Life on Another Planet Ch. 00-05

He sat silently, still staring alternately at her and around the room. He saw a flat, black panel attached to the wall and the woman picked up a black plastic device and pushed one of many buttons on it. Shortly, the panel came to life, but it was a life he had never seen before. In full, sharp, crystal-clear colour, a man's head appeared, talking. The woman pushed another button and the sound became louder. He could hear it now. It was a man reading a newscast, he realized. Soon pictures of some terrible weather event were being shown. The boy sat fascinated, almost hypnotized by the images. He heard little of the narrative.

The doctor let the program continue for a couple of minutes to allow Jesse to absorb what he was watching.

"This is an all-news channel, Jesse. Twenty-four hours a day it broadcasts the latest news from around the world. Just sit and listen and watch and we'll talk about what you see and hear."

There was no reaction from the young man, but his attention was locked onto the set, watching the images and listening to the announcer and other reporters as they appeared.

~*~

At thirty-two years of age, Doctor Evelina Mikeska was one of three resident psychiatrists at Coast Central Hospital. Despite her young age, she was fully qualified and well regarded by her peers, needing only two years to complete her five year residency requirement. Now, she was confronted with a problem she had never before encountered. Jesse Peterson ... if that was his real name ... was not showing any signs of being deceptive. Currently, he was borderline catatonic. He went through periods of being unresponsive, absorbed apparently in what he was watching and hearing. He was showing every sign of being lost and bewildered in this environment. Where did he come from? What had happened to him?

She allowed Jesse to watch the newscast for several minutes without interruption until there was a commercial break before speaking.

"What do you make of that, Jesse?"

He looked at her with unblinking eyes and shook his head. "I don't know. It's not possible. It can't be so. This must be some kind of dream I'm having. The last thing I remember was being sick ... my mom and dad calling the doctor a couple of times. They gave me some pills and an injection, but I never left my room ... my bed. This isn't my room and I didn't wake up in my bed. I don't know where I am ... and now ... I don't know who I am. I feel like I'm living in some kind of dream."

He had delivered his comments in a voice tinged with a hint of panic.

"Jesse, something has happened to you. Neither you nor I know what it was, but I can assure you that this is not a dream and you are quite awake and alert. I'm here to help you in any way I can. I'm a psychiatrist, but I'm also a medical doctor. You've been checked for drugs and you are clean. You are not physically ill, and I can't see any signs of former drug use. Have you ever used LSD any other hallucinatory drug?"

"What's LSD? I only use aspirin ... nothing else," he answered evenly.

"Okay then, I can assume your situation is not caused by drugs since we've found no evidence of anything in your bloodstream. But you are convinced that this is ... what ... Nineteen Sixty-One?"

He nodded.

"But all the evidence around you ... the TV, the magazines, all say it's fifty years later than that. How are you going to deal with that?" she asked.

"I can't. My parents ... my sister ... my grandparents ... where are they? What's happened to them?"

"I don't know, Jesse, but I'm going to find out. You and I are going to sit down and you can tell me all you know ... all you remember about them. I'm going to find out where they are. Someone is going to know what happened to you and that's my promise to you. I'm going to find out."

~*~

An hour later, Eve Mikeska followed Jesse Peterson into the staff cafeteria. The presence of a young patient drew no interest from the diners. Jesse was wheeling the chair on his own and would have preferred to walk if it wasn't for two things: the draft at the back of the hospital gown he was wearing and the doctor's insistence that he follow procedure and remain in the wheelchair. Eve took note of the fact that Jesse didn't argue. So far he was willing to comply with her instructions.

She had asked and he had answered all her questions, even when he didn't have exact information. She wanted to know where everyone in his family lived, how old they were, where they went on vacation, where his father worked, what his mother did during the day, and so on. He didn't tire or show frustration at the questions, answering them quickly and certainly. There was nothing about him that struck Eve as evasive. The more they talked, the more she became convinced that Jesse Peterson was a very unusual patient. The most unusual she had ever encountered. Of course his story was preposterous, but she was reasonably sure that Jesse believed it and that made her task much more difficult.

Chapter 2 A New Beginning

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10am

The following day, Eve found Jesse in the small lounge they had shared when she first interviewed him. He was glued to the television, watching the all-news channel once more. He appeared to be concentrating on everything he saw, a look of confusion occasionally replaced by a look of recognition.

"Good morning," she smiled as she closed the door behind her. "How did you sleep?"

"Not very well. My brain was going full blast and I couldn't shut it off."

Not surprising, Eve thought.

"What have you learned this morning, Jesse?" she smiled as she sat across from him.

He turned to her slowly, reluctant to tear his eyes from the TV. "I'm in a world I don't understand. Some of it is familiar, but most of it is very strange. So many of the things that I thought were true are no longer true. So much new information that I can't begin to handle it all. It really is 2011, isn't it?" he said, looking intently at her.

She nodded. "Yes ... it is. You are living in the twenty-first century. I don't know what's happened to you, Jesse, and worse, I don't know how to find out. I do believe that you have been telling me the truth as you understand it. I have some people in administration trying to track down your relatives, but they haven't got back to me yet. I'm sure they'll find something soon."

"I don't think so," he said, his attention now having returned to the TV. "If it really is 2011, they'll probably be dead. Dad was forty-six when I got sick. I doubt he'd still be around at ninety-six. Probably the same with Mom, even though she was two years younger. My sister Roberta would be seventy-four. My grandparents on both sides would be long gone. And even if some of them were alive, how would I approach them? Where have I been for fifty years? I don't think they'd believe me anyway."

Eve sat studying the young man. He was attempting to deal with his situation and had focussed on his having left his past behind and was now a sixty-eight-year-old man in a youth's body. Except, he didn't have the experiences and memories of a sixty-eight-year-old. If there was ever a case study for her to document, this was it, dropped right in her lap. Yes, she would write this up, however it turned out, but to do so would mean taking a risk and taking on a responsibility. There was no other way.

"Jesse, can you give me your clothing sizes, please? I'm going to get you some clothes to wear. You can't go around in a hospital gown and you're not sick, so it's time we prepared you for the world outside this building."

It took Jesse a couple of minutes to unhook his attention from the TV and turn to Eve. She went through a basic list of items and he dutifully told her his current sizes. She would be off at four and would make a quick trip to the nearby shopping center and get a basic wardrobe for the young man. But there were larger problems to deal with beyond clothes. Those would require some cooperation from the authorities and hospital administration. They would also require some deception by her.

Jesse continued to watch the news channel after Doctor Mikeska left. He was glad she was going to get him some proper clothes to wear. But after that ... what? Where would he go? Where would he live? He had no money, no job, no identification, no driver's license ... nothing. Surely they weren't going to just put him out on the street to fend for himself? He was back worrying about what would become of him, something his concentration on the TV had suppressed. It was back now, and it would be the first thing he would talk to the doctor about when she came back.

~*~

Eve returned from her hurried shopping trip just before 5:30 that afternoon. She was loaded down with bags and parcels.

"Here you go, Jesse. A pair of jeans, a belt, a three pack of socks and underwear, a t-shirt, and two cotton shirts; one long sleeved and one short sleeve. I've also got you a wallet, a pair of sneakers, and a windbreaker. Make sure you fill out the identification card. That will tide you over until we can get you out of here and into a proper home."

"What proper home? Are you going to send me some place?" he asked, clearly worried at the suggestion.

"No ... what I have in mind is a lot simpler. If I can arrange it, you are going to live with me and Mica, my ten-year-old son. I'm going to have myself named as your guardian. That means I'll be responsible for you. You're eighteen, so in theory, you can make your own decisions. I hope you will agree to let me help you until you can manage on your own."

"Yeah ... I guess so. I mean ... what choice do I have? I appreciate you doing this, Doctor. I know you don't have to, but I do thank you for it."

"Jesse, I'm going to trust you. I realize this is a very trying time for you and you do need a place to live with someone with whom you at least have some kind of confidence. I have a room you can use and I know Mica will be pleased to have another male in the household. You'll be fed and housed and clothed and we can begin to rebuild your life. Does that sound sensible to you?"

"Yes ... sensible. I was scared I might just be turned out on the street with no place to go."

"That would never happen, Jesse. The truth is, there are no facilities for someone like you. You aren't a recovering drug addict, or mentally or physically handicapped. You don't fit in any of the government pigeon holes that they have carefully constructed. They wouldn't know what to do with you and you'd end up just being another of the homeless that survive on the streets of this city. So ... I'm taking the matter out of their hands and making you my ward."

"Is me being a ward expensive for you?" he asked. "I mean, I can't pay you anything until I get a job. I'll have to owe you."

Eve smiled. He was so trusting that it confirmed her motivation to help him.

"Jesse, the last thing I want you to worry about is owing me money for anything. I assure you I am very well paid and you will not be a burden to me. You need to get back on your feet, find what you want to do with your life, set some goals, and begin to make a new future for yourself. I can't do that for you, but I can make it possible for you to do that for yourself."

"Okay, Doctor. I know you don't have to do this for me. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Jesse. And since you will be living with me and Mica, please feel free to address me as Eve. We don't need to be formal around each other."

"Okay, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes next," he said in a distant tone.

She nodded. "Good."

Eve took responsibility for signing Jesse Peterson out of Coast Central Hospital as John Doe, an indigent patient, and took formal responsibility for him. She wasn't sure of the legal ramifications, but a call to her family lawyer would guide her. She doubted she would get into any trouble with the authorities as long as she didn't present them with a problem to deal with. As far as she was concerned, she would solve the problem of Jesse Peterson and deal with the paperwork herself.

A forty-minute meeting with her lawyer the next morning gave her the route to get Jesse registered as a live, eighteen-year-old male, resident at her address in Vancouver, British Columbia. From there, she would go about applying for a copy of a birth certificate, dated December 11, 1992, a Social Insurance card, BC Health Care card, and ultimately, a driver's license with photo I.D. Once all that was in order, time would allow Jesse to apply for a passport, providing he could find two suitable sponsors. Eve would qualify for one as a doctor, so then it would be up to them to find a second worthy citizen.

Of course there was deceit connected to all this official documentation. The birth date was simply a fifty year addition to his actual birth date. He would be born in a small town where records were spotty if existing at all. Again, there would be a responsible witness to attest to its authenticity. It was unlikely anyone would question a doctor. Once that was established, all the other pieces were obtainable through normal channels. Eventually, Jesse Peterson would be reborn in the twenty-first century.

Her lawyer wouldn't and couldn't advise her to do this, but discussed the matter in hypothetical terms as if they were imagining how it might be done. Eve was grateful for his guidance, but continued to play-act that this was all hypothetical.

~*~

Jesse was moved to the area where parents and family of very ill patients were allowed to stay overnight. One more hospital breakfast and he would be released. But on his way to where? As he lay on his cot in the guest ward, he felt himself losing the remaining fragments of his optimism. If this was where he would spend the rest of his life ... this twenty-first century life, he would have lost everything he had; his parents, grandparents, sister, friends, home ... everyone and everything. No even so much as a photograph to remind him of them.

To lose his family was a crushing blow. He wept for them and himself. He was alone, and there was no one he could call his family or friend. Only the doctor ... his only contact in this alien world ... could help him. He despaired of ever feeling happy and among friends. His exposure to television news had so completely overwhelmed him that he had no idea how he would cope. Even the language had changed. They talked about things and places and events that he had never heard of. How could he possibly catch up to fifty missing years?

~*~

Eve was lost in thought as she drove home that evening. She could see the signs of disorientation and even the beginnings of depression in Jesse. He was suffering from what she believed was a form of PTSD. The trauma wasn't born of violence or war experience, but the wrenching of his life from one existence into another. He was completely lost in this world. She was reasonably confident he wasn't a danger to her or Mica. The question in the back of her mind was singular: was he delusional, or was this real? She found it impossible to accept that it might be just as Jesse described it, but she had learned to rule nothing out.

There were very few options available to her to determine just what was going on in Jesse's head. A lie detector was useless. She'd never had any faith in them to begin with. She had a healthy distrust of psychotropic drugs, particularly with their unpredictable side effects. The only path that might yield results would be hypnosis. In his current state she wasn't sure if that would work, but it was the only way to get at his current state of mind and see if she could get him to reveal his innermost thoughts. She'd had some training and experience with the process, but she was far from an expert. However, she was determined to at least attempt to get at the truth ... or at least what Jesse genuinely believed to be the truth.

Thursday, July 14, 2011 9am

When she arrived at the hospital the next morning, Jesse was dressed and waiting for her in the little conference room. She'd spent the better part of an hour getting all the paperwork done for Jesse's release and had signed off on taking him as a patient.

"Good morning, Jesse. Have you had your breakfast?" Her question seemed to wake him from a dozing state.

He made a face. "Yeah ... not exactly what I'm used to at home." His answer was listless.

She smiled mirthlessly. "Don't worry. From now on, I'll make sure you get something more substantial and appetizing. That's a promise."

He smiled vaguely, the first time he'd even hinted at one since they'd met. "When do I get out of here?"

"Right now. We'll make a stop along the way to get you some toiletries, then I'll take you home and get you settled. Mica is in school today."

"School? It's July, isn't it?"

"His school is on the three semester system. He's off for the months of August, December, and April. So ... he goes to school almost year-around."

"Huh! When did they change the school system?" His question indicated only mild interest.

"They haven't. Mica goes to one of six experimental schools around the province to see how the system works. The experts say it's better for the kids, but not everyone agrees. I think it's better, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, he's in one of the test schools for the next couple of years."

She led him down to the open parking lot, walking to her labelled slot. Jesse was fascinated by all the modern cars and trucks parked nearby, rubber-necking as they walked ... and nearly hitting a post when he was distracted by a flashy sports car as it rolled out of the lot.

"This is me here," Eve said, pointing to a metallic green station wagon.

"Nice car. What is it?"

"It's a Subaru Outback. Four-wheel drive for when we go skiing in Whistler."

"Where's Whistler?"

"North of Squamish. It's one of the largest ski areas in North America. We held the Winter Olympics there last year."

"Really! The Olympics were here in Vancouver?" Jesse said in surprise.

"Yes. The alpine events were in Whistler, while some of the cross country and snowboard events were on Cypress in West Van. The hockey, speed skating, and figure skating and such were held in the various arenas, depending on how big the crowd was."

"What about the track and field stuff?" he asked.

"That's the summer Olympics. We had the Winter Olympics," she explained.

"So ... they're separate now? Same year?"

"No ... every four years, but two years between the summer and winter events."

"Oh. Who won the hockey?" he immediately asked.

Eve laughed at the one most predictable question. "We did. Beat the USA in overtime for the gold medal."

"That's great!" he said, showing signs of enthusiasm for the first time.

"It was great," Eve agreed. "The entire Olympics really energized the city and province. People came from all over the world to see the events. We really put on a great show for everyone to see."

"I wish I could have seen it," he said wistfully. "I really like watching downhill skiing. They go so fast it's scary. I wish I was good enough to ski like that. But more likely, I'd probably break my neck."

Eve laughed again. "Well, you're in for a treat if you are a skier. Whistler is wonderful and there are all kinds of hills to test yourself on. My parents have a lodge in the town and we'll spend Christmas and New Year's there. You'll really enjoy it."

"You mean ... I'm invited?" He was genuinely surprised that he might be included.

"Of course. My parents live in San Diego, but come up here in the spring and summer to play golf, and in winter to ski."

"Is your dad a doctor too?"

She shook her head. "No, he's a surgical instrument designer. He and two partners have developed a number of instruments that have revolutionized internal surgery. They do everything using a TV camera with a flexible lens and probe tool to do the surgery while they watch themselves do the procedure on a colour monitor. It really is amazing. Dad owns the patents on the devices."