Chris was chafing at her restraints. For some time now, she had been locked in the infirmary, chained down, unable to move. It was beyond frustrating and she just wanted to do something, anything. Mostly fly a spaceship and get as far away from this place as possible. Where Sareen gone? She was supposed to pull her out of this mess.

Squirming, Chris tried to get herself into a more comfortable position. There seemed to be no one around. No doctors, no guards, no slavers. It was as if she'd been completely abandoned. There was something a little creepy about being utterly alone, in a slave ship that seriously needed some new lights. She huffed impatiently and leaned her head back. "I'm sick of this," she whispered.

. . . . . . . . . .

For the second time that day, Don found himself creeping along the corridors. Veerna walked with a straight back, but he could see that she was tensed and ready. To be honest, he had no clue why he'd volunteered to go with her. It didn't make much sense to him, considering that he didn't even know how to fight.

Another surprise had been the fact that Veerna hadn't protested to his presence. He had expected her to complain about him being utterly useless and having no point to being there, but she said nothing. All in all, she was quieter than he'd ever known her to be. That was a little odd.

Finally, he could bear the silence no longer. "Why did you let me come?"

Veerna cast an amused glance back at him. "Let you come?" she repeated. "What could I have said? That you were a useless psychologist and I didn't want to have to drag you along?"

Don squirmed uncomfortably. "That's what you normally say to me," he said.

"Is it?" It looked as if that had never even occurred to Veerna. "Oh. Well, you came to save my life. Why should I say it to you now?"

"I didn't just come to save you," Don protested.

Veerna gave him a winning smile. "That's what you think, Donny," she replied before continuing to march down the corridor. After hesitating for a brief moment, he trailed after her. He really didn't know what she was suggesting.

They continued on their way, and Don was left hoping that Veerna actually knew where she was going. It seemed to him that they were just wandering in circles and he had quickly become discombobulated; however, Veerna plowed on as if nothing was fazing her at all. Once more, they didn't encounter anyone as they made their way along.

Abruptly, Veerna stopped. Don plowed into her back, not paying enough attention to her to notice that she'd halted. She turned and flashed him a mocking grin. "Watch where you're going, Donny," she told him.

"Are we there?" Don asked, deciding not to respond to her mockery.

Veerna nodded. "In that door. It's just funny. There're no guards. Rulon's being a lot more careless than usual ..."

"So what?" Don replied with a shrug. "It's clear, and that's all that matters. Let's go!"

"Don Collego, you thick idiot!" Veerna spat just moments too late. Don moved out from the cover of the corridor and took a step towards the infirmary door.

Immediately, bright red lights flashed, and Don froze. Red laser beams completely surrounded him like a spider web, and some were merely a hair's width away from him. From the heat coming off the beams, he could guess he shouldn't touch them. "V-Veerna?" he stammered.

The Voldinian stood, just outside of the beams, exasperation written all over her face. "And this is why you should listen an expert pirate," she said. "I've broken into more places than you can count. Half of them had this little trap. See?" She pointed at the floor, and Don moved his eyes without moving his head to look. "A tripwire, thinner than a hair. You tripped that and instantly became caged. Anyone foolish enough to touch the beams gets zapped and either knocked unconscious or ..."

"Or?"

"Killed, if you've got a weak ticker," she answered, indicating her heart. "So let's not find out which would happen to you."

"You're going to get me out of here?" Don would've slumped his shoulders in relief if he could have. He was too terrified to move.

"More like, I'm going to get to Captain Chase, which means I have to get rid of these beams," Veerna replied. Again, he couldn't decide if she was joking or not. She looked them up and down before sighing. "You really got yourself into a fix, Doc."

"Next time, I'm listening to you," he said.

"Good thinking," Veerna said. "You should always listen to me. I know what I'm doing. Unlike you." Since he kind of deserved that, he said nothing. Veerna stuck out her lower lip in consternation. "I wish Suzan Weni was here. She's smart enough to know how to disable this."

Don resisted the urge to polish his glasses. "I thought you said you'd seen tons of these!"

"I have," she said. "But I've never tripped one before, so I've never had to disable one."

"That's not comforting," Don protested.

"That's good," Veerna said, obviously not paying attention. She knelt down, eyeing the tripwire thoughtfully. "If I can just repair this ..."

"How?"

She pursed her lips. "Oh, drat," she muttered. Reaching under the bottommost laser, she grabbed the two ends of the tripwire before looking up at Don. "This is gonna hurt."

Before he could ask what in the world she was going to do, Veerna jammed the tripwires together and held them against the lasers, her fingers going into the red as she did so. Don heard her cry out quietly, but she didn't stop until she released the wire and stepped back. The lasers flickered before disappearing, and Don slumped to the floor, sore after standing so stiffly for so long. "Thanks, Veerna," he gasped out.

The space pirate shrugged, wiping her fingers on her shorts. "Ouch," she muttered. "I am never doing that again. Consider yourself warned, Collego."

"Warned," Don said wearily. He couldn't decide if Veerna just kept him around because she liked making fun of him or not.

It only took Veerna a few seconds to hack into the door's computer and get it open. Don let her go first this time, deciding it was safer that way. When she didn't trip any tripwires, he followed her in.

The infirmary was as dimly lit as the rest of the ship. However, Don spotted Chris's ginger curls immediately, and he pointed her out to Veerna. The captain interrupted anything they could have said in a surprisingly shrill voice. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Don stepped forward, hoping he'd be a more comforting sight than Veerna. "It's me, Chris. Don."

"Don?" The relief was evident in Chris's voice. "Thank the stars! Is Melody with you? Is she alright?"

"She's not with me, but she's fine," he assured her. "Veerna's with me. She's going to help free you."

"Veerna Vold?" There was a tinge of disbelief in Chris's voice. Don noted with some approval that she quickly forced it down. "Fine, fine. Whatever it takes to get me out of this joint."

Veerna produced a switchblade—from where, Don had no idea, nor did he want to know—and cut through the bindings holding Chris down. Don helped the captain to her feet, and she seemed a little unsteady. "Cut off the circulation to my limbs," she explained, shaking one leg while leaning on Don. "I should be good in a minute."

Don gave her a smile. It was good to see her alive and well, particularly since he wouldn't have to face Melody's sad face again. The girl had looked so sad when she had thought Chris was beyond her reach.

Of course, at that exact moment, things suddenly went wrong. A big steel door slammed down, locking them in the infirmary, and alarms started blaring. That same blinding, red flashing light started burning into Don's retinas once more. "What the heck?" he yelled. He didn't know why he yelled. It just came out that way.

"Oh," Veerna said, with a look of boredom. "There's the trap."