Page 85 of Star-Born Anomaly
Her mind raced with memories. She and Sawyer had landed on a Guardian, a warship. They’d removed her uniform, she remembered that, and she wore the white garb of someone awaiting surgery—a loose-fitting long sleeve top that opened in the back, and baggy pants, but bare beneath.
Bile welled in her throat. What had they done to her while unconscious? Heart thundering, she ran her hands down her body,assessing, then back up again. Her hand shook as she touched her neck and felt where the dermal syringe had injected her.
“Where am I?” The question rasped between dry lips. She licked them, needing a drink of water.
How long had she been unconscious?
Wynn pressed her hand against her stomach. It clenched and churned. She felt empty, like she hadn’t eaten in days, but hunger was a long way off.
“State your name and ID number.” The robotic voice came from all around her, assaulting her senses.
She shook her head and picked a point to stare at in the white nothing. “I’ve done nothing wrong. Why am I imprisoned?”
“State your name and ID number.”
She fisted her hands. “No. Let me out of here.”
The soulless instruction repeated, and she shook her head again. “I won’t participate in whatever this is until I have some answers.”
“State your name and ID number.”
“Where is Sawyer? Did you put him in a box too?”
Stupid question.It had been his job to bring her here.
The voice from above didn’t speak, and a gaping silence ricocheted around the small space in the wake of her question.
She felt the wall behind her, searching. They had to have gotten her in here somehow, through a door or hatch. The rubbery material passed seamlessly beneath her fingers until she arrived at the corner, turned, and explored more.
The voice echoed again, this time louder. She flinched, pausing in her search when it repeated the same command. “State your name and ID number.”
Swallowing, she searched her memories for the name Sawyer had given her, the person who had given the orders. “Where is General Cazin? I need to speak with him.”
The voice only repeated the order.
Wynn opened her mouth to tell it to fuck off when the walls rippled with color. She pushed away, not wanting to touch them. Heart pounding, she watched as the cube morphed into an orb, no longer solid, but liquid, like she stood inside a room-sized bubble.
Wynn. Wynn. Wynn. Wynn.
Her name vibrated from the walls, attacking, then retreating. She hadn’t spoken, but it came from everywhere.
Then, faces formed in the warped surface of the bubble, emerging like ghosts. Wynn gasped, trying to get away, but they solidified into people. People she recognized. People who had been a part of her life enough to imprint on her soul. Her childhood best friend. Her mother. Her father.Foster. Her heart ached as each face formed then vanished, speaking her name like they’d snatched it directly from her memory.
“Wynn! Wynn. Wyyyyyynn. Wynnie!”
Fragmented voices echoed. Her old teachers, fellow students, they all shouted her name until she covered her ears.
“What is this?” she whispered, horrified. How was it possible?
The bubble burst around her, replaced by a fully formed setting. She sat in the cockpit of the stolen yacht, her arms wrapped around her knees, with Sawyer beside her. A glint of the Guardian sparkled in the distance.
Her mind revolted, rejecting what her eyes told her. This couldn’t be happening, not exactly how it once was.
Was she lying on the med bed, connected to something? Or was she actually standing inside a sphere?Or a cube?
The image froze, then reversed. She was stumbling through the ship. She showered. She walked backward to the cargo hold. She hung from her wrists while Sawyer interrogated her.
Everything slowed again, then went forward.
