Sandcastle (A Star Trek: The Next Generation Fan Fiction)

Chapter Nine

My head hurt. My body hurt too but I was focusing on my head at the moment. Why did this always happen to me? I was tired of waking up in strange places with no idea of how I'd gotten there. And I didn't even have a night of fun beforehand to explain it. I actually couldn't remember the last time I'd had fun.

I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. There were lights recessed into the ceiling, giving the entire room a kind of glow. I sat up. The room was small, maybe 2 meters along each wall. I was lying on some kind of platform along one wall that was trying to be a bed. Besides that, the room was empty. I sat up and looked around as I did, I heard a clanking come from my wrist. I looked down. My heart stopped. Around my wrist was a think, silver bracelet. I recognized it. It was the same as the one Dominic had put on me the year before. It had prevented me from shifting and knocked me out when I tried.

I hesitantly reached down and touched it. It was warm to the touch, as if I had been wearing it a while. I tried to pull it off but knew that was hopeless. It was on tight. I fought back the panic that rose inside of me. I couldn't help but remember a year previous when I had woken up in a similar room, trapped and helpless. It had been the start of this nightmare. I refused for it to end the same way. I stood up and paced the room. Unlike the last cell, this one had a visible door, just no handle. As I paced, my stomach growled. I had not eaten since that morning, however long ago that was now. I was glad I had eaten breakfast then but it wasn't helping anymore. I found it hard to think when I was hungry.

I shook the hair out of my eyes. I had returned to my regular form, probably because of the bracelet. I was wearing the clothes I normally created when I wanted to be comfortable. I wasn't wearing shoes.

I had paced up and down the small cell at least a dozen times when the door opened. It was a guard, holding a phase pistol. He looked inside the room and then backed out. I stood watching.

Dominic entered. He looked just as I remembered. Short-cropped brown hair with grey around the temples, a little more than had been there before. He was wearing a black suit. He smiled as he entered.

"Miss Lawrence," he said. "It's been far too long. "

I bit back the angry retort I was about to make. Arguing with the man would do nothing.

"Not talking to me? Very well. I hope you had a good rest. You slept the whole night."

The whole night. So it was Unification Day already. The day of the speech. "What do you want?" I asked, my temper getting the better of me.

"I want to know how much you know," Dominic answered immediately. He crossed his arms in front of him and leaned back against the wall. I remained standing where I had stopped pacing.

"About what?"

"Don't play coy with me. I know you're working for Sebastian."

"So what?"

"So I want to know how much he knows. He's given no indication of postponing the speech, so I cannot imagine he knows his life is in danger. But he should, considering that we intercepted a transmission between the two of you."

So that was how he'd found me. "If you heard the transmission then you should know everything already," I said. "Why bother me?"

"Unfortunately that communication was very well encrypted. We haven't been able to decrypt the contents, just that it took place."

Thank you, Reaper. "So you want to know how much Sebastian knows," I said, my mind racing. If Dominic didn't know what we knew about the Liarens, then that could work to my advantage. The problem was that I didn't know exactly how the Liarens played into it.