AN: I’m so sorry it took this long to post! School work has gotten insane. Here’s chapter 2: If you want more, comment on it! Those drive me forward! This is more of a filler, really.

Simon woke up, and this time felt himself lying on a medcot bed. It wasn’t the nicest he’d ever seen, to say the least, but at least it was more comfortable than the cement floor that he found himself on last time. The room was less dingy than the room he had been kept in, but certainly not hospital standards. Just by looking down at his medcot, he could notice about a dozen infractions that this would make for the standard medical health code.

As he was looking around this desperate, bleak remnant of a “medbay”, another person who appeared to be the doctor entered. Upon closer inspection, Simon could recognize the man. “Wait a minute,” Simon said, looking closely at the doctor. “You’re… John Sirii? You were one of the interns at the hospital on Osiris when I worked there, when I left.”

John gave a weak smile. Though he was younger than Simon, it seemed as John had aged quickly here. “That’s right, doctor Tam.” He said, giving Simon a shot of an antibiotic. “You were the only one who treated me like a human. It’s hard, being in that hospital.”

“Is that why you’re here? ‘Cause you seemed so kind! You never goofed off on your shift, and you were never the criminal sort!”

John shook his head, and looked sad. “No, I’m sadly here for the same reason you are. I was arrested.”

Simon couldn’t believe this. Why would John, of all people, be in this place? Simon had noticed his disappearance a few weeks before, but he couldn’t question it because he was too preoccupied with River.

River.

The name sunk into his heart as guilt washed over him. What would they be doing to her right now? Was she being tortured? He had to save her!

Simon quickly sat up, and tried to get off the cot. John held him there.

“What are you doing?” the prison’s doctor shouted, trying to keep Simon on the chair. “Are you insane?”

“Pretty much.” Simon replied, still struggling. “Too much exertion too early on after the damage you suffered could potentially make it much, much worse. You don’t want to kill yourself doing that!”

Simon lay back down on the cot, frowning. “I have to save my sister. I need to. I don’t know…. what they’re doing to her there. On that heap I left her on. I have to save her.”

John’s composure flew out the window as he was restraining Simon. “You can’t do that in your state! You’ll just get caught, and that won’t help you or your sister! Another beating like the one you got earlier could kill you!”

At that alarming fact, Simon relaxed, not without glaring at John.

At that point, a guard entered the medbay, holding some high-tech weapon that Simon assumed wasn’t meant for decoration. Not much was in this place.

“Come with me Simon Tam,” the guard ordered in a low, scratchy, monotonous voice. He held the weapon up, and the look on his face suggested that he was thinking about using it. Then again, he didn’t look to think about much of anything.

Simon, not seeing any other choice, followed the guard. 7777777777777777777777

The guard stopped at one unmarked door down a long corridor that had many doors. How he chose this particular door, Simon didn’t know. The guard knocked on the door. “Sir, the prisoner is here.”

After a few long seconds of waiting, the door opened. On the other side was another guard in the same uniform. This new guard looked at them both, making sure they were both supposed to be here. Then he stepped out of the way and in the back of the room sat Punio Malegere. “Ah yes. Simon Tam. Ready to be punished?”

The cold voice of the man sent a chill up Simon’s spine. Simon, being pushed by the guard who brought him there, walked slowly into the room. The room was dark, and the air seemed to be colder than the other rooms. Except the cell. God, was he glad to be out of there.

Punio touched an electronic pad on his desk. “Let’s see…oh yes. You’re being put on the cruiser Magellan. They need a competent doctor, and you’re one of the best out there. It mostly patrols border and outer-rim planets, and is a beacon of civilization to all of the savages out there. Now go.” He signed a signature on the electronic pad, and sat back. The guard dragged Simon out of the room, and took him to another door.

This door was actually home to a few prison shuttles. The guard snapped an electronic tracking bracelet on him, and waved a little device at him. “This is the receiver. If you are more than 2 miles from this, the little bracelet will blow up.”

The guard shoved him into a shuttle, handed him some papers, and locked the door. A driver entered, and started to drive. Simon was scared, but wasn’t really too worried. Since he couldn’t get River, he had very little meaning to live but to try again.