34 Am I Having a Concussion?

After spending hours playing with thread and getting entangled with the thing, Mina found herself drifting off to sleep in a warm corner of the room. When she woke up, she could tell from a small opening it was a little after midnight.

Mina stretched and gave the thread a sideways look as if to say that she would not be tempted again. She eventually realized that her stomach was churning violently.

'I'm starving!'

It was the early morning hours but she couldn't help but feel the hunger pangs. Studying her environment, she saw that the general was still in bed.

'Should I wake him up or not?' she thought while staring at the man who seems to be deeply asleep.

'Would it be too harsh if I asked him to get me something to eat?'

Mina made her way to the door to explore on her own but she couldn't open it. This door was too heavy. She really needs to talk to that old man again and tell him to communicate with her human. The windows were also shut close. But even if they were open, she would rather take the stairs. All the landing on both feet business still feels scary to her.

Left without a choice, Mina climbed up on the bed to find a warmer spot. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

When Mina opened her eyes, she could see nothing but darkness.

'This feels familiar.'

She took a few steps to the left and then to the right, but nothing happened. There was nothing but pitch blackness enveloping her. Unlike the last time she dreamed about this, she felt more at ease now. She tried to feel her way around the place until she felt a wall in front of paws.

'Come to think of it, the last time I had this dream, I had human hands, not paws.'

Feeling bold, she jumped up while thinking 'Who gets hurt in a dream?'

To her surprise, she landed on something solid. Startled, she tried to move around and the surface she docked on lit up.

'I've been here before.'

'This looks familiar.'

As Mina walked across the panel to examine it, a welcome screen. Remembering how she saw different stats the last time she entered the space, she swiped through the panel again and saw a bunch of numbers that she could not decipher. Each swipe brought her to a different page. She couldn't help but feel intrigued. While trying to make sense of the information, one paw pushed a button on the panel. Suddenly, the whole area lit up.

When Mina looked around, she realized that she was standing on a panel with an unusual shape. The surface appeared to be rectangular at first but now that everything was illuminated, Mina realized that the surface was in the shape of a half moon. The buttons were even designed to look like craters of the moon. When she looked beyond the panel, the view almost took her breath away. It was the same thing she saw in pictures. The place looked like the milky way and she was suspended on one side of the path.

Curious, Mina walked towards the edge of the curve but a sudden knock distracted her. Although she could barely hear the muffled sound, she managed to decipher the meaning behind all the mumbling.

"Finally, a tech! It took the higher ups forever to send one."

Thinking the sound came from below, Mina tried to look under the panel but her face came in contact with a solid surface. The impact was so strong, she thought her brains spilled out. She had to feel her head with her paws to see if everything was still there.

"You alright there buddy?" the voice asked with urgency.

The impact was so strong Mina felt like her whole face was smashed.

Confused where the voice came from, Mina turned around and saw a monkey with reddish brown hair with a crazy smile on its face. When her eyesight became less fuzzy, she realized that the animal which appears to be an orangutan was pushing a cart towards her while suspended on air.

"Don't be embarrassed that. That has been happening to almost everyone," the rough voice continued while studying her. Still stunned, Mina just gave the animal a blank look.

"You know, that thing," the orangutan said while pointing its lips and doing a headbang.

"We've been getting several complaints about these Egg Pods. It's the curved glass, always smacks you in the head."

Mina could barely hear the talking monkey since she was too distracted by the pain in her head. The grumbling in her stomach didn't help either. She closed her eyes willing herself to concentrate to make the pain go away.

'Is this how it feels like to have a concussion?'

When Mina opened her eyes again, the headache was no longer there and she saw Jadon's peaceful form. Light seeped into the room and she could tell that it was early morning.

'That was a weird dream!' Mina thought while standing up on all fours. Just then, her stomach grumbled.

'I can't do this. This human should serve his purpose! Even Tarou is mooching off heaps of food from that human Barca and here I am holding back my hunger!'

Mina tried to make her way towards the sleeping person beside her and used her paws to wake him up gently. Since the man won't budge, she tried to feel for his face with her paws, patting him awake. The disturbance did not disturb the man either, he just tried to swat the paw away.

'Should she just use her claws to wake this person up?'

Mina looked at her paws and cleaned them off with her tongue. Realizing something, she placed the wet paw on the general's face and he twitched.

'Well, this is weird but a cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do.'

Trying to push back her doubts, Mina went on to lick the sleeping man's face. She thought that, at least, she didn't slobber like a dog. This was like marking her territory, right?

Mina felt the person's face move a bit. Maybe she was doing something right. Meowing in between, she even tapped his face with her paw. She actually had no idea which part of his face she was touching.

"Wake up, you lazy bum! I need food!" Mina meowed while trying to wake him up.

'Isn't it his duty to keep her well fed?'

Mina tried to get closer to the sleeping man. When she felt warm air close to her nose, she was caught off guard and her face bumped into the sleeping person in front of her. Mina felt a warm sensation on her nose and she felt the man stir beneath her.

'Finally!'

Just then, someone pushed the door open and Mina heard a chuckle.

"Did I interrupt something?" Barca remarked while leaning on the doorframe. "You should probably lock the door next time."