Ch.5 The Mistress and A Message

If you have ever found yourself a guest in a strangers house, perhaps a long lost uncle recently found or a new friend, then I'm sure you can understand the feeling of waking up the next morning and not knowing where you are. It's that momentary panic of staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. It's that heart stopping sensation that you don't know how you got there. It's that "maybe I'm still dreaming" so you pinch yourself feeling.

"Maybe I'm still dreaming." Quinn pinched herself.

She found herself very much awake. Quinn stared at the unfamiliar ceiling and didn't know where she was. Her heart nearly stopped when she couldn't remember how she got there. There was a gentle hum that seemed to permeate the air. The bed she was sitting in seemed to rock gently, swaying back and forth. But it was the stranger that leaned over her bed that frightened her the most.

"Don't talk." She was a nurse according to her dress. "You're body is in shock. We must get you to the agency immediately."

"How did I...get...here?" Her breath came in gasps.

With one jerky motion the nurse cocked her head to the side and placed her cold hand into Quinn's. It was an android. Quinn sighed. Her nurse was an android but Quinn still had no idea where she was.

"Our scanners found you. You are currently on board the AMV Wetlands. Please remain still. Your condition remains critical."

But Quinn would not remain still. She did not want to be on board the AMV Wetlands. The matchbox was now gone. Wedge (was that his name? Quinn wasn't sure she could remember correctly) had pried it from her fingers. She attempted to sit up.

I cannot describe to you the difficulty; I cannot express the pain in her abdomen and I cannot put into words the dizziness and nausea and the sudden vertigo that Quinn experienced. I wasn't there. But I can tell you that Quinn felt all of that and yet she did not lay back down. She did not yelp or cry out. She forced herself to stand.

Her body shook all over and she stood up on shaky, weak legs. The nurse rushed to her side and attempted to lay her back onto the bed. But Quinn refused.

"Bring me to the mistress. I must speak to the mistress. There is a message the world must hear."

She knew what she had to do and slowly, feebly she began to give the nurse specific instructions. These instructions, sadly lost in the shifting time, were Quinn's last words. But her message will last forever.

Light the match and see the vision in red...