67.

Sylvia wakes once again, and she so happens to still in the same place where she had previously woken. She could hear some whispering, possibly the same whispering she had heard before ... before her slip. When she moves her position to possibly gain a view to what could be creating the whispers Sylvia can see that there are two young boys playing towards the far end of the large bright orange room with which Sylvia finds herself within.

The boys look over at the lady laying in the bed and one of them giggles. Sylvia has no idea as to who these boys may be. Before she can say or do anything else the older woman from before arrives back to the room.

'What did I tell you boys about playing in here? Come on guys; take it outside both of you, right now ... shoo ...'

Looking over at Sylvia the lady would speak once again, 'hello there, how are you feeling now?'

'Fine thank you. Where am I?'

'Don't worry yourself about that little detail for the moment. If you feel up to it, we can go for a walk in a little while and we can chat properly then. By the way you can call me Janet, and please forgive the boys. If I told them once I have told them a thousand times not to come in here when we have a guest staying over.'

'Is that what I am, a guest?'

'Yes, dear and do not worry, we will take good care of you while you are in this place with us, and we will get you back to where you belong soon enough.'

'My name is Sylvia.'

'I know dear, and you are very welcome here. If you are feeling up to it then why not freshen up and come downstairs for a nice home cooked meal.'

Sylvia strangely enough feels very much at home and very much at ease and to her this was and is an excellent way to feel, especially at this moment as it had been such a very long time since she felt at home anywhere, even when it came to being on The Pathfinder, so she does as Janet suggested and got herself freshened up.

It is not a drug, at least she doesn't feel effects of such, there is no anxiety to get back to normality, her normality at least. There is something about this place. Sylvia is supposed to be right here in this place, and she is supposed to be here right in this moment. She has never been so sure of anything else in her whole life.

When she is ready Sylvia moves down the bright orange steps not all so far away from the room she woke in and then moves into a room of what looked to be a very pleasant, happy, and lively home. There is a strong and more than pleasant smell of home cooked food which she could smell long before she had even taken a step down towards a lower level and the smell of that pleasantness makes her tummy rumble.

'In here love' called out Janet from the main living room.

The amount of food laid out on the table amazed Sylvia, and it looked so good that it also made her mouth water. She indeed feels right at home here.

'Please sit and feel free to tuck in and help yourself' Janet tells Sylvia.

The food tastes just as good as it looks. There are in total ten people around the long rectangular table with which she has come to and this includes Sylvia, as well as Janet and the two boys from earlier on. There is plenty of laughter and joy and Sylvia loves just how good it all is that she almost completely forgets about The Pathfinder.

After dinner ends, Sylvia stands and attempts to gather some of the empty dishes when Janet tells her to leave it, stating that the boys will look after all that. It wouldn't be long before Janet and Sylvia head off on that walk Janet had mentioned earlier.

Outside the sky is filled with a bright yellow colour, the ground is covered with a small layer of red sand which throws up a light dust as the two walk. All the visible housing is separated and each building on both sides of the wide sandy street differ immensely to each buildings before and after. This can't be the same rogue world with which Sylvia had travelled to, oh but it is.

'What do you think of the place?' asks Janet.

'I like it, I like it a lot. It's amazing and makes me feel right at home.'

'So glad to hear that.'

'I am still intrigued as to exactly where I am and as to how I got here?'

Sylvia isn't complaining or anything of the sort by asking that question; she was just a little confused as to where she was and as to how she came to be there. She knows something but not quite exactly what. There is that feeling after all that Sylvia almost belongs here, a feeling that tells Sylvia that she was and is indeed where she is meant to be. It is as if she has always been here though clearly, she has still only just arrived. Maybe arrived is not the right term for it, however it is time for Sylvia to get some answers.

'You haven't actually gone anywhere at all' speaks Janet. 'Prior to waking here did you happen to fall? And did you happen to hear voices prior to such a fall? A Whisper, which became many whispers, all around you?'

'Yes, how did you know that?'

'Well, my dear, as I said you haven't gone anywhere at all. You are just in a different time that is all.'

'A different time?'

Sylvia is becoming more and more confused at this stage while also oddly still feeling very much at ease. The sense that she had been feeling all along tells her that she is in no kind of danger and that very same feeling also tells her that she is indeed a guest and in no way a captive. So, for now, she will go with it and take it all in.

'You are experiencing a program. A program simulation designed to inform any visitors of what once was, and designed to be as real as anything you will ever experience. This world probably not unlike your own world was filled with life, joy, good things as well as some bad but unfortunately this planet broke away from its solar system and life as we knew it ceased to be.'

'Wow', Sylvia needed to take a moment and once she did then intrigue seriously began to grow. 'Did anyone here get to leave this place, to escape and find a way to move on?'

'No. This is maybe what you got to do if of course such a thing was necessary for you and your kind but unfortunately for us that is not how things progressed on this world.'

'I am sorry to hear that.'

'We just want others to know that we were here once, you now know, and you of course are very welcome to stay here as long as you like.'

'Thank you. What about those I came here with?'

'Do not worry my dear, they are fine and will be with you once again when you are ready to leave.'

'Ready to leave?'

'Yes. Think of all you see and hear, sense and smell, view and feel, as things you would experience if you were on a holiday, a vacation away from your regular life. You will know when that time comes to return to that regular life, so no need to rush and until then feel free to enjoy all and everything you see here.'

Sylvia takes in a deep breath through her nose and smiles. She could smell her surroundings, taste her surrounding, feel it all, take in all her surroundings so stay in these surroundings she would, temporarily at least as if indeed she were on vacation.

On the walk she has been invited to take, before it comes to an end, Sylvia's host has one more thing to tell her, anything else spoken between them would be no more than casual conversation and Sylvia does not know how to take this piece of advice she is given. What it is she is told will be kept within, almost forgotten or hidden away until such a time it may assert itself for how could anything from this place, especially from so long ago too, hold any kind of meaning for Sylvia or her future?

Anyhow to Sylvia, in all it felt like she had stayed a total of twenty-one days as a guest of Janet's but when she awoke on what to her would appear to be the twenty second day, Sylvia was amazed to find herself back on the shuttle, the shuttle which had brought her to the planet in the first place. Along with the rest of the team that had gone to the rogue world with, Sylvia was on her way back to The Pathfinder.

She would also discover that she had only been out for a matter of only a few minutes and not the twenty-one days with which it had seemed to her. As well as that however and somehow miraculously, the laceration on her arm had gone, not gone completely but rather healed almost as if indeed she had been away for three weeks, allowing enough time for healing to take place.