Chapter 31
Dr. Milldred sat outside the room of one of the many Solitary Confinements they had, at a desk with a monitor, the screen showing Rian on the bed after he had cried himself to sleep. She sighed as she had witnessed his anger, his sadness, and his defeat, starting to feel awfully guilty about all of this. She honestly has thought about what Penelope has said, and she was starting to actually agree with her. While yes, she loved her job, but her sister was right. What they were doing to these creatures was not right, and she knew it. But still, she couldn't afford to lose her job due to her own morals. She was all her mother and sister had left to help them pay the bills and keep the food on the table, after Dr. Joshua had relocated to California to work at the NASA Ames Research Center. Mrs. Martinez was absolutely set on staying in Houston, and there was no way Dr. Milldred could abandon her mother and sister like that. So she stayed, and she worked. She turned down a promotion, just to help keep her family afloat.
And now… all of what she has done was being shaken by these four aliens in NASA's custody.
Dr. Milldred sighed and turned off the monitor, getting up and leaving Solitary Confinement. It was quite clear she would not be getting any answers from Rian today, but in an odd sense, she didn't mind.
She grabbed her bag and left the facility, walking back to her van like she had done just yesterday, her mind spinning with her own thoughts. Thoughts about her job, her morals, and all that she was doing to Rian and his friends.
She climbed into her vehicle and started it up, pulling out of the parking lot for the second time that day.
As she drove home, her thoughts still spun out of control.
She was a good person, she knew she was. And what she was doing was all part of finding a new home for the humans to call their own in case anything were to happen to Earth. What she was doing was supposed to benefit her kind… so why did she still feel so guilty about it?
'How would you like it if you knew your home was in trouble, and that your family and friends were in danger but you couldn't do anything to help because you were trapped and weren't allowed to leave?!'
Those were the words her sister had said to her, and they were what got to her the most. Mostly because, such a thing has happened before.
When Penelope was in kindergarten, a school shooting had happened right at her own school. The little five year old was put into danger by forces out of her control. Dr. Milldred had heard about the shooting while working on some paperwork in her office, hearing about it from her mother after she had called her. It had left the young adult in shock, and she wanted to go to the school and get her sister out of there… but she had been confined to her work and was unable to leave.
She had chosen her job over her own family… just like her father. And while her father was a successful man and still loved them very much, he still valued his job more.
Dr. Milldred sighed, being completely distracted by her own thoughts as she drove. So distracted, she did not see the stop sign, or the truck coming up from the right. The sound of a honking horn pulled her out of her thoughts, and she slammed on the brake, stopping the Subaru just in time before it collided with the truck.
"Crazy bitch!" The man driving the truck shouted at her as he flipped her off and drove away.
"Sorry!" Dr. Milldred called out and sighed, continuing on her way home, her mind back on the road as she pushed all other thoughts away. Not that it mattered anyway now. She had made up her mind.
She was going to help the Gelflings escape and get back home. She will drive them to Palo Alto herself to board the rocket ship and send them back to Thra.
The only question was… how was she going to do it?