I had told Austin, a patient of mine, not to take any short cuts, and I certainly didn't mean for him to take a detour! He was gone for more than two years, and we had finally given him up for dead.
Then he showed up, just heading for Earth as if nothing was wrong.
But there was definitely something wrong, as I found out when I tried to talk to him. He's supposed to confide in me, patient to doctor. He wouldn't tell me anything, was terribly drunk, and starting to show the signs of starvation. Apparently he had broken his food processor and taken the chemicals in storage to make his drinks. Or maybe it was that he had a case or two of liquor aboard, simply because he was old enough to drink when he took off. I literally talked to him for days, and finally went to bed, tired and despaired. I thought he was a lost cause.
b:Written by Austin Striedlen
Per Mike's suggestion, I wrote my report before I got back on Earth. He wanted to know what had happened, and it was obvious I wasn't going to tell him. I was too upset, and too drunk for that.
In fact, I'm not sure at all how I managed to type it up for my boss. It wasn't very understandable, I'm sure, and my commander wanted to see me about it immediately. I'm sure the minute he finished reading it. "Austin, I'm very concerned... about your report."
I waited for him to explain and took another drink.
"Are you sure you got this correct?" he asked, refering to my report. "... I'm concerned about you, Austin. Since when do you drink so much? Are you struggling with that?"
"Hm...," I considered, "Well...." I stared hard at the cup. I could give it up, couldn't I? Was I really so depressed as to keep this up so long? I was only scaring Mike half to death. He was doing his job as a therapist, but I know he was really scared for me. I knocked my drink off the table. "Fine! I quit! Ya happy?!"
"Good... now, about those planets you mentioned in your report."
"God! Do you know how slanted those places are? How aweful and absurd? Derned if I know if there's a God, but I want to neet the devil who created those... those abominations! Cultures? Feh! Hell holes."
"Austin, I believe your wish has been granted."
"Huh?"
"You want to meet their creators, don't you?"
"Yeah I wanna give them a piece of my mind."
"Well, you're looking at one of them right now. Anything you want to say?" He shook his head at me, it being his opinion that I was worthless and didn't know the half of it. I was trying to digest what he'd just said, and the computer started counting. "Humans created those monsters. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Don't worry," he said, glancing around my ship, "You've created... your own hell. It won't be a long trip."
He shut the link down, just as I considered giving him a piece of my mind. But instead I sat, stunned, and listening to the computer count:
"5... 4..."
So. We were responsible for such horror... but how could anyone...?!
"3... 2..."