<section>I was among the first to sign up when they asked for volunteers to operate the Lantis ships. The war had already taken my family and home away. Those bastards blew up our star. The shockwave completely obliterated the first three planets in our system. Nothing left but dust. I couldn’t even bury their bodies. If I hadn’t been on a long-haul mission...</section>


    <section>My youngest daughter wasn’t even a year old! If I can save even one family from those bastards, I’ll gladly die with nothing but these damn journals to talk to.</section>


    <section>Log Fragment B-012</section>


    <section>-----------------------------------------</section>


    “Kill me?!” Maggie’s voice rose an octave.


    “I doubt she meant that,” Theseus said soothingly. “She’s just upset. Not even at you! She’s upset at me.”


    Maggie jerked away from Theseus, spinning to face him. “Did you just hear what she said? She just threatened to kill me! Do you really think this doctor of yours can get this Key thing out before that happens?”


    “She- I know she comes off as a bit of a bitch, but she’s not a murderer. As for if Doctor Tomas can get the key out...” Theseus trailed off and shrugged. “It’s worth a try. Worse case, you’ll be a very honored guest here.” Theseus said.


    “Honored guest, my ass! Prisoner, you mean. I have a family to get back to! My Mom-” Maggie swallowed around a lump in her throat. Oh god, what was her mom going to think? She’d be worried sick! And with her health already not the greatest, what if this killed her? She had to get a message to her saying she was alright, the sooner, the better.


    “We’ll get a message to your mom, I promise. I haven’t lied to you yet, so trust me.” Theseus glanced in the direction Flame went, then back to Maggie. “Please?”


    Maggie stood there, torn between the hope of getting rid of the Key and the desire to be anywhere Flame wasn’t. But she couldn’t be sure the woman wouldn’t follow her if she tried to leave or if Theseus and Robin would take her away. She didn’t know anyone else here, and even though Theseus and his brother were her kidnappers, they were at least familiar faces in a strange place.


    The thought made her stomach churn with anxiety.


    “Fine." She said finally. “This Doctor... is he human? For that matter, are you human? You look human.”


    Theseus let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “He’s human. So am I, for that matter, and Flame. We’re descendants of previous abductees. Come on, I’ll show you to the medical bay.”


    “So you weren’t kidding about people getting kidnapped into space?” Maggie fell into step beside Theseus. They walked down the large center strip between the rows of ships. Maggie looked around at all the different people and creatures around them. She supposed that not all humans were returned to Earth after being abducted, and, well, humans were humans.


    “No. It’s one of the main things the Coalition is fighting against.”


    “And yet you kidnapped- abducted me.” Maggie said.


    Theseus winced at the reminder and threw up his arms. “I know, I know! I said I’m sorry. I can’t take it back, and you wouldn’t want me to. Leaving you on Earth with the Key would have been like leaving a nice juicy steak out for the wolves. If your own government didn’t snatch you up once they figured out what you had, then you might have gotten snatched up by aliens that don’t have any problem kidnapping humans and doing all sorts of experiments on them. Not all those crazy stories are that crazy you know.”


    “So what? Am I supposed to thank you for kidnapping me?”


    “No, but you could at least give it a bit of a rest.” Theseus dropped his arms to his sides. “And kindly don’t mention it in public. For that matter, don’t mention the Key at all unless you’re talking to me, Flame, or Doc Tomas. It’s not safe.”


    “Why not? You say it’s not safe, but isn’t this some rebel base or something?” Maggie looked pointedly at a group of people dressed in what could only be military uniforms marching by, each one carrying a large gun slung over their shoulder.


    “It’s also a public space station. People stop here from all sorts of places, and not all are friendly to humans or the Coalition’s mission. Even if they were, there’s plenty of people that would want that Key and not care who they piss off to get it.” Theseus glanced at the group of armed people, stepping aside to give them plenty of room. “So, keep it covered and as secret as you can.”


    “Right.” The more Maggie learned, the more she really didn’t want this Key. But she didn’t know how to get rid of it, so she had to depend on Theseus and his mysterious doctor friend.


    “You’re going to be fine.” Theseus said with forced brightness, his smile more of a grimace. “Just tell me if you start to feel weird.”


    “What do you mean weird? This whole thing has me feeling like I’ve gone nuts.” She looked down at her hand, flexing her fingers slightly. The movement made pain spike through her hand, and she let out a soft hiss.


    “Tell me if you start hearing things, seeing things, feeling violent, shooting crystal spikes out of your arm, things like that.” Theseus’s voice was carefully casual, but it carried a tension that Maggie couldn’t help but notice.


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    “Shooting crystal spikes?” Her eyes snapped to him. Was that a possibility?! Why hadn’t anyone mentioned that sooner? She looked back to her arm, trying to see any sign of the crystal bits in her palm growing out of the cloth.


    There was no sign of the crystal, but she could tell that the burn was spreading. With each beat of her heart, the throbbing, hot pain crept further up her arm, faint red lines tracing each vein. She stared at it in horror as the red lines visibly moved further up her arm, the pattern reminding her of the scarring on her mother’s legs. Was it the Key? Or had she somehow caught whatever it was her mother had?


    No, that was stupid.


    Wasn’t it?


    “I doubt you’ll do that; it’s a rare side effect.” Theseus looked at her, the strain behind his smile evident as he looked at her arm. As his eyes traced the red lines, his smile and the forced lightness in his voice disappearing utterly. “It’s getting worse. Come on, I know a shortcut.”


    Maggie followed Theseus into narrower hallways that twisted and turned in unexpected directions. Metal piping and flowing crystal lines ran along one side of the hall, interrupted occasionally by large slabs of crystal set directly into the wall. Each slab held buttons and switches in the bottom half, the top half left entirely blank.


    As they passed by, the top portion of each slab lit up like a computer screen, full of unfamiliar symbols. Maggie paused to look at one, distracted from her pain by its sheer strangeness. She only let herself stare for a moment, though, not wanting to be left behind. The idea of being alone in an alien space station bigger than most cities was terrifying enough that she hurried to catch up with Theseus.


    Eventually, they passed through another narrow doorway into a more comfortable corridor with calming blue walls and a floor covered with thin green carpet. The air had the clean, sterilized smell of a hospital, and the few people who passed by were dressed in old-fashioned nurse uniforms and white lab coats.


    The soft sound of voices came from the other side of a frosted glass door that slid open as they approached, revealing the most normal-looking thing Maggie had seen in what felt like days: a waiting room.


    Comfortable chairs were lined up in neat rows, tables between every couple of them laden with books and old magazines. A crystal screen in one corner was playing ‘I Love Lucy’, and a woman who looked like she had stepped out of a World War 2 museum sat behind a curved desk, jotting notes down in her own crystal computer.


    The woman looked up as they entered, and Maggie stumbled a little when she noticed her catlike eyes and the pointed ears that stuck up out of her hair on either side of her starched nurse’s cap. A cat girl? Well, cat woman, in space. That was more in line with what she expected to be dreaming. Except dreams didn’t hurt this bad. Maggie breathed in through her nose, counting to four before letting the breath out slowly through her mouth in an attempt to focus on anything other than the pain that burned through her hand and arm.


    Theseus strode right up to the desk, ignoring the curious looks they got from the other waiting room occupants. “Nurse Veela, we need to see S’il Vala Tomas. Now.”


    The woman’s nostrils flared, and her lips pressed together in a thin line of disapproval. “Mr. Goodfellow, I didn’t expect you to show your face here again. You and your companion will have to wait. Quietly. But I can at least get you registered. Will the doctor be seeing you or the young lady?”


    “The young lady and this is urgent!” Theseus said. He leaned on the desk, tension screaming in his body language, one hand clenching into a fist. He glanced at Maggie, then lowered his voice, slipping into the odd language he had spoken over the computer, words coming out in a jagged, quiet rush.


    Nurse Veela pressed her lips together so tightly they nearly disappeared, staring coldly at Theseus before responding in the same language he spoke in. Maggie couldn’t understand what she said, but the forced patience was unmistakable. It was the same tone she had used when dealing with asshole customers at the cafe.


    Maggie sighed and turned away from the pair, looking over the room as she forced her breathing to be slow and steady. Most of the occupants were humans, although there were a few aliens here and there. They were never alone though, always sitting next to one of the humans. Only one of the otter creatures was in the room, looking incredibly uncomfortable as it held a sleeping human baby.


    It was adorable, and Maggie smiled even with the pain throbbing through her arm. Theseus was right; it was getting worse. The pain was getting harder to ignore, a constant throbbing pulsing up her arm. However, she couldn’t help noticing the sudden paleness in Nurse Veela’s face or the look of horror she sent Maggie''s way.


    “What’s going on here?” The calm voice cut through the argument like a hot knife through butter, Veela and Theseus standing up straight as if they had been pricked with pins.


    “Doctor Tomas!” Nurse Veela gasped. Maggie followed her gaze to a tall, gray-haired man in a white coat standing in front of an open door.


    He frowned sternly as his gaze drifted over the pair, lingering a moment on Maggie before settling finally on Theseus. “Theseus, I am surprised to see you here.”


    “Doc! We need to see you right away, please!” Theseus pulled Maggie forward. “It’s an urgent matter.”


    “My waiting room is full of people with urgent matters.” Doctor Tomas said calmly. “I am certain Nurse Veela explained this.”


    “I did. But he insists. He has brought- well, look at the girl’s hand!” Nurse Villa waved a hand at Maggie, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. “And he brought it here of all places!”


    Maggie didn’t like being the subject of a conversation she could only understand part of, and she didn’t like all the stares they were getting. The doctor let out a sigh and turned to Maggie, holding out his hand.


    “Very well, good morning, young lady. I am Doctor Tomas. May I see your hand, please?”


    “It’s okay, Maggie. Let him look at your hand.” Theseus spoke softly. He moved his bulk to block the view of her from most of the waiting room, wary of the eyes on them.


    Why was she trusting this guy? Oh right, because she didn’t know anyone else and she was surrounded by aliens. Maggie sighed and pulled the bandages off her hand, trying to ignore the shaking that she just couldn’t stop. It hurt so bad that it washed away thoughts of anything else.


    Doctor Tomas took her hand gently, peering down at it with a thoughtful frown. “Does it hurt?” He asked gently.


    “Are you kidding?” Maggie laughed raggedly, surprised by the sound for a moment. “It hurts a lot.”


    “Well, let’s see what we can do about that. Nurse Veela, Doctor Hist will take the next couple patients. I don’t imagine this will take long. Theseus, wait out here.”


    “I should stay with her,” Theseus said uncertainly.


    “She’s perfectly safe here, you know this.” Doctor Tomas gave Theseus a stern look. “Wait out here until I call for you.”


    Theseus looked at Maggie, but reluctantly nodded. “Alright. I’ll be right out here Maggie.”


    Unsurprisingly, she didn’t find that very reassuring.