Hope only made it a few blocks before Jhansi found her. "You have to go," the policewoman told the girl, regret in every line of her body. "I'm so sorry; the council just passed a decree that you were to be escorted to the station and onto the next train bound for Earth.
Hope dug her heels in. "I'm not going without my daughter," she insisted. "I don't care what those prune-faced hags at the hospital say. That's my daughter there, and I won't have her become the latest experiment!"
Jhansi had started to smile at the prune-faced comment, but the humour was quickly wiped from her face at Hope's last words. "Your daughter is going to be in the best car,e," she said. "Believe me; no matter what those 'prune-faced hags' told you, no harm will come to your daughter." Her face firmed. "But you won't be around to see her grow up. You've worn out the goodwill of the council by your behaviour, and their word is as law; if you're not on the next train to Earth, you'll be jailed."
"I'd rather be jailed than exiled," Hope snapped, hurt filling her. It wasn't like Jhansi to give her such a dressing-down as this; in all the time she'd known the policewoman, Jhansi had been nothing but supportive to her, and whenever she did tell someone off, she was much more polite than the blunt rudeness she was using with Hope now. "Everyone on this planet lied to me," the girl added, refusing to be budged. She'd make Jhansi drag her if need be! "I was told I wouldn't be separated from my daughter, but they're not letting her come home with me."97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDfrSaUEeA
"Your daughter is in good hands," Jhansi insisted. "Believe me; she will come to no harm, and nothing will be done to her to cause her unnecessary pain. Now you must go, or I'll have no choice but to take you to the station and have you formally charged with trespassing."
"Then do it!" Hope snapped, long-suppressed tears finally filling her eyes. "That just proves you're the same as your precious council!"
Jhansi stiffened as if struck, but before Hope could take back her hasty words, the policewoman's face went rigid with anger. "Very well," she said through clenched teeth as she pulled out her baton and aimed at the girl. A blast of white light filled Hope's eyes, and then darkness claimed all her senses.
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When next Hope woke, she found herself in a very spartan room. The floor was bare earth, and a narrow cot with a none-too-plump mattress, together with a cracked washstand were the only furnishings. A bucket in one corner served as a toilet, and from the smell of it, it hadn't been emptied, let alone cleaned, for some time. Hope wrinkled her nose in disgust as she got painfully to her feet, her body protesting the movement. Whoever had tossed her in here hadn't been too gentle; she was going to have bruises for days, and she groaned as she rubbed the back of her neck. It was still tender to the touch; Jhansi had not been kind, and Hope cursed the Pandoran policewoman for being as fickle and untrustworthy as her countrymen. When I get out of here, she vowed, I'll make sure the whole damn universe knows that Pandorans can't be bloody trusted! I'll throttle the idiot who thought it was a good idea to rescue me the night I ran away from home! I was better off dead!
The door crashed open and Hope jumped. Jhansi stood in the doorway, two orderlies at her side. One carried a bowl of soup; the other held a glass of water. "Lunch," the policewoman informed her coldly. "Be thankful you're getting food; if anyone else was in charge of your care, they'd probably reduce your meals to one a day. Oh, and for the record, you're not to speak unless spoken to, not even to thank anyone who brings you your food. Do I make myself clear?"
Hope swallowed. "Crystal," she said.
Jhansi nodded. "Good," she said. She gestured to the orderlies, who put the food and water on the floor. "You'll be allowed an hour's exercise each day," the policewoman said. "But you will speak to no one, and you will do all as you are told. If you disobey in any way, I'll have you moved to the underground cells, and you won't like them one bit. They have a bad tendency to flood whenever the river rises, and it's been raining quite a lot lately." With this last salvo, she turned and left, slamming the door behind her, and Hope bit back the urge to curse as she lifted the bowl. The basic kindness of a spoon had been overlooked, but Hope didn't care, and she downed the soup eagerly, trying hard not to think about the suspect chunks of meat contained in the brown depths. It was decent enough, thankfully, and the glass of water did the trick to wash it down. Hope then set the bowl and glass on the floor next to the door, before reluctantly using the rank bucket. Soap and water provided an alternative to toilet paper, and Hope made sure to wash her hands thoroughly afterwards. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ074ldWne6z
But as she sat on the bed, watching the small patch of dark blue sky outside, she felt sick inside, cursing herself for her stupidity. Having lost everything, she knew she should've let Jhansi take her to the station. If she hadn't blown her stack, she'd likely be back on Earth by now. To be sure, Earth still wasn't a pleasant place, but as Hope sat on the bed, she felt it would be better than where she was right now.
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