-Welcome back among the living. Said an old man,who was the first person Simon saw after opening his eyes.
The young man jolted awake after a second and sat abruptly on the bed, his eyes darting around the room.
-Where are the aliens? he asked with a little panic in his voice.
-Easy there young man, those overgrown bugs left a long time ago,just as soon as they left you here and told me to take care of you.
The answer came from the old man.
After a short while that took the young man to calm down a bit and sort his thoughts a bit, he started to ask questions.
-Where am I ? Who are you? Why am I here? What's going on?
-Easy there, I can't answer all of those at once.
The older man stopped the river of inquiries.
-First of all We are on a junk planet that as far as i know has no name, only a classification number JK 18557.
-My name is Mikael Fowler and I was a Canadian before I was abducted and then dumped here in 1967.
-As to why you're here, that is to do with the galactic law that forbids us to return to earth before our planet reaches a level in which it can join the galactic federation or so i was told.
-Wait,wait,stop for a moment.
The young man stopped Mikael and it made the older man smile a bit after he remembered the same explanation being delivered to him all those years ago.
-Let me get this straight: I was abducted by those bug-like aliens just to be dumped on some junk planet? are you kidding me?
-and ,he continued, -if you were taken in 1967 then why do you look like you're in your mid 50's?
-Well I don't know exactly how many human years passed but there are some things that are available here to prolong your life.
Answered the older man and then continued.
-Let me introduce some facts to you before we continue this discussion ok? But first of all, what's your name?
-Ok I'm Simon Black and I'm all ears.
-Ok,Simon nice to meet you and now listen closely :Â
1.Like i said we are here because the galactic law forbids us to go home
2.As far as i know they send us here so that we can work and live without interacting with the rest of the federation.
3.We are not the only species in this situation and we are not alone on this planet.
4.We work by collecting junk and transporting it to the collection point and we get paid for it in Credits.
5.With those Credits we can buy whatever we need meaning food, water, clothes, tools etc.
6.We can't leave this planet until our home world has its first contact with the federation.
7.Every one gets a small starter pack and that's it the rest you have to buy by yourself.
8.You have been implanted with a translator chip and that's why you can understand me.
9.You can find your own place to live but you must remember to set up a tracker that is in your starter pack or you can die not even knowing what hit you.
10.You can use any materials that you find to construct anything you want to make your life easier.
11.In your left hand there is a small microchip that serves as your id and a wallet.
-And that's all for now i'll explain the rest as we go.
After hearing all of this Simon felt his anger surge.
-What the hell is this all? you just basically told me that I'm a slave/ prisoner on some planet size junkyard and i need to stay here for god knows how long and work my ass off so that i won't starve or die of dehydration?
Simon said with a surprisingly calm voice underneath which boiled barely controlled fury.
-What can I say? That's the reality we are living in and for the record I don't like it a bit more than you do.
Said Mikael spreading his hands and shrugging.
After hearing this Simon took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
-Ok I'm sorry for my outburst, you are just trying to help and you answered most of my questions.
-And as a sort of compensation i can answer some of yours if you have any about earth.
Mikael smiled, putting his hand at Simon's shoulder with understanding.
-Maybe later right now we have to get moving and get you a place to stay, not to mention show you how to make Credits and where to spend them. Do you think you're ready to start your new life?
Simon smiled slightly, nodded his head and started to get out of bed only then noticing that he was totally naked under the sheets and his flustered face was enough to make Mikael laugh out loud.