Chapter FifteenWhen a voice roused her, whispering close to her ear, Mariko had a hard time waking up. Even though the fact that it was an unfamiliar voice should have been enough to snap her to alertness, her exhausted slumber was so deep that she had to fight to crawl back to consciousness.
The voice spoke again, using the Vox language that Mariko understood, and she stirred on the bedding. Her eyes fluttered open, then closed again; her body was nowhere near being rested.
When hands gently shook her by the shoulders, she finally came around. Her eyes popped open, and she was greeted by the blurry sight of a Vox she didn't know, staring her in the face.
Instinctively, she swung up an arm to bat the creature away, but the Vox quickly darted back out of reach. Blinking hard to clear
