Five hours later

Anya woke up and immediately regretted it. Her head hurt, her tongue felt like it was two or three sizes too big for her mouth, but it was something else that had her start to writhe. Her stomach was doing flip flops.

"Anya?" The voice of the odd being who called himself her husband came from nearby.

"Mr. Crado?" She called, trying with all her might to control her stomach. She kept her eyes tightly shut. "I am sick... I am going to..."

"Let it happen, Anya. Don't try to fight it or you can hurt yourself." The kind voice of the woman who called herself Williams came and gentle hands eased her up and over as Anya's stomach rebelled. The woman's voice was gentle as Anya barfed into something. "It's all right, Anya. It's okay. This is normal."

"Normal?" Anya croaked. English came easy to her now. "This- is not- normal." She complained in between bursts of nastiness.

"Actually it is." Anya felt the fear that had been growing dissipate as the soft voice of the female healer came from nearby. Raan'ita was her name. An odd name, but...familiar to Anya. Somehow she knew that Raan'ita, like Crado, wouldn't let anything happened to her. "You slept for several hours, your stomach is empty and it wants food, but the chemicals your body is producing are competing with each other. Let me see..." A whir close by said that the doc was scanning her again. The sound didn't bother her anymore.

"Chemicals?" Anya asked when the she hoped the disgusting part was done. Her stomach flipped again and she gasped, but nothing else came up. "This is humiliating." She complained.

"Yeah. But we are all friends here. Let me check your temperature." A gentle three fingered hand touched her forehead as somenthing hard entered her ear. She held very still. It surprised her that the medic wanted to touch, but then again, she didn't mind. She liked Raan'ita and the touch was cool and soothing. After a moment, the hand withdrew and Raan'ita spoke again. "Everything looks okay. The problem is that your body is creating a number of new chemicals to facilitate your condition. They don't always agree with each other."

"Like me and my sisters." Anya said softly. "Wait... My condition?" Anya asked slowly. That was new information. Or was it? It didn't feel new. Everything about her felt off, the size of her hands, her feet, her whole body. If she really was thirty six, instead of the twelve she thought she was, then it made sense. But she didn't remember any of what had brought her here.

"Ah, yes." Raan'ita sounded embarrassed. "I think... we could use some privacy, Crado." Anya's eyes snapped open and she stared from the medic to the alien who claimed to be her husband. He smiled at her.

"Anya, it's okay." Crado said gently, his hand tracing hers. "But this is a female thing. If you need me, hit the call button."

"A female thing?" Anya asked suspiciously. "Like gooey stuff?" Both Raan'ita and Williams looked like they were about to choke on smiles while Crado looked embarrassed. How did she know that? His face didn't change color. How did she know he was embarrassed?

"Yeah." Crado said with a smile. "Like gooey stuff. I won't go far. This is partly my fault." He said with a smile. "No matter what happens, I am not going to leave you to face it alone." He bent down and kissed her cheek before straightening and striding quickly for the door. She smiled after him and then focused on the doc and the... What had Crado called Williams? A Spectre? Anya wasn't sure about that. Williams was no ghost.

"So..." Anya said slowly. "A female thing?"

"Yes." Raan'ita said softly as she sat by Anya's bedside. "You know that males and females are different, right?" Anya glared at her and Raan'ita shrugged. "Just want to know what you remember."

"Yes, I know males and females are different." Anya said, her tone somewhat sour. "My mother always said to be careful, that bad men wanted me. But never why. I read in a class that males provide the genetic material for procreation and females bear the children." She said in a perplexed voice. "But no one ever said how it worked. I certainly wasn't going to ask my mother and everyone else I asked told me not to." She said with a confused look. "That I would find out when I got older."

"Oh boy." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "Anya, you are thirty six years old, that means you are a full adult, even if you do not remember being a full adult. So..." She looked at Williams who shrugged.

"Don't look at me." Williams said whimsically. "I am not a parent." But she did sit down in the other chair, the one Crado had vacated. "Anya, we will be telling you some things. They may be hard to believe."

"I am going to be a mommy?" Anya asked caustically, only to pause as both women did not react. "Ah..." She stammered. "That was a joke." She said slowly, fear darkening her eyes.

"You are." Raan'ita said gently, her left hand coming down to touch Anya's now shaking right one. "And that is no joke. It is not funny in the slightest." She rubbed Anya's hand gently.

"I..." Anya shook her head slowly. "You all say I am an adult, but I feel like a kid. I don't..." She shook herself. "I can't..."

"Anya." Raan'ita's voice was soft as new lamb's wool now. "Look at yourself." She held out a mirror to the young woman and Anya took it gingerly as if afraid it would bite her.

"I..." Anya stared at her reflection. The face that stared back at her was hers, but not. The scared face was old! The eyes were the same dark brown she remembered, but the rest... Her hair was cut short, so very short. There were marks on her face, scars of old wounds. Marks of pain and fear, but also... the creases of laugh lines around her eyes. The face looked like it smiled as much as it screamed. It smiled at her hesitantly when she did, so she had to accept that it was, indeed, her face. Then the image in front of her changed and she stared transfixed as an image of horror appeared in front of her. "No!" She screamed as she threw the mirror away and cowered back on the bed. "Nonononononono..." She said as she tried to curl up in a ball, only to be stymied by the tubes and wires that were connected to her.

"Anya!" Raan'ita's voice was sharp with worry as she jumped up and sat on the bed beside the cowering woman. She gathered Anya's unresisting from up in her arms and crooned gently until Anya relaxed a little. Williams remained where she was. "What happened? What did you see?" She asked as she held Anya's quivering form close. Anya took strength from the medic's calm.

"I don't know." Anya stammered, her fear making her words run together. "I saw my face, older. Hurt and scared, but..." She paused. "It was me. "I didn't believe, but you are right... I am old..."

"No, you are not." Williams said sourly. "Middle aged, not old." She said with a smile. But that faded. "Then what?"

"I don't know." Anya said slowly, burrowing into Raan'ita's arms. "My face changed as I looked at it. It was still my face, but I wasn't human." Her voice cracked. "I wasn't!"

"What did it look like, Anya?" Williams asked after Raan'ita had calmed Anya down a little. "The face?"

"Two glowing eyes." Anya said slowly. "Not like yours, yellow. There was no nose or mouth... And the skin..." She shuddered again. Raan'ita hugged her. "I looked like a bug!" Williams recoiled, but then leaned forward, her fingers flying over her omni-tool and the display flaring as she pulled up files.

"Anya? Like this?" Williams asked as a holo-display appeared. She oriented it so Anya could see. Anya took one look and with a sharp cry, buried her face in Raan'ita's shoulder again. "I guess that is a yes." Williams said. Anya nodded savagely, her face still buried as Raan'ita tried to calm her down.

"What is that?" Raan'ita asked, not able to look at the holo while tending Anya.

"A Collector." Williams said coldly.

"Kealah..." Raan'ita said softy as she worked to calm Anya down. "Anya, it's okay. We will make it okay."

"What am I?" Anya cried as Raan'ita held her. "What am I?" She demanded.

"You are my friend, Anya." Raan'ita said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Williams?"

"Right." The Spectre hit her omni-tool and Crado's face appeared. "Crado, we need you."

"On my way." Crado said and moments later the door opened. Crado strode in and froze on taking in the scene. "What happened?" He demanded as he walked towards the bed.

"Anya saw something in her reflection that scared her." Raan'ita said softly as Anya cried. "We were explaining that she was older than she thought." She made space on the bed and Crado sat down as well, taking Anya's arms in his. She curled onto him with an inarticulate cry. Raan'ita let her go and then started scanning the terrified woman with her omni-tool. It was unlikely Anya noticed as distraught as she was. "She looked at herself and screamed and threw the mirror away."

"What did she see?" Crado asked, his hands stroking, gently calming. "Anya?" He asked, but Anya was beyond speaking. He sighed and held her while she sobbed.

"Herself as a Collector." Williams said, her face stony. "Small wonder she freaked."

"Yeah." Crado said, his voice stunned. "Small wonder."

"I want to know what happened to me." Anya said in the silence that fell. "Do whatever you have to, for as long as you have to. I will do whatever you want me to. Just... find out!"

"Anya..." Raan'ita said slowly. "The scans distressed you, before. We don't want to stress you too badly. Your body is in a delicate condition at the moment. Any gross changes, emotional or physical, can hurt you or your baby."

"I need to know." Anya said slowly, her face coming out from Crado's arms. "I trust you. I don't remember you, but I trust you. Please?" She begged.

"All right." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "We can set up a new scan cycle for this afternoon." Anya nodded and cuddled Crado again. Raan'ita glanced at the Spectre and both shared a grim look. But nothing untoward was heard in Raan'ita's voice when she spoke again. "We have an expert on technology like we told you that we found in your skull coming, probably tonight. She will want to talk to you."

"Anything you want me to do." Anya promised.

"I will go tell Miranda while you unhook her, Raan'ita." Williams said, rising. "Do you want me there, Anya?"

"If... If you don't mind." The younger woman said.

"I don't." Williams said gently, coming close to touch Anya's sleeve. "I do need to report this, but... It can wait." Then she paused as the intercom chimed.

"Yes?" Raan'ita asked.

"Captain." Her husband's voice was coldly formal. "We have a new arrival in system." Something about his voice put everyone on guard. "We need you and Williams on the bridge."

"Right." Raan'ita said softly. "Anya, I will send Miranda with a nurse. They will unhook you, get you to the scanner room and start the scans. Crado..." He looked at her and she nodded to him. "...will not leave your side until you go into the scanner. He will be in the room at all times. I should be in shortly."

"I will be okay." Anya promised. "Take care of your problems."

"My friends come first." Raan'ita said with a sigh. "But we will tend you, Anya. I promise we will be gentle."

"Thank you." Anya's voice was small as she burrowed into Crado's arms again. Raan'ita patted her arm again and then rose. Williams followed. Neither spoke until they were outside the room and the door had shut.

"Do I want to know?" Williams asked softly.

"There is only one reason that Joruz wouldn't have said who it was." Raan'ita said, her mouth taut in a grim line. "Only one group that he would want kept from Anya that badly. We heard a lot about them, especially when she was sedated. The crap that we have been getting form them since she was found hasn't changed our opinion of the boshtets." Williams blinked at the unaccustomed profanity from the normally kind and gentle medic. Then she winced.

"Oh crap..." Williams said with a gulp. "Her family..."

"Yeah."