Artificial Heart

7

Prisha slapped at her arm as something bit her. She slapped a second time, a third time. Grumbling to herself, she made her way back to camp. Her headlight flashed as she stumbled her way over the creek bed. Red light blazed in return. She froze. She turned, heart knocking against her ribs.

It was back. He was back. The red light!

She raced back. In her excitement, she tripped over a rock and fell into the water. She hardly felt the wet or the pain as she leapt back to her feet and hurried onwards. She stopped, panting, as she stepped into the clearing.

It was right there. Just as she remembered. Almost. It was so much more than what she remembered. The real thing. Not just a fantasy. Not just a memory. The tears built in her eyes and she was suddenly glad that it was raining so he wouldn't see.

The ramp was down and waiting just like the last time. Debris crunched under her boots, sounding like little explosions in her ears, even against the croaking of the frogs. She licked the water from her lips, pulling her hood further over her head as it rained harder.

It was no less surreal than last time. Her boots hit the ramp with a metallic thud, and then she was ascending. She was inside. She switched off her headlamp. As her eyes adjusted, she saw him. In the same seat, at the same controls.

The ramp closed shut behind her. The rain continued, though she couldn't hear it. It wasn't trickling down the windshield either, as though something was protecting the glass. Maybe. Maybe not. Prisha released a whistling breath.

'Hello,' she said in a high voice, as high as a child's. She bit down hard on her lip.

He seemed larger than she remembered. Stranger. His helmet gleamed against the light. He was wearing the same greyish-white suit. His hands were gloved again. Prisha tucked her own hands under her armpits as she shivered. Water was dripping from her clothes into a puddle on the floor. Lightning streaked across the sky.

'Thank you for coming back,' she said and immediately flushed. Was that a stupid thing to say?

He moved his hands across the controls and the view in the window shifted as they lifted off. The air hitched in Prisha's throat. This was what she wanted. There was no point feeling regretful now.

Not knowing what to do, she simply stood in the middle of the ship clutching onto herself as she shivered with cold and dread and anticipation and an innumerable unnameable emotions. She watched as the window filled with the storm. Then the black clouds swallowed them up like an ocean.

A bright streak of lightning made her jump. She couldn't hear the thunder. He didn't seem concerned that they might get hit. Moments later, they surfaced. More black clouds drifted ahead. More lightning flashed in their bellies. Prisha stared. To be so close to so much quiet ferocity—it was exhilarating. It was terrifying. And then they were beyond. Prisha blinked as twinkling stars replaced the turmoil. The grey of the sky turned to black.

Somehow everything felt quieter. Deeper. It felt like a transition; a step out of life and into death.

The ultimate unknown.

The alien relaxed in his seat. His seat turned. Prisha opened and shut her mouth. She cleared her throat. 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't make it here last time.'

Nothing. No movement. Utter stillness. Too still. Like he wasn't quite real. Prisha reached up to grip her throat. 'What are you going to do with me?'

No answer.

'What have you done with me? I feel—I feel different. Both better and sicker at the same time. You had me four days. What did you do to me?' She looked over towards the door that led into the room with the bench. All the technology. The restraints. The helplessness. The giant alien standing over her as tall as a building.