The echoes of her pain were quickly swallowed in the darkness around her. Time had no meaning to her anymore. Only the nothing punctuated by periods of the torturous electrical fire they seared through her body, and the endless droning of questions.

After the man left the first time, Jolynn had taken the time to explore around her. She already knew she had not been struck blind because she had seen him. She was suspended in mid-air, with some sort of anti-gravity device but she wasn’t free floating since she couldn’t actually move. She surmised that it must have been some kind of stasis field instead. There was nothing around her to touch, except for herself. The air was completely devoid of any moisture or humidity and remained the exact same temperature around her. She felt absolutely no drafts, or even the slightest change especially since every nerve ending in her body screamed out for feedback. She only heard herself speak because of the vibrations in her skull, but otherwise there was no sound to hear. She was experiencing sensory deprivation.

Jolynn had done some research into torture, after being rescued by Jennifer from the Omni-Pol prison so long ago. Their techniques were a lot more brutish, with two of the OP officers playing the “good” cop, while 4 others played “bad” cop and physically abused her. Her crime: she had accidentally healed Jennifer, during a practice session while learning how to control the nano-bots her body was filled with while Jennifer ran through Omni-1, being chased and hunted down by Omni-Pol, of course.

She had been glad that Omni-Pol had not utilized any of the torture devices she had read about from Old Earth. That rack and being stretched until your joints popped out did not sound too appealing. Old Earth was actually very brutal, and at times while reading the history she was amazed that humanity had ever survived itself. She hadn’t become an expert on torture, but had simply wanted to have a better understanding. Jolynn didn’t know a lot about sensory deprivation but knew that it would eventually drive the subject insane and completely remove all traces of personality, leaving behind nothing but memories and information with a shell able to freely answer. She had read about one person able to survive the ordeal for 5 weeks, but the report was sketchy and only partly mentioned they had channeled their energy inward.

‘Inward. Okay, so that person must have tried to shut off all their senses and not worried about what they couldn’t feel. What can I do? What do I think about?’ Jolynn thought to herself. Her crying had stopped a couple hours before as she had worked through the fear that had gripped her. She had gone through a range of emotions, each one heightened by only being felt within her body. At least she was able to touch herself, which did provide some sensation but since she couldn’t sit up to get down any lower it wasn’t going to be much help and she didn’t dare move too much in case she was being constantly monitored. Jolynn broke out into a big smile, which she hoped confused her captors. ‘Yeah, figure that one out fecktards. I’m smiling as you’re torturing me.’

Her thoughts turned toward the one most important thing that she had in her life: Perin. She completely rejected the idea that all of her friends were dead. There was no way they could have gotten both her and Jennifer. None. ‘No, they are all still alive and well. It’s a common psychological trick: Break the subject by attempting to remove all hope from them. They are all alive and well,’ she thought to herself. ‘Especially Perin.’

Her smile remained as her mind turned to the first time she had approached Perin.

It had been a cool evening, and her stomach fluttered with utter nervousness. She stood on the roof of Reet’s Retreat, waiting for Perin to arrive. She had already sent her a private comm, asking for her to come out here. She glanced at the sky and for some reason the stars seemed unusually bright, and twinkly. It was almost as if they were speaking directly to her, telling her everything was going to be alright and this was the path she was supposed to walk.

She heard the whine of a Yalmaha engine behind her and knew that Perin was approaching. She smoothed the front of her dress, and waited for Perin to step out. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath, until Perin had stopped directly in front of her. Jolynn tried to keep her composure, as she gulped air. Instead she hid her nervousness behind a bright smile.

“Hi Perin. You look lovely tonight,” Jolynn complimented, “I really like that dress on you.”

Perin blushed a little bit, and looked down at the front of her dress, “Thank you, Jolynn. You are looking ravishing yourself.”

Long moments passed as Jolynn searched for the words she wanted to say. ‘Taiseiten had better be right about this, or I’m going to be both embarrassed and angry’ she thought. They stared at each other as the silence grew uneasy between them. Perin coughed once and looked at the sky.

“So, how did you know this was one of my favorite places? Who told you?” Perin asked.

“Well, no one really told me. It was just a suggestion a mutual friend made considering what I had been talking about with them,” Jolynn replied.

“Oh? Which one? Tai? Elli? Jeni?” Perin inquired.

“I’m not saying,” Jolynn retorted, putting her hands on her hips. “I asked you out here because I wanted to, and how I found out is my business.” Jolynn made a face at Perin which caused her to laugh. Jolynn laughed with her and her nervousness melted away. ‘It’s now or never, Jolynn. All she can say is no and reject you. That’s not such a bad thing to face is it?’ she thought, but she knew the answer was yes, it would be a hard thing for her to face rejection.

“Well fine! You just keep your little secrets, and I’ll have mine,” Perin stated with a smile.

Jolynn returned Perin’s smile warmly, and moved over towards the edge of the roof. She sat down and dangled her feet over the side and patted the spot next to her, inviting Perin to sit down next to her. Perin took the offered seat, and folded her hands in her lap while crossing her ankles. The absolute beauty of the picture took Jolynn’s breath away.

“Well… I did have a reason for asking you out here. Alone,” Jolynn started. “I have no idea what the future has in store for me. Or for you for that matter.” She paused a moment as she searched for the words, “But I do know that I do feel an attraction for you, and that somehow the attraction is mutual.”

Perin nodded as an answer to the unspoken question Jolynn posed. She kept her glasses pushed firmly to the top of her nose, and the warm smile sat beautifully on her lips.

“Umm… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d definitely like the opportunity to have us get to know each other better,” Jolynn continued. She had to gulp a few times and she realized her mouth was very dry and forming words was starting to get difficult. “Maybe we could even… I don’t know… I guess date some, and see where,” Jolynn hesitantly offered, “if anywhere, this attraction could lead.”

Perin never changed her position, her smile never left her face and her eyes never left Jolynn’s as she nodded only one time and she answered, “Yes. I would like that. I would like to get to know you better.”

Jolynn visibly deflated, and felt herself become unbalanced. If it hadn’t been for Perin’s hand softly on her shoulder, she would have tumbled headfirst off the Reet’s Retreat roof. She reached up and placed her own hand on top of Perin’s…

Her thoughts were broken by the pain shooting through her entire body. Jolynn screamed shamelessly, and didn’t hear a single one of them. The light didn’t turn on, but she heard his voice from very close to her left side.

“Good morning, sunshine. Time for you to start answering our questions.”