Of course. He was being cared for in this place. Kindly doctors were
working to restore his memory, to replace his identity, to restore his
judgment apparatus, to tell him who and what he was. It was very good of
them; he felt tears of gratitude start in his eyes.
He stood up and walked slowly around his small room. He went to the door
and found it locked. That locked door gave him a moment of panic which
he sternly controlled. Perhaps he had been violent.
Well, he wouldn't be violent any more. They'd see. They would award him
all possible patient privileges. He would speak about that with the
doctor.
He waited. After a long time, he heard footsteps coming down the
corridor outside his door. He sat on the edge of the cot and listened,
trying to control his excitement.
The footsteps stopped beside his door. A panel slid open, and a face
peered in.
"How are you feeling?" the man asked.
He walked up to the panel, and saw that the man who questioned him was
dressed in a brown uniform. He had an object on his waist which could
be identified, after a moment, as a weapon. This man was undoubtedly a
guard. He had a blunt, unreadable face.
"Could you tell me my name?" he asked the guard.
"Call yourself 402," the guard said. "That's your cell number."
He didn't like it. But 402 was better than nothing at all. He asked the
guard, "Have I been sick for long? Am I getting better?"
"Yes," the guard said, in a voice that carried no conviction. "The
important thing is, stay quiet. Obey the rules. That's the best way."
"Certainly," said 402. "But why can't I remember anything?"
"Well, that's the way it goes," the guard said. He started to walk away.
402 called after him, "Wait! You can't just leave me like this, you have
to tell me something. What happened to me? Why am I in this hospital?"
"Hospital?" the guard said. He turned toward 402 and grinned. "What gave
you the idea this was a hospital?"
"I assumed it," 402 said.
"You assumed wrong. This is a prison."
402 remembered his dream of the murdered man. Dream or memory?
Desperately he called after the guard. "What was my offense? What did I
do?"
"You'll find out," the guard said.
"When?"
"After we land," the guard said. "Now get ready for assembly."
He walked away. 402 sat down on the bed and tried to think. He had
learned a few things. He was in a prison, and the prison was going to
land. What did that mean? Why did a prison have to land? And what was an
assembly?
* * * * *
402 had only a confused idea of what happened next. An unmeasurable
amount of time passed. He was sitting on his bed, trying to piece
together facts about himself. He had an impression of bells ringing. And
then the door of his cell flew open.
Why was that? What did it mean?
402 walked to the door and peered into the corridor. He was very
excited, but he didn't want to leave the security of his cell. He
waited, and the guard came up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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