Central Hospital (Caracas, Venezuela)

I didn't know what to do. I contemplated my dinner, which looked delicious, but I had no appetite. The phone ringing broke my reverie; Suhail was on the phone again.

"I'm g-g-going to accept Salazar's m-m-mission," she announced. Suhail's voice sounded thick and nasal, the result of a bout of crying.

"Think about it, this whole saving-the-Earth thing is just plain crazy. And I think you should be focusing on waiting to hear from your parents; you know hope is the last thing to die."

"I d-d-dreamed about it! I t-t-told you, I'm sure s-s-something happened t-t-to them!" said Suhail, sniffing. The nurse was taking my blood pressure, which would no doubt come out high.

"What did you dream?"

"I saw t-t-them, sinking in the d-d-darkness inside s-s-some sort of c-c- capsule." Suhail started crying in earnest again and I tried to calm her down, "It was just a dream," I said soothingly.