Tev came to. Her head hurt. She did a quick check of her body - everything was aching but no acute pain. That was good. She would check in more detail once she had assessed her situation. For now she dared not move. This might buy her time while she reoriented herself. No need to prod any captors into action in case they were watching her. Her thorough training had drilled the sequence into her to the point where they had become instinctive routine.
She was lying on her side on a hard surface, likely the bare floor. The temperature felt comfortable, the air smelled fresh, nothing that might give her any hint. No sounds either beyond a distant continuous hum. A ship, she thought - running in hyperdrive.
Think, Tev, what happened...Nanomorphs - right.
They had caught up with her ship. There was a white light - she must have been transported here.
Not a good starting point,
she thought.
She dared a cautious glimpse, her eyes opening just a slit at first. The room had a bright ambience. No one was visible from this angle. She opened her eyes wide, scanning her field of view without moving her head. She was indeed lying on the floor, it was smooth, clean and well lit. A grey-metallic wall was 6 feet away, before that a small white bench. A glass stood on a tray on top of the bench. She realized she was thirsty. She lifted her head to see more of the room. There was no one here besides her. Slowly she rolled onto her back, checking her body and limbs.
Ok, no injuries.
She patted her uniform for the communicator but found it had been removed. As were her weapons and boots, even the stealth knife she hid on her leg.
Damn - not good.
She briefly pondered her missing boots. As if her captors feared she might outrun them.
Weird.
Tev got up and looked around the room. No windows, no cameras. Walking over to the bench she picked up the glass of water and inspected it.
How considerate!
she thought, but then changed her mind, placing it back on the tray. She wondered if her team had been taken too. Rutt McAdams, her team leader, had been standing directly next to her when light engulfed her.
A sudden glimmer on the wall caught her attention. A profile emerged, disturbing the perfect smoothness of the wall. A face materialized, then the contours of a body. Almost expecting it to be him, she recognized the unit she had come to know as Michael assemble and detach from the wall, then slowly approach her. She took a step back. Her last run-in with Nanomorphs had not been pleasant, and her team escaped only after deploying an ethically questionable tactic that had her engage Michael in a very personal and philosophical discussion that she knew he would misunderstand. In fact, their plan had relied on it. She wasn't proud of this chapter in her life and had sought the help of a counselor after their return. Despite everyone's insistence that her behavior was justified and necessary to survive, doubts had remained and she had only barely managed to bury them in her daily routine. Now her guilt resurfaced unabated and merged with fear: While she felt sympathy for the agony and conflict he had been through in his struggle to comprehend the notions of human friendship and love, and particularly their limits, she also had tremendous respect for the destructive force he represented as a nanomorph.
She decided to break the ice. "It is good to see you, Michael. I am happy to see you are well".
His stare was emotionless as he approached her with purposeful stride. Tev knew she should stand her ground, actively addressing the threat before her, rather than retreating, which she knew was utterly senseless in the given situation. Yet somehow she continued to reluctantly back up, perhaps driven by her guilty conscience, or by the residual confusion from her black-out. The wall behind her stopped her retreat. It briefly distracting her as she had estimated it to be another foot or so away, but she quickly dismissed the issue to concentrate on the alien machine closing in on her.
"Why did you bring me here?" Tev asked with a neutral voice, hinting at just a nuance of annoyance over the inconvenience he was causing her. She figured that meeting him intellectually on eye-level was her best chance at this. Who knows, perhaps she could even play on his inner conflicts to gain an upper hand. He didn't respond and instead locked his eyes with hers in a cold stare, continuing his approach until he stood less than a foot away. Both his proximity and his stare made her feel uncomfortable, but she ignored it, instead raising her eyebrows in impatience for him to explain himself.
"Hello Tevala. I have been waiting for you. I have many questions." he informed her matter-of-factly. Hearing him use her full first name stirred something deep inside her. Her father had called her like that in her teens when he deemed it necessary to discipline her. No one had since. Her visceral response to it confused her but she quickly dismissed the thought.
He is waiting for me to explain myself,
she thought.
Very well, then:
"Look, I'm very sorry for what happened," she tried. "I attempted everything to have you evacuated before the trap set, but my superiors decided otherwise. I didn't have a choice." He silently continued his provoking stare.
The 'just following orders' excuse - pathetic,
Tev she thought in disgust for herself.
The wall stirred slightly behind her, again distracting her.
Concentrate, stupid.
