Growing Up Too Fast

"Next!" Phi called, to invite a new patient into the room.

Plisken walked into the room, his coat and hat looking as tattered and old as ever. He looked the same as always, his olive green jumpsuit, broken, rusty metal arm, blue-grey greatcoat, strange hat, but something was different. Phi had only met Plisken once, and that was a fleeting encounter and she had never actually spoken to him, as far as she could remember. But Plisken was different. What was it, Phi wondered.

"Miss. Moreau?" said Plisken, interuptting Phi's concentration. She hurridly nodded her head in acknowledgement. "I came to ask you about age," contiued Plisken.

"Age?" asked Phi, not understanding Plisken's meaning, "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? What do I mean?! I mean that I am now 50 years old! Look at my smegging beard!" shouted Plisken, annoyed that no-one had really taken any interest in his problems lately, not that he cared.

"Oh, yes!" said Phi, happy that she had found the fault with Plisken, his beard now streched down to his knees and was heavily flecked with grey. "Well, Thomas-"

"Plisken," interuptted the rapidly aging man.

"Well, Plisken," contiued Phi, "I'll have to take an examination but are you sure your not exagerating?"

"No," said Plisken flatly.

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*After the Examination*

"There we go Plisken," said Phi as Plisken swung his legs of the table and landed on the floor. Plisken looked round at Phi as she said this. She was a very strange lady- she had talked all the way through the exam about the human body and its amazing properties and other things. Usually Plisken would have allowed the words to go through one ear and out the other but something made him actually listen to them. It was probably nothing, just his brain wanting to learn something scientific.

"What's the verdict, Miss?" asked Plisken as Phi studied the read out on the monitor. Plisken waited a few minutes. "Miss?" he asked again.

"Well, Plisken," began Phi, turning around with a face that didn't promise good news. "The temporal radiation, or at least that's what I think this means, has altered your body."

Plisken waited for her to go on but Phi stopped. "And?" prompted Plisken.

"Oh, and your body now ages faster than the average. But don't worry, it looks like you'll out live us all by 100 years, at least. But unfortunately I have no cure for this, temporal physics is simply an unstudied science.

"Oh, that's good news!" Plisken pulled on his coat and pulled on his hat. He looked kind of ridiculous. Phi almost let out a little laugh at the site of the rather strong man in such a ridiculous outfit.

"I'll try and find a cure for this but I doubt anything will come of it," she said, turning around so as to not laugh at him.

Plisken looked down at himself as Phi hid her smile, he had to admit he was a bit of a cartoon character.

Outside the ship, in space, the starts drifted past quietly. Plisken had looked at them all through the examination, while listening to Phi, and suddenly felt compelled to recite a poem he had learnt as a child.

Black Star, Black Star
I wish I'd know where you are.
I need a wish, to help me out
in my dark world full of doubt.

With that Plisken turned around and walked out of the room, of to find something interesting to do. Phi was left wandering about the poem that Plisken had just recited.