Chapter 10

“Well, Jenn” Matt said. “Would you mind telling me how a beautiful, intelligent girl like you ended up stumbling on Rome and all its complex eccentricities?”
“I kinda would. I don’t think you’d believe me and I’d end up sounding either crazy or stupid.”
“Try me.”
“Let’s just say I have an unprecedented ability for stumbling on things unexpectedly.”
Just then an officer in a yellow uniform walked in. “Matt your lawyer is here to see you.”
“Got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Matt got up out of the cell and followed the officer, who was presumably taking him to see his lawyer.
Jenn sat there trying to figure out what kind of cruel world she had stumbled on. It didn’t make any sense. The man on the stump didn’t wear orange, yellow, green, or purple. Maybe he was an outcast of some sort, like CEWL. Or maybe he lived somewhere where those rules didn’t apply, or maybe...
Before Jenn had a chance to finish that train of thought, another officer appeared. She noticed he was carrying a lot of official looking papers. “Lunchtime,” he announced.
“What are all those papers?” Jenn asked.
He looked at her quizzically. ”Those are your lunch forms. You have to fill them out before you can eat. There would be more forms, but your not registered, so all we need you to do is sign a few release forms, a form to receive an assigned lunch seat, a meal request form, and diet request form.”
Jenn was little stunned, but she followed the orange officer to a small room with a desk but no chair where she was asked to sit down in the seat at the desk and begin filling out the forms. After a few unsuccessful attempts she squatted and went to work. About 30 minutes later she was finished. The officer came and took them from her. “I’m afraid your late. Your lunch shift already started. Your going to have to fill out this request for change of lunch shift form.” he said as he handed her another form.
Fortunately that form only took a few minutes, and he led her to a mess hall where inmates were being divided into groups and seated at tables. An officer in green walked up to her. “Designation please.”
Jenn was startled, ”What?”
“Designation please.”
“oh, 1017a -1739.”
“Yes, I have your approved papers right here."
She stepped into the cafeteria, and another officer in a purple uniform approached her. “May I see your table assignment please?”
Jenn looked through the forms she had received on her way in and found the form he was looking for.
“Uh, yes C-3. Third table on your right, seat closest to the window.”
Jenn sat down at a table full of people with orange shirts. There were three men and a woman. The woman was in her mid-forties, one of the men was much older and the other two men were Jenn’s age.
Jenn turned to the man on her right, “Nice place, huh?”
An officer walked up to her and sternly reprimanded her. “Inmates are not allowed to engage in conversation during meal shifts.”
Jenn sank slowly in her seat. “How am I supposed to know what to do?” she thought.
The woman across from her smiled as if reading her mind. “Just follow me,” she mouthed. Jenn was relieved. Momentarily the entire table stood up and got in line single file. Jenn made sure she was behind the woman. As they went through the line they were further sorted by dietary plan. Each person was given a generic meal consisting of some sort of protein, drink, and side dish. Once herded through the line they sat in their assigned seats.
They ate quickly and silently. Jenn barely had enough time to chew the bland tasteless food products on her tray. When an officer walked up to her table and annouced, "Dismissed." At this the entire table stood up and walked to a line of wash basins and trash cans. They scraped their plates off and then stacked them in the soapy water.
Once they were finished they returned to their cells. As Jenn walked down the corridor, she felt overwhelmed. What had she done to deserve such treatment? Where had she gone wrong? Jenn sank into her mattress and stared at her pillow trying to figure it out. She didn't have any answers, just questions. Hopefully Matt would be able to help her get out of here and find her friends.

She looked up and saw that Matt was already in the cell. “You said you thought your lawyer could help me?”
“I talked to him this morning about you. He said that he could probably get you out in a couple of weeks if you're lucky.”
“A couple of weeks!” she was taken aback. How long have you been in here?”
“I’ve been here almost two years now, and I’ll be in here until the revolution is over.”
“For not registering?”
“Well, this is my 7th or 8th offense. If I registered I could get out of here in a few months. So, you see, a few weeks isn’t really all that long.”
Jenn thought this over. There had to be some other way. She couldn’t bare the thought of being stuck on this strange planet in a lonely jail cell for such a long time. By the time she got out of here her friends would
be long gone. She might never find them again. She would be all alone on this planet. Far away from the people she knew. All because she wanted a little adventure. It was late and she had missed dinner. There was no sense fretting about it all night. Jenn sank into her pillow, praying that this was all a dream, and when she woke up she would be safe at home.