The next time Veronica opened her eyes it was to another kind of light. It was softer and pale yellow in colour. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened and realise where she was. It was a small room far away from her comfortable blue bedroom on the second floor of her red brick house. Gone were her posters of Dr Who and Daft Punk, replaced by empty grey walls on three sides and a huge glass panel on the fourth. Her warm and comfortable bed with purple velvet covers and sequined cushions had been replaced by a rectangular section of padding on the floor.

Veronica sat up, curious to discover the source of the pale light.
There was a wide corridor on the other side of the glass wall and a cell much like her own was on the other side. The creature in the cell facing her generated a sad, feeble light as it lay on the metal floor. Veronica got the impression that it was very ill. It was a little smaller than Veronica’s five foot seven and long and thin. Instead of legs it had one long lick of flame that was sputtering weakly. But above its torso was a body much like her own, apart from the fact it was entirely made up of light.

Veronica pressed her hands against the cold glass ‘Are you alright?’ she said awkwardly. The sound of her own voice was flat and dampened in the small room and she doubted if the creature could hear her. Yet it lifted its head in her direction for just a moment, before slumping back down.
It looked exhausted.

She watched it for a few more moments before turning her attentions to the cell. From one end to the other was roughly three body lengths, though it was no wider than a few paces. The only light came from the poor unfortunate thing across the corridor. An inspection of the low ceiling revealed there were small recesses that could contain a light source. Veronica supposed they were turned off for sleeping time on the ship.

Of course it was only an assumption that she was aboard a space ship. Even though her memories of the night before were very sketchy, she had a mental picture of the machine that had hovered outside her window and rendered her totally pliable. It had levitated her limp form through the solid window and collected her body like a piece of merchandise, dropping her unceremoniously into a large, padded compartment in the top. She hadn’t been able to see much after that. There had been a feeling of rising very high, very fast into darkness and mechanical sounds all around her. Not long after that she had fallen into a drugged slumber.

Her head was still quite foggy from the as she had breathed. She shook it to try and clear her thoughts. It all seemed so unreal, and yet here she was.
With nothing else to do, Veronica sat on the rectangular padding and listened. The whir of machines that had permeated her body since arriving continued unbroken, a quiet, soothing vibration. She smoothed out the flannel of her floral pyjama pants and waited. On the ceiling flickering patterns of light from the creature of light created a hypnotic dance and Veronica felt herself drifting in a timeless haze.
So it took her a few moments to realise that the sounds around her had changed.
Even the being of light sat up and looked around anxiously as the low throb became a whine that increased in pitch until it was a high shriek that drilled into Veronica’s brain.

She covered her ears.

It did nothing to block out the whine and Veronica screwed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.

Then with a shudder and a jolt, there was silence.

Veronica opened her eyes to see the light creature upright and swaying from side to side.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked it through the double layers of glass.
It’s only answer was to turn its face towards her, the expression on its face one of surprise.

One by one, red lights turned on down the hallway and soon the cell was bathed in an ominous red glow. Veronica tried to stand up and discovered she couldn’t while a heavy, pressing sensation enveloped her body. Perhaps the ship was slowing down.

Another jolt and the force increased, pushing her into the metal wall as she slid across the floor.

‘Must be one hell of an emergency brake’ she muttered under her breath, before it was squeezed out of her by the impact of the padding rising from the floor to smack into her side.

With a jerk to the left, she was thrown sideways onto the metal floor, skidding across the surface until she hit the glass panel, the padding thumping down on top of her.

‘Ow!’ she protested. But at least they seemed to have stopped.
‘Well that was graceful!’ she told the floating flame person, who appeared unaffected by the jostling. There was nothing in it’s cell to fly around and knock it into the wall!

The silence that followed was eerie.

Veronica replaced the padding into the shallow recess it had nestled into and sat back down. If she listened very carefully she imagined she could hear heavy metallic clangs somewhere below her. Was that what an airlock would sound like?
After what seemed like ages waiting in the quiet, Veronica heard a commotion that seemed to be coming from further down the corridor. She stood up and pressed one side of her face to the glass, trying to see down the hall. Through the glass she could just hear the excited howls and chattering of animals. Something large and hairy passed the glass just in front of her and she stepped back quickly. It was followed by pair of very humanoid looking metal men, attempting to catch it.
Fear and panic were rising in her body again, tightening her throat and causing her to take sharp, quick little breaths. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run to and she had absolutely no bright ideas about how she could save herself. She stood rooted to the spot and awaited her fate.

A third metal man stepped into her vision and this one took one quick look at her, waved a short metal rod in her direction and then turned away. It was now facing the flame person, but Veronica could still picture its face. The head was quite large and round and there was only a slight peak where a nose should be. Its eyes were large round circles, lit from within by a blue glow. The same glow slipped out of a round hole that was the mouth and seemed to be blinking on and off as the mechanoid made strange whirring and clicking noises; a language perhaps?
Veronica watched its back as it waved the same short rod in the direction of the light being and then looked back down the hall. It seemed to be waiting for something.

Fascinated, Veronica waited to see what would happen. She didn’t need to wait long until the robot was joined by another figure. Only this one was a flesh and blood person. He had long hair the colour of the deepest ruby, tied back at the nape of his white neck, one long strand escaping to drape down the side of his face, obscuring most of his features from Veronica’s view. He was tall, and the long dark coat he wore accented his height, covering his frame from raised collar to where it flared out almost at the floor to meet heavy black boots. Only the white hands that peaked out from the ends of the long sleeves revealed his humanity. If someone with skin the colour of snow could be called human.
The man listened to the sounds the mechanoid was making and nodded his head in understanding. Then he nodded his head and walked off, never once turning his head to look in Veronica’s direction.

Veronica moved as far into the right hand corner as she could, pressing her face to the glass to see where he had gone.