"Mmmm." Nora groaned, she felt so stiff. She felt the warm sunlight filtering onto her face. A breeze blew into the room, causing what sounded like the fluttering of curtains. She felt groggy. Her eyelids flickered and she opened her eyes. She was momentarily disoriented, Nora sat up with a loud gasp when she found herself in a new room, in a new tropical place. That was not a hospital room, not the wintry country pasture, she was in an entirely different climate, or it was mimicking it. She was laid out on a very large soft bed, wearing an ornate silk sleeping gown. She pulled herself up weakly, scrambling weakly from the slight atrophy of her legs.
'You have to calm down.' Nora thought. She took deep breaths and self soothed herself in a practiced manner, her hands shaking as she centered herself.
'Now check your body, your leg is there. It works. What else changed?' Nora asked herself. Her shaky hands pulled at her gown. She immediately checked her body. The last thing she saw was a group of men cutting off her clothes. Her hand searched her body. There was no pain, so traces of assault. No wounds. She had a ashy hue as her hands run over her skin. It began to pill up in a moist sludge on her fingertips.
"Ew." Nora said with a croak. She felt dirty and itchy. Nora raked her skin gently with her nails. Dried skin flaked off her as she lightly scratched herself. Some of the more moist areas started peeling. She noticed her finger nails had been manicured, clumps of dead skin had quickly built up under them. Nora stared at her nails in disbelief. She peeled off a sheet of skin on her hand revealing tender new flesh. Her hands were definitely severely burnt when she last saw them. There was no pain or stinging, just pretty brand-new flesh. As if she had recovered from a bad sunburn. Nora flicked her nails and clumps of compacted dried skin fell out from underneath them.
"What the f***?" Nora said in a gravelly voice. She blinked her eyes, she was not wearing contacts. She licked around her mouth. No fillings, no crooked teeth from the retainer she wore for far too long. She felt her hair line, the bumpy scar from her childhood was there.
'Everything is healed. My hair is so much softer. I have not been reincarnated. I am still me? What is happening? Where am I?' Nora thought. She was inexplicably alive and in better shape than she arrived in.
She panicked, looking at the unfamiliar place and scooted up the bed in a panic, covering herself with a blanket. More skin flaked off her. She felt very gross and agitated. She held herself for a while before making the decision to find a place to relieve herself. She really needed to go to the bathroom urgently, her hosts would probably be disgusted by all the skin. She tried to think about the situation logically, she was not dead, treated and being held captive in a really nice hotel room. She slid off the bed, deciding if they meant to harm her they would have done so by now.
'How long have I been unconscious since I am now healed? It is warm. Is it spring?' Nora thought in a panic as she weakly walked/
Nora walked around the large suite and found a door which slid open for her when she touched the wall beside it. A large walk in closet. She followed the perimeter wall and tried the next door. The door slid open. Lights gently came on as she stepped in. The spacious bathroom with odd fixtures and an equally odd-looking toilet met her grateful gaze. She rushed to the toilet in a rush, lifted the hem of her gown and sat down on it.
"Ahh…" She sighed in relief as she met her needs. There was no toilet paper, so she looked for a panel. Hygiene was a basic necessity. They would not walk around smelling all day, with excrement on them, would they? She triggered the flushing sequence first. Then finally a warm bidet jet cleaned up afterward. She made a mental note. The same trial and error in figuring out how to turn on what looked to be the sink. She figured out it was gesture controlled. An area above the spigot turned on with an ultraviolet light as she stuck her hand inside. A small drop landed on the back of her hands.
'Soap and UV, interesting. Neat.' Nora thought.
She washed her hands. She briefly explored the room. There was a large tub and shower in the room, big enough to accommodate a group of six to eight adults. It was odd, but she had no time to dwell on it. She was very thirsty, so she returned to the sink and turned the water on again. She drank handful after handful of water to alleviate her dry mouth and remembered the pitcher she saw. She drank straight from it until she emptied the pitcher. The water had no taste of fluoride or chlorine. It was the best thing she had ever drunk in her life, mostly because her mouth was so dry. Nora let the water drip down her skin. There was no way she was going to touch her face with her hands at that moment.
"
Ew." Nora said. There was a flap of dry skin dangling from the friction of washing her hands. She plucked it off her hand and threw it in the toilet along with anything else that was hanging off her and quickly flushed again.
Nora wandered around. The room was dripping with luxury. The walls looked like Himalayan Salt Stone, the floors were quartz and veined with gold. It was real stone. In the parlor there were large soft rugs, the seating in the room was massive. Fresh flowers that looked like giant frilly orchids like flowers that scented the air with a sweet and spicy jasmine fragrance. Care was taken in decorating the space. Her stomach rumbled. A bowl of fruit that looked like super-sized dragon fruit, pomegranates, passionfruit, and orange clusters that looked to be a type of berry or grape that she touched and felt real.
'This could be poisonous or ornamental. I can't stand this.' Nora thought desperately to herself. Her stomach growled loudly and cramped.
"Ugh." Nora groaned. She plucked an orange 'grape' and squeezed it and an orange citrus juice and pulp.
"What, it's like a finger lime?" Nora said to herself, puzzled. She was puzzled, as she had never had anything like it. She was incredibly perturbed. She licked her finger and thumb and cleaned off the juice. It was delicious! She started to pick at the fruit excitedly, stuffing handful after handful into her mouth. Her hunger did not relent. She looked around while chewing. She finished off anything in the bowl she could use her hands to peel, shuck or open. It looked pretty barren at the end. Nora wiped her hands on her dress. Now that her immediate needs were met, it was time to get a handle on the situation. Nora walked into what looked like a nice lobby area. There was a massive table with eight seats around it. It was like a massive living room.
"Hello?" Nora said, hoarse. She coughed and cleared her throat.
"Hello?" Nora said again, louder. She then spoke louder and louder. She tried saying "Hello? Is there anyone there?" in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Urdu, Greek and finally Latin. The room lit up brighter, like it suddenly came alive.
"What the hell?" Nora said in shock. A logo popped into her field of vision. It was a jarring experience, it looked like a flower blooming. A screen with a very foreign language hovered in her field of vision. The size shrank. It was like an augmented reality device, it was more sophisticated than anything she had ever seen. Was it in her eyes? She started to panic, her hands roamed to her face, her hands shaking. She did not feel anything on her face.
"Is it in me or part of the room?" Nora spoke to herself. She covered her eyes. The weird icon remained at the corner of her vision. "Oh god," Nora said to herself, horrified. It was not the room. It was in her. She was horrified. She heard the movement of a door sliding open in the distance. She calmed herself and moved her hands.
'Calm down. Cooperate. You are alive for a reason. Calm and collected. Confident and collected. Calm down. Anyone would be afraid right now.' Nora soothed herself. She had enough control over herself now.
She watched what appeared to be the lock on the inside of the door as it disengaged. Her heart pounded. She could open it herself. She was relieved she could leave the room. She was not a prisoner in the nicest hotel she had ever stayed in. The door to the room opened and a tall, gorgeous, well-built, god of a man walked through the door. He stopped in front of her and gently grabbed one of her arms. Nora did not know how to react to this. He gently raised it up to bring it out in front of her. He waved his hand over her wrist. She was shocked as a screen popped up in front of her eyes again. Her eyes widened as she gasped. Her brows knitted as she looked at the unbelievable futurist sight unfolding in front of her, there was a computer system inside her. He smiled. She was inwardly horrified.
'Well, I am stuck now. If it is hardware, there is something in her that tracks me, there is something in this computer that will stop me from moving ultimately.' Nora thought. She backed away from him and cowered. Nora trembled involuntarily.
Liem frowned and looked at her apologetically. She seemed to be very frightened of him. One would be afraid in this kind of situation. Liem decided to change his approach. She could have misunderstood that he was being hostile because of his actions. Liem opened up his own Interface and turned off private mode, to show her that he had one too. It would be jarring to suddenly experience the Interface. He had the benefit of having one as long as he could remember. He could only remedy her impression and allay her fear if she understood. He hoped she had or would understand enough.
The device they had pulled had over thirty languages which they surmised most were unused codes. Many languages were used on the device, so they opted to choose the one that seemed to be used the most. There were pictographs of various emotions, food, animals and even one that appeared to be a piece of poop with a happily smiling face on it. These and a language tool on the device were incredibly helpful in creating the database. He was prepared to teach her as if she was new to everything if necessary. It would keep him away from everything longer if that was the case.
"Do not worry." Liem began to speak in a soft tone, as if he was addressing his brothers. As he did, automatic closed captioning appeared on the screen, dumbfounding her and intimidating her at the same time.
"You are safe here. Do not worry. My name is Alphem Liem Allari, I am a delegate with expertise in Northern tribes and lost linguistics called here to this station to assist you. We were able to interpret some of the language on your device. It is lacking, so we will take it slowly as it was not precise. I will do my best to answer your questions, most will be interpreted by the interface, and it will translate for me too. Please hold your other hand up if there is a misunderstanding, or you need me to speak slower." Liem said calmly. He opened his Interface with a quick flick of his wrist. He watched her staring at him, enjoying her curiosity.
"You have got to be f****** kidding me?" Nora said as she stared at her screen projected in front of her with her jaw hanging. It was not lacking yet. She swiped her hand through it, and it closed and then swiped her hand above her own hand and wrist again as the screen popped up again out of thin air. It was augmented reality. Yet he could see it.
"My name is Nora." Nora said shyly and smiled nervously. She saw it pop up on the translator on his screen. Liem smiled. He tried pronouncing it a few times.
"You can see this, and I can see yours? Where am I? How does this work? How can I see this?" Nora spoke nervously, looking at the man. Her heart raced.
'Nora, it sounds like a mens name? Surely she had a clan name and title? Everyone did.' Liem thought. Liem watched the query pop up on the screen with some lag.
"You have a lot of questions, let me answer what was able to be translated," Liem said. Some of her questions were unable to be translated. He would start with what he understood. He then began to explain
"You had hardware implants installed to assist with your health and naturalization into society in general. Then hardware was installed so you could interact with the surrounding technology. Viewer sites are located in your wrists and ankles. Tiny self-replicating and repairing electronic devices were injected into you to install peripherals, sensors, repair and upgrade the hardware inside of you." Liem answered.
"Oh, no." Nora shook her head, distressed, and then she continued. "Where am I?" Nora asked.
"You were found in Izaberne, you were moved to Baonui City, the capital of Mala, in the Southern half of the Province of Callor for better treatment." Liem said. Nora looked at him with a confused look. He saw her brows knit and a look of disgust. He would not blame her if she hated them for the rest of her life for doing it to her. She could not consent, so Allurai stepped up as a guardian for her and consented. Interfaces meant different things to males and females. Nora did not understand their culture. She had freedom and autonomy ripped away from her. Now she could not return to the way of life she had before.
'It's not Earth, or a future Earth. The technology, language and the land designations were not the same. What country had a province near the equator called Callor? So is it either another version of the Earth in another dimension or universe, or a planet with the same circumstances? It has breathable oxygen, similar biological life. Could they be relatives of the human race? There were so many possibilities. Stop, think quickly and survive. The weird fruit was not poisonous. Every meal in the future will be a roll of the dice as to whether it would kill me or not. Health sciences are very advanced here. Had they spotted any anatomical differences? It was unlikely. He is watching you. Time to talk, Nora.' Nora thought to herself.
"Callor?" Nora repeated back weakly, confused.
"Here, let me show you. You can see if you find anything that looks familiar. If you find it, we can return you to your clan's people," Liem said in a friendly manner. He waited for her to read. He brought up a map on her Interface to not inconvenience her further.
"We are here, and this is where you were found," said Liem, waiting for her to read. Nora could not find anything familiar, no landmarks or cities as he enlarged it further up to Izaberne.
"Do any of the details look familiar? Are you from anywhere near here?" Liem asked calmly. This was not using a search engine she was used to either.
'He had said he was an expert in Northern Tribes before. That must be their guess as to who she was. They must be nomadic or an independent group for them to not be able to identify me. It is the safest identity for you now.' Nora thought. She watched Liem using the gesture controls. She turned and tried looking at it herself.
"No. No." Nora mumbled as she panicked as she zoomed out, getting a hand of using the features of the tool she was using. She zoomed out further and further until she had a view of the world. The Northern Hemisphere was mostly covered in ice and snow. The landmasses bore some similarities, but she could not be certain. The gesture controls were intuitive and pretty similar to what she was used to. They all looked human. The golden colored eyes of the nurses that were working on her in the hospital suddenly came back to her. Liem looked like a human. He had great genes. His mother must be very attractive. These people were all perfect. The man in front of her, even the medical team members, were all conventionally attractive.
'What will happen to me if they find out I am not from this planet at all? They have all been so perfect so far. The other ones were shorter, but still they were better looking than I am.' Nora thought as she panicked.
"Do you not understand?" Liem asked to clarify, she looked very confused. Nora nodded and raised her hand.