"How are you feeling?"

The question was asked every morning in the Gorman household and was always answered in the same way.

"I'm doing fine, don't you worry about me."

This was then followed by a hollow chuckle and a quick coughing fit.

Mara was five months away from turning seventeen years old and was sitting by her mother's bed as the woman in question was doubled over, the coughs wracking her frail body. Mara's mother had been sick for five months and four months into her sickness, the doctors decided there was nothing they could do for her. They had sent her home with no medication to relieve the pain she was feeling and without any hope of making a recovery. The sickly woman always smiled at her daughter when she said that she was fine and Mara pretended not to see the wince of pain that would briefly cross her mother's face.

"Don't you have somewhere to be," Her mother chided Mara lightly and the girl rolled her eyes but stood up anyway and kissed her mother's forehead.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Mara laughed as she left her mother's bedroom.

She found her father sitting at the small table in the middle of the living room with his head in his hands. The man was quick to smile at Mara but his smile was empty and didn't reach his eyes.

"She's getting worse," Mara whispered bluntly.

Her father shook his head and sighed lightly, not liking the tone of his daughter's voice.

"I know, but there's nothing we can do about it." He sighed sadly, hoping that his daughter wasn't planning on doing what he thought she was.

"Yes, there -"her response was cut off by her father's deep voice.

"No Mara. No, don't you even think about it." Her father scolded.

"Dad, I can get in and get out and no one will know," she pleaded with him to agree.

"I said no!"

The two stared at each other in an impasse, both as stubborn as the other. When Mara was born, everyone had been surprised by just how alike she and her father were. They had the same rich brown hair and deep brown eyes and the same sloping nose. They even had a scar in the exact same place on their foreheads (though they gained the scars differently). As they stared at each other, they knew that neither would give in. Mara grabbed her jacket from where it was laid across a chair and flung it on. She gave her father one last look and huffed in annoyance as she made her way to the steel door of their home. She paused for a moment when she heard her father speaking.

"Don't do anything stupid, and if you do just be careful alright?"

"Sure," Mara muttered as she stepped out of the open doorway and closed the door behind her.

She stood for a moment in the empty hallway and considered her options. If she turned right she would be going about her everyday life, she would speak to the people she always spoke to, having the same basic conversations she always had. If she turned left, she would be doing something incredibly risky, but she would be helping her mother.

"Fuck it," she muttered under her breath and, squaring her shoulders, turned left.

She began heading towards the medical unit, ducking her head slightly anytime anyone passed her. No one paid much attention to her; everyone was too busy going about their everyday lives. She cursed silently to herself when she bumped into someone and was forced to stop and help them pick up the things they had dropped. She was wasting time.

Mara's heart beat faster the closer she got to the medical unit. She couldn't even see it yet but her palms were already sweating. She had never done anything like this before, she was what her friends liked to call a 'goody two shoes', whatever that meant. But now she was about to commit one of the worst crimes on The Ark: stealing medicine.

Her boots clanked against the cold, grey hallway. She wished her footsteps weren't so loud but no one else seemed to notice them. She paused her steps, silencing them completely when she reached a corner in the hallway. She knew that if she rounded that corner there would be no going back; she would be faced with the medical unit and would carry out her poorly thought out plan. A plan which she quickly released she hadn't even made. She knew what her end game was: stealing medicine, but she hadn't even thought about how she would go about getting it. If she turned around now, she could just be slightly late for her class but wouldn't have committed a crime.

She spotted a toilet across from her and quickly crossed the hall. She yanked the door open and rushed into the small room, slamming the door shut after her. The light flickered to life automatically when she locked the door. Mara leaned against it and took a minute to think about what she was going to do. If she stole the medicine, there was a small chance that she wouldn't be caught. If she wasn't caught, then she could relieve some of her mother's pain from coughing up a lung every five minutes. However, the chance of her being caught was much higher than the chance of not being caught. She leaned against the sink and stared at her reflection. Brown eyes met brown and she took a deep breath. She couldn't sit around and watch her mother suffer anymore. She turned the sink on and splashed some water on her face.

"Okay," she paused and breathed out. "You can do this. In and out, no one will know."

She dried her face on her jacket sleeve, the material coarse against her skin and unlocked the door. She stepped out into the hallway and imagined that the temperature had dropped a degree. She knew that it was just her nerves messing with her head so she plastered a look of determination on her face and rounded the corner towards the medical unit.

When she reached the entrance to the medical unit there was no one lined up outside waiting to be seen to. Perfect, Mara thought to herself. She walked towards the curtain that had been put up in place of a door. She had heard a story about someone collapsing against the automatic door and breaking the wiring. The mechanics hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet, too many other problems with The Ark. Mara was thankful for whoever had broken the door as it meant she could slip into the unit without a key card or being admitted by a doctor. She paused just in front of the curtain and listened to see if there was anyone inside. When she heard no sign of movement, she slowly pulled aside the curtain and entered the room.

The medical unit in that section of The Ark was relatively small but just as stocked up as any other unit in the other sections. Mara quickly scanned the room and frowned when she saw just how empty it was, there were no doctors anywhere in sight. She took a careful step forward and when nothing happened, no ringing alarms or guards popping up out of nowhere, she gained confidence and took another quiet step. She let herself release the breath that she had been holding in and crept her way towards a set of drawers next to a gurney and yanked on the first drawer of three. It opened without resistance and Mara quickly rifled through it but could only find some bandages. The second and third drawers opened easily but she couldn't find what she was looking for. Mara groaned in frustration before she spotted a cabinet attached to the wall above the drawers. She paused for a moment when she noticed that the door of the cabinet was ajar but quickly recovered and opened the door further. Alarm bells should have been ringing in her head when she spotted the bottles of medicine and syringes lined up on the shelves. The doctors were supposed to lock the cabinets when they were finished with them and Mara silently thanked whatever doctor had messed up. She picked up a tube of something but put it aside when she read the word Epinephrine, not what she was looking for. The thought entered her mind that she didn't really know what she was looking for at all but quickly pushed that thought aside. She stumbled upon a small bottle and, on instinct, she pulled it from the middle shelf. She smiled to herself when she read the label: Morphine. She stuffed it into her jacket pocket and grabbed one of the syringes from the bottom shelf. She quietly closed the cabinet door and made her way towards the exit, stuffing the syringe into her other pocket.

She couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face when she made it out of the medical unit without being caught. The thought did enter her mind that she should be suspicious of the lack of doctors and patients but she was too happy to be able to relieve some of her mother's pain.

In her happiness, Mara made three mistakes. Her first mistake was taking the long way back to her home. She thought it would be better not to retrace her steps exactly. By taking the long way round she had to pass by the mess hall where she was spotted by one of her friends.

Rachel came rushing over to Mara, a look of annoyance on her face.

"You've missed some of class. Where were you? Mrs Morgan's looking for you." Rachel scolded.

"I, uh, I'm not feeling too well today," Mara lied, trying to pass Rachel and carry on her way.

"Are you coming back for the rest of class?" Rachel grabbed Mara's arm, forcing the girl to stop.

"Um, no. I, uh, I just wanted to take a walk. Clear my head." Mara was frantic to leave the situation, she knew the longer she had the medicine in her pocket the higher her chances were of being caught.

"Okay, hope you feel better then, I'll tell Morgan." Rachel smiled and turned away from Mara.

Mara let out a sigh of relief and made her second mistake: she locked eyes with Marcus Kane. Marcus Kane was a feared councilman, known for being ruthless in his pursuit of those breaking the law. Mara had heard rumours that Kane never flinched at the screams of the people he floated. Kane had been watching Mara and Rachel's conversation once he had clocked the nervousness on Mara's face. When he locked eyes with Mara, his instincts kicked in and he suspected that she was up to something. Mara made her third mistake: she looked away too quickly and practically ran away from him.

Mara scurried from the mess hall and Kane, cursing herself for her foolishness. Should have just gone straight home, she chided herself. She could hear footsteps approaching her from behind and prayed that it wasn't a member of the guard following her. She felt tense as the footsteps neared her and couldn't help the relief that washed over her the person overtook her without a second glance. That relief immediately vanished when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She slowly turned around and tried not to panic when she saw the guard standing before her.

"Can I help you, Officer?" She asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Random search," the guard grunted. "Present your ID." He demanded and Mara reached her hand into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her ID card.

The guard took the ID from her and scanned her information quickly. Mara took her eyes off of the guard and spotted Kane leaning against the wall slightly behind the guard. She knew she wasn't getting away.

"Would you like me to get a female officer to carry out your search?" The guard asked, boredom hinting at the edges of his voice.

"It's…It's fine," Mara muttered. No use dragging it out, she thought to herself.

"Raise your arms and stand with your legs shoulder-width apart." The man clicked his tongue as he waited for Mara to comply.

Mara tried to keep her breathing steady, hoping that maybe the guard was bored enough to not carry out the search properly. He began by patting down her arms and then sweeping his hands across her back. When his hands came to her sides he felt objects in her pockets. He felt the shape of the objects and slowly pulled out the bottle of morphine. He glanced from the bottle to Mara and back again. The guard's body was blocking Kane's view but he had moved from his position against the wall when he noticed the guard stop.

"Please," Mara whispered, looking right into the guard's eyes.

"I'm sorry," the guard whispered back and sadness quickly flashed in his eyes, it was well known that many of the citizens of The Ark had to resort to stealing their medical supplies. "I've found something sir," he called over his shoulder to Kane who walked towards the two and took the bottle of morphine from the guard.

"Finish searching her, she might have more," Kane's voice held such disgust that Mara wanted to shrink into herself.

"It's a syringe," Mara muttered as the guard moved to her other pocket.

The guard nodded his head at her before removing the syringe from her pocket and handing it to Kane who had a smug look plastered across his face. The guard began patting down her jeans but finding nothing in them stood back up.

"All clear."

"Arrest her and put her in the Sky Box," Kane ordered his voice full of authority.

"Mara Alexandra Gorman you are under arrest for the theft of medical supplies. As you are under eighteen years of age you will be imprisoned until your eighteenth birthday upon which you will be reviewed for your crimes. You will either be pardoned or sentenced to floating. Do you understand?" The guard asked as he pulled her arms behind her back and handcuffed.

"Yes," Mara stared straight ahead, not wanting to give Kane the satisfaction of watching her resisting.

"This way," the guard tugged on her elbow and started marching her down the metal corridor.

As the two rounded a corridor, Mara chance a look back at Kane and saw a look of satisfaction pass over his face. He hadn't moved from his position and sent her a small wave before she disappeared around the corner.

Mara and her guard walked in silence for a few moments and Mara tried to ignore the stares of the people they marched past. A few people shot her looks of sympathy. These people were the ones from Factory Station, the same as Mara, and knew about her mother's condition. The walk was long and Mara could feel her resolve weaken with each step they took. She worried about her father and her mother: her father would be destroyed by her arrest while her mother would take it in stoic silence. Mara hoped that she was allowed to see her mother one last time. She felt the guard lean down slightly and she glanced at him quizzically.

"I'm really sorry I have to do this," he whispered so that only Mara would hear.

"You'd lose your job if you didn't, I understand."

He offered her a sad smile which she weakly returned.

Mara had never seen the Sky Box but she heard rumours that it was the coldest Station on The Ark and that, late at night, you could hear the screams of the other prisoners. On The Ark, all crimes are regarded as capital offences no matter how small. If you committed a crime and were under the age of eighteen you were imprisoned in the Sky Box until you were reviewed at eighteen. If you commit a crime and are eighteen or older, you are floated. Floating is The Ark's form of execution. The prisoner is put into a 'Floatation Chamber', a button is pressed and the prisoner is sucked into outer space where they die of lack of oxygen and negative pressure. Mara was lucky enough to have never seen someone being floated but she had heard that it is a horrible experience.

When the two reached the entrance to the Sky Box, Mara felt a chill run down her spine. She failed to repress a shiver and felt her heartbeat increase, her palms were clammy and her body tensed. She had been to almost every other Station on The Ark but the Sky Box was a whole other ordeal. There was an atmosphere of misery over the place and Mara wanted to run away and hide.

"It's going to be okay," the guard whispered to her as he inserted his key card into a slot in the door, causing a light to turn from red to green and the door to open with a click. "This way."

Mara was led to a small room and told to sit in a hard metal seat screwed into the floor. There was a second guard standing in front of a metal door across from her, she guessed that door led to where the cells were. Mara's guard had crossed to a hatch in the wall beside Mara and placed her ID card into a scanning device. The machine made a low humming noise as it collected her information before it beeped loudly and proclaimed in a loud mechanical, disjointed voice:

"Mara Alexandra Gorman," there was a short pause and Mara wanted to escape and never hear that voice again, to never see the guard that led her to the Sky Box again and to never see Marcus Kane ever again.

"Prisoner 117," the disembodied voice finished and Mara had the sudden overwhelming urge to cry.

She suppressed the tears that were threatening to spill when she felt the two guards looking at her. She finally got a proper glimpse at the nametag of the guard who had escorted her and read: 'Miller, D'.

"Come on kid," Miller ushered her from her seat and towards the second guard, a tough looking brown haired woman, who stepped aside from the door and entered a passcode.

The door slid open silently and Mara took a breath to steady her rapidly beating heart. Her eyes flickered around nervously as she looked beyond the door. What she saw surprised her. The Sky Box was at least four storeys high and lined with grey windowless doors and walkways, it screamed oppression at Mara and she felt the tears once again rise to the surface. She felt Miller tug at her arm as he walked her along one of the walkways and up a flight of stairs. What struck Mara was the silence of the place; she had assumed that putting lots of juvenile delinquents together would produce a lot of noise. The sound of their boots clanking loudly off of the steel stairs was the only noise that could be heard. To Mara, each step felt like a knife was being stabbed in her chest.

I should have listened to Dad, Mara cried in her head. She couldn't help but think about what she would be doing if she had turned right instead of left that morning. She would be sitting with Rachel, and probably their other close friend James, chatting while Mara fixed the shirt she had ripped a few days previously. She shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts; they would do her no good now.

Miller stopped walking abruptly outside a cell door labelled 117. Mara stared at the door and gulped nervously. Even though it was the same as every other door on The Ark, this door just screamed hopelessness. She knew that she would only be there for a year and a half before she would be reviewed. But she also knew that it was very rare for anyone to be pardoned for their crimes. Most people were floated to save resources, so she knew that she would only have a year and a half to live. A year and a half to live in a prison cell, what a life, Mara thought.

"It's not all that bad," Miller tried to comfort the girl that was practically shaking in his hand as he unlocked the cell door.

When the door opened, Mara cast him a worried look but he only jerked his head in the direction of the empty cell. She took a deep breath and stepped into the cell. She was immediately hit by just how cold the cell was, realising that the rumours she had heard were true. She turned around to face Miller and caught him looking at the door to the cell next to hers, a despondent look on his face. He returned his focus back to Mara and offered her a small smile.

"Sorry kid," he stepped away from the door and began closing it.

Mara thought the door closed impossibly slow but even so, when it was shut, the bang it made seemed to vibrate into Mara's very core. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the locked door in front of her. Her breathing was shaky and she knew that the tears she had managed to hold back thus far were about to spill over. She turned around very slowly to take in the entire cell. Four grey walls, a grey floor, a grey ceiling, everything was grey. Even the bed in the back corner of the room, furthest from the door was grey. The only redeeming feature of the cell was that in the wall opposite the door was a small circular window. She smiled slightly at the sight of stars against the black space, glad that there was at least one familiar sight in such an unfamiliar place. She crossed over to it, already beginning to shiver from the cold, and placed her hand against the glass and pretended that she could touch the stars.

She smiled slightly when she remembered the game her and her mother used to play on the observation deck. Mara was a restless child so her mother would take her there and they would count the stars together. Mara wiped a tear away from her cheek with shaking hands. She stole the medicine for nothing; she never even got to give it to her mother before she was arrested.

She sat down on the bed, hoping to gain some form of comfort but the bed was as hard as the metal walls surrounding her. She finally let out a sob and pulled the paper thin blanket around her shoulders.

You shouldn't have been so stupid, she scolded herself as the tears continued to escape from her eyes.

She looked around once more at the cell and couldn't help the shudder that passed through her. This was her new home.