Repayment Part 12

Posted on Tue Apr 24th, 2012 @ 12:08pm by Melody Johnson

979 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: Somewhere on Capella
Timeline: Current

Melody slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying on a mat on the floor of a small windowless room, approximately 10 foot by 10 foot. The walls, ceiling and floor were made of concrete. The only access to the room was a doorway in the center of one of the walls that was covered by a force field She sat up, groaning from a throbbing headache. At first she didn't remember how she got there but bits and pieces of her memory slowly began to return and, after a few minutes, she was able to remember enough to realize she was in trouble. Then she remembered Tanner and she wondered where her co-pilot was. She got to her feet and walked over to the doorway. She cautiously reached out and touched the force field...jerking her hand back when it sustained a quick jolt of electricity. She could see nothing past the force field so she finally went back to the pad on the floor and sat down, leaning her back against the wall.

Melody stared up at the ceiling going over everything in her mind. She had no idea how long it had been since she woke up in the room but after what seemed like a long time she heard footsteps and a human male appeared on the other side of the force field. The force field was deactivated and the large man stepped into the room carrying a tray with a bowl, a cup and 2 slices of bread on it.

Without a word, but keeping a watchful eye on Melody, the man set the tray on the floor just inside the door and stepped back out of the room. The force field was deactivated and the man turned to leave.

Melody got up and walked over to the tray. As she picked it up she strained to see through the pulsating bright light of the force field. All she was able to see was the silhouette of the man who had just left the room, leaving through a lighted corridor then disappearing from sight.

The meal consisted of a bowl of some kind of soup, 2 slices of bread and a cup of water. The soup was basically tasteless but Melody managed to force it down because she knew she was going to need her strength. When she had finished she set the tray on the floor next to the mat and lay down on her back. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her.

With her eyes closed, Melody could hear the sound of the artificial air as it blew through the vents in the ceiling and if she listened really hard she could hear the artificial air's fans kick in at, what she guessed to be 15 minute intervals. She began to count the times the fans kicked in.

According to Melody's calculations 5 hours had gone by the next time the large man came into the room. This time Melody pretended to be asleep. The man cautiously crept over to Melody's empty tray, picked it up, then left the room...activating the force field behind him. He reappeared 15 minutes later with the same soup, bread and water as the previous meal.

Melody ate everything on the tray and set the empty tray on the floor next to her mat as she had done before and began to count the 15 minute intervals again and when enough time had passed, she curled into a ball and waited.

When the man entered the room, Melody moaned and looked up at her jailer, pitifully and whimpered, “I'm freezing. May I please get a blanket?”

The man retrieved her empty tray and left without a word. He returned a few minutes later, deactivated the force field, tossed a couple of old wool military blankets into the center of the room, then reactivated the force field and disappeared.

Melody wrapped herself up in the blankets and waited. A few minutes later the man appeared, dropped the force field and set her meal tray on the floor and left. She got up and retrieved the tray and ate everything...no matter how bad it tasted. She placed the tray in the same place she always did and started counting the intervals that the artificial air fans kicked on. As she did she took the second blanket, wadded it up and placed it on the pad then covered it with the second blanket so that it looked like she were huddling under the blanket. She moved to the shadowed corner, crouched and waited. When the time for the man to appear to retrieve her tray came near, Melody got ready.

The man appeared on schedule, dropped the force field and stepped, cautiously, into the room. Keeping his eyes on what he thought was Melody under the blankets, he moved to the back wall and bent to picked up the empty food tray.

Melody sprung from the corner and landed a solid kick to the side of the man's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall sideways. He didn't go completely down but managed to brace his fall with his hand. He brought himself up onto his knees and started to get to his feet....still gasping for the air that had been knocked out of him. Melody stepped forward and brought her foot straight up in a kick that made contact with the man's face, sending him sprawling backward. She moved lightening fast to the man's side and without hesitation, brought her knee up as high as possible then slammed it downward, putting her weight into it and jammed it into the front of the man's throat, immediately breaking his pharynx and killing him. She quickly removed his phaser pistol from his holster on his side and sprinted out of the room.

To be continued

RSS Feed