Prisoners of Paradise

by Brandon Lars Erikson

  Van Dien’s eyes froze in place. The hand that held his cigarette seemed stuck in time as Rex narrowed his eyes and smiled as he said, “I know you had the government buy those buildings and turned them into emergency housing for all those poor people that were laid off from their jobs…but some of those buildings have the ability to go into a lockdown mode, trapping the occupants inside of them, why is that?”

  Van Dien’s mind began to swirl with anger and remorse, but he remained stoic as he said, “Rex…you sound crazy, you do realize that you sound absolutely insane right now?”

  “Oh yeah? Well how about all the no-bid contracts that went to The Hydroplantations to make all those emergency rations? What are your plans for those? I spoke with a contractor who helped you make some kind of water-proof sonar amplification device…what the hell is that for?”

  Van Dien pressed his lips together as he heard Rex saying, “I’ve got all kinds of things to report to the Ailanian Government’s Internal Revenue Service! I know how trillions of tax dollars that got misdirected to projects of yours that cannot be accounted for! You don’t know who you are dealing with here! No one does this to Rex Broadstein!”

  Van Dien couldn’t stop himself from making a fist as he saw Rex grinning again.

  “No, Rex…” Van’s eyes narrowed as he began to grind his teeth. “You don’t know who you are dealing with.”

  Location: The Go-Go District…Downtown Polynea…Ailana

  Ailanian Standard Time: 2100 Hours.

  Bronson Petrilock made his way from the dance floor to the club’s backdoor. He needed a bit of privacy in order to make a call on his com, and the alleyway seemed like the best choice. Once he was out the door, the noise from the bar along with the music from the dance floor came to an abrupt stop. Bronson soon found himself in a dark, quiet spot.

  Across the alleyway, on the other side of the street, Agent Charlie took out a camera and focused it on the man he had just seen leaving the back exit of the bar.

  “Bronson Petrilock…if you only knew what my boss wants to talk to you about,” Charlie thought as he focused on the man who was dialing his cell phone. Charlie gasped as he saw a pair of red lights appearing from the darkness at the back of the alley. The darkness appeared to take the form of a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a black hat and trench coat.

  “What the hell?” Charlie thought. His heart started pounding as he realized the man in black was dragging Bronson back into the darkness. Charlie suddenly felt the incredible urge to flee, a feeling he had not experienced since he was a boy. “I better get the hell out of here!”

  Without giving what he had seen anymore thought or consideration, Charlie put his hovercar into drive and flew away as fast as he could down the street.

  Bronson felt the intense pressure from the brick wall behind him as the man in black pressed him into it so hard he thought his lungs were going to collapse. Bronson tried to gasp as he stared with horror into the man’s glowing eyes.

  “What do you want?” Bronson coughed when he finally had the chance to breath. The man in black dropped him to the ground. Bronson moaned in pain and rolled onto his back as the man in black stood there casually feeling around in his coat pockets.

  When he found what he was looking for, the man in black tossed the item to the ground beside the man he had just assaulted.

  Bronson heard the object hit the ground next to him. He grabbed his bruised ribs and rolled back onto his side, where he saw a small monitor, no bigger or thicker than a credit card lying on the ground. The monitor lit up and a voice could be heard saying, “Hello Bronson…if you want to live, then you better listen carefully to what I have to say…something big is about to happen on Ailana…and I need your help to make sure that it happens just the way I want it to.”

  “What the hell is this all about?” Bronson cried out in pain and disbelief.

  “This is all about you telling me the specific location where your boss, Marco, is keeping some very specific merchandise that he smuggled here from Earth. Don’t worry, Bronson, we don’t want to hurt you…we just want to know where this merchandise is located. If you help us, we’ll help you escape this planet. And trust me, you don’t want to be on Ailana much longer, because if our plan is successful…things are gonna get real ugly around here real quick.”

  Location: The last stop…Ailana.

  Ailanian Standard Time: 2030 Hours.

  In the dream, Marco remembered the brown, desert sands of North Africa, and how his armored spaceship flew from behind the mountains and landed next to the crashed Military transport. He remembered how his crew had fired multiple laser bolts out of the cargo bay door, which sent the handful of soldiers, who had been guarding the crash site, running for cover beyond the large sand dunes.

  His heart rate increased as he remembered how he had been shouting orders, “Blast those cargo holds open! The items we want should be in the middle containers!”

  He reflected upon the feeling of great satisfaction as he saw the cargo from the crash site being loaded onto his spaceship with ease and efficiency. His cyborg employees had worked quickly and without any fear of being caught. There had been no hesitation in their actions, and within less than five minutes, his spaceship was now full of contraband that would make him a lot of money.

  “Are you sure we want these items here?” One of his cyborgs said as his spaceship blasted off into the stratosphere. “Who would want these things?”

  “There are some folks on Ailana who special ordered them…and they already gave me an impressive down payment so I intend to give them just what they want.”

  “Marco, these things are pretty serious…these things are the real deal…what do these folks on Ailana plan on doing with them?”

  “That’s their business…now shut up and fly us to Ailana! We’ve got some money to make!”

  Marco gasped as he woke up. He sat on the side of the bed and noticed that his red-haired companion had just stepped out of the shower and was toweling herself off. How long had he been holed up in this room? Hours? Days? He didn’t even know anymore since the drugs and alcohol had made him slip in and out of consciousness while his mind tried to figure out what had happened to his once care-free life. The bedroom was dark, and as the light poured out of the bathroom, Marco admired the young woman’s milky-white features as the towel made its way across her skin.

  His head hurt with stressful anticipation as he said, “ya know…I never did catch your name.”

  She smiled at him as she dried her arms and said, “My stage name is Nova…as in a star that is about to explode. My real name is Alice…and since we’ve gotten so close, I’d love it if you called me Alice.”

  “Alice,” Marco muttered as he head began to burn with a combination of intoxicants and misery. “Tell me, Alice…how did a sweet gal such as you…end up in a shit-hole of a planet such as this?”

  “Ailana ain’t so bad,” she said as she bent over and dried her legs. “I like the way the people without money band together and help each other out here. Don’t get me wrong, most of the rich people on Ailana are selfish assholes…everything they do is only meant to help themselves.”

  “But a beautiful escort, such as you, should be able to get any guy she wants.”

  “I want someone who is real,” She said calmly. “I find it really weird how most of these rich Moralists, who get off telling poor people, like me, that we need to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and stop asking for welfare and charity. You do realize these people are fake and fooling themselves? They didn’t earn the wealth they have. Ya know they wouldn’t have gotten rich if the government hadn’t helped them out with all that so-called pro-business legislation, which allowed them to steal from their fellow man. And once the economy went bad on Ailana, it was those same rich people who tried to put the blame on us Immoral people for what went wrong. They know the recession
was caused by their greed. But yet, they claim it was the choices we Immorals make as to how we live our lives which caused the economy to tank. Everybody has to have a scapegoat.”

  “A scapegoat…we need someone to blame this all on…someone the law can focus on so that we can get away with this…” Marco found himself short of breath, “Yeah…Moralism sucks…”

  “But the poor people here seem too willing to share and give what little they have…hell, if it weren’t for the Moralists, and their bought and paid for government that backs em’ up, this world would be a real humane kind of place to live.”

  “Humane?” Marco said as his mind swirled with fear, “do you think that I…am humane?”

  “I can tell that you’re a good guy…you have a good heart. You’ve got your hustle and your own way of doing things…and I respect that. We all gotta do things that might not seem so civilized every once in a while to get by.”

  “Ya know…” Marco stuttered with nervousness and dread, “I’ve had a really nice time with you, Alice…it’s always nice to have company, when you are experiencing misery.”

  “We’re all in this together, baby…you help me…I help you, that’s the way it should be.”

  “Speaking of helping you out, Alice…I need to know something. I think you can tell I’m the kind of guy who hates to be alone…I need someone to talk to. You’ve been real nice to talk to.”

  “I’ve had fun too, baby…you’re a really neat guy. I like talking to you.”

  “Yeah…some of the things we’ve said to each other have been real sweet. But there are a few things…just a few things that got me thinking in a way that I don’t like to think.”

  “What do you mean?” She said as she wrapped the towel around her torso and started combing her hair.

  “I think ya know why I am here…I wanna get rich, as honestly as a man such as myself can. I’ve provided some people with some services…some of these people are good, some are bad…but they all benefited from what I did for them. I think I’ve told you…how I feel…about what I do.”

  “I know you’re a good guy, Marco…you’ve got a good heart…”

  “A good heart? Yeah…and maybe it’s my good heart and generally trusting nature that got me into this situation. Ya meet some people, ya tell em’ some things…they figure out a way to use what you shared with them against you…for their own…evil purposes. When you’re a guy like me, sometimes ya gotta watch what ya say and be careful in who ya trust.”

  “I agree, trust is so very important.”

  Marco’s face looked forlorn and he slouched in a defeated manner as he said, “I mean, my gods, Alice…I’m not a bad guy, I’m just a product of the historical period I was born into. This is undoubtedly the age of selfishness…and this age has created a dog-eat-dog universe. It seems that no one is interested in altruism anymore…everyone is just so selfish, so self-serving…so devoted to the pursuit of self-interests…and that often leads people to use their fellow men and women, as a means to an end, instead of doing something that might help everyone around them. It seems you have to pull someone else down, to lift yourself up anymore…I’m just doing what I gotta to do to ensure I get what I am rightfully entitled to in this life.”

  “Yeah…I can imagine…we live in hard times.”

  He sighed and said, “I’ve been thinking about some of the things we’ve been talking about while we’ve both been cooped up in this hotel room…and sometimes, I think to myself, why would a classy gal, like Alice, want to stay in here with me?”

  She said, “I like you…you’re exciting…and going to Earth with you would be a nice change of pace for me. Ya know that Moralists are cracking down on people like me; it’s getting harder and harder to live the way you want to on Ailana. Even though I love it here, Earth might suite me better, especially if I’m with a wonderful, and handsome man such as you.”

  “Yeah, I know what ya mean…it really is hard here on Ailana. Ya think ya can trust people, and ya end up getting shot at in front of a nightclub, and that gets ya thinking about how some people can’t be trusted after all. I can’t shake this feeling that someone is setting me up…even after all the nice things I did for them. Alice…I’ve been thinking about some of the things you’ve said to me…I might have been smoking and drinking a whole lot while I’ve been here…but when you spoke about the merchandise that I brought to Ailana with me…”

  “You mean those three things you have stashed in that warehouse downtown? I know they must be important to you…it’s the reason why we are waiting here. Ya need your men to get it, because it is so important.”

  “Oh it is? Ya see, what bothers me…is the fact that I don’t remember telling you anything about three…particular items…that you mentioned to me last night.”

  She swallowed nervously as she said, “baby…you told me all about those three things that you have hidden in those warehouses…you told me how important it was to pick them up before we left.”

  “Actually, Alice…I don’t remember telling you anything about what I have hidden in those warehouses. So how could you have known there are three things of great interest to me?”

  “But baby…what does it matter? I really don’t…” Alice felt her heart stopping for a moment as she realized that she was looking right down the barrel of a pistol, which Marco was pointing at her.

  Location: A lounge above the Hobo Hai Club…Downtown Polynea…Ailana

  Ailanian Standard Time: 2045 Hours.

  High Senator Brawnsworth kept a straight face as he sat down in the plush chair that was situated in front of a coffee table. From his perspective, he could not see much of the dark room, and for some unknown reason, the shadows fell just perfectly across the face of the man he was speaking with.

  “We may have another problem,” Brawnsworth said with a dry tone.

  The deep voice seemed to crawl from the darkness, “Yes, Glik and Semnor, they did not come through for us…did they?”

  “Don’t worry about them, I will see to it that they fall in line, but they are not the only problem we have right now. Yes, we need their votes, we need them in their proper places in the High Senate, but more importantly we need access to a certain…account…that they were supposed to set up for us.”

  “Yes,” the deep voice droned. “That account has been compromised once already…apparently, we have greedy people among us…untrustworthy people. I guess that is the culture we have encouraged. Those who are members of Ailana’s elite; it’s corporate CEO’s, the owners of big businesses and those who sit on the board of trustees for the big banks…they have all made it apparent that the almighty dollar is something to be worshiped.”

  Brawnsworth sighed and rubbed his eyes as he said, “there is another reason for this…he has a goal…a plan that we are now obligated to support.”

  “Yes, and that goal has unfortunately been clouded by the fact that we have produced a culture which believes money is something to acquire by any means possible…even if that means cheating workers and creating an economic environment that protects their ability to make money for themselves by bribing government officials. The rich use their money to bribe the government to pass laws that make it impossible for the workers to change their lot in life with invention or by creating their own business which could be potential competitors.”

  “The recession was a necessary part of the plan…we needed certain conditions met for the plan to work.”

  “Yes, this is understood…but we took a tremendous risk when we shaped a political landscape out of scarcity. Money, wealth, prosperity…these seem to be the scarcest of natural resources…and scarcity causes people to do immoral things. This is the example we have set…money is God…and the first commandment is to do whatever it takes to make money and keep it to yourself…no matter if it causes people to starve or be crushed under the heavy boot of tyranny. What
can I say, there are people on this world…who have only learned from the examples set forth by the wealthy they so admire…or envy…and now, these people are dangerous to us and must be eliminated at all costs.”

  Brawnsworth sighed as he said, “Some of those people have been taken care of…but we need access to that account, we need it in order to influence a certain someone who only happens to be in this for the money.”

  “Is there a danger that someone else might be able to discover, and tap into this account as well?”

  “There is no way of knowing that…but it seems that our enemies…are resourceful.”

  “It is a chance we will have to take…however, this might all be over with very soon and that account will not be of any concern to us anymore. We have another player, in a certain crucial position at the moment, who is going to do a certain job for us if we need it.”

  “We have…another, insurance policy?”

  “Surely, High Senator Brawnsworth…you of all people should know that when you play a game such as this…against an opponent such as…him…you better have more than one back-up plan, and another plan in case that one fails as well.”

  “Well, that is good to know…hopefully we will not experience much more, failure, in the immediate future. And as for our part, High Senator Karamotzain is going to rallying his fellow Moralists and start applying the proper pressure to a certain branch of our Central Intelligence Agency…we have a plan to force a bit more compliance from our staff there, if you know what I mean. Believe me; we plan to fulfill our end of the bargain.”

  “I most certainly hope so, High Senator Brawnsworth…something big is about to happen on Ailana…and you will not want to be on the losing side when it finally does.”