you won't like me when i'm hungry

Between Brazil and India, I'd spent a lot of time in hot, humid climates. I was used to rainy seasons that lasted months-- a hurricane shouldn't have been too much for me to handle. But after corralling everyone to get moving, only to have our progress halted by the storm, by the time we got on our way the next day I was ready to call it quits and sit tight until the station beamed us back.

But we'd figured out right away that we weren't in any position to do so-- this was Jurassic Park, which meant we had to stay on our toes, or risk ending up as something's lunch.

It was mid-afternoon and we'd stopped to take a break when it happened. Bert and Krista were chatting comfortably under the shade of a tall shrub, while Klaus and Regina were sitting in opposite directions a few feet away, both looking aloof and unconcerned. I stayed standing up, munching a power bar and listening. I'd had a pretty nagging dread since we'd gotten started that morning, and the longer we stayed still in one place, the worse it got.

The soft vibration traveled up through the soles of my shoes, making me shiver. I didn't even hear the thud at first, but then it happened again. A cold thread of fear wound itself around my stomach and the power bar fell from my fingers unnoticed. "Hey," I said quietly, waving my hand in a circular come on come on gesture. "Hey guys, we have to get moving." Bert and Krista paused in their conversation and looked at me quizzically, and I grabbed Krista's arm and pulled her to her feet. "We have to move, right now."

"Look, you're going to be fine," I said for what felt like the twenty-fifth time. "He's not a talkative guy, and he's not going to go easy on you. But you have nothing to be scared of. Even if you didn't need special training, you'd have nothing to be scared of."

Caroline looked up at me, the disbelief clearly written on her face. "You don't get it. I'm not really scared of him, and I know you said he was like, a mutant or whatever, but it's not like he's all creature from the black lagoon, right? I mean, I hit you in the head with a bed. You're really sure I can just... I don't know, go to town?"

I grinned back. "His entire skeleton is made of unbreakable metal, his super power is instant healing. Even dialed back, he can take anything you can throw at him, literally or figuratively."

I'd have been lying if I'd said I was completely unconcerned about leaving Caroline with Logan for an afternoon, but most of that had to do with the fact that Logan didn't know we were coming. He could try to scare her off with sarcasm, but Caroline was pretty good at that herself, so it was really just down to whether or not he was sober enough to teach her anything.

He wasn't in his room, which was a good sign. We found him in one of the sparring rooms, going to town on a punching bag. I stood where he could see us in the mirrors and waited for him to turn around.

"Logan, Caroline. Caroline, Logan." I grinned at the slack look of You can explain anytime on Logan's face, and patted Caroline on the shoulder. "Have fun, guys." And I beat it out of there before either of them could say anything to stop me.

If there's a way to warn him it's not a great idea to drink my blood, might be good...

I finished sending the text to Caroline-- and if there was a weirder sentence I'd ever formulated, I couldn't think of it-- and slumped back on the couch with a sigh. The fabric was weirdly smooth under my hand. Foreign, like everything else.

I looked around the room-- my room, now, it seemed. My room on a space station, where I was now hanging out with vampires and the girl who slayed them, to say nothing of Agent Double-Oh-Cryptic. I really didn't like knowing there was already someone here trying to get the dish on me. I wondered how much he already knew, if he was a plant from the people who'd put me here, or if he was just nosy. I didn't care; I didn't like him, and if he kept asking questions I'd confront him.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt this lonely. Even in Canada I'd known what I was working toward, felt like someday I could still go back and have something like home to go back to. And it was impossible to feel alone in Calcutta. Here, though... everything was so sterile, no color, no warmth. I got into bed and sat with the phone on my knee, fiddling with the settings, scrolling through the apps. I wanted to talk to someone-- to a specific someone, to Betty-- but I was pretty sure we weren't on an intergalactic family plan here, even if her phone line wasn't still tapped by her zealot asshole of a dad.

Then I clicked on a button for an app called Scribe, and when it popped open I saw it was a recorder. I felt stupid, but I figured, what did it matter if she'd never see it? It might make me feel better to pretend she would.

I hit record and tipped the phone so the screen centered on my face. "Hey Betty," I said. My smile was awkward; everything about me was awkward. She'd always liked that, though. "I, uh... this is a little weird. We haven't talked in a long time, and now I'm even further away than you probably thought I was. This sounds crazy, but... I'm in space. I got kidnapped to a space station and I don't even know who did it. I don't want you to worry, though, I'm fine. I mean, as fine as I can be. I kind of went crazy and killed someone earlier, but she came back to life later, so I guess that worked out for the best."

I felt like a total idiot, but I was also starting to feel a little better, so I kept going. "I never got to talk to you after what happened in New York. I'm sure you saw the footage... I wanted to let you know I was okay, but I figured you knew. I'm sort of working for the government now, but not the way the General wanted me to. And I guess I'm not even doing that anymore, since I imagine it'll be hard for them to get ahold of me to send me on missions." I sighed, ran a hand through my hair. "Part of me wonders if those are the people that got us, got me I mean. But no one seems to know what's going on or how we got here or why, so... until we find out more, I guess I'm withholding judgment."

I gave another stilted smile. "Anyway, I just wanted to... to say hi, I guess. I miss you. Hope you're okay. Take care of yourself, and uh. Even though you're not really listening... thanks for listening."

I clicked off the recorder and watched as the phone automatically uploaded the video to a server space with my name on it. Okay. That would bear investigating later. For now, I finally felt like I had chilled out enough to sleep, and I wasn't going to let that opportunity pass me by. Switching the lights off, I threw the phone onto the pillow next to mine and scrunched into the covers, already well on my way to being asleep.