Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [28]
“Lie still,” Sompa continued. “Don't try to speak just yet.” Sompa waited for Jadak's vital signs to stabilize. “You're in a medical facility, Captain. You've been here for some time—a very long time, in fact, but we'll speak of that later. As a result of suffering multifocal brain injuries, you lapsed into a persistent vegetative state. As your long recovery progressed, we saw fit to keep you in a coma until we could be certain that your injuries had healed. You've undergone a series of operations and treatments. Your muscles have received steady stimulation to prevent resorption and atrophy, and we've nourished your mind with dreams that may strike you more like memories. In time, however, you will begin to differentiate those from your actual memories.”
Jadak blinked repeatedly, tears coursing from the corners of his eyes.
Sompa laid a calming hand on Jadak's shoulder. “I'm going to ask you a series of yes-or-no questions. I want you to respond with a single blink of your eyes for yes, a double blink for no. Do you understand?”
Jadak blinked once.
“We have attached a sensitive microphone to your throat. Later, should you feel up to it, I would like you to speak. Do you understand?”
Blink.
“Did you recognize your name when I spoke it?”
Blink.
“Do you have some recall of your life?”
Blink.
Sompa glanced briefly at Bezant, who had her arms folded across her chest.
“Here at Aurora Medical Facility, we specialize in keeping beings alive long past what would be their normal time spans,” Sompa went on in the same soft, slow voice, “but you are a one-in-a-hundred-million case—what some might call a medical marvel. Few beings are fortunate enough to have a second chance. Do you understand?”
Blink.
Sompa straightened somewhat. “Do you have any memories of the accident that resulted in your coma?”
Jadak blinked twice.
Sompa glanced at the heartbeat display. “That's all right, Captain. Your memory will return in due course. Are you in any pain or discomfort?”
Blink, blink.
“Do you have a physical awareness of your body?”
Blink.
“Do you want to try to sit up?”
At Jadak's single blink, one of the med droids triggered a remote that raised the head of the bed. Another proffered a glass of water, from which Jadak sipped through a straw.
“Do you wish to speak?” Sompa asked after a moment.
“Yes.” Jadak wheezed and cleared his throat. “Reeze?”
Sompa looked to one of the droids for explanation.
“The copilot.”
“I'm sorry, Captain. Your copilot did not survive the accident.”
Jadak's lowered his head in grief, then raised it. “The ship.”
Sompa allowed the same droid to respond.
“We have no information regarding the ship.”
Jadak's forehead creased suddenly, and he glanced down at his body. “I can't feel my legs.”
Sompa's head tresses swayed. “Yes, well, that's because we were unable to save your lower legs. We opted not to install prosthetics until we were certain you were going to be able to make use of them.”
Jadak absorbed it in silence. “How long have I been in recovery?” he asked finally.
Sompa traded looks with Bezant, who beat the neurologist in responding.
“Sixty-two standard years.”
Jadak's blue eyes all but bulged from his head.
NEW LEGS ATTACHED, JADAK FLOATED IN A ZALTIN PREMIER BACTA tank, the translucent bluish gel warmed to match his body temperature and formulated to mimic the salinity of his own fluids. A miracle mix for a miracle man, a Bothan technician had joked on the day of the first long session. Naked except for swim shorts, Jadak wore a lightweight breathing apparatus and face mask that was actually a holoscreen, on which was running the tutorial Sompa and his team had prepared: a summation of the past sixty-two years of galactic history.
For the first two weeks following his emergence from his coma, Sompa had kept him mildly sedated and wouldn't permit him to view or use the HoloNet. He wasn't allowed a mirrpanel, either, though he had managed to get a look at himself in the reflective surface of one of the machines that monitored his vital signs. Aged,