Time Traveler: E238. Captive (Part 1)

Lunar Lakes, Alien Research Center Facilities. Approximately 4 am…

“W-Where am I? What is this place, and what the hell am I doing here?” Robin mumbled, looking around the place where he had just woken up. Everything looked blurry, and the ceiling seemed to be spinning.

He tried to get up but felt dizzy and had to lie back down again. He was shivering and his face, feet and hands felt numb.
“I don’t feel well, I might have a fever, maybe I caught a cold?”

With great effort, he sat up in bed and took his hand to his temple, as if that could stop the sharp headache that hit him each time he tried to remember how he had wound up there.

In a brief painful flash, he managed to remember some of what have happened the night before. That enormous ship abducting him…
“Oh, God, now I remember… That spacecraft was pulling me upward, but… what happened next?”

He made another great effort to remember, but he couldn’t. His head hurt as if it were about to explode, and every part of his body ached. But he wasn’t going to give up, he needed to find out where he was, what had happened to him, and most importantly, how to get out of there.

He tried to sit up, and as he did, he realized he wasn’t wearing his regular clothes, but something similar to what he used as pajamas in the future at Oasis Landing.
“What am I wearing? Where are my other clothes?”

“And what is this mark on my hand? Who gave it to me, and what does it mean?” he added as he discovered a sort of tattoo of strange symbols on the back of his hand.

Chills ran through his entire body as he noticed what looked like a surgical table in front of him as well.
“That table. What is it for? Did they…?”

He quickly checked his arms and the rest of his body, looking for needle marks or signs of tubes or probes, but there wasn’t any, at least none that was visible. Still, it was obvious that he’d been shot with something, cause his body felt numb and his mind was foggy.

The dizziness, the throbbing headache, and the weakness kept coming in waves, preventing him from standing still, so he dropped back down on the bed, trying to get his thoughts straight.
“Why, why can’t I remember?”

After a few minutes to collect himself, he continued with his anguished train of thought.
“Maybe it’s better not knowing. Whatever they did to me, I don’t wanna hear it, I’m just not staying here.”

Still a little dazed, he stood up and looked around, searching for what might be a way out. After a quick survey, he noticed there were two doors: one to his left and another right in front of him.
“One of those two doors must lead to the exit, but which one?”

He decided to check the one on the left first. It wasn’t locked, so he opened it and went inside.
It was just a bathroom, with only the bare minimum, and no windows he could use to escape.

There was a mirror, too, where he could check his appearance. He looked a bit haggard, as if he hadn’t slept in years.
“I look like crap. Even my hair looks different”.

With a groan, he left the bathroom and headed for the second door—undoubtedly the one that led to the outside world—which was, of course, firmly shut.

“It’s locked,” he sighed.
By now it was obvious to him that he was captive, held prisoner by whoever these people were, but… why him, and for what purpose?

“Why me, of all people? And why are they keeping me here? Shouldn’t they have sent me home by now? Did something happen to me at this table? Please, let it not be what I’m thinking…”
Still unable to remember, and overcome by fear, he walked toward one of the only two windows in the room to look outside.

The scene was unfamiliar and not very encouraging, just a desolate landscape with craters, and a few ponds of what appeared to be water scattered here and there under a starry yet eerie sky.

He didn’t remember ever seeing that skyline before, and he had certainly seen many during his travels. But, since he had been abducted by an alien spacecraft, this obviously wasn’t planet Earth, but someplace in outer space. Now, if that was the case, how could he survive or breathe without a spacesuit or special equipment? Was this, perhaps, the future?

A new flood of questions poured into his already dazed mind.
“What the hell is this place? Why are they holding me here and what do they want from me? Whatever, I’m not sticking around to find out. I have to get out and ask for help. Dustin was on the phone when it all happened. He’s a smart guy; he’ll surely know what to do… That’s it, I’ll call him right now.”

Instinctively, he reached into his pants pocket but immediately realized he was no longer wearing his original clothes. Plus, He had a vague recollection of losing his cell phone during his abduction.
“My phone… Sh*t, now I remember, I dropped it when they were taking me away.

“That leaves me uncommunicated,” He leaned with both hands on the table in front of him, defeated, and with his head spinning. Just as he thought he was about to faint, he heard footsteps and voices from outside:
“Where’s the test subject?”
“He’s in the science lab.”

With a start, he went to the door, leaned against it, and stood there motionless, trying to make out what the voices, now close enough to be heard clearly, were saying.
“Did you perform the procedure on him?”
“Of course not. We don’t do that to our own kind. That boy is one of us, we shouldn’t have abducted him in the first place.”

Robin jumped back and leaned against the door, closing his eyes and clenching his fist, which was now trembling just like the rest of his body.
“Their own kind? What did they mean by that? Am I indeed one of them? Gods, tell me I’m not.”

(To be continued)

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Credits for the poses in this episode:

Lay Still Pose Pack and Troubled Pain Pose Pack, both by Blamsart at (Blams’ Poses)
Headache Poses, Emotions – Body Language, Emotion Poses Set 2, and Convo/Emotion Poses Set 2, all of them by Bee at Poses by Bee.

Thank you very much to both of them! 🤗💖