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“I hate that bitch. How could she do this to us?
    He’s my brother!”
    “I’m so sorry, honey,” Karin said.
    Calla leaned heavily against her, almost dizzy from shock. Jess was gone, and she might never see him again. She felt like vomiting.
    The rest of the day was more horrible than Calla could have imagined. All of them were upset, of course, but none had been as close to Jess as Calla. Each of her fellow slaves did their part to make Calla feel better. Karin saved a small tartlet from Jenner’s own dinner for her, and Hari slipped her a chit worth half a credit the girl had gotten somewhere. It wasn’t much, but even half a credit was a prize to a slave. Jenner herself betrayed no emotions when she swept into the kitchen for her evening inspection. Then again, why would she? Calla thought bitterly. In Jenner’s mind slaves weren’t fully human, a belief that was validated by her pilgrim religion.
    By evening, the first shock of Jess’ fate had worn off, and Calla was grateful for the comforting darkness of lights-out. She had been fighting off tears for the last several hours, and she couldn’t hold them back any longer. Beyond the kitchen were the hostel’s common rooms, mostly unused by their Saurellian guests, who preferred the atmosphere of the station’s drinking and pleasure facilities. Needing some space for herself, Calla crept silently along the hallway and into one of the rooms. She crawled onto a low couch where she curled into a miserable ball.
    She lay there, crying, for at least an hour before she came to a realization. She couldn’t stay at the hostel any longer. Life had become too horrible. The only family she had ever known was gone. She and Jess had been born the same day on the slave farm.
    They had spent their entire lives serving others, trapped by the knowledge that runaway slaves were hunted down and swiftly executed by the imperial troops if caught.
    But they weren’t in the Empire any more, the realization came to her suddenly, and their new overlords were busy securing their conquests. This might be the best chance to escape she would ever get. If she could find and free Jess, they could escape into the chaos of the new political system and live out their lives with none the wiser.
    Calla never seriously considered running away before, although Jess had been plotting escape for years. The obstacles were too high and the consequences were too terrible for Calla to try, and Jess would never go without her. But now that Jess was gone, she had very little left to lose. It was time for action.
    With a new sense of purpose, Calla got up and crept back into the common sleeping room. The hostel had been her home for more than ten years, and she knew every nook and cranny of it. Now was the time to put that knowledge to good use, before she lost her nerve. Quietly gathering what few possessions she had, Calla placed them in a small rucksack and made her way to the storeroom. It was locked, of course. Jenner doled out supplies carefully, accounting for every credit’s worth.
    What Jenner didn’t know was that Calla and Jess had managed to break the door’s code years ago, programming in their own palm prints. As high-spirited teen-agers, they’d used the storeroom as a location for late-night feasts and planning pranks. As adults, she suspected Jess used the room to meet with his women; he was careful to keep that side of himself from her, but she’d heard rumors about his activities from the other slaves.
    It was during one of their childhood feasts that they’d discovered Jenner’s little secret–a trap door that let out into one of the station’s ventilation tubes. At the time, they figured that Jenner’s paranoia had finally gotten the best of her. After all, pilgrims were notorious for their survivalist tendencies, so it wasn’t that strange that Jenner had a secret way to leave the hostel. Now it would give Calla a way to escape without any of the guards seeing her.