Kristin was cold, and she couldn't move. Not understanding either sensation, she opened her eyes, moaning softly.

"I hope you aren't too uncomfortable, it'll be over soon."

With difficulty, Kristin found the speaker. The blurry form of Dr. Zellar leaned over her. She tried to jerk away, but her arms and legs were secured to a chair. "What do you want?"

"You, my dear."

Terror unfurled in her stomach. She looked around the room to quiet her mind and to get a hint as to where she was. It was easily recognizable as a laboratory of some sort. Flasks and labeled canisters sat in an orderly fashion on a counter. Alongside of them, she recognized several pieces of equipment she had worked with on the ship. There were also two men standing by a door, watching them, with slavish expression on their faces.

She shivered, but only partly from fear. Glancing down at her own body, Kristin saw that she was now wearing a thin, flowery, summer dress, not the jeans and blouse she wore the grave. Her scalp ached where he had held her to control her, to the point that even her hair felt wrong. Trying to adjust to ease the uncomfortable sensation, Kristin noticed a clip was holding her hair up. Since it had been put in by someone else, it pulled at the hair. Bile rose in her throat as she realized Zellar and his men had handled her unconscious body to dress her up.

The sting of the needle into the crook of her arm brought her attention back to Zellar. "What was that?" She hissed as he pushed down the plunger. "Another one of your sick inventions? Or just a part of one of your games?"

"No, no, just a sedative dear. I don't want you to be afraid, I require time to explain my need for you. I worry that you won't fully listen to me, and this is important."

"It doesn't matter what you say." She spat back at him, "unless it's about you turning yourself in for what you did to… to…" Kristin choked back a sob. "Why? Why did you kill Lucas? I would have gone with you on my own. You didn't have to hurt him."

"I needed you alone, vulnerable, and distracted." Zellar admitted. "There will be no impressive crew working together to save you. They'll expect you to sever all ties because your young friend is dead. They will blame themselves for not seeing his need, as well as blaming his father."

He chuckled dryly, "how easy it was to convince that man his child killed himself with no outside interference. Of course, the medication I provided dampened his senses to the extreme. Why, he didn't even question where Lucas got a gun from. Wouldn't you?"

Kristin peered at him blearily, fighting revulsion at hearing the blasé explanation. Lucas died so Zellar could get to her. Another person she loved fell at his hands, and now it was her fault. She swallowed thickly, forcing the thought from her mind, "How did you get out? Even if some idiot stopped you from being refrozen, you should have rotted in a cell."

He smiled patiently, "what do you know of American history?"

Kristin nodded slowly, feeling the effects of the injection dulling her wits. "Enough."

"You've heard of Project Paperclip, I trust?"

"Yes," she answered, slurring as the medication took hold. "Nazi scientists were employed by the US government after the war." Kristin paused, "originally, it was to keep them from restarting the war effort, but many were given high ranking jobs in the medical and space field." She shook head, knowing she was missing something. "But you are much too young to be part of that scandal."

Zellar smiled, then laughed outright. "Since when has any government stopped doing something unpopular just because the citizens don't like it?" Kristin blinked in confused surprise. "No, they just hide it better. They are rather loath to let a resource go when they could exploit it."

"What could you possibly offer them?" She snapped, finally understanding the connection. "All you know is death."

He smiled again, slightly mocking her this time. "Whom better to design antitoxins, than a person well versed in biological warfare?"

"Likely... Likely story." Kristin muttered, her head dropping to her chest.

"It is, but I never promised them I would behave." He told her sleeping form. Zellar started to loosen the straps that held her to the chair. Pulling a vial from his pocket, he gave Kristin another injection in the same arm. "Just a few more doses, my sweet, and you will feel so much better."

One of guards stepped forward as soon as he finished speaking. "Where do you want her, sir?"

"One cell away from our other guest, Wendell." Zellar waved dismissively. "I want her to think she is alone until the treatment takes effect."

Kristin awoke with a start, and glanced around the room she was now laying in. "Did you really have to knock me out to switch rooms?"

She swung her legs down off the bunk, gasping in surprise when her bare toes met the cold floor. "Well, that's... That's just rude. Completely unnecessary, and rude, Rubin. You never were petty like this."

Ignoring the camera trained on her, Kristin explored the small room. The refrigerator held several meals worth of food, and she absentmindedly grabbed some fresh fruit as she continued to check everything. A tv DVD player combo and several books sat on a desk. She noted one was an old collection of poetry. A feeling of irritation flickered through her, replaced almost immediately by wry amusement. "Are you attempting to make me fall in love with you?"

At the thought, she reached up to pull the hair clip out. She meant to throw it away, but after seeing the ornate and oddly beautiful design, Kristin simply put it back in the proper way. Settling back on the cot, Kristin snuggled down into the thick featherbed, pulling it around her bare shoulders. She turned the DVD player on, and watched the mindless comedy that was already inside. After several minutes, she began to giggle. "This show is normally inane, why am I laughing?" The thought was quickly wiped from her head as another lame joke made her start laughing. "What is wrong with me?"

Kristin shook herself, trying to ignore that the last insipid joke made her laugh yet again. "Ok, this is not normal." She clicked off the tv to take stock of herself.

She felt fine, but that was the problem. Who would feel this comfortable while being held by a madman? Something finally clicked for her, and Kristin looked at the inside of her arm. There were three separate needle marks just over a vein. She knew the oldest, and most healed, was probably from Zellar attacking her in the graveyard. The second was the so called "sedative." But what was the third? She had no memory of reviving it. "He's drugging me so I play along." She whispered, "but he has to know I would figure that out."

Standing and crossing the room quickly, she opened the refrigerator again. Kristin pulled an apple out and inspected it closely. There was a small bruise surrounding a tiny hole in the side. "And he drugged the food." She threw the fruit down on the floor angrily and stared at the camera watching her. "I won't play your game, Zellar. I'll starve before I help you!"

She sat on the bed, breathing heavily. Laying her head in her hands, Kristin wanted to cry. But the tears wouldn't come, she felt peaceful instead. Understanding it was the effects of the medication, she jumped up and started to pace, vowing to burn it off.

The door sprung open, startling her. One of the guards she saw when she first saw upon waking in the lab stood there, smiling mindlessly. "Dr. Zellar would like to speak with you, ma'am."

"Well," she snapped, "I have a few words for him too!"

He reached out to take her arm, but she furiously shook him off. "I can walk on my own. I still have control over that much."

The guard shrugged without comment and directed her out the door. In the long hallway, Kristin paused, taking in her surroundings. There were several heavy metal doors, like her own. Hearing loud music blaring from behind one of them, she forced herself to swallow tightly as it reminded her sharply of Lucas. Across from that particular door, a large box and broom was shoved against the wall. It peaked her interest since everything else was so neat and orderly. Trying to take a step closer to investigate, she was stopped when the guard took hold of her arm, and led her in the opposite direction.

The arrived at a large double door, the guard knocked, and was greeted by a simple, "come in Wendell."

He opened the doors, and prodded Kristin through. She heard the lock turn behind her as he took position just inside of it. The room was huge, and even chiller than the other area. An expansive window at one end showed an impressive view of mountains. But, a large upright cylindrical plexiglass tank stood in the middle, and she couldn't look beyond it, as its contents took her breath away.