Still Alive

    Her eyes shot open, it seemed impossible for Tabitha to operate her eyelids at any other speed anymore, she was now too afraid of keeping them closed any longer then necessary.  She could see a light above her, but nowhere near as harsh as those of her cell.  Tabitha could feel a distracting throb originating from within her nose; she tried to raise a hand to her face but was restricted by the fact that her wrists and ankles were bound to a light blue reclining medical chair with tight white straps.
    Tabitha struggled to prop herself up and failed, so she just examined the room as best as she could from her position of limited mobility.  Another spherical silver camera was positioned in a far corner, watching her.  The room wasn’t that large, but it was still more spacious than her cell.  On one side was the chair on which she lay, the other side was completely comprised of work surface, which was built into the wall and had many cupboards and drawers filling the empty space below.  Slightly higher up, attached to the wall, was another row of cupboards, contents unknown.
    Next to the chair was a shiny metal tray covered in medical equipment, Tabitha presumed that she was in the infirmary.  If that was so, she liked the infirmary; all the walls were white and pristine.  It was so clean, it made Tabitha feel guilty just being in there while dressed in her dirty jumpsuit, like just her presence was enough to soil its purity, like this place was above her.
    Ahead of her was a door with a white border and white plastic handle but mist of the door was actually comprised of frosted glass.  Tabitha looked closely at the glass, it may have been her imagination but she thought she could see a shape of a person behind it.
    When the frosted glass in front of her began to transform into a fully transparent material, Tabitha thought she was hallucinating.  Through the glass, Tabitha could see a young man, slightly younger than her, and was wearing a long blue coat, the mark of a doctor.  He smiled at her as she saw him use the key card around his neck in an unseen slot and opened the door.
    “I’m glad to see you’re awake Miss Roth,” he said as he entered the room.  “Sorry about the restraints, the guards insisted on them when they brought you in.  I’ve just been treating your playmate next door; you’ve made such a terrible mess.  Do you know where you are?  This is my infirmary.  Don’t worry, Tabitha, you’re not seriously hurt.  You just have a broken nose from your altercation with a guard.”
    “What’s your name?” Tabitha asked shyly.
    “One opportunity for some information and that’s what you waste it on?” he laughed.  “That’s the worst question you can ask someone, it tells you nothing about their personality or nature.  But, if you really need to know, I’m Doctor Jon Farrington.”
    “This is the infirmary?” Tabitha said.  “For all of Jotnar?”
    “I know it’s small,” Jon said.  “It only consists of a couple of compact medical bays and my office.  I still don’t get many patients, though.  The injury rate at Jotnar is extremely low, but the mortality rate is disturbingly high.  The guards don’t normally let rebels off so lightly, you were lucky.”
    “Maybe I’m special,” Tabitha said.
    “Maybe,” Jon said as he pulled up a stool beside her.  “How are you feeling?”
    “You’re the first person to ask me that here,” Tabitha said.
    “Would you like something for the pain?” Jon said, brandishing a silver hypodermic needle from the metal tray next to him.
    “No thank you,” Tabitha said.  “I don’t want anymore drugs.”
    “Yes,” Jon agreed with a smile.  “You’ve probably had your fill.”  Jon stood up and began to remove the straps binding Tabitha to the chair.
    “What are you doing?” Tabitha asked.  “I thought I was dangerous.”
    “I’ll trust you,” Jon said.
    “Why?” Tabitha wondered.  “I’m here for a reason you know.”
    “It’s more for me than you,” Jon explained.  “It feels good to trust someone occasionally.  Even if it doesn’t always go successfully, it’s still a nice feeling while it lasts.”
    Tabitha sat up in the chair and rubbed her sore wrists, she then gingerly felt her damaged face, it ached under her touch.  She looked at Jon and noticed that his natural facial position seemed to be a kind smile; it was slight but constant and was also the most genuine expression Tabitha had ever seen.
    “Are you the only doctor here?” Tabitha asked as she hugged her knees.
    “In the infirmary, yes,” Jon said.  “I’m glad you came, actually.  I don’t have a lot of patients; I can get quite bored here.”
    “I wouldn’t mind being here,” Tabitha said.  “It all looks so nice.  It’s the most beautiful place I’ve seen here.”
    “You’re hair’s still short,” Jon observed.  “Are you new?”
    “I guess so,” Tabitha asked.  “How long have you been at Jotnar?”
    “You make it sound like I’m a prisoner serving a sentence,” Jon said, his smile widened slightly.  “I came here just over two years ago, right after I finished medical school.”
    “So what happens to me now?” she asked.
    “Well,” he began.  “I think I’ll keep you here for a bit and then you’ll be escorted back to your cell where you can rest some more.”
    “I miss the rest of my shift?” Tabitha said.  “Excellent.”
    “Enjoy your time,” Jon said, getting to his feet.  “I’m going to check on your friend.  You really hurt her you know, I’m surprised such violent potential can be found in a creature as tiny as you.”
    It was true Tabitha was small, even for her gender, and she was skinnier than usual, which wasn’t helped by the minuscule amounts of food combined with the many hours of physical labour that she was forced to do during her stay here.
    Tabitha then turned her examining eyes to Jon Farrington.  Jon seemed really out of place at Jotnar, he didn’t belong here like Tabitha did, it was like he was just too good for his location.  He was about to leave when Tabitha stopped him.
    “Jon?” Tabitha said suddenly.
    “Yes?” he said as he spun around.
    “I need to know something,” she said.  “Why are you here?”
    Jon looked at the floor for a second and thought about it as he gave a little smile, to himself this time.  He then looked back at Tabitha and said, “Why are you?”
    “I didn’t really have a choice in the matter,” Tabitha said with a joking smile.
    “You did once though,” Dr. Jon Farrington simply put it before closing and locking the door.
    His image disappeared as he turned the frosted glass on once again and left to tend to his only other patient.  Tabitha was now free to move around and explore her new surroundings, but she didn’t.  Instead, she chose to lie back in the chair and thought about what her doctor had just said to her.
    Tabitha found her irrational hatred for that woman in the next room return.  Tabitha had beaten her unconscious when all she had only done what Tabitha would’ve done herself in that situation and she didn’t even know her name.  Now, she hated her for taking the nicest person she had met in years away from her.
    A few minutes left Tabitha behind staring at the ceiling until she heard the sound of the door opening again.
    “Jon…?” she said as she sat up.  It wasn’t Jon, it was a man dressed in a guards uniform, a familiar man.  The person who had just entered the room was Eric Lancer, the captain of the Tau-Block Guard.
    “Why are you here?” Tabitha said.
    “That’s not a very nice tone,” he said.  “I make sure the women of my block learn civility.”
    Eric had a creepy way of speaking, as if he didn’t know where he was.  To him, he may as well have been in any of the normal cities of Earth.
    “Are you my escort?” Tabitha said.
    “Of course not,” Eric said.  “That work is below me.  I’m here to talk to you.”
    “I don’t have anything to say,” Tabitha said.
    “But I do,” Eric said.  “Somnus might be the one monitoring all the cameras all the time but I watch a lot of the time as well.  When all the other guards are watching TV or finding another way of wasting time, I’m watching you, I find you very interesting Tabitha.  I knew you were cruel but I would’ve never guessed how violent you could be when necessary.  I saw your fight; I was pleasantly surprised by the result.  I truly believed that my favourite toy was going to be damaged beyond repair.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?” Tabitha asked.
    “You impressed me,” Eric said.  “And so I’m here to make you an offer.  You see, life here can be very boring for us guards.  We have to find all sorts of ways to relieve the dullness, one of these ways is gambling.  This includes a variety of things, such as poker for example.  That’s played a lot in the guards’ quarters but you can do that on Earth.  The only game that’s worth coming to Jotnar for is the Arena.”
    “What’s that?” Tabitha asked.
    “Something the guards invented a long time ago,” Eric said as he sat down in what was once Jon’s seat.  “We work hard keeping the wolves from roaming around the sheep pen, we deserve a little fun and I don’t think it’ll be one sided.  I saw your face, I’ll never forget it, you loved what you did to that woman, didn’t you?”
    “What do you want?” Tabitha demanded impatiently.
    “I find myself without a horse to bet on,” Eric said.  “Sure, I could bet on someone else’s but it’s just not as fun as owning your own.  I need a new horse, you look promising, you understand?”
    “I really don’t,” Tabitha said.
    “You might be a good fighter but you’re definitely lacking something up there, aren’t you?” Eric said.  “This is Jotnar, the home of greed, anger and violence.  This place is full of people who love to fight and I think you’re one of them.  What we do is let people like you exercise this passion in a controlled environment on one another, while providing both entertainment and profit for your keepers.”
    “You make prisoners fight each other?” Tabitha attempted to clarify what she could barely believe.
    “There really isn’t much need for us making them,” Eric said.  “These psychopaths are more than often a little too willing if you ask me.”
    “So that makes it okay?” Tabitha said.  “Taking advantage of the mentally deranged.”
    “Well,” Eric said.  “Of course, we compensate them for slaking our boredom.”
    “With what?” Tabitha asked.
    “Whatever they want,” Eric shrugged.  “Within reason, of course.  I can give you special favours, anything that’s in my power, which is a lot.  Just don’t ask for freedom, I’m sick of that joke.”
    “You want me to fight in your Arena?” Tabitha said.
    “That’s exactly right,” Eric stated.  “Do me proud and you won’t regret it.”
    “If I fight, I’ll get whatever I want?” Tabitha said.  “Like some time working in the Solar Farms?”
    “If you make me enough money, I’ll be happy to,” Eric said.
    “OK then…” Tabitha started to agree before the door opened again.  Jon appeared with a perplexed look upon his face.
    “Lancer?” he said.  “What are you doing here?”
    “Hello doctor,” Eric said as he stood up.  “I’ve come to collect the prisoner, she needs to return to her cell.  I’m assuming she’s fine.”
    “I would prefer to keep her here a while longer,” Jon said.
    “But she doesn’t need to stay,” Eric said.  “It’s just a broken nose, she can rest in her cell just as well as she can here, right?”
    “Well I…” Jon said.
    “Great,” Eric interrupted him.  “Thanks doc.  Let’s go Tabitha.”
    Lancer quickly rushed Tabitha out of the room, to her right was a short corridor, which lead to another treatment room, but Lancer took her to the left.  There, she went past Dr. Farrington’s office and then they made a sharp right into what looked like a waiting room.
    Every part of the infirmary was just as white and clean as her room.  Even this place, with it’s rows of padded white seats against the walls being used by two of Jotnar’s guards, was just as pleasing to the eye.  This building was a haven when compared with the rest of Jotnar Tabitha had been misfortunate enough to see.
    “Just think about what I said,” Eric whispered before handing Tabitha off to her escorts.  The two guards stood up, saluted Eric, and guided Tabitha out of the infirmary doors.
    As the doors slid open, Tabitha saw the surface of Mercury again, it was becoming a more familiar world to her than Earth was.  She hadn’t been away that long but she now had trouble imagining what her home looked like.
    The infirmary was situated next to the women’s Alpha-Block, which was located very close to the Portcullis, the gateway to the Jotnar Quays.  A surface buggy was waiting for her, the guards placed her in the back and then took their seats in the front.  As they began to drive away, Tabitha looked back at the eastern gates.  She had never been this close to them before and half-seriously contemplated jumping out of the buggy and running for it, but decided against this once her gaze drifted up to the guards operating the mounted machine guns above her.  She would have to wait until she was accompanied by someone the guards won’t kill before escaping.
    Instead, Tabitha just watched the bright orange image of Hermes’ Caduceus painted on the Portcullis fade out of vision as the buggy took her further and further away from the Quays.  Her limited time around the eastern gate was not completely wasted. Tabitha made sure of taking note of every detail she could find.
    There was a small guard checkpoint next to the Portcullis, on the side of the women’s wing.  From what she could see, the checkpoint consisted of a small building, which held the controls for the Portcullis with only two guards to protect it.
    Tabitha examined all the large red ancient Greek letters they passed by on their way to her home in Tau-Block.  Each block had the same large mechanical set of doors with one of the doors having the same red female symbol that Tabitha’s block had, along with the Greek letter that represented their respective blocks.
    Tabitha stared at each one; it was as if she was finally getting her long overdue introductory tour of the facility that she was supposed to spend the rest of her life in.  Tabitha sat in the back of this vehicle like a celebrity and leisurely took in the surroundings.  She could see the Pit at the time when people were neither entering nor exiting it and she could see the men’s wing off in the distance.
    She could also see something strange in the sky, near the immense Sun.  Reclining her head back she could make out a shape falling through from the skies, even through the polarised protective shielding, which lined the central dome.  At first, Tabitha wondered if she was really seeing something but her belief was verified when it came a little closer down to the Jotnar Basin, it was a ship.  Tabitha could definitely see a large ship heading for Jotnar; it looked like one of the Jotun-class transport vessels.
    Tabitha was mesmerised at the sight of such a large structure floating gracefully down to Mercury’s surface.  She didn’t take her eyes off it as it decreased in speed but increased in size on approach to Jotnar.  Eventually, she could see this huge beautifully built ship hover above the docking tower, solar panels gleaming in the strong sunshine as the entrance to the Quays opened for a new batch of prisoners, she felt sorry for them.
    The overwhelming majority of the people on board that ship would be spending eternity performing meaningless tasks at Jotnar.  It would be a relative eternity to these people because it would never stop until they died and, after that, they would have no sense of time.  All their time would be spent incarcerated within Jotnar so it would seem like their eternity.  Of course, it wasn’t a literal eternity, but the day when their sentence would come to an end would have to coincide with the day they die.  You knew that your situation was desolate when all you had to look forward to was your death.
    These musings distracted Tabitha and, before she knew it, the surface buggy had reached the Tau-Block.  Tabitha was removed from the buggy by one of the guards while the driver left them both behind.  Her new singular escort opened the block doors with his key card and took inside the dark complex.
    The guard descended the stairs with Tabitha and didn’t leave her until she was back in her cell.  Tabitha didn’t mind spending the rest of her shift in the Pit back here.  In fact, she wouldn’t mind being injured in the future if it meant the same reward.
    Tabitha was surprised by Jotnar’s generosity, she only had a broken nose and yet she was given the day off.  She even noticed that a meal was waiting for her when the guard turned on the Sensitivity Field and left her alone in her cell.
    Tabitha comfortably ate (or drank, she wasn’t quite sure) her broth and then lay down on her bed.  When she was finished, she approached her mirror; Tabitha had not yet seen her broken face.  What she saw wasn’t that bad, just a bandaged nose with some discolouration around it.  This was nothing that wouldn’t heal.
    She rested, relaxed, did a bit of sleeping.  Then, about half an hour later, Tabitha heard the sound of a gurney being wheeled along.  She got out of bed and approached her threshold, Tabitha saw the woman who had attacked her down in the Pit being taken to her cell.  She had been brought down in the guards’ lift and was now being carried onto her bed by a couple of guards.  
    Tabitha thought to herself that Jon must’ve released her from the infirmary.  When their task was done, the guards turned on her Sensitivity Field and wheeled the gurney away to the right.  
    Tabitha looked at the beaten woman for a while and then accepted that nothing else was going to happen.  Tabitha went back to her bed and looked back at the woman; she seemed to be still unconscious.  She stared up at the fluorescent lights and realised that she had a lot of time to kill.
    The next notable event was when the shift was over and the women of Tau-Block were being returned to their cells.  Tabitha didn’t pay much attention to this but something out of the ordinary did happen, which made her sit up in bed and take notice.
    Something was being transmitted through the speakers, which lined the walls of the dungeons, but it wasn’t the music to signify that it was time to work, it was something else.  It was a message from Somnus.  Tabitha recognised the same synthesised voice from her time on board the Caduceus, the speech from her induction day.
    “Thank you for a satisfactory completion of your duties,” it said.  “Remember, your daily work is for your own benefit.  Hell is a large empty room with black walls and no door.  Thank you for your continued cooperation, and please note that you are helping us build a better tomorrow.”
    Tabitha hadn’t been told about these weekly motivational speeches from Somnus, she supposed that it must have a series of maxims that it runs through on a regular schedule.  Tabitha wondered how many times Jane had heard this one.
    Tabitha watched the crowds of involuntary workers be escorted to their cells by groups of guards.  Soon, the excitement was over and everything was how it should be.  Tabitha returned to her bed and thought about what Eric Lancer had offered her, it had been a very strange proposal, but the more she thought about it, the less bizarre it seemed.  She still had to decide whether the reward would be worth it, Tabitha really did need to see as much of Jotnar as possible so that she could consider every possibility and then formulate the plan that would give her the best chance of her escape being successful.
    She had the time to contemplate it, six hours to be precise, before it was time to start her meaningless work once again in the Pit.  Tabitha had already slept quite a bit during her day off so she did have the time to think about the Arena.  The most prominent question was did she actually enjoy what she did to that woman in the opposite cell?  If the answer was yes, then there was no need for any more questions.
    Tabitha’s brain started to hurt; she was asking too many questions to herself at too great a rate.  She looked down at the soles of her feet; they were stained, probably permanently from her work in the Pit.  The showers weren’t even cleaning them; she doubted they ever would be.  Tabitha closed her eyes and let her soft pillow take her mind away until the music was played again.