Andromeda [Brian May]

♦ 2 ♦

Andromeda wasn't sure how much time had passed. There was no way of estimating it. Her cell didn't have a window, and there was no clock. She had spotted an old fashioned watch on her supervisor lady's arm, but she didn't dare to ask for the time. The lady was too intimidating, even though she wasn't really. She was just an old lady after all. But who knew. She didn't want to trust anyone here because no one trusted her, so why should she do the same.

With a sigh, she got up from the bench and stretched a little. Fiddling with ther hands, she started to walk around her small cell, wanting to move her legs again for a bit. Just sitting around wasn't to her taste, she hated that actually. She always had to do something. Not doing anything was one of the worst things to her, usually she always had one of her small devices with her, fiddling with one of the codes she developed, or trying to figure out one of the tricky problems that kept the wheels of her mind turning. Occasionally she looked up at the woman who was still at her desk, scribbling away on a piece a paper.

It had to have been hours before something of interest happened again in this narrow white room. The door - the one that led into the long, seemingly endless corridor - was opened, and in came someone Andromeda hadn't seen before. Seemingly an employee of this institution, with a bunch of things in her hands. Curious as she was, Andromeda watched the young woman, she couldn't have been much older than herself. And she kept glancing at Andromeda warily, which - in her eyes - seemed a bit ridiculous. After all Andromeda wasn't a murderer or something extreme like that. She wasn't even really a criminal.

The young woman who had been accompanied by the already familiar security guards whispered something to the old woman and placed a box on the floor beside the desk. The old woman nodded and whispered something back, to which the younger woman nodded before she left the room again. Now Andromeda was curious. What was in the box? She really wanted to know. But she didn't move from her spot. Not that she had a lot of choice anyway. But nothing else happened. The old woman just continued to scribble in her book.

With a heavy sigh, Andromeda sat down on the bench again, leaning her head against the wall. She was close to banging her head against the wall out of desperation because there was nothing to do. However, suddenly a loud sound filled the room. The heavy metal door to the hallway was opened again and when Andormeda turned her head to see what was going on, she saw the two security guards from earlier again.

The old woman waved them over to her table and very lowly said something to them, gesturing to the box. The two men nodded and opened the box. However, the content was still hidden from Andromeda's view. One of the security guards got something out from it - a bunch of papers amongst other things apparently, if she saw that correctly. And then he came over to the door which separated Andromeda from the rest of the world, his eyes resting on her calmly.

"I will come inside and give you a few things. Some information about your destination, the local customs, some local money, material for you like an ID and your CV, some clothes, and a bag. You have until tomorrow morning to read through the information, the papers will remain here, the rest you can put into the bag and take with you."

Andromeda looked at him surprised and nodded. "Okay.."

"While the door is open you will remain on that bench and not move. Is that clear?" His voice was firm, emotionless.

Andromeda nodded. "Yes, sir." She did as she was told, watching them curiously. One of the guards took everything out of the box and the other one placed everything on the bench beside Andromeda. She was tempted to look at it immediately, but she forced herself to stay still, so that the guards wouldn't yell at her again.

When everything was on the bench beside her, the guard left her cell and closed and securely locked the door again. "You can have a look at everything now. We will pick you up tomorrow morning for your transfer."