Rescued and Rejuved (private)

[JodyJames]

When Hanna sat down next to Tommy he stared at her. He then looked at himself. "I guess I am except I'm little now. SAM will know if I'm all right. He'll tell me to get in the medidoc. They didn't let me bring SAM. He doesn't hear me here. Do you know where he is? SAM always knew where I am. SAM said there were other SAMs, but I've never heard one here.

That answer seemed to satisfy the woman. People were always asking him questions he didn't know the answers to. He didn't know why they didn't ask SAM or another SAM. SAM said there was one like him in almost every ship.

He wasn't sure what an Aunty was as he'd never heard that word. Despite just telling Hanna there was no SAM here he automatically queried it. "SAM What's Aunty?" SAM of course didn't answer. But the woman did telling him an AUnty was a woman who looked after and helped a child.

"Like a SAM, but a person? Or like Mrs. Sharpe at the orphanage? I like SAM better. Can you be an Aunty like SAM not Mrs. Sharpe?" Somehow as he was saying all this his hands strayed up to his mouth and as he finished he began biting gently but nervously on his fingers.

[cyrusdamodred]

What a relief Hanna felt hearing all of this. It was written all over her face,yet mixed with a bit of pity. She had been prepared for him to ignore her, maybe say something rude again or just try to leave her but actually he responded, asked questions and stated what he liked and disliked. Looking for some cameras in the room, Hanna actually poked her tongue at one of them teasingly but made sure the boy wasn't watching her to avoid future trouble. Maybe she wouldn't have to spank him the first days.

"If you like, I can hear a bit around if someone happens to know SAM. I can't promise you anything...he might have been damaged and got disposed of. But if he was a friend of yours...I'll try my best to find him as long as you ty to get along with me, okay?" Hanna was sure this could prove the best way to win his trust rather quickly as well as his attention.

Then the part came where she pitied him...where it was most obvious what he had to endure until today. Thinking about how lonely she felt from time to time this must have been much more cruel.

Then he asked her how she would be and she actually had to giggle a bit. "Sorry, but I am Hanna. I don't know either SAM or Mrs Sharpe. I will try to be a good Aunty as far as you cooperate and do what I will teach you. If you like, you can tell me how SAM used to be and so I can tell you how a person will have to behave. Does this sound fair to you?" she reached a hand halfway to him while trying to sound comforting, hoping he would accept her gesture. Being prepared about him denying it out of the lack of social thinking Hanna wouldn't be mad but she was sure if he did it would let them become even closer.

[JodyJames]

(Note I don't mean to imply Mrs. Sharpe was cruel or even close to it. Tommy just wasn't used to being told what to do with a person or having to wait or share or any of the things kids really learn.)

Tommy did not have patience. It was another skill he'd never learned. It had been only him and SAM and SAM had pretty much done immediately anything he'd asked -- or not done it at all if it was deemed dangerous. So when Hanna said she'd try to find out, he got excited. He jumped off the bed. "I can show you where the ship is." He was confident he could do this, but he actually had little idea how big a planet, let alone a city, or even a part of a city is. Though he was kilometers from the port where his ship had landed, he assumed he could just spot it.

Hanna told him they'd have to look later and went on to explain how she would operate. Tommy wasn't sure he liked this. SAM would usually just do as he asked. The people here always seemed to want to wait to do things. He did recall that SAM had sometimes made deals with him. "If you get into the medic unit now, I'll show you the video while you lie there."

But Tommy had little concept of what 'fair' meant. Mrs. Sharpe and other adults ahd told him things were or weren't fair when he did things. It sounded to him that Hanna would be more like that than SAM.

As usual he spoke what first came to mind. "That's not like SAM that's like Mrs. Sharpe. I like SAM." Still there was one thing Tommy really didn't understand. Though SAM did things for him, there was something very different about talking to SAM and actually being with another person. He didn't want to go back to being only with SAM. He weakened a little and very quietly asked, "Will the other kids laugh at me?" As the odd one, he'd often been laughed at for reasons he couldn't understand and that had usually led to trouble.

[cyrusdamodred]

(Me neither...I meant the whole experience since he doesn't know any better)

She somehow was stuck after nearly making progress with the boy. She knew she couldn't take Tommy by the Hand and walk all over the planet for finding SAM. She also knew even if they would end up finding the unit it would be less more than just a voice common to him. Anyway she wanted to try it since it might end up bringing both of them a little closer to each other.

"Sorry but that won't do...its veeeery big outside. You see soon when we go to your new home. It will be much easier if you leave finding SAM to me. Let him be a present for you from Aunty. Would you like that?" she tried to calm him a bit as she watched when he became quiet until stating she was more like Mrs Sharpe.

"I told you, I don't know any of them and I'll try to help you out if you tell me why you miss SAM. Believe me, there is a whole world of different acting people out there..no one really is the same as one another. I think we might first go home and we continue talking there. I don't really like the people here...do you?" she had to rub this into the camera again finding it rather cruel to deal with little kids with a daily base of harsh punishments for nothing.

She stood up and got ready to go when Tommy asked something again. Thinking a moment she said "Maybe, I don't know...like I said we are all different. Its not easy to get along with each other and needs time until we understand how we have to take other people. Laughing at another isn't nice. Its mean and rude and I don't like it...if you don't like it then you should not do it to others. If others do it to you, you can come to me and tell me about it and I see if I can help." Showing him her hand she tried to make him come along holding her hand. If not, this time she would try to take his hand on her own...nothing rude of course, just trying to care for him while they went home.

[JodyJames]

Tommy thought her saying that outside was very big was just an excuse if not a lie. After all SAM had told him that this planet was much smaller than the gas giant they'd been near and out of the port, the planet hadn't looked so big. Oh SAM had told him how much bigger it was than the ship, but the numbers didn't really have a meaning to him -- not the he understood intuitively.

She held out her hand to him, but he didn't understand this simple human gesture. It had obviously had never happeend on the ship and nobody in the orphanage had really wanted to. He didn't take her hand simply because he didn't know she was offering one.

She asked him if he liked the people here. He didn't really know what to say. The people here had said they would help him. He didn't like that they'd made him small like most of the other kids at the orphanage. On the other hand maybe now that he was small, the other kids wouldn't dislike him so much. As he walked along beside her, he asked. "I won't laugh at the other kids at home." he told her just assuming that there would be other kids there just as at the orphanage.

He got to the door first and pushed the handle. But he was much smaller and weaker than before and he really couldn't move it. "Stupid door." he said giving it a kick.

[cyrusdamodred]

Hearing him say he wont do what he didn't like relieved her a bit. He might pose much more work than she believed he would but there were small little lights of hope that someone maybe could reach him. "I'm sorry...I'm all alone at home. My Family lives on another planet and..." Hanna sighed a little pained hoping he would get this right. "...and I thought you would be maybe my SAM."

When he kicked the door she pulled him back by his wrist. "Now now, thats something you shouldn't do. You don't kick something you don't like...the door won't do you any harm so don't go and kick it. If you like, we could try and open it together. You don't have to get angry everytime something doesn't work like you want." Hanna tried to kindly advise him.

She then waited for a moment to see if he would calm down. "now come, I give you a hand and we pull the doorhandle together..."

[JodyJames]

Tommy immediately tried to pull his hand free. He didn't really like being touched. Well it wasn't so much he disliked being touched, but he certainly wasn't used to it. And most of the time touching had occured, it was becuase he'd been in a scuffle with another kid. Fortunately his reaction wasn't as bad as it had been previously since many of the medical people had been tuching him a lot in preparation for his rejuve.

"It's supposed to work. I don't like being little any more. I want to be big again." he said a bit angrily. But Hanna didn't react with anger either to his trying to jerk his hand away nor to what he said. The kids usually had so this surprised him a bit. This made him pause instead of just react.

He reached up to take hold of the handle that she was already holding. Together teh door opened easily. He acatually looked at her and gave a little smile. Somethings must actually be instinct rather than learned.

He was back ouot in the hall he'd been in before. He started walking one way at random. SAM always told him if he was going the wrong way, so he just didn't thikn about which way was correct. In fact he had no idea which way to go at all.

[cyrusdamodred]

When he had struggled but held in Hanna was also a bit surprised and tend to smile down to him. "You will grow up again, trust me. You'll just have to learn how to do things together...I will try my best to teach you that so please bare with me, okay?"

When he gave her that smile her other hand gently fondled over his back to show him she liked that behaviour right this moment. "See? That was easy...we just need to combine what we can do. Kicking the door wouldn't have opened it."

When both went out of the chamber she realized the boy went straight...into the wrong direction. "Uhm...Tommy, if we want to get out it is this way please. Okay? Now come, its the other way." she tried to make him turn around not too sure how he would react.

[JodyJames]

Tommy didn't react to this correction at all. He was used to SAM telling him held gone the wrong way. SAM always knew precisely which corridor was one step shorter than the other and Tommy simply heeded his advice without thinking of it. "That's like SAM." he told the lady, probably confusing her.

He turned and followed her. It was clear she knew how to go just like SAM did. She again held out her hand, but Tommy didn't know to take it. Still he followed along so she didn't press the issue.

Then as an attendant came out of a door, Tommy saw a panel with all kinds of blinking lights. It reminded him of the ship 's bridge. That was where Tommy always thought SAM was -- somewhere behind all those blinking lights. As the door was closing he slipped inside.

He was now alone in the room. "SAM?" he said tentatively. Then "SAM" a bit louder. Then a third time. "Is there any SAM here?"

He walked over to the panel and pushed a button Many of the lights went out. He quickly pushed the button again to get them back on. But before he knew it, the door banged open and people rushed inside.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" was shouted at him. He sunk back against the panel. The one hope he had was behind two angry looking men he saw Hanna.

[cyrusdamodred]

Hanna kinda guessed that the only thing he could probably had meant was the directions. Nothing else had occured but why didn't he response then?

As soon as she had asked herself this question he had turned around and followed her, making the woman look quite relieved. "Thanks. So SAM did tell you always were to go?"

Before she could say anything else Tommy seemed to get distracted, following someone inside a room and got locked inside there. Hanna ran over to the room but it seemed there was some kind of security lock on it that she couldn't open freely. "Damn it..." she growled and kept pulling the handle thinking what might be if someone would find him.

Then it went dark and a strange buzzing noise appeared getting more and more silent. Obviously something with the electricity had been on issue but before she could pull the now unlocked door open a couple of guards rudely pushed her aside, making her almost fall on her behind.

In there was Tommy looking rather lost as the two guardsmen shout on him in rage. the outside of the room soon got filled with more people and hanna knew she only had one chance to do something for him.

"HE HAS DONE NOTHING!" she screamed behind the guards and tried to squeeze through. "Let him be...I lost grip so what happened is my fault! If you want to give someone the brush here is my behind but I warn you...i gonna switch and that won't be pretty!" using all her strength Hanna tried to place herself between the youngster and those guards, threatening them with a look in her face known from a terrier. She wasn't so sure if she could do what she said but one thing she knew...she would rather get herself punished than to let them do it to Tommy.