[b]“I hope everything met with your expectations.”[/b] The attendant said as he handed Ryen back her chip card.

Ryen thanked the man and placed the card back into the pocket of her pants. Stooping down, she grabbed the belongings she’d momentarily placed on the floor next to her and started to head out of the lobby. Unfortunately she wouldn’t have time to stop for a quick meal. Ryen had woken up much later than she planned and now she was in a rush to make it back to the shipyard to warm up the core. The mechanic was just about through the hotel’s door when she suddenly remembered what she was missing. 

[b]”Damn it,”[/b] Ryen groaned, turning around abruptly and almost running headlong into a couple of Heranorps. [b]”The communicator.”[/b] 

She’d had a bad night again. Tossing and turning in the sheets, unable to get comfortable, Ryen had opted to take the expensive device off and had placed it on the nightstand next to her bed. Chances were good, it was still there. It only took her a few minutes to retrace her steps back to her room. Despite having just checked out, her card, thankfully, still opened the door. Just as she was clasping the communicator device around her wrist, she heard it- the sound of raised voices through the crack in the door. Although she couldn’t make out all of the words, she could tell from the increasing volume that the owners were getting closer.

[b]”…privacy… officially sanctioned… system…”[/b]

Paranoia and panic, similar, to what she had felt back in her apartment washed over the young mechanic. Only this time there wasn’t a convenient balcony and hover bike. Her blue eyes darted around as her brain ran through possible scenarios.

Running out of time, she ducked down and started to slide under the bed. Ryen felt foolish with her faced pressed against the floor, at least until she heard the door of her hotel room whine as it opened wider. Then she silently struggled and promised to herself that she wouldn’t eat another chocolate éclair from the replicator so long as she managed to fit.

[b]”Not here.”[/b] The voice was gravelly. Male, she was guessing.

[b]”Where?”[/b] A different voice. Heavier than the first. Slow and low. Almost, patient. Ryen recognized the language as Quandu.

[b]”Now will you leave?”[/b Yet another voice in heavily accented Common Tongue. The owner had been the one who had raised a ruckus in the hallway.

Ryen breathed in and out as quietly as possible, the hammering of her heart almost as loud as the heavy footfalls she heard moving about the room. Unfortunately, the same bed linen that was keeping her figure well-hidden made it impossible for her to see what was going on. More grumbling. More movement around the room. Then a door closed and the room was silent again. Ryen counted to one hundred. She only made it to eighty-nine.

[b]”Hotel records show...already left…”[/b] The second voice had said in a low whisper. She couldn’t make out all the words but Ryen was reluctant to move to try to catch what they were saying.


Again the sound of a door closing echoed through the room. Ryen counted to seven-thousand-twenty-eight before feeling brave enough to slip out from under the bed and scramble to her feet. The room’s door was still closed and try as she might, she couldn’t detect any sound coming from the hallway. Should she try calling someone? She was reluctant to contact the local federation police. She could just imagine it now. [i]”Hello my name is Ryen Arleth. Uh… yes… that Ryen Arleth, the one the authorities on Syrae think is responsible for her father’s death. Anyways, I need your assistance because there are- Humans? Aliens? Entities? Beings?-who are trying to find me and I don’t know why but I suspect they’re dangerous.”[/i]  It sounded incredibly stupid in her own head.

There of course was another possibility but Ryen had no way of contacting her crew mates. Surely, Gunther would come and help if no one else. However, no one knew where she was and she according to the bedside clock, she was already running late. Would Lazlo suspect something if he got back before the cores had started up? Would he hold the ship if she didn’t make it back on time? A picture of what Lazlo had looked like as he handed back her card flashed into her mind, as crisp as if he was standing there right in front of her. The likelihood of being stranded on the Federation Stronghold was beginning to be a real possibility. She couldn’t afford to wait any longer. 

Cautiously, Ryen crept forward and opened the door. Nothing. Sticking just her head out, Ryen looked left and right down the empty hallway before running in a mad dash towards the hotel’s lift that would take her back to the lobby. Suddenly a hand slammed down on her shoulder. Too frightened to breath, let alone scream, Ryen whirled around.

The hand belonged to a woman who was wearing clothes that identified her ask hotel staff. [b]”You’ll want to take the back stairs.”[/b] This was the owner of voice number three.

****

Sweat plastered red strands of hair to Ryen’s forehead as the door to the Ship Yard B slid open in front of her. The time displayed on the holograms above her read 12.28.09 giving her less than three minutes before Lazlo’s stated departure time. Not pausing for a breath, Ryen sprinted towards the still docked Fess Maria.

It had taken her longer than she would have liked to get back. Ryen had spent the better part of an hour making her way slowly back to the ship. Twice she had to back track through small alley ways and up and down elevators on the upper floors, certain she was being followed. Twice she’d been wrong. Who had been in her room looking for her? What had they wanted? Were they with the police? Had they been the ones who had ransacked her father’s lab? She didn’t even know what they looked like. Too late she had realized she should have questioned the hotel staff member. 

Ryen was running so fast that she almost slammed into the external airlock door of the ship. [b]”I’m here,”[/b] Ryen panted, expecting the ship to respond and open up the sliding doors. It didn’t. [b]”I said I’m here!”[/b] Again nothing. That’s when she saw it on the wall. She’d been two minutes too late. Ryen began pounding on the door in earnest, her fists pummeling against the metal. [b]”Let me in! Please! Let me in!”[/b] Surely they wouldn’t leave her. Just as Ryen was about to go in full blown panic mode, she heard a quiet voice behind her.

Turning, Ryen was surprised to see the flushed faced technician. Ellie was gripping her electronic pad so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. [b]”You don’t think…,”[/b] she started voice wavering, [b]”He won’t really leave us… will he?”[/b]