ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕕

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

March 14 th , 4035

'Scan complete. No recording device detected.'

Kagome took in her accommodations with a shrewd glance. She and Sota had settled on a fairly normal bedroom projection after a satisfying mean and refreshing shower. Two comfortable twin beds, soft blue walls and plush white carpet. Currently, Sota was snoring lightly in his own bed. Her brother had always been a wild sleeper, and tonight was no exception. His little body was sprawled across the surface, the pillow and covers pushed to the floor and headboard as he tossed and turned.

The room seemed ordinary enough.

A decent sized space, responsive and attentive computer system and privacy. Or the illusion of privacy. She'd had her system scan for any recording equipment, visual and audio planted in the room several times and come up empty.

She didn't believe for a second there weren't any. Not in a ship this expensive and certainly not one owned by Mr. Elusive. Knowing what she knew about him, she knew he would leave nothing to chance. Wouldn't miss any detail if he could help it. She ran the scan once more, desperate for a hit. Minutes ticked by and again, the computer denied the existence of anything unusual.

They'd have to be careful, every move they made, every conversation they had would have to be treated as thought they were being monitored.

Disquiet washed through her.

She didn't know what was worse, knowing she was being watched and not being able to prove it, or being recorded and having proof. Both scenarios left her nervous and nauseous.

It hit too close to home.

Being observed by someone she couldn't see, someone trying to figure out how she ticked. She'd been down this road before, had vague recollections of being a bug under a microscope. Never ending nightmares of being scared to move, scared to breathe wrong and trigger the interest of those watching her. Standing on pins and needles, hoping and praying and begging whatever deity in existence that the door wouldn't open. That she wouldn't be dragged away.

Her stomach clenched, sweat breaking out over her skin.

Any little thing had been of significance to them, with seemingly no rhyme or reason, no pattern that she could follow to avoid their sadistic curiosity.

Panicked blue orbs darted from one dark corner of the room to another, remembering another room, another place, one much smaller, much colder. Much darker. One where there were no hidden cameras.

Why hide them when they had wanted her to know?

Instead they'd been mounted in every corner, their silent surveillance enough to drive her mad.

Her lungs constricted.

Cameras, unblinking, unwavering, staring at her day in and day out. Murky two way mirrors dominating the stark white walls of her prison, masking curious, malevolent eyes.

She could feel it still, the memory seared into her mind.

Cameras, watching her. Everywhere she turned, everything she did, someone was watching; plotting, planing. The moment she made a mistake, the moment she showed too much, they'd take her away...

Back to that place.

The room with the men and women in white. The men and women that did things to her. Painful, horrible, soul crushing things that threatened to tear apart her sanity. The smell of blood leaking from her eyes and nose. The feeling of her fingernails tearing as she clawed at the freezing metal slab beneath her.