Isabelle!
Lucas!
I got banished.
What...?
The guard behind Isabelle gives her a stern look, the one in front of her
turns around:
No chit-chat, move along.
Isabelle takes a moment to understand the implication of what Lucas had
said.
...ohhhhh. Congrats!
The guards grab her by the arms and drag her away.
Move.
They bring her to a room adjacent to the main court room where a bunch
of important-looking people in suits are waiting for her. They introduce
themselves and they all, including herself, sit down around a somewhat
large table. One of the suits takes the word:
Does that work in English?
Before you go to trial, we have something
to discuss with you. You are being accused of breaking and entering,
robbery, interfering with law enforcement, compromising operationally
critical systems, and conspiracy of terrorism. Some of these charges
alone will land you in prison for a long time – unless you take
this deal...
He grabs few sheets of paper from his bag
Aktentasche? and slides them over.
Basically admit to everything you're
accused of and you will be banished instead of going to prison.
She absentmindedly acknowledges what he said as she is already reading
the first page.
After reading it, she says: There's
a bunch of things in here that aren't true.
Take it or leave it.
What are you getting out of this?
We don't want troublemakers like you
here – nor do we want controversy.
What will happen if I sign this?
You will be removed from Sunside Cove.
And in practical terms?
Another one of the suits answers:
There is an ongoing power outage to parts
of the city. We will have to send a group of people
delegation? outside to fix it.
You will join them and not return.
She looks back at the pages.
Okaay.
The other pages are some half filled-out forms. She is given a pen and
told to fill in the rest.
Note: It was always intended that at least some of the rebels who got caught will be released to the outside. However, before starting this chapter, I have never actually considered what this means for the rest of the story. The following chapters weren't originally written with this in mind and may need to be revised to take it into account.
Copyright © 2023-2025 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.