Blue-eyed Miracle - 2. Chris

Day 6

I wake up as soon as the sun is up.

I turn to look at my unexpected visitor who is still placidly sleeping. I open the shuttle's access door to let the fresh morning air fill the environment.

I walk to the shuttle's consoles and start working on them. I run into this printed manual – I know printed stuff is rather uncommon these days, but I guess that the engineers who equipped the ship thought of a case such as this. I go to the section labeled as emergencies and start going through the pages, but most of it is basic mechanical engineering and I feel a tad lost, because I haven't gone over basic mechanics since I graduated from the Military Academy several years ago.

I decide to put the manual aside, and go to the stern to break out some rations. I'm busy deciding what to get, when I feel a tug at the left leg of my pants. I turn around to discover my observer already awake.

"Thank ... thank you …." he says.

He has a sweet, yet masculine voice, still in that stage where I can tell he's not a boy anymore, not yet a man either.

"You're welcome," I tell him and smile.

He smiles back.

"I'm Rov'haert." I tell him as I extend my hand to him.

"I'm Christopher." he says shyly without taking my hand.

I let it slip and smile at him again.

I sit on the bed and reach out to touch to his broken ankle.

"Mind if I check on your ankle?" I ask him.

He moves his head sideways in a negative, his golden mane flowing in the direction of his movements.

I take the medical scanner from the counter next to the bed and run it over his ankle to see how the sealing of the bones is coming along. He jumps slightly as I place my hand on his naked ankle.

"Does it hurt?" I ask.

He negates again moving his head sideways.

I leave the scanner back on the counter and release his ankle. I look him in the eye and grin.

"Looks like it is getting better," I tell him, "Are you hungry, Christopher?"

He nods.

"You don't speak much, now, do you?" I ask him, amused.

He negates again.

"We don't have much, but this will have to suffice," I tell him as I hand him a piece of dried meat, "I've been trying to hunt, but I'm completely unfamiliar with this planet's flora and fauna."

He looks at me amused.

I hand him the canteen and he gulps down the dry meat with the water.

"So," I ask, "do you live nearby?"

He nods and continues to eat, but says nothing else.

I decide against pushing the subject and then I go back to the shuttle's consoles and grab the manual, while Christopher finishes his ration. Understanding the manual is far beyond my grasp. I'm a very accomplished pilot, that's a fact, but I was never an engineer. I stomp my fist on the console in desperation.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

I stand from the console and look at him.

"I'm sorry," I tell him, "I just can't seem to be able to fix this piece of crap."

He smiles at me as he shrugs and then I start laughing. He laughs as well. And before we know it we're both laughing like there was no tomorrow.

When the outburst has passed, we look at each other.

"You're a good man," he says.

"Thank you, Chris," I tell him and smile, "Is it okay if I call you Chris?"

He nods. He also smiles but I see a shadow of sadness cross his face. Maybe I said something wrong, but I feel like an intruder already, so I don't ask about it.

I go back to reading the manual giving my back to him. And we spend like around thirty minutes in absolute silence. I swear every now and then but try not to make a fuss.

"My mom used to call me Chris," he says all of a sudden.

"She did?"

I don't have to ask him, it is obvious he's lost his mother. I stand from the console and go back to the stern where he's still in a contemplative state, his eyes vacant.

"You okay?" I ask him.

He nods.

"Hey!" I say trying to cheer him up and breaking the awkward moment, "Do you like reading?"

"Yup."

I walk towards him and kneel on the bed so I have access to the counter panel embedded on the shuttle's wall.

"Here ...." I tell him as I hand him my holoreader.

"Maxi awesome!" he says and takes the holoreader from my hands.

I smile and on an impulse, I tousle his hair. He looks at me and grins. I wink at him and go back to the consoles. I somehow believe that within time, the main principles of basic mechanics will come back to me.

The traps have finally gotten me game.

A sort of overgrown rodent lies in the trap I set where I first found the stream. I'm not sure it might be the tastiest. However, it will make a nice change from dried meat. I fill the two canteens on the stream and go back to the shuttle.

Chris has fallen asleep with the holoreader over his chest. I smile as I see his facial expression, his mouth pouting again.

I go outside the shuttle and start piling wood to prepare a fire. Once done, I get the animal so I can get it ready for cooking. Fortunately, this is something I do know how to do.

I take my survival knife and slit the rodent from the tail up. I cut down the inside of each leg to the joints and start peeling off the skin. I make a cut just in front of the anus, to clean up the animal, and open the stomach cavity, past the breast bone. Then I remove the sexual organs carefully tying tubes that might leak waste and contaminate the meat. I then cut through the diaphragm and pull the windpipe, which brings the rest of the creature's organs along. As I clean the animal, I can't help saying a prayer for the creature, and thanking the Gods for providing.

Chopping the animal to pieces is the easiest part, so I get the fire started before doing it. When I've chopped it, I impale the pieces on a branched I’ve cleaned for that purpose and start roasting them.

I go back inside the shuttle, where Chris is still sleeping. I sit down next to him and poke him in the arm.

"Huh?" he says with a dreamy face.

"I’m cooking and thought you might want to eat something other than dehydrated rations. "

"Thank you." he says with a smile.

"I'm gonna carry you out for dinner, is that okay?"

He nods. I pass my arms under his armpits and knees, and carry him out. I sit him on a rock and go back inside the shuttle to get the canteen.

Before long, we're both chowing down the animal. I can tell he was as hungry as was I. As we eat, the night starts falling and the temperature starts dropping, but the fire is working wonders.

"You're strong," Chris says all of a sudden.

I gulp some water from the canteen and then smile at him.

"Military training,"

"Cause I'm tall and you carried me easily."

"You are tall indeed."

When we're done eating, and before the ambient temperature gets real cold, I carry him inside the shuttle again. I place him on the bed and go back outside to put out the fire. As I do so, I wonder about where Chris comes from. It's a mystery whether someone might be missing him right now, but I just don't feel like asking and making him uncomfortable. The one thing I know for sure is that it's very nice to be kept company.

"Hey," he says as I come back inside the shuttle.

"Hey, Chris. Everything okay?"

"Yup. I just ...." he stops midsentence and I walk towards the bed.

"Mind if I seat?"

He negates with his head and I sit down on the bed facing him.

"What is it, Chris?" I ask him.

"I just ... dunno ... I just wanted to thank you ... for being so kind and stuff."

"Hey!" I tell him, "You don't have to thank me."

He smiles and says nothing else.

"Well then, I think is time for us to start getting ready for bed."

He smiles slightly, but I think I perceive a little sadness in his eyes once again.

"Rov'haert?"

"Yes Chris?" I reply as I start preparing my makeshift bed.

"Can I call you Robbie?"

"Yes Chris, you can call me Robbie."

I lift him so I can cover him. As I lay him down in bed, he throws his arms around my neck. I hug him back and place my hand on the back of his head, caressing his golden hair as he sinks his head in my chest. I know something's wrong, but I don't wanna break the silence between us. I think it's best to just make him feel comfortable in my arms.

"I ...." he says. "I haven't been hugged since ...."

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. Are you feeling better now?"

Even when his face is buried in my chest, I feel him nod. So I let him rest on my chest as I keep on caressing his hair.

I'm not really sure what he's feeling right now, but I have a very strong need to make him feel protected in my embrace, to make him feel he's safe. It has been a very long time since I felt so close to someone and I don't really know the first thing about this boy. I feel a sort of fatherly warmth as I hold him close; this brings me a sense of completion that I’ve never experienced before in my life.

After some minutes, he breaks our embrace and looks into my eyes with those bright blue eyes of his, an intense blue unlike any I've ever seen. His eyes are watery and I bring my hand to his cheek.

"Go on to sleep, now, alright?"

He nods and leans back on the bed. I pull the bedspreads over him and caress his hair once more.

I stand up and move toward my bed. As I undress, my mind goes back to a few minutes before, when Chris' face was resting against my chest. I think of his golden hair and his blue eyes and of his sudden sadness. I know now there's nobody waiting for him at home and that's probably why he hasn't talked about it.

I'm not restless anymore, for as I close my eyes, I have a very intense feeling that I am exactly where I should be, where I belong. I have the very strong feeling that, after having been lost for so long, I have finally come home ….