FIC: Kino Vision Number 14
There were people missing. The kino didn’t care about Sgt Greer or Lt Scott. It didn’t much miss Eli Wallace either but Chloe Armstrong was another matter. The kino rewound and reviewed its footage after Rush got out of the chair, back to when he and Chloe began meeting. During the day they ignored each other but late at night when everyone else was asleep, they met in the mess, the kino high in a far corner so it wouldn’t be seen. Chloe tended to wander around the ship by herself first before going to the mess but Rush usually went straight there. For a few days the kino watched him but Rush just sat there so it decided to wait outside Chloe’s quarters-or Scott’s quarters, whichever they were in. The kino thought Chloe was retracing the route of whatever nightmare she had. She always ended up in the same places.
Both Rush and Chloe looked exhausted. Chloe tended to tell Rush what happened in her nightmares while Rush hunched over his mug of water. He, in turn, gave an account of his nightmares without saying much at all. At least, thought the kino, he admitted to having them. One night Chloe put out her hand and held his wrist. Rush looked up surprised.
“What happened on the planet?” Chloe asked.
“What?” Rush asked. He pulled his wrist away. “I said what happened.”
“You didn’t really,” Chloe said. “No one believes the rockslide story.”
“What a shock,” Rush said, a tinge of amused bitterness in his voice. “I can’t even die without being called a liar.”
The kino thought Rush was actually lying about the rockslide, as was Colonel Young, but there was something else in there that it was missing. Something about being called a liar.
Chloe looked upset and said, “No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
She tried to take his arm again but Rush shifted out of her reach. He frowned down into the mug.
“No one believed Colonel Young when he got back,” she said softly, looking around to ensure no one was around. “Most of the civilians anyway. He looked like he’d been in a fight and, and”-Chloe’s voice became hasty as Rush made to leave-“and you’re scared of him. You weren’t scared of him before.”
Rush stiffened so much that he looked like he was hunched in pain. Then he sagged down onto the seat again.
“And you looked like you been in a fight,” Chloe said. “You were bruised.”
“Rockslides leave bruises,” Rush said still denying.
The kino was as convinced as Chloe.
“Dr Rush …” Chloe said.
“I’m going to try to get some sleep,” Rush said abruptly.
He didn’t quite flee the room. He didn’t run. The following night they met again but this time all they did was talk about their nightmares. Chloe said everything that happened in hers. Rush gave his usual vague account. They sat in silence together until early morning.
The weekly meeting was later that day. Chloe and Rush ignored each other. Chloe sat next to Lt Scott, her hands clasped on her knees. Rush sat at the back of the room. Occasionally, he frowned and pinched his nose. Lt Johansen watched, intercepting him as he left the mess.
“I think you better come to the infirmary,” she said.
“No,” Rush said flatly.
She cornered him so he couldn’t go anywhere.
“You have a headache,” she said in her kind voice. “And you haven’t been sleeping.” Rush looked away. She said very gently, “I’m not going to ask you anything, I promise.”
He looked back; they stared at each other for a moment and Rush said reluctantly, “I’ll come and get some of your disgusting herbal crap.”
“Okay,” she said softly.
She patted him on the arm. The kino followed Rush to the infirmary. Lt Johansen handed Rush one of her herbal concoctions, her eyes flicking over to the corner of the room. She didn’t say anything. Rush turned his head. Scott was there, Cole bandaging his arm.
“Put it in hot water then drink it,” she said. “You might feel drowsy so don’t drive anywhere.”
Rush’s face twitched into the semblance of a smile. Scott looked up.
“Oh hey, Dr Rush,” he said, getting up quickly. “Uh, I’ll come back and you can finish practicing bandaging.” This was to Cole. “Look, can I ask you something?”
Rush said, “Lieutenant.”
“It’s uh …” Scott pulled at Rush’s arm. Johansen frowned at this invasion of Rush’s personal space. If the kino could have frowned, too, it would have done. “It’s about Chloe.”
“Yes?” Rush asked.
He was deeply closed, looking past Scott’s shoulder.
“Look, uh, Chloe’s been having nightmares about the alien ship and …” Scott began.
“And is she aware that you were going to tell me this?” Rush cut him off brusquely.
“Well, no,” Scott said.
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t say anything further?” Rush said coldly.
He walked out. The kino stayed for the reaction. Scott looked over at Johansen who shrugged.
“He could have been a little politer about it,” she said.
“He’s an asshole,” Scott said sourly. “He should have stayed dead.”
“Sure,” Johansen said. “But then Eli would be too busy to finish his documentary.”
Interestingly callous.
Scott snorted and said, “He did good while Rush was away.”
“Rush wasn’t on holiday, Matt,” she said. Scott looked like he was about to say something stupid. “Don’t, Matt, don’t ask, don’t wonder.”
The kino left them to it. Instead, it waited in the mess. Rush arrived first, clearly drowsy. Johansen’s herbal headache cure didn’t keep the bad dreams at bay. He held his head and blinked a lot.
Chloe arrived half an hour later, sitting down opposite him.
“Hi,” she said wearily.
Rush nodded. He stared down into his mug of water, just as he did every night.
“Matt told me he spoke to you,” she said. “He said you were rude.”
Rush lifted his shoulders in disinterest.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For covering for me.”
The kino would normally expect Rush to brush off the thanks but he didn’t.
Instead he said abruptly, “I keep seeing them.” Chloe looked up from her hands startled. Rush looked as if he was on the verge of a breakdown, his voice deeply distressed. “Out of the corner of my eye, you know?” He put a shaking finger up to his eye. “I keep getting flashes, bits of memory.”
“Alien bits of memory?” Chloe asked her eyes wide.
“Yes,” Rush said in a whisper. He swallowed. “In the meeting today, they were all around me, in my head. I keep seeing them.”
Chloe seemed to be thinking about the meeting. The kino flicked back to its footage. All Rush had done was frown and pinch his nose. Chloe asked the question the kino wanted to ask.
“How are you not completely crazy?” she asked.
The kino got what she meant: the control he had over himself in public instead of being the gibbering mess that most people would be.
“Two days on the planet,” he said without answering. “Then they came.” He looked back down at his hands. “I worked it out before that. What happened.”
“The water,” she said. “From last time.”
“Yes,” said Rush.
He shook his head, putting a hand up to the side of his eye to block his peripheral vision.
“There’s one here now,” Chloe said with certainty.
He nodded shutting his eyes.
She pulled his hand away from the side of his head, holding both his hands in hers.
They sat like that until morning.
FINIS