Doggie

trigger warning suicide

His life had nothing left but the driving of a truck.  His wife had left him and even took the dog.  He didn’t know why he was still alive.  He just drove that truck and stopped at the same places like a loop of never ending sameness.  He was going to end all this today on a bridge that he liked because of the view.  He was an empty vessel with just nothing left but something caught his on the side of the road.  A mutt it didn’t quite look right like any dog he saw before but he couldn’t let it get hit.  He stopped on the side of the road and decided to rescue it.  He left his truck and called out doggie what are you doing here in the middle of nowhere.  The dog sniffed at the air and made a strange almost metallic sounding bark.  The dog ran to him and he reached down to pet him.  He said, “You’re a sweet boy, what’s your name?  Then a light flashed and he wasn’t where he was on the side of a road but in a building or something like a building.  It had a door with no handles but it opened as he got close to it.  The dog was in the next room and a dead creature like nothing else he had seen.  It looked like a blue tall grasshopper but more human.  He was confused and a little scared but it was definitely dead after he kicked at the body a few times.  The dog did that strange bark again and ran towards what appeared to be a joystick in the middle of a buttonless panel.  The dog wanted him to come over to the panel for sure.  He took a closer look and put his hand on the joystick.  Everything came to life on the panel.  He felt everything like he had grown another part of his body.  He realized he was on a ship and it needed to go.  It had an urgency and his thoughts made it move.  It was like driving his truck but with his whole body and mind.  He could see things behind him and ahead.  He felt the debris floating around him and could tell you what it was made of ice and metal.  The dog barked at him some more and the ship displayed some words in english.  It was a translation of the barks.  It said you must take this ship to my home.  It was weird to know what a dog was saying.  My home is sick and you have the cure.  That is what the dog said over and over.  I thought home and the ship showed me a course and it rumbled with great urgency.  I knew nothing in the moment but that this ship needed to go.  I thought just like I was driving the truck and it went forward in a great splash of light but i could feel it too.  I could see where to avoid and where I should go.  I traveled for hours without a care in the world but to keep going.  I had almost forgotten about my body. I was connected with the ship and I knew I must keep going.  I must have been in the state for 2 days and i don’t know how my body survived.  I don’t remember stopping but i was on the ground surrounded by blue grasshoppers.  They Said in a machine made voice don’t be afraid we will not hurt you.  You need medical attention and we will see to it. I was scanned with a blue light and hooked up to a weird tube, maybe an IV.  I felt better.  The blue grasshopper said you need to rest after you have not slept for a week and your body is starving.  I will fix that with some fluids and you just sleep.  All your questions will be answered later.  I slept for a few days I think and woke up in a hospital gown.  The blue grasshoppers said now is the time for questions and answers.  I said where is the dog?  The dog is a bot.  It’s not really a dog but a machine the ship uses to do things.  It just looked like a dog to blend in.  It found you because the captain died from a disease.  A disease the whole planet has.  We are luslus and live on this planet which was sick from a disease that needed a cargo of plants from a far off world.  The captain programmed the bot to find a replacement for him and you were compatible with the ship’s systems.  You saved an entire planet if it was not for you coming here.  You were able to get here faster than we thought was possible because the ship uses your brain to navigate and most can only stand a few hours before they need a break but you lasted a week and got the cure here in a week.  You traveled 120 light years which should have taken a month.  You have saved a billion lives and we grant you anything you want within our power.   The man said I want the dog and I want to Pilot the ship.  I never felt better and do you have other cargo I can carry. I am a driver and I want to feel space again like I did.  Well that can be done and will.  You still need to mend so enjoy our hospitality while you do that.  I celebrated and saw so many new and wonderful things.  I had forgotten all about my problems; they seemed so far away and didn’t matter anymore.