Diana Fenton
She… felt like she was inside someone else’s head. She felt like she was moving, yet she was still. She felt like she was fighting, and yet there was nothing to fight on this cold hospital bed surrounded by continually beeping medical equipment and worried doctors.
She felt like she was alone, yet she felt – no, she knew – that Sampson was right by her side.
His warmth and presence were unmistakable, and they were the only two things anchoring her in place as it felt as if her mind would be ripped from her body.
Sensations, impressions, and premonitions blasted through her psyche, each more violent than the last. It was like an army of psychic warriors were trying to tear her down.
The only thing keeping her sane – the only thing keeping her alive – was the promise she wasn’t alone.
Somehow, she managed to move her lips, and though she couldn’t find the energy to speak, they spread around his name, “Sampson.”
“She’s moving again,” a doctor screamed.
They’d stopped their worried chatter long ago. Now their desperation arced through every syllable, sounding like red alert klaxons.
“We don’t have time for this. We just heard reports that there’s been some kind of insurgency in the science building.”
“We have to concentrate on our task,” the more senior doctor snapped.
“This facility is connected to the science building. What if—”
“No what ifs. We can control only what we can. We are tasked with keeping our patient safe. So we do that.”
Safe? How could you keep anyone safe in a galaxy that was crumbling? How could you even think of that concept, let alone fool yourself into believing it was possible?
Just as that thought settled, and true despair spiraled through her as if she’d swallowed a spinning knife, she felt him again.
… Sampson was running from something. He… he was in trouble. And he needed her.
Somehow he was reaching out to her, and she to him.
Diana had already come to terms with the fact that she could see things others couldn’t. She was long past fighting what was happening to her. And though she couldn’t say that she’d embraced this new reality with all her heart, she’d stopped trying to push it away pathetically.
She knew that if she opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling, she would be able to see right through the thick, reinforced concrete to the level above, then to the level above that, and even to the level above that.
She didn’t know how far this sight could go. But she knew one thing – it kept drawing her mind to one place and to one man.
Sampson. She felt connected to him as if distance didn’t matter. As if space and time were nothing more troublesome to overcome than the distance between one’s thoughts.
As loose impressions wafted through her mind like shapes in the clouds above, a few solidified. She swore he had her diary. She knew she could feel it in his grip as he locked it against his chest for dear life.
Her diary was important. Because it would lead Sampson back to a place that he needed to go.
… She had no idea how she knew that. She just knew that for her to tread this path and to have any hope of protecting the Coalition in the days to come, she couldn’t fight alone.
She knew one more thing. No matter what these doctors did to protect her, it wouldn’t count. The Force was looking for her. It had been using Bequelia to get into Diana’s head – to find some secret buried there about the dig site on Baxan A.
The Force would attack her again. It was only a matter of time. And if she had any hope of getting out of here, she would need Sampson. And if he had any hope of getting out of his current situation, he would need her.
They’d now been thrust together in a fight for a future more fragile and more precious than stardust.