Freedom

by Maureen Toonkel

“I am sorry. I overslept. I was dog-tired. I slept right through the alarm. Why didn’t you come and get me?”

  “I thought you probably needed the sleep and I was on a roll and didn’t want to interrupt what I was doing. I’ve got the melting point, 3,793 degrees. But there’s some major problems with the liquid state of the metal.” He brought up some data on his computer screen for Bonnie to read.

  “Whoa!” declared Bonnie. “This could change everything.”

  “That’s exactly what I thought.” Jackson reached for the intercom switch on the console and paged Dennis Pearson. He asked for a meeting. Pearson told him to come to the Conference Room at 1300 hours.

  Jackson and Bonnie spent the next couple of hours confirming Jackson’s calculations and conclusions. They could not find any errors.

  The past image of Delivery Manager Mox standing on a crate barking orders at the slaves crept into Josh’s mind as he carried a heavy box of silver across the warehouse. Had Colonel Flax set them up? Had he planned this? Had Josh been wrong about Flax? Had he led them into a trap? It was almost two hours since they had met Mox in the tunnel. Mox should be leaving for the meeting at the Zoo any minute now. Josh was wondering how he and Keith could escape once Mox left the area.

  Mox walked over to the Deliveries main gate, conferred with the guards, and exited. Keith was stationed at the other end of the long table holding the shiny sheets of silver. Josh tried to get the Lieutenant’s attention and send him some Morse code. He was not having any success as the glare from the silver just kept reflecting back at him. He was growing quite frustrated when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. It was Colonel Flax.

  “Slave, please come with me,” demanded the Colonel. He walked over to Keith Hampton. “You too,” he said, touching Keith on the back.

  Keith and Josh followed the Colonel past the guards and out the Deliveries gate. They went swiftly down the 11 Passageway to the J Lane where they took a right turn. The Colonel led them down the J 1000-1100 Apartment Lane to Apartment 1000. Josh knocked several times on the door. There was no answer. The door was locked. Colonel Flax handed Keith his backpack, and Keith withdrew a lock pick which he used to deftly disengage the lock. Then he set his zip gun on incapacitate and kicked the door open with his foot.

  The apartment was quite large and furnished much more elegantly and luxuriously than the Flax dwelling. There was a crystal chandelier in the entryway which led into a formal dining room that seated twelve comfortably. Off of the dining room were a fully stocked pantry and a very modern kitchen. Nothing looked disturbed or out of place. Nor did it look like anyone had recently been living there.

  They separated as they searched various rooms of the apartment. Colonel Flax followed Captain Stoner as he passed through the kitchen and into a massive living room filled with antique furniture including several sofas, armchairs, lamp tables, coffee tables, armoires, and a vintage oak rolltop desk.

  “General Platt obviously is not here, Captain,” said the Colonel. “So what are we looking for?”

  “Any clue or information that can lead us to where he might be,” answered Josh. “Or can tell us what is going on down here.” Josh went over to the rolltop desk and began opening drawers and sorting through them.

  Colonel Flax walked over to a curtain above the desk and cranked it open. Once opened the Colonel and Josh could see into a hallway. They noticed Lieutenant Hampton proceeding down that hallway.

  Keith entered into a room via two white and gold painted French doors. It was obviously the master bedroom. There was a king-size bed covered with a silk gold bedspread. The headboard and footboard were also gold with gems embedded in such a way that they formed the outline of the planet Saturn. Keith lifted the bedspread and peeked underneath where he saw gold satin sheets.

  General Platt doesn’t like silver! Keith laughed to himself. I wonder why? Keith strolled over to the giant, mirrored closet doors. I bet there’s not many clothes in the closet. I suppose there’s no call for much civilian clothes. I know I don’t have much in my wardrobe aboard the Gladiator. Just a couple of spare uniforms and one or two sets of shore leave clothes. So why does he need such a huge closet? He slid the doors open. It was a walk-in closet. As he suspected there was just a meager selection of clothes hanging on a rod. A couple of Tradian uniforms and two polo shirts. Keith pushed the clothes over to one side so he could get a look at the back of the closet. What he saw was utterly astonishing.

  Ensign Beverly Glenna rolled over and glided her hands along the blanket on the floor. Her eyes popped open and searched the surroundings.

  “Colin!” she shouted. “Are you, here?” That’s odd, she thought. I’m surprised he would leave without letting me know. He’s probably just right outside. She lifted one of the blankets from the floor, wrapped it loosely around her naked body, and then cranked open the latch on the pod door. Sticking her head out she called for Colin. There was no answer. Pulling her head back into the pod she momentarily stood there dazed, wondering where Colin could have gone. Her gaze shifted to the control console, and noticing that the computer screen was turned on, she reasoned that he must have been summoned by Commodore Naper. Beverly quickly got into her uniform, fixed her hair, and took off for the other side of the Lake.

  Last night was wonderful, she thought as she hurried along the pathway through the thick forest. I forgot how much I missed Colin. It felt so comforting to have his arms wrapped around me. With him here I feel safe, like nothing bad can ever happen to me. He is my safety blanket. She closed her eyes and gave herself a hug.

  Opening her eyes and dropping her arms, an image of Keith Hampton appeared on the path in front of her. He was standing there holding out his hand toward her. He looked so handsome with his boyish smile and twinkling eyes. Just seeing him made her heart flutter.

  “Come,” he said. “There are many adventures out there yet to explore.”

  As she reached out her hand to take Keith’s, he vanished. She continued along the walkway, her mind conflicted. The path ended at a clearing and Beverly could see a campsite with tents and a space pod a few yards up ahead. After wandering around for a bit she located Colin Evans in one of the tents. He was working on a set of architectural drawings. He looked up at her when she came in, and then returned back to his work.

  Beverly found his reaction strange. He’s probably just very busy.

  “Aren’t you going to say hello?” she giggled.

  “Who gave you permission to leave your post, Ensign?” replied Colin, without looking up from the drawings.

  My gosh. What’s bugging him? “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “You didn’t answer my question, Ensign.” Colin turned around and looked at Beverly.

  “No one.”

  “Then you can be reported.”

  “Are you going to report me?”

  “I might.”

  “Are you angry at me?” Beverly asked, although she already knew the answer. From the way he was acting since she had entered the tent he obviously was furious with her. But why? What had she done to upset him? The lovemaking last night was fantastic. Was he still mad that she had not announced her engagement to the crew? Surely he couldn’t be so angry over something like that.

  “Yes, I am angry,” Colin answered.

  “About what? I thought we had a great time last night.”

  “Well, I’m glad you had a good time.” Colin turned his back to her and returned his attention to the drawings.

  “Colin, what’s going on?” Beverly said.

  Colin did not reply. He simply continued staring at the architectural drawings. Beverly stepped around the small desk and placed her hands over the paper printouts while positioning her face in front of his.

  “Colin talk to me. What’s got you so upset?”

  Colin stared at her. He let out a breath and finally said, “I was on the computer this morning and pulled up Captain Stoner’s briefing of Project Brisula.”

  �
�Oh.” Beverly turned away from Colin and walked over to a chair alongside the desk. She sat down.

  “Is that all you have to say?” Colin demanded.

  “I was going to tell you about it,” she said. “We haven’t really had the chance yet to talk much and it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.”

  “You spent over a week chained to Keith Hampton, and you never told him you were engaged.”

  “We had very little time to speak to one another.”

  “And after you were rescued and you returned to the ship?”

  “I ended our friendship.”

  “But you still didn’t tell him you were engaged?”

  “No.”

  “Why did you tell him that you couldn’t be friends any longer?”

  “I just told him I didn’t want to be his friend any more.”

  “Why? I am sure he asked for a reason.” Colin pounded a clenched fist on the desk. “Why?”

  “Colin does it matter?”

  “Yes. I need to know the truth.”

  Beverly bit her tongue and then said, “I told him that I didn’t love him any more.” She looked at Colin and tears began to build up in her eyes. “Colin, you need to understand how it was on Brisula. I wouldn’t have been able to survive without Keith. I didn’t think I would ever see you again. I thought we were going to be enslaved on Brisula for the rest of our lives.”

  Colin turned away from Beverly. “Ensign, get some food to eat and then return to your post. That’s an order.” He picked up the drawings. Beverly stared at Colin for a few moments, wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her uniform, got up from the chair, and left the tent.

  “OK, so what do you have for us?” Dennis Pearson asked Jackson Greene. They were assembled in the Conference Room. Diane had ordered lunch from the Galley so everyone was munching on cold sandwiches and hot soup. Dennis watched the science officer who was laying down the spoon he had been using to consume the steaming soup. I sure hope Greene has come up with an alternative to jilcojack for igniting the rods because I sure didn’t come up with a solution.

  “Well sir,” began Officer Greene. His Braille notes were laid out in front of him on the table. He also had his laptop and a wireless transceiver, which was protruding from his right ear. “We’ve established that the melting point is 3,793 degrees Celsius. We can use the lightning rods as you suggested. Jilcojack would be an excellent source for heating the rods as it can safely be heated to that high of a temperature, and we have an abundant supply. However, Lieutenant Shea and I have uncovered a problem. As you will recall, I said that when we liquefy the metal and it turns into a watery substance, it would evaporate before it reaches Brisula. Therefore, if the liquid was toxic, it would not harm Brisula since it would never make contact with the planet. Under normal circumstances this would be true. However, by using jilcojack we would be creating an abnormal situation. Jilcojack is extremely toxic and it is also heavy. That means it would add weight to the liquid causing it to fall closer to Brisula before it would evaporate. According to my calculations, if we use jilcojack not all of the liquid is going to evaporate before reaching Brisula. Some may get absorbed into the clouds above the planet and eventually turn into rain that can then poison the forest and the Lake.”

  Dennis put down his cup of chicken noodle soup. “So jilcojack is definitely out. Do we have any other heating source?” he asked.

  “Not that I’ve been able to come up with, sir,” answered Jackson. “I feel we also need to think carefully about releasing the liquid into the air. I know I’ve said it would evaporate but I am rethinking that. There is always a chance that some of the toxic liquid might travel further than expected or could get absorbed in a cloud or some debris.”

  “Are you suggesting, mister, that we abandon the plan to disarm the force field?” Dennis questioned.

  “Not at all, sir,” Jackson quickly responded. “I am merely pointing out the possible dangers of what we are attempting.”

  “I see.” Dennis picked up his cup of soup and slowly sipped on it. The room was quiet for several minutes as everyone waited for Dennis to break the silence.

  It was the other Pearson who broke the stillness.

  “Is there a way to collect the liquid in a tank or something?” asked Diane to no one in particular.

  Dennis put down his soup and chuckled. “That’s cute, dear,” he said. Then an idea came to him. “Hold on, you may have something,” he exclaimed. “Jackson, we have giant, super-heavy plastic Dumpster bags that can hold over two hundred tons of trash. You know, the kind we use for hauling our non-incineratorable trash to the Sanitation Stations. Would it be possible to collect the liquid in some of those bags?”

  “I think that could work, sir. I will need to calculate the approximate volume and weight of the liquefied substance in order to determine how many bags will be needed to contain all of the liquid. We will then need to formulate a way to feed the liquid into the bags. And, of course, we need to make sure the bags are both waterproof and leakproof.”

  “Jackson, you work on the dimensions of the bag. I’ll work on rigging up some contraption to collect the liquid, and I will test the bag itself. Let’s check back in two hours.” Dennis raised his cup and swigged down the rest of his soup.

  Commander Andrews reached for his zip gun in the holster secured to his waist.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, sir,” said Wayne Shasta. He held up a gun and pointed it at Marlana Berg’s head. “Not if you want your sexy new ship’s doctor to stay alive.” He smiled at the Commander who dropped his hands to his sides. “That’s better. Now, hand it over,” he demanded. Wayne took the zip gun from Dave and stuffed it into the waistband of his uniform pants. “OK, let’s go.”

  “Lieutenant, I order you to drop your weapon. I am still your superior officer,” said Andrews.

  “No, sir,” responded Shasta. “I take orders now only from Captain Torgenson.”

  “Lieutenant Shasta, if you will stop for a moment and think about what you are doing, you will realize how foolish your actions are. Do you really want to jeopardize your whole career? You are a fine young officer with a brilliant future to look forward to. What you are doing is going to end any chance of that ever happening,” said Andrews trying to reason with the young officer.

  “Quit your babbling. Captain Torgenson has assured me that he is recommending me for a promotion. Now get moving.”

  Dave could see that there was no getting through to this obviously misguided laser technician. Probably it was best to go along with him, otherwise in his confused state of mind Shasta could be dangerous. He signaled Dr. Berg via a nod that they should obey Shasta’s demands.

  Wayne put his hand on Dave’s shoulder and yanked him out the door. Marlana followed behind. During Dave’s exchange with Shasta, she managed to slip off her backpack containing Penelope, and she handed it to Salton.

  Before the apartment door even closed someone shouted, “Wait!” It was Gina Flax.

  Oh, no! thought Marlana. She saw me give Salton the backpack with Penelope.

  Mrs. Flax had earlier squeezed past the two Gladiator officers poised in the doorway; now she walked back out. She hurried up to Marlana getting so close that their noses almost touched. “The children?” she asked.

  “They are both severely dehydrated,” Dr. Berg told her. “You need to give them lots of clear liquids for the next several days. No solid food. If they do not improve after a few days you may want to have a doctor prescribe an antibiotic.”

  “Thank you, doctor.” Mrs. Flax turned her back to the doctor and quickly retreated into her apartment.

  Dave and Marlana began walking through the maze of the silver tunnels. Lieutenant Shasta kept his zip gun pointed at their backs as he directed them - first down the 7 Passageway, and then west on the E Lane to the 4 Passageway, where they went south. Then it was a left onto the D Lane.

  Marlana’s legs were starting to give out. They were knotted with cramps from bein
g restricted in one position for so long when she was chained up with the Captain in the Construction Site. Spending the night in a cramped closet didn’t help the situation either. And now all this walking was causing the muscles in her calves to tighten up. On top of that the glare from the silver walls was giving her a headache. She wished that she had thought to put on the sunglasses in her backpack before Wayne Shasta had arrived. She looked over at Dave Andrews and saw that he, too, was squinting his eyes. I wonder how the Captain and Mr. Hampton managed to survive down here for so long. She looked up and saw a sign hanging from the roof that made her shiver.

  Wayne directed them to take a right, which brought them back to the 7 Passageway and they continued south until they came to the C Lane. According to the sign on the wall ahead of them the Punishment Center was to the left. Marlana recalled listening to the Captain and Ensign Glenna’s accounts of the torture they endured in those rooms during their captivity a few weeks ago. She let out a sigh of relief when Lieutenant Shasta ordered them to go right. They took a final turn onto the 4 Passageway. The silver walls gave way to stone and dirt. Then suddenly a giant, steel gate rose up in front of them. Wayne pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket, fidgeted with it, and then inserted one long key into the padlock, so that he could slide open the huge gate. He directed them over to another gate, opened it, relieved Andrews of his backpack and belt pack, and then mercilessly pushed each of the Gladiator officers through the opening into Cage B.

  “You will remain here until Captain Torgenson decides what to do with you,” Wayne told the two officers. “Captain Stoner and Lieutenant Hampton should be joining you shortly.”

  “Have they been apprehended?” asked Andrews.

  “Not yet, but I am sure they will be.”

  “Lieutenant Shasta, I appeal to you one more time. It is not too late to reconsider your actions. Please think strongly about what you are doing. Why would UGC condone any hostilities against crew members of the Gladiator? Can’t you see that Captain Torgenson has apparently lost his mind?” pleaded Commander Andrews.