Prisoners of Paradise

by Brandon Lars Erikson

  Harris tried not to blush as he said, “Yeah, she needs to get exercise now.”

  “You were holding her hand.”

  “I was just…supporting her, like a crutch,” Harris said as he flipped a pancake. “It’s real tough getting used to using your legs after you have lost use of them…believe me, I know that all too well.”

  “I’m so surprised you helped her the way you did.” Patrick raised his eyebrows and said, “She was so mean to you.”

  “Well, I can’t say I blame her…going through reverse menopause must be real tough, lots of hormones and all,” Harris said. “She’s actually a real sweet person, once ya get to know her.”

  “I understand she’s an archeologist or something like that.”

  “Yep, she’s got a Ph.D. in archeology,” Harris said while flipping over another one of the pancakes in the pan. “She’s going to Ailana to do some excavating.”

  “Is she is going to look for some sort of a lost civilization or something?”

  “She hasn’t said…but from what she has told me, she sure chose an interesting career.”

  Patrick took a sip of coffee and sighed, “I chose cooking because, as a child, it allowed me to stay close to my mother. We spent hours in the kitchen together making all sorts of treats and meals for the family. What made you decide on your career?”

  “I really don’t know…” Harris said as he began to stare off into space. “Sometimes…I think it was chosen for me.”

  “Well for me, becoming a cook was easy when I was conscripted into The Military…I’ve always cooked.”

  “And I’ve always killed…for someone,” Harris said. His eyes starting to glass over, his mind started melting again.

  Patrick said, “I hated The Military at first, because I had to leave my mother. I had to join because I got fired from so many jobs on Earth and I got caught shoplifting. Later on, I went to school for cooking, it was an interesting experience.”

  “Yeah, I know what ya mean…school was a real interesting experience for me too.” In his fleeting mind, Harris saw the dark waves gently washing up onto the sand and then retreat. It was night and there was no moon. Harris remembered how the young man, who was bound at the wrists and ankles, laid on the sand, his mouth straining to form words through the tape that was slapped across his face. He seemed to panic as he lay there, helpless, and scared out of his mind. Somehow, he knew he was not going to walk away from this. But that didn’t stop him from begging for his life. Harris felt his head hurt as he remembered how the boy sobbed and pleaded the best he could through the tape.

  “Please…don’t do this…NO! NOOOOO!”

  Harris gasped as he remembered another young man’s queasy voice saying “Iki…do we have to do this?”

  Harris clenched his teeth tightly and held his breath until his lungs burned as remembered the sound of his own voice replying, “Yes…we do.”

  Harris remembered how the sound of gunshots rang out. He recalled seeing how their victim was soon bleeding all over the sandy beach. He closed his eyes and felt himself shaking as he remembered how the giant crabs rose out of the sand, grabbed the body and disappeared into the water with their dinner.

  “Captain?” A voice called from the fog. “Captain Harris, you’re burning that pancake.”

  “Oh,” Harris said as he snapped to attention. “Thanks, I almost didn’t notice that.”

  Patrick seemed melancholy and bored. “So, why are you going to Ailana anyway?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” Harris said as he tried to concentrate.

  “Yeah, I know what ya mean. I’ve done a number of things on that planet that I would rather not talk about either. Whoa, the last time I was there, let me tell ya…the prostitutes, are unbelievable. However, with these new sex change operations that they got nowadays…ya gotta be careful when you’re in the Red Light Districts on Ailana, because sometimes…the boys can be prettier than the girls…if ya know what I mean…”

  Harris looked at him as if he was unimpressed.

  Patrick decided to change the subject as he said, “My parents moved to Ailana from Earth, and tried their hand as colonists there for a while before they got smart and moved back to Earth. They told me all about what it was like to live there during the height of the War Machine era. Earth made a big deal of the whole thing, my parents were told about sunshine and beaches and palm trees and endless opportunity in the brochure. However, they ended up living in a crappy, over-priced, little apartment, eating Meals Ready To Digest, working in an ammunition factory…and partying way too much. But the cool thing was, if they got tired of working, they didn’t have to show up, the rules for the workers were really lax back in those days, vacation hours and sick leave could be abused and no one got fired. There was just so much work available that they could take a few weeks off and just go lay around drunk on the beach if they wanted to. It seemed that they could party all they wanted, until they ran out of money, and needed to go back to work in the factories again to earn more.”

  “Yeah,” Harris said, “I heard all about the War Machine Era…it must have been quite a time.”

  Patrick said, “My parents told me all about the big parties the native Ailanian people would throw with music and dancing, booze, care-free sex and drugs. My gods…they got to do all kinds of drugs, the lucky saps. However, my parents were a couple of spendthrift Immorals and living on Ailana didn’t get them anywhere in life, because all they wanted to really do was drink and get high…but apparently, I was conceived on the beach at one of those wild celebrations after they got incredibly high on Makani leaves. And unfortunately for me, after my mother got knocked up…they decided to clean up their act and move back to Earth. But I often wondered if my father really was my father, because, well, quite frankly…I really don’t look anything like him. Gods, they must have had fun, they keep telling me that if you actually do remember the War Machine years on Ailana…well then, you really weren’t there.”

  “So I’ve heard…”

  “It really was too bad for guys like you and me, Captain Harris, the Moralists crashed the party that our parents got to enjoy and things just went to shit there…ya can’t just have fun the way ya used to on that planet. Did you ever smoke Makani leaves, Captain?”

  “No,” Harris said sternly, his head buzzing with anxiety and his face stoic to cover up his white lie, “I grew up during The Moralist era on Ailana…I never did anything like that.”

  “Oh come on, Captain,” Patrick said in jest, “You were born and raised there and never smoked Makani leaves when you were a kid? Be honest now.”

  “I don’t remember much about being a kid anymore, Patrick,” Harris said as he finished his work for the breakfast in bed and got ready to leave.

  “What do you mean by that?” Patrick asked sounding a bit perplexed.

  “Doesn’t matter, apparently most of my life ain’t worth remembering anyway.”

  Location: EMS Rousseau

  Standard Ship Time: 2300 Hours…(Adjusted to match time in orbit)

  “Can I open my eyes yet?” Jori asked as she walked, with just a slight limp that slowed her down and made her concentrate on what she was doing.

  “No, not yet,” Harris said in a friendly, fun-filled voice. “We’re not quite there.”

  “Ron,” Jori said and giggled, “What is this about?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Really?” Jori said, giggling some more. “That sounds kinda neat.”

  “I know you’ll like it,” Harris said calmly.

  He was holding her hand to help her walk, since she wasn’t quite used to using her legs yet. Her face was beautiful and her long, white hair flowed radiantly about her. Her skin was smooth as silk with a milky white appearance and she looked young and vibrant again.

  “We’re almost there,” He reassured he
r.

  The effects of the space travel accident still afflicted her. She felt herself fatiguing easily and the walk was a long one.

  “I’m not as tired as I used to be,” she said.

  “You’re doing great,” he said as he sympathized with her plight. They walked slowly as he made sure she didn’t fall from her limping. They took frequent breaks on the way to their destination, which was closer to the stern of the ship. They stopped at lounge areas and quietly made fun of the shoes other people wore and the hairstyles that they had. A few minutes ago, Harris had told her to close her eyes.

  Jori was finding this journey to be thrilling as she said, “Can I open them yet?”

  “No. Not quite yet,” Harris said as he pushed a button that made a circular doorway open. “O.K., watch your step. There’s a puka on the other side of the door.”

  “Puka?”

  “Oh yeah, sorry,” Harris said, “That’s an Ailanian word. It means hole. Well, I guess it means, depression, actually…the floor is lower on the other side of this door. It’s, like a step down, so just be careful.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” Jori giggled as she clutched Harris’ hand for support. When they were in the next room, Harris closed the door. “O.K. you can open your eyes now.”

  Jori opened her eyes to the most beautiful sight she could imagine. Harris had led her down a passageway, to a room that had a very large, round window, which was pieced together in several triangular sections that gave it a convex shape.

  Outside of the window was Ailana a beautiful, pale blue sphere.

  Jori instantly noticed that the island continent of Gwanlachek could not be seen from where they were in orbit. She gasped as she saw how the sunlight illuminated the ocean side of the planet turning it sapphire and deep royal blue colors. Her eyes opened wide and were filled with amazement at how the planet appeared like an enormous blue pearl, sitting on an endless piece of black velvet, as the stars around it sparkled like tiny diamonds.

  Harris saw the look on Jori’s face. It was pure fascination and astonishment, like she was paying homage to a deity.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said with awe in her voice. “It’s so very…beautiful.”

  “Yeah, it sure is…” Harris said with an almost uninterested tone of voice.

  Jori snuggled up to him a bit more. Harris seemed almost like ice.

  “What’s troubling you?” She asked. Her voice was like a warm quilt.

  “I just realized something….” Harris said softly, he seemed to be holding back tears. “The last time I saw this view…I was leaving…I remember I was standing in a line with a group of recruits. We were being shipped off to basic training…I remember thinking to myself, ‘this is it…I’m leaving home…this will be the last time I ever see it.’”

  Jori got even closer and said softly, “There’s something else bothering you, isn’t there?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s got something do with…coming home, right?”

  Harris spoke quietly, with a hint of unconscious self, “I guess…I just don’t know what to expect down there…it has been so long…it has been so…so very hard.”

  “What’s been so hard?”

  “I don’t think you’d be able to understand,” Harris said with a sad voice. “I really don’t understand why I feel the way I do. I feel like I should be so happy to be coming here. I spent a lifetime here, but one day, I left…and I don’t really know why. It’s so hard to explain how I feel about this.”

  She looked at him with love in her eyes as she said, “I want you to try.”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then opened his eyes and faced the light as he said, “Like I said, looking out this window, just now, my memories of seeing this planet right before I was shipped off to basic training, just came back to me. But the strange thing is…if you had asked me about that memory yesterday, I couldn’t have described it for you…it’s like it didn’t even exist until this very moment.”

  Jori smiled as she put her head on his chest. “I’m like that when I look at old picture albums…memories that were suppressed in my mind come leaping back unexpectedly.”

  “You don’t understand,” He said with a sigh. “They told me that my combat suit might screw up the wiring in my brain…they told me the medicine would block the horrible memories of war…but they never said that my tour of duty in The Military would cost me the memories I wanted to keep.”

  She patted his chest and looked at him with sorrow-filled eyes.

  He looked emotionally drained and spiritually lost as he said, “Tomorrow morning…I’m meeting with an Ailanian Law Enforcement Official. He’s someone I grew up with. I knew this guy…I was close to him. I know that I knew him well…but as I stand here with you…I can’t even begin to describe one thing about him. I couldn’t tell you even one thing that we did together. A logical person would assume I would remember lots of things about who we were as kids and what we did together. But I don’t remember anything.”

  “Ron, that doesn’t make any sense,” She said with a sympathetic voice that still somehow conveyed her sense of being skeptical.

  “Of course it doesn’t…but the reality is that when I was briefed on Earth for this mission, and they told me that I would be sharing command of this mission with a friend that I went to high school with…one would just assume I’d be thrilled…but his name and his face didn’t register…for the life of me, I couldn’t remember him. Then, about half way through this trip…I started to remember some things.”

  “Like what?” She said with curiosity.

  “Just stupid things like…gym class and playing games after school, pointing to girls walking down the street and commenting on their good looks. Surfing…I remembered how Captain Moke Kalapana and I used to love surfing. And then…I remembered some things that we did together…which don’t make any sense at all…and then, what’s worse…I remembered something this morning…”

  Harris felt himself gasping for a breath; the fear was beginning to paralyze him.

  “What?”

  “I remember all the e-mails I wrote to him when I was in basic training, and when I was in combat in the Nexus system…” Harris realized that his lower lip was trembling and he closed his eyes and breathed even harder.

  “What is it Ron?”

  “I remembered how they were all sent back to me…return to sender. I remember how I tried to call him…and he didn’t want to speak to me. I think I did something to this guy…something that must have been unforgivable…something that he hates me now for. I know I’ve done a lot of selfish things in my life but…I thought he was my friend.”

  He cringed as he thought to himself, “What did I do, to make my best friend hate me?”

  His mind began to draw him into the memory of the beach and how the night skies made the water look pitch black. He remembered the voice, “Iki, do we have to do this?” He remembered the sound of the gunshots, and the sight of the blood on the sand.

  He gasped as the memory ended, as if the film had run out of the mental movie projector.

  “Ron?” She said as she shook his arm, “Ron? Are you alright?”

  As suddenly as the anxiety attack came, it left, and Harris smiled at her. “Yes, I’m alright.” He looked over toward the corner of the room. “Oh Jori, I am so sorry…I almost forgot why I brought you here in the first place.” He let go of her and briskly walked over to the corner of the room to where a monitor was placed in the wall.

  She smiled and said, “What are you doing?”

  Moments later, some familiar music began to softly trickle out of the speakers in the room. Jori felt her face lighting up. “Oh my gods! It’s…tiddlywink music. Where did you find this?”

  Harris smiled as he walked back towards her. He reached out his hand as the obscure Aurorian folk music began to sound
a bit jazzier. “This might be our last chance…to dance.”

  They embraced and slowly began turning around. Their feet were soon shuffling lightly and they started taking baby steps in a circle as the band played on.

  Location: EMS Signet

  Standard Ship Time: 1300 Hours.

  “Hey Jhett,” Bloke’s voice said calmly over the com. “We gotta get this show on the road.”

  “I hear ya,” Jhett said as he folded the com in half and put it into his jacket pocket. Less than an hour ago, they had shut down the prison ship’s engines, setting it adrift in space. When he arrived at the main storage hanger, Jhett saw how Bloke was busy fine tuning a radar scanner underneath the belly of the small spacecraft that was about to take them out of here.

  “Are we ready?” Jhett asked as he walked up the shuttle craft’s gangplank.

  “I believe so,” Bloke said as he closed up the panel.

  During the course of the day, they had dismantled every important item they could find on the prison ship, in order to modify this tiny vessel for the flight back to Ailana. Jhett felt leery about that as he walked up the gangplank into the small ship’s hold.

  “Let’s just pray the duct tape holds,” The enormous man said as he began to walk up after Jhett.

  The shuttle was cramped, even for just two people. But Jhett felt right at home as he sat down in the pilot’s seat and felt a brief sensation of ecstasy wash over him.

  “Freedom, there is no better feeling in the whole universe.”

  Jhett took a deep, soothing breath, and after he exhaled, the reality of the situation fully set in. They were about to blast off a carrier ship, into deep space, in a tiny shuttle craft that was not designed for this sort of a voyage. Luckily, the distance between their current location and Ailana was actually short in terms of space travel and did not require a jump into faster than light speeds. However, Jhett’s piloting, would have to be extremely precise, getting lost on the way there, was simply not an option.

  “O.K.,” Jhett thought out loud. “Do we have enough food?”