“Zed! Can you hear me, Zed? Give me some kind of response if you can hear me.”
Dr. Bailey’s voice seemed to be coming at him from a great distance. Zed felt half in a dream. He tried to open his eyes. They felt sore.
“Zed? I think he’s coming around. How much did we end up giving him? We need a point of reference for the long term if this works.”
The voices were closer now. Zed forced his eyes open. As they focused, he saw that his bed was surrounded by people. Dr. Bailey was leaning over him, shining a light in his eyes.
“Hey there, Zed! You with me?”
“I think so,” Zed croaked. There was a strange taste in his mouth—strange, yet somehow familiar. “What happened to me?”
“We can talk about that in a bit. First things first. Do you know where you are?”
“Yeah, the same place I’ve been for the last week. The med bay.”
“That’s right. And do you remember what happened?”
Dr. Bailey and someone Zed didn’t know helped him sit up. He felt a little dizzy, and his whole body ached, but his head was clearing.
“I’m not sure anything really happened. I just remember getting a massive headache all at once, and then nothing.”
“And are you feeling any pain now? Pain in your head, I mean?”
“A little, but it feels like it’s fading fast. I’m just really sore now,” Zed said, stretching his limbs gingerly.
Dr. Roth entered the room at his usual brusque pace. “Well, considering the seizure you just had, I’m not surprised. We nearly lost you there. A close call indeed. Glad to see you up and conscious. And alive, of course.”
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Dr. Roth turned to Dr. Bailey. “How much did it take?”
“The first dose was a whole one, so I gave him a whole one.”
Dr. Roth nodded slowly. “At least it buys us time if the same cadence holds. I don’t think I’d wait a full week next time, though, just to be safe. There might be damage if he takes a hit like that again. Or worse.”
Dr. Roth looked like he was about to ask something else, but Zed cut him off.
“Guys, what in the world happened while I was out?”
Dr. Roth crossed his arms and leaned over Zed.
“We saved your life, is what happened,” he said. There was a hint of sadness in the way he said it that Zed found chilling. Dr. Roth was usually nothing but confidence and energy.
He continued, “And if we’re very lucky, we’ll be able to save it again.”
Dr. Bailey stepped in. “We heard you screaming, Zed. We rushed in, and you had blacked out and gone into convulsions. Long story short, nothing seemed to help, and you were getting worse. Dr. Roth here had the bright idea that you might be going into withdrawals.”
“But I’ve never even taken drugs.”
Dr. Roth chuckled. “Yes, except for your penchant for alien varieties. You’ve got very specific tastes.”
“The plants are a drug?” Zed asked, his tone flat. He felt so confused.
“More or less. The plant had positive effects on you, but it seems that you are now dependent on it. If the cycle next time is the same as the last, then you’ll need to eat one about once a week.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Based on what we just saw, you’ll either come through with some kind of permanent disability, or you’ll die.”
Zed's mind put the pieces together faster than he wanted it to. The downside of a brain that excelled at clarity and problem-solving was that it was difficult to sit in denial for very long.
“I’m never leaving Mars, am I?”
The room went quiet. Everyone stared at Zed. He didn’t have to look up to know their faces were covered in pity.
“We don’t know exactly,” Dr. Roth said. “You know I’m honest to a fault, Zed. The truth is, we’re less concerned about whether or not you’ll be leaving Mars anytime soon, and more worried about keeping you alive at all. We’ve got the samples you recovered; that will buy us some time, but if we can’t get back to the chamber where you got them…”
“And last I saw it, the one way in had collapsed,” Zed said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Dr. Bailey said. “Naug is filled with some of the smartest people there are. We’ll find a way. There’s gotta be a way.”
