Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 73
Essen awoke to find the face of a strange little primate staring down at him. As it swung casually from the beams of the wooden hut his eyes struggled to make sense of the unfamiliar vision. His head ached and his throat felt dry and groggy. His mind, lumbering slowly back into consciousness, struggling to place the surroundings he now found himself in. Or to recall how he'd ended up there. As this somnolent haze from his eyes fell, and the palmy branches of the shelter above broke sharply into view, the small monkey's cute, but looming features came with sharpness into focus. At first he was wary in his waking state, but he quickly calmed himself. As if trying to rouse from a nightmarish sleep. He then heard voices to his right hand side. He strained his head up from the leafy pillow and looked around to see two figures. One, reassuringly, was the younger crew member from the ship, who looked bright and sprightly. The other, a complete stranger. "This is Gelkin," spo...