Chapter 3 - Sickness Falls

Three more months had passed without happenings. With every mission Jack had become more and more desperate. Sam was not to be found anywhere and on none of the planets they had been to anybody had known a thing.

But though Jack was not willing to accept that his friend might be dead. As long as she was listed as missing in action he would not give her up.

His thoughts were set on the next mission, something told him that he had to find anything there and he kept up his hope trying not to go mad.

Sam, his mind was only fixed on her, he would return her home, of that he was still more than sure...

A lot of time had passed since Samantha's qualification time was over, she had become more and more comfortable in carrying out her task as Baal's personal servant and he seemed to be very content with her work.

Also she had learnt to control her errant thoughts, at least for the time during the day where they could cause her trouble; at night they were still haunting her like a dark spirit overshadowing her mind and in the morning she mostly remembered nothing of all that, only the things Leah had come to observe.

Samantha tried to think about these things as less as possible, fully concentrating on her work, and as it seemed her attitude was slowly paying off:

Baal had already given her bigger quarters and she had a handful of other servants under her that she could give orders to.

Also she was no longer forced to kneel before her lord, something she had never dared to wish. But with all that had come a lot of responsibility and Samantha strained herself even more to satisfy her lord, since she had come to know very well how fiery his temper could be.

But this day something should happen that would scare her to the bone, something every servant was afraid of:

In the morning everything had been as usual; Samantha had gotten up early fulfilling her usual tasks. In the afternoon she had felt unusually hot, but this feeling had faded again, as quickly as it had come.

Later, as she was serving Baal and his guests during an important meeting, the hot feeling returned and suddenly vertigo was overcoming her.

Before she could react in any way, Samantha fainted, fearful thoughts were bubbling up, she had just dishonored her god with her weakness, Leah had often told her what had happened to those who had had this bad luck ... this was the end. Then darkness found its way into her mind and everything went black.

Hours later Samantha awoke again, she felt hot and blurred by fever. She was lying in a bed, but it was not her own. She tried to focus to have a look around. These were Baal's quarters; but how had she come here? She could not recall that.

Samantha was shocked as her master suddenly stood by her side. She pushed herself up with her elbows trying to stay calm.

"My lord, I... I'm sorry", she stammered averting her eyes from him.

"Sorry?", she felt his icy look on her. "Lie down again", he ordered her in a tone that did not allow contradiction, "we will talk about your fault later."

"Yes", Samantha whispered as she lay down again not daring to look up at her master.

Baal was wondering about this woman he had chosen as his lo'ta. She was different from most of the other Tauri. She had always known what he was expecting from her since the first day; to her obedience seemed to be an understatement, but without knowing it she was rebellious at the same time.

Never had he gotten to know where she came from, since she really seemed to having forgotten everything except for her name. These preliminary conditions made her an excellent object he could influence and mold according to his wishes.

So he had not seen a need to punish her for the outbreak sickness she was suffering from, such an action would not further his course. Also it was not yet time to get rid of her, she was still young and valuable for him.

Later that day Baal returned to look after Samantha who was still ashamed of herself unable to understand why he had let her live.

"My lord?" she inquired shyly not looking up, "forgive me this question, but when can I get back to work?"

"When your meningitis is cured", he replied emotionlessly, "I don't want you to infect my other servants."

Samantha gasped for air. Meningitis, this was a highly dangerous disease; why did Baal allow her to stay alive with it? Even if he kept her away from the other servants they could still be infected themselves, it would have been a lot easier to kill her.

She did not dare to ask her lord about his reasons, also her fear to stir his anger increased. What would happen if she would have one of these jeopardous nightmares now? How would Baal react?

She fell asleep full of fright and confusion.

The new mission came closer and closer. Jack was becoming more and more optimistic with every minute that passed. The last night he had had a sort of prophetic dream, telling him that Sam would soon be by his side again, he believed in that message, eager to start for the new planet making it come true...

All right, some tension here... Next chapter? Let's see ... I'll try to be finished on Tuesday, but I can't really promise it 2 u.