88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90CNA88d3x
The next few days were very nerve-wracking for everyone; Aoife, Emma and Daisy were still resisting all attempts to get their motives out of them, and Hope lived in daily terror that one day she might find all three of them at her bedside, ready to try and take her away again. Worse, she feared they might succeed in getting her back to Earth if they could talk a regular Pandoran into making the switch when they got to the thin space-time barrier separating Earth and Pandora.
Finally, a week after the failed kidnapping, Officer Jhansi came back with some encouraging news; Daisy had been the first to crack, and she'd confessed that, if Aoife failed, she'd be the next to try and get Hope out of the mansion. Much to Hope's horror, it turned out Daisy had a far more personal connection to her; she was, in fact, James's half sister, and therefore Hope's aunt. James had, according to Daisy, talked his way out of jail for the attempted murder of his daughter, and Daisy had, effectively been spying on Hope ever since. To make matters even worse, Daisy had been feeding information back to James about Pandora, and when it had come out that Pandora was real, Daisy, Aoife and Emma had come together to hatch the kidnapping plan. 88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9GlvGXZUc
"God be good," Penny said, horrified, as Officer Jhansi finished her explanation. "We were so lucky Aoife didn't know about needing a Pandoran on board to manipulate the barrier in the tunnel!"
"Indeed we were," Officer Jhansi - who preferred to be called just Jhansi - said. "And we've not told any of them, so even if Hope's sperm donor did make his way to Pandora, he'd be arrested and sent back via space craft, with all his memories wiped. As it is, Daisy will be getting her memories wiped, and once she's returned to Earth, she'll only recall Pandora as a very vivid hallucination. Once Aoife and Emma have likewise confessed, they'll be treated the same way."
"Fair enough," Hope said. "Though if I may be so bold, I don't believe in fairness for any of them. That's the pregnancy hormones talking, I'm sure, but right now, I feel Aoife and Emma deserve to be memory wiped and packed back to Earth without the chance to confess."
Jhansi nodded. "I understand," she told the distressed girl. "I've a daughter your age, and if the same happened to her, I'd be breathing fire hotter than a sun dragon. But we have a very strict code of justice, and all lawbreakers must be given the chance to confess their crimes before they're punished. That was the law our council agreed to when they were given leave to settle on Pandora, and it's written into our very bones. We literally cannot break that law; it is physically impossible, and even if someone did manage to break it without suffering a painful and prolonged death, all Pandorans - native or otherwise - would be asked to leave immediately."
"Well, whoever's in charge doesn't muck about," Mia observed.
"No," Jhansi told her. "And believe me, it's better this way. Criminals get a chance to explain themselves, no matter how long it takes, and they get their chance to have their side of the story explained." She rose. "I have to get back," she said, "but if I hear anything more, I promise I will come to you immediately, or send one of my colleagues."
"I'm still worried," Hope confessed, as Jhansi left.
"Me too," Penny and Mia said in unison. The other women nodded silent agreement, and Hope cursed the three women who were making her first weeks on Pandora such a nightmare. This was not what she'd signed up for when she'd first boarded the train weeks ago, but at least Daisy was now out of the picture, her memories wiped and all knowledge of how to get to Pandora taken from her. She just hoped Aoife and Emma would soon follow suit, but that would depend on their willingness to fall into line now that one of their co-conspirators had been exiled back to Earth.
88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjyz8DBYOE
