Janet fell to the ground for about the thousandth time that day. "Don't you have anything better to do than beat me up? Like rebuild your pride?" she said in a weak voice that had an air of determination in it.
"Traitor" was the only response.
"Is that all you can say?" Janet knew she was asking for a beating but she didn't care. Seeing Tyr in the block of cells had given her strength and hope. 'You were probably just imagining it', her common sense kept saying but something else told her that she wasn't. Tyr had been there.
Thor grabbed her by her neck and pulled her roughly to her feet. "You betrayed the pride."
Janet racked her brains trying to find some response, anything. She remembered what Tyr had said earlier. "I was trying to help the pride." she choked out.
Thor dropped her and with a look of suspicion he said, "Explain yourself."
Janet was on her hands and knees breathing heavily and coughing. "You depended on the slaves to feed you and clothe you. You were becoming inferior."
A strange look came over Thor's face. It wasn't anger, it wasn't agreement. Before Janet could decipher it Thor kicked her and said "Take her away. Leave her in the cell with that human. No one go near it. They'll get so hungry and so sick of each others company they'll kill each other."
'Wrong. We'll escape and you won't even know about it.' Janet thought as she was being led back to the cell.
*********************
Janet was pushed into the cell. The door shut behind her and footsteps moved away. The minute the door to the field outside was closed she moved towards the door of the cell and whispered, "Tyr. Where are you? I know you're here I saw you."
Harper thought Janet had lost her mind. He was about to say so when he heard. "Quiet woman." There was a sound of the bolt being drawn back and the door opened. Janet who had been leaning on the door for support fell straight into Tyr's arms. He walked into the cell and put her down in a sitting position with her back against the wall. He looked at her face. It was covered in cuts and bruises. One cut was still bleeding, sending a stream of red down her face. She was still beautiful in spite of her wounds. Her eyes shone bright and clear showing the determination and independence that he had seen on the Andromeda was still there despite everything she had been through. "How did you get here?" she asked.
"I stowed away on the Nietzschean ship. I've been observing Coyote Pride's defenses, or lack thereof. We could escape easily."
"Why did you do it?"
"When I went into your quarters you were gone and the vent shaft was open. I followed Thor and you through the vents and realized that Dylan was going to let them leave with you. I thought they were going to kill you so I hid the ship to see if I could help you escape."
That didn't make sense to Janet. Why would he put himself in danger for her? It didn't matter she would find out later. What mattered now was that he was here and they had a chance of escape. "Ow!", she cried out. Tyr had put his hand on the back of her head while trying to assess her wounds. He gently pushed her forward and moved behind her so he could see what had caused her to cry out. He parted the shoulder length strands of hair and saw a deep cut.
"She's had that since we got here." Harper had finally found his voice. Janet looked at him in surprise. "I'm not blind.", he said to her.
"It's taking ages to heal. It must be much deeper than I originally thought." Janet told Tyr.
"It is very deep." Tyr replied.
"Leave it alone. My nanobots can deal with it."
"Yeah I'm sure they've just been busy taking calls from your other less serious cuts that they decided to leave the most painful and most serious one last." Harper said.
Janet shot him a withering look. Harper backed off. "We'd better wait until it's dark before we leave." Janet said, trying to change the subject. Tyr agreed.
"But those guys have a sort of schedule thing going. You know beat Janet up during the day, make Harper work at night." Harper pointed out.
"Not any more. They're going to leave us here for awhile with no food, no water, nothing. Thor believes we'll get so sick of each other we'll kill ourselves."
"How pleasant." Harper said with a look of disgust.
"Don't worry Harper. I would've made your death quick and painless." Janet replied. Harper would have been worried if he hadn't seen the expression on her face telling him she was joking.
"How long till nightfall?" Tyr asked.
Janet looked at the narrow slit in the wall near the ceiling. The light had a pinkish hue to it. "Another hour or two I suppose."
