When I returned to our room Pat, Derek and Eloise were studying. "Are you okay?" Pat asked when I entered and I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine... "

"You should probably start working!" Eloise said, looking up from her screen. "They just announced that power will be turned off every night from midnight to six in the morning..." She made a concerned face at me.
Great, I thought, Thanks Jake!

I quickly got out my portable screen and opened the file titled "Methods of elimination for genetically inherited disease". With a sigh and a desperate attempt to focus my attention on the subject of my next exam I started reading.

Midnight came far too soon. Just when I had managed to push away the thoughts on what my brother had done in a distant world, there was a long signal tone and then a voice announced through the loudspeaker, which was installed in every dorm room:

"Attention, please! In accordance with new regulations power will be turned off in the entire building in five minutes. Attention, please! In accordance with new regulations power will be turned off in the entire building in five minutes."

Then there was another signal tone and silence after that.
"Great!" Eloise rolled her eyes and turned off her screen with an annoyed sigh. "And I haven't finished what we were supposed to read..."
"I'm sure they'll be a little understanding tomorrow, what with the unexpected power-cut" I said, hoping it was true, since I wasn't close to having finished the reading assignment either.
"I highly doubt that" Derek said with a snort. "They're never understanding when it comes to these things. It's not like we didn't have enough time... Shouldn't have saved it for the last minute..."

I didn't have the nerve to worry about what our professor would say about my unpreparedness, so I just turned off my screen and took the few steps into our sleeping cubicle. There was barely enough room to turn around and I quickly changed into my night clothes. Grabbing the small metal ladder to my upper bunk bed I hesitated for a second and turned to look at the tiny glass hole, which we called our window. Our dorm room was on the thirty-second floor so it didn't have a bad view, although there were many towers surrounding us that were much higher. Staring outside into the darkly glistening skyline of Central City I wondered what this had looked like before the government had decided to use it as a new headquarter for Universities, research centers and pharmaceutical corporations. Every single building in the city I looked at was covered with black solar-absorbing plates. They absorbed the sunlight and were used to generate energy. There were helicopters dispersing a chemical substance into the air that made all the clouds rain off during the night and thus ensure maximum energy input from the sun during the day. There were only very few lights reflecting back from the eerily black buildings now. In the streets I looked down on, there was no movement apart from the occasional police patrol car. The government had implemented an eleven o'clock curfew a few months ago, further restricting it from the original midnight one. Things had changed significantly over the last couple of years, as everyone slowly realized that there was no simple solution to our ever-pressing problems. The latest turns on Pandora were certainly not going to make life any easier for us.

I heard my friends say their Good Nights and then Eloise entered our cubicle. "What are you doing?" she asked, producing a huge yawn.
"Just looking" I said and shrugged.
She shook her head and made a face. "Alright" she laughed quietly and got into the lower bunk bed. "Good Night! You should probably get up that ladder before power goes off! I don't want you falling on top of me..."
I nodded slowly and looked back out the window at the rain falling into our black city.

Then, suddenly, there was a loud clicking noise and everything went dark. I saw the distant headlights of a police car down in the street. It looked like a bubble of light in dark, empty nothingness. I exhaled slowly.

Unable to see anything I raised my hands and felt for the cold metal ladder. Slowly and carefully I took the four steps up, keeping my head low, so I wouldn't hit the ceiling just half a meter high above my bed.
"You okay?" I heard Eloise's whisper.
"Yeah" I mumbled quietly, pulling up the covers and closing my eyes. Just one of many lies.

I don't know how long I had been asleep, when a sharp scratching noise on the door that lead to the elevator woke me. It was still utterly dark. There was another loud noise. A thump. And voices.
"What's happening?" I heard Eloise's worried voice from below me.
"I don't know" I said, still confused from just waking up, but fear slowly crept up inside me.
Another loud thump.
"Hey, are you okay?" I heard Pat's voice, and assumed by the sound of it, that he was sticking his head into our cubicle. I didn't see anything.
"What's happening?" Eloise demanded again.
"I have no idea..." Pat sounded worried.
I heard Eloise get up and inched towards the metal ladder myself, slowly and carefully descending.
There was a loud crack and then the door to our dorm flew open and black figures with torches entered. Eloise gasped and we all pressed our backs against the wall. Pat and Derek who had been standing by the entrance to our cubicle stumbled back a few steps into the direction of their own.

"Don't move!" a sharp, commanding voice from one of the figures. I held my breath, weak with fear.
"Amelia Sully!?" a man in a suit emerged from the tumult of black figures. He held a bright torch and shone it directly in our faces. I was unable to see his face, while I felt my knees would give way underneath me any second. Cold fear surged through my every limb.

"Yes" I heard my own voice, small and weak drowning in the darkness.
He focused the torch on my face and I had to squint.

"ID?!" he demanded sharply. Shaking uncontrollably I held out my left wrist and he grabbed it, using a scanning device to read the identification on my wrist-band. His touch was hard and rough. When the device confirmed my identity he nodded towards the black figures and two of them approached me. I stumbled back a step and hit the wall.
"I didn't do anything!" I gasped as panic shot through my veins, blinding my senses.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I heard Pat's angry voice.
"Stay back!" the suited man commanded.
"SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Pat all but screamed. Eloise and Derek stood back in shock.
Two of the black-clad men grabbed my wrists and yanked me away from the wall. My breathing was erratic; my eyes were unable to focus on anything. All I saw was a confusion of blackness and blinding light from the torches.
They yanked my wrists behind my back and secured them with a painful metal band. I whimpered.
"Amelia Sully, you are under arrest for suspected contribution to high treason!" the man in the suit announced and I felt a sickness to my stomach.

"WHAT?" Pat's voice was heavy with disbelief and anger. "HIGH TREASON? She didn't DO anything, Goddamn it!"
The suited man shone his torch directly into Pat's face. "Your friend's brother, Jake Sully, has lead a treacherous attack against our country and its missions, as I am sure you will have heard. This is a cautionary measure for which we have very good reasons!"

Pat's eyes widened and I felt like I would pass out any second. He shook his head. "She doesn't have a brother..." he said, his voice less agitated, quiet with uncertainty. He looked at me with disbelief.
I swallowed hard and looked down on my feet, then back at him, my pleading face torn with guilt and fear.

"Oh, I think she does!" the suited man said and the two figures holding me started shoving me towards the door. I drew in sharp breaths and heard a whimpering sound escape my lungs again. "Please don't... I swear I didn't do anything..." I whispered. "I haven't had any contact with him in seven years!" The words stumbled out my mouth without my brain making a conscious decision about them.

"STOP IT!" Pat's voice felt like a glimmer of light in the darkness. "Stop it, you can't do that! You can't just take her!"
The suited man, who was standing next to me, motioned his head towards the black figures that were still standing around. Moving swiftly they went back into our dorm room, took Pat by the wrists and bound them behind his back like mine.

Pat didn't protest. Eloise and Derek stared at me, eyes wide and face pale with shock. They didn't make a sound as Pat and I were led out into the tiny space before the elevator and our dorm room was closed behind us. Waiting for the elevator with numbing fears searing my body I realized that I was hyperventilating. And then, everything slowly went black and the last thing I felt was falling and a black figure reaching out to catch me.

When I woke up, my head was ringing and a sharp pain shot through my wrists, which were now freed again. I slowly sat up from the cold, white tile floor I was lying on. Leaning against the wall my eyes regained their focus and I saw Pat sitting on the floor across from me in the tiny, bright room.
My dark brown waves were still in the same ponytail as when I had gone to bed that night. I pulled out the rubber band, letting them fall freely on my shoulders and covered my face with my hands, trying to make sense of anything that had happened.

Of course they would know, I thought and shook my head. How could I be so stupid as to believe that the government wouldn't know every relative of every person, who ever did anything at all.

My wrists were bruised and hurt when I moved them. Pat's hands were still tied behind his back and he looked at me, not saying a word.
I leaned my head against the wall and tried to breathe in and out deeply. Then I tied my hair back again and looked at him.

He stared straight at me. "Are you okay?" he said quietly, but a lot more coldly than I had hoped. I nodded slowly. He kept looking at me and when I didn't say anything he continued. "So..." he said, his voice drained of any emotion. "You're an only child, are you?"
I swallowed hard and bit my lip. Then I shook my head, staring at my bruised wrists. The bright light felt like stabs in my eyes.

"I think you might have some explaining to do..." Pat said, his voice still hard.
I turned my head up and looked at him, then I nodded slowly, closed my eyes and the words began tumbling from my lips.
"I had two older brothers" I started, my voice quiet and unsteady "they were twins... identical twins... Tommy and... " I took a deep breath, forcing his name out. "...Jake. They were almost seven years older than me. Tommy had a PhD in biology and was studying and training for the RDA's Avatar program on Pandora... You know the program, where they..." Pat nodded, indicating that he knew what the program was about.
I took a breath and continued, slightly more calmly. "And then... about a week before he was supposed to go, he was shot... In the street... just like that..." I stared at the ceiling and fought the tears. When I looked back down, Pat's face had softened a little.
"I'm sorry" he whispered.
I shook my head, cleared my throat and continued. "And then they asked Jake if he wanted to go instead, 'cause you know he's genetically identical and everything... and those Avatar thingies are insanely expensive apparently and they didn't want to waste one and... "
I stopped for a moment. "And so he went... and left for Pandora... and I haven't heard anything from him since... and it's been almost seven years and..."
I shook my head slowly. "I didn't expect to ever hear from him again, and I didn't want to talk about them... so I just... told everyone I was an only child." I concluded and looked at Pat.
His features were softer now, compassionate. He nodded slowly.
"I'm sorry, Pat!" I said, and meant it.
He shook his head. "Don't be!"

"Do you miss him?" he said after a long silence.
I contemplated his question for a minute, but when I opened my mouth to answer, we were interrupted.
The heavy white door to our tiny cell was opened and I felt my heart thump in my throat. Another man in a suit entered and smiled at me. I blinked in confusion. Why did he smile?
"Amelia Sully?" he asked with a kind voice.
I nodded.
"We're very sorry for the unpleasant circumstances of your arrival here." He smiled again. "We'd very much like to talk to you!"
He held out a hand towards me and I took it hesitantly, pulling myself up, uncomfortably looking at Pat for an explanation. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll get someone to take those wristbands off, immediately!" the suited man said turning to Pat.
Then he stretched out his arm towards the open door and guided me outside.