugh at the example of the multiple meanings of English words. He got it. She wasn't an angel, she was a real woman with a sense of humor. Matt liked this version of Joya. Beautiful, intelligent, playful, Joya was so many things. It certainly didn't hurt that she spoke his language.

"My mother is the Director of Terran studies. My brother Ando speaks Terran too."

Ando, who was just finishing up taking equipment out of the room, just smiled. Apparently, he and Joya had learned to speak Terran in school. Ando was older, and had become a nurse. Matt didn't know that Joya and Ando had been selected for his team because they both spoke English.

Matt realized that he was indeed very hungry. He had no idea how long he'd been in this hospital, but it must've been weeks. Matt realized that he had no trouble moving in the "bed" because it was more of an anti-gravity device than a piece of furniture. He wasn't so much sitting up, but actually levitating above the bed frame in a sitting position.

"Would you like to try some soup?" Joya asked as she arranged the utensils on the levitating tray that she'd brought in with her.

Matt tried to grab the spoon, but his hands shook so much that he could barely hold it.

"I will help you, Major Matthew Seabolt Eeaaaa Space Force," Joya said, stumbling over the acronym.

"E.A.A.," Matt spelled out the letters. "That's who I work for. It stands for the Earth Analog Alliance. My rank is Major."

"I will help feed you Major Matthew Seabolt of Earth's Alliance," the young translator smiled, feeling satisfied that she had addressed her patient properly.

"Just call me Matt, that's what everybody calls me."

Joya watched carefully as Matt took a tiny sip of the hot broth.

"That's good!" Matt exclaimed, tasting the warm soup.

"It's based on your metabolism. The soup will help you recover more quickly."

"It's delicious."

Matt continued his meal in silence, smiling occasionally at Joya as she carefully fed him. Matt couldn't get enough of just looking at Joya's face. He had dated girls on each of the seven Earth Analog planets, but none of them had exuded the pure beauty of Joya. To Matt's chagrin, most of the women that he had been attracted to had either been married or already engaged. Matt wasn't going to make the same mistake with this woman. He would ask this time.

"Are you married?

"I have not chosen a mate, if that is what you mean. I will select a mate of my own when I am thirty, no sooner."

"Why thirty?"

"That is old enough to make a proper decision. If a male wants to mate with me for life, if he really loves me, he will wait until I am thirty. How old are you Matt?"

"I think that I'm twenty-five years old. At least I was when I crashed on Zandor."

"Years? Of course. You are older than I am. I'm twenty-eight and a half cycles old. That is nineteen in Terran years I think."

"Have you been selected to mate for life with a Terran female?"

Matt shook his head, causing Joya to look curiously at him.

"You shook your head. Does that mean something?"

Matt had to think for a moment to realize what Joya was talking about.

"Shaking your head like this means No". Up and down like this means "Yes", and shrugging my shoulders means that "I don't know"."

You do not already have a mate then?" Joya asked.

"No. I do not. I'm not engaged or married."

"Neither do I have a mate"

Joya seemed pleased that the Terran was not attached to another female already. Joya liked to think that she might choose the Terran to mate with her. She had helped Lela recondition this Terrans body, and so she knew each part of Matt's body professionally. As a young female, however, she had shown more than just a passing interest in the man's physique and Lela had allowed her many privileges with the Terran. He was a cut above the average Elani male.

They each enjoyed the company and the silence together until Matt was full. Joya gathered up the dishes on the tray and pushed it away. Before she left the room, she leaned in and gave Matt a warm hug. Matt could get used to this type of treatment.

"I will be back later," Joya said. "If you feel well enough tomorrow, maybe you could help me practice speaking in English. I'm learning to speak all of the Terran languages."

"And you can teach me the language that your people speak."

"I would like that very much. I will teach you Elani and you will teach me more English."

Joya sighed when she'd left the room. How could any woman resist the Terran's charm? Even after weeks of being on life support, the Terran was so alive, so masculine. Joya would have to tell her mother all about the Terran.

Beta and Rayen had been pestering her about choosing the right sort of mate since she had turned twenty-seven. Joya had been very selective though, waiting for the right man to come along. Joya insisted that the right man would wait for her. How could she tell her mother and grandmother that she was falling for a Terran that she hardly knew? Could she wait to mate until she was thirty cycles old like she had promised herself?

Matt laid back into the not-really-there antigravity bed, tired out by his minor exertions. He wanted to see Joya again, not only because she was beautiful and sweet to him, but she spoke English. He was very attracted to this exotic and delightful alien girl. Matt dozed off after his meal, his dreams shattered by images of reptilian soldiers. The Gronth. That's what Lela had called them.

In his mind, Matt was running toward his friends and family back home. Everybody had gathered for a welcoming party, and Matt could smell the grilling steaks from the party a block away. As he approached the group, though, he shouted at the party goers. Something was wrong. Among the party goers were several Gronth. They weren't eating beef steaks, but parts of human flesh.

"He's having a nightmare," one of the Dreamcatcher's technician's announced to Lela.

Lela shuddered at the sights and sounds of a Gronth warrior tearing the leg off of a Human child and eating it as if it were a chunk of Sardu.

"Save a piece of that baby for me," a Gronth warrior told his friend as he bit into the charred leg of the grilled woman.

"The females taste alright, but the males are too tough!"

"The young males aren't too bad either," A third Gronth said, taking a bite out of a teenage boy's chest.

Thankfully, the design of the hospital "bed" did not allow Matt to fall out onto the floor as he began to thrash around and cry out in his sleep.

Joya, who was still out in the hallway with Mani and Maya, was there almost immediately, waking and soothing him from his horrific dream. The doctor and Ando were there almost immediately as well.

"He was having a bad dream!" the doctor told them. "It was about the Gronth eating people at a welcoming party" Lela said.

As soon as Matt had calmed down in Joya's arms, and realized that he was just dreaming, the doctor's words came back to him. Matt had quickly realized that the doctor had not just known that he was dreaming, but exactly what he was dreaming about.

"How did you know what I was dreaming about?" he demanded from his surgeon.

Lela looked down at the floor, her face turning crimson. She'd been caught

"How long have you been monitoring my thoughts and dreams?"

"How long?" Matt demanded again.

"Since you arrived," Lela answered.

"The Dreamcatcher told me to add the thought recorder to your implanted circuitry when I replaced the rest of your functions," Lela confessed.

Matt looked accusingly at his surgeon.

"What other trickery have you added to my brain? Does anyone else know my thoughts and dreams?"

"Just Beta," Lela admitted.

"She is the director of Human Studies. The Dreamcatcher has passed the information straight to Beta."

What was a Dreamcatcher, and who was this woman Beta? Matt had so many questions about everything. On one hand, he was grateful that his life had been saved. No doctor on Earth or Terra Nova could've saved him. On the other hand, he felt violated. Where else could someone monitor another person's thoughts and dreams?

Joya looked especially horrified by Lela's revelation.

"Beta is our mother," Joya said, indictating Ando.

Matt was not concerned with Joya. She had seemed totally horrified at the idea that someone was using Matt's dreams for anything other than cataloguing a person's life story for research. Only his doctor and this Beta person had violated his mind.

"Stop it!" Matt insisted.

"Stop the thought transmissions now. Even if you have to cut the implant out of my head, I want it to stop immediately!"

"That won't be necessary. I can delete the program permanently without surgery," Lela said.

Inwardly, Lela was happy that she wouldn't be a part of the immoral activities she'd been asked to participate in. Lela held a small device to Matt's temple.

"There. I've deactivated the monitoring module. All of the other things are still intact and you will be able to use them." Lela said emphatically.

"Would you like me to stay with you for a while?" Joya asked, still concerned about Matt's nightmare.

"If you don't mind," he said.

To Matt's surprise, Joya climbed onto the anti gravity field of the hospital bed and held Matt closer. Matt did not know that the Elani were matriarchal, but Joya's response to his nightmare made Matt feel better immediately. It was almost maternal. In this crazy world of Aliens and Elani, Joya seemed to be someone that truly cared for him as a person.

After those first few days, Matt got stronger and more capable every day. Maya and Mani, who had taken care of him while he was unconscious, strapped an anti-gravity harness on him and continued to bring him to the "fresher" whenever he needed to go. Even though Maya and Mani initially showered with Matt to make sure that he was clean and safe, Matt soon convinced Lela to let Mani, another male, to do those things for him for modesty's sake.

There was that word again. Modesty. The Terran did not like to be without having his body covered in some way. This was very difficult to accomplish in a hospital setting. Many different doctors and researchers came into the room to examine the Terran and Ando always had to make sure that the patient was modest after his examinations.

Thankfully, Ando always pulled a sheet over Matt's lower extremities before Joya came to translate for Matt. Ando had needed to look up the word "modesty" in Elani terms to understand that Matt didn't want his sister to see him completely naked. Ando had wondered about that unusual aspect of Terran culture. Nudity was quite common in Elani culture, in family circles for sure, but especially in a medical clinic.

"Who told you that you were naked?" Ando asked Matt one day after a thorough examination by Lela.

"Nobody had to tell me. I just know that being naked is not acceptable."