Sleeping

            “I stopped by last night, on my way to my quarters. Talked to Phlox.”

            “Well, then we girls will go and say hello anyway.”

            “Papa back from planet?”

            “Yes, and he’s sleeping in the sick bay, so let’s go see him.” She hopped down from her chair and skipped towards the door, pulling her mother along by the hand. She knew the way to sick bay like she knew the rest of the ship from following her father all over every day. The doors slid aside and welcomed the ladies inside.

            “Welcome,” Phlox said. “I told the admiral you were coming, but I can’t be sure if he heard me.” He led the both of them back to the recovery bay. Phlox had removed the bandage around Jonathan’s head and cleaned up any bits of blood that may have lingered. Except for the pair of monitors, he was simply asleep.

            “Don’t wake Papa up, he’s still asleep,” Riaan said quietly.

            “Want sleep with Papa,” she insisted, trying to climb on the bed. Riaan looked up at Phlox. He just shrugged and smiled.

            “Okay, Pet, let me help you up.” Riaan boosted Ariannaa onto the bed but she wasn’t happy until she’d set herself on his chest, lay face down, and closed her eyes.

            “Miss you,” she said.  Riaan could almost hear her own heart break.

            “Don’t wake him up, Annaa. He’s very tired; he’s going to sleep here for a while.”

            “Me,” said the small voice. Riaan looked at Phlox.

            “I don’t see any harm.”

            “Okay, I’ll stay here with you, Pet.” Phlox left; Riaan sat down on the ever present cot. She watched the monitor for a full minute. All the lines did the same wiggly dance over and over without change. As they hypnotized her, she found it more and more difficult to breathe. She took Jon's hand and held it firmly in her own. And then the lines started to wiggle a little faster. Not much, but still noticeable.

            Riaan looked quickly at Jon’s face; she saw his cheek twitch.

            “Phlox!” she shouted. Ariannaa startled up. “Phlox!” she yelled, wondering what was taking more than 5 seconds to keep him from coming. She almost smacked into him headlong coming around the corner. “Jon’s moving!” she choked out.

            They both returned in seconds to their patient, but they only saw Ariannaa sleeping on her father as before. He opened his eyes slowly, then he closed them again. He stretched as if he might get up but only shifted a little, then put a hand on Ariannaa, almost petting her head, and stopped moving again.

            “He’s coming around. Won’t be much longer, now” Phlox said excitedly. The palpalable tension in the roomed vanished, replaced with relief. He left quickly to retrieve a hypo spray of something. “Now we can start the emergence.” He gave Archer the medicine, checked the bio readings, and noticed the brain wave patterns growing more complex, slowly, but steadily.

            “He should be awake in 48 hours,” Phlox said with confidence. Riaan shot the doctor a puzzled look. “No one wakes from a coma like it was just a long nap. It takes time. You can help. Talk to him, make contact. Now is a good time for you to stay in sick bay.”

            Jonathan could hear voices, but didn’t understand any of it, or know who was talking. He thought someone asked him if he knew his name, and he knew it was Jon something, but couldn’t tell the person. Then he saw his father standing on the beach in San Francisco, and then at the hospice where he died.

            He felt a weight on his chest, and reached to move it off, but in the darkness he realized it was a small person; the person spoke, a gentle soft voice, but he was surprised that his father had such a high voice. No, the voice wasn’t his father. He was so tired it was hard to think straight. Another voice spoke to him, calling his name. He saw a woman with white flowers in her long blonde hair.

            “Jon, you’re on Discovery,” he heard the woman say. He didn’t know what ‘discovery’ was. Sounded like…he just wanted to go back to sleep. The next thing he remembered was that the weight, the small person, was gone, and the room was quiet but for a faint, odd chirping, like a bug. Camping trip? Night time, or the lights were still off. Where was he? Why was it so dark? Admiral. His name was Jon Admiral. That didn’t sound right. But he kept hearing Jon and Admiral. And a third word, Papa. The wee gentle voice said Papa. He remembered: he had a daughter. 

            “Admiral, can you hear me?” came the male voice. He tried to see who was talking. “It’s Dr Phlox, Admiral.” He tried to say something but words didn’t want to come out. 

            “Dark,” he managed in a hoarse voice. Was it night time? He could only make out vague spots of light in the darkness. Something didn’t seem right. “Phlox? Where?”