Part 10

Hetty clutched on to the sink. How did he know that name? What had Bowder seen to make him like that. It must have been the poison. She heard groaning to her right. Regaining her composure she went over to check on the doctor. He was slumped against the wall.

"Are you ok?" she asked concerned.

"Feel a little like humpty dumpty but I think I'll live!" he said shakily getting to his feet. "How's the patient?"

"Sedated." Dr Solomon said coming over to check on them.

"What caused it?"

"It must have been a reaction to the poison!" Hetty said quietly. "I'm just going to get some air!" she said heading for the door. The doctor watched her go.

"Let me know if there is any change in his condition, and I think you'd better check on the captain!" he said pointing to the other side of the med bay where the captain was still unconscious.

The doctor found Hetty back in the canteen. She had obviously worked out how to use the replicator as she had a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. He stood watching her from the doorway for a moment then descended the steps and went to sit opposite.

"So are you going to tell me what happened in there?" he asked soothingly. Hetty blew on her coffee and sighed.

"I should be used to dealing with rowdy patients by now."

"That was different." she looked at him.

"How? How was he different to any drug addict I've treated for instance?" she asked defensively.

"Because he knew who you were!……knew who you really were." Hetty looked away.

"I thought I would never hear that name again. She's gone, I can't bring her back even if I wanted to."

"You can't be sure of that."

"I can! There is no trace of her or the abilities. What the hell is going on here doctor?"

"I think its time we checked it out!" he said getting up. Hetty drank some of her coffee and followed him.

The doctor looked around the door to the captains office, the room was empty. He motioned for Hetty to come in. She quietly closed the door behind her.

"What are we looking for?" she said quietly.

"I'm not sure but I'll know when I find it!" he said logging on the computer on the desk in front of him. Hetty looked around the office. There was a notice board that covered most of one wall of the office. It had various computations, leaflets and pictures dotted across it. One picture in particular caught her eye. It must have been a crew photo. She looked at it more closely. She could identify the captain, Bowder, Melina but where was Dr Solomon?

"Were in!" the doctor called. Hetty went to stand behind him.

"So what does it all mean?" she asked reading over his shoulder.

"It seems that they have been mining on the planet below, they are an archaeological dig of some sort. They are looking for something called the sceptre of Orillium." Hetty screwed her eyes up to look at the screen.

"What does it do?" the doctor tutted.

"Give me a chance I haven't got that far down the page yet." he said frantically scrolling. After a few moments they doctor stopped.

"Ohh this is bad! This is real bad! The sceptre gives the beholder the power to control fear. Not only when the victim is awake but also when they are asleep. They have to had come into physical contact with them and they can send them quite literally insane until they kill themselves and only then can they harvest the fear."

"Oh my god so the thing works on nightmares!" the doctor spun the captains chair away from the desk to face her.

"It looks like someone on this station has already found it and is keeping it to themselves. The question is who?"

"How are we going to find out they will have all come into physical contact at some point."

"That is very true! You have really got the hang of this haven't you!" he said in his excited squeaky voice.

"Well I didn't spend all those formative years watching Scooby Doo for nothing you know!" she said with a giggle. "So what do we do now?"

"Well…" he said scratching his head and turning to put the computer back how it was. "We wait until our sceptre carrying friend decides what to do next; because according to the captain's emails there is no one else to replace the others. So they are going to be a bit short on juice." he was just about to switch off the computer when he noticed the homepage. The words 'Soronet Institute' was emblazoned across the page. The company that Manevore was working for. So they even reached out this far into space. A chill ran down his spine and he flicked off the monitor.