He tried again. “Cómo estás?”
That almost sounded…familiar. She cocked her head to listen, studying him. The longer she stared at him, the more sure she grew he meant her absolutely no harm. In fact, she had the distinct impression that he’d saved her life.
She just didn’t know how she knew that.
“How are you?” he asked.
Her eyes widened. That she knew for certain she understood. She nodded.
“You do speak English standard, then.”
She stared at him. The words made sense to her. She licked her lips, which felt dry. “I…think so.”
His brow arched in surprise. “You think so? Why did you not answer me the first time?”
She stared at him.
“Who are you?”
That was a harder one. She spoke the only word that immediately came to mind. Speaking it felt right. “Aaroncaphford.”
“Is that your name? You said it earlier.”
In her brain, a deep, dangerous blackness swirled. Inside the whirlpool thoughts streamed by, too fragile, too tenuous to grasp and pull into her mind. “I…don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“How did you get in the escape vessel?”
“The what?”
The man sat back and studied her. “I believe Terrans call them ‘lifepods.’ We found you in such a vehicle. It bore DSMC markings on it. You were alone inside.”
“What is the DSMC?”
“You do not know?”
She slowly shook her head.
He frowned. “What happened to your ship?”
“My ship?”
“Your ship.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Was I on a ship?”
He frowned again and leaned forward, but she didn’t feel threatened. She felt confusion and frustration from him that mirrored her own.
“What do you remember?” he asked.
She struggled to make sense of the gaping, black void in her mind. Things she knew she should know, images that swirled out of her grasp once again before she could make sense of them. Tears prickled her eyes, stinging, and she blinked them away. “I don’t know.”
She felt a wave of compassion from the man. Was that normal? She still didn’t feel threatened. In fact, while she could remember being afraid, being scared before, now she felt safe. This man wouldn’t hurt her. He didn’t want to hurt her. Although she didn’t know how she knew this either, she sensed he’d taken a big risk to rescue her.
“You have no memory of how you came to be in the Terran lifepod?”
She shook her head and started to cry. “No. Where am I?”
“You are on the Beyant battle cruiser B’autachia. We are en route to final treaty talks and signings.”
When the door opened and another, older man walked in, she tried to pull herself together and stop crying. His appearance seemed very similar to the man she was already talking to, with only slight differences in height and build, although his uniform looked different.
The two men conversed in their language for a moment. The older man looked at her with pity and sadness on his face. Then he spoke to her, although she couldn’t understand him.
The first man spoke again. “This is my father, Ambassador Raoulx.” The way he said the name sounded like rux to her. “He said he wants me to tell you we will guarantee your safety and well-being. And, as soon as we are able, we will leave you at a safe space station where we can turn you over to DSMC authorities. Hopefully they can help you with your memory.”
A twinge of fear ran through her as she sat upright. “I can’t stay here?” Here felt safe, even though she didn’t know exactly where here was. And considering what little she could remember of her life up to this point seemed filled with fear, she didn’t want to give up this newfound safety.
The younger man translated her question for his father. The ambassador looked thoughtful for a moment before he smiled at her and replied in their language.
The younger man translated again. “He said depending on how the treaty talks go, you might have no other choice but to stay with us. But if you wish to stay, we will not make you leave, nor will we force you to stay should you wish to go.”
“Will I get my memory back?”
“I am not a doctor.”
“What is your name?”
“I am called Commander Raoulx, but because you are not military, you may call me Yanna.”
When he stood, she realized how tall he was, over a foot taller than his father. The two men spoke for a moment in their language before Yanna turned to her again. “We need to get you something to eat and drink now that your body temperature has stabilized. We have no idea how long you were in the lifepod, or when you last ate or drank. Our ship’s medical officer took samples from what we found in the lifepod, and of your blood. Our water is close enough in composition it should not harm you. We need to be careful with food, however.”
She slowly swung her feet over the bunk’s edge, but didn’t feel strong or steady enough to stand yet. “Why?”
He smiled. It looked friendly. Like…
The strange word with no meaning drifted through her mind again.
Aaroncaphford.
“We do not wish to harm you,” he said. “I know some of our foods are not tolerated well by Terran bodies.”
She tried to stand, but her legs felt weak and she wobbled. Yanna caught her, lifting her into his arms as if she weighed nothing. “Come. I shall take you to our medical officer. He is in our lab. You must eat something.”
The ambassador followed as Yanna carried her through the corridors of the ship. It looked totally unfamiliar, and yet it reminded her of something.
She couldn’t remember what. Did she live on a ship like this?
“We need to call you something,” Yanna said. She felt the affection in his voice. Was that something special she could do, or could everyone do it?
“What?”
“You need a name.”
“A name? Why?” It frustrated her that she felt she should know all of this, and at one time that she did.
“We simply cannot go around calling you ‘Terran woman we found in a lifepod.’ I am no expert in Terran culture, but I suspect that would not be right. Plus, it is too long a name to remember.”
He had a sense of humor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared into his comforting dark eyes. She felt no fear of him, although the circumstances surrounding her arrival here in his arms terrified her for reasons she didn’t know and couldn’t fathom. “What should I be called?”
“What was that word you said before?”
She thought about it. “Aaroncaphford.” It was the only thing she was sure of, even though she had no idea what it meant. He nodded as they rounded another corner. How big was this ship?
“Do you know how to spell it?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“I will look up my English lessons and see if I can figure it out. I believe I have heard of a female Terran name, Erin. And Terrans tend to use a given name followed by a family name. Erin Cafford. That would make sense. Do you approve of it?”
She nodded. It sounded as good as any.
“Very well then. We shall call you Erin Cafford until you can regain your memories and tell us otherwise.”
They entered a lab. Yanna carefully set her on her feet, but sensing her weakness, kept an arm around her waist. “Erin Cafford, this is our medical officer, Pachya.” He spoke in his language to the medical officer.
To her, the medical officer looked very similar to the other two men, only he was shorter and even older than the ambassador, more portly. He talked to Yanna for a moment and pointed to a work bench and a stool.