The New Queen

Chapter 2

Dr. Morrigan was in an uncomfortable position most of the ride back. She was surrounded by people she didnt know. There was the security officer, of course, but other than that there was no one she knew.

It was a relief when they reached the colony once again. She went to the shuttle and asked when the next flight up would be. "It'll be going up in about 4 hours." a crewman replied.

She didn't know if she could take the wait. So she just headed back to her quarters to rest. Her arrival at her quarters was announced by the sliding door opening and closing behind her.

Morrigan slipped out of her clothes, put on her pajamas, then crawled into bed. When she was fast asleep her bag started shifting. Not too long after a small creature crawled out of its temporary confines. It sensed that she was in the same room so it went to the closet Hope had not bothered with.

The few hours she had passed uneventfully until it was time to awake. Dr. Morrigan awoke with a start from dreams of being stalked in the dark. Shaking off the terrors of the night, she went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face and get dressed. Soon thereafter, she got dressed, packed what little she brought, made her way out to the shuttle. As it took off, a wave nausea overcame the doctor. Before it passed she felt as though something was there among them. It soon passed however, and the feeling was gone.

The missing persons report was immediately filed and the doctor was carted off to the examination room to do a routine check for foreign contaminants. The test came back clean.

With that painful endeaver out of the way, she was once again sitting in her room. There was again the sense that there was another presence watching her. Considering she had been feeling stressed as of late this was no surprise to her. She sighed. "I guess that project took a bigger toll on me than I thought. Or maybe it was that ordeal back on that planet?" That thought simply wouldn't leave her mind.

The door opened and Dr. Barclay entered. "Hey doctor Morrigan. I just came to see if you're doing okay."

She knew what he was trying to do. So she replied, "I'm fine, thanks. Now could you please get out of my room?" Doctor Johnathan Barclay was the head of the zoology department aboard the ship. He also made a habit of hitting on Morrigan.
Thankfully, he took the hint and exited with a, "Whatever you say. I'll be in the cafeteria later if you want to get a bite to eat."

Hope sighed and looked over at the clock. 4:47 pm. She got up and went over to her closet to change into her workout clothes. When she finished changing she went to the lower levels of the ship where she liked to run.

There was a vast network of tunnels and hallways down there that provided ample space to run in peace.

Through the metal corridors she ran, dodging steam and industrial detritus, further into the bowels of the ship.

Eventually she came upon the water valve she often drank from. There was a little tin mug that she next to it. This time, though, there was something off. There was a strange clear sticky substance dripping from somewhere above her in the dark, so the mug got covered.

"Well now. Isn't that just the greatest?" said Morrigan to herself quietly. "I'll have to get maintenance down here to check this out."

Taking her mug back up to the regular parts of the ship, she went back to her quarters and changed back into her normal clothes. Her next stop was the mess hall. As she made her way there she got a chill down her spine. Ignoring this, she proceeded anyway. When she reached the mess hall it wasn't very busy. A few of her coworkers were over in a booth in the corner playing cards. Among them was Barbara Jones who did not appear to be winning, just based off of her expression alone. Hope walked over to the kitchen and got herself a cold glass of Orange juice. With glass in hand and her water mug in the sink, she walked over to the card game taking place.