Goorg-chee:

C o n t e n t s Chapter 1: Arrival Chapter 2: Soo-Ree Chapter 3: Georgie Chapter 4: Grunk Chapter 5: Voyage Chapter 6: Descent Chapter 7: River Chapter 8: Valley Chapter 9: Messai Chapter 10: Tunnai Chapter 11: Hunt Chapter 12: Pact Chapter 13: Skree Chapter 14: Rescue Chapter 15: Choices Chapter 16: Cirus Chapter 17: Teela Chapter 18: Regeneration Chapter 19: Memories Chapter 20: SD-15 Chapter 21: Subjects Chapter 22: Soor Chapter 23: Mementos Chapter 24: Impresar Chapter 25: Promises C H A P T E R 1 Arrival I was shivering. There was no sound and it was pitch black. I felt a surge of panic, wondering if I was blind. Slowly, forcing myself to sit up, it made me dizzy. The pounding in my head was keeping beat with the thumping of my heart. The silence was deafening. Feeling around as far as my arms would reach in all directions, I touched emptiness. The air had no smells and there was no breeze, yet I felt like I was outside. The ground was smooth and hard, but not rock, dirt or grass. Searching my body for injuries, I found nothing wrong. Oh God! I didn’t know my name! I was unable to remember anything about myself, how I got here, not knowing where ‘here’ was. My mind was racing, the seeds of fear were growing inside and the headache persisted. To maintain sanity, I disregarded this situation as a terrible dream. It must be! Go back to sleep! Rubbing my arms and legs to take some of the chill off, I finally dozed again only to wake up in what felt like only a few minutes. I could just make out my hand through the darkness. Gradually, the dark subsided. It was a strange glow, not a bright light, but a soft one that just grew around me with no discernable source. Standing up, I looked in all directions for some clue to my whereabouts. As far as I could see, there was a tan colored flat ground that reminded me of plastic. It 2 Goorg-chee: merged on the horizon into the empty light blue tinted sky. Not a single cloud, tree, bush, hill or even a pebble marred the view. I was wearing shorts, a belt with no buckle, loafers, short socks and a short-sleeved polo shirt. The sole contents of my pockets was a leather wallet, however, it was empty. Why did my belt not have a buckle? It was a woven leather belt that was too long for my waist, so I tied a knot using the slack. I tried pinching my arm until it hurt like hell. I was still there and, apparently, awake. Hungry and thirsty, I was thankful the chill had left me as the light grew. If this was not a dream, then I had to find food and water. Solving the mystery would have to wait. I had to decide which way to go. There was no sun, smells, or wind to guide my direction. Since all paths looked the same, my approach was simple. Travel straight ahead. There was no way of knowing exactly how long I walked. I was totally exhausted by the time the light started to dim. It was like someone just turned down the lights gradually as they had come on earlier. The landscape, if you want to call it that, was the same all day. I felt like this may be the end for me. I knew I couldn’t live without water for very long, but I was too tired to keep going and moving in the darkness would have been foolish. So I willed myself to sleep. It was already light when I awoke and there was a faint undistinguishable odor. Not knowing if I was traveling in a circle or going anywhere at all, I kept walking. After what seemed like an hour, I thought I saw a dot ahead on the horizon, a little off to my left. I fixed my attention on that point and kept walking until I was sure the object was getting bigger. There had to be food and water there, otherwise I was going to die. I remembered stories of people lost in the desert. They would see mirages and end up drinking sand, but there was no sand here. I certainly did not intend to die. Moving at as fast a pace as I could muster, the object on the horizon continued to grow until it got too dark to see. I was afraid to continue without light because I might stray off course and end up further away from my goal. Each night was not as cold as the previous one. Awaking to the call of nature, it was still dark and I couldn’t go back to sleep. As I sat there awaiting the light, my thoughts were wandering. How could this be real? I can remember things like driving a car, playing golf, typing on a computer, camping, fishing, watching TV, using a cell phone and all the daily occurrences in a modern society as being a part of my life. What could have happened to transport me to a place like this with no memory of my identity? Only the superArrival 3 ficial knowledge of how to do things, and what ‘things’ are, was separating me from madness. The need for nourishment was top priority and ‘who I am’ had to wait until I could find help. The smell that I had noticed yesterday at first light had returned. It was a salty odor that was like being close to an ocean without the sand, seaweed, fish, birds, wind or waves. I was sore all over, my tongue felt swollen, my stomach growled constantly and my eyes were burning with the strain of trying to see through the dark. Closing my eyes and lying down, I prayed to wake up. Jolted awake, I swore I had heard something! There would be no more sleeping. I waited about an hour before the lights came on. Feeling light-headed, I started jogging towards the object in the distance. It was steadily growing at a rapid rate until I could see what appeared to be an island in the middle of this hard plastic stuff. I didn’t think I could go another step, then suddenly, I sprawled face first into soft sand. Willing myself to get up, I looked in both directions. The sand was the same color as the plastic ground and I couldn’t tell where they met. There was not one thing to indicate anyone had ever been there. The sand was as smooth as the plastic ground but I sank into it a few inches, so the walking was going to be a little slower. By the time I reached the trees I was crawling on hands and knees. Please let there be water in this place! The sand became more firm as I entered the cover of palm trees and collapsed. Lying there, I realized that I could not rest until I found water. If the dark came first, I don’t think I could survive. So I continued into the trees. There was not a lot of undergrowth, mostly palm trees and some ferns. I didn’t notice any coconuts in the trees and the ground was uniformly packed sand with no evidence to indicate any animals or insects lived there. Cresting a tiny sand dune, I saw a small body of water. The surface was as smooth as glass and surrounded by palm trees. It looked like a scene in a painting. I didn’t know if it was drinkable, but I couldn’t afford to be choosy. Stumbling down the dune to the edge of the water, I took a few sips and decided it was the best water I had ever tasted! After drinking my fill, I slept at the water’s edge. I woke up with more hunger than I ever thought possible. It was still light, so I must not have slept very long. Looking in the pool, I could see that my three days growth made me look pretty ragged. Based on the reflection, I estimated my age to be in the thirties. I saw a fairly handsome man with maybe twenty pounds of extra around the middle, brown hair, brown eyes and no major scars.