“John Gagnon, you are accused of treason, collusion with the enemy, and theft on a scale unheard-of.” Yul leaned forward to stare at Jack through narrowed eyes.
Jack felt like a specimen about to be dissected. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“I have been informed you want to make a deal,” Yul went on. “Information in exchange for leniency.”
“Right,” Jack said, then added, “Your Honor.”
He smiled before remembering he shouldn’t. Yul’s face went sour but, otherwise, he didn’t react. That seemed about right. Jack couldn’t see it, but there was supposed to be a force field protecting the judges in case he went ballistic. Same thing for the onlookers. He held his hands out in a gesture of peace; maybe that would help.
“You wouldn’t share this information with your interrogator,” Yul said, a statement rather than a question.
“No, sir. I need your word before I tell you anything,” Jack said. “I know there’s no escaping judgment. We broke almost every law there is, and there’s no getting out of it, but I’ll tell you what you want to know if you swear to sentence us all to the same prison. Me, Julia, Dante, Coraolis, and Barbara.”
“Barbara McNuggen isn’t a Mystic,” Administrator Mullens objected. “We have no authority over Earth Fleet personnel.”
“I know. I still want us all together,” Jack said. “And I don’t want anyone to be executed. I’m against the death penalty.”
“I’m sure you are,” Yul said.
He pressed a button and turned his back on the courtroom. The judges put their heads together. Their lips moved but sound no longer crossed the protective field, which also distorted the air so he couldn’t have read their lips even if he knew how.
He reached for the collar around his neck. It wasn’t just an obstacle between him and the Astral Plane, it was an irritant. He didn’t like things touching his throat. He never wore turtlenecks or necklaces for that very reason. He could only hope he’d get used to it after a while because it didn’t seem to be coming off any time soon.
The protective field returned to normal, and the judges returned to their seats. They were all a little pink-faced, and none looked happy.
“Very well. Answer our questions fully to the best of your ability, and we will do as you ask. You will not escape punishment. You will be stripped of rank and banished from the Astral Plane. The only concession you will receive is to be imprisoned with your compatriots. Do you accept these terms?”
“I do,” Jack said.
“Very well. Tell us about the weapon you were building.”
***
While the truth didn’t set Jack free, it did guarantee that he wouldn’t be separated from his friends. He’d told as much as he dared. He told them Geneva hadn’t been planning an attack. The device was to allow dragons to communicate with the physical world without entering it. That was it.
It was true in general, if lacking a few details. Luckily, they knew about his liberal arts degree. It made it easy to feign ignorance about the technical stuff. He’d hoped to make them curious enough to keep the device and study it. Maybe they’d even turn it on in the presence of a dragon’s nest.
It was wishful thinking, but worth the gamble. In exchange, he wouldn’t be separated from the people who mattered most.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The prison ship drifted to January, a remote planet where they would serve out their sentences. The vessel ran light, with only twenty convicts, though it could hold as many as fifty. Coraolis heard that they were making a special trip to get the Mystics off their hands as soon as possible.
Coraolis spent the trip in a cell the size of a cubicle, leaving only for his meal shifts and his turn at the facilities. He passed time with meditation and limited exercise. He tried talking to the guards with the same effect as making conversation with the walls of his cell. Occasionally he overheard conversations, and that was how he knew where they were headed.
The January Experiment was a hot-button topic that came up every election cycle. In some circles, it was popular as a prison system that paid for itself. Prisoners with life sentences could be taken into one of its rehabilitation programs. They were fed and sheltered, even offered entertainment in exchange for good behavior. All they had to do in return was work.
Coraolis wasn’t a fan of the idea, and not only because it was to become his fate. The January Corporation owned the entire planet, down to every farm and village. Every crop and product went toward sustaining the system by feeding or clothing the prisoners or by being sold off-planet.
It painted an ugly picture. When the shuttle brought Coraolis to the surface, he was braced for a life of drudgery; instead, he stepped off the shuttle beneath a blue sky and into a warm breeze that smelled faintly of salt. It felt like a vacation to him. That would pass; in the meantime, he was going to enjoy it.
He looked around for his friends, but the guards didn’t let him linger. He was herded into a squat gray building with a handful of other prisoners and directed to a cubicle. A man in prison grays waited for him behind the desk. A key was stitched into his collar. Coraolis’s prison uniform was plain, with no key.
“Name?” the man said.
“I’m Coraolis. And you?” Coraolis asked. Despite the situation, it was a relief to be having a conversation with another human being. It beat talking to himself by a long shot.
The man looked up and jerked back hard enough to knock his glasses askew. He shoved his chair back and tensed, clearly expecting to be attacked. Coraolis folded his hands in his lap and waited.
“What are you, man?” he demanded.
“I’m a human. And a convict,” Coraolis added. “And you?”
“Human. I’m Sully,” the other man said, then barked out a laugh. “Yeah, you look real human. You’re one of those Mystics they talked about on the streams, ain’t you?”
“You’ve heard of us?” Coraolis asked.
“Yeah, man, the Butchers of Ian’s World. You’re famous,” Sully said.
Coraolis sputtered. The term ‘Butchers’ was extreme, especially when they hadn’t hurt a single person when they mutinied. They’d threatened, yes, but they were lucky that no one had called their bluff. He couldn’t’ have gone through with his threats.
“Maybe it’s infamous. Either way. You got a rep walking in here, that’s good. Just don’t pull anything where the guards can see it, yeah?” Sully said.
“I certainly won’t,” Coraolis said. His stomach sank the more they talked. “Why are we butchers?”
“You made three ships worth of people disappear. People are saying you fed ‘em to dragons. That true?”
Coraolis opened his mouth to deny it, then closed it again. Rumors like that might mean they hadn’t found the settlers on Geneva. Maybe they hadn’t even looked. That was hopeful. It was a reason not to tell the truth, as friendly as the man seemed.
“I wouldn’t want to incriminate myself further,” he replied, instead. “Treason is bad enough.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Sully sighed. He scooted back to his desk and picked up his datapad. “Now, we’ve got a few forms to fill out. I’m a trustee, that means I’m a prisoner the guards trust. That means you want me to be your friend, right?”
There was a little tremor in that question, almost undetectable. Coraolis felt for the man. Here he’d been confronted with a monster, and Cor couldn’t comfort him with the knowledge he was harmless. Same with Dante, Julia, and Jack. Instead, they had to maintain a lie to protect the people on Geneva.
“I could always use another friend,” he said.
“Good thinking, Butch,” Sully said.
“Coraolis,” he said.
“Right. Coraolis. I’m gonna show you everything you need to get by around here.”
***
True to his word, Sully proved to be a good friend to have. After he helped Coraolis with the paperwork, they went on a tour of the complex. The prisoners’ barracks were at the center of the
complex with a high wall around the perimeter. Beyond that was a sonic barrier that kept out the nastiest predators and parasites. Beyond that, the grounds were surrounded by an equatorial jungle blanketing a titanic mountain range.
The facility was called January Five, or J-5. It boasted almost five hundred prisoners, a guard to every ten convicts. Every prisoner wore a collar like Coraolis’s that could put them to sleep at the push of a button, or even if their brainwaves indicated violent thoughts.
Most of the prisoners worked in the orchards. Others did janitorial work or administrative tasks. The more the guards liked someone, the sweeter their gig, which was how Sully had landed in the administrative office. He came across as a good guy, and Coraolis liked him immediately. If the other prisoners shied away from Sully, well, that was probably because he was in Coraolis’s company, and Coraolis had the reputation of a monster.
“Keep your head down, be helpful to the guards, and someday they’ll put you in a soft gig like mine,” Sully said. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Now, I don’t just give tours. I can find you whatever you want. Chocolate, cigarettes, video streamers, you just let me know.”
“That’s all very tempting, but I would like to find my friends,” Coraolis said.
“Hell, that’s easy. Come with me,” Sully said.
The workers had all returned from the orchards during the tour, and as Sully led Coraolis into the exercise yard, he got a sense of just how many people were imprisoned at J-5. The area was large enough to contain an entire sports arena and then some, yet it was crowded with sweaty men and women in prison uniforms and dull metal collars.
Sully squeezed through the crowd for the first few feet, then prisoners began noticing Coraolis. The first startled shout attracted a lot of attention, and they cleared the way as he advanced. He heard a few whispers about dragons and butchers, but he ignored them. It was all he could do not to apologize.
Then the last of the crowd parted and he saw Julia, Jack, Dante, and Barbara sitting on some risers that could have held twenty more, yet they were alone. Jack saw him first. He tugged Julia’s sleeve. She looked up and, a moment later, flung herself into his arms.
She wasn’t alone. Moments later, Dante embraced him, then Jack, and Barbara. Tears streamed down his face by the time they’d finished greeting one another. It wasn’t until they’d been reunited he realized how much he’d missed them.
Sully looked on with a satisfied expression. He took out a little book and made a note, angling himself so anyone in the crowd could see what he was doing. Coraolis saw but had no idea what it meant. It didn’t matter. He was with his loved ones, and that was all he cared about.
“I’ll give you guys some privacy,” Sully said. He disappeared into the crowd before Coraolis could thank him.
“He seemed nice. Who was he?” Julia asked.
“A new friend, I hope. He helped me find you.”
“We could use a little intel,” Jack requested. “Nobody else wants to talk to us.”
“There’s a reason for that. Did you know that we’re called the Butchers of Ian’s World?” Coraolis said. “They say we slaughtered the crew of the Morris, Forty-Two, and Doomslayer. They think we’re monsters.”
Julia gaped, then broke into a laughing fit that doubled her over. Jack and Dante joined her. Coraolis grinned, even though he didn’t find it as funny. The other prisoners moved farther away, giving the Mystics more space.
“That’s ridiculous,” Julia said, nearly choking on her words.
“It is,” Coraolis agreed. “Good thing they don’t know that, though. Right?”
“Right,” Dante agreed.
Julia sobered and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was still grinning in a way that spoke of more laughter being held back.
“You know what’s funny?” Barbara asked. She wasn’t laughing; there was more concern than humor in her eyes. “We’re probably surrounded by the worst criminals humanity has to offer, and they’re the ones afraid of us.”
“They can’t all be murderers,” Coraolis objected.
“Most,” she said. “Not many other crimes gets you life in prison, and January only takes those with more than one life sentence. These people are all violent offenders.”
Coraolis turned to look at the other prisoners. Some stared back, others avoided his gaze. Those who were closest chose to mask their fear with hostility, but he saw through those masks to the humanity underneath. They were fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. They were people.
“Whatever they did, we’re all stuck on the same rock now,” he said. “I think we’ll be okay.”
***
Sully proved his friendship many times over the next few days. He pulled some strings to put Coraolis and his friends in the same barracks. The guards didn’t seem to care what went on so long as no one wound up in the infirmary, thus Sully’s changes went by unchallenged.
They claimed three two-man rooms at the end of a back hallway. Coraolis and Julia took the first, Dante and Jack the next, and Barbara had her own cell. Sully hadn’t just made room for her, he’d cleared out the whole room. She said she liked the quiet.
Coraolis received his work assignment on his second day. He reported to the Intake building as ordered. Sully greeted him.
“You’ll be working with me,” he said.
Coraolis was surprised. He’d thought the office work was something a prisoner earned after years on January, but he wasn’t about to argue. He was happy to get to know his new friend.
The morning was spent going through files on new prisoners. Sully wanted to know who had family back home, versus people who were completely alone. Coraolis gathered the information, organizing it by how often those prisoners communicated with their people on Earth.
“What will you do with this information?” he asked over lunch. “I can’t think how it would be useful.”
“There are two kinds of people. The ones with nothing to lose, and the ones with everything. I want to know who is who,” Sully said.
“Ah.” Coraolis thought it over. “Why is that?”
“If I can help their families back home, then maybe they help me here,” Sully said. He was giving Coraolis a strange little smile as if he were realizing something for the first time. “People with nothing left, there isn’t much I can do for ‘em.”
“I see,” Coraolis said.
“I’m not sure you do,” Sully said, but he laughed. “Come on. We got one more job before we start on that filing.”
That job consisted of standing in a doorway with his arms crossed while Sully had a private conversation with Benny, another prisoner. Coraolis did his best not to listen in, but he heard something about a daughter. Benny seemed worried, Sully reassuring. Benny was sweating by the time the conversation was over, despite the cool air, and he kept looking at Coraolis. He flinched when Coraolis smiled at him, so he stopped smiling.
“Did you get what you needed?” he asked Sully.
“Indeed I did.” Sully slapped Coraolis on the back. “We make a good team, Butch.”
“It’s Coraolis.”
“Whatever you say.”
***
The others were gathered in Barbara’s room when he returned to the barracks. He sat next to Julia on the bed and took her hand. She nudged him with her shoulder, not quite smiling. She looked tired.
“What did I miss?” he asked.
“Everything,” Jack said.
“We were saying how we can’t stay here. Someone needs to set off the device, and we can’t just hope someone will do it near a dragon,” Dante said. “Besides that, I’m not keen on doing slave labor to earn my keep.”
“I can’t argue with that, but how do we do it? We’re powerless with these collars,” Coraolis said.
“We’ve got time to figure it out,” Julia said.
“Sure,” Jack said. “We’ve got the rest of our lives.”
“I don’t think it will take that long.
I’ve made friends here,” Coraolis said.
“That Sully guy? I heard he runs the black market. People say he’s dangerous,” Julia said.
“They just don’t know him,” Coraolis said. “He’s harmless.”
Julia gave him a skeptical look.
“Really,” Coraolis said.
“Felons don’t fear harmless men. I haven’t seen a single person here who seemed to deserve their sentence, but maybe one in seven is a non-violent offender. I don’t even know if they’re telling the truth, but they seem nice,” Julia said.
“I met a man today. We sat down to lunch together, and he told me about how he cut a man’s throat in cold blood. But all I saw in him was the desire to share a meal, maybe make a friend.” Dante rubbed his temples. “We need to be careful about who we trust. Are you sure about Sully, Cor?”
“As sure as I am of you,” Coraolis answered.
“That’s good enough for me. Do you think he’ll help us?” Julia asked.
“It won’t do any harm to ask,” Coraolis said.
***
Sully was in his cubicle the next morning, eating a slab of Gorgo, a yellow fruit native to January. It smelled and tasted like a citrusy peach. Sully was obviously enjoying himself, so Coraolis took a seat to wait.
The cubicle was remarkably bare. Sully had a talent for finding lost items and getting his hands on hard-to-get items, but he didn’t have a single poster or figurine at his desk. The only items on it were his datapad and the plate of fruit.
“Morning, sport. Sleep well?” Sully asked.
“I slept fine. And you?” Coraolis asked.
“Not bad, not bad. Want a bite? It’s fresh.”
“No, but thank you. I was hoping for a favor.”
“I figured, since you aren’t slated to work until later.” Sully pushed his plate to the side rested his folded hands on the desk. “You’ve been a friend to me so far. I’d say you qualify for a discount.”
“That’s good because I don’t have much,” Coraolis said and laughed nervously. “I need to get this collar off. Can you get me the key?”
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