Chapter Ten

Petra's eyes fluttered open, closed and opened again. She struggled to keep them from shutting once more. A pain pierced from her shoulders into her neck and then to the base of her skull. She recoiled against the pain. She tried to sit up, only to meet resistance. Every time she moved, pain accompanied the movement.

Petra stared at the ceiling above, except that it wasn't a ceiling. She was underneath a dome like structure, and feint blue light moved up and down the dome. Petra attempted reaching out to it, but found her arm uncooperative, lame. The dome was made of glass, and the blue light buzzed through it. A wave up, and a wave down. Petra watched the blue light with fascination. "Whoo. Whoo" she mumbled, in tandem with the movement of the light. She giggled. She heard a soft beeping coming from somewhere, but couldn't turn her head to see where it was coming from.

Petra was unable to comprehend anything around her, or what was going on. She heard voices, muffled and as if far off.

"Do we know what they did to her?".

"No, so far scans have shown nothing".

"Why did they take her then?".

"Your guess is as good as mine".

"Keep her under observation in the incubation pod for the next twelve hours".

"And inject the nanites, we can't take any chances".

"But that's… It hasn't been approved".

"I know. Do it. If she's been compromised, we need to know".

"I understand, but it could be..., uh, dangerous".

"Are you questioning my judgement? I know the risks, it's a good time to try them out, don't you agree? And If we don't come up with answers, it will be my ass on the line".

"Okay Doctor".

"And keep me updated on any changes". There was an inaudible response, and the conversation concluded.

Petra felt strange, light, and wonderful. The pain had gone, and it felt almost as if she were floating. The voices were strange, and the words floated like little butterflies around her in the glass dome. The blue light was so pretty, she wanted to hold it.

Three questions crossed her mind for the briefest moment. Who was it the voices were talking about? Where was she? And where were the others? She couldn't recall anything of what had happened earlier. No bots, no attack, no fear. All that mattered right now was the -pretty -blue -light.

"She's awake!" someone shouted. The sound of footfalls followed.

"Petra!"

"Petra!"

"Petra!"

"Are you okay?"

"What happened when the bots took you?"

Petra looked around the infirmary to find Ezra, Sofia, Lina, Khaleel, and Taka closing in around her bed. Sofia looked close to tears. Lina, Taka, and Ezra looked relieved and Khaleel had an expression that was unreadable.

"Are you okay" they asked, this time in unison. Petra had no pain in the back of head anymore, but she had a headache that was getting worse by the second.

"Stellar" she groaned, then scowled at the cheerful crowd.

"She's fine" Ezra laughed, relieved to see that awful expression of hers. He plopped himself on a nearby chair.

"You had us worried, it's been two days…" Sofia said, her voice giving away every bit of emotion. Petra bolted up.

"Two days!?" she exclaimed, pushing her mess of hair back.

"Yea, apparently you sleep like the dead" Taka added, fidgeting with a loose piece of cotton on the bedsheet. No one was saying it, but Taka's remark hit home. They each knew how close they'd come to...

"I don't sleep like… What happened, you know, out there? Where's Shea?" she asked, looking around for the familiar red hair.

To the corner of the infirmary was another bed, with an all too big lump covered with a sheet. Ezra nodded towards the bed.

"They're treating him. He took a nasty blow to his body, and his ego" Khaleel informed her in a hushed tone. Petra didn't realize it until she let it out, but she'd been holding her breath. She had feared the worst, but Shea was okay. She was okay. They were all okay! But she couldn't understand how.

"What…? How did we get out of that?" she asked, and they each looked at the other unable to answer.

"Damned if we know" Ezra said, cutting the silence.

"The last thing I remember was seeing that deviant grab you and run. They were too fast for me to follow after. Forty four brought us in. Farrow found you" Ezra explained, furrowing his brow. He avoided everyone's eyes, trying to hide his shame.

"Farrow?" Petra choked out. Of all the people, why did it have to be HIM!? It would have been better if the deviants had killed her! She groaned so loud, the others couldn't help but laugh.

"Looks like you're going to have to play nice, and thank him" Lina winked, mischief in her eyes. A dark look crossed Petra's face, then she let out an exasperated sigh. She grabbed the pillow, pushed her face into it and let out a muffled scream.

"Can you guys keep it down over there?" Shea called, gloom shrouding his always happy eyes.

"I've never seen him like this" Sophia whispered, concerned.

"Give him some space, he'll be aces soon" Ezra said, showing them a thumbs up. Everyone turned a sympathetic gaze at the bundle that was Shea. He was never one to get down, but something had broken in him.

"I want to go to my room now" Petra announced, swinging her legs to the side of the bed. She felt light headed, pain prickling her temples, and her legs felt weak. She'd had enough of the infirmary, and longed to get back to her own space. "You can't go yet, Addison needs to take a blood sample" Ezra told her. He put his hands on her shoulders, and with care pushed her back on the bed.

Petra had a vague memory of a needle in her arm, blood in a vial, and... a syringe. "More blood? What are they looking for?" Petra groaned, pulling the bed-sheet back over her head. The others shrugged.

"Need to know, and it seems we don't need to know" Taka said, a bitter edge in his voice.

There were more and more questions, and very few answers...