Twenty-four hours later, Potat waited next to Antaska on the bed. Her small white-tipped tail swayed back and forth ticking down the seconds till Antaska was due to wake up. M. Hoyvil, who was too large to stand comfortably in the room or to sit on any of the furniture, sat on the floor on the side of the bed nearest to the door.
He’d been there for most of the time since he’d found Antaska recovering from the overdose, glaring with huge green eyes at anyone who looked in the door. But M. Hoyvil had agreed to let the young Verdante children take over his watch some of the time, so he could sleep and eat.
Almost adult Earthling height, but much broader, the three children now sat together on the bright turquoise human-sized couch that curved around one side of the wall. Made of strong fabricated materials, it sagged under their weight but didn’t break.
A chime sounded from the medical monitor, and new data streamed on its readout. As promised by the monitor, Antaska woke up exactly twenty-four hours after she’d been put into the induced coma.
Antaska fluttered her eyelids and then opened her eyes wide. She didn’t remember the past twenty-four hours of her coma. To her, it was as if she’d just experienced the trip into the afterlife and then the return to the living world. She looked up at the star-holographed ceiling of her room and knew without a doubt that she was back.
Overwhelming feelings of the bliss she’d just experienced remained with her. Those feelings mixed with disappointment to have left that perfect, indescribable place. A small sigh escaped from her mouth.
Potat was the first to speak. “Mew?” she asked.
Antaska turned to the sound of Potat’s voice. The sight of Potat filled her with love, somehow increased by the remaining feelings of boundless love and pure joy that were still with her on her return to her living body.
“Potat!...and M. Hoyvil!...and Ms. Beeenaw and M. Gwaawh, and M. Hawee!” Antaska cried.
She sat up and turned around the room. Feeling uncharacteristically exuberant, she spread both arms out wide in a dramatic sweeping motion, as if to take in all of them at once.
“I’m so happy to be back with you all!” Antaska said.
Watching Antaska, M. Hoyvil noticed her joy. And somehow, it was contagious. He found himself also feeling joyful—very joyful. The dark emotions and cares of the last day were unaccountably lifted by the surge of almost magical happiness he seemed to absorb from the atmosphere surrounding him. The corners of his large eyes lifted up in a huge Verdante grin, and he laughed telepathically, and then even laughed out loud.
Potat, emotionally telepathic and closely attuned to Antaska, was also affected by the infectious feelings of happiness and love that Antaska was emitting in all directions. But Potat’s anger against the trees was still with her. A loud purr started up from the middle of her body, while she furiously raked her claws into the bed to express her mixed feelings.
“I guess it’s time for Antaska to rest now,” said Ms. Beeenaw, not needing to be told that they would now be asked to leave the room.
“Yes, but you have my eternal thanks for your help watching over her this past day,” M. Hoyvil told them telepathically.
“And mine,” Potat told them also telepathically but with a touch of regal queenliness. “You have proved yourselves worthy, and I now accept you as my pets.”
“Oh thank you!” all three children shouted telepathically at once.
There was one person Potat still had to reward.
“Hello, M. Bomb,” she spoke to him telepathically.
He was far away in the residence, and distance prohibited humanoids from speaking to each other mentally. But that wasn’t a problem for cats, who were much more powerful telepaths.
“Kitty?” M. Bomp answered her.
Potat had noticed that he was quite a powerful telepath too—for a humanoid.
“You have proved your heroism by helping to save my pet Antaska,” said Potat. “So I’m giving you the high honor of adopting you as my pet too.”
“Bomp be kitty pet!” his loud telepathic shout echoed throughout the residence.
“What is this nonsense?” Potat heard Master Meeepp ask telepathically from a far distance.
“It is getting to be a bit much,” she heard Mistress Bawbaw say next.
Potat lifted a careless paw and began cleaning between the pads.
“Let’s go tell everyone that Antaska is awake, and Potat is our new master!” said Ms. Beeenaw.
Then the three large Verdante all children ran out of the room.
“I’ll go too, so you can rest now,” M. Hoyvil said to Antaska. “I’ll lock your new door behind me, so you can have privacy. Then people will have to press the door chime and announce themselves, and you can let them in if you want to.”
M. Hoyvil stood up to leave.
“Thank you, M. Hoyvil. Thank you for everything!” said Antaska.
The corners of his eyes crinkled way up in a Verdante smile, and he walked out of the room.
Potat heard the emotion in Antaska’s voice.
But Antaska was so happy in that other place, she thought.
Then Potat turned to Antaska. “I felt your sadness to leave the world beyond life,” she said telepathically. “And I see how you’re acting now, like you’re happy to be back with us. But did you really love that place more than M. Hoyvil? And more than me?”
Antaska’s hands reached out and scooped Potat up off the bed. Then Antaska hugged her gently.
“That place was wonderful, but my choice was to come back to you,” said Antaska. “And M. Hoyvil. That will always be my choice.”
Potat, with a cat’s ability to recognize truthfulness, knew that Antaska spoke the truth. A contented purr rumbled from her tiny body.
“Everything worked out in the end, but I hope you learned your lesson,” said Potat.
“What lesson?” Antaska asked. “I told Freeta that I didn’t want her drugs. I told her to stay away from me. Do you think it was my fault that she sprayed drugs on me?”
“No. Not that lesson,” said Potat. “I mean the lesson that if you ever try to leave me, I’ll come find you.”
“Yes, I did learn that lesson,” said Antaska. “That’s the best lesson of all.”
End of Lost in Space