The two of us continued chatting, every so often glancing at the planet below. Griffin told me about himself. Things I'm sure his Nova already knew but he was patient and explained them again.

     He explained how his family operated back home. How his older siblings (of which he had two) had joined the military. How this inspired him to follow their footsteps.

     "They have more mediocre jobs," Griffin explained. "My sister is a palace guard and my brother is in training to become a pilot."

     "Wait, you have royalty?" I asked. One answer led to more questions.

     "Yes, we've got royalty. The Red Star Family. Arguably the most powerful family on Andromeda. If you wonder who ordered all this," Griffin swept a hand around at the ship and the planet out the window. "They're the ones to point the finger at."

     Interesting, I thought, now I knew who to blame for this whole predicament. Some stuck up family sitting on their high horses ordering people like Griffin, who didn't seem capable of hurting a fly, to invade peaceful planets.

     Griffin kept talking unaware to my churning mind and racing thoughts. Occasionally I caught some things he was saying but most of it went over my head.

     I leaned against the cool glass of the window blissfully unaware to the world around me when a loud voice startled me.

     "Cadet Griffin!" It barked. "What is she doing out of the medical bay?"

     I spun, inching closer to Griffin. My hand brushed his and it twitched, almost like he wanted to reach for mine and grab it. I almost wished he did but his hand stayed away from mine.

     Before us stood the man from the lab. Berkely, Griffin had called him. He'd also called him a grandpa figure but nothing about the way he looked now reminded me of a grandpa. Grandpas were supposed to be approachable, ready to hug you and tell you how much you'd grow. Berkely looked more willing to sucker punch you and tell you to walk it off.

     His eyes flashed a dangerous shade of violet. From my small amount of time around the Andromedic's I'd learned that that shade means to run and hide. However, both Griffin and I held our ground. Stupidly perhaps but we were on a space ship, I doubt that there were many places to hide and I didn't want the trama of playing hide and seek with Berkely.

     "Cadet," His grew dangerously low. "I'm waiting."

     Griffin opened his mouth and closed it again. It took a couple of seconds before he opened it again.

     "I just figured a little walk wouldn't hurt."

     Berkely stared. His lips set in a thin line. They were pressed so tightly together that they'd started to turn white.

     "I told you to stay in the medical bay cadet. I don't have time to be keeping track of you because you decide a walk will be fun."

     Griffin was starting to shrink. I doubt he'd ever been reprimanded like this before. On the bright side, he was taking it quite well. No tears and no shaking was in sight.

     "Don't ever let me catch you breaking direct orders again or there will be consequences," Berkely clasped his hands behind his back and his tone shifted to a more businesslike one. "Anyways now that I've found you, we have some things to discuss. Please follow me."

     He turned in a swift motion and began marching away from us. I was reluctant to follow but a small poke from Griffin got me going.

     "I don't see where you got the grandpa vibe from," I hissed as we followed Berkely's poker straight back.

     "Trust me, he used to be nicer," Griffin hissed back.

     I snorted. "Unlikely."

    We followed Berkely down the ramp and back across the room. The people sitting near the fountain had disappeared, leaving only the sound of lapping water behind. As we drew farther away from it, the sound of water was replaced by the steady thump of footfalls. In fact, that was the only sound I could hear. The large room was otherwise as still as a tomb. It almost felt wrong to be making so much noise.

     We followed Berkely through a larger door than the one Griffin and I had used to enter. Once again we were surrounded on all sides but dark gray walls broken only by the faint outlines of doors. All stayed closed as we passed. 

     Soon lost in a maze of hallways, the walls closed in and forced us to walk in a single file line. Berkely first, leading the way. Me second, trapped between him and Griffin who brought up the rear. That was the way we walked until Berkely suddenly veered right and pushed open one of the many doors.

     Beyond the door sat a compact office. Sparsely furnished except for the desk that seemed to grow out of the floor. Like everything in this place, it matched the walls and the hallway outside. On the walls hung large video monitors but they lay silent now. Their blank screens staring at us.

     Berkely took a seat in the chair behind his desk and motioned for us to take the remaining two chairs. He cleared his throat and swiped a hand over the desktop, almost like he was clearing a mess except there was nothing on it. Lights sprang to life under his fingertips and scrambled into pages of writing and several pictures. Soon he had full stacks of documents hovering on the desk.

     I stared, my mouth slightly open. I'd seen things like that happen in sci-fi movies before but technology on Earth couldn't do that yet. I was tempted to reach forward and touch one of the floating light documents but decided against it when Berkely cleared his throat and began talking.

     "I've been discussing your particular situation with the Council," he referred to me, completely ignoring Griffin. "They want you to go home."

      Somehow I found my voice to reply. "You have no idea how much my parents are probably worried about me. They'll be so happy to see me."

     Berkely broke in. "You're not going back to Earth."

     "But you said."

     "Cadet, when I say home I'm referring to Andromeda."

     I turned to Griffin for help but he shrugged as if to say he was sorry. As much as I wanted to believe what Griffin had told me about being one of them, I still wanted to fight it. But even my gut was pushing me towards accepting it. Soon the conflict between my gut and brain got too much.

     "Sir I can't just go. My family..." I trailed off.

     "You can and you will," Berkely leaned forward, his voice dangerously low again. "We have better technology back on the planet that we're hoping can restore your memories. The sooner that happens, the sooner you'll see how ridiculous you're being."

     "So you really think this little thing is going to solve all the problems," I burst out while pulling the cube out of my pocket.

     Berkely's eyes followed it. "Where did you get that?"

     I'd reached the point of being reasonable. Berkely might have been scary, but angry Nova could give him a run for his money.

     "Doesn't matter," I snapped.

     "Give to me," Berkley extended an arm to me, his palm open like he was expecting me to just give it to him.

     That's when I had a brilliant idea.

     "If you want it, come and get it," I said, a faint smile gracing my lips.

     I took the small cube and tucked it into my bra. All the while keeping eye contact with Berkely. I leaned back in my chair, clearly pleased with myself. His open palm clenched into a fist and he lowered it to the desk slowly. His face had turned an alarming shade of red and his eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. I took it that he wasn't used to people disobeying his orders.

     Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Griffin, his eyes wide and his face drained of all color. He looked frozen, scared to move a muscle and incur the wrath of Berkely.

     With his face the color of a rotten tomato, I fully expected Berkely to start yelling at me but when he opened his mouth, his tone hadn't changed.

     "There's a supply ship leaving in an hour. I expect both of you to be on it. If you're not, you'll wish you'd never been born."

     The last part I believed. He looked close to murder. I wasn't sorry.

     He continued his tight-lipped instructions but this time only to Griffin. "Take that human boy you brought up with you but keep him controlled. We don't need two of them running around."