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Escape to tomorrow (Chapter 1 of my new sci-fi novel)
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Escape to tomorrow (Chapter 1 of my new sci-fi novel) |
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Peter J Marcroft Member
since 2003-02-02
Posts 265York, England |
This place was where the unfortunate souls lie. In metallic shadows, that lingered on pallid stone walls. Outside of these metallic shadowed cells, circles of light caressed the concrete. Dark towers some thirty feet in height, looked out over the shadows and into the panoramic eternity of the air. All along the high walls, bruising figures ravenously waited to swoop down on the world below and prey upon any creeping creature. All of these images would have been enough for lesser men, yet it was not enough for the figures that had been discarded in this place. The thing that affected them most was the noise, the horrific sound of an out of tune concerto comprised of harsh rasping bars and the groaning, echoing despair of the walls. Yet for the sufferers of this noise there is no pity, why should there be? It was their greed that had swayed them to engage in a campaign of stealthy plunder, their lust that had forced them to violate a woman and their ravenous desire to taste blood that had made them commit murder. On top of these were the stupid ones, people who did not learn the aesthetic art of subterfuge. Ever since the corporations had carried out their threat to seize power, a mere five years previously, there had been rebels. Every regime throughout the history of man had them after all, though these ones excelled themselves. Before this time there was the existence of something called democracy, one could slate the rulers all they wished without possessing any level of fear. The corporations, however, had swiftly put an end to that. Speak against the will of the rulers and you would face their wrath, and they hadn’t waited around either. On the first day of all-out resistance, riot security had charged the massed people and mercilessly crushed the rebellion. So to be fair the first wave of such prisoners could not have the title ‘stupid’ appended to them, normally though, after such a mass crushing of their cause, rebel factions would go underground and do their utmost to ensure subversion without risking themselves. Yet the mobs of anti-conglomerates still had to have their fix of marches, as a result they had become nothing more than martyrs, that rather than die and go to heaven, were bound in chains and cast straight into this cold stone hell. Even here, in this desolate world of criminal despair, there were exceptions to the general rules of crime and punishment. People out of place, in this instance such a group were those imprisoned for factors beyond their control, people who had genetic defects. Some of these cases were of people who had dementia and usually became such creatures as psychotic killers; therefore such an imprisonment is not unjustified. Some of these people were near-enough what one could call normal in such a world as this one, and this made them the most dangerous of all animals… “… In the darkness it slumbers, the tears it silently sheds desperately seek to wash away the pain of the world it made so long ago. Yet while there is darkness the world shall never be clean, and the dragon shall continue to weep. But despair shall not consume the heart of the dragon, for somewhere in the darkness lies its own shadow, and that shall enter forth into the light, where…” The rasping sound of the bars reached an excruciating level as the nightstick repeatedly clashed with it. “Prisoner C-45! You will obey the rules that are at work here, at night there is silence!” Prisoner C-45… A terrible name to be addressed with. C-45 understood the reasoning behind the name, the corporations aimed to take away the name of the prisoner along with the freedom, and then they could laugh as the empty human was forced into obedience. “Maybe you should adhere to your own advice, that nightstick you lot have a habit of smacking bars with makes far more noise than my cultured readings.” The guard laughed at C-45’s suggestion, “You are forgetting that the rules do not apply to us! Now be silent!” He swung the nightstick towards C-45’s exposed left wrist, yet the move was simple to read. C-45 swiftly moved the wrist clear of the attack, the huge club clattered against the bars with tremendous force. The guard winced as the vibrating metal of the bars took effect and gave him numerous machine gun blasts of pain. C-45 seized the opportunity; swiftly moved forwards, struck out with the right wrist and smiled as the thumb raked against the guard’s eye. He roared with pain, “You son of a bitch! (edit) bastard! You’re a freak, long hair, cultured books and fighting! Neither fish nor fowl, you’re an accident, a wastrel! That Christian messiah, Jesus, or whatever his name was, must have had his day off when they dragged you from the womb of your sick mother!” C-45 laughed in a long and loud tone, much to the annoyance of the guard. Then calmly began to speak, “If you are referring to my… Ambiguity, then rest assured that I feel most privileged to be what I am.” The guard snorted with rage, “Yeah you would, you are like those mobs. It could be so easy for you, all it would take is a five minute operation to remove that mutant penis and you could live as a free woman. But no! You have to be like the rioters, unspeakably holy, you constantly refuse to accept the life we have, and so you remain an imprisoned freak!” C-45 chuckled, “Imprisoned? I am not the one who says the same words all the time, I am not the one forced to return home to a fat wife and dull routine, it is you who is imprisoned… Franklin!” The use of the guard’s name caused him more anger than ever before. “I’ll kill you for that!” He pulled out his keys and moved to the lock on the door. “Stand down!” The authoritative voice cut through the air as if it were a samurai blade. “But sir, the prisoner…” The newcomer held up his hand, “I am not interested. It is clear to me that your duty in this wing is complete and that prisoner C-45 is within the cell designated. Now move along and complete the tasks set for sector AG8!” The guard snapped into an old fashioned salute. “Yes sir!” Swiftly the guard left and the newcomer was alone with the prisoner. Slowly he walked up to the cell and stared at the figure inside. “Our infamous accident of nativity, how saddening to watch you caged like a rabid dog. If you were not tainted by that male blood I’d have you myself.” C-45 burst into loud laughter. “Typical to see you men abusing your power.” “Well at least my species have something typical about them.” The newcomer frowned and then he strode away from the cell down the corridor, leaving the prisoner alone. Inside the cell she felt the blow that the words had inflicted upon her. Ever since she was a child C-45 identified herself as a female, slowly she recalled through her subconscious the name that long been forbidden to her… Leena. A clever name that was a hybrid of sexes, just as she was, for those who considered her male there was lee, while inside the name was the female anagram, Elena. Although it was obvious that this was the name that she preferred. She walked back from the bars and lay flat on the hard mattress of her bunk. Her body was naked except for the tag on her leg, the fingers traced the ink of the I.D tag, bar-coded, as if she were little more than produce up for sale. As she lay she realised that she was too tired for sleep, too tired to move, trapped in the frozen state… Inertia. Within the silence and the darkness she felt the breath of the dragon upon her neck, soft, soothing, divine. As she relaxed her mind she saw herself through eyes not her own, the still flesh on the mattress was where she should be, but down there was the chains of misery, why should she return to the world of pain? “Why should you my dear?” The sudden voice caused great panic within her mind, swiftly she swooped towards the sanctuary of the body, but then the scaled man jumped into her path. “Why must you return to pain? Five minutes on the table will end your turmoil.” Leena steeled herself, “Because I choose to! This pain is mine and the remedy must be mine!” the scaled man laughed, “Ah you so choose do you? Very well enjoy your world of pain.” Leena darted past the man and once back in the flesh moved again. She pressed two fingers against her forehead and forced control, defiantly she urged herself on. ‘I will never surrender to you, I will not be yours!’ She began to recall the words again. “Five minutes on the table will end your turmoil.” She chuckled at the words, “If you only you knew just how deep this blessed curse goes, if only you all knew…” Then she slowly slipped away, into a vast ocean of darkness… Broken light, it slowly drew her back, streaked beams of golden sun drifted upon her body and calmly she rose from her sleep. She had been stupid last night, had allowed the sedatives within the food to get to her. Normally she would have an unusual dream of swans on dark ponds, but never had allowed images of shamans claim her. Worse her words afterwards made it obvious of her defiance to the rules, they had endured them for the last few weeks. Soon she would be taking the monthly trip to spend days within the darkened catacombs of the prison in the isolation cells. Life was more than this, it had been before the conglomerates took over, it was not perfect, far from it, but it was better than this constitutional hell. She had to get free, she knew it, and more of all she would. Calmly she slipped into the shadows and began to plot how she could make it clear… She had thought fast, the first problem she had faced was that she could not even dream of moving from the cell during daylight. It had enticed her originally, all that she would have had to do was to go along with her exercises and disappear when her urinating break came. But the folly of such a juvenile plan had bit her immediately and she saw sense. The guards would no doubt continue to do their role calls and if she went missing she would be found in seconds. After she had discarded this idea she focused on the much more enticing ploy, a run during the night. Technically she could still be found quite easily thanks to the large bug that had been tattooed into her leg. Yet the night had shadows, and the darkness was the friend of those who were on the run. The night, the time of the void, it was her salvation, her tunnel at the end of the light, her sanctuary. Leena hauled herself from the bunk and stretched her arms. The wall flashed the time as 6:42 am, soon the guards would come banging with their nightsticks once again and she wanted to as alert as a sniper. She dressed in the pale grey uniform that the wardens had given her when she came to the prison. Leena sighed as her mind felt the throw back unto the peaceful time, was five years really that long ago? It had felt it, inside a place such as this there was no hope and very few of the prisoners even believed there was such a thing as a real new day. Leena shook her head and slapped her face. ‘Stop it Leena, don’t let them get to you!’ The male voice in her mind commanded loudly, she chuckled at the thought, male voice indeed it was more than that that lay back there. She walked to the cell bars and locked her feet underneath them. She needed the exercise, the punishing routine of 200 sit ups was the perfect remedy for a disturbed night. She lay flat on her back and locked her hands around the back of her head. Ready at last she began to throw her bodyweight forwards. As she reached the 100th sit up her mind began to draw itself back to where she had picked up this habit. Nine years in her past, nine long years that had been all but forgotten. At that time she had been a soldier in the women’s military, Codename: Medusa. She had served well during her four years there, Leena remembered with great glee how she had faked being a woman to serve there. At that time her maturity had only just been completed and numerous anomalies made it difficult for her to totally conceal her truth. Each month became a spin of the roulette wheel of fate, when all was good the red floods would come, just like the others who were serving at the same place. When the bad times came she would remain dry, timing she learned, was absolutely everything. If she did not start her period two days after the third woman she would take matters into her own hands. At first she had done the punishing practise of mutilation. During the night she would wake and reach for the hairpin that each soldier had been given as a form of lock pick, carefully she would nick her skin and squeeze the wound so that blood seeped like droplets from the stalagmites of a mountain cave. The charade had worked for one year, all that time the wounds became more precise and quiet. Over time though the toll was taken and the wounds began to grow sorer, it seemed that she may eventually develop gangrene and she had no death wish. Her hope had not waned however, for luckily during that month, her period had come about naturally. Carefully she began to find another way, at first she had tried paint, but the smell was too obvious and no amount of morning perfume had been able to conquer it. For three weeks she had desperately hunted until, to her surprise, the answer came to her. The day had come for all units of the Codename: Medusa army to be tested with their firearms and other field equipment. Leena had been quick and accurate with her role as group sniper, calmly she rushed through undergrowth before climbing trees and taking out her opponents with the training bullets that had been loaded into the long range sniper rifle. As she took out her fifth target one of the bullet casings bounced from a nearby branch and landed on her uniform. The silver coloured casing had cannoned into her armour and left a smear of red liquid in its wake. As she touched it the liquid felt warm and sort of sticky. Bravely she had touched the tip of her tongue with the liquid and had swallowed it. Her smile had been like the radiant sign of the sunrise, for the red liquid was some form of blood. A later question asked to her commanding officer would prove her theory, the army it seemed, used the blood of dead pigs as a marker for training exercises. Ever since that point she had touched herself with that liquid whenever her period failed, a dangerous exercise that meant her often having to sneak into the armoury to take the bullets without permission. Leena smiled as her mind drew onto the present time again. Her female ingenuity and mannerism, combined with the male courage and strength had made her almost totally inconspicuous. Almost. It had happened just as the leaves of autumn had begun to fall. The corporations had always been interested in the matters of the military, if you were a bank that has a lot of money you wanted to be sure that armed guards who protect your vault in the best condition possible. At first they had no formal control, but once their coup de tat had been accomplished the corporations began to impose their will greatly. One of the many concerns that they had always harboured had been the fact that the inspections only looked at superficial things like organisation of equipment or obedience to rules. They decided that in order for the army to be strong they would need to make sure the women did not soil their bodies or develop disease. As a result they had ordered that there would be naked inspections of all women. Leena knew then that her time was done for and that escape would be her only chance of survival. She had tried to hide within the toilets, feigning fever, while at the same time she desperately sought an exit. As she was about to climb through the window and risk a journey across the open night fields the company found her. As the clothes were torn away the men gasped and recalled at the horrific sight. Immediately men had stepped up to her naked, unarmed, fragile form and began to attack it ruthlessly. The clubs and booted feet smashed against the flesh like a rainstorm of boulders, pain coursed through her body and brutal blue bruises began to warp her beauty. She was paraded at the women who all reacted in a manner just as repulsed. For an agonising day she had been nailed to a wooden window frame in the open yard, where numerous women had heckled her and abused her. Some threw rotten food that had collagulated in the numerous industrial vats of the camp, some simply walked up and punched, while another had taken a razor sharp sword and sliced off at least seven inches of her hair. Leena repulsed at the memories, they were dead, the past was dead, the world was dead, but she was alive. Calmly she counted the last three of her sit ups, at last she lay flat on her back and began to breathe deeply. Her chest felt angry, it contorted itself and the muscles bobbed up and down like a lifejacket in the ocean. Sweat seeped from the glands of her arms and the steaming water dripped onto the cold stone floor of the cell. She looked at the wall clock again, 7.18 am, she eased her self to her feet. The time would be here in but twelve minutes. She had to endure the day, face the torrent of trouble head on, survive the massed assault of the prison. The time had filtered through like water through sand, as regular as clockwork the sound of clubs on bars sounded out. She winced as the horrific noise roared through the canals of her mind. Yet when the club sound became even louder she knew that she had to prepare herself. Calmly she walked up to the door of the cell and stood stock still. Her eyes were locked forwards and her legs were stood parallel to one another motionlessly. The guard came into her field of vision. Angrily he walked up to the bars and for a moment it seemed as if both faces would touch. “Prisoner C-45! Toxic dump!” The guard roared into her face, sending a shower of saliva over her skin and a booming echo through her ears. She waited until the lock opened, he wanted her to say something, but she did not give him the satisfaction. Instead she calmly walked along the yellow line and stalked the massed group that were all headed for the same purgatory as her. The walk had been arduous, a gruelling twenty minute trek over smooth marble and fragile glass. Leena stepped clear of the large gate and found herself within a huge quadrangle. It was barren, sand and dust was whipped from the ground by a howling wind, while the concentrated fires of the sun began to smoulder against the prisoners’ skin. The group moved forward at the sound of a whip and continued to walk through the haze until they reached the dump. It was an awful sight, huge cesspools ten feet deep bubbled and frothed as the sun baked the toxic scum that had been dumped within them. Large metal sharks littered the floor, smashed into fragments and liquid waste spilled across the floor. Leena had heard the tale of how they came to be, she knew first hand what had caused them, and she didn’t care for the tale again. Calmly she drifted to a dark edge of the pit and grabbed at the pole with gloved hands. It was six feet long and had a deep cup attached to the end of it. Calmly she lowered the pole into the pit before her, a nauseating smell saturated her body as the liquid collected within the cup at the end of the pole. Carefully she drew the pole clear, often she had wondered if the poles had ever leaked this stuff. What would it do should someone touch it? She doubted it would be pleasant and she doubted even less that the corporations would care if it did leech onto some poor soul’s clothing. She swerved the pole carefully until it was above a huge cylindrical container. She tipped the pole through a slight angle and the liquid began to slip out of the cup and into the cylinder. She had performed the process many times before and as such her proficiency was never one to be doubted. She had endured the task for twelve long hours, all that time she had collected and poured the nuclear sludge into the vats without complaint or fuss. Something that suggested to the guards that she was weak, she humoured them and played to their imagination. It was far easier to evade guards when they were blind to their weaknesses because they believed themselves stronger than their target. Exhausted she slumped onto her bunk and continued to read the tales of the dragon. She did not know why but something within the text called out to her, it was as if she somehow had a connection to it, whatever the connection was it gave her strength, and at a time such as this, a person needed all the strength that they could find. She read aloud and endured more of the constant derogatory comments that the guards of this hell could muster, often by giving them a swift viper-tongued response that irritated them all the more. After an hour more of this endurance the golden sun retreated behind the wispy hills of cloud that had merged with the endless ocean of the night sky. Now was her time, the time when the dark void had engulfed all life from the planet. If she was going to act it was going to be now, she halted her reading and reached to the small mug that had been given to her so that she could drink water. The guards might have been good at making sure no prisoner could get any conventional weapon but what they had overlooked was when someone could improvise a weapon. Service in the military had taught Leena numerous things, but one of the most crucial was the ability to adapt a weapon from nothing in order to survive should she have been captured. The mug was simple pottery, calmly she tapped it on the desk a few times before a large crack formed along the side of it. Quietly she pressed her fingers inside the cup and pulled at it, the pottery broke away easily and she found herself holding a long shard that was quite sharp. She clung to it like it was the only thing in the world that mattered, before she slipped into the shadows to await her prey… Perspiration, it slowly drizzled down her darkened face and adrenaline pulsed through her as she willed the guards towards her. The hour long wait had been agonising and now as the clock flashed 9:30 pm she wondered if they would ever come. Fear had gnawed into her mind and the shard of pottery had bit into her hand like the fangs of a wolf. So sharp and cruel, she pictured the blood that it would spill this night, looked at the image in her mind of the guard that would be reduced to an inert shell of flesh and cold stone fragments. She had not wanted it to be this way, not at first, her initial plan had been to simply knock the guard out, but she had learnt the code well and the words had returned to her like a boomerang. “… Leave nothing living, only the living seek revenge or spread the deadly net of knowledge.” It had made sense to her, the code would be the best way to do this. If the guard was merely knocked out who could tell how long he would have passed out of existence for? How long would it take for him to come around and raise the alarm? Yet if he was dead and thoroughly disguised then he would not be found until the morning shift came about. This would give her anything up to a ten hour head start on her pursuers, the option of knocking him unconscious would not be so certain, it could grant her ten hours, it could grant her ten minutes. If it only took a little blood for a high degree of certainty then she was in a mood to murder! As the thoughts of death saturated her mind a wide beam of light suddenly emerged within the darkness, he had come at last! Leena perspired further and fear pulsated through her, desperately she tried to calm her mind. “Focus! Remember your training!” She silently yelled to herself, took in deep breaths and slowly relaxed her mind. Her spirit drifted on the winds of time, back to the past, back to the military barracks. The twenty girls of her unit were all stood in full uniform of green, their rifles and equipment were secured to their bodies and their poses were so similar that one would have believed them all reflections of one person stood in a corridor of mirrors. The women all listened intently as the man addressed them. “You are special, all of you are special. All of you are sisters in arms, daughters of Medusa, warrior amazon of the neo-age. In battle it is easy to lose sight of your main objective… And that is to survive! To do this, both your body and mind, must be strong, they must emanate constant power! You women must be like your warrior mother, you will not be bound to the mortal chains of fear, exultation or pain! You must strike like the snakes that make up your hair and be as cold as the stone caused by your stare…” The words filled her like air and she lost herself within the powerful state of medusa. Carefully she readied herself for the time ahead, a time when the viper would break free of the cold stone cells. Twenty minutes passed slowly, then from nowhere an incongruent echo thundered through the halls, as booted footsteps merged with the metallic ring of club against bar. For an irritating two minutes the noise grated upon her soul, the despair clawed back to her, there was so much noise, always the noise. She wanted to scream, to let the bastards know how much she hated the noise, how she desired the silence… But she did not, that would show weakness, something that medusa never was. All of a sudden the noise cut out, as if all the physics of the world had suddenly decided to switch themselves off. “Oi C-45! You not going to bless our ears with one of your sermons tonight?” A wall of silence greeted the guard, “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Irritation swamped the man as silence once again was the response he received. “Perhaps you need some stimulation you ignorant bitch!” He pressed an inconspicuous switch that was set against the wall next to the cell. The metal bed rapidly convulsed and blue light crackled across the bars of the bed. The guard recalled in surprise at the silence. The current was 300 amps, not lethal by any stretch of the imagination, but it would usually cause enough pain for a person to be roused against their will. The manual stated that in any such event reinforcements should be summoned, but the guard laughed, this freak would be no trouble. Slowly he opened the cell and calmly stepped inside. His hand flashed to his belt and pulled clear the air taser, fully armed with taser and club he walked forwards. He had deliberately moved as slow as a snail, his eyes had been foraging the walls all the time, desperate to find the freak. Slowly he approached the bed, which had, by now, stopped convulsing and sparking. Carefully he hooked his foot underneath one end of the quilt and kicked it clear of the bed. The guard recalled in shock, the bed was empty. Swiftly he turned on his heel and made to rush the alarm, somehow she had got away and he would… All thoughts of the alarm fled him as he fell towards the earth and his head smashed against the floor. Leena drew her leg back beneath the bunk before she crawled clear, so far the plan had worked. She looked upon the peaceful resting form and thought of just running clear, but she knew that her training was right, he had to die, if she was going to live. She jumped onto the man’s back and callously rammed the pottery blade into the back of his skull, the wolf fang pierced the soft brain and the silent husk lay still. Quietly Leena began the next part of her very brazen ploy, she sat on the bunk and began to focus, she thought of the testosterone and the male figure, she thought of the husky voice and great physical strength. She felt the female side of Leena slip away and in her place a strong man stood. Confidently she made heavy strides to the inert shell of the guard, callously ripped away his clothes and then dragged his body from sight. She gathered up the club into the air and prepared herself, this had to work, it was her only chance. “You dare attack me you (edit) up excuse for a human being!” Her voice was deliberately husky and the snarls were similar to those of an enraged bull. “Think you can escape, oh I’ll whip that out of you that’s for sure!” She clubbed the body fifteen times sending a river of crimson gore onto the cold floor of the cell. She sat and waited then, all around her there was silence, either the back up crew had yet to arrive or they had thought the situation cured, Leena doubted the reason was the latter. She shrugged this off and thought of the more immediate problem, convincing people she was a man. The first thing she did was remove the pillow case from her old bunk, tightly she wrapped this around her chest, a move that forced her small breasts almost flat to the touch. It was far from comfortable but with the most obvious female organ disguised she would stand a much greater chance of escape. She swiftly dressed into the male uniform and found it to be slightly baggy, which was both a blessing and a curse. It aided her form to look more robust and manly, the downside was that should any of the uniform slip she would reveal herself. The escape was now on a knife edge and one slip would see her fall into the abyss of an eternity and beyond in isolation. She could not let that happen, anger almost forced her into a dreadful mistake, as she approached the cell door she felt the breeze blow her armpit long hair against her frame. This was a great problem, no guard in the prison had hair that was longer than an inch from their scalp. Desperately she reached for the guard’s belt hoping for a knife, only to find that he had not been issued with one. Suddenly along the hall she heard the encroaching footsteps, her estimates placed their E.T.A at two minutes. She needed a solution and needed one fast… As the footsteps narrowed she looked at the floor and noticed the mask. It seemed to cover the face and had a red visor that must have been bizarre to see through. Leena did not dwell on this though, she saw that the mask was very rubbery and this meant it could be stretched. It was her only chance, if this failed she would have to fight. Desperately she fought down her panic and slipped the mask onto her head, carefully she rolled the hair around her fist, with her other hand she stretched the back of the mask outwards, calmly she slid the rolled hair into the space. In that moment she made one glance at the silver plastic that served as a mirror here. The hair was hidden well. Quickly she turned and walked through the cell door, she slammed it shut angrily. “That’ll teach you! Learn some respect you ignorant bitch!” Leena roared this loudly, deliberately making her voice echo down the corridors to where the encroaching guard sweep could hear her. She turned and made to walk away to the end of the wing. She snapped into a salute that she had seen guards on this wing use as she saw the commanding officer stood before her. He was an old man, easily close to the age of retirement and the large purple robes that should have made him appear elegant made him simply look tired and aged. Leena said nothing and remained in her saluting stance. The man before her smiled and nodded his head. “At ease soldier.” She dropped out of the salute, yet maintained her silence, “We had a report from maintenance that there was a disturbance in wing AG7, that would be this wing, report!” “It was prisoner C45 sir, the cell was unusually silent, I trade to communicate with her but once I received no response I walked inside…” “Are you all right soldier? Your voice sounds different…” The guard said as he cut across, Leena fought down her nerves and focused on a cover story. “I was just about to report the reason for that sir, my voice sounds odd because the adrenaline in my body is only just beginning to subside.” She took a deep breath and made certain that he could not see into her eyes. While her hair and main body seemed masculine enough, the eyes would no doubt be recognisable to a head commander. The man said nothing about her dropped head, Leena silently guessed that he thought it was a mark of respect. “I walked into the cell not knowing what to expect, but the lack of response to both my questioning and electrical charges made me think she… It… Was dead. As I carefully glanced about the room I was attacked from behind, fortunately I had been able to counter the move and repeatedly club my foe until it was unconscious, I then returned the prisoner to the designated bunk.” The commander enthusiastically nodded his head, “Good work soldier, resourcefulness and dedication to duty when your very body could have been in danger. We need more strong men like you, some of the recruits we have here wouldn’t survive the way you did and show such little strain on the body. Ah but that prisoner is proving to be a tough nut to crack, but we’ll claim it soon. Resume your duties.” Leena snapped into the salute once again. “Yes sir!” The commander returned the salute before walking away from her and back towards the main access door. She had watched the wing for a further twenty minutes, all the while she had randomly banged numerous cell bars in a hope to continue the charade. As the time approached 10:12pm Leena felt sure that her chance had come. Calmly she walked along the corridor and out onto the main entryways. At first sight one could believe that they had wandered into a labyrinth of glass. All about her were many pathways made of thick glass, which allowed patrons to view the areas both above them and below them. Leena felt overwhelmed by just how big a labyrinth this place really was. Had it really looked so much simpler in the day? She knew it was all down to perspectives, as she had walked to the nuclear waste yard her perspective of vision was always centralised. The heads of the prisoners in this place were not allowed to be out of synchrony in case they were planning to use some form of code to start a riot. Yet here she was just a regular guard on duty within the prison and here the true depth of the problem had begun to sink in. She knew nothing of the prisons schematics. She had planned so hard on how to escape the cell that she had allowed no thoughts as to what she should do once she was on the outside. Silently she cursed herself for a fool but knew that this would not help the situation. She was going to have to somehow look at the prison from the perspective of the architect if she was to find her escape route. She felt confident that she could hold out until the end of shift and walk from the facility without being detected. But then again who knew what time that would be and how easily would she be found? Leena thought about nothing more than calm, if she was to function she needed to have total control of herself. She walked along a path that led away to the right and found herself entering a large corridor. Fragmented light glanced from the silver walls and in that instant she felt like a fugitive who had ran for days in the dark only to walk into a room where a switch was flicked and before her stood a platoon of armed guards. She ignored the panic and walked along the corridor as controlled as all the other guards of this place were. She knew that somewhere on this floor there had to be a security room, if she could find it then she had a chance. Calmly she continued her escape, always aware that her head start was diminishing by the second. Leena desperately fought down a rising panic about this problem and concentrated on the necessities at hand. She rounded a bend and saw the digital clock blink at her, 11:03 pm. She had been wandering for an hour and had barely covered the first floor, what chance would she have of making it clear by the new shift at 7:30 am? She slowly realised that she had none, she wanted to cry, it was all in vain. She dropped to her knees and felt the water beginning to seep into her. “But despair shall not consume the heart of the dragon, for somewhere in the darkness lies its own shadow, which will step forth into the light…” Leena was shocked at hearing herself repeating the text she had been reading to annoy the guards, but she smiled as she realised it. The book was telling her to enter the shadows and step forth into the light. “Underground…” She murmured to herself softly, before pressing herself back onto her feet. She wandered the halls for a further ten minutes before the room finally came into view. The door was made of thick metal that she guessed would have been designed to protect from any form of forced entry. Next to that were large windows comprised from the most sturdy glass that she had laid her eyes upon. Inside the room there were numerous monitors that showed images of all sorts of areas of the prison. The three men in the room were a problem, Leena knew that she could probably fight them down eventually, but by that time the alarm would have been raised and she’d be in isolation for a long time, possibly forever. Calmly she touched the back of her mask to make sure that there were no wisps of hair sliding free of its grip, satisfied her disguise was intact she pushed the button of the intercom. “Security unit 6A, identify yourself.” Leena glanced at a metal panel that gave off a small reflection of her earlier victim’s badge. “Warden Y745A, requesting permission to enter security room.” Silence swiftly followed and Leena quietly bit her teeth into her lip. This was like walking a tightrope over a volcano, for she only had a tiny thread of a chance of success, while there was a great chance of falling over the edge and failing. Leena stood still in silent agony, fearful that the time delay would go against her. “Warden Y745A, access clearance granted.” Leena let out an imperceptible sigh of relief as the door began to slide backwards, swiftly she regained her composure and stepped across the threshold. Leena did her best to be sure that her eyes were not captivated by the majestic nature of the room that she had wandered into. The walls were of a style that seemed more at home in a king’s castle during the 1400’s rather than a prison numerous centuries later. The walls were made from shining marble that glistened as the lifeless lights of the ceiling above showered them in their ethereal light. The monitors defiled the image with their buzzing tones and vile images that they contained. Three colossal machines that Leena presumed were computers formed the final part of the rooms defilement. She was about to analyse the carpet when she realised that she had become distracted, calmly she touched her face a few times and then approached the lead security watchman. “Warden Y745A sir!” Leena said as she snapped into a salute that the watchman returned. “Warden what is your business here?” Leena silently prayed that her explanation would suffice. “My commander expressed concern after some of the prisoners returned from toxic duty today. He felt that something might be contaminating the samples that they are here to clean up.” The security man laughed, “So? They kill people or betray the corporations and that is what their punishment is, toxic waste is generally bad for health but then again who gives a (edit) about prisoners?” Leena frowned angrily, “I hasten to add that these are the orders of my commander, perhaps you are unaware of how he recently snapped the ankle of the last fool who badmouthed him to one of his soldiers?” The man gulped and began to perspire sweat slowly, “Well obviously it is not my area of expertise… However… Why would your commander be concerned?” Leena pointed to the entry tunnels to the toxic tunnels. “We believe that someone is taking bribes so that they can illegally dump outside waste into the tunnels. As you say prisoners health people don’t give a (edit) for, but what about us? If two wastes that react when placed together are in the same tunnels we could be sitting on top of another Zurich bomb.” A sudden look of sheer horror filled the man’s face. “A… Zurich strength bomb?” Leena grimly nodded her head, “As in the Zurich bomb that threatened to wipe out the economy of the state if it wasn’t for the embezzlement that was going on in those corporate banks?” “That is exactly what I mean, right now the economy equation doesn’t mean (edit) to us.” Leena paused and stared into the watchman’s eyes, “After all we’re not exactly a corporate bank near the mountains. No we are a bunch of people and with the population of this prison one could feasibly explain them away as collateral damage. But what about us? The loyal men who fight for the corporations at the top? Are we also expendable?” The man shook his head, “To you maybe we’re not but to those suits in their glass houses above the clouds we are nothing more than a horde of ants that they could willingly crush in one move.” The watchman was now being incredibly shaken. “My commander has however thought carefully about the situation, he is no martyr and thanks to the security of this island he doubts that he could leave a traitor. So instead he wants to find the source of this leak in the tunnels themselves.” The man gagged, “Oh gods! What an awful task to be asked of! A piece of advice stay down there for no longer than necessary.” Leena shook her head, “Would if I could, but once I have the source I am to remain in the tunnels and act as a beacon, with any luck they’ll find me and eradicate the problem.” The man wheezed loudly, “How long did you (edit) her for?” Leena was confused about the question, “What?” The man laughed, “Come on don’t hold out on me! It’s obvious that you have done something to piss off the leader of your unit! You must have done something serious like (edit) his wife all night.” Leena was about to protest when she suddenly realised how this watchman had now given her a perfect covering opportunity. “I thought I could contain it, secrets like that are usually best kept to oneself.” The watch man nodded in response, “Yeah they are but us lot figure out that kind of (edit) all the time. I hope that she was worth it, if you are luck you might get out of there alive, if you are really luck you might even have your balls functioning. I’m telling you friend the commander is (edit) to you and using this as an excuse to have you slumming it in the sludge tunnels all night, leaving you either dead or preferably in perpetual agony that will last for the rest of your life.” Leena bowed her head silently, “The bastard. Well I can’t go against him, chances are that then he’ll get the chance to torture me for weeks on some form of terrorism charge, whether I like it or not I must face the most dangerous of radiation.” The watchman smiled, “Yeah, but what he doesn’t know is that I can offer you some help to make it through near enough unharmed. You see… Inside there you’ll find a locked door that is never open, enter the code 372466 and the door will open. Inside you’ll find some bizarre suits, with them you’ll have a shield from radiation that should last anything up to ten hours. If you are lucky you’ll get through the night unharmed.” Leena pointed at a small black box that was swivelling silently in the corner of the ceiling. “But what about the cameras? Surely he’ll be able to access footage of me in the tunnels when I emerge unharmed?” The man shook his head, “The tunnels are regulated by duct droids, no need for humans to be down there so we removed the camera link. Are you ready to go?” Leena made a shuddering noise, “As I ever will be I suppose. One good thing about this expedition is that I might finally figure out why the night coffee in this place is so appalling.” The man howled with laughter, “Yeah that’s been one of our secret conspiracy theories for a long time now.” The man handed her an access card, “I’ll have to come with you, the tunnel’s gate requires synchronised key card swipes for it to open.” Leena nodded and allowed the man to lead her on. The journey boasted little of memory for her, though in a place like this there was nothing she had any ambition of remembering anyway. Leena had walked behind the man for twenty minutes, stopping off in large elevators that soullessly drifted down wide shafts and walking through packed mess halls where other guards sat silently eating their regulation mid-night lunch. After the long silent walk had finished the pair found themselves at the required destination. The door was eighteen feet high and stretched ten feet across, Leena found herself perspiring at the sight. What could be hidden behind such a colossal thing as this door? “Does it really need to be such a large door?” The man nodded at the question, “Definitely, as you said before. Behind this door is the tunnels where the waste is stored. This thing is the only barrier that prevents the sludge from seeping through into here and wiping us all out.” “If it is so dangerous then why do they allow the prisoners to handle some of it?” The man glanced at her, “The corporations’ business is their own, you already sound like you have crossed the line all too often, don’t make it worse for yourself.” Leena fell silent at this, she knew that he was warning her, threatening her. She did her best to look subservient and conformist, knowing that any unusual action could reveal her. She wondered what the waste truly was for, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was a way of slowly eating away at the huge prison population. She remembered overhearing once that something like fifty thousand people were imprisoned in sector A alone, and since the sectors went all the way up to F it was feasible that anything up to three hundred thousand prisoners were in this place. “I need you to take the right access slot.” The man’s voice called her back from her thoughts with a thunderous amount of force. She did her best to cover her lack of attention and merely stood by the slot. “On 3…” She watched the man’s movements before she slid the card through the slot. At first it felt like they had somehow got it wrong as nothing happened. However, from no where came the sound of gas driven pistons being forced into life. While hidden cogs and flywheels suddenly sparked into life without warning. Leena watched as the huge crack formed in the centre of the door. A sea of pale silver light suddenly crept from within out unto the darkened corridor where they stood. The man stood back from the entrance and pointed to Leena’s left. “That is where you’ll find the room with the waste suits. You want me to report that you have entered?” Leena swiftly shook her head, “The commander knows my orders and I am certain that he did not want anyone to hear of them unless absolutely necessary, like you for example.” The man nodded his head and drew a large pistol from his belt. Reversing it so the handle faced her, “Take this with you.” Leena grasped at the weapon with caution and also took the two clips of ammo that he was holding in his hand. “I have heard that radiation has a way of mutating certain lifeforms, I won’t lie to you. We heard that this tunnel used to be a city sewer some time ago and chances are that the rats still stalk their halls. If one tries to bite you kill it, otherwise quarantine won’t let you back through.” Leena nodded her head and thrust the new weapon alongside her air taser and club, “Thank you for all your help. I greatly appreciate it.” The man waved his hand, “You are brave to take this on my friend, a word of advice once you radio in. If the commander asks you how the trip to the tunnels went, make sure you tell him what he wants to hear. Listen to his voice if it is calm and still then tell him the ‘truth’ about an external link coming into the sewers, if it is blotchy and a little hesitant lie your arse off and cover the corporations. Good luck.” Leena took the man’s hand and firmly shook it. With this she stepped forth through the threshold, into the light, into the depths… [This message has been edited by Poet deVine (07-18-2003 07:12 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2003 Peter J Marcroft - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Peter J Marcroft Member
since 2003-02-02
Posts 265York, England |
gee thanks people, I really feel inspired to continue this now, thanks alot. |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
I'll come back to read this later Peter, but I wanted to take a second to give you some words of encouragement. The Prose Forum needs careful tending. Not everyone likes or wants to read short stories or beginning novels. If you enjoy reading in here, please do, maybe we can encourage some excitement about writing prose. We're trying to get the DM program to work in here too (hoping to do some challenges and perhaps duet story writing). So, stick around. Read and reply. And I'll read your story and give you my honest opinion. (If you'd like to you can read MY prose by doing a search in this forum under my user name.) |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
First, as you know we have a policy against profanity that subsitutes asterisks for words the software catches. Before posting any prose or poem, please be sure your words are suitable. This is difficult I know because anything written for popular consumption will be less censored than what is written for our forums (because of the age groups reading here). I would suggest since you have had some problems with this that you post in Insights where the profanity is less offending. I've read your story and it's technically good. But it lacks some humanity that would make me care about your characters. I know it's just a first chapter but usually if I don't care about a character by the end of the first chapter, I may not read further. Would you like me to move this to Insights and we can continue our discussion there? |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
Peter, I have read many of your posts, but I have a life that includes working 50 hours a week at my job and another 20 a week at a horse farm, to help guarantee a safe riding experience for beginners. I have a limited amount of reading time, but fortunately, I do manage to read an average of 30 posts daily, between the different forums. I really don't think you should chastise us for not always reading your posts, especially ones that may take 10 minutes of ABSOLUTE concentration...something a single parent such as myself really does not have. Which brings me to another point. I'm wondering how many of my posts you may have read or replied to? Not that they are comparable, but if you really want me to spend an hour+ each week reading your stuff, why can't you spend 10 mintutes on mine, with a reply? So, just for grins, I went back to all of my posts for the past month, and haven't found a single reply from you. That doesn't mean you didn't read, perhaps you didn't like? Anyway, I just want you to know that not every one has enough free time to read, and personally? I tend to avoid the long long stuff, especially when I glance at it and see a bunch of asterisks. I get bored easily, I guess. [This message has been edited by Midnitesun (07-18-2003 02:20 PM).] |
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Peter J Marcroft Member
since 2003-02-02
Posts 265York, England |
Profanity is a problem and as you say for popular consumption it seems a necessary evil to have such a barrier in place, especially as a child can quite legitimately pick up a copy of say... A John Grisham novel that has swearing without being looked at twice, but rules are rules, when I get the chance I will re-edit it (Though he grumbles loudly as that is part of the characterisation of most novels, isn't a little creative leeway allowed in this place? Especially as the profanity itself is blocked out ,meaning that the only thing a person sees is a set of asterixs? Billboard postser seen by millions are allowed to get away with this, album sleeves do, even tv shows, to be frank this rule is ridiculous and it makes a mockery of the entire site's creative freedom.) Midnitesun: - I will be frank with you, the post was not meant as a personal assault, it was more of a general attempt at stoking the fire, sorry if you took that to heart, but your vitriol was a little unecessary. I found it personally insulting when you started responding like that, now in the past I have had no problems with you and I intend to have none now, I asked for constructive criticism when I joined this forum not for juvenile, vitriolic and unecessary comments such as yours. Your personal life may make it difficult for you to read lots, but I cannot alter that. Far too many people I know in forums such as this are not people like yourself, you know majority rules? It applies to issues such as stoking interest. I especially found your point about reading your things a little unreasonable. Had I constantly PM'ed you with spam about reading it I might understand, but it was a general comment meant for general interpretation, if you were unable to do that then sorry I suppose (though I didn't start this war so some apologies from you would not go a miss) Back to the story: - I don't quite understand how you didn't care for the character, what was it you did not like? Why did you not care? It is no good saying you didn't care and then failing to say why, this makes it impossible for the author to do anything to try and alter things, I know that as an author one cannot please every person who walks the planet but some pointers might be of service here. And NO, this post stays right here, I am not moving it to 'insights', this forum was created specifically for prose and I will not have my pieces isolated and treated as outcast, this stays put. [This message has been edited by Peter J Marcroft (07-18-2003 06:48 PM).] |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
bye [This message has been edited by Midnitesun (07-19-2003 04:13 PM).] |
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Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
It seems odd to be bantering about the label of juvenile in light of the first response to your own thread. And as for moving the thread it only stays because of the edited profanity. Personally I don't read much fiction at all and seldom do I read long posts including this one. But I do have more than a passing interest in prose and took a peek to see what kind of responses long posts receive. Hmmm. I am disappointed in the aggressive tone of this thread as this forum has been a pleasant place to post. I an not sure at this point that this forum will satisfy you very much. There is very little traffic in here and you seem to have a need for a greater readership. So here's to patience and a good outcome. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. [This message has been edited by Larry C (07-20-2003 10:25 PM).] |
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