The autopsy Doctor Osborne performed proved what he already thought to be true; the man called Trent had died when he suffered a large amount of trauma to his head. In Doctor Osborne’s opinion he was lucky to have died quickly and before his body ended up the way it did. He put everything back where it belonged, and stitched the body back together and placed it in one of the freezer compartments the bodies were stored in. He didn't know what kind of funeral the man would have as he wasn't able to find any next of kin for him. Normally when a John Doe with no next of kin came in to the morgue the body would be used for organ donation if there was no last will and testament on record but Trent’s organs were in such bad condition they would be no use to anyone. If no one could find a use for the body then he would be given a quiet cremation after a few more days of trying to find anyone who knew him and who could take the body themselves.
After Doctor Osborne finished the rest of his working day he headed home to his family to wind down and prepare himself for yet another day of being a doctor. He counted himself lucky to have been able to find a wife and have kids with her when he had such a demanding job, but she was understanding. Of course love happened to play an important part in keeping them together.
Jeff was the in charge of guarding the morgue that night. He had never really understand why the dead people needed watching but they had never bothered him none so he liked his job just fine. He liked the peace and quiet that came with it. All he had to do was sit in a chair and keep an eye on people that couldn't move anyway. It was a pretty cushy job to have in his opinion.
He was snapped out of his musings when he heard someone knocking on a door. He jumped out of his seat in fright, thinking it was one of the bodies. Rationality took over quickly and he walked to the morgue door to see who was there. He opened the door and saw that no one was at the door. He was getting a little nervous and while he was checking the corridors to see if he could see who knocked, he heard the sound of knocking again. This time it was coming from behind him. There was no denying to himself this time that it came from one of the freezers. He shut the door to the morgue and sat back down on his chair. He began rocking backwards and forwards in fright. He couldn't believe this was happening and didn't want to believe it was happening. In his time doing the job this had never happened before, and he didn't want it to start happening now. He jumped as he heard the knock again and this time it sounded more impatient.
“W-wh-who's there?” He asked, his voice quivering with fear. He didn't get an answer, just a louder knock in response. He thought he was an idiot to respond and let whatever was in there know he was around. He cursed himself for not just running and finding some help. No one would have believed him anyway if he started talking about how something was alive in the morgue. At the very least they would have teased him and made jokes. The knock sounded again, and Jeff was able to work out which freezer it was coming from. He finally got up and went to the freezer in question. He looked at the tag and saw the name “Trent Saxon”. He remembered that there was someone brought in today with that name but he'd already been autopsied. He'd been taken to pieces and then put back together again. If they had accidentally put a live person in the freezer then someone would have noticed. If they didn't notice the person would be long dead by the time the autopsy was over. Jeff had enough sense to realise if something was in that freezer, it probably wasn’t going to be alive.
The sound of yet more knocking snapped him out of his thoughts and back to reality. He grabbed the sharpest thing he could find, in this case a scalpel, and slowly opened the freezer door. He didn't think he could do much with the scalpel, but he reasoned to himself a sharp object is still a sharp object. When the door was open all the way he hesitantly began unzipping the body bag. The body inside it was totally still and was still blue from the freezer. He looked inside the freezer to see if something had somehow got inside but couldn't spot anything. While he was looking in the freezer he felt something grab him from behind. Whoever it was placed one arm around his neck and the other hand around his wrist of the hand that was holding the scalpel.
“Where am I?” Jeff heard someone say. The voice was low and husky with a touch of a Southern accent. To Jeff it sounded male.
“I-i-i-in the hospital.” came Jeff's nervous reply.
“Which hospital?” The man squeezed harder on Jeff's throat and wrist.
“I-it-it-it's Northwest Community Hospital.” Jeff answered. “Um...sir”, he added, for good measure, in case his unknown assailant would appreciate good manners. Jeff felt the man let go and then pat him on the back.
“Ah Northwest Community? Not my first visit here, but the first time I've met you. So what's your name kid?” Jeff turned round to look at the man and saw that he was covered in stitches and scars. He was also naked and still slightly blue from the freezer. Jeff kept his eyes on the man’s impressive upper body. He was lean but very well built with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes.
“J-J-Jeff. My name is Jeff. Yours?” He asked, though he expected he knew the answer.
“Trent's the name, Trent Saxon. How do you do?” he replied, holding out his hand for Jeff to shake. Jeff was totally flabbergasted but he reacted naturally and held out his hand. Trent shook it with a smile but adopted a more neutral expression when he saw the look on Jeff’s face. He was very pale and looking Trent up and down with his brown eyes which Trent could see through his scraggled black hair. Everything about him screamed “scared teenager”. He looked like he had been trying to grow a beard too as his face was unshaven, suggesting he was in his late teens.
“What's the matter kid? You look like you've seen a ghost” Trent asked him.
“I think I might be” Jeff said as he snapped back to reality. “Aren't you supposed to be dead?” Jeff asked nervously. Did the dead even get offended?
“Wouldn't be the first time, probably won't be the last,” Trent said, flashing Jeff a smile. “Though I have to say that you guys are getting pretty rough. I'm lucky I was able to pull myself together.” He had a small laugh at his own joke. “Well actually I guess I don't need luck, I'm good.” He added after a few moments of thought. “Say, you got any clothes?” Trent asked, taking notice of his nudity and looking down at his uncovered body. Jeff stood in silence for a few seconds before finally answering.
“Well the ones we found you in were pretty damaged, all but that hat.” He said. He pointed to a Stetson hat that had been left on the floor and Trent picked it up and dusted it off before putting it on.
“Well I'm glad my hat survived at least.” Trent said. “What about my ship, where you keepin' that?” He asked.
“I'm sorry sir but your ship was too badly damaged and we've had it scrapped. Anything important we found was placed in a box and put into storage.” Jeff replied.
“Can you go get it for me?” Trent responded after his mind had processed what Jeff had told him. “Or at least tell me where it is, and give me a gown to put on or something. It's cold in here.” He said, hugging himself to show his point. Jeff was glad for any reason to look away and opened a locker. He pulled out a surgeon's gown and handed it to Trent and then he pulled out a box as he waited for Trent to put the gown on. Jeff handed Trent the box when he was done putting on the gown who took it gladly, happy anything had survived and been recovered. The box itself was kind of small so Trent didn't really know what to expect, but he opened it up anyway. He was a little sad to discover there wasn't much inside it but his mood picked up when he saw what it was. There was a safety deposit box and amazingly enough, one of Trent's leather jackets neatly folded up. Trent put the jacket on and revelled in the comforting feeling of the leather around his knees before he searched through the pockets of the coat and produced a key. He took the key and opened up the box, taking out the only things in it before putting the empty box in his jacket pocket.
“What was in there?” Jeff asked him. Trent was tempted to reply it was none of Jeff’s business, but the boy had been kind to him so far. He held up in one hand a seemingly large amount of credits, the universal currency of the world and several other planets, and in the other he held what appeared to be a locket. The design of the locket was a cross with a circle in the centre where the bars met. Jeff could make out a hinge on the circle which showed it could be opened up. He had no clue what was inside however.
“How did they survive the crash?” Jeff asked, curious as to how anything could survive that wreckage.
“Well, it was mostly the box” Trent replied, flipping it around in his hands and showing it to Jeff. “This baby can stand pretty much any amount of heat and force. I won it in a poker game actually. It's where I keep my most prized possessions”. He held up the money and locket again, to show what he meant.
“Money is one of your most valuable possessions?” Jeff asked. He sounded almost derogatory. Trent smirked and put the items in his pockets before answering.
“Not quite. Let's just say that this isn't the first time a ship has been destroyed on me. This money here is enough to buy me a new ship in an emergency, and allow me to go back out into the stars. Those are my most valued possessions” he said with a far off look in his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling.
“What about the locket?” Jeff asked. Trent looked back down, not quite meeting Jeff's eyes as his face darkened. Jeff thought he looked almost sad.
“That was given to me by someone who was once very close to me. I'll never forget her, and I'll never give this up either.” Trent replied, holding the locket tight in his hand. Jeff frowned, and looked at him apologetically.
“I'm sorry” Jeff said apologetically, looking down at the ground. Trent smiled and hit him playfully in the chest.
“No harm done kid. I just wish I had more clothes, can't exactly go out in these now can I?” he pointed down at his strange ensemble of a surgeon's gown with a leather jacket over it. Jeff laughed and remembered that there was a lost and found that might have something in it.
“I think I might know where to get you some clothes, just come with me and we'll see what we can do”. He walked towards the door and motioned for Trent to follow him.
“A'ight then”, Trent said, walking out the door and down the corridor with Jeff. As they were walking Jeff suddenly realised something.
“Say, just how did you survive that autopsy? And being stuck in that freezer. And that crash actually, I've seen the pictures, it was pretty brutal.” Jeff asked Trent as they walked down the corridor.
“Well what do you think happened? Isn't it obvious I just can't die?” Trent answered nonchalantly and not even breaking his stride. Jeff on the other hand stopped immediately as what Trent said made its way in to his brain.
