(2)
John Koenig's eyes opened slowly and he found himself looking up at a dingy sandstone ceiling. He felt padding underneath his back,and a serviceable pillow cradled his head. The cot John was sleeping on was attached to a wall, its legs resting on a polished granite floor. The walls surrounding him were made of the same material as the ceiling.
Carefully, feeling the pain in his head easing, John looked to his left, to the opposite wall, and saw a shower head and a screen covering what he assumed was a toilet.
A prison cell, he thought.
The room itself was not large but it was not a small closet either. The Commander was grateful for that. Helena hated small spaces. Where was Helena?
He saw a door on the third wall and wondered where it led to.
The Commander sat upward, feeling briefly sick. He then looked at the final wall beside him. It consisted of medium spaced but firm steel bars. It was confirmed. He was being held in a prison and Koenig, once again, wondered where they had taken Helena.
He looked down at himself. Someone had changed his clothes. He was now wearing a long, dark pull-over robe with a V neck, tied at the waste with a loose cord.
With a start, John heard a feminine gasp and a short groan. He realized it came from the cell beside his own, "Helena?" he called. The wall separated them and he could not see her, "Helena, can you hear me?"
"John …" she whispered and he recognized that she was groggy, waking up as he had. "Where … where are we?"
"I don't know." He kneeled on the bed, his knees pushed into the pillow. Pressing his face close to the bars he asked, "Are you hurt?"
"No."
John could hear a short squeal and his mind's eye saw her sitting up on her bed as he had.
"I'm a little dizzy. Some nausea."
"I experienced the same thing." He felt a little better knowing she was alive and relatively well. "I wonder how long we've been here."
"You have slept for twenty four hours." a clipped voice answer over a speaker somewhere in the cell.
An intelligent voice, he thought. A glimmer of hope came to Koenig. "I am Commander John Koenig of Moonbase Alpha." He called, "I demand to speak with your leaders."
"You are a worker. You will work, Commander." The voice was direct and laconic.
"As we speak my people are searching for myself and Dr. Russell, the woman in the cell next to mine. We need to return to the moon that has wandered into your space before ..."
"You are now the property of the planet Isa. You will farm. The harvest will be big this year. The woman, with her healing knowledge, will work in our infirmary. You will stay here for the rest of your functional lives."
"No! Please, we want to return to our people!"
Koenig heard Helena call from her cell and added, "Allow us to leave you in peace."
"We will give you until tomorrow morning to recover. You will eat and drink. You will rest. When the sun comes up the doors to your cell, leading outside, will open. You will go through them and work. This is your life now."
"Dammit, we can't do this!" Koenig shouted, "We need to leave now! Our people …"
"Your people escaped us. But you did not. They have tried to return for you but they did not succeed. We kept them away. Your moon is leaving our space even now. It will be gone by tomorrow."
"No …" Helena sobbed from her cell.
"You cannot do this!" Koenig exclaimed, feebly. "We insist …"
"We can. We have. That is all."
Both John and Helena appealed to the being they could not see. But it was sincere when it ended their conversation.
The Commander paced his cell, furious. He checked the walls, the door and the bars. It was impenetrable. There was no way to escape. "Helena." He climbed on the bed and again pressed himself close to the bars, "Do you see any way to escape your cell?"
"None." She said but it was nearly a moan.
Koenig felt hopeless. Slowly, not knowing what more he could do, he reached his hand between the bars and reached over as far as he could, "Helena, do you see my hand?"
"No."
"Check the bars at the head of your bed." There was a pause. Then he felt her fingers touch his own. He could not see her but Helena's touch he knew well. He felt comforted just by knowing she was close and feeling the caress of her fingers touching his own. "We will find a way out of this, Helena." He said, not feeling the conviction he was trying to express.
"How, John?"
He leaned his head against the bars and closed his eyes. "I don't know." John felt her fingers twine with his own and her sob nearly broke his heart.
Helena, intuitive as ever, knew the future. They were not getting off of planet Isa. This really was their home from now on.
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