Helona sat alone in her room aboard the Eridani space station, waiting for her turn to be questioned. The very polite Eridani Station Security force, after recovering from their surprise at finding humans aboard the Eridani Seed Ship and disarming them, had fed them and treated them very well. However, her door was still locked from the outside, with armed guards, and every minute she waited, she expected Dr. Thadfield to walk in with a mob of sentry robots to take her back to the lab.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” she said with a sniff, wiping away a tear. She clenched her fists, the only weapon or hope she had left, and backed up against the far wall.
