Kayla
I wake up on my master's bed, a bit groggy. Blankets are tightly wrapped around me like I am a baby or something, which only means... Tarak. Where is he? I look around the room. The door to the pool room is open, so he might be there, or maybe he has stepped out. That's good because I need time.
I shake myself free from the blankets and slowly sit up, glancing down to see how I am dressed. I slowly exhale in relief that I am still wearing the hospital gown. Good. I open the tie of my hospital robe, and everything I had swiped from the hospital—a box with sutures, a package of bandages, and even a little alcohol vial—topples onto the floor. I push them under the bed, hiding them away for when I have time to check the product numbers on the computer.
Dull pain in the back of my head throbs. Already, I'm tired and getting a headache.
I crawl back into bed. Lights out.
***
The light in the room is too bright. Tarak is by the bedside, tugging on my blanket. I grip the end of the blanket and yank it over my eyes. That's better since it is nice and dark, and I can stay buried in these blankets and sleep. Except Tarak peels back the blanket yet again. I huff in annoyance, grab the blanket, and Tarak lays his hand over mine. He gazes at me with his big gray eyes.
We haven't spoken a word, but I think I know what he wants. Sure enough, he puts his hands underneath my back and my knees and lifts me. There's a sharp pain in my head and I cry out.
"Shh," says Tarak, carrying me into the pool room.
The pool room is often brightly lit, so I dread this but when we enter, I am pleasantly surprised. The room is relatively dark, and only a few flickering candles illuminate pockets of the room.
I do not think I am capable of bathing right now; I am tired and have the most excruciating headache. Tarak looks after me. He strips me of my clothing and gently carries me into the pool. He dabs my skin with a soft sponge and warm water cascades over me.
I can't help reflecting on how my view of my life on Hydra has changed. I used to hate the idea of being Tarak's pet, but I've grown to enjoy having someone care for me. It is even more than that, though. Tarak is so gentle and kind, that even with my pounding headache, I want to stay here in Tarak's arms forever, except that he is already carrying me out of the pool and swaddling me in big fluffy towels.
The towels around me are so tight that once again I feel like a baby, or maybe a mummy because I can't even move more than a hand. Tarak takes me to bed, carefully positioning me on his chest and his strong arms wrap around me.
Darkness.
***
The blue star flickers across the wall and Tarak crouches by the bedside.
"Kata," he says in a soft voice, holding out a single berry for me. His other hand is what draws my attention because he holds a bunched-up blanket.
How obvious can he get? Nope. I do not want to do whatever it is he is planning to do with the blanket, so I stay in bed.
He calls me again, shaking that berry, and this time, I can't help but notice how pinched his eyes look.
Ugh. Unless I go along with this, he will probably never leave, and I put him through so much yesterday. So, when he dangles the berry for the third time and calls me... Even though I know I will regret this, I make a half-hearted grab for the berry, and he drops the blanket around me.
It's horrible! I can't see anything, my hands are trapped, and he forces the berry into my mouth. His hand slips over my mouth so I can't spit it out. A bitter taste floods my mouth, which I can only guess means that the berry is laced with pain medication. He runs one of his fat fingers over my throat as if that would encourage me to swallow.
I have important work to do. Doesn't he understand that I need to stay alert? He doesn't let me go until I have swallowed the pill. Then he spends what feels like way too much time tucking the blanket around me and making sure I lie still in the bed.
So, I fake it, nestling into the bed and closing my eyes. Eventually, he goes toward the door.
The second the door closes, I toss the blanket off me. The medication is likely to make my mind sluggish and slow, so I need to work fast.
I clap, activating the computer. I enter the product numbers for each of the medical boxes I pilfered. Maps immediately pop up on the screen and my mind starts to get fuzzy.
How will I work this way?
I poke around the computer system and find other tools available to me. Hydra's programming languages are similar to what I've used in the past. This is the breakthrough I need. I write programs to track the location of these medical products, enter the numbers from the supplies I stole, and hit run.
I'm exhausted. Time to nap.
***
Over the next few days, the pain medication makes my mind feel fuzzy and it is as if time slows. My evenings become a haze of Tarak bathing me or changing my bandages. I can't blame Tarak especially since I am the one who had gotten us into the situation.
Even though my mind is sluggish and slow, each day, I fight to check on my program and it helps me learn a few things. Besides a general storage room, these medical supplies only ship to a few locations: rooms that are registered to Hydra as medical offices and vet offices, plus a few other rooms that are not registered for any type of business, rooms 510 and 2054. Even though these rooms do not have designated medical purposes, dozens of sutures, bandages, and alcohol vials are in these rooms, meaning lobotomies and other unapproved surgeries might happen in these rooms.
I need to find a way to tell others who might help me. So, I add another couple of lines of code to my programs, to send notifications to a few select individuals anytime medical products move into the two rooms that I suspect might be for unapproved surgeries. I only trust a few aliens aboard the Hydra to do what's right: Tarak and Rigel. I cross my fingers, enter their contact info, and hope they can figure out what the alerts mean, maybe not at first but eventually? Because unless someone acts on this information, it will be useless.
My programs detect something that I find very worrisome. A third room with exactly one box of sutures, an alcohol vial, and a box of bandages. I pick up a box of sutures and I pace, trying to figure out this mystery when a dot in this third room on the map moves.
That's when I realize what the map is showing me: Tarak's room. So many thoughts swirl in my head. What if Hydra monitors the location of medical supplies? That means having these supplies might lead Hydra to us and potentially hurt Tarak. The packaging boxes had served their purpose, to provide me with the product numbers, but now I need to get rid of them.
What can a mere human do when they are aboard a ship of scourges and need to wave away the evidence? I don't have many solutions, but I do know one thing; I can get a delivery robot that comes to my door.
So, I crack my knuckles. Time to place an order...
I find the store where I first ordered those berries, the Halazone. The store automatically offers my previous order—berries—and I gag. I might vomit if I eat another berry right now (because they've all been filled with bitter pills), but this is a means to an end, so I click the order. The effect of my pain medication is catching up with me. My mind slows and I feel nauseous, so I lay down and close my eyes.
When the door chimes, notifying me of the arrival of my delivery robot. When I open the door, to my surprise three little robots with their big red eyes simultaneously blink at me. Strange, since I only ordered a few cartons of berries.
Alright, this might be more challenging (especially now that I know what angry robots might do), but I think I can get this to work.
I point down the corridor.
All three robots swivel their heads in the direction of my outstretched finger.
I grab the cartons out of the basket and run into Tarak's quarters. The gullible robots roll through the open door after me.
I leap onto the bed and into each of their baskets, I drop an empty box of bandages, alcohol, and sutures. Then I give them back their berries.
All three of the robots form a circle and beep together, probably thinking they've won or something. Then the three roll out the door together, still beeping amongst themselves.
Me? I activate the map, rubbing my hands together in satisfaction as I watch the dots for those medical supply boxes go further and further away from my master's apartment. Good. If anyone else aboard the Hydra follows the flow of supplies, my master should be safe.
Enticing robots to carry away evidence is a lot of work (okay, the pain medication has gotten to me), so I climb onto the bed and nap.