Arlieen sat alone in the corner as her friends discussed what was happening. They had decided to stowaway on the ship heading for a vacation planet, but she already could tell that something went wrong. She had woken up in a medical lab only three hours earlier, and when she left the room she found her other friends there waiting for her. The doors the out of this middle chamber were locked, but one of her friends was still not here.

She was rarely worried about Orin, because he had always been the most resourceful one, but he also had a tendency to create chaos around them. It was one of the things that had drawn the four of them to him. Those that didn’t know him always thought he was an untrustworthy scoundrel, but those were two assumptions that were wrong. The four of them had known him since the first year in college, and at that time they also thought he was another person that was beneath them.

 
Arlieen slowly brushed back the black hair from her eyes as she seemed to stare off in to nothingness. The thoughts kept her in an almost catatonic state, as even the sounds of her friends voices were downed out. It was her fault that they were in this position, because if she hadn’t gotten caught breaking in to a local criminals computer they wouldn’t be in this mess. She had sat there why Orin took the blame for it, but he was covering for her and her older brother.

 
Her attention came back to reality when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Madris’s comforting smile. Mavis had been her boyfriend since the second year, and they had been inseparable since. He had always been there for her, and seemed to always know what she was thinking.

“He will be alright.” Madris said comfortingly. “Cats have nine lives, but he seems to have a hundred.”

 
“I know.” Arlieen laughed painfully. “I just feel bad for getting you all in to this situation.”

 
“We will be all right.” Madris said with a chuckle. “I don’t know what is going on but I am sure we will soon find out. It is not worth worrying about till we do.”

 
“You know you’re starting to sound more like Orin.” Arlieen laughed.

 
“That is more like it.” Madris said reassuringly. “Now why don’t you come over and join us.  I am sure Rett and Yumi are trying to think of something to do to make you happy and to be honest that scares me more then the situation we are in.”

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