Andrew was locked in a concrete isolation cell. Standing there, arms crossed, staring through a glass wall at Linnie. Linnie's stance matched his own and her cheeks were a mosaic of zigzagging lines of trace salt and a few of them still wet. Through her tears. her eyes might have been puffy, but her lips had almost disappeared from the pressure her scowl had put on them. Telling him that these were more likely tears of anger than sadness or pain. Occasionally, she would open her mouth, only to shut it again. Her growing frustration evident by the way her lips seemed to magically disappear more and more as her with each iteration.

  Andrew started to subconsciously tap his foot. His tapping came to an abrupt halt when her head snapped down to glare at the tapping foot, and with a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose before finally meeting Andrew's eyes. The storm of warring emotions in them forced him to unconsciously take a half-step back.

  The glass was too thick for the sound to get through, and instead, her voice came through his implant. "No, Andrew I can't opt out at this point! Even if I wanted to, which I don’t. I doubt they'd allow it, and for a good, damned reason too!” her anger rising before she caught herself, “Humility aside, you know I'm by far the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to our folding tech and you know the most likely part of the ship to break is the folding engine. So, knowing all that, I can't imagine how you felt it was okay to ask me to.” her voice quavering, “Also, how little of me you must think of me if you thought there was even a small chance that I would leave the crew to their fates, knowing the dangers that they might face."

  Andrew's jaw clenched and his teeth did their best impression of creaking wood, as his eyes narrowed and he moved to speak. Before he could open his mouth, he was brought up short when she raised a hand. Holding it up while she took a moment to take a deep breath and let out a sigh.

  "Andrew Lather, you also know that our best theories of the Hring's fate revolve around potential flaws with their folding engine. So, while a large part of me might want to stay and be here with you, it would be more than a little selfish for me to back out now. Just two days before we jump. I think if you took the time to let your ego get out of the way you might be able to see that you're asking me to risk over 10 million lives so you and I can be together for the next two years. Hell, even if our marriage weren't on the rocks that seems more than a little childish and in its current state it’s even more so. So again, I ask. How could you, knowing all that, even think to ask me to back out? "

  A vein on Andrew's forehead pulsed as his knuckles joined his teeth in creaking, "I know you're going for all the right reasons, Linnie, I do. But I asked you to stay because I love you and can't imagine my life without you. Not even for a day, much less for two years! Though apparently, I might be the only one of us who feels that way. I mean shouldn't it be ok that I not be ok with you being gone for two years? Especially while you are in such danger and on a ship full of guys. I just feel if you even remotely felt similar to me then you'd be open to staying here with me and if not, you'd at least understand why I am asking you that. "

  "That's unfair Andrew, and you know it. l am floored that instead of considering what I’m saying and the pressures going on in my world, you're just doubling down on the pressure tactics, knowing what is at stake. I get you feel trapped by having to stay here, but you got yourself into a bad situation and now have to pay the price. A situation, I specifically warned you not to. As for the ship full of guys, if you really trusted me you wouldn't be worried. You’d know that I would be more than capable of waiting two years to see you again!” she paused to take a few breathes, “Let me try something different Andrew, if you were still allowed on the mission, or stuck on the Hring, would you want my alternate overseeing your way home?"

  Andrew breathed out slightly “No, I definitely would not want Frank as my lifeline home. It's scary to think that Frank will be the best folding tech Yuta will have after you leave. That any chance I have to come save you would rest in his hands. I just don't love the idea of not being able to be there to support you while you have the adventure or struggle of a lifetime. I feel that's the reason you really won't say no, because you love the potential of adventure more than me."

  "You know that’s not true Andrew and you…”, her eyes narrowing in realization, “Wait, why is this about me? I didn't get suspended from the mission. I didn't ignore my spouse's sage advice and go to that side of town instead of staying focused on mission prep. But did you listen? NO, and now here we are having to say goodbye, for YEARS with a glass wall between us, and as usual, you want to blame that on ME and not YOUR decisions?" Linnie stomped her foot for emphasis.

  Andrew stepped back up to the glass, his finger almost breaking as he stabbed the glass with it.

  "MY decisions? My decisions? Linnie, you were pretty brutal last night in case you forgot. So of course, I was hurt and mad and needed to calm down. I only started watching feeds in the hope that they might distract me from the horrible hurtful things you said. One about what’s going on in the south zone did exactly that and distracted me from you. It was mostly because it seemed like pure propaganda. I couldn’t believe things were anything close to what they were reporting and so I decided I should go see for myself. It was a side bonus that meant I got to break some of those silly rules you've been putting on me. So of course, that's where I went. Almost like through your actions you forced me there. Even with all that it makes no sense how I ended up here. I should have been in no danger. I never left the car. I never even rolled down the windows. Much less interacted with anyone. How was I supposed to know this would happen? " Andrew said in exasperation, gesturing to his cell.

  "Wait are you saying you going there is also all my fault? Classic Andrew, not able to take fault even when it is clearly his. I forced you to go there? Seriously grow up. As to how you ended up in isolation, it happened because yet again you let your anger drive your actions instead of realizing that even a small risk is a risk, and through your actions you subjected our vital mission and millions of lives to that risk!"

  "Again? When has anything remotely like this happened before? Sure, I let my anger slightly cloud my judgment, but seriously nothing should have happened. I was safe!" Stomping his foot in time with the last word.

  "Obviously not!" Linnie screamed as she gestured to his chamber, before she paused and let out a long sigh. Raising her hand again, she took a few deep breaths before she continued, “Listen to us Andrew, we're arguing, instead of talking. Yelling, instead of connecting. I don’t want to leave things like this. I don't want both of us worried that the other is done with this relationship and having to worry about what they're doing while we’re apart. I love you and while we have been having a rough patch, I want you to know I still want this," as she said this, she put a hand softly on the glass where his finger had been pushing, " I still want us. So, I'm going to put down my guns and just say mistakes were made and nothing can change that now. I really hope you do the same," she took another long deep breath before continuing, "You know what I'm sorry about most? That we couldn't have the tomorrow we've talked about since getting together. I really wish we had been able to make it happen, but it should only be 2yrs or less! It will likely be over before we know it, and then we can do all of it, but as a homecoming instead. It will be even better because we can do all of that as we reconnect and catch up on our adventures. By then maybe, we'll both remember what really matters and how much we mean to each other."

  Disarmed, Andrew touched the glass where Linnie's hand was, "I wish we could touch one more time and not say goodbye like this." pausing for a moment to attempt not to shed the tears which threatened to flow, before continuing, " I want you as well, more than I probably show you. I'm not in this relationship out of convenience no matter what Jack says. I wouldn't have reacted how I did if I didn't care. I will be waiting here when you return and if you don't…"

  Linnie cut him off, " Don't say what I think you were about to. If something were to happen don't waste your entire life waiting to move on. I love you too deeply to have you be alone for the rest of your life pining over me or how you should have been there with me or worse doing something crazy to try to come rescue me. Don't worry though, we will come home sooner than later. Hell, like I said maybe a break will be good for the two of us. Time to reminisce on the good times and give each of us a chance to forget these old wounds and remember what we like about each other. " The last word trailed off after her phone beeped and she looked at it. The sides of her mouth rose slightly before the somberness of the moment retook her face and she looked at Andrew once more.

  "Let me guess, Jack?", Andrew said crossing his arms.

  "Sorry, yeah it's Jack, and don't start. He just texted because there's a mandatory meeting over the staffing change. I really hope John isn't as bad as you think he is. Especially as he’s going to be filling your role on the crew now."

  "Truthfully, he's not I just don't like the way he looks at you, it reminds me of Jack."

  "John is gross and again Jack is not after me. He's got a serious long-term girlfriend."

  "A girlfriend who is staying on…," Andrew uncharacteristically stopped himself and took a breath before he continued, "You know, you're right this isn't how I want to spend our last moments together either. So, I'll stop. You know how I feel about him and nothing I'm going to say will change anything. What might help things out is that I've put a few videos in your secure drive to help you remember some of our good times. To be clear, while most of them are of our adventures, some of them are definitely for your eyes only. I hope they are enough to keep me in your thoughts for the next few years," Andrew paused to wipe away tears before continuing, "Linnie, I love you more than I know how to express, I really have no clue how I'll manage without you in my life for the next two years. So, please don't fall in love with anyone else and more importantly please come home safe. "

  Linnie met his gaze, her eyes blurry, and the neck of her shirt was damp from the tears rolling down her face. "Andrew, don’t you go find anyone else either. I want to have you to come home to after all. I know it's two years, but don't worry, with everything going on, it will all go by faster than we think," she said choking back tears and then added, "I really do love you too. I will miss you, Andrew, a great deal more than you know. I really can't wait for our reunion!" With that, she kissed the glass and left. Pausing only a moment in the doorway before continuing out. The smudge where her lips and hand touched the glass was the only proof she had been there.

  ********

  Andrew awoke lying on his back, he started to open his eyes only to quickly clamp them shut again to avoid the daggers of pain the omnipresent light gifted him by way of his migraine. From what he saw during that brief glance, he could tell that there was a wall arching over him, and it was made of that white granite stuff. The stuff he had hoped for was only in his dreams and was not his reality. Based on the slope of the roof and the fact that he could feel the wall on his left side he assumed he'd been placed on the bench in his cell. How he got onto the bench he wasn't sure.

  Well, this sucks, apparently, I really am a prisoner of an alien race in a place that I have no clue where it is or how I got here. Those aliens do have stone golems, so that’s pretty cool. The elves seem pretty terrible though and have technologies that might as well be magic. This bench is more comfortable than any bed I've ever slept on though, so I guess it's not all bad. It does make ya wonder if their beds are in some impossibly better to sleep on. I bet the beds would magically ease this migraine. While this bench is nice and all, I was hoping I'd wake up back on Yuta, next to Linnie, and find out that this was all just a crazy booze induced dream. I even miss Ziggy annoying me with all my morning messages before I even opened my eyes. Ziggy, you there?

  No response came, all he could hear was a slow thumping sound from somewhere deeper in the ship.

  I can't believe how much I miss that stupid Kata interface right now. I used to loathe how it would do that and now I miss that feature. Even more, I miss being able to ask Ziggy to dull this raging migraine and he might have a clue what that elf did to me to give me such a horrendous headache. At the very least I'd be able to know how long I've been unconscious and in this cell.

  Thump, Thump…………..Thump Thump………..Thump Thump………

  GAWWWHHH I really wish that sound would stop. Worse migraine of my life and I am stuck in a cell with inescapable light and a rhythmic beat. I wonder if it's some kind of torture device they use to get prisoners to capitulate to their demands? If so, it's definitely working, though it would be nice to know what those demands were.

  Andrew rolled to a sitting position and pinched the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to ease the pain in his aching head. When this attempt failed, Andrew sighed and then muttered to the room, “Sadly Linnie's not here to tell me how I screwed up this time. I miss you Linnie, I hope this isn't what happened to you or the previous missions "

  Andrew was startled to attention when a calm melodious voice responded, "What previous missions do you speak of?"

  As his eyes slowly opened, taking the time to adjust, he found that the voice belonged to the elven captain. The one who had appeared as a hologram to Chogan and Andrew. This time she was standing in the main room looking very much real and staring at Andrew in a way that made him feel as if his soul would like to leave his body and find a place to hide.

  Andrew was opening his mouth to respond when the calm voice of Captain Rostron came from his left. Andrew flinched and quickly scanned the room to see who had heard his musings. To his embarrassment, he found that his cell was now full of the male members from his crew and from what little he could see of it. It appeared that the female members of his crew were in the adjacent cell. They were all staring at him, except for Chogan who was nowhere to be seen.

  Man Lather, next time you're going to whinge on about something at least make sure the whole crew isn't listening.

  "We once dispatched a colonization vessel, known as the Hringhorni, or simply the Hring for short. Its mission aimed to establish a third colony for humanity, thereby safeguarding our species against the perils of a single catastrophe. Regrettably, we suspect that the Hring's journey was marred by sabotage. When it initiated its jump, it veered off course, and we could not pinpoint its exact destination. Our advanced AIs eventually intercepted puzzling signals from the ship. The coordinates they transmitted were millions of light-years astray, and astonishingly ancient. Despite these perplexing revelations, once we located the message and its enigmatic coordinates, we launched a second mission to investigate. This second expedition, however, vanished without a trace, and no communications from it have ever reached us.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  In light of the numerous souls who had gone missing, our government decided to make one final attempt to retrieve our fellow citizens and bring them back home or at minimum learn of their fates. That last-ditch effort is represented by the individuals present here. Truth be told, we weren't supposed to arrive in this system just yet. An unforeseen incident during our testing led to an untimely jump into this territory. The sudden stop upon arrival resulted in injuries to many of my crew members. As is evidenced by Mr. Lather himself. “

  Andrew, surprised by the wordy and open nature of this Captain's response, spoke up, "Sir, don't you feel we might be sharing a bit too much with the enemy?"

  The elven woman turned to Andrew and calmly snapped "Silence, you will not speak unless addressed. Trust me we're not your enemies, your race bears no threat to us and if we wanted to erase your species from our Galaxy it would take less than one of your lifespans to get the job done."

  Andrew immediately felt compelled not to speak.

  “We are sincerely grateful then that is not your intent then. Might I inquire about a few things? Can my crew expect medical assistance? What was the object we inadvertently collided with? Does the debris field we observed belong to our missing ships?" Captain Rostron responded in a slightly monotone voice.

  The elven woman turned back to Captain Rostron, "No you may not inquire anything at this time. I am the one asking the questions and you are the one answering, so please tell me what planet you are from?"

  Captain Rostron quickly replied, "We hail from Yuta, madam."

  The Elven woman's eye twitched a bit "You shall address me as Captain Lach, and I'm not familiar with this Yuta where is it?"

  Rostron replied "Sorry ma…. Captain Lach, no offense intended. Yuta is the second celestial body within the ER28-0652 system, and as such, it's often colloquially referred to as Yuta 2."

  Lach queried "And which government was responsible for creating these ships you have spoken of?"

  Rostron responded "Captain, they were commissioned by the United 19."

  Though her expression didn't change much, Lach seemed unhappy by this answer "Even with all they have done to your race, you humans have become allies of our ancient enemies?"

  Rostron perplexed, answered, "Captain, I must apologize; I'm not entirely acquainted with the specifics of this 'Ancient enemy' you mentioned, nor the actions they've taken against us."

  Lach tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowed slightly before they widened again. Her eyebrows raised ever so slightly, "You're not lying. You really don't know of the dirty little bearded ones and their disgusting soot-spewing machines. Nor that they enslaved your race so they could perform research on your species and its peculiarities. It does leave one question, why your government is named after their sacred number?" Lach said in a contemplative voice that sounded more like she was thinking out loud and less like she meant to speak.

  In a slow voice that had an almost robotic feel, Rostron replied, “Sorry ma…aptian, I'm afraid we're not acquainted with the group you're referring to, and we're as puzzled as you as to why they hold the number 19 in such reverence. For us, it symbolized being part of the population who rolled up our sleeves and accomplished tasks while others benefited from our efforts, rich or poor. I would wager it's a quirk of fate that your historical adversary and our group both happen to have a connection to this particular number. In the end the number symbolizes the group who left our home planet Earth for our new planet Yuta to make a better life for themselves and their progeny. Maybe your ancient enemy has a similar societal reason for it, though I would not know."

  Every other human looked on as if they knew they should stop the captain but couldn't muster the will to act. Andrew could empathize, it felt as if a weight was hanging over his head. One which would utterly crush him should he utter a single sound.

  Lach waited a moment before responding, "Is the United 19 part of the hidden tribe of runaway slaves? We know they were able to free a number of you primitives. So did the wretched tribe help you?"

  "Apologies, Captain, but we're not familiar with these slaves nor their tribe, we are of the United 19 a human government based on Yuta. If there are indeed other humans in this galaxy, we would appreciate an opportunity to speak with them," said Rostron with some pride, though the last part was said as an entreaty.

  “Sorry, while there most definitely are a large number of you abominations infecting this galaxy and the next. I see no path forward where you will be allowed to speak with anyone who is not part of the Unesisa Rada, or under our control, for the foreseeable future Mr. Rostron,” Lach responded coldly.

  Lach seemed to be contemplating something when Rostron spoke up again, "May I inquire about the destiny that awaits my crew?"

  Captain Lach responded with an icy edge to her voice, "No, as I said, you may not. While I lapsed on this a moment ago. I should not have. You will not speak until you are addressed."

  Rostron started to speak and with a small gesture of Captain Lach's hand, Rostron was silenced and fell to his knees wracked with pain. The shock of seeing his captain convulsing in agony allowed Andrew to push through the crushing feelings which were compelling him to stay quiet. As he did so, he strained against the mental weight pushing on him so that he might put on the best impish smile that he could muster. He only succeeded in a grin that looked like it wanted to be impish, but the wearer was in the middle of a deadlift while trying to be smug.

  "Hey, Captain Karen. How exactly can we understand you?"

  Captain Lach turned her scowl onto Andrew, and as she did, the captain was released from whatever she had been doing to cause him pain. She smiled at Andrew with the smile of a predator knowing it’s found its next meal.

  “By my will of course. Thank you for reminding me of my purpose for being amongst you primitive abominations. While I can connect with your primitive brains directly to communicate with you, having to do so is beneath me and my subordinates. So, I came here to fix that issue, it was kind of you to volunteer to go first in rectifying this."

  While Andrew was happy that his captain was free, he was filled with dread at what she meant when she said he had volunteered. Volunteered for what exactly was the question.

  He went to speak, but before he could, Captain Lachs looked at him in a way that reminded him of a telekinetic villain in an old b movie. True to form, he found himself paralyzed and with a flick of her left hand he was lifted off the bench. With another small gesture of her hand, Andrew was pulled by some unseen force through the barrier. Which this time passed over his body harmlessly as it had done when he was thrown into the cell. Quickly sealing behind him as he passed.

  He struggled to get free but found he was powerless to end this nightmare. As he did, he floated across the middle room and over to the wall opposite his cell. A bench grew out from the wall as he approached. With another small motion of Lach's hand, whatever force was keeping him aloft ended, and he was roughly dropped face-up on the bench. Still unable to move.

  Damn it Lather you couldn't keep your damned mouth shut, could you? Nope not me I have to do what's “right”. Now she's probably going to do some weird brain surgery and make me a eunuch while she's at it!

  Captain Lachs, wearing the same predatory grin as before, approached a blank section of wall just above his head.

  “I bet right now; you’re thinking you wished you had kept quiet. I hope your crew mates learn the lesson you refused to learn.”

  As she started to extend her hand and at the perfect height for her hand a small arterial-looking aperture opened, and a shelf extended out from it. On the shelf was a small fish tank which seemed to have grown right out of the shelf, its liquid dark. On the shelf next to the tank was an instrument tray with an assortment of wicked looking tools. Lach's hand finished its extension just as the shelf came to full extension, her hand perfectly over the tools. A pair of exotic looking tongs floated up and into her outstretched hand. He felt a mild relief when she moved to use the tongs on something in tank. As she did the tank lit up and he could see hundreds of worms wriggling around the tank.

  NO NO NO I’ve seen this movie

  Seeing his realization, Captain Lach mocked him with an impish grin, "I've been told this procedure is mildly displeasing. Please refrain from screaming and whimpering too much. It would be inconvenient during questioning if I had to remove your vocal cords. Though not too bad once this is in place."

  The thought of a brainworm drove him to internally rage against whatever force was paralyzing him. He was rewarded with him gaining the ability to move a finger.

  Well, that's not much, but it's a start. Now let's get these other piggies wiggling.

  Lach's eyes went wide when she saw the tiny movement from the corner of her eye. She peered at the finger imperiously trying to grasp what had just happened. When she saw it move again, she smirked with amazement.

  "How have you accomplished this?"

  Andrew felt his mouth become able to move again.

  A snake-like grin grew on his face, “By my will of course. "

  Lach's eyes narrowed and then focused on Andrew. He wilted inside at the realization that he was no longer able to move any part of his body.

  Lach turned once more to the tank and retrieved one of the wriggling critters from the tank. It looked like the love child of a sandworm from Dune and a grabboid from Tremors but in a micromachine form factor. It couldn’t have been more than a centimeter or two and only a few millimeters wide.

  I really have to stop doing this to myself. Locked in a magical elf prison and even then, I can't be bothered not to mouth off to this magical elf lady. Nope and now I'm about to be turned into some stooge by an alien brain worm. Wait, there is no way this is real. I mean come on this is too much like Wrath of Khan to be real. I bet I'm still on Yuta and I fell asleep, and my weird brain just replaced Ricardo Montalban with a willowy villainous version of Galadriel in an elegant frumpy dress uniform.

  He was brought back to the moment as Lachs with little grace placed the worm just below his left eye.

  Except that went into his ear not his freaking eye!

  Andrew was unsure what he was expecting, but the worm was shockingly cold. To his horror he was forced to watch as the worm glacially inched its way up his face and over his eyelid. Lach looked on, amusement clear on her face.

  “Concerned yet? Speak if you would like me to stop this….,” after a pregnant pause she added with a chuckle, “Hearing no objections I guess we’ll proceed.”

  When the front tendrils of the worm grabbed his eyelashes and started to pull itself up, his tension broke into a full-born panic. Mentally lashing out wildly against whatever mental force was suborning his will. There was no tactic or logic to his flailing, just pure unadulterated fear. To his amazement he felt that force crack, though not break entirely. Through that crack it seemed he had somehow freed his left arm. He wasted no time in trying to quickly snatch the worm before it could complete its horrible mission, but just before Andrew's hand contacted the worm, its motion was arrested by the steely grip of Captain Lach. While his arm had to be twice the size of her own, and his arm was still free of the paralyzing effect, he could not get any closer to grabbing the worm. It was as if she had the strength of a professional weightlifter, and he was just a child.

  As she forced Andrew's hand back down to the bench, he could see both horror and wonder wrestling for control of her emotions. When his hand touched the bench, it responded by quickly stretching over his hand before returning to its stone-like look, effectively securing his in place. Bound mentally and physically, he was forced to helplessly watch as the worm began to crawl tentacles first into his ocular cavity. Each tentacle brought with it a pain not unlike the feeling you get when you touch your eye after cutting into hot peppers.

  Andrew continued his flailing push again against the force holding mentally restraining him, beating against the crack he had already formed. The crack felt like it widened, and he could feel control return to his right hand. He quickly moved to stop the worm only to find that, while he was distracted, the bench had enveloped not just his left hand, but also his right. He thrashed both mentally and physically trying to free himself from this horror, but his efforts were too little and too late.

  The worm had already crawled under his eyelid and around his eyeball, the burning sensation following as it went. He failed despite the futility of it as the worm slowly inched its way to the back of his eyeball. Once there the burning sensation continued to move further and further back into his skull until he felt a sharp pain followed by half a second of blindness. Then all of the pain brought on by the worm abruptly stopped.

  A half a moment later his visions returned, and he was struck by the most disorienting feeling he had ever felt. Like vertigo and nausea teamed up together with exhaustion and had a kegger in his brain. He closed his eyes hoping it might help and found no relief.

  He almost vomited and then the odd feelings faded and when he opened his eyes, he could now see faint glowing purple lines of ghostly energy floating out of Lach's head leading off in multiple directions. Hundreds of them, so many in fact, they combined to make a villainous tentacled crown of purple energy around her head. These purple lines pulsed in seemingly random, but definitively rhythmic ways. While most of the pulses seemed to be heading to Lachs, he saw one that was pulsing faster than the others. The pulses of this line, moving away from her instead of to her. When he followed that one, it went to the wall and appeared to continue through as did every other line minus one. When Andrew looked at the wall he was distracted from the purple lines as he could now see rainbow energy running through the golden veins of the marble walls.

  Captain Lach smiles, " Ahh it appears it has attached; can you still understand me?"

  The first thing he noticed was her dubbing seemed to be much better. If just ever so slightly still off.

  The second was the only purple line which didn’t exit the room was going from Lach to him and it seemed frayed or damaged when compared to the others. When he moved it moved. He was so focused on this line of energy that when a pulse ran along it, he was startled enough to try to block it with his hands. Realizing only after his wrist screamed in pain that even if they weren’t still locked into place he wouldn’t have been able to get them up in time to do anything to that pulse. As the pulse reached him, he found he could once again speak.

  "Sadly, yes I can still understand you. What the hell was that worm thing and what did it do to me? What is the purpose of making me see these purple lines everywhere?" Andrew said the anger rising in his voice as he spoke.

  A flash of pale tan energy coalesced around her hands a nanosecond before it shot across the room to hit him in the chest, knocking the wind from him.

  He almost missed the annoying messages from Ziggy warning him about every injury he suffered. He could imagine it saying.

  [You have experienced trauma again because you can't learn to shut your mouth, please refrain from opening it in the future.]

  Ioma, annoyance creeping into her voice, answered, "That is Captain Lach to you, I will not say it again. Continue in your insolence and you will find that I have been calm to this point.

  All that little worm is doing is translating what I am saying into terms so that what you consider a brain might understand it. Instead of having to implant the meaning into your brain myself. It will translate any dialect or language known to the Unesisa Rada. Each of us has one, they’re useful not just for communication, but also entertainment. Before you ask how I can understand your languages, they were added over a century ago when we found the first of your kind."

  She paused before adding, "What exactly do you mean purple lines?", as if just comprehending what he had previously said.

  As she said it the purple line going from her head to his grew significantly brighter.

  Without thinking he responded, "Like the one that is going from you to me or from you to it looks like many other people it seems you are contro….."

  Again, a pale tan glow grew around her hands a nanosecond before it slammed into his chest. This time lifting him off the bench. His tethered hands being the only thing to keep him from flying up into the wall.

  Andrew, through wheezing breaths, groaned "How is that tan light hurting me?"

  Ioma looked perplexed and then one of the purple strings going out into the wall pulsed repeatedly multiple bursts going out and then multiple came back. A new wall opened, and another male elf entered the room. The purple line that pulsed, and continued to do so, was the one going to his head. The male elf was wearing a similar uniform, but it was somehow distinctly more of a guard's uniform than hers. With a pulse of another purple line, the worm tank retreated into the wall and the bench oozed back off his hands.

  She turned to Andrew, "You can follow me on your own or I can make you. You will not speak again or the pain I have given you so far will feel like a massage in comparison."

  With yet another pulse of what he thought was the same line as controlled the tank, though there were so many he couldn’t be certain, a new valve-like door opened. Annoyed at himself Andrew followed, seeing it as the only way to retain a shred of dignity.

  As they were about to go through the exit, he saw one of the purple lines pulse. He followed this line, and it led back to Captain Rostron.

  Captain Rostron yelled "Andrew tell them anything they ask you, and don't hold back or they might kill us all!!".

  His last image before the aperture shut was of Captain Roston looking quizzically at himself as if he was unsure of who he was.