'What did you think you were doing?' Rachel said as she ushered Lisa back into her quarters on level 249 of Tower Two. The main room was cleaner than ever. No doubt the adjoining bunk rooms would be no different. Annie had too much time on her hands now that the laundry droids were taking care of all their clothing.
'You found her!' Annie said, rushing towards the door with a wide smile on her face. 'Where have you been, Lisa? I was worried sick about you.'
'I'm okay, Annie,' Lisa said. 'I've been on an Air Route! It was really exciting. I didn't know how to do it at first, but then whoosh! What a feeling.'
Annie wrinkled her nose, wrapping Lisa in her arms and squeezing her until her eyes went wide and she had to pull away so she could breath again.
'That's nice, dear,' Annie said. 'What is it?'
'She was talking to a dangerous prisoner,' Rachel said, 'over in Tower Four. I had to pull her out of there before she got herself hurt.'
'Oh, Lisa,' Annie said. 'You should be careful. Listen to your mother.'
'Riser isn't dangerous,' Lisa said, folding her arms.
Rachel walked into the middle of the room and looked her daughter straight in the eyes. 'Do you know what Trent did before you walked into his detention cell?'
Lisa frowned. 'Omeila was torturing him. It wasn't right.'
Annie looked from Lisa to Rachel and back again with a frown. 'Torture? Prisoners? I'm lost now.'
'He attacked General Markov,' Rachel said.
Lisa shook her head. 'Riser wouldn't do something like that.'
'He just did, Lisa. You don't know anything about him. Listen to me. General Markov is very sick. He may even die because of what Trent did to him. It's very dangerous - what you did. You should stay away from Omeila too.'
Lisa bit her lip.
'You need to stay here,' Rachel said. 'I'm not saying this to be nasty, or to spoil your fun. It's dangerous in the towers. You could get seriously hurt walking around out there. This isn't a playground. There are bad people out there, people who will stop at nothing to get what they want. They won't think twice about hurting someone who gets in their way.'
'But you go out there.'
'Lisa!'
'Okay,' Lisa said, looking every bit a glum teenager. 'But I didn't know anything about Riser doing those things.'
'Promise me you'll stay in this room.'
Lisa held her hands behind her back and gazed down at the floor with an odd expression. 'I promise I won't use the gemstone again,' she said.
Rachel nodded. 'I'm not letting you have it again. It's time you started acted according to your age, young lady.'
'What age are you?' Annie said, turning to Lisa with raised eyebrows.
Lisa laughed. 'I don't know!'