ALEXIS

Even in a coma, Princess Sally was more beautiful than Alexis could ever hope to be. Her features appeared strong, her stance subtle and refined in spite of her condition. The surrounding mirrors of their cell were especially discomforting to Alexis because they were constant reminders of her comparative plainness—thin, bony, too pale. Boring hair. Glasses.

For the dozenth time that day, she took Sally's pulse: weak but steady. Her condition remained virtually unchanged since the beginning. Alexis and Tails periodically took turns giving her water so she wouldn't dehydrate, but the princess was obviously unable to eat anything. If they didn't get her to a clinic soon, she'd starve to death—and since here they lacked the option of feeding her intravenously, there was little else for them to do than watch her die. Already, Alexis could see the knuckles on Sally's hands becoming more prominent, her joints and features ever so slightly more pronounced. She knew that a healthy individual could survive for a month or longer without food, but she was more concerned that the princess might become sick or develop an infection. Her malnutrition would doubtlessly weaken her immune system, and neither Alexis nor Tails knew for sure how clean their cell was—or, for that matter, what Robotnik might be releasing into their air supply.

Tails was sitting on the bunk above her, looking into the next cell. "Why do you think these rooms are empty?" he asked. "It's weird that he gave us a prison level all to ourselves."

"I honestly don't know," Alexis admitted. "Maybe he's planning to use the extra cells later."

"So you don't think he's captured everybody?"

"I'm just speculating. I mean, for all we know, there could be a hundred levels just like this one."

"Yeah, maybe. Although he's only taking people from four levels. At least so far."

Alexis glanced up. "How can you tell?"

"The letters," Tails said. "For each cell level. If that's how he's naming them, he only called people from A, B, D and E. We're on level C."

Smart observation—especially for a kid. "That's interesting," Alexis said. "So I guess that means we're on the middle level?"

"Maybe. Doesn't explain why the other cells here are empty, though—or why he's not torturing us."

They both went quiet for a moment, contemplating. Alexis sighed. "Did you recognize anybody on the list?"

"A few of them, yeah."

"I'm sorry."

Alexis, on the other hand, didn't recognize a single name. A number of them sounded familiar, at least, but she couldn't put faces on any of them. She hated that—her blind, clinical detachment from everything. Every patient in Knothole was just a name to her, forgotten the next day. It was cold and inhuman, but she did it instinctively. The quality served her well as a medical assistant. As a friend, though, it all but damned her.

"Why didn't he say anything about the roboticizer?" Tails asked. "He didn't even mention it."

"You're right," she said, realizing it too. The idea alarmed her. "Maybe he's waiting for something."

"Or maybe," Tails said hopefully, "there's something wrong with it. Maybe Sonic's still out there, and he messed up the roboticizer. Maybe he's coming back for us!"

Alexis didn't dare to hope for anything so convenient. "I'm sure he'll get us out of here soon," she said, trying her best to sound like she believed it. "He always does."

She gently brushed a strand of hair from Sally's face and pulled the covers around her shoulders. Alexis hated to see anybody in that condition. When she was a child, her grandmother suffered from a brain tumor and had to be put on life-support for the days leading up to her death. She remembered sitting next to the hospital bed, naively convinced that her grandmother would wake up at any moment and that everything would continue as normal. Years later, as a medical student, she learned that her grandmother was probably brain-dead by that time.

The princess shouldn't have to suffer like that. Alexis wished there were a way to end her humiliation and let her pass away with the dignity that she deserved. Almost immediately, she found her gaze drawn to the fruit bowl in the leftmost corner of the room. She remembered the knife she found inside. A dark thought crossed her mind, but she purged it at once.

"She's going to make it," Tails was saying. "We can't give up on her."

"We won't," said Alexis.