Free Colony One by E. M. Peters Page A

She took a seat across from him, fixing him with her vacant stare.
    “Good news, Jia.” He started. “While you’ve been away, Colony One was successfully completed. The launch is set to take place in two months.”
    Jia simply continued to stare at him with hollow eyes, not registering a reaction one way or the other.
    “They wanted me to tell you because they think you will receive this offer better from me.” He explained. “The offer is this; you may be released immediately.”
    Jia’s shoulders stiffened as she was snapped back to reality with his words. Despite his betrayal, she didn’t think Ts’ai had it in him to lie to her in such a profound way, so she felt the first wisps of hope begin to fill her.
    “For two months you will be free to settle up your affairs – because you have a one way ticket on Colony One.”
    “I… They want me to join that suicide mission?” The words spilled out of her mouth as the hope she began to feel was suddenly stamped out.
    Ts’ai shook his head, “Only you think that, Jia. The mission will be a success. They are giving you an opportunity to be a part of it. A chance to start over.”
    “Who are THEY?” Jia’s voice rose. In all her time in captivity, she had never been told who was demanding answers from her.
    “Do you accept or not?” Ts’ai ignored her question.
    She closed her eyes and took in a shaky, defeated breath, “What choice do I have?”
    “It seems simple to me,” he emphasized. “You can choose to stay here,” he gestured to their surroundings, “For the rest of your days, or you can join the mission.”
    “Aren’t they afraid I am going to leak their secrets?” Jia asked, feeling like she had very little to lose in that moment.
    Ts’ai shook his head, “No, they have made it very clear they will kill you and anyone you tell if that is the case. They will not jeopardize the success of something like this because one person has it in her head that it will not succeed. And, as you know, their response time is impeccable.”
    Jia felt a lump develop in her throat. She ran her thumb over the bio-stamp in her arm. She could try to find someone to mask her stamp long enough to get to the media. But who in the media was not owned by World Corp? With the two impossible choice laid out in front of her, she was finding that her survival instincts were still alive and well.
    “You should have listened to me in the beginning, Jia.” Ts’ai said, his voice expressing a tinge of remorse and sympathy. “If you play along, at least you’ll get to see your family before it’s all over.”
    He was baiting her to tell him what he knew. She almost took it. She reminded herself to stay strong – especially now that she might be tethered to the very mission she wanted to avoid and prevent.
    Jia put her face in her hands at the thought of trying to explain to her mother and father why she was choosing to leave Earth when she had a perfectly good life made for herself already. The thought stirred something inside of her, “What have my parents been told?” In the beginning, she had held out hope that they would find out what had happened to her. That they would protest or call out to the media. But after so long, it was evident that was not going to be the case.
    “As far as they know, you’re on a research trip to New America. You’ve been writing them regularly.”
    Jia’s mouth went slack. With the confession, she realized that these people had enough power and influence to forge her bio-stamp signature. All of a sudden, the dominos fell at light speed in her mind, causing a chain reaction. There was no question in her mind at that point; that she was being held in a corporate prison by World Corp. There was no other alternative explanation. She had worked at a Confederation research lab long enough to know that they did not have the capability to do what had been done to her. No, only World Corp had the resources, and the ability to manipulate