Chapter 29

When Hannah woke up she had a pounding headache. Rolling onto her side, she looked at her surroundings. Grey walls and a door were the only things in the room.

For some reason, she seemed to recognize the room she was in, then realized that she had seen it from a different perspective, from the camera when she was in the conduits. Then where were the others she had seen trapped here? Unless this was a different room, they must have escaped. This thought cheered her slightly, but she still couldn't forget the fact that they now knew she had betrayed them, and wondered what they would do to her when they found her. Or what the Nightsider would do if he came to get her. The best thing to do would be escape. She could find a way off the ship, through an escape pod maybe, and land on a planet somewhere to find a job. Or better yet, maybe someone on a cargoeship would be willing to take her in. But first things first.

Getting up, slowly because the headache got worse as she stood, Hannah went over to the door. There wasn't even a panel to tinker with. Unabashed, she searched every corner of the room, trying to find even a crack in the wall that might be used to her advantage.

Nothing.

She sat down on the floor and decided to wait for something to happen. Her stomach growled. Well, that was something. She wondered if there were guards outside the room she could ask for some food. Getting up, she went back over to the door.

"Hello?" she knocked on the metal door. It hurt her knuckles, but she ignored it.

"Is there anybody out there?" she called.

Hannah jumped in surprise when a rough voice answered, "Don't think that we're going to let you out of there," the voice sounded amused. Still determined, she called once more, "Excuse me, but I'm hungry. I don't suppose there's any chance of some food, is there?"

She could tell the guards were talking, their voices were muffled and inaudible. She could only catch snatches of their conversation.

"..Girl.."

"...Don't want..fired."

Finally there came an answer, "We'll see what we can do,"

Well, at least that was something. After about ten minutes of sitting on the floor, the door slid open a crack and a plate of food was handed in to her. She scrambled over and grabbed the hand holding the plate. There was a crash as it hit the floor. The hand tried to pull back, but she would hang on if it killed her. A steady stream of cuss words came from the man, some very interesting ones that even she had not heard before, as he tried to pull his arm out from her grasp.

"Close the door!!" he yelled to his companion. Almost immediately the door started to close. If she didn't let go, her arm would be crushed. She quickly loosened her grip and the arm pulled away. She preferred captivity to losing a limb. The door slammed shut, dulling the sounds of the swearing guard, and with it her last chance of escape. Slumping to the floor, Hannah knew that she had no hope, and would just have to take what was coming to her. Sighing, she soothed her growling stomach with the still clean food that the guard had dropped.

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