How? That was yet another question, but one at a time.
“It is hard to guess how long that will be. I don't know what the timeline will be for the investigation.”
Adryel shook her head. “Investigation? It's obvious. Someone doesn't want Kantenans involved in this program and wants all of us off-worlders gone from the system. If you think for a moment after all of this, I'm staying, you're crazy. And I think you need to run for the stars too. Someone will take you out, or have you taken out.” She gestured out the window. “Hell, throw you out a window would work.”
“I made my commitment. I'm not leaving,” Janae said. The way she spoke, there was something odd about it.
Maybe it was the clothing that she wore--a traditional Kantenan dress.
Had she already started drinking too much of the water here? She sounded like she was fully dedicated to this mess.
Adryel raised her eyebrow. “Your funeral, then.” She was getting out of here as soon as she could. Regardless if the Kantenans were supposedly going to protect them.
“Maybe you just need to meet some Kantenans. See that they're not all bad.”
She shifted in her chair, tucking a leg beneath her. “This from the female who thought she had no chance at meeting anyone, so she ignored all the lessons?”
“Yet here I am. I don't know how it happened, but it was different. There was this energy between us. I can't explain it beyond that. It doesn't make sense.”
“And here you are.” Adryel shook her head. “Under the circumstances, you shouldn't have to honor anything made in duress.”
“But I wasn't. Not at first.”
“You almost rolled off the platform, I saw it!” And she did. Terrifying to say the least.
In between that and the panic that had ensued around her, it was a chaos that she didn't want to ever be in again.
“That was after. This is now, and I won't go back on my promise.”
“Evidently not. You're already dressed like them.” Adryel said, her opinion plain in her tone.
“If I had my own things, it might be different. Instead, I had to wear what was available.” Janae looked down at her dress. “It's a Kantenan style. It has armor in it. Here, hit me.” She gestured to her side.
“I'm not going to hit you.”
“There's armor in it.”
“Janae.”
“Try it! It's really strong.”
“You are way too excited about this.”
“Do you know how many fights I was in, and what some armor like this, sewn into my clothes, would have done for me? It would have been world-changing.”
The words hit her hard. They both had it in common that they had been street vagrants before joining the program. But what had Janae gone through before she came that she would be this excited about body armor?
“Were you in that many fights?”
“I lived on the lower streets of Trinity Alpha Prime.”
Adryel flinched. The reputation of Trinity Alpha Prime's lower levels was well known as a rough area. The deeper one went, the more dangerous the environment became. If that’s where Janae had been staying, then Adryel doubted she had many peaceful days.
“Now ask me how many I won.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Very little. I wasn't strong. And I couldn't defend myself well.” She ran her hands over the dress and grinned. “This makes me feel strong.”
