All four of my HQ staff are male and Noridian women all seem to have long legs, incredible bodies, and pretty faces. If she noticed any ‘discomfort’ on our part she didn’t show it as she stepped over to what had to be a massage table. Lying face down we witnessed her skin being pressed and massaged by seemingly invisible fingers. I think she was explaining something about force field manipulation but I don’t think any of us were really very focused by that point.
When we returned to the common area, all the view screens showed stars; we’d left the planet without even knowing it. I don’t think I’d fully realized until right then just how advanced the Noridian culture truly was. We were Neanderthals compared to them. Here we were leaving our homes and families behind on a world where modern cities were melting in nuclear fire. Would we ever see our homes again? Would we even have a choice? We were being carried farther away than any of us had ever gone before and without the good graces of our friends/enemies/gods we had no hope of finding our way back. We couldn’t take control of the situation; we hadn’t even been allowed to bring our sticks and slingshots with us. It was overwhelming; it was almost too much.
Once our Noridian hostess had left us to settle in I realized that there was a terrible feeling bubbling just below the surface of my consciousness. It took me a few moments to place it but I finally realized it was a bone-deep fear. I wasn’t in any way, shape, or form even remotely in control of my destiny and that thought scared the shit out of me. I was suddenly very cold and only in my innermost thoughts would I ever admit that panic was a tempting mistress.
I later learned it was called culture shock and I had never in my life experienced feelings like that. I really think the thing that pulled me through was the realization that if I was having this much trouble, with all the training I’d had, my team might need me now more than ever.
I made the rounds until late in the evening. I talked to everyone in my platoon that would talk. Some, including a surprising number of my hardened military specialists, were taking it hard. They’d get over it but I‘m glad I’d made it a point to check in with them. Others were less affected; the Ito twins were inscrutable, and Dr. Mom was her normal cheery self and seemed an unvoiced ally in my attempts to make everyone feel secure. Most of the scientists fell somewhere in the middle of the two extremes and I finally got a glimpse perhaps of why General Nesbit thought so highly of my second in command, Captain Antonio Silva. With a slight build and a skinny frame he’d never be mistaken for one of my Special Forces but that night he put his team first and was making the rounds without any instruction from me.
The person that surprised me the most though, was Dr. Julie Schein.
Chapter 17
Dr. Julie Schein
Julie had taken a seat in the common living area or hub of their squad and laid her head back—it was still early evening and she was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep but how could anyone sleep with everything that was going on? They were in space!
What a weird, long, incredible day! Their shipboard accommodations were unreal and the look on Anzio’s face when Suzi, their Noridian escort, had demonstrated the shower—it was priceless. Of course Mark had been wearing a silly grin ever since. It was ironic that out of a group of scientists it was Captain Hiromi who had asked all the questions.
For a moment Julie seriously wondered if she’d been drugged. It wasn’t normal for her to be fatigued like this, and then she started noticing the other people around her…
Dr. Tony Decker was sitting on another sofa-like chair, leaning forward with his head in his hands massaging his temples. On the outer edge of the area close to one of the hallways the Ito sisters stood quietly conferring with each other. Kamiko’s arm was on the shoulder of a third woman from her Blue Squad (Jennie?) and it was obvious that the scientist had been crying. Across the squad hub you could stare straight into the conference room (apparently the wall could be made transparent) and see Anzio leaning back in a chair with his eyes closed. The only way you’d know he wasn’t asleep was the slow movement of the chair swiveling from side to side.
“How are you feeling Julie?” the voice of Dr. Mom interrupted her thoughts.
“Toni, (yawn) I didn’t hear you sit down. I’m just a little tired. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I’m just thinking with all the stress everyone’s been under that it’s amazing there isn’t more anxiety or depression to deal with; my husband died of a stroke and everyone was convinced it was because of stress. And while I’m sure the Noridian’s didn’t mean to do it right at the point when everyone is most stressed about leaving home and what we might find, they bring us into this magical environment. I feel kind of like an ant in the food court of a tap dance studio,” said a smiling Dr. Mom.
“That’s actually a great analogy,” Julie responded thoughtfully.
“Tell me Julie, as a Psychiatrist, if the pressure were to start getting the better of me what symptoms should I look out for?”
“Well, it depends. An anxiety response wouldn’t be unusual. In our situation it wouldn’t surprise me if people didn’t start going into a mild form of shock…” Julie’s voice trailed off.
“And what would the symptoms of shock be?” Toni prodded.
“Oh, feeling cold, feeling despondent, feeling sleepy…” After a moment Julie looked up and said, “Thank you Toni. Thanks for putting me back on track but I’m the psychiatrist and it’s time I started doing my job.”
With a determined look on her face Julie looked around the room again, “How about you, are you ok? And where’s Mark and Dr. Cook?”
“I’m fine dear. I’m going to hang around here and talk to anyone that’s lonely. I’m pretty sure that David is in his cabin and he looked like he was doing fine but I’ll check in on him. You might want to touch base with Dr. Sullivan at mission HQ and you might even want to stick your head in on Ambassador Rutledge. Mark was supposed to brief with him this evening.”
Julie smiled, patted Toni on the hand as she got up and started walking to the hallway that was marked 3rd Platoon. She’d quickly touch base with Major Reagan and then move on to the mission HQ. As crazy as a certain history professor was there would be no telling what kind of trouble he could be getting into.
The Platoon Hub was empty so she checked the schematic that was drawn/marked/painted on the wall just inside each hallway and continued to the HQ Hub.
There was something acoustically weird about the hallways because even without doors they remained quiet; and that was quite a trick considering the three-way argument she walked into. The HQ Hub was huge and could probably accommodate the entire Earth Team. Right now there might have been 30 or 40 people sitting, standing, or wondering around; including these three idiots trying to outshout each other.
After spending ten minutes with them she still didn’t know what they were arguing about but she had managed to remind them that they were distinguished professors and this was a high-pressure, emotionally charged situation that needed their leadership.
She could see Ambassador Rutledge and Mark in one of the conference rooms (the HQ Hub had several) and they looked fine so she started casual conversations with any individual or group she ran across. She suspected that there was a mild form of mass hysteria at work here. Most people were fine but not quite all right. Many were understandably a little anxious and a number had fixated on the smallest of details.