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Now Avir and Kom paced, and Masok sat with his head in his hands. They waited for news. Retel and Sanderson, who for once hadn’t attended Matt’s show, had arrived and were in the room where the Earther had been assigned.
Wondering if they’d broken through the vacant barrier between Matt and the world, Avir told Irene, “It wasn’t what Valter did. It’s what he helped someone else do to Matt.”
“His father? That’s who Valter was shouting about.” Irene sighed and held Jemi’s hand in a tight grip. “Fucking Earth and its hatred of gay men. I doubt anyone like Matt escaped the trauma.”
“Parents turning on their own children. It’s unthinkable.” Sherv glanced at Rusp, who curled his arm around his Dramok’s shoulders.
“Unfortunately, it was often the norm for our society.” Irene sighed unhappily and settled her head on Jemi’s shoulder.
Avir’s stomach curdled to think Matt’s abuse hadn’t been the exception. He continued to tread the hard, shining floor, hoping Retel and Sanderson had somehow managed to reach Matt and drawn him back to the real world.
* * * *
Music, playing from far away. It was familiar. He recognized the song. He’d written it. It grew louder.
Light accompanied the music. A few blurred shapes. Blobs of pinkish ivory, green, white. He blinked. The shapes sharpened focus: tiles, bare legs and feet, a swath of fabric.
It slowly began to make sense. A floor. His own legs and feet. Some sort of tunic he wore instead of his clothes.
“Matt? Can you hear me?” A voice over his music.
His vision drifted upward. He couldn’t feel his body, but he comprehended he raised his head. Up, up, up. Two men standing before him. One, a handsome Earther who looked ready for a golf course. His mind drifted for a moment, as he wondered what golf was and how he knew the word. A stretch of green grass rose in his mind’s eye, the same shade of green as the tunic he wore. A tunic, but no pants. Why wasn’t he wearing pants? Where had he lost his pants?
“Matt?”
The other man was speaking. Dark face, purple eyes. Kalquorian eyes. Different men who had such eyes swam before his vision. Good men, wonderful men, men he loved…
No. He wasn’t supposed to. The monster would come for them if he knew.
“Matt, it’s Dr. Retel and Dr. Sanderson. Do you know us?”
He wasn’t sure. They weren’t the men he thought he should be with. Who was he supposed to be with? Again, dimly familiar faces and names teased the border of memory. The leader. The caregiver. The warrior…
“Kom.” A wavering voice spoke one of the names he’d searched for. He glanced around for the speaker. He couldn’t spot him, but the name was called a second time. “Kom.”
“Playing his music seems to have helped. It’s the first attempt he’s made in hours to reach out.”
“I’ll call the clan. Their presence may finally bring him out of it.”
The Earther left. He stared after him, at the door as it opened and shut. He wondered what was beyond it, but this room felt safe. Maybe there was somewhere he could hide and be safer.
He was on a bed, but it had a cabinet beneath it. He slid off and tried to open the doors to determine if he could get inside. They wouldn’t open.
“What are you searching for, Matt?” The words slipped over him then faded into the air so he didn’t remember them.
He padded around the room and tried a tall cabinet. Its doors also refused to admit him. He gazed at the man standing in the middle of the floor, watching him. Why did he have to stare? He appeared nice, though. He also seemed worried. Matt wondered why, then glanced away and forgot the man.
The door that had let out the other man opened. Several figures stepped in, and Matt gasped. He shrank toward the corner, then he recognized them.
They were there. Real. He had a vision of two of them standing in front of him, keeping the monster’s brother at bay. The third had held him close.
“Kom.”
He felt his lips move. He was the one who spoke the name. More names came to him as well. “Avir. Masok.”
“Mattie.” They were there, around him, stroking his hair, rubbing his back, holding his hands. He could feel their touches. “Thank the ancestors. Are you all right?”
“Where?” He struggled to remember the question he’d forgotten as he’d begun to ask. Sentences came and broke apart before he could finish them. “Hi. What? This. Pants. Do you? Okay. Kom? Man. Bad.”
