Tunnels 03, Freefall

Highfield. It didn't really matter which of them this was, as they seemed to be indistinguishable.
    As he entered, Rebecca was sitting cross-legged on the dirt floor, her head hung low. She looked up as she heard him. Her hair -- which he'd never known to be anything but perfectly groomed -- was all over the place, and her face was daubed with filth. Will was actually quite alarmed by her disheveled state -- in all those years in Highfield, she'd never once let her standards slip.
    Back in the Colony they wore the Styx uniform of a black dress topped by a white collar, a uniform that gave them an aura of immense power and authority. As he regarded the sorry-looking specimen before him now in her torn Limiter fatigues, she didn't appear to be quite so powerful or commanding any more. Whichever Little Miss Perfect this was, she had fallen a long way.
    Cautiously, as if he was approaching a highly dangerous animal, he placed the plate on the ground before her, then stepped back.
    "Thank you, Will," she said meekly. "And thank you for what you did out there. You saved my life. I knew I could count on you."
    "Don't!" Will snapped, holding his hand up. "I don't want your gratitude."
    "Okay," Rebecca said quietly, poking at the food on the plate. "But I hope you believe me, Will. I was forced to do what my sister and the Styx told me. If I'd refused, they'd have tortured or executed me, or both. You've no idea what it's been like, living in fear for so long."
    "Oh, I don't know -- you and your people have given me a pretty good idea," Will said, his face expressionless.
    "It wasn't up to me, Will."
    "Leave it out!" he flared up, his face turning bright red as his temper snapped. "What? Do you expect me to just take your word for everything? I'm not that stupid!"
    "I was following orders," she said, quailing at his outburst. "You have to believe me, Will."
    "Oh, fine, let's just be brother and sister again. We can play happy bloody families, just like we used to," he snarled mockingly. "Say what you like, you're wasting your breath." As he spoke, vivid memories of their previous life in Highfield ran through his mind. Time after time, in the way that only a younger sibling can, Rebecca would needle him until he blew his top -- exactly what she wanted him to do. And now, as his heart beat rapidly and he breathed shallow breaths, it was as though nothing had changed, despite all the terrible events he'd been through since those days.
    Bartleby pranced in, his tail swishing. He made straight for Rebecca and sat himself smartly next to her. She scooped some of the dark meat from the plate and offered it to him. Will's anger gave way to surprise as the cat took it from her without any hesitation at all, as if he knew and trusted her. Rebecca noticed Will's frown.
    "I nursed him in the Colony," she explained. "Bartleby was in a real state when we brought him home." She gave the cat another handful of the meat, carelessly dripping the gravy over her ragged Limiter's jacket.
    How very un-Rebecca-like , Will thought to himself.
    Bartleby purred as he gulped down the food. "Cupboard love," Rebecca pronounced, peering up at Will.
    "I have some questions for you," he said. "And if I think you're lying to me, I'll turn you over to Chester and Martha. Got that?"
    She gave a single nod.
    "Are you really down here by yourself?"
    "Yes," she replied unequivocally.
    "So your sister's not with you? Or any other Styx?"
    "I'm totally alone," she confirmed.
    "And you fell down the Pore, same as we did?"
    "I was pushed down it," she said.
    Will wasn't certain, but he thought he saw her lower lip tremble, as if she might be about to cry, but then she helped herself to some food.
    "We have to find a way out of the Pore. Elliott's in a bad way -- she needs a doctor," he said.
    "I'm sorry to hear that," but I don't know how to get back," she answered immediately.
    "What about the Dr. Jaybo story?" Will shot at the girl. "Did he really climb out?"
    "Yes, he did, though nobody knew how he did it," she replied. "I was told Dad asked to see his drawings, but was refused permission."
    Will bristled. As far as he was concerned, she had forfeited any right to call Dr. Burrows her father. She sensed his annoyance, her whole body appearing to sag as if she was suddenly overcome by grief. "I miss him too, you know," she murmured. "I did my best to make sure he was left alone when he was in the Colony."
    "You saw him there?"
    "I wasn't allowed to. Oh, Will, I