H to cautiousness when a series of loud snapping sounds echoed in her ears. Her pupils retracted immediately her eyelids flicked open, bright light flooded her eyes causing them shut again.

Her body jerked up from the position she’d been only to be held back down by heavy hands which pinned her back.

“Just remain calm young lady,” she’d been told by a muffled masculine voice while she struggled to break free. “It’s now,” the voice said again. The other sounds of movements told Kindra’s semi-conscious mind that he wasn’t the only person present with her.

The smell of rusty wet metal filled her noose as soon as she felt the cold chill of a metallic object press upon her nose.

“This should hurt a little.”

There was a repulsive smell which pumped into her nostrils, it made her choke and gag as she felt a sour taste in her mouth. Her throat tightened, her breath hitched and she gagged again as the nauseous feeling grew stronger.

The coldness of the metal vanished and the pressure which had pinned her down gave way, allowing her to jerk upright. Without warning, she puked out a green fluid from her mouth.

“Get the Netrac.”

A soothing relief washed over her body after she’d puked. For a moment there, it felt like her organs had shifted out of place. Her hands wrapped around the edges of where she sat. The movement around her echoed in her head but her partially blind eyes couldn’t make out her surroundings.

“Where am I?” She asked in a feeble tone. “What have you done to me?”

“It’s just a side-effect, I’m sure it’d have worn out by now already.”

Her eyelids parted, her vision was starting to get clearer. The first thing she noticed was the odd looking metal bed in which she sat, it ran in a parallel line across the room where she was. Large rectangular fluorescent bulbs illuminated the room. It wasn’t hard for Kindra to place the room to be some sort of hospital considering the caliber of equipment she could make out around her.

“Feeling any better?” the first voice she’d heard asked, only then did she remember again that there was someone eels there with her, having been lost in taking in her unfathomable environment.

Kindra didn’t answer, her heart beat slowly, her body felt frail and her mind at unrest. She hesitated jumping off the bed ad running out through the exit but she knew better, her numb feet would give up before she even made it half way. She gave a silent gasp when her eyes cleared up a bit more to fall on the bodies of Ramon and Joleen lying on the beds close to hers. There was an array of unstable numbers which formed two semicircles rotating in opposite directions hovering over their bare chest.

Ramon had been injured at a spot just above his hips. The spot was a bright red under the artificial serum which had been synthesized by nanobots. Kindra’s experience as a Med Guard spoke to her, she couldn’t understand why he was being treated with the outdated nano-surgeon medication.

Two men dressed just ike the man in front of her stood next to Joleen’s bed. One of the observed with keen eyes the display of the machine beside the bed while the other had the DeepskinTM glasses as he observed the inner activities of the nanobots they’d injected into her body to help with the cuts and bruises on her skin.

Their entrée was active, glowing across the distinct mazelike marking on it. Kindra turned to the man who didn’t seem to take much interest in her, rather walked over to Ramon’s side. He took record of the figures which were displayed on the machine’s screen before turning back to a perplexed Kindra.

“There.” The man gestured to her side, “bottoms up.”

She looked beside her to see the steel cup next to her before turning back to him. “Who are you and what’s this place?”

“I’m Jonathan, leader of the Sweeper Camp and right now you’re far from anywhere good.” His hands crossed his chest as he leaned on the bedside for support. His eyes remained on her as if scrutinizing her mind, teasing her with knowledge she craved for.

“Where in the world am I?”

“Bottoms up first,” Jonathan answered the walked past her, heading towards the exit. “I’ll be on the other side.”

She turned back to the steel cup, lines of despair were visible on her face. If whoever these guys were had taken the crew in, then they didn’t look like they meant harm. But she couldn’t be certain for sure, all the same, it’s not like there were any other options. Her best shot at staying alive would be to listen to whatever she was told.

The small liquid in the cup gave a sort of gas as soon as Kindra lifted it off the table. Her eyes shut close as she brought the cup to her mouth. No sooner had the liquid passed through her throat than she gagged, threatening to spew the content. She watched the other people at her crew mate’s bed as they gave a light chuckle, amused by her reaction.

Kindra met Jonathan waiting in the spacious hallway outside the room. The liquid she’d forcefully downed seemed to have taken effect, setting her body free to some extent. Several doors lined the entire hallway, fitted into the metal walls with which the building had been built. One thing that was obvious was that the Cloud Relegus satellite didn’t serve wherever it was they were located since they made use of the halogen fluorescents.

“I’m sure you have questions,” Jonathan began as he led the way. Kindra remained silent as was her manner, she followed behind and kept her eyes trained on the markings on the markings on the walls of the hallway, as well as the progressing numbers on the door.

“What is this place?” Her breath paused, hopeful that she’d get any useful information.

“The safest place you can be at this point in your life.” His boot smacked the metal stairway which creaked under his weight as he led the way up the stairs.

The metal pipes ran through the hallway she found herself with some parts already covered in ice. A faint sound rang in her ears, like the chattering of people, her heart thumped hard in anxiety as to where she was being led to. Her curiosity only heightened the more when Jonathan turned away from the direction the voices came from.

“There are other humans here.” Kindra glanced over her shoulder for a moment, “what am I-we being kept safe from?”

Her eyebrows creased when Jonathan halted and turned to her. His expression remained calm as ever and Kindra couldn’t make out if it was just her blurry sight or if he had a smile creeping around the corner of his lips.

“Yes, there are other humans here,” he answered. “Hundreds of us being safeguarded behind these walls.”

“Safeguarded from what?” Kindra asked almost in a whisper. Jonathan raised an eyebrow and smiled at her curiosity before walking again.

“You’re in a bad shape Kindra, you obtained several lacerated muscles. Good thing there are no broken bones or severe damage unlike your friends and I marvel at how that’s even possible.”

Kindra only swallowed, following him in silence and taking in as much as she could. They were led up another flight of stairs which like the previous floor was calm and devoid of activities. Jonathan slid open a door and gestured for her to enter.

“Save all your questions,” he said, standing at the doorway to the room which Kindra for some reason refused to step into. “It’s a long story, get some rest now. You’d need all the strength you can muster.”

“Jay, we need you down here right now.” A voice came from the communication display of he gloves.

“What’s the case Lucien?”

“He’s finally coming around,” the voice said again, “but he’s really unstable and…-you just got to see this for yourself.”

“Everything you need would be in there,” Jonathan said, turning to Kindra before leaving. “Get some rest.”

Kindra stepped into the small white room. It was far from anything she’d expected a guest lounge to be-at least that’s what she was being treated as, a guest. A single next generation gas lamp illuminated the entire room,. A neatly arranged bed fitted at a side of the room on which a tray of liquid diet had been placed, a transparent glass frame separated the bathroom area from the main room.

Kindra ran her hand over the bed unsure of what to make of the situation in which the crew was in. She’d only seen Ramon and Joleen who weren’t in a good condition and there was still Meghan and Bishop-the package. She’d be damned if for whatever reason he didn’t make it, it’ll mean the whole plan had failed and that sure wasn’t going to be something good. She just had to find a way to reach someone beyond these hard metal walls.