Interrogation

Shildy kept her eyes locked on the creature standing in front of her while Amy ran out of the room. Once she heard the door slide closed, she reached towards the wall behind her and tapped a key on the keypad she felt, locking the door.

The thing she had come to question looked at her with a hint of confusion in its eyes, and said "Was that really necessary? She was only trying to..."

"Be quiet!" she said, cutting it off abruptly. She was in no mood for backtalk. "I ask the questions here, not you! You're a prisoner here - and if you don't provide me with satisfactory answers, I will toss you out the airlock with the rest of the trash! Do I make myself clear?"

The creature gave her a look that she couldn't read. It wasn't fear – confusion, perhaps? Or maybe defeat? Whatever it was feeling, it sighed and merely said "As crystal" in response.

Good, she thought, maybe now I'll be able to figure out why it affects me so...


Hours earlier, in the darkness and quiet of her quarters, Shildy had been dreaming...

She saw herself floating among the stars – wearing her uniform rather than a pressure-suit. Soundlessly gliding past icy comets and rocky moons, she soon approached a world that appeared to be blue-green and living. Drawn ever-closer, she found herself slicing through layer after layer of cloud until she saw the ground below. Thinking that she was falling, she squeezed her eyes closed and brought her arms up to cross before her face protectively...

The next moment, she felt the ground beneath her feet. Lowering her arms, she opened her eyes so that she could get her bearings. She found herself in the middle of what appeared to be a typical Solnoid city street, with people, 'bots, and vehicles going about their business all around her. The normality of the scene was disrupted, however, by her realization that almost half of the people the was surrounded by looked like the creature she had found on the drifting ship. Suddenly wary, she looked around frantically for a path to escape – only to find none...

The crowd parted, and she saw the creature she thought of as her prisoner standing about ten matras away. It began walking towards her, smiling as it held its hand out in her direction. For some reason, Shildy felt compelled to extend her own hand – reaching out to it.

Their hands touched, and the city street vanished. They were alone in a forest, beside a narrow river with a waterfall behind them. Shildy gazed at the creature standing before her, and realized that its clothing had disappeared. Shocked, she looked down at herself and discovered that her uniform was also gone. Finding herself naked before it, she closed her eyes and lowered her head as her face grew warmer. She felt a finger being hooked under her chin, which then gently lifted her head. Opening her eyes, she stared at the creature as it smiled at her.

"What are you?" she asked, but the only answer it gave was to remove its hand from her face and slide it towards her back in a soft embrace.

No longer afraid, Shildy wrapped her own arms around the thing holding her. She closed her eyes again, this time with a smile on her face. She rested her head on its shoulder and sighed quietly, discovering that she felt as though she actually belonged there...


Dismissing the memory with a shake of her head, Shildy hardened her stare. "Now then," she began, "you can start by explaining your appearance."

Seeming surprised by the comment, the creature looked down at itself before responding. "What about my appearance?" it asked. "I know this isn't a particularly tidy outfit, but my shipsuit seems to have been stolen. If you..."

"No games!" Shildy snapped, interrupting the thing's answer. "You were recovered from a ship that outwardly resembles a Solnoid cruiser, but is unlike any cruiser known! Your body is shaped like ours, but certain organs are different, misplaced, or completely missing! Even your DNA is different enough to raise suspicion!"

She pointed a finger at it. "You're a spy, aren't you? Admit it! You were constructed by our enemy to look like us, put on a ship in a battlefield location that they knew we would investigate, and now you're either going to report on our plans or sabotage us somehow! Tell me!"

The creature, clearly irritated, snapped back at her. "Listen, lady, I don't know what you're talking about! For your information – I was trying to save lives! My convoy was destroyed when two groups of ships materialized and just started shooting at each other! We got caught in the crossfire, and had to run or be destroyed! I'm the only survivor! And then... and then..." It stopped yelling at her for a moment, its eyes squeezed tightly shut. Shildy was about to continue her questioning when it gasped and opened its eyes to glare at her. "It was YOU that did this, wasn't it? Yours was one of the groups who invaded this system! The monsters who thought nothing of blowing up a STAR?" It lunged forward and grabbed her by the arms. Wide-eyed, she stared at it as she saw tears form at the edges of its rage-filled eyes. "Do you realize what you've DONE? There were two million people living on the third planet – another half million on the fourth! And you murdered them all! Doesn't that matter to you? Don't you CARE?"

Shildy found herself immobilized by those words. "I... I..." she started, but found that she couldn't complete the thought. The creature closed its eyes and released her with a sigh. Turning its back to her, it said quietly "I won't answer any more questions. I suggest you leave, before I do something we'll both regret."

Confusion getting the better of her, Shildy continued to stare at the creature as it took two steps towards the window before collapsing to its knees and lowering its head. She quietly stepped back until she felt herself against the door. Pressing the button that deactivated the lock, she left the room without saying another word.


Hearing the door slide closed, Marcus glanced back at the door that his love's doppelganger had exited by, tears threatening to flow unrestricted at what he'd just realized.

"I'm sorry, Steph," he muttered, "I know what I have to do, but I just don't know if I can. I wish you were here – I could really use your advice right about now. I miss you."

He turned his head to look at the window before him. Centred in the starfield was his ship, still held in tow by his captors.

"I need more time..."


As soon as the door slid closed before her, Shildy pressed the keys that engaged the locking mechanism. The creature would not get out now.

She looked to her left, then to her right. When she knew that the corridor was empty, she leaned back against the door and allowed a heavy sigh to escape. I could have knocked that thing to the floor when it grabbed me, she thought. I should have! Why didn't I?

It's happening again, she thought. Somehow, that thing is affecting my judgment. How? Why? She recalled what took place moments ago, when the creature began its outburst...

"You thought nothing of blowing up a STAR!" it had exclaimed.

"Do you realize what you've DONE?"

Two and a half million people, it had said... "And you murdered them ALL!"

At any other time, she would have dismissed those deaths as necessary losses in order to win the battle. This time. she remembered the grief and shock on its face.

"Doesn't it MATTER to you? Don't you CARE?"

For the first time in her life, Shildy was unsure of what she was supposed to do. All of her training told her one thing, but her brief encounters with this one prisoner was causing her to question her entire life.

She looked at the door, her mind torn.

"I need time..."