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Kari said smiling. “I wouldn’t want that.”

  “There is no amusement in this, Ensign Kari Wu. You may die.”

  “I’ll make sure not to.” She started to shiver. Syll covered her with more blankets.

  “The doctor will arrive soon to declare you contagious. If the Beloved Nephew does not interfere any more in the Darksend’s operations, it will not be long before we are home. And then you will be under the custody of the Tal Shiar.”

  “With utmost respect, Commander, but who would have thought?” It was the doctor. “Tal Shiar custody actually being protective.”

  “We shall gather what information we can from her then it will be done.”

  “Kill her?”

  There was a pause. “We may not. We may use her to trade for something with the Federation.”

  “After what we did in their space? Is she not evidence that we allow the insane to command us?”

  There was silence.

  “Yes, it’s a fever. She is definitely contagious. A perceptive diagnosis, Commander.”

  They both sound so far away, thought Kari. She wondered who they were talking about. She reached her hand out from under the blanket to touch that soft fabric again. The skin underneath felt warm too. She wondered who it was.

  Kari awoke to find herself in a different cell. Weakness made her think she couldn’t move. But her bladder said that she had to. At first she worried they’d provided no toilet, then found the button to make it appear. The walls were shiny enough for her to use as a poor mirror. No glass walls here. Her bones were well knitted together and a little too visible beneath her skin. She touched her face and it was only a little sore. Judging from her hair length, a couple more weeks had elapsed since becoming infected. She listened at the walls. The lack of engine noise allowed her to presume she no longer traveled aboard a ship. She flexed her knees a few times, then jumped. Either she was weaker than she thought or this place had a little stronger gravity than Earth’s. The same as the Darksend’s. Though she could be anywhere, she suspected she now resided on Romulus.

  The cell was bigger than the one on the ship. Very white. Very clean. No escape. The walls, floor, and ceiling displayed no seams. A wash basin carved itself into a wall. Also what might have been a shower nestled in a corner though she could not figure out how to use it. Someone must have bathed her though. Clothing was too much to ask for at this point in her incarceration. At least she wasn’t cold, though she still shivered a little. The guards had amused themselves by scaring her with stories of the Tal Shiar as she picked up their language. The plastic band with the universal translator still adorned her wrist. Moving around helped to reacquaint herself with her body. She’d almost become used to her own nudity. Some shorts and a top would be nice though. Her breasts were disappearing, she decided, rueful. Her body needed food.

  The door slid open and a Romulan entered. His face was veiled and he wore the black robes she presumed the Tal Shiar, like Syll, preferred. The robes, long and flowing, trimmed with gold, didn’t betray gender. However, the figure moved with the brusqueness of a male.

  “Hello,” she said in Romulan. “Thank you for the medical care.”

  She waved at her arms and legs.

  His eyes, barely visible behind the veil narrowed. He was carrying an input pad.

  “You will speak only when a question is asked,” he barked out at her.

  She reached behind her neck. Yes, there was a slight bump on her vertebra. The punishment module. She nodded.

  “You will do only what we ask you to do.”

  She stood still and waited. She assumed the position the Tal Shiar would eventually demand. Her feet slightly parted, her hands in front clasped, her head bowed.

  “What is your name?”

  “Kari Wu.”

  “And your rank?”

  “Ensign in Starfleet, the United Federation of Planets.”

  “Your ship?”

  “The T’naarr.”

  “A science vessel?”

  They went through a number of questions which she answered truthfully. He paused and started fidgeting with the pad.

  “Permission to speak, master.”

  “Master?”

  “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to skip that part of the conditioning and go straight to the titles. I’m sure you will give me my designation soon.”

  “Uh, yes, of course. It’s...” He fumbled again with the pad. “It’s 738.”

  She frowned.

  “No, wait. It’s 738776.”

  “Yes, master, 738776.”

  “Repeat it.”

  She hesitated then repeated it again.

  “You will answer only to that designation. What is your name?”

  “My designation is 738766, master. Would you like me to lie now to calibrate your instruments?”

  He fidgeted with the pad again. “What was the vessel you were serving upon?”

  She slipped to the floor and braced herself against the bed. “The Enterprise.”

  She breathed deeply waiting. She opened her eyes a little to watch him struggling with the pad once more. He finally hit a button.

  She shrieked. Her body seized up and she slammed to the floor. Her entire head was exploding. Finally, he turned it off.

  She couldn’t help herself and wept.

  “Well, 738766, that is the punishment for lying to us.”

  “Yes, master.” She tried to get her limbs to respond.

  “There’s a punishment module in the base of your neck. It cannot be removed. How did you like your first taste?”

  “It was much worse than I was led to believe. And that was just setting one.”

  “Yes it...” He paused and looked at his pad again. He dialed in something, then again hit the button. She jerked and gasped with pain. But it was just a small jolt.

  She struggled to a kneeling position wiping the tears from her face.

  “Where are my manners?” he said, reading off the pad.

  The silence lengthened.

  “Uh,” she said carefully. “I do not know?”

  He clenched a fist. “I mean where are my manners. You must be hungry.”

  “Yes, master,” she said. Her voice still quavered from the pain rocketing around in her brain from the first jolt.

  He clicked on the pad. The door slid open and another veiled interrogator, similar to the Romulan holding her pad, entered. He was perhaps a little paunchier and shorter and slower. Her interrogator straightened up a little at his presence. Kari shifted her position to kneel in his direction and touched her forehead to the ground. Somehow the new interrogator seemed older. He handed her interrogator a bowl.

  “Uh, here is some soup for you, 738766,” her interrogator said. She maintained her position. “You may arise.”

  She rose to a standing position.

  “Eat the soup, 738766. Now.”

  She accepted the bowl of soup and took a mouthful. She smiled. “It is quite good, masters. I know it to be poisoned but it is good nonetheless.”

  “It is not poisoned, 738766.”

  She continued eating not looking at them.

  “It is poisoned,” the interrogator said.

  She didn’t react, just finishing all.

  “Soon you will beg for the antidote.”

  She nodded. Already, she could feel herself becoming lightheaded and nauseous. Her breathing became labored and she felt chilled from the sweat breaking out all over her skin. She knelt before she keeled over.

  “If master would be pleased, I would like the antidote. Please master.” She wondered if she could make it to the toilet. “I beg you.”

  The interrogator seemed to vibrate.

  “You mock me, Human!” the interrogator screamed.

  Kari jerked away from him. She covered up as she realized what he intended. He pounded her with his fist, then kicked her in the side. The pain momentarily stopped the poison from overwhelming her. She spat blood onto the floor then retched.
r />   “Master yourself,” the other Tal Shiar ordered sounding almost resigned.

  She thought he was talking to her and she struggled to regain her kneeling position. “Yes, master.”

  But he was looking at her interrogator who was trembling with rage.

  “This Human is...” her interrogator yelled.

  “Give her the antidote,” the other male sighed.

  Her interrogator looked as if he were going to argue. Then his shoulders slumped and he reached in his pocket and removed a capsule. He held it out.

  Kari’s eyes flicked to the other male then started to reach for it.

  “She, at least, appears to know the appropriate way to present it to her. Perhaps you would like her to school you on that as well?”

  Her interrogator closed his hand into a fist and looked as if he was going to hit her again. But instead dropped the capsule at his feet. She leaned over and scooped it up with her tongue. From what she’d been told, it would take a few moments to work. She curled up and tried to control her bodily functions. It did seem to be counteracting the poison though

  “Commander Syll,” the experienced male said. “A moment of your time if you can spare it.”

  Syll entered to stand next to him. She was not veiled.

  “You are dismissed,” he said to the first interrogator, holding out his hand. “Her pad.”

  The interrogator handed it to him then turned to go. Kari hurled the empty bowl at Syll then launched herself onto the departing Romulan’s back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her legs around his waist. The material of the veil flattened against his head. She clamped her teeth on his pointed ear.

  “Ahhhh!!!” he shrieked. He spun her around and slammed her against the wall.

  The older Romulan and Syll stepped aside. Syll examined the bowl she’d caught while the older Romulan leaned against the