<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4040FF"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;">Alice Green</span><br/><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;">'The Huntress'</span></span></div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4040FF">"It's a different kind of cage, Peter."</span> Alice took a deep breath. There was a lot she had to say. A lot of cages people had tried to shove her into. Family, school, work, even people who were supposed to be companions wanted to shove her in some sort of cage. Work with miners, study hard, become someone, marry, have babies. They were all invisible cages, and escaping each one of them had been hard work. It wasn't as hard as what Peter would see if he was caught, of course. But it was in a way worse, because there was no alternative. Nothing she had done had caused those cages, except, of course, being born. But that wasn't something she could have chosen not to do. He could.<br/><br/>Alice stayed silent until Peter finished talking. She didn't want to interrupt him, and she had to admit there was a fascinating quality to Peter. An intense personal magnetism that could have taken him far.<br/><br/><span style="color: #4040FF">"You are an honest man, Peter. And I'm not talking about your life style. I'm talking about the man you are inside. You know that if you get caught and thrown at a prison planet, you will be there for what you did."</span><br/><br/>Alice spoke firmly, with a sort of barely contained passion.<br/><br/><span style="color: #4040FF">"I know you don't agree with the system. Don't think I love every part of it, Peter. But you know what your choices are when you walk into this game. You know you are breaking the law. I am in charge of enforcing it. It doesn't really matter what I think about it. I may think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, or I may think it's as stupid as running around in circles. But it is what it is. So don't think you'll get me to feel sorry for you. But I know you don't want me to. You're not that kind of man."</span><br/><br/>Alice paused and sipped her wine before going on.<br/><br/><span style="color: #4040FF">"When I said I don't want anyone but you, it is because I understand these people. I know they don't have a choice. You do. You did when you started, and you do now. They don't. That is why I'm not interested in dragging anyone else to jail. Because if it wasn't you, it would be someone else. Only the guys selling have some real choice. The guys buying don't. Don't think for a second I don't know what it's like. I was born in the middle of all this, Peter. I have seen the horrors you see here. And I have seen what happens when these guys finally go home. It's not pretty. They howl in despair because they can't get the drugs anymore. The ones who don't kill themselves become empty shells of the men they were. And those are the lucky ones who survive."</span><br/><br/>Alice stopped for a deep breath. <span style="color: #4040FF">"Don't talk to me like I'm some rich kid who has never seen misery, Peter. I have seen it, I have sat on the table with it, I have grown up with it. And I still don't think you are doing what's right. But I want to see your studies. I want to see your facts, because you are inside. I'm outside, and I don't have as much access to them as you do. But I can't agree with what you do as long as I can remember my brother."</span><br/><br/>Alice stopped talking and closed her eyes, images of her brother's disfigured body fresh as always in her mind. She took a deep breath and shook her head.<br/><br/><span style="color: #4040FF">"I'm never taking any drugs, Peter. I don't care if it will kill me. I won't."</span></div>