“Hi, I’m Dr. Khorana”, the woman introduced herself.

She was a short woman – stocky like a planetsider, with long black hair tied back in a tight bun, warm brown skin, and an anxious smile on her rather round face. Dr. Khorana seemed pretty young-looking for a doctor, perhaps mid-twenties at latest.

She grabbed a chair and sat across from the cell door – looking a little nervous but the way she looked at him was focused, studying him. Sirius sat up a bit straighter in response to the probing gaze and hugged his knees to his chest. It made him feel safer.

Orion had disappeared from sight when the woman came in, but he could feel the alien consciousness flitting about in the back of his head – it made him slightly nauseous if he paid too much attention to it. Occupying two minds will do that to you, a voice that Sirius recognized as Orion’s commented, just try to tune it out – you’ll get used to it eventually, it’s not comfortable for me, either.

Sirius watched her and waited for her to explain what she wanted from him. He’d learned it was best not to volunteer too much information to people he didn’t know, and she was some sort of scientist. A doctor, even – of what, he didn’t know. Maybe she was a part of what had got him sent here, somehow tracked him down and was going to finish the job. She didn’t look evil, but then again, he wouldn’t even be here if you could visually identify evil.

She’s not one of Them, Orion commented, I’d recognize her.

Sirius nodded, only realizing he’d done it physically when Dr. Khorana looked at him curiously.

After a short stare, she continued, “What’s your name?”

“Sirius”, he told her. It wouldn’t hurt to give his name. Sure, it was less common than ‘Ivan’, but the odds of them deciding which ‘Sirius’ he was were comfortably low.

Sirius noticed that Dr. Khorana kept smiling anxiously and she often looked towards the door of the holding cell block. She’s not supposed to be here, he guessed. Most prison doctors, in his experience, were too overworked to give a shit about bedside manner and tended not to scare easy and Dr. Khorana looked almost terrified to be caught here.

“Hm. Sirius”, she seemed to turn it over in her head, “do you have a last name?”

“No”, he said. Her expression shifted, disappointment probably, but it was soon replaced by that anxious smile again. It wasn’t helping him feel any less anxious.

“What were you doing there?” she asked. There? Which there? Sirius shot her a questioning look and, noting his confusion, she clarified, “At the Henge?”

“What’s the Henge?”, Sirius asked though he guessed it might have meant down in the caverns. Maybe he could bore her or waste her time with dumb questions. He was good at dumb questions.

“The place we found you – you know with the monoliths and the lake?” She explained.

The Relay Gate, Orion added.

For once, Sirius didn’t have a ready lie available. The truth was out of the question, but he had no idea what he could sell this person otherwise. He had hoped to have more time to observe his surroundings and come up with something. But if this was what Earth looked like now, Sirius was smart enough to know that he definitely had none of the context needed to lie believably if everything else had changed half as much. And that damn Doctor looked like she wouldn’t leave without an answer. And worse, she seemed too smart for non-answers, so what could he tell her? He decided to go with a blend of truth and fiction.

“I don’t know, I just woke up there. I don’t remember what happened”, he said as casually as he could manage.

“So, you don’t remember anything? Or you don’t remember how you got here?” The woman didn’t look like she’d bought it, “You didn’t have an EVA suit or a respirator – getting all the way down there without them would’ve been almost impossible… Where do you remember being last?” Dr. Khorana asked.

She’s asking too many questions, Orion said, we need to find a way to get rid of her. She might not be one of the bad guys, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be an obstacle.

“Obviously, but how?” Sirius said aloud before he could stop himself. Damn, it was hard to adjust to his new guest.

“What do you mean by that, Sirius?”, Dr. Khorana asked. This lady was way too curious. She was studying him again, and he wondered briefly what it was that she saw when she looked at him. He felt like some sort of specimen under a magnifying glass. Again, with the staring, it was putting him on edge, he needed to break this tension.

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Sirius stood up and his knees popped noisily under the heavy gravity. He began to assess the cell door. He hadn’t heard of the door manufacturer before, but manufacturing contracts were like hot potatoes – always being passed around, and the design looked familiar enough. It was made of some sort of composite, some clear and some painted to look like metal and the door lock was intentionally large. All the hallmarks of a cheaply manufactured cell door that was supposed to look intimidating for the infrequently jailed.

He may not have seen the exact configuration of this door, but Sirius had a good guess as to how it was supposed to work. Subconsciously, he put his hands in his pockets while he considered the problem and in one of his pockets, he felt something cold and smooth.

It was the sliver of metal he and Dima had used to crack open the medical room, a long time ago. Just touching it sent goosebumps down his neck and he felt a catch in his breath as he remembered… Sirius frowned and shook his head, now was not the time to lose focus. With the metal piece acting as a lever, he could pop the lock’s casing quickly, just needed to distract her.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Dr. Khorana prompted and Sirius remembered she had asked him something.

“Yeah, I heard you”, Sirius responded, “Hey, who’s that?!” he said turning and pointing down the hall.

Dr. Khorana turned in panic, “What?! Where?” She walked down the hall cautiously.

Sirius took this opportunity to pry the lock’s casing open using the metal piece. It took a few noisy yanks, but it came off relatively easily. Inside was the lock mechanism and there was the solution. The bolt was held in place by a few flimsy plastic pieces which he bent until they allowed enough play on the bolt for him to slide it back, which it did with an audible click and the door opened slightly. Bingo.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” the scientist asked, she had returned from checking on his false alarm and seeing the door open stopped her short. She seemed a lot more anxious now that there wasn’t a glass panel between them.

“Getting the hell out of here, the fuck’s it look like?” Sirius replied. He stepped out of the cell and Dr. Khorana stepped in front of him.

“You didn’t answer my questions! The Henge reacted to you and I want to know why!”

“You’re a real scientist, huh?” Sirius asked her, “I’m busting outta here and you’re more concerned about answering your questions than your safety. Do the smart thing, get out of my way, or I’ll make you get out of it”, he drew nearer to her using his height as an intimidation tactic – he was nearly a full head or so taller than her. He brandished the metal piece. Not the best weapon, but the edge had been sharpened while he was using it to scrape drawings into his previous cells wall. He was getting really damn tired of people trying to keep him locked up.

The cell block door opened and the man who had tazed him came in with another man draped over his shoulder who was clearly passed out.

“Murphy, help! He’s escaping – I don’t know how but he broke the door!”, Dr. Khorana yelled to him and Murphy dropped his charge, utterly surprised at the situation he had walked into. His surprise didn’t last long.

Time for more drastic action, Orion said, I’m sure you know what to do.

“Change of plans, doc”, Sirius said and grabbed her before she could bolt to safety, placing his makeshift shiv at her throat, “Shame, you seemed nice”.

“Th-thanks?” she stammered out.

“Okay, Marv – Murtry - Mark, this is how it’s going to be!” he shouted down the corridor.

“It’s Murphy!”, the man shouted indignantly, “And you don’t get to tell me how things are going to be!” He pulled his weapon, a real gun this time, “Let the Doctor go and get back in the cell! I will shoot!”

“It’s her life, Mikhail!” Sirius shouted at him – he really didn’t give a shit what the man called himself, “One wrong move and I’ll kill her right now!” His hostage was surprisingly calm for someone being held at both shiv-point and gun-point.

“You don’t have to do this”, she whispered.

“That’s all up to what he does next, it’s nothing personal doc”, Sirius said. Then he shouted to Murphy, “You want her back alive; you listen very carefully what I say next, understand Margaret?” Now he was kind of having fun watching how angry the man got every time he messed up his name.

“Again, it’s fucking Murphy, fuck you”, Murphy swore, “What the fuck do you want?”

Don’t forget, we need to get to that Relay Gate, Orion reminded him. There were way too many people in this equation who just were not reacting properly. Fine, Sirius thought at Orion, hoping the alien could feel his resentment.

“Ok, Fuckingmurphy, I’ll need your firearm, then I need two respirators- “

“Two respirators?” Murphy asked, “Why the fuck do you need two respirators?”

“Yeah, the doc’s coming with me as insurance. I have some business down at the Henge and I gotta make sure you don’t do anything stupid to the both of us while we’re down there. After I’m done, I’ll let her go and you’ll never see me again, understood?”

Murphy looked sour but he complied, “Understood”, he turned to leave.

“Wait a minute there, Marie”, Sirius commanded.

“What is it?” Murphy hissed.

“Your gun”, Sirius reminded, “You’re not leaving with it”.

“Oh, come on, is this really necessary?” Murphy pushed back, testing his boundaries.

“Then remember that what happens to the doc ain’t my fault then”. Sirius snapped. He could feel the seconds drag by, at any point someone else could walk into the door and shit would get complicated.

Murphy sighed loudly with irritation and ever so slowly handed the gun over, his fingers lingering on it before releasing it. He flicked his fingers as if he was disgusted with himself and Sirius too.

Sirius took the gun, weighed it in his hand, feeling the all-too-familiar and terrible weight of it. He nodded at Murphy, “Best get moving”, he said, waving the man on.

Murphy turned to leave, and Sirius suddenly remembered another thing he wanted.

“Hey, Mike”, Sirius called out.

Murphy stopped in his tracks and Sirius could see his hands clench into fists. Sirius waited to see if the man would respond, but instead a very tense silence followed.

“I want a bottle of water too”, Sirius said, “Oh, and one for the doc too”.