Chapter 39: Rescue Operation (7)
Rescue Operation (7)
After securing all the personnel information from the offshore prison, it was time for discussions and aligning opinions.
About 60 women gathered in the auditorium, which had been used for worship and mental education. Each of them was a prison leader with significant influence. Managing and persuading over 2,000 people all at once would take too long, so it was easier to move the other prisoners through these leaders.
Sasha played a key role in this. While it's understandable that she wanted to make a good impression on the new owners of their future location, the extent of her efforts was beyond imagination. She ran around so much that she was covered in sweat, not walking for even a moment, sweet-talking and coaxing the leaders into gathering at the auditorium.
The women gathered and sat on the chairs to the left and right of the central aisle. The west wing inmates sat together on one side, and the east wing inmates on the other, creating a stark contrast.
The prisoners from the west wing, including the tall woman who had been thrown out of the warden's office, looked somewhat worn out but seemed capable of holding on. In contrast, the prisoners from the east wing all looked emaciated, filled with lethargy. Their cheeks were hollow, their hands and feet were bony, and some women seemed to struggle just to keep their eyes open. At this rate, they wouldn’t last another week.
The leaders sitting on the long church benches also displayed various appearances:
A woman with a fierce look. A woman with a malicious expression. A woman with a kind look, almost unrecognizable as a criminal. A woman with short hair. A sports cut. A bald head. A short woman. A tall woman. A muscular woman. A very skinny woman. A woman with piercings on her face and nipples (evident as they protruded through her shirt in a U-shape). A woman covered in tattoos. A woman who looked like a drug addict. A naturally androgynous-looking woman. A woman with an androgynous appearance, almost as if she were on steroids. Slavic women. Latina women. Minority women with indigenous features. Black women. There was even a Muslim woman wearing a makeshift hijab made from a towel, though who knows where she got it.
The sight of the women filling the central control room's screens was truly diverse. It felt more like a multicultural vocational training center than a prison. They guarded the entrance while glancing nervously at the security robots watching over them.