I am a very good liar.
Having seen inside the thoughts of countless people, having lost myself within some minds to the extent that I actually thought for a moment that I was that person… Let's just say I could emulate people quite well. I knew how to read people, and knew that if you phrased things a certain way, there was a good change people would believe whatever you told them, whether they were inherently gullible or not.
I did not think the crew of the Christa was gullible.
"Cat! They can see me!"
Where was she? Since shortly after the explosion, she'd disappeared from my view. I still spoke, in hopes that my voice would somehow bring her back to me. Lead her here. Something… Besides the fact that I was so incredibly happy that they could all finally see me, I didn't give the fact that Catalina wasn't there a second thought.
Hell broke loose then. I didn't have a chance to look for her. Spung. Planets growing far too big in our viewing monitors. I thought we were going to die. And you know what? I was scared… There isn't much that scares me, but rocketing toward a planet at speeds of… God. It was just below light… It had to be. That scared me. When we ended up alive, the first thing I could think about was finding my best friend.
The monitor worked just fine. They weren't engineers, though. I went outside to take a look around.
"Thelma, you stay around the ship, alright? I'm going a little farther into the forest."
"Alright, Suzee," she said. She was so trusting. I wish she would have stopped me, or asked me where I was going. I really didn't want to go alone… Something else was scaring me…
The creepers and vines were thick, but the Christa had cut through a great deal of them upon its landing. It made it easier for me to get away from the noise… The sick sounds of the engine that was still powering the ship… The crew that was talking nonstop about the situation.
"Cat, you've always been able to hear me before. Where are you?"
I picked up a slight tremor. She was unconscious. Unconscious but alive!
"…Cat, I need you to wake up, okay? I can't find you."
I closed my eyes, feeling tears roll down my cheeks I hadn't even known I shed. I ventured farther into the forest, allowing touch and hearing to guide me, tuning out what sounds I could, looking for that little blue spark in my mind that would lead me to her.
Her eyes opened, and I was nearly floored by an incredible, intense pain.
Now that I had a fix on her, I could narrow in on a visual. Our link worked strangely. We could see into each other's lives, but only through our minds. A sense of sight came through that… It was blurry and vague when we were younger, but now it came in all too clearly. A very beaten Catalina lay on the floor of my room. I don't know if I've ever seen so much blood before.
"Cat!" I screamed. I wanted to reach out to her, but there was that barrier separating us. There were other people in the room with her, too… My father, and one of my sisters. They were kneeling next to her.
"…This has gotta be Catalina," my sister said.
Cat opened her eyes, looking into their faces. I could hardly recognize her! I swore that pulling her through at the moment I did would save her from being affected by the explosion. How could I have been wrong?
"Suzee…" Cat whispered. My father turned, looking for me. He was a smart man, though. He'd realize what had happened soon enough.
"That's right, dad. Your daughter succeeded in a trans-dimensional interstacial molecular polarity reversal." …And failed miserably, I added to myself. No one had ever done it before. It worked in theory, though we'd ended up in the wrong dimensions.
"…Suzee, if you can hear me…" My dad looked around the room. I knew he'd be able to feel me… All Yensidian families shared a sort of mental bond. He wouldn't be able to hear me, though. Or see me.
But I could hear him.
"Your friend is… very badly injured. I don't know what happened. We're taking her to the hospital."
…I owed it to the Commander, to Catalina's friends, her crew, to tell them that she would be alright. We didn't need them worrying about her as well as worrying about getting off the planet. In fact, they didn't even have to know that she was in trouble. Turning, and attempting to control my tears, I headed back to the Christa.
In the Command Post, I ran into Commander Goddard.
"I have good news, bad news, and more bad news," I said.
I am a very good liar.