Some time later, I woke up lying in a decently equipped med-bed of some sort. Jackie was lying beside me, waking up, too, and looking peaceful.
"You made it." She said.
"You did, too." I said.
I looked around. "Only us?"
She answered, "As far as I can tell... Gosh, this med-bed is sure keeping me placid."
"Yeah." I answered, "Trapped by the HX. Our alien partners dead. Our friends ripped to shreds before our eyes. Here I am, feeling quite mellow.
I looked at her, "You got anything planned for later?"
She giggled back.
The lights went out again....
The next time I woke up the euphorics were way down. Physically, I wasn't feeling too bad, mentally, I was now hit with what had happened. I tried moving around... I could move, but there was some kind of brace on my lower legs and feet. I sat up, moved around a bit, then tried slipping my legs over the side of the bed. When I did, two things happened: some kind of alarm went off, and I went lightheaded. Whoa....
As I was recovering from the lightheadedness, someone came in -- someone I recognized. It was the lady from the HX video: Milly La Farge. She looked at me with curiosity, but she didn't touch. She was not here to nurse.
"I see you are feeling better, Mr....?"
"... Abe." I said, slowly. I shook my head. This lightheadedness wasn't going away, and it wasn't from just sitting up. Something had changed! I must have started to look scared.
"Don't worry. Your gravity field was lowered." said Milly, "The bed thinks you might try to stand. It wouldn't be a bad idea, but, be careful when you do. Your ankles were broken."
I looked around for Jackie. She was on the only other bed, still sleeping.
"Is she OK?"
"She'll be fine, too. But it will take longer. She suffered a lot more damage."
An HX security bot came in, but it was a different style than those which attacked me. It was, in fact, quite different looking. It was a security bot, but the edges were all rounded, and the colors were quite muted. It was kind of pleasing to look at.
Pleasing or not, I stiffened when it came in. It trundled up to Milly, and stopped beside her. She put her hand on it. The bot said, "Do not be afraid, Mr. Abe. We will not harm you further, and we apologize for the harm done already. The security bots of this... HX being, would be the proper term in your language... have had little experience with humans." The bot's pacing and enunciation were very good, but it had a strange accent to it. I suspect it had learned it's language from the same source Milly had.
"You aren't the bot that was handing out gifts." I said.
"Ah, you got some of those? Good. This next phase will probably go fairly easily for you then. Those gifts were handed out by the security bots of this ship to humans that they scanned to be compatible with their systems and requirements. Their techniques are not well refined, yet, but it's a good sign."
"Who are you?"
"Milly and I are from another ship. I'm her security bot. We work together closely. You'll be getting a security bot, too, if you continue to be compatible."
"What if I don't want one?"
"Well... you wouldn't be compatible, I suppose. An interesting question. You see, this is the first time we've attempted to domesticate a wild human who didn't volunteer. We are learning as much from this experience as you are."
"Well, don't think you're going to learn much." This was sounding really scary, and I was getting cranky. I wanted to stand. The floor looked a long way down, and I had these braces on my feet. I swung them a bit, they were still tender. I slipped over to the foot of the bed, where I could brace myself as I tried getting off the bed. Milly and the bot just stood there watching.
As I slid down to the floor, it was like I was in an elevator going down, things got lighter. By the time I touched the floor, I was a featherweight, and there was only a modest pain in my ankles as they took up the load.
"Whoa! That doesn't feel bad... but it sure feels strange." I said.
"You don't have gravity adjusters where you come from?" said Milly.
"What?" said the bot, "No." said I at the same time. Interesting... the bot hadn't thought twice about gravity.
"You may find considerable benefit from living here." Milly said.
"Uhm." I said, and I started taking some small steps. I'd seen a lot, and right now I just wanted to walk and think.