Chapter 2

As the dawn rose on the third day, Joshua woke up to an excruciating headache that he remembered taking aspirin for last night. He groaned as he went shifting through his pack for yet another dose of aspirin. His shifting knocked the nugget loose from the pack; he picked it up and remembered that it had lost its heat last night as well. He stared at it wondering what had happened last night when another throb from the headache hit again. Wincing from the pain, he stuffed the nugget back in the pack and popped two more aspirin into his mouth. Washing it down with a swig from his canteen, he went outside to do his morning business. An hour later, his headache still hadn't gone away or lessened at all. Rubbing his forehead, he decided that he won't be doing anymore sluicing today and packed up his tent and equipment. After cleaning up his campsite and checking to be sure he didn't forget anything, he began hiking toward Hatcher's Pass where he had left his red 1985 Suzuki Gs300 motorcycle with a friend.

He arrived at his friend's house around noon and found a note taped to the back door to the garage,

Katherine just flew in am going to pick her up and take her to cabin for some R&R. Kevin

Joshua couldn't help but to smile at the note, Katherine was Kevin's girlfriend who worked for B&P oil and she had been away for six months. He crumpled the note and tossed it into the trashcan by the door and opened the garage door before rolling out his motorcycle. He checked the gas and realized he was low, so he went back in the garage and took one of Kevin's five gallons gas can and filled up his gas tank. Afterward, he wrote a note and left a twenty in payment for the gas, then closed the garage door and started up his motorcycle.

The ride from Hatcher's Pass to Eagle River took about an hour, and he arrived later in the afternoon. After parking his motorcycle in his garage, he dumped the backpack by the door without a single thought, save one, a hot shower. After a half hour of hot shower, Joshua began to feel human once again; he went back downstairs to the garage to put away his equipments. As he hung the now empty backpack, the nugget fell out one of the side pocket and rolled under the workbench. Sighing, he kneeled down and reached underneath to pull it out; he stared at it in his hand and muttered,

"Why the hell did you lose your heat overnight?"

The last thing he expected was a reply but that was what he got when he heard,

"It lost its heat because I no longer inhabit it."

"What the..." Joshua spun around trying to find the source of the voice. It was everywhere yet there was no sound at all, "Who the hell said that and where are you!?"

"I did and as for my location," the voice replied, "well, at the moment, I am currently residing in your mind."

"My mind, oh great, I've gone insane." Joshua reached for the phone by the workbench, fully intending to call a psychiatrist when suddenly his arm became immobile and he lost all feeling in it.

"If your intent was to call a psychiatrist, there is no need. I can assure you that you have not become insane."

"What the hell did you do to my arm?"

"I blocked your neural impulse and temporary took control." The voice explained in a gently voice, "If you are willing to stay calm, I can explain to you why it will not be a very good idea to call a psychiatrist."

"Give me one reason why I should listen to a voice in my head."

For a moment, Joshua could have sworn that the voice sighed before replying,

"Look at your arm Joshua; I believe that is a reason enough, or do you desire for me to assume full control of your body as a demonstration?"

"No, no, no, that's not necessary." He hastily reassured the voice, the thought of losing complete control of his body was repulsive to him, "All right, I'll listen to whatever you say."

"Good, now, I will release control of your arm back to you and I believe it will be best if you were to return to the living room and sit down before I explain everything. I also think you should get something to drink on the way, the explanation may take some time."

"Ok." The voice released control of his arm and Joshua had to suppress the desire to run, knowing it was futile, and went into his living room stopping by the kitchen to pour a cup of tea. He sat down on his la-z-boy chair and asked, "What now?"

"Now, I will explain everything." The voice began, "my name is Ahaui and the gold nugget that you are still holding in your hand was the cruelest form of torture and imprisonment developed by the enemy of my people."

Joshua looked down at the nugget still clutched in his hand when he mentioned it but when Ahaui said his people, he interrupted,

"Your people, are you telling me that you're some kind of alien?"

"I would have thought that answer was obvious, yes, I am an alien." Ahaui answered exasperatedly; "I believe you witnessed my arrival two nights ago."

"The falling star," Joshua blurted out, "That was you?"

"Yes, and I must admit that after so long in space, it feel so great to be back on a planet once again."

Joshua could feel the pain behind the voice and he asked,

"How long have you been in space?"

"An eternity." Ahaui replied, "That was the torture, being trapped in that nugget and floating around in space, unable to interact with anything. I did not even have the ability to end my life; I believe I became insane for a time."

"How do I know you're not insane now?"

"Could an insane person admit that he is insane?"

"Hmm, good question," Joshua replied, "I'll get back to you on that later."

He heard laughing and realized it was Ahaui laughing, he waited until he was done but before he could speak,

"Oh, thank you, I have not laughed like that in a very long time. In fact, I have not laughed since I was imprisoned in that nugget."

"You're welcome, I guess, anyway, you said that this was your enemy's preferred method of torture?"

"No, I said that it was developed by my enemy. It was especially developed with the intent of imprisoning me within."

"Why, what make you so special?"

"There are several reasons, one of which I will be keeping to myself, but one of the reason was because it was prophesied that I would bring about the end of my enemy's way of life."

"Huh, what do you mean by prophesied?"

"Let me explain," Ahaui paused as if to gather his thoughts, "About three hundred years before I was imprisoned in the nugget, my people made a discovery that gave us the ability to induce precognition in certain individuals by the mean of a serum. These individuals would later become what you would call oracles. But the visions these oracles receives are imprecise because of the fluidity of time. After experimenting with the visions, our scientist discovered that any visions concerning events beyond a day is only one of many possibilities. The closer an event is the more certain it is to occur."