Title: Adrift
Chapter: Eight
Rating: PG

....................betrayal, capitulation and redemption........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tam opened the door and inwardly sighed, pleased that she'd found Elish on her own in the conference room. Elish had her back to the door, sorting several reports, ready for the meeting scheduled to take place before too long. Quietly Tam closed the door, clearing her throat to alert the other woman to her presence. She saw Elish jerk, as if startled, indicating that Elish was feeling nervous, whether from the thought of the forthcoming meeting or from Tam's presence, she intended to find out.

"Elish...I'm glad I caught you alone...I wanted to speak to you."

"Oh....sure...I was just going over my notes for the report I'm giving to Sherik about the Little People."

"Any new developments ?" asked Tam, putting her own collection of paperwork down on the table top and sliding into one of the plastic chairs. Two pairs of eyes clashed over the width of the table and just as quickly slid away, Elish stopping her sorting of the sheets of paper and sitting down to face Tam.

"Several actually....the tests on the subject...ur...Mark...proved very helpful in judging the correct dosage of various chemicals and I think I'm about ready to test the truth serum on one of the Little People."

"Which one ?"

"Ur...the one called Fitzhugh. He proved most cooperative before and I'm sure he's the best candidate to trial the new drug."

"Wouldn't it be better to test it on a more....unwilling subject ?"

"Ur...yes, but the three other men are all intregal to the running of the ship and if the drug isn't one hundred percent, I don't want to do potential damage to the programme by wasting one of the more useful test subjects."

"That's all remarkably cold-blooded of you Elish...I thought you had an affinity with these...Little People...what you're saying is tantamount to using them as disposable specimens, not real people at all."

"That's not what I said...ur...meant," stammered Elish, thoroughly flustered by Tam's ambiguous remarks. Again the two women's eyes met across the expanse of desk, but this time they held and Elish could see that Tam wasn't asking the hard questions out of a need to criticise, but rather to test Elishs' reactions before speaking out, about what was really on her mind.

"I know what you mean Elish...and I'm sure Sarn and Sherik will agree with you...but so far I've only heard what I'm sure our project leader wants to hear," said Tam, leaning forward slightly. "What I want to know...is what you think and feel...about these Little People and what we're going to be doing to them...in the name of progress and technological advancement,"

For a second or two, Elish sat as if frozen, her eyes wide as the implications of Tam's statement sank into her consciousness.

"I want them to go free," she finally whispered, surprised at herself for uttering such treasonous words, but also feeling a great weight lift of her heart at their utterance. Tam, on hearing Elish, leaned back and smiled enigmatically.

"So do I," Tam whispered back.

For a moment the two women regarded each other in silence, then Elish let go a snort which turned into a giggle, as tightly wound nerves finally relaxed. Tam felt a bubble of laughter well up inside her also, her mouth relaxing into a broad grin.

"Phew...well now that's out in the open...what do we do about it ?"

"For the time being..we can't do alot...except start to lay our plans while appearing normal and carrying out our usual duties,"

"I have to test this new drug after the meeting on the one called Fitzhugh, but I don't want to," said Elish, her face sombre.

"Will the drug hurt him ?"

"No...I don't think so, it's just something to lower his natural defenses and relax him enough to respond to some careful questioning about his shipmates,"

"Then proceed as planned...we want to avoid any suspicion...we need to plan this...rescue...carefully."

"I know from what the boy has said, that the ship is not fully functioning at present...maybe we can wait until the ship is fixed, then arrange for them to escape ?"

"Hmmm that's a good point...it's no good just letting them out, they'll need all their equipment and provisions...which according to the same transcript, are all in that ship, so if they go...it has to go too."

"Oh boy...that's a big ask....its guarded by Sarn most of the time...he's forever poking around and performing more tests on it,"

"Well even Sarn has to sleep sometime," said Tam, her lip curling at his name, "we just have to find out how badly damaged the ship is, then get it fixed, which Sherik wants to do anyway,"

"It sounds so simple, put like that...but how long is this all going to take ?"

"I don't know," said Tam, worrying her bottom lip.

"Why are you doing this ?" asked Elish, emboldened by the other woman's complicity, "you're whole focus so far has been on getting our race to the stars...now you're proposing we help the main reason for our existence to escape.....all your work on the Nephoscope, the whole deal with the weather, why Tam ?"

"Put like that...you're right, why would I risk everything to save a handful of alien invaders ?" agreed Tam, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, "I could say it's all your fault Elish...my sudden conversion, but that wouldn't be entirely true. It's the Little People themselves, they're so......real. Up until now we've only read about them and seen the occasional blurry photograph, curtesy of the SID, but now we actually have them here, in our hands, and they're not what I expected." Pausing for a breath, Tam unclasped her hands and turned them palm side up in an unconsciously pleading gesture. " From all that you've observed and written, these people are just like us, in almost every respect. For all I know the planet these creatures come from could be our ancestral home, or maybe ours is there's...its mind boggling to consider that we could be related somehow. We should be looking for links and parallels, not keeping them captive and stealing their knowledge."

"You've got it in a nutshell Tam," said Elish, reaching across the table and clasping one of the Tam's damp hands in her own. " We should be extending our hands in welcome and awe at the ability of these tiny travellers who fly through space like we drive around in cars," Elish smiled, seeing an answering quirk on Tam's lips. "I also thought that what we were doing was justified....now I know differently,"

Suddenly voices could be heard approaching the room and the two women sprang apart, both reaching for their paperwork to straighten it before their colleagues arrived.

"We'll meet later and draw up our plans," hissed Tam, getting to her feet as the door started to open. Elish only nodded, her head bent as she opened one of her files and composed herself, her eyes staring blankly at the report as if she had been engrossed in its contents for the past few minutes, instead of what she had actually been doing, discussing rebellion and a rescue with a fellow conspirator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Mark...wake up buddy, I need you,"

Steve's voice penetrated the blackness and snapped Mark back to consciousness, his whole body jerking into awareness.

"Geez...I wish this would stop happening," he groaned, prising his eyelids open to find Steve sitting next to him in a glass sided cage. Levering himself upright, Mark propped his back against one wall and rubbed a hand over his face, wincing when he pressed too hard against one of the bruises.

"Where did they put you ?" asked Steve, regarding Mark's semi-clad state with interest.

"We were in some sort of apartment....three rooms, not alot of furniture, no food...but a bathroom and bed,"

"Same here....you said *we*...who was with you ?"

"Ur....Valerie," said Mark, cursing inwardly at the blush heating his face.

Choosing to ignore the other mans discomfort, Steve turned to look outside, his eyes focussing on the strange array of laboratory equipment set out on the bench around them.

"Betty was with me..." he announced curtly, " have you seen or heard anything about the others ?"

"No...the giant's haven't exactly been the most talkative bunch, in fact I seem to have spent most of my time out of it...according to Val I collapsed shortly after waking up, some reaction to the drug they fed us. The last thing I remember is being grabbed some time after I was returned and we'd gone to bed,"

Steve eyebrows shot up at his candid explanation, deciding to ignore Mark's last comment about his sleeping arrangement's with Valerie.

"I got to meet one of the giants, he seemed to be under the impression that our technology was going to be the next big thing, as far as scientific discoveries go," said Steve, turning his head to face Mark.

"To what aim ?" queried Mark, perplexed, but just as suddenly his face cleared as understanding dawned, "...of course, space travel."

"Yeah....that's what I figured, they also disarmed our self-destruct,"

"Damn,"

"I think someone must have told them.....I'm guessing Fitzhugh...but I don't know...maybe it was a lucky guess,"

"Maybe it was me, how did I get here...I remember being carried to a table and strapped down.....then nothing,"

"I wasn't able to see much from here," said Steve, looking over his shoulder to the room beyond," but they had some sort of recording device set up beside you, and one of the giants injected you with something...you were only there for a short time, then they sprayed you with an aerosol....and dumped you in here with me,"

"Well whatever they used....its wiped me out...both physically and mentally...I can't remember a thing,"

"Maybe that's just as well," observed Steve, regarding Mark's drawn face with compassion. Both men looked out beyond their cage, both contemplating their options for escape, both coming to the same conclusion.

"We may not escape from this one, Steve,"

"I have to agree....these giants have a tight security setup, and they aren't afraid to knock us out,"

"Without knowing where the others are...what chance anyway. Everything is on the ship, everything that's kept us alive so far," stated Mark in frustration.

"I know...plus with the ship grounded, we can't even fly out of here...even supposing we were able to somehow collect the others together and escape."

"So that's it...the end of our road....seems....anticlimactic,"

Steve laughed out loud at Mark's statement. "Anticlimactic...you want more drama ?"

"No....drama I don't need....waking up in a bed was enough drama to last me a lifetime," snorted Mark.

"Val give you a hard time ?" asked Steve, one eyebrow raised in inquiry.

Mark only shook his head in reply, refusing to answer.

After a minute Mark quirked an answering eyebrow at Steve."And Betty didn't ?"

This time Steve refused to answer, shaking his head ruefully.

Again the two men relapsed into silence. A movement outside the box drew their attention, curiousity picqued as a giantess approached the bench, pausing to pull out a stool before reaching forward and pulling the box towards her.

To their surprise, the woman quickly looked left and right, as if checking for eavesdroppers, then brought her face close up to the box and started to speak.

"I can't talk for long...but I wanted you to know...you're not alone or without friends," the giantess whispered, her eyes constantly checking the room for any other giants.

After a brief exchange of mutual surprise, Steve and Mark got to their feet and pressed close to the glass.

"Are you saying that there's a chance we could escape ?" asked Steve.

The woman glanced down briefly at the small faces watching her.

"I'm saying that for now you have to play along with whatever is asked of you, even if it seems that you're only helping us and not yourselves. We hope to get your ship repaired and then release you."

"What about our friends....what has happened to them ?"

"They are well...you are all being kept in the same place, just in different enclosures. I urge you not to cause trouble and co-operate. The sooner we get your ship fixed the sooner you will be able to leave."

"How can we trust you ?" asked Mark angrily,"you continually drug us and use us a test subjects for god knows what experiments,"

"It's for you're own good...I can't explain more, just go along with the programme and try to calm yourselves. Enjoy your stay, it may be shorter than you think."

"Why did you separate us....why pair us up with the women ?" asked Steve, avoiding eye contact with Mark. Both men were surprised to see a blush stain the woman cheeks.

"Sherik has a plan to create a colony of your people to study them, to that end he wants you to produce offspring."

"Val was right," muttered Mark in disgust, turning away.

"I can't stay any longer....you have to trust me....you will be set free but you must be patient...and help us repair your ship, it is your only hope."

"But..." started Steve only to stop when the giantess, with one last glance at the captives, straightened up and hurried off, disappearing off into the distance. Stunned at the sudden turn of events, Mark and Steve stood for a moment staring after the woman, lost in their own thoughts.

"Can we trust her ?" asked Mark finally, turning to regard his fellow captive.

"Do we have a choice....if there's a chance the ship could be repaired and a possibility of all of us flying out of here....we have to trust her."

"Do we tell the girls ?"

"No...not right now, I don't want to give them false hope only to have it dashed if this all turns out to be a hoax," said Steve, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck.

"What about the business with the...breeding programme ?"

"Hey....you said Valerie had already figured it out....but I'd stand clear anyway when you confirm it...I don't think she'll take it well,"

Despite their precarious situation Mark couldn't help a chuckle escaping at Steve wry humour.

"I'll just have to think of something to distract her,"

At that moment another giant arrived, a male this time, who lifted up the glass box and swung it up to his face. Steve recognised the man who'd briefly interrogated him before. This time the giant only peered at the two Little People without speaking, eventually lowering the cage and carrying it away, out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sherik pushed open the door of the observation room and walked briskly across to the bank of monitors, placing the box with its two occupants in front of a blank screen before pulling over a swivel chair and sitting down himself.

"I imagine you are wondering what I could possibly want with you ?"

Both Steve and Mark stared back at the man, not bothering to reply to the rhetorical question.

"I see...mute rebellion...you little people are so entertaining. Anyway, I'll tell you why...we have reached a stage where we need your input to proceed," rubbing his chin, Sherik continued, "your spaceship was damaged when you arrived, this much we have learned, what I need to know is what is required to get the ship fully operational once more,"

"Why not ask your informant," spat Mark, turning his back on Sherik.

"Now now little man, that's no way to speak to someone who holds your life and the life of those you value in his hands," said Sherik, reaching to grip the sides of the box cage and shake it, toppling the two men inside.

"You will accord me the proper respect or other's will suffer for your arrogance Mr.Wilson...oh yes, I know all your names," stated Sherik with satisfaction, noting the look of surprise on the faces of the two men, "and a whole lot more about all of you...I was warned about your arrogance Mr.Wilson, as well as the fact that you are an engineer and well qualified to help us repair your ship,"

"What if I choose not to...co-operate ?" Mark flung back.

"Then I will have to use more persuasive means to achieve my goals," said Sherik, a smirk curling his lips, "watch the monitor beside you, if you please gentlemen."

The blank screen beside them flickered into life and Mark and Steve turned to stare at the image. At the same time Sherik reached for a button and pressed it while speaking into a microphone.

"We're ready here Sarn, proceed with the demonstration,"

Mark and Steve exchanged uneasy glances before concentrating on the view in front of them. The monitor was showing a view of one of the apartments but neither man could make out whose it was. A figure appeared and walked into the camera's range, causing Mark to inhale sharply. Despite the pictures grainy black and white image they had no trouble recognising Valerie. As they watched they saw her look up in surprise as a giant hand appeared, reaching into the room and snatching Valerie up, the move so quick it appeared blurred. The scene then flicked to an exterior shot of a giant lifting his hand away from a large boxlike structure, obviously holding something carefully.

"Sarn has such a way of handling you Little People," mused Sherik, watching his subordinate carry his tiny burden over to a bench which held a large square glass tank currently empty but with several hoses running into the four sides. The camera panned across the room, following the giant, then flickered and switched to an angle looking down on the bench just as Sarn reached into the glass box and dropped his captive onto the cage floor. Valerie rolled, her injured arm held close to her chest before scrabbling to her feet, looking up at the man looming over her then at the glass walls surrounding her. The giant must have spoken to her because her head suddenly turned and she was now staring directly into the camera lens, her eyes wide and fearful.

Again Sherik spoke into the microphone. "Perfect Sarn..now start the demonstration..we have a captive audience this end,"

Out of camera range, Sarn reached over and turned on a tap. Mark and Steve both gasped as they saw water start to pour out of the hose connections, Valerie quickly becoming soaked in the spray from the water sluicing into the glass tank. After a few seconds it was already up to her knees and Mark started to pound on the glass, shouting at Sherik.

"Stop it...for godsake, what are you....mad ??"

Ignoring Mark, Sherik addressed Sarn. "Put the lid on, we don't want our captive to escape."

Steve and Mark watched as giant hands lifted a thick glass lid onto the square tank, trapping Valerie inside a rapidly filling death trap. Unable to bear the sight, Mark once more beat on the glass, attracting Sherik's attention.

"You've made your point....stop the water!"

"Oh no Mr. Wilson...I think an indelible impression is needed....I hope the young lady can swim,"

The water had reached Valerie's shoulders, her legs working to keep her afloat as the water quickly lifted her out of her depth, the level rapidly rising. The spouts of water were starting to create a whirlpool effect and Valerie was being swept around the tank, dragged against the walls and sucked under the water. Her struggles were becoming more desperate as the water continued to rise, already starting to splash up to the glass lid sealing the tank. Steve and Mark could only look on helplessly as Valerie was sucked repeatedly below the turbulent surface. Sherik watched the image intently, seemingly amused at the woman's battle against the artificial current. Just as the level of the water reached the top of the tank and Valerie could be seen struggling to take a breath, Sherik reached over and switched off the monitor, the picture shrinking to a dot and vanishing. Both Steve and Mark cried out in anguish, staring disbelievingly at the now blank screen.

"Oh my god....he drowned her," gasped Mark, doubling over in shock as if punched in the solar plexus. Steve stared numbly out of the cage, unable to comprehend that he'd just witnessed Valerie's death in horrifying detail on a screen as big as a house.

"I believe there are four more people in your group....are you prepared to watch them suffer a similar fate ?"

Steve sucked in a shaky breath, his eyes refocussing on the giant staring down at him. Glancing down at Mark who was still hunched over, Steve lay a hand on his grieving friends shoulder before attempting to speak.

"That won't be necessary, there'll be no more trouble...we'll do whatever you want...just don't hurt anymore of our people."

"I knew you'd see reason little man...now brace yourselves for the quick trip to your spaceship,"

Not bothering to wait for a reply, Sherik got to his feet and picked up the cage, striding purposefully towards a doorway without so much as a glance at his dejected captives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sherik and his team of specialist's kept the two Little People too busy to dwell on the loss of one of their friends. For several hours they collaborated with the giants, creating list's of parts and discussing the best ways of creating the tiny parts needed to repair the Spindrift. Eventually even the giant needed a break and the two tired men were shepherded back into their box cage and carried away. This time another technician took them back to their apartments, stopping to drop Steve into his before delivering Mark back to his.

Exhausted by his ordeal Mark stayed where he been dumped, too drained from the long hours and lack of food to do much more than lay on the cold floor feeling numb with grief and despair. Steve had tried to remind him of the words of the giantess that they had friends and were destined to escape but Mark could only remember the sight of Valerie fighting for her life in the tank.

Groaning he rolled onto his side, the flesh of his arms and chest prickling with goosebumps in the cool, dark air. Pushing himself to his feet, he shuffled into the bathroom and ran the shower, stripping off and stepping in. He welcoming the punishing spray, staying under the pounding stream until he started to shiver, then switched it off and stepped out, snagging a towel from the sink bench to dry off. The harsh light above his head bounced off the metal fittings, causing sparks to flair behind his half closed eyes. Flinging the damp towel down, he grabbed at the clothes waiting for him beside the shower. Pulling on the pants, he padded back into the main room, the bathroom light switching off automatically when he'd cleared the doorway. Too dispirited to think, Mark entered the bedroom, his eyes adjusting readily to the deep gloom. Groping his way to the bed, he crawled his way up the mattress and collapsed exhausted at its head. For several seconds his breathing sounded loud in the small room, then he calmed and lay staring sightlessly up at the ceiling, his brain replaying all he'd seen.

Groaning again, he rolled over, freezing instantly as he came up against something already laying in the bed. Reaching out a hand, he tentatively touched the faint shape hunched under the covers. His fingers encountered a wet coverlet, the body underneath still soaked from her unexpected brush with death. Hardly daring to breath, Mark peeled the covers away to reveal the last person he'd ever hoped to see again.

"Valerie!!"

Getting to his knees, he reached out to roll the limp woman onto her back. Valerie appeared to be unconscious, her body shivering in its damp clothes and wet bedding, her hair spread out on the pillow like seaweed. Tamping down his euphoria at finding her alive, Mark realised that her health was seriously at risk if he didn't get her warm and dry as soon as possible. Coming to a decision, Mark scooted off the bed, leaving Valerie where she was, and ran across to the bathroom, the light snapping on as soon as he crossed the threshold. Snatching up both his damp towel and the remaining dry one, plus an extra set of clothes, he bundled them together and raced back to the bedroom. As he entered the bedroom he absently noticed that the lights had been relit, but only enough to cast a soft glow around the room. Hurrying to Valerie's side he pulled the bedclothes off the bed before starting to remove her saturated clothes.

"Sorry Val, but you need to get dry," he muttered as he pulled her upright to peel off her sopping shirt, rubbing her arms and back with the dry towel. Pulling her around so that she could lay on the drier side of the bed, he positioned the damp towel under her head, then carried on drying her off before attempting to remove her pyjama trousers. Once stripped, he moved her completely onto the dry side of the bed, grabbing the dry clothes and redressing her as quickly as possible before using the least wet towel to dry her hair. All the time Mark worked, Valerie remained limp and lifeless, only the steady rise and fall of her chest telling him she was still alive. Tossing the wet clothes and towels into the corner, Mark proceeded to strip the remaining wet sheets and pillows, leaving Valerie laying on the vinyl covered mattress with only his dry pillow for comfort. Pulling down the curtain screening the bed, he wrapped it around the still shivering woman until she was cocooned. Behind the curtain he'd spotted a cleverly concealed cupboard, the door set flush with the wall. By pushing on the door he heard a click and it swung open, revealing a cache of bedding. Pulling it all out he remade the bed, rolling Valerie onto the fresh, dry sheet and tucking her into the new cover before crawling in behind her and gathering her into his arms.

As if on cue, the lights once more dimmed and the room was plunged into darkness. Silently thanking the guardian angel that appeared to be watching over them, Mark willed his strength into the woman wrapped in his arms, hoping that his body heat would be enough to prevent her suffering any serious side effects from her dunking.

For several more minutes he lay wide awake, his mind consumed with the guilt of having been the cause of Valerie being tortured in the first place. Eventually he felt her body relax and the shivering stop. His own mind and body, overtaxed with the days events, relaxed as well, allowing him to slip into a deep sleep, the emotional overload passed in for oblivion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve also lay exhausted in mind and body, his minds-eye reviewing all the events that had taken place since he'd been taken from that very room so many hours ago. Betty was curled up at his side, her arm trustingly draped across his chest, her hand curled against his ribs. He turned slightly and nestled his cheek against her soft curls, her steady breath puffing against his neck.

She'd be rapturous in her welcome when he'd been finally dropped back into the room, her cry of fright quickly turning to sympathy at his obviously exhausted state. Helping him to his feet, she'd supported him into the bathroom before leaving him to wash away the days grime and sweat. Later, once more feeling human, Steve found the table laid with a simple meal which he fell on like a starving man, gulping down the water and savouring the bread and fruit pieces. Betty sat opposite him, her expression worried, but keeping her counsel until he'd eaten his fill and recovered. Eventually he finished, pushing the empty plate away before sitting back and finally lifting his gaze to meet Betty's concerned blue eyes.

"What happened Steve, you've been gone so long I've been out of my mind with worry,"

Clasping his hands in front of him to stop them shaking, Steve tried to marshal his thoughts and come up with a coherent way to break the appalling news of Valerie's fate.

"Betty....I don't....I...Valerie's dead," he blurted out, all efforts to soften the shock overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the fact.

Betty looked at him blankly for a second, her forehead creasing in confusion.

"You saw Valerie..where, what happened....did you see the others ?" she babbled, reaching across to clasp his hand.

"Didn't you hear me...Valerie's dead...I was forced to watch her die," Steve ground out, unreasonably angry at Betty's confusion, a bubble of rage starting to well up inside of him.

"Dead...but she can't be...." said Betty, bewilderment and disbelief making her eyes well up, her lashes spiky with unshed tears.

"She is....Mark and I....we saw her on a monitor...they drowned her," he choked out, pulling his hand out of Betty's grasp and covering his face, his rage dispelled by her obvious compassion.

Biting down on her own grief at the loss of her friend, Betty got to her feet and came around the table. She understood what Steve must be going through, knowing him so well she realised that his guilt must be tearing him apart. Steve had always felt totally responsible for whatever happened to the group of castaways, regardless of whether he had any control of the cause or subsequent events. He took it personally if a mission failed or a rescue wasn't successful, losing Valerie, whether or not he could have prevented it, would be a huge blow to his belief in himself as the group leader and his ability to keep everyone safe.

"Steve...there was nothing you could have done....we're helpless against these giants....Valerie would have realised that...we've been living only one step away from death all the time we've been on this planet,"

"You don't understand," said Steve, "she was killed as a demonstration, an example of what would happen to you all if Mark and I didn't do exactly what they wanted,"

"Oh Steve...."

"We never thought they'd do anything like that...we'd been told....we'd been told that we had friends here.."

"Friends ?...who told you this ?" asked Betty, still crouched beside his chair, one warm hand resting comfortingly on his leg.

"A giantess..she told us to co-operate and we'd be helped to escape...that they wanted you and Val for breeding stock," he paused as Betty cried out in shock, her hand flying to her mouth. " Yes Betty...these are different giants...they have some very definite plans for us....or they did,"

Pulling herself together, Betty focused on Steve, putting the rest to the back of her mind. "So what happened ?"

"This giant, the one who I saw before...he said we had to help them fix the ship, but Mark defied him...I don't think Mark even thought about what he was doing, it was just a natural reaction to being told what to do, you know how he is," he waited while Betty nodded her agreement, " but this giant expected Mark to behave like that....he knew our names, what we were like, how we'd react to a given situation...he had been told, by an informer... we don't know who but I have my suspicions,"

"Oh Steve," whispered Betty, reaching for his hand again and clasping it tightly.

"He already had the demonstration set up....they dropped Valerie into a tank with a sealed lid...we saw everything on this damn monitor as big as a house...then they filled the tank with water..just before the water reached the top, the giant switched the screen off..but it was pretty obvious that Valerie couldn't have survived more than a few seconds more."

Getting to her feet, Betty wrapped her arms around Steve's shoulders, her eyes squeezed shut to stop the flood of tears that threatened to choke her. She felt Steve's arms come around her waist, hugging her to him as they comforted each other in their grief and shock.

A little later Betty managed to coax him to lie down and try to sleep, her own exhaustion plain to see on her pretty face. His body worn out, Steve tried to sleep, his mind stubbornly refusing to allow him respite from the constant round of what-ifs and maybe's. Finally even that exhausted itself and Steve managed to shut his eyes, drifting off into a doze with only the sound of Betty's soft snuffles to break the silence of the small room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~