How to Make Enemies & Irritate People

    When the stretched out time that Tabitha spent in the Pit was finally through, she was returned to her cell where the only company she had was the discomforting knowledge that she would soon be forced back down into the mines of Jotnar after just six short hours of rest.
    As the Sensitivity Field covering the entrance to her cell was turned back on by a bored looking guard, Tabitha collapsed on the bed from exhaustion.  It took all her restraint to stop her from falling asleep so that she could follow Jane’s advice.  Tabitha forced her eyes back open and took a quick shower.
    Tabitha thought about Jane, she had just spent eighteen hours digging in the mines with her.  Tabitha had been looking out for someone she could get information from and she had found that someone, but even though Jane was supposed to be just a tool, Tabitha didn’t see why she also couldn’t be a friend.
    She then thought about why she was thinking this.  Why do humans always seek out another’s company during dark times?  Why is a distressing situation significantly lessened by just the mere presence of another person, even when there is nothing they can physically do to help?  Why was Tabitha thinking in this way, she had never done so before, she could feel this place changing her.
    Tabitha found it so unusual that she was concerned with what Jane thought of her, she had never let things like that affect her in the past, so why now?  Why did she actually want Jane Williams as a friend when Tabitha hated all her friends?  In her mind, it was the only positive aspect of being flown to Mercury and having your entire life taken away from you.  It meant that she would no longer be bothered by all those people she left behind.
    That wasn’t really fair, Tabitha didn’t hate her friends, she just didn’t care about them.  Tabitha Roth wasn’t like normal people, she didn’t find the same thing enjoyable as most, she didn’t understand many of the actions that other people did.  Sometimes, Tabitha didn’t even think she was the same species.  She didn’t care about other people, this was called being heartless but she didn’t consider that she was consciously being any way whatsoever, other people’s problems just didn’t bother her.  It wasn’t her fault, that was just the way she was.
    Jane seemed like a nicer person than Tabitha, but she must’ve done something that provoked her incarceration within Jotnar.  Tabitha made a mental note to find out the reason why she was here.
    Tabitha finished showering, dried herself, brushed her teeth and dressed in the new jumpsuit.  She then removed her new meal from its storage drawer and began to eat it while sitting on her bed so she could look at something outside her cell while she dined.
    She saw the woman who she had tricked into crossing her own Sensitivity Field had been returned to her cell and was now sleeping peacefully.  Tabitha gulped down most, but not all, of her broth and then put the bowl to one side.
    Tabitha reclined on her bed and rested her head on her pillow as she prepared to get what little sleep she was permitted.  The bright lights above were still blinding but when a body was as tired as hers, it didn’t do much to hinder a person’s sleep.
    Just before she drifted off to nothing, Tabitha’s mind unintentionally projected an image from her trial.  She was found guilty and then a team of criminal psycho-analysts interviewed her to find out if she had the disposition of a repeat offender, it didn’t take them long at all to agree that she did.
    This branding of being extremely likely to break the law again was what prompted her imprisonment at Jotnar.  If her crime had been less serious or if she wasn’t found to be likely of repeat offending, she would’ve just remained on Earth, where she would’ve just paid a fine and completed some community service.  But even if she hadn’t found to be a repeat offender, she would’ve been on a lifetime probation so that if she ever did commit another crime, if the psychoanalyst’s judgement was incorrect, which it sometimes was, then she would’ve immediately gained the label of a repeat offender anyway along with the consequences.
    It was all quite hazy, the aspect that stood out the clearest in her mind was what the judge was wearing, it had been a long black robe with short red stripes by the collar.  Soon, even this image began to blur as she faded off to sleep.
    When the same loud music was piped into Tau-Block, reaching down to even the deepest cells, Tabitha’s heavy eyelids eased open and she stood up slowly, ready to comply with another arduous eighteen hour shift of working in the mines.
    It had been exactly 24 hours since the music was played last, Tabitha made a mental note that it was now the 15th of May, 2152.  From now on, she would change her internal calendar every time the loud music woke her up.
    She faced the Sensitivity Field as she patiently waited for a guard to come and collect her.  Tabitha could no longer taste blackcurrant.
    Tabitha didn’t have to wait long before a group of guards efficiently brought all the inhabitants of Tau-Block up into the main assembly hall.  Then the patrol supervisor, Eric Lancer, once again swiped his key card through the slot by the door and it opened, just like yesterday.  Tabitha started to realise that this spectacle would soon become extremely familiar to her.
    Her mind felt slightly dulled, Tabitha soberly followed the crowd of inmates in the bleak march of those on their way to begin a shift in the Pit.  It felt as though their were brief flashes and then Tabitha was further along in the routine, like someone had cut bits out of the really mundane parts.  She found herself in one of the access lifts, then she suddenly opened her eyes to discover that she was now inside the Jotnar mines and in her hands were a new pick and a fresh canteen of ichor.
    The working environment within the mines was actually fairly relaxed, there weren’t many guards because not many wanted to be down there, just enough to make sure the prisoners worked as hard as possible.  Apart from times when there was a specific project down in the mines, the prisoners could pretty much go wherever they wanted, just as long as they worked, which could be monitored by many scanners that were constantly being installed within new tunnels.
    Tabitha’s and Jane’s blocks shared the same shift, meaning they entered the Pit at the same time.  Tabitha kept an eye on all the shifting crowds around her, trying to scan each of their faces in an attempt to locate Jane.
    “Good morning,” a voice said from behind her.  She turned around to see that Jane had found her.
    “Hello Jane,” Tabitha said.
    “Although, it’s been morning for well over a week now,” Jane said half to herself.  “Wait until you see your first Mercurial night, it’s a very strange experience.  Follow me, Tabitha.  A load of us have been ordered to excavate one of the larger chambers, come with me.”
    Jane lead her over to a large group of prisoners who were being escorted down a particularly dark tunnel by three guards.  As they walked behind the pack of miners, Tabitha unscrewed the cap of her canteen and gulped down a few mouthfuls.
    “You like it now, don’t you?” Jane said.
    “If it’s the only thing we get to drink, I don’t have much of a choice about it, do I?” Tabitha said.
    “Soon you’ll be addicted to the stuff,” Jane said.  “I can’t get enough of it.”
    “Hey Jane,” Tabitha said.  “Do you mind if I ask you some questions about yourself?  I mean, I barely know you.”
    “Go ahead,” Jane said.  “I love questions even more than answers.”
    “Where are you from?” Tabitha asked.  “Originally.”
    “I was born in Melbourne,” Jane said.  “And you?”
    “Me?” Tabitha said.
    “Well yes,” Jane said.  “I’d like to know some more about you as well.”
    “I’m from Bristol,” Tabitha said.  “You’re turn, how long are you here for?”
    “I’m here for life,” Jane said.  “Just like you.”
    “How did you know that?” Tabitha said.
    “I guessed, most inmates are here for life,” Jane said.  “If a crime isn’t that severe, then you’d probably just get a fine, pay some money to the people you’ve harmed and some community service back on Earth rather than wasting space by taking you here.  Even if you do a serious crime and don’t get diagnosed with the profile of a repeat offender, you wouldn’t have to be confined at Jotnar as long as you don’t violate your parole.  The minimum sentence for Jotnar is 25 years but the guards kill anyone before the release date.  No one actually leaves this place, we’re not welcome back.  The guards are quietly encouraged to be especially harsh, killing prisoners for very minor things, just to keep a lot of cells vacant.  That’s why Jotnar is so under populated, there’s still plenty of room left for more undesirables.”
    “So what did you do?” Tabitha tried to ask casually.
    “I’m a thief,” Jane said.
    “You got life just for stealing?” Tabitha said.
    “You don’t know what I stole,” Jane said cheekily.  “Since you were so surprised by the minor nature of my crime and since you have the same sentence, I’m beginning to wonder what you did.”
    “I don’t want to tell you,” Tabitha said.
    “I never asked,” Jane said.  “It’s fair enough though.  You should never have to talk about something if it’s nobody else’s business.”
    “If you’re also here for the rest of your life, how can you be so positive?” Tabitha asked.
    “I just keep telling myself that I only have one more day before I’m free,” Jane said.  “I keep looking forward to a day that never comes.  It may seem stupid but it’s working, I don’t even think about it anymore.”
    Tabitha and Jane were now walking up a slightly elevated tunnel, there were cameras embedded within every wall, constantly scrutinising them as they were taken further away from the entrance to the mines.
    “You see those two women at the front?” Jane said.  “The ones with their hoods up?  They’re actually here by choice, in a manner of speaking, that it.”
    “What do you mean?” Tabitha asked.
    “They’re faith offenders,” Jane said.
    “Muslims?” Tabitha said.
    “The only religion that has a decent following anymore,” Jane said.  “The Parliaments back home were sick of waiting for it to die out like the rest of the religions so its practice was officially outlawed by all continental Unions just before Jotnar was completed.  They demolished the Ka’bah and tore down all the mosques they could find but there are still believers out there.  Once they’re discovered, all they have to do is renounce Islam to avoid going to Jotnar, but they never do.”
    “Not even after they come here?” Tabitha said.  “That’s insane.  Why not?”
    “I don’t know,” Jane admitted.  “It’s a mystery, just like why you never saw the three musketeers use muskets.”
    “Are they here for life as well?” Tabitha said.
    “As long as they’re Muslim, they’ll remain here,” Jane said.  “The continental governments are just that afraid of religion returning to the masses.”
    “Stop talking back there!” a guard at the front of the procession yelled.  Without realising it, the crowd with which Tabitha and Jane walked with had come to a halt at the entrance to a large mining chamber.  The guards instructed the group to take up positions against a large wall where many other prisoners were already digging away at the wall of rock under the supervision of a large detachment of guards.
    Tabitha and Jane found adjacent sites along the wall and began to work.  Tabitha looked at the other members of the chain gang who were digging out huge chunks of iron ore out of the wall, letting it fall on a conveyor belt below that transported it through a compact hole in a far wall and off to places unknown.  The ceiling of the subterranean chamber had several of Somnus’ monitors attached to it, as well as on the walls both behind and next to the prisoners.
    “Take a good look around Tabitha,” Jane whispered to her.  “This place is full of bad people.  I don’t mean that they’re evil, they’re just bad at being people.”
    “Does that include you?” Tabitha said.
    “It includes the both of us Tabitha,” Jane said.  “Don’t forget that.”
    “Maybe we belong in this terrible place,” Tabitha said.
    “It’s not that bad,” Jane said.  
    “Prove it,” Tabitha said as she chopped at the wall.
    “I don’t actually mind working in the Pit,” Jane said.  “Hell is a large empty room with black walls and no windows or doors.  Can you imagine how insane I’d be if I had just spent my entire sentence just in my cell, with no change of scenery or exercise?”
    “You sound as if you even like it here,” Tabitha commented.
    “You know Hermes, the old god this planet is named after?” Jane started.  “Most people consider him as just the messenger of the gods but he was much more than that.  Ironically, he was also a guide to the dead and the protector of merchants, gamblers, liars and thieves.  A suitable planet to build a penal colony on, I think.  Anyway, I feel pretty good about being here because of that, but I wonder, is what you are guilty of also on that list?  Honestly, I doubt it.”
    “Stop talking,” Tabitha hissed.  “I’ve barely been here that long and I’ve already see two prisoners be killed, I wouldn’t like to join the ranks of the fallen for at least a while.”
    “That’s a good reason for you not to talk, but they won’t kill me,” Jane said.  “It’s happened before, on my first day here I got a little out of hand.  I suppose you could say that I was angry about being here.  In fact, you’re handling it a whole lot better than I am.  Anyway, I started attacking a couple of guards with my spoon and they actually went to the effort to subdue me, rather than just kill me as I’ve seen them do many times since then to prisoners for much less serious offences.  I asked a guard and it turned out to be because of who my sister is, Governor Riley ordered them not to kill me.  Given a choice, the guards won’t kill me as long as Alison Riley remains in charge.”
    “Is she your sister?” Tabitha asked.
    “Governor Riley?” Jane said.  “No, not her.  She’s just an old friend of my big sister.”
    Something clicked on inside Tabitha’s tired and drug laced brain, she remembered this experience as the feeling of an infant plan beginning to form.
    “Has anyone ever tried to escape from Jotnar?” Tabitha asked.
    “Yeah,” Jane laughed.  “I’ve seen a few idiots try and make a run for it, they all just get shot by the guards.  Most thought foolishly that they could reach the Portcullis and steal a ship from the Quays.  One hijacked a surface buggy to try to get there faster but the gun emplacements from the balconies shot him.  There was even one new guy who ran the wrong way, the idiot headed for Tannhauser.  From the other side of the Pit, I saw him get his head blown off by a sniper’s round from one of the guard towers by the western gate.”
    “But if you tried to escape, they wouldn’t kill you,” Tabitha pointed out.  Tabitha realised that if she tried to escape with Jane, her chances of dying were greatly reduced if she was telling the truth about the guards’ reluctance to kill her.
    “I don’t understand what you’re getting at,” Jane said.  “There’s no point in trying to escape, it’s impossible.  Jotnar is a fortress, stop filling your head with false hope, there are few greater evils than that.  Just accept your fate, or lie to yourself like I do if you’re not strong enough to do that.”
    “You don’t even want to try?” Tabitha said.
    “Let me tell you a little story I once heard,” Jane said.  “In the first few years of Jotnar’s life, back in the twenties, a new inmate was sent to Jotnar, his name was Tim Schofield.  Have you ever heard that name before?”
    “Can’t say I have,” Tabitha said.
    “He was a famous American prison breaker,” Jane said.  “He had broken out of all the maximum security American penitentiaries but he kept getting caught and was sent back, which he then just broke out of again.  He was a legend.  When he was caught for the last time, Jotnar was up and running so he was sent here.  Do you know what happened to him?  The Governor of the time decided that it would be too much effort keeping a close eye on him and just had him executed as soon as he arrived, so there would be no chance of him escaping.  That’s the kind of place this is, don’t lose sight of that.  Get you mind off escape.”
    “But we’re not famous, maybe we have an edge?” Tabitha suggested.
    “We’re not talking about this anymore,” Jane said, looking around to make sure that no guards were looking at them.  “I’m not getting anymore ore here, let’s check further along.”
    Jane took Tabitha by the sleeve and directed her further along the chamber and down a very narrow and short tunnel.  As soon as they both disappeared down it, Jane pushed Tabitha against the wall and the sweet simple face vanished.
    “Listen to me Tabby,” Jane said quickly.  “This is a new shaft; they haven’t yet installed any cameras so we won’t be heard.  This opportunity doesn’t present itself very often so let’s make the most of it, but we won’t have long to talk, a guard will find us soon.”  She sat down against the wall and began to drink from her canteen.  Tabitha, surprised by this, silently copied her.
    “What’s going on?” Tabitha asked.
    “Stop talking about escape to me,” Jane said.  “Somnus hears and sees everything we just said.”
    “So?” Tabitha said.
    “Tabitha,” Jane said as she chuckled.  “You’re just one person, so important and insignificant at the same time.  Why do you want to escape so badly?”
    “They told me I’m here for life,” Tabitha said.  “I don’t want to die on a small rock millions of miles from where I was born.  I don’t want to waste my life digging around in the ground eighteen hours a day for some unimportant metal.  I want to have a legacy; I want to leave something behind that other humans can associate with when they think of me.  We have the potential for anything and I would like to at least attempt at fulfilling it.”
    “And you think I don’t?” Jane said.  “I’ve been trying to escape since my first day here.  Everyday, I analyse, I prepare, and I wait.  I’ve been looking for a way out for years under the gaze of a million lidless eyes and I’ve found nothing promising.  I honestly believe that one day I’ll snap and just make a run for it and gamble if they’ll kill me then or not.”
    “Why the act?” Tabitha asked.
    “I don’t want any extra attention,” Jane explained.  “We need to stop chatting about escape, it makes Somnus focus on us more and if a time comes when I do find a way out of this place, it’ll be a lot easier if I’m not under anymore scrutiny that the other scum.  Do you understand?  No more talk of escape, unless you actually find a way out of here.”
    “If I do, I’ll promise I’ll take you with me,” Tabitha said with a smile, quietly taking into account how fleeing with someone who the guards won’t kill will be extremely useful when plotting possible escape routes.
    “Thanks Tabby,” Jane said.
    “I’ll leave you behind if you call me that one more time though,” Tabitha joked.
    Jane looked at Tabitha as she drank some of her ichor and sighed.  She noticed that Tabitha had a habit of chewing her clothes.  Occasionally, as they had been working, Jane caught her nibbling at the collar of her jumpsuit but now she had begun sucking on one of her sleeves.  It looked slightly childish but Jane considered it endearing.
    “Shouldn’t we be getting back?” Tabitha asked after she spat out her sleeve from her mouth.
    “If they don’t notice we’re gone, it’s their own fault,” Jane said and drank down some more ichor.  “Besides, I think we’ve earned a break, don’t you?”
    “Jane?” Tabitha said.  “How long will this tunnel be without any cameras?”
    “Not long,” Jane said.
    “I’m sorry,” Tabitha said sarcastically.  “That was my fault.  I should have specified that I didn’t want an incredibly vague answer.”
    “I’ve only seen it happen once before, it’s a rare sight,” Jane said.  “This shallow tunnel must have been dug not much more than a few hours ago, technicians are probably already on their way to install a scanner.  You do have to admire the efficiency of this place.”
    “Please stop praising Jotnar,” Tabitha said.
    “Don’t mistake what I’m saying,” Jane said.  “I think this place is awful but its system is definitely an improvement.  I never understood the prisons of old; they were supposed to have five purposes.  These were deterrence, retribution, vindication, rehabilitation and prevention of potentially dangerous people harming the public.  I only agree with the first and last of these reasons, because no prison has ever done anything productive towards rehabilitating their inmates; it actually just makes them worse.  In this context, retribution and vindication basically refer to the same thing; these are just more socially acceptable words for primitive vengeance.  The victims or families of victims just don’t want to admit that they want something so senseless and unenlightened.  That just leaves two, and deterrence is only applicable before a crime is committed, once it’s over there is no purpose left other than appearances, which is a childish way to view justice.  So the only reason for this facility that we’re left with is the prevention of further crimes by dangerous men and women.  That’s meant to be us, do you believe that?”
    “Hmm,” Tabitha mumbled a general agreement.  In truth, she hadn’t been listening; she had been too busy scanning the walls for anything that could be scanning her.  “Are you sure there aren’t any hidden cameras here?”
    “If I knew, they then wouldn’t be hidden anymore,” Jane pointed out.
    “How come there are no C-beam Projectors down here?” Tabitha wondered aloud.  “All I’ve seen are cameras.”
    “Laser weapons are expensive,” Jane said.  “That’s why they only have a handful per level of the dungeons and they use those rails to give them greater coverage, you couldn’t fit them down here.  Most people think that energy weapon technology is a modern invention but did you know that it’s been around since the turn of the century?  The slightly more compact ones that can travel on rails are really the second generation.  They used to have quite bulky laser turrets that couldn’t move, but they were so expensive that they were only used in the headquarters of some of the world’s most powerful companies.  They weren’t really practical back then; they were just something of a status symbol for the companies.”
    “How do you know this?” Tabitha asked.
    “My sister works for Olympus,” Jane said.  “But then again, is there anyone who doesn’t anymore?  Even we’re working for them now, the difference between us and the Olympus employees back on Earth is that they get paid.”
    Jane turned away from Tabitha for a moment and looked down towards the dark dead end of this tunnel.
    “She used to tell me stories,” Jane said.  “Amazing stories of her life during the war, things that other people weren’t permitted to know.  What stories of my own do I have to tell?”
    “Are you talking about your sister?” Tabitha asked.
    “Yes,” Jane said.  “My sister…I miss her.  Anyway, what was I talking about?  Ah yes, I remember now.  Energy weapons.  After their first use as impressive security technology, then came the war, people starting mounting them on Harlequin tanks.  This was the first time people really saw energy weapons, my sister said that it looked like whips of light sweeping through the air, I never saw anything like that.”
    “What’s your sister called?” Tabitha asked.
    “Naomi,” Jane said.  “She’s the oldest of four, I’m the youngest.  We’ve also got two brothers in the middle.  Do you have any siblings?”
    “No,” Tabitha said.
    “A shame,” Jane said.  “Then, after the war ended, Olympus started researching energy weapons more and now they have both slightly larger and smaller models.  The smaller ones you’ve already seen in the dungeons, but the bigger ones are fitted to spacecrafts.  They’re not particularly large or powerful weapons.  Traditional guns are much more effective at this present time because the lasers are so weak.  Right now, they’re just used as an experiment as they develop increasing more powerful and efficient weapons.  These weak lasers are effective against large groups of unarmoured enemies, that’s why they have them in the dungeons, but they’re just not powerful enough to be practical on denser material.  Present day ship lasers are actually little more than fancy cutting devices, but it’s still no less remarkable.  They’re primary use on ships is defensive, they detonate incoming missiles.”
    “Why aren’t they more effective?” Tabitha asked.  “And why don’t they have smaller ones for individuals?  The guards here don’t use energy weapons.”
“It’s all about efficiency,” Jane explained.  “The size of an energy weapon is in direct proportion to its power.  Energy weapons small enough to be used as hand-held guns would be nowhere near powerful enough to be useful.  And having strong enough weapons for large ships would mean mounting incredibly bulky guns that would take up a lot of room with their immense energy supplies.  Right now, Olympus scientists are just stuck in that void between the two extremes.  The dungeons’ laser turrets are the smallest weapons they can build, which can generate lethal power and the ship lasers are the largest they can make before they become impractically large.  They’ve done the best they can accomplish, for the moment.  They can’t craft practical all-round uses for energy weapons until they can make cells efficient enough to be more compact and then find cheap ways of manufacturing them.”
    “How often do ships come and go from Jotnar?” Tabitha asked with regard to a possible escape plan that had just begun to formulate within the depths of her brain.
    “It’s varies a lot,” Jane said.  “I think there’s a main shipment every week of so but there are also the guard shuttles, which come at irregular intervals.  These ships transport squads of guards back and forth when it’s time for a shift change when they’ve earned some time off.  Why do you ask?”
    “I just like to have all the information I can,” Tabitha said.  “I’ll need it if I’m going to have any real chance of success.”
    “Are you still talking about escape?” Jane said.
    “Yep,” Tabitha said.
    “Do you really think you’ll be able to find a way out?” Jane said.  “I’ve been here for a long time and I’ve found nothing.  What is it you think you’ll find that I’ve missed?”
    “There’s nothing you can say that won’t stop me from trying,” Tabitha said.
    “I don’t want to stop you from trying,” Jane said.  “If you can find a way out of here that I couldn’t, I’ll be ecstatic.”
    “I’ll find us a way,” Tabitha promised.
    They were then interrupted when the sudden face of a guard appeared from around the corner, shortly followed by the rest of him, which sent a wave of panic through Tabitha’s heart but Jane seemed completely unaffected and just continued to drink her ichor.
    “I’ve found them Somnus,” the guard reported into his wrist communicator.  “They were in a newly opened unmonitored shaft; dispatch a tech team to rectify this.”
    He then turned off his communicator and looked sternly at the pair.  “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
    “Just taking a break,” Jane said without even looking at him.
    “You can have a break when you’re returned to your cells,” he said.  “On your feet.”  He grabbed Tabitha by the collar and threw her back out into the main chamber; Jane eased herself to her feet and soon followed.  Tabitha was forced back at the wall and the guard glowered at her until she began to dig once again.
    In a few seconds, Jane casually squeezed into the line of workers and started to dig beside Tabitha, who was looking at her with envy.  She thought to herself how Jane had been so modest about her preferential treatment, the guard had never even touched her and Tabitha suspected that if Jane had been by herself, then the time that had expired before the guard came would have been greatly expanded.
    During the time Tabitha and Jane had been hiding, more guards arrived, bringing a new group of prisoners with them to help with the mining effort.  As Tabitha looked over at this new group, she recognised one of the faces; it was the woman from the opposing cell who she had tricked into breaching the Sensitivity Field.  The large woman must have felt Tabitha’s eyes because she stopped digging and turned around, looking straight at Tabitha.
    Tabitha’s eyes widened as the woman recognised her and began to walk in Tabitha’s direction.
    “Hey!” a guard yelled.  “Get back in line.”
    The woman didn’t comply; she didn’t even appear to be listening.  She just slowly lurched towards Tabitha with her mining pick dragging along the ground behind her.  Tabitha also stepped out of line and faced her recent nemesis, pick at the ready.
    “I knew it was you,” the woman said.  “I’m going to kill you, you little b***h!”  
    Jane turned around to see what was happening and what she saw was a large new prisoner charge at Tabitha.  She crashed into Tabitha and they both fell to the floor, Tabitha lost her grip on her pick and was currently using her hands to grasp hold of her enemy’s weapon to stop her from using it.
    The pair wrestled on the floor a few moments longer, Tabitha tried to push this woman off her but she was too heavy.  The angry woman struggled to get the mining free but Tabitha’s grip was too strong so she just held it down to her throat.  Jane looked around at the guards, but they weren’t doing anything to stop it.  In fact, they had clustered around the fighting prisoners and started to watch.
    The pick handle was now choking Tabitha, she struggled but nothing changed.  She tried to push the handle up but she just wasn’t strong enough.  Tabitha hadn’t been able to breathe in a while but she didn’t feel scared, she was just angry.
    Jane, seeing that she needed to do something, dropped her pick and removed a small metal spoon from within her jumpsuit; she reversed it in her hand so that the sharpened handle was pointing out and approached the fighting pair.
    Jane lashed out with pointed handle of her spoon and cut deep into the large woman’s hamstring.  She grunted in pain and that distraction was enough so that Tabitha could wrench the mining pick from her hands and hit the woman in the face with the handle.  She fell backwards as Tabitha discarded the pick and jumped on her.  
    Tabitha was now on top and she took advantage of this time to get her revenge.  She held down the woman’s arms as best as she could with her left hand as she repeatedly slammed her right fist as hard as she could down on the woman’s face.  The cheering from the mixed crowd of prisoners and guards surrounding the fighters had suddenly turned silent, with them all just watching as Tabitha’s hand was covered in more and more of her adversary’s blood.
    When the woman Tabitha felt an uncontrollable rage for slipped into unconsciousness, a guard stepped forwards from the crowd, he had an air of superiority about him, as if he was the leader of this group of guards.  He grabbed Tabitha’s hood and threw her back from the woman she would’ve soon killed if left to her own devices.
    “That’s enough,” he said to her.
    Tabitha quickly scrambled to her feet and took a swing at this guard, who pushed her against the wall in response.  Tabitha calmed down and backed up against the wall like a cornered animal.
    “You don’t fear me, do you?” the guard said.
    “I don’t fear people,” Tabitha spat at him.
    “You’ll learn,” he said, just before introducing the grip of his shotgun to Tabitha’s face.