Caroline's Keeper

\Because she was already so lost, Caroline turned left to further investigate the tunnels, but eventually she reached a dead end. As Caroline returned to where she had come from, she heard someone coming around the corner. She stuck her head out to see the woman Simon had identified as his abductor walking down the corridor, humming to herself. Caroline hid and instantly thought, RUN! But something held her back...

Caroline thought it fit to assume that if she followed this woman around, there was a good chance she would lead her to Simon.

With great risk of being detected, Caroline stalked Simon's captor down the hallway of small doors. The woman stopped suddenly in front of one, and Caroline stood behind her. The woman's humming drowned out the thudding of Caroline's heartbeat as she typed an array of buttons in to open the door. She stepped inside and Caroline followed, ducking behind the first large object she saw, which happened to be a black leather recliner, and protruding her head from the side of the chair to watch.

The first thing Caroline noticed about the room was its likeness to Bastien's. It had the same curved shape as the hallways, and there was even a massive computer screen against the back wall. Probably the only significant difference was the orange and deep red color scheme. Caroline realized that this must be her personal living quarters; Simon wouldn't be here. Caroline silently cursed herself for trusting her intuition.

The woman picked a syringe up from the onyx surface of her counter. It was a lot like the one Bastien gave to Eivon, and filled with the same pink fluid. What were the chances they both had the same sickness? Caroline watched her grimace and yelp out in pain as she jabbed the needle into her forearm. Pulling it out, she sighed and rubbed the skin she just pierced. She had a look of dissatisfaction on her face, one that Caroline could only connect to the pain of having shoved a needle into her flesh.

The woman stood up and made her way to where Caroline was hiding. For a second, Caroline thought she had spotted her, but she just plopped down in her recliner. Caroline hadn't realized it yet, but her hand was underneath a part of the chair that clamped down as soon as the woman sat.

"Owww!" she screeched, an involuntary action. She would have loved to take that back, but, of course, it was too late.

Charged suddenly with adrenaline, the woman jumped behind the chair to find Caroline grasping her damaged hand. Furiously, she yelled, "Who are you?"

"Why even ask?" Caroline snapped, gritting her teeth and still clutching her hand.

She laughed and breathed a sigh of relief, then examined Caroline's red, puffy hand. "I'll get you some ice for that."

The woman left the room, and Caroline's gaze settled upon the nearly full syringe on the black countertop. With time only to act, and none to think, Caroline dived over the chair, swiped the needle, and returned to her position no less than one second before the woman re-entered the room. Seeming not to notice that anything was missing, she knelt down beside Caroline and carefully draped an ice-filled washcloth over her injured hand. Immediately, Caroline began to feel the soothing effect of the freezing cold ice. She sighed complacently.

"You feel any better?" the woman asked.

Caroline nodded.

"Good," she said, getting up to go sit on the stool in front of her counter. "Now get out from there and tell me what you're doing in here."

Caroline situated herself into the chair that crushed her hand, but said nothing.

"Come on, now," the woman pried. "Who are you, and where did you come from?"

"What could I possibly say to you that you couldn't find out from reading my thoughts?"

Suddenly, the woman looked injured. "I don't read anyone's thoughts unless I really have to. Takes the mystery out of life, you know? I kind of wish I didn't have the ability at all."

Caroline was skeptical. This kind of respect was a luxury that even Bastien had evaded giving her. But somehow, Caroline saw the sincerity in this stranger's face. "I appreciate it," she expressed her gratitude. "I'm Caroline."

"Astrid," the woman said. "Now, if you don't mind telling me what brings you here..."

"Well, I was trying to find my friend Simon," Caroline began, "and I got lost. But then I saw you, so I followed you in here, figuring I would find him."

"Why would Simon be in here?" Astrid asked. "This is my room."

"I didn't know that then," Caroline answered.

"Well, he clearly isn't here."

Caroline retorted, "I see that now."

"I don't suppose you'd like me to point you in the direction of his room?"

"Yes," Caroline said. "That would be nice."

Astrid approached her computer screen and gestured for Caroline to follow. After Astrid manipulated the controls, a map of the spacecraft appeared on the screen, a red dot to the lower right corner of it. Astrid pointed to the dot and said, "Here's you."

"I know," Caroline told her. "I've seen one of these."

She nodded and continued. "If you follow this hall," she said, tracing her index finger along the screen the way Caroline had come from, "Simon's room is the very last one on the left."

"Thank you," Caroline said, smiling. "I guess now I'll be on my way."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you there, so you don't get lost again?" Astrid volunteered.

"That won't be necessary," Caroline assured her. "It was nice meeting you, Astrid. Perhaps I'll see you around?"

"Most certainly."

Caroline waved once before taking her leave.

As she stood before the door to Simon's room, Caroline reached into her pockets only to become aware that they were empty. Simon's key sequence must have fallen out of her pocket at some point between tackling Eivon in the tunnels and diving behind Astrid's recliner. Caroline wished that she had accepted Astrid's offer to accompany her. Maybe she would have known the correct order of those blasted buttons.

Caroline began to pound violently at the door, although she knew no amount of noise would get past the thick metal.

"Hey!" someone shouted. Caroline spun around just in time to see an anonymous figure lunge at her and send her flying to the floor. She didn't have time to open her eyes before she felt lips on her own and hot breath filling her mouth. She gasped, and she was out.