I groaned and coughed a little. There was something over my face. I cracked open my eyes to see blurry figures at first, but after a minute, my eyes adjusted and I found myself being pushed on an old-fashioned stretcher with wheels. The man directly to my left was in ancient U.S. camouflage military uniform. Judging by the four stars on his uniform collar he was a general. He looked me straight in the eye and spoke up.
“You are a risk to the American public. You are carrying an alien virus, and if you were to escape from this facility, untold millions would die. Who are you?”
I couldn’t see the general’s face, it was covered by a surgical mask, much like the other five men pushing the stretcher. I turned my head to see another stretcher being rolled next to me by all women, but in different uniform. Deanna couldn’t have been less than a meter from me, I could almost touch her. But noticed my hands were restrained with some white plastic called tie-wrap. They were really digging into my skin. I looked back to the general and tried to speak, but found it difficult. What did they give me?
“That woman on the other s-stretcher is my wife. Don’t hurt her, or our baby.”
The man’s eyes hardened and he looked straight ahead of him. We were now rolling down the hallway. Another on the right of me spoke.
“Don’t worry, you and you’re wife will be quarantined together. There was another woman with you, red hair, and a strange looking uniform.”
Beverly. I couldn’t divulge anything to them. The Prime Directive forbids me from it. I’d have to make something up.
“She’s my sister.”
Before I knew what was going on, Deanna and I were rolled into a starch-white room. The General on the right cut the tie-wraps while the one on the left shoved me off the stretcher roughly and motioned for two more men in uniform to come towards me.
“Strip and body cavity search him. Put the wife on monitors and give her a gown. No search for her. They could be spies for all we know.”
So the virus was a cover? I was horrified, I’d read about what happened to people during body cavity searches. You feel like you lose your dignity.
“I have nothing to hide. But I want you to know, I strongly protest this.” ———————————————————————————————————————
I was given pants with my hospital gown. I now sat on the bed cross-legged across from Deanna. The women had finished tucking the covers around her. One was sticking something into Deanna’s hand.
“Something to keep you hydrated.”
The same nurse took something from her pocket and aimed it at the hospital bracelet on Deanna’s left wrist. I had to use every ounce of my strength not to lunge at the strange object in the woman’s hand. I swallowed and watched as the nurse came over to me and scanned the bracelet on my left wrist.
“What? You’ve never seen a barcode scanner before? Ok I need to know your name so that I can put it into the scanner.”
I nodded my head slowly.
“Will Riker. I’m from Palmer, Alaska. The woman across from me is my wife Deanna Troi. She’s from Boston.”
Deanna looked at me but didn’t say anything.
“Imzadi, what are you doing?”
I smiled and reached my hand across and grabbed for her hand with the iv in it.
“Protecting you for as long as I can.”
Deanna looked at the computer monitor on the side of the bed, it was beeping rapidly. Her eyes grew big and I grabbed for her hand tighter.
“What’s wrong?”
The nurse went under our linked hands and pulled the blanket back. There was a band around Deanna’s stomach. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was used for. The nurse smiled and adjusted the band around Deanna’s stomach. The rapid beeping stopped and leveled off.
“No worries. Your baby’s alright. The band just slipped a little and wasn’t registering the heartbeat. Your baby’s heart rate is holding at 137. Keep this in your nose. Your oxygen levels aren’t where they should be. Get some rest, the doctor will be in, in a couple of hours to take an ultrasound and take some readings from the fetal heart monitor you’re hooked up to.”
The nurse shut the door behind her and now it was just the two of us. Deanna ran a hand through my hair.
“Are you alright Will? I never realized how primitive Earth was. When was it that they got rid of strip searches anyways?”
I smiled and kissed her hand.
“I’m alright. If I could find a calendar, to see what the date is… I can figure out when they got rid of that archaic method. Keep the blanket tucked around you, it’s a little chilly in here. Maybe I can ask one of the nurses to turn the heat up.”
I could tell Deanna was cold. I dug in the drawers and found a blanket, a scratchy one, but a blanket nonetheless.
“Here, another blanket Imzadi. I wish I knew why they were holding us here.”
Deanna looked around the room and raised her eyebrows at some of the medical instruments.
“This must have been top of the line medical instruments for the time. Oh by the way, I found a calendar in the bedside drawer. It’s April 15th, 2011.”
I knit my eyebrows together in confusion.
“Then that must mean this is the early 21st century. Two centuries from now this is a museum. Be careful. You don’t want to pull that iv needle out of your hand. I don’t see why they are giving you liquid Saline. Unless they think you are dehydrated. Wait a minute. The nurse did say that the doctor was supposed to perform an ultrasound on you. That would mean your bladder would have to be full.”
Deanna just looked at me and shook her head.
“How do you know these things? Have you been talking to Beverly about ancient medical practices?”
I shook my head and laughed a little.
“Only in passing Imzadi. Look you should get a little sleep. You look tired. Baby takes all the energy from you.”
I watched as Deanna leaned back and closed her eyes. I crawled on the bed, and pulled her semi-into my arms. I was careful not to get tangled in her iv line. I turned and watched the monitor screen as the green lines went up and down. I quietly placed a hand over Deanna’s baby belly.
“Daddy is going to figure out a way to get us out of here ok? And back to the 24th Century.”
I got a strong kick against my hand as if the baby were agreeing with me. I cracked open my eyes when I heard the door click open. I sat up when I saw it was the doctor. “She’s sleeping. She’s exhausted.”
The doctor only nodded her head seriously.
“I understand Mr. Riker. That’s a normal part of the process. I’m Doctor Sarah Sartos. I’ll start with the ultrasound first. We’ll do the internal exam last.”
I cleared my throat and looked at Doctor Sartos seriously.
“Internal exam? I thought you were only going to do an ultrasound?”
I sighed and shook Deanna’s shoulder. She opened up her eyes and wiped the sleep from them. I helped her lean up against the pillows and settled myself in the chair next to the bed. The nurse pulled the covers back and I could barely see a tiny foot flutter just below the skin of Deanna’s stomach. Doctor Sartos spread some clear gel onto her stomach and placed a wand on top of it.
“That’s cold.”
Doctor Sartos nodded her head and gave a small sympathetic smile.
“I know I’m sorry. And there’s… your baby. Baby’s a bit small. 31 weeks you said?”
The both of us nodded our heads. Doctor Sartos turned off the black and white machine and rolled it away to another corner of the room while a nurse wiped away the gel with a towel. She frowned and kept a serious face.
“I got the blood test results back on your blood. Will, you are human. But Deanna, you are human and a mix of something our computers can’t even make heads or tails of. What are you?”
I put a hand in hers and shook my head no.
‘Don’t tell her Imzadi.’
Deanna pulled her hospital gown over her stomach and sat up straighter. I knew she was reading everyone’s emotions in the room.
“If I tell you, will you let us go?”
Doctor Sartos nodded her head yes.
“Of course.”
Deanna narrowed her eyes.
“You’re lying. I’m human. For all I know you could’ve altered those blood tests to make it look like I’m someone I’m not. Now what do you really want with me and my husband? Why are you so interested in my baby?”
Doctor Sartos only smiled.
“Oh, you and your baby are very interesting to us. What fascinates me is the fact that you are not from this planet. What I’d like to know is why your baby is so small. 31 weeks and your baby should be a lot bigger. That would mean you are somewhere around 22 weeks. Three months to go and your baby might be underweight. I’d like to perform one more test just to make sure everything is going alright.”
I looked at Deanna and squeezed her hand.
“I’m right here sweetheart. Just relax.”
She squeezed my hand tighter and bit her lip for a minute. This was very primitive. I couldn’t believe how archaic all this was.
“I’m sorry I know this is uncomfortable. I’m almost finished. Well, everything’s intact. No ruptures in the amniotic sac, that’s a good thing. We’ll continue to monitor your baby. Bed rest would be a good idea for you.”
I looked at Doctor Sartos. She was being very cryptic. I saw Deanna arch her eyebrow and took my hand in both of hers.
“Why?”
Doctor Sartos kind of evaded the question.
“We’ll run some more tests to determine that. Why you would need to be on bed rest. For now, I suggest you get some more rest and take it easy. Someone will be in later to give you dinner.”
We were once again left alone in the room. I looked at Deanna, I could feel she was slightly nervous, just by the tense feeling in her arms.
“We have to get out of here. But I don’t see how. There are closed-circuit cameras in the far right corner of the room and four armed guards outside the door to this room. Without transporters this could be a little difficult. Maybe we can get our hands on some of their high tech they’ve got. We’ve got to find Beverly first. Who knows what they could be doing to her.”
To Be Continued…
A/N: What do you think? Let me know! Thanks!
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