[ WP ] As your dying wish , you ask that your body is jettisoned into space . Sometime later your body is recovered by aliens who are able to resuscitate you .

It's dark. Dark and cold. 
 
 ( I thought I was supposed to see a light above me? ) 
 
 Wait, why would I see a light? Where am I? Smooth black surfaces all around me, curved like the inside of an eggshell. I'm on my back, and the floor is cold and smooth beneath me. I sit up and realize I'm naked. I shiver. 
 
 Not at home. Not anywhere I recognize. 
 
 `` Mary?'' My voice echoes. `` Sophia?'' 
 
 The room goes bright, and excruciating pain is immediate. I flinch into myself, covering my eyes with my arms. It's coming from everywhere at once, above me, below me, on every side; so bright I can see the bones in my fingers through my eyelids. Where are there lights this bright? The hospital? 
 
 ( Was n't I there recently? I ca n't remember. ) 
 
 A gentle hum erupts nearby, and it's soothing. I do n't want to be soothed. I try to get my feet under me while still shielding my eyes, and my legs collapse. Oh, god, there's something wrong with my legs. They feel like overcooked pasta, spindly and squashy. 
 
 I run every day, have since I joined the military. It's important for pilots to maintain muscle and bone mass, lost more easily in Earth's upper atmosphere. Where are my muscles? What happened to my strength? 
 
 ( The doctors said body mass would lost quickly. Emaciation is common in the final stage as the body tries desperately to fend off the attacker... ) 
 
 Wait, what? 
 
 The hum intensifies, vibrating against me. My teeth rattle in my mouth, and I twist around, trying to find a way to cover my eyes and ears simultaneously. 
 
 `` Stop! For God's sake, stop it!'' I scream. 
 
 The vibration stops. My ears are ringing. The lights dim down low, and I blink against the residual spots in my vision. I relax my arms, flopping onto my side in relief. 
 
 `` YOU.'' A voice booms from everywhere. 
 
 `` JESUS!'' I flinch, scrambling across the floor. There's no corners to hide in here, nothing at all to shield me. If I move any farther back, the wall curves up and I'm likely to roll off back to the middle. 
 
 `` FIXED.'' The voices booms again, but the volume is lower. It's deep, and gratingly metallic. Coming through speakers? 
 
 `` Who are you?'' I demand. 
 
 `` FIXED.'' The voice says again, ending on a squeal like metal scrapping on metal. 
 
 `` Fixed what?'' 
 
 `` FIXED YOU.'' 
 
 Is this a hospital? Have I been in an accident? 
 
 ( Mary's face, smiling bitterly while she cries next to me ) 
 
 No hospital looks like this, does it? Has my brain been damaged, and I'm seeing reality though this egg-room lens? 
 
 I'm afraid to ask. `` What was wrong with me?'' 
 
 Silence. I try to stand up again, bobble badly, and end up crawling backward until I'm balanced on two legs. It's precarious, none of my balance muscles firing fast enough. Maybe a coma? Inert patients lose the muscle groups for holding themselves upright in a matter of -- 
 
 `` WRONG PARTS. DO NOT MATCH.'' The voice boomed. `` FIXED.'' 
 
 Well, that narrowed it down. `` Where am I?'' 
 
 Another long pause. I sat down before I could fall over, flexing muscles in my feet and legs to test them. They all felt too weak. A stroke? I was too young for a stroke. 
 
 `` HERE.'' The voice answered finally with another stripped transmission squeal. 
 
 Seriously? `` Where is here?'' 
 
 `` HERE.'' 
 
 I was losing patience. `` You're going to have to be more specific than that. Where are we located, relative to, I do n't know, Greenwich?'' 
 
 There was a long metallic shriek, and the lights flickered. `` DO NOT IDENTIFY GREENWICH.'' 
 
 `` Really? Well, how about New York?'' 
 
 `` DO NOT IDENTIFY NEW YORK.'' 
 
 `` What are you playing at? Everyone knows New York.'' 
 
 `` DO NOT IDENTIFY NEW YORK.'' 
 
 Something cold crawled through the bottom of my belly. No, I could n't be this badly injured. Something was wrong with this place. `` All right then. Where am I on planet Earth?'' 
 
 There was an extended bout of shrieking that made my teeth ache. `` DO NOT IDENTIFY PLANET EARTH. GIVE COORDINATES.'' 
 
 `` It's in the fucking Milky Way Galaxy, you assholes!'' I slammed my fist on the floor. 
 
 The lights flickered again. `` DO NOT IDENTIFY MILKY WAY GALAXY. GIVE COORDINATES.'' 
 
 Dizziness swept over me. `` Who -- who are you?'' 
 
 `` FIXED YOU.'' 
 
 ( The doctor's office, so many charts and numbers that mean nothing to me ) 
 
 `` How did I get here?'' 
 
 `` FOUND YOU.'' 
 
 ( Sophia hugging me tightly before she is led away, so hard it's difficult to breath. `` I love you so, so much, Papa. I'll see you tomorrow!'' ) 
 
 `` Where?'' 
 
 `` OUTSIDE.'' 
 
 ( That last night, Mary's hand feels so nice and warm, and I am so very tired ) 
 
 `` What's outside?'' 
 
 In response, one side of the egg room dropped open, and the lights turn off. I wobble to this window, peering into the darkness. Pricks of light gaze back at me, thousands of them suspended in black in every direction. It was so big -- 
 
 ( Mary pleading with the men in uniforms with NASA patches on their arms. `` Please, please! It's his final wish! You did this to him! You owe him something!'' ) 
 
 I sit down, still focusing as hard as I can on the tiny specks of light. My mouth is too dry, my voice gravelly. `` Did I die?'' 
 
 `` FIXED YOU.'' 
 
 I press my fingers to the portal, the heat leeching from my hand into the vacuum of space. It feels like Sophia's arms are squeezing me again, and all my air is gone. 
 
 `` Yes.'' I whisper. `` Yes, you did fix me.'' 

