We could be in the other side of the galaxy.

We were inside this huge room, with only few rugs to sleep on. The only light came from dim light fixtures in a ceiling twenty feet above us. We were given regular intervals of food and water, the food being some sort of cracker. I could not tell how much time it had been since the battle in Casablanca.

I could still remember being marched into the enemy ship. I remember the feeling of being squeezed against the floor as the ship took off, hearing sounds of explosions from outside the ship, until no sound could be heard from outside.

I then remembered being marched along with the others through these corridors, some of them wide, others narrow. The march seemed to take a very long time.

I looked around. I could see air vents, but nothing big enough for us to crawl around.

One thing I noticed is that Melissa Sharp was not here with us. Did she escape capture? Was she being held in another room? Or was she dead?

"I wonder what is next," said Al Badri.

She had recognized me, after all these months. She was a police sergeant in Tangier, and I remember when I first met her, when a sergeant from our battalion had been arrested for drunk driving.

"I was on my way to visit my sister in Tangier," she had said. "I took cover when the attack started, but then the troops came."

And one thing I noted about the troops is that they look human. Certainly no group from Earth outside the United Earth Government could afford to build a fleet of starships. I remember from history lessons about the First Robotech War that the study of Zentraedi physiology proves a common origin with humanity. I wondered if these people had a similar common origin.

And I wondered if they had spies on Earth or even humanity's colonies outside Earth's solar system.

There was not much to do, being held here.

A while later some people arrived. I immediately noticed three old men, all dressed similarly and all looking alike, as if they were triplets. I also noticed six women with them, all in dressed and looking pretty much alike save for slight differences in hair color.

One of the old men asked one of the women a question in their language. Another woman then said something to one of the men. If only I understood them.

I continued listening for a while.

Some of the guards, dressed in body armor and bearing rifles, went into the room. They grabbed two of the prisoners and escorted them away. Then they all left. Some of us were talking, probably asking where the guards took them. I wondered if they were being moved to another ship, or even if they will be put to death.

I was no closer to understanding our enemy, or figuring out where we were in relation to Earth.

I did get to recognize the people. Most of them had olive skin and dark hair, the type that southern Europeans and northern Africans had. There were a few fair-skinned folk with lightly colored hair, and two black-skinned people who presumably were descended from Africans living south of the Sahara. Almost everyone spoke Arabic; there were only a handful of English speakers.

I looked around, almost as if I was expecting for the layout of the room to change, for a door to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

But it did not happen.

I kept wondering what I could do, what we could do. We would not know where on this ship we would go. And even if we took over the alien vessel, how would we get back to Earth?

Unless a Space Marine platoon rescues us, or our captors exchange us for prisoners held on Earth, we would be at their mercy.

Ooooooooo

It was boring. The lights above us were constant; we had no watches, and there was no way to tell how much time there was. Some of the people tried to speak broken English with me. Aya- that was Sergeant Al Badri's first name- translated for me. I had learned dsome details of their lives. Most of them were Moroccan natives, while a few of them had immigrated from countries as diverse as Greece, Russia, and Ghana.

I wondered what was going on back on Earth. Did Jack and the others know I was missing? And what happened to Melissa?

Or had the enemy already conquered Earth?

The enemy guards took some of the prisoners away. I knew one of them- a man who worked at a factory in Casablanca, and who was raising a family. Some of the people taken away begged and screamed. None of the people that they took ever came back.

Were we to be used for slave labor? Or even food?

"I'm wondering how to get out of here," I said. "Maybe we can rush the guards when they come to take more prisoners away."

"And then what?" asked Aya. "Even if we break out of this room, where would we go? We're in a spaceship in deep space. And even if we managed to take over this ship before the crew self-destructs it, who would take this thing back to Earth? Or one of our space stations?"

I kept thinking. If I remembered correctly from the history of the First Robotech War, there had been some Earth people who had been captured by the Zentraedi, taken to their headquarters, and they all had managed to escape and get back to Earth. I briefly wondered if we could do the same thing. Then I remembered the Zentraedi were giants, and the Earth prisoners hid in little nooks and crannies, and maybe even inside a box, to escape detection. And they were lucky to hitch a ride on an Earth-bound vessel. But the enemy here was roughly our size. We would not be able to hide from the ship's crew so easily.

"I hate this," I said. "I hate feeling so…so helpless."

"You shouldn't say that," said Aya.

But it was true. No matter how much I wished for it to be true, it was a fact that there was nothing I could do now. And wishing for a Space Marine rescue was as useful as wishing for the enemy to simply release us on Earth.

More and more of us were taken.

And then one of the guards was looking right at me.

They aimed their rifles at me and said something to me. I looked around. There was no way I could resist. I knew that the first fist raised in defiance would be met with gunfire.

And so I marched along with them. Aya was also going with us, along with this blind man who had to be led by hand. The corridors were brightly lit, as compared to the room in which we were held. I noticed a few crewmen walking past us. I wondered what society these people had. We kept marching and marching, walking through the corridors and riding in some lifts. I noticed writing on the walls and some of the doors; it would be as legible to me as Chinese symbols. I wondered if we were going in circles, as all of the corridors looked the same.

And then finally, after the longest while, we entered this huge room. The first thing I noticed were all of these tables, with something hanging from the ceiling directly over each table.

The guards pointed rifles out me and pointed to one of the tables. I guess I had to lie down.

And so I did.

My arms and legs were somehow restrained, and I could see a bright light above me, though for some reason, it did not hurt my eyes.

I then started feeling this buzz, I wondered if it was some sort of invisible field, or if they were drugging me. Everything, sight, sound, even smell, became blurry.

I was seeing images, and kept hearing sounds. The sounds coalesced into a phrase.

"We are the Robotech Masters, and you shall fight for us," I heard.

I kept seeing more sights and heard more sounds. I saw images of Jamaica and my friends and family there, images of Jack and the others, images of Melissa, random scenes, scenes of space battles with huge spaceships, flashes of light, and explosions, more battle scenes in forests, deserts and plains, with huge war machines duking it out amid explosions.

And then these sights, sounds, and smells seemed to melt together, like the ingredients of a sauce being combined. It was if I could somehow smell space and hear light itself, felt myself falling down, up, and sideways, and past, present, and future were all condensed.

I could not tell how long I was in that state. But then everything slowly became clearer and clearer. It seemed to take the longest time.

I could see darkness above me and feel something soft below me. I could smell something akin to burning brimstone. I moved my hands and felt some hard surfaces nearby. I felt myself breathe; the air was somewhat warm. The only light came from glowing dots above me.

I felt disoriented as I stumbled around. My hands felt something with the consistency of dirt. I looked at my hands and they were concealed in these gloves. I looked around and saw the enemy bioroids around us.

I wondered what was going on.

I then heard voices and footsteps. I could look and see soldiers in sandy camouflage; many of them bore flashlights. Were they the enemy? What was going on?

"Everyone drop your weapons and put your hands up!" yelled one of them, in accented English.

I soon boarded this truck with al these other people. Aya Al Badri was among us. We were all dressed in these alien flight suits. For the longest time I felt the truck rumble along. I felt too energized to feel sleepy.

"All right you people!" yelled a soldier. "Get off."

And we did. As I looked up, I noticed that the sky was getting lighter. We were all herded into this giant building. The interior was dimly lit, I could tell that it was a Quonset hut.

"I wonder where we are," I said.

"Somewhere on Earth, I think," said Aya.

For almost an hour, the only people inside were two soldiers bearing rifles. Then some more soldiers entered.

"I am Major Lane with the Australian Army," said one of the soldiers.

Australia? We were in Australia?

"You are all prisoners of war," he said. "As long as you comply with surrender, we will not hurt you. If you violate the terms of the surrender, we will kill you. We will provide you with food, water, and latrines."

"I am Lonarco," said one of the people with us. "I am with the Robotech Masters and I wish to defect to your world."

"Robotech Masters?" asked Major Lane.

"Yers," replied Lonarco. "I had studied this language that you call English. Do you speak for your rulers?"

"Yes, I do."

"I want to defect to your rulers. I will submit to their rule."

"Wait, sir," I said.

"What is it?" asked the Australian major.

I told him who I was. "I'm with the United Nations Army. I was captured in an attack in Casablanca and forced to fight for the enemy."

"Wait there," said Major Lane.

And so I did. Soon some soldiers came and set up tables to serve us breakfast. I did not feel very hungry, but I had some of the food- toast and bacon and eggs- and orange juice.

After a while, Major Lane came back. "You will come with us," he said.

And so I did. I looked around the Australian base. It looked very much like an Army base, with functional buildings and lampposts. The air felt a little warm. I saw a column of soldiers march along. Australia's flag flew from a flagpole, revealing red, white, and blue.

We went inside this building, passing a lobby with couches and desks, and into this conference room with chairs and a wooden meeting table An MP stood guard.

A woman with sandy brown hair entered the room. She was clad in a U.N. Army uniform.

"Lieutenant Lana LeGault with the Global Military Police," she said.

I introduced myself.

"You understand, Lieutenant, that you are required to tell the truth," she said.

"Yes, madam," I replied.

"Explain why you were piloting an enemy bioroid," said the lieutenant.

"Madam, I was captured during my leave in Casablanca," I said. "We were taken to this enemy space vessel. We were held captive there for I don't know how long. They took us one by one. When they took me, I was placed on a table and I think I was drugged or something. I only remember flashes from then until I found myself in Australia."

"Did you come into contact with the enemy prior to this?"

"No, madam."

"did you defect to the enemy?"

"No!" I protested, getting up. "They drugged me. The others will verify. Melissa."

"Who?"

"Melissa Sharp. She was my companion during my trip to Casablanca. If she's still alive she can verify that I was captured."

"Tell me more, Lieutenant," said Lieutenant LeGault. "Did you ever violate orders or regulations?"

"No, madam,"

"Did you ever go AWOL?"

"No, madam. I did my duty as an officer."

"Why did you not try to escape, Lieutenant?"

"I had no opportunity. I was on an enemy ship with armed troops. All of us were outnumbered. And we had no way of navigating the ship, let alone using its weapons to defend us from other enemy ships. And Lieutenant, there is something I should add. I remember that they claimed to be the Robotech Masters."

"Robotech Masters? I will make a note of that."

She turned around. "Where are you going, madam?"

"I have other business, Lieutenant."

Ooooooooo

"What happened?" I asked Aya as she was returned. I had been led back here after Lieutenant LeGault interrogated me, and the MP's took Aya away for interrogation.

"I told them I was from Morocco," she said. "We were captured in the attack."

"All we can do is wait," I said. "You know, when I went on that trip to Casablanca, I was with my girlfriend Melissa."

"Did she survive?"

"I don't know. She wasn't held prisoner with us." I though back to that morning. There was so much confusion as we tried to get away from the Robotech Masters. Did she hide somewhere safe?

We continued to stay in the Quonset hut, and the Australians continued to feed and water us. They even provided camp showers and latrines just outside. Day soon faded into night, and the locals gave us cots in which to sleep. I could barely sleep, wondering if Melissa was still alive.

The room was then lit with flashlights, and a female voice called my name.

"You are being taken into U.N. custody," Lieutenant LeGault said to me.

And so I was.