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Amanda found it difficult to breathe, let alone pay attention to where she was being taken.
The two burly men dragged her through the halls, her toes the only part of her body touching the floor. She could feel sweat at the back of her neck though the temperature of the ship was cool. There was something definitely wrong with her.
It had nothing to do with the fact that she was being dragged who knew where but that there was something within herself that was wrong.
Something happened to her body and she could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness.
The turbo doors opened. She was now on the bridge of the ship.
And there in a crumpled mess on the floor was her family.
Safe and sound.
She breathed a small sigh of relief and smiled. Her family was safe.
For the time being anyway.
Her sister looked the worse for wear but Amanda imagined she would be given how long she had been captured.
"Amanda," Doris breathed. Was it a sigh of relief, Amanda wondered?
No. It was disbelief, like Doris's world came tumbling down.
"The whole family is finally here."
A voice she didn't recognize spoke and a man came into view.
He was in a Starfleet uniform but he look flustered, mad. He had a phaser in his hand and stood up to the men that had Amanda,. "You can release her, she won't go anywhere."
They pulled their arms back and Amanda fell to the floor not able to hold her own weight. She felt like she had been microwaved, waves of heat flowing out from her.
Doris crawled over to her. "Amanda!" She felt her sister touch her forehead, lift her eyelids. She looked so worried.
"What's wrong with her?" Amanda could barely hear her mother in the corner in the room.
"I'm not sure, I think she's suffering from space sickness. Get me the kit."
Amanda phased in and out. The muffled voices brought her little comfort. Couldn't she just fall asleep?
Doris shook her shoulders. "Stay with me, Amanda!"
Amanda cried out in pain.
"I think it has to do with the transporter." Doris sounded so far away. "Damn you, David! How could you be so careless as to transport a person."
She heard deep laughter. "Oh, Doris, I do love your spunk."
She felt something cold pressed to the side of her neck. A sudden prick where the instrument was pressed against her and she suddenly felt some relief.
Slowly the room came back into focus, her sister's curls were the first things she saw. Fear turned to relief on Doris's face and she felt the familiar embrace of her sister's arms.
"Oh, it worked! It worked!"
Amanda hugged her back, the pain was there but not like before, this was tolerable. "Doris, you're safe." She reached back to her parents. "Mom, Dad."
They inched closer and right as they were about to touch, the man from earlier spoke out loud. "That's enough! Doris, back to your corner."
Doris only held on to Amanda tighter. "No!"
The man stepped between them and pulled them apart. "Move, now!"
Doris fell back to the spot from the force. Amanda fell back too.
"I hate you, David."
Amanda looked at the man from the floor. He was handsome with long shaggy hair that covered most of his forehead. His large expressive brown eyes gave a crazy look to him, he was disheveled in every way, his uniform, usually neatly pressed by Starfleet officers was wrinkled, as was his jacket. The young man looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.
Doris's statements didn't seem to affect him.
He stooped down to Amanda and grabbed her arm. He pulled her up and made her stand in front of him. "Doris, you didn't tell me you had a sister!"
"Of course she didn't," her father said. "You two-timing piece of-"
He pointed the phaser at her dad. "Nu-uh, I'm talking to your other daughter, er, what's your name?" He turned to Amanda. "It's Amanda, isn't it?"
Amanda nodded. "Please," she whispered. "Please don't point that at my father."
"What?" He looked at the phaser. "This?" He pointed it again at him.
Amanda blanched.
"Commander Grayson is used to having this pointed at him."
This man was completely mad.
Amanda shook her head and pleaded. "You must be mistaken, please. He's no commander, he's just a historian."
David laughed.
Laughed like no one Amanda had ever heard. He was doubling over in laughter.
"Historian!" He looked at Amanda and raised an eyebrow at her confusion. "Wait, you don't know?" He jumped in giddy fashion. "She doesn't know!" He turned to Doris, "Dear Doris, won't you tell your sister?"
Amanda tried to assess the situation she was in, simultaneously keeping the mad man entertained.
"Tell me what?"
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"Please," Doris whispered. "Don't do this."
"TELL HER!"
Amanda flinched at the sudden outburst from the man.
After a moment of silence, my mother spoke up. "Your father is not a historian. Your sister doesn't assist him. I am not an archeologist."
Amanda shook her head. "I don't understand."
David turned to her and spoke slowly, like he was making fun of her. "Your family has been lying to you your entire life. They do not go on good Samaritan missions to other planets to lend their expertise on Earth culture or any other culture for that matter." He laughed. "Your father is actually a very high ranking official, he goes on secret missions with your sister and mother. Being historians is their cover."
Amanda felt as if the floor dropped beneath her. When she finally managed to speak again, she stammered. "You've been lying to me? Why couldn't you tell me?"
"We couldn't, baby," her father's soothing voice spoke up.
Doris spoke through tears. "I wanted to – so many times, Amanda. I wanted to tell you everything."
"It was the only way to keep you safe."
"Keep me safe?" Amanda almost screamed. "Look at where we are!"
"Oh, this is fun."
Amanda looked at David. He had a genuine smile on his face - he was actually having fun.
Doris looked at him too. "David, please, we need to get her to a Starbase. She needs medical attention."
He shook his head with a smile. "No."
Doris pleased. "I've only been able to delay the affects – she needs to be looked at and the proper cure administered."
Amanda looked at her sister. "What?"
Doris shook her head. "I'm sorry, but this ship doesn't have what you need. You need to go to a Federation planet or Starbase to-"
David stepped between them. "Blah, blah, blah, blah – That's enough of that."
My father stood behind David. "Don't let my daughter die because of your selfish needs."
Amanda felt like she had been kicked in the stomach again. Was she really going to die? She felt much better than before, she wasn't feeling any symptoms now. Was it only temporary?
David laughed. "Actually, this is a good time to bring up what I really want." His tone turned serious, Amanda felt goosebumps on her arms when he spoke. "Where is the Doomskey?'
Doris shook her head. "No. We don't have it."
"Oh?" David pointed the phaser at my mother. Everybody flinched. "I don't think that's true." He looked at each of them. "You see, I know about that mission – 8 years ago, was it?- You went to Seti 6 and retrieved the Doomskey under the Santauran's noses. They never saw it again. It's not at Starfleet, I know because I searched the vaults. It seems to have gone missing."
He lowered his phaser for a second and Amanda took a breath. She didn't know that she had held her breath. The tension in the room was so high, she felt a bead of sweat go down her temple.
"Now I can't access those records, so I cant look up where it is. But, you all know where it is, don't you?"
My father glanced at me quickly.
It was a small movement but it didn't go unnoticed by David. "Hmm? What's this? Amanda knows?"
He placed the phaser in front of my nose.
Chaos erupted.
"No, David, no, she doesn't know what you're talking about!"
"DON'T POINT IT AT HER!"
"STOP IT!"
I shut my eyes quickly.
"SHUT UP!" He yelled to my family, then he turned to me. "Where is it?!"
I shook my head, tears springing from my eyes. 'I don't know where it is."
David sounded exasperated. "Yes, yes you do. Don't LIE TO ME!"
Amanda flinched, taking a shaking step backward unable to maintain her balance. Her palms were sweating. She had never been so scared in her life.
"You must know where it is! We picked up the trace in the vicinity and turned on the transporter for it and now you're here. How did you make it here with out it?!"
Amanda shook her head. "Please I don't know-"
He then placed the phaser inches from her face. "You have 5 seconds to tell me where it is." He changed a setting in the phaser in his hand. It made a noise as if powering up. "One."
"SHE DOESN'T KNOW!"
"WILLIAM!"
She looked to jer father. He was slowly moving towards him.
David didn't seem to notice, he was focused solely on Amanda. "Tw-"
He froze, realization slowly dawning on his face. Without moving anything else, he angled the phaser towards her father.
He turned slowly to him. "Don't move."
David took a step towards her, then another. He was mere inches from her. But he wasn't look at her eyes, no. He was looking at the uniform she was wearing, at her neck.
He took his fingers and put it between the fabric and her neck and pulled it down gently. With gentle fingers, he softly touched the burn she received earlier that day. She looked down, at what he was doing. He was studying the singed fabric. It had been burned through by her necklace when she had been transported earlier.
He chuckled and spoke softly. "Where is your necklace, dear?"
Amanda touched her neck. It was gone.
Amanda shook her head. "I-I must have dropped it when I got here."
David guffawed, like she hadn't before. While the tone he had used before when he laughed suggested sarcasm, now it full on laughter. Like someone had told him the funniest joke he had ever heard.
"You gave the Doomskey to your daughter?"
Her father sighed, defeated. "It was supposed to keep the wearer safe. Human DNA short-circuits the key. She was a fail-safe."
She looked at her father, betrayed.
"It was the only way Starfleet would keep you safe, darling."
David yelled behind her. "Oh, boys?"
Amanda heard the doors open behind her with a loud swoosh! Two pairs of heavy footsteps stopped behind her. She didn't turn.
David smiled at her. "We're going scavenger hunting, won't you lead the way?"