At first the young woman was very shy. She was too afraid to speak to me when I asked what her name was or which planet she came from, but after a full day in relative silence, she seemed to come round a wee bit. Michael would open the door long enough to toss in some food every so often, which I gladly shared with her of course, and I occasionally spoke to her about my friends and how I still held hope that they'd rescue me, but I intentionally kept things vague. I even offered her the bed when she looked tired. I think it helped her to see that I was in very much the same position that she was, and not such a bad man.

"Laina," she said softly after a while. "My name is Laina."

I tried on the most charming smile I could muster. "I'm Carson. If this were anywhere else, I'd normally be very pleased to meet you."

She said nothing more than that for another long time, though. I have to admit that I was initially suspicious of her. After all, what purpose would it ultimately serve Michael to place her in my cell if not to take advantage of me in some way? But I could tell that she was terribly frightened and wasn't particularly interested in talking to me at first, which meant that if Michael intended to use her against me somehow, she probably wasn't a willing participant. It seemed more likely that he was trying to garner feelings for her in me so that I would be convinced to help him.

This poor girl could not have had any concept of what fate probably awaited her, and with her flowing brown hair and delicate, youthful face, she seemed too young to comprehend it or I might have told her the truth. Slowly though, she opened up to me little by little. She told me of the grassy plains and rivers that dominated her world and the people they traded with, and then told me of her family, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, mother and father. Fourteen people had been taken from her village and imprisoned in similar cells to mine, and I was devastated to learn that her younger sister was one of them. The more she told me, the more painful it was to hear. She may have been a simple woman, but she saw how distressed and troubled I was becoming by what she was telling me.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he?" It was more of a statement than a question. She had heard Michael make his demands, but whether or not she had understood his intentions had been unclear to me until now.

"Not if I have a say about it," I reassured her. I'd intended to sound firm and determined to assuage her fears, but I don't think I was able to completely hide the doubt I felt within myself.

She looked up at me hesitantly with eyes full of fear and innocence. "What is it he wants from you?"

I didn't want to frighten her, but I could not bring myself to lie to her. Instead, I simplified my answers to help her understand. "He wants me to assist him with his research. And he may use this research to kill a lot of people."

"And if you don't help him...?" She paused while I considered how to answer, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "I sense that you are a good man, Carson, and I understand that you must make the right decision, even if it is not the decision that will save us from this fate. But if you promise me everything will be all right, I will believe you."

I no longer held illusions of being able to persuade Michael that I would never be convinced to obey him, or even that I would someday leave this place alive, but if confidence and hope is what this woman needed right now, I would not deny her. I took her hand in mine and wiped away her tears. "Everything will be all right. I promise."

She smiled at me timidly. I think she knew deep down that I didn't have much say in it, though, and that it was a promise that I may not be able to keep in the end. But it made her feel better, so it was the least I could do. I can say though that, for the last few days of her life, I managed to ease some of the despair, keep a bit of hope in her, and even make her smile a few times. After all, I did still believe that I would eventually be rescued, that it was only a matter of time. But as fate would have it, I paid a heavy price for allowing that promise to be broken.