The S.S Delinquent

Chapter 7 & 8

Chapter Seven

   Tatts was not at all impressed with her first and only ever trip outside of the confines of the Orphanage walls. She didn't know exactly what she had been expecting on finally getting to see what was on the other side of the door, but it certainly wasn't this.

   Yet more dull, grey, metal panels everywhere with electrical wires, pipes and air filtering vents decorating the walls. The long and winding corridors were dimly lit flickering lights, the metal flooring squeaked and groaned under their weight.

   It was nowhere near as luxurious as she had imagined it to be from listening to other inmates complain about what they were missing most. Tatts had thought the Orphanage was the lowest of the low living conditions, but it appeared the rest of the ship was pretty much the same conditions.

   The space station was like a complicated maze, there was no way she would ever be able to remember her way around to make an escape. Everywhere looked identical to her with no distinguishing features anywhere. Every metal sliding door was the same as the next one and appeared to need fingerprint scanning to even unlock them.

   The Orphanage seemed to be well out of the way from the rest of the deck, as if out of sight and out of mind. Of course it was a pretty noisy place a lot of the time, nobody was going to want their personal quarters right next door to a bunch of constantly screaming, troubled kids.

   Tatts wished that the cadets would put her down so that she could walk her first steps outside of the Orphanage, instead of being carried like a naughty child. They weren't taking any chances with her as they must have heard of her reputation. They walked at a brisk pace with no time for stopping off and sight seeing.

   She looked around in amazement as she saw people other than kitchen workers and guards for the first time in her life. They were all sorts of different aliens species that she had never seen before in the Orphanage. People and aliens alike were all wearing the same grey jumpsuits to show that they were civilians workers.

   It seemed silly really, as everyone already must have known that they were civilian workers. Just as she was clearly an inmate of the Orphanage in her bright orange nightdress. She figured that it was probably for The Authority benefits, so they could remind everyone lower down the pecking order that they lorded over them all.

   Tatts had no idea where they were going, but they finally stopped outside yet another unremarkable door. One of the cadets pressed a finger to the scanner to open the metal sliding door, which immediately granted him access. They then dragged their reluctant and unwilling prisoner inside.

   There was a large desk with all sorts of very important looking buttons and hologram screens all over it. The floor was even carpeted and there was a comfy looking, reclining swivel chair. Several, large impressive pot plants were dotted around the place in an attempt to make the environment look more natural.

   Tatts didn't care about that sort of stuff, she was busy staring out of the large window that was as big as one of the entire walls. It was her first glimpse of outer space and it was beautifully breathtaking and the colours were mind blowing. the pictures in her old digital school books had never done it justice.

   There were so many twinkling stars as far as her eyes could see, more than she could have ever possibly imagined. Several larger stars she presumed must be planets, but had no idea what they were called or if they were habitable.

   "Wow...." Tatts whispered with the biggest smile on her face. All of the fight, anger and despair was slowly flowing out of her for a moment.

   The cadets finally released their vice like grips on her arms, depositing her back on the ground again now that the sliding door was locked behind them. Tatts was so distracted by the pretty view in front of her that she had completely forgotten about trying to make a break for it.