Prisoners of Paradise

by Brandon Lars Erikson

  The voices and flashbacks would not stop tormenting him.

  “You’re not a very talented little shit aren’t you? You’re a total retard, ain’t ya, Harris?!”

  Harris inhaled deeply as he heard the voice of one of his Military Commanders. The man’s voice seemed loud, yet calm as he said, “things on Ailana got real bad after the Moralist Revolution, Harris. Ah hell, you weren’t even born when the Moralists took control of the Ailanian High Senate…but let me tell you all about it anyway. That world proceeded to go to the dogs after the Moralists took control. Hell, they outlawed damn near everything they could and it backfired on em’ because the government corruption made law enforcement a total joke. And consequently, they opened up an avenue for the black-market when they started passing their zero tolerance legislation. Suddenly, young kids, who should have been in boys scouts, were becoming criminals! And do you know why, Harris? Do you know why? It’s because of all that dammed Cutz!”

  He sighed and shook his head back and forth with great disappointment as the Military Commander’s voice kept on bombarding him, “All those Socialism-loving Liberals on Ailana keep talking about personal choice and personal freedom, they keep trying to tell all the races of the worlds that we should be able to make the choice as to what we do with our own bodies, minds and lives…that’s a bunch of hogwash when it comes to drugs like Cutz! You remember how that stuff sucked your mother right out of reality, don’t ya Harris? The Ailanian government may have a whole bunch of problems, and it seems that the Moralists want to control every aspect of their citizens’ lives, but drug dealers sell death, Harris. And thus, those drug dealers that have holed themselves up on Ailana are deserving of the judgment we are placing upon them.”

  Harris took a deep breath as he remembered something that another one of his Military commanders had told him right before he was sent on this mission. “Some people should die…that’s just unconscious knowledge. If ya want a barrel of apples to stay good, every once in a while, ya gotta go in there and get rid of the bad ones from time to time. Bad seeds should not be sown to grow more bad seeds. Natural selection is a way of life, and sometimes we in The Military, we have to do our part to cull the sick of mind and weak of morals from the herd, if you know what I mean. And on Ailana…if we are going to protect the sheep, then that means we need to hunt down the wolves…and kill them. Remember…we only want the sheep…and we only want to kill the wolves that are a threat to our sheep…”

  He gashed his teeth as his mind was suddenly plagued with images of explosions and the sounds of terrifying screams.

  “I just want it to stop…I want it to be over.” He closed his eyes tightly as he thought to himself, “I guess it’s inevitable that the slave gets to a point where he thinks…I don’t want this life anymore…”

  There was a slow, warm wind blowing from the behind the sand dunes. Harris felt the sun beating down upon his back. The ocean looked like a giant, blue jewel in front of him, while the desert of Kahalu, appeared as a sparkling streak of artist’s paint from behind him.

  Harris had parked the hover-truck about fifty meters away and had walked quickly across the pearl-white sand to get to the water. He had been lost in his thoughts for over twenty minutes now and he didn’t notice the popping sound in the distance, as a small sphere flew off the vehicle and landed in the soft sand.

  The egg-like device opened and a small robot on rotor tracks began to inch its way forward. The camera on the robot fixated itself on Harris’ imposing figure.

  Harris gazed at the ocean and looked for places along the reef where the surf was not breaking.

  His thoughts were a tangled mess.

  “Oh lead me to deeper waters…where the ocean cradles me gently…oh lead me to a place, where she will let me play.” It might have been a poem he wrote in a High School Basic Earthen class, he didn’t know. It was simply a thought that came into his mind.

  His next thoughts, were not so poetic, “I can’t believe it…the joke really is on me. I used to be proud of what I did. I used to fight aliens in hand to hand combat. And now…all I do is sit in a chair and wait to press a button…so that I might bring the sky down on top of someone. I thought I told them I didn’t want to do this job anymore…but they won’t let me stop…for some reason, this shit never stops…I hate war now…I have to draw the line sometime…I refuse to kill my fellow Ailanians…we didn’t deserve this shit…I just want it all to stop.”

  Harris stood there and his heart raced as adrenaline fueled his horrified thoughts. “I can’t believe what they did to this planet. Why should I have to be part of the clean-up crew that takes out the Ailanian trash? There is no honor in this…and now they want me to kill my own people…but I won’t let them…if there is just one thing that I want from this life, it would be the end of it.”

  Harris felt as if his eardrums were about to rip apart from the thundering sounds of crashing waves. He held his breath and opened his eyes as wide as he could with amazement as he watched the crumbling walls of water turn to foam that seemed to wash away the very sand he stood on. Suddenly, new thoughts replaced the ones that had been haunting him for what seemed like hours, days, weeks and years.

  He rapidly blinked his eyes for a few moments and then imagined what it would be like to slide down a ramp of water and glide over the crystal edge between the calm waters of the shallow bay ahead of him and the crumbling wave behind him.

  “I know I did this once…my body should know what to do…it’s probably like riding a bike. This is what I wanted to do with my life, before they took it from me. I say we should end it on a good note.”

  Harris smiled felt the ocean spray clinging to his face. It made his eyes burn, but he felt nothing but pleasure because of it.The waves were peaking at nearly fifty meters on a reef that out in the torrid, storm swept ocean. Harris stood there in complete awe and reverence to what he was witnessing, until his thoughts turned back to the task at hand.

  “I now have in front of me, the biggest waves in the known universe…and one more bullet in the gun,” Harris said out loud. “Let’s play Russian roulette.”

  He changed his tone of voice to make it seem as if he was barking out orders to his troops.

  “Captain Ronald James Harris, on this mission, you are to paddle this vehicle out into the surf that is breaking past that reef. Your mission is to catch the biggest wave of them all. If you succeed, you’ll finally have an accomplishment to be proud of, and if you fail, if you fall off this surfboard…you will be vaporized on the reef…and end up a statistic that would be worth talking about…so either way…you win.”

  The waves were washing up on the shore twenty more meters higher than they normally would on this particular this morning. Harris had been using his access to a weather satellite to track a big storm that had hit about one thousand miles out to sea. Storms on the open ocean make waves of various sizes when they hit the open ocean.

  The biggest waves in the birth order were now rolling in.

  Harris was amazed as he watched a wave grow and grow, until it appeared to be the size of a mountain. He watched, with his lips parted, as the wave seemed to stall momentarily before it broke and created an avalanche of foamy white water in front of it.

  He then said in a proud, booming voice, “Ya see the problem with the dickheads, who built this empire, was that in their minds, they saw a whole lot of wasted, empty space. They must have thought, ‘we need to make enormous shopping malls and condominiums to dominate all that empty, useless space.’ But look at those beautiful freaks of nature coming straight at us, boys. That is proof that there is still some shit out there that is bigger than we will ever be. Let’s go out there and see just what they can do!”

  Harris jumped from the sand dune and ran with his surfboard under his arm, howling like a barbarian warrior charging into battle. He when he reached the swirling, milky white water, he hurled hi
mself over the first wave that was racing up the beach like a charging bull. With the stinging spray relentlessly striking his face, he paddled as fast as he could and began making his way out towards the monsters roaring in front of him.

  Location: Audrey’s Parent’s House.

  Ailanian Standard Time: 0615 hours.

  Audrey thought of what the middle-aged man, with the large, beer gut had said to her, “Ronald James Harris…yeah I was one of his physical education teachers. I was also his coach in about four different sports he participated in, while he attended middle school here. But that was before he got shipped off to that reform school. It was such a crying shame… the kid had so much potential. He won every race and tournament he entered. He was just so much stronger and faster than all the other kids. He could have gone real far if he hadn’t decided to go and screw up his life by teaming up with the wrong people. What ever happened to him? We always wondered about Ronald James Harris…”

  Audrey opened the door to her old bedroom. She began crying once she turned on the light and noticed how every wall in the room was covered in blue ribbons and every shelf had a sports trophy on it.

  “Audrey?” Her foster mother’s voice called to her from the hallway, “Why it’s so nice to see you! What a pleasant surprise.”

  Audrey turned around and noticed the look of shock on her foster mother’s green face. Audrey kept on sobbing as she said, “It is true isn’t it? I was always so different from all the other kids at school.”

  Her foster mother smiled and said, “You were different…in a special way, Audrey…but you were no different from anyone else. All of Ailana’s children are special.”

  Audrey gasped and sobbed as she said, “I met a man today…a man from Earth. I had this man’s medical file…and I read things in there…things that were just so disturbing. And what’s worse…we have so much in common…there are things about him…and things about me, that just seem so similar…we have so much in common…but we are also so very different from each other.”

  The green-skinned woman embraced her human foster daughter, and softly patted her back as Audrey said, “It just seems so unfair, mother…I had it so good growing up. I had so many good things happen to me…this man on the other hand…his life was just so unfair. His parents were abusive…they beat him constantly and injured him. Then something happened at school…he was accused of doing something immoral, and his friends all turned against him. He’s been living with such shame for what he’s done. He was conscripted into The Military and seen horrible things and done horrible things…and he’s had such terrible things happen to him. I just wanted to help…I just wanted to be nice to him since it seems that he just needed someone to talk to…”

  Her foster mother hugged her tightly and said, “Oh Audrey…you always did care too much about people. Your only flaw is also your special gift…”

  The green-skinned woman nervously bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling as she caressed the back of her daughter’s head. She became lost in a memory of her and Audrey, in the family kitchen, many years ago when Audrey still wore skirts and pigtails. She remembered how she had let Audrey try using a kitchen knife for the first time. She painfully remembered how, despite her warnings to be careful, Audrey let the knife slip accidentally. Her foster mother closed her eyes with torment as she remembered how the blood was everywhere and how a hand towel wouldn’t contain the blood spilling from her hand.

  “Oh gods! Oh my dear child…” She thought about the little girl screaming in the car all the way to the emergency room. Audrey’s foster mother remembered cursing to herself in the waiting room as a doctor took her back to an examination room. An hour later, she remembered the doctor’s pale face and blank expression. The only mother Audrey had ever known made a remorseful face, as she remembered her surprise and horror that day, when she saw the nurse remove the bandages and everyone, but Audrey, seemed to realize that the deep cut was gone, like the injury had never even happened.

  “You are so special, Audrey…but I pray you never learn…just how special…you really are…”

  Audrey felt a bit of drool escape her lips as she said, “It’s not that, mother…there is something about this man…something that I just can’t explain. Those things I read about him in his medical file…they are just so awful…and I feel as if I should be scared for him…and I feel as if I should be scared for me! I am so scared of something I read about in his file…there is something about him that I can’t explain…something terrible happened to him…all I know is that he needs my help! And I think if I help him…he can help me…”

  “Oh there, there dear…” Audrey’s mother said as she patted her muscular back.

  Audrey’s thoughts became introspective and sorrowful as she glanced around her room and took in the sight of all those trophies and ribbons, “Who am I? What am I…and why am I making all this sacrifice…for someone else’s cause…that I don’t completely understand?”

  Location: Moke’s House.

  Ailanian Standard Time: 0630 hours.

  In the dream, Moke found himself standing in the kitchen of a man he had never met in his life. The man was handcuffed to a chair, and had a terrified expression on his face. In the dream, Moke remembered how the fat, Ailanian man slowly paced back and forth behind the man who was handcuffed to the chair. The large, Ailanian man did not look the least bit worried as the man, who was handcuffed to the chair, began sobbing.

  In the dream, Moke recalled how the large, Ailanian puffed on a fat cigar as he said, “some people gotta learn respect the hard way, boys…this guy here…he owes me money. He owes me a lot of money…money, that I would really rather give to you guys, since you have both been so good to me.”

  The man in the chair appeared to start crying as the large, Ailanian man said, “Ya see, boys… HE hasn’t been good to me. And just think about this for a minute boy, it is guys, like him, that stand in the way of you and your goals that you have set for yourself.”

  Moke remembered how the man, who handcuffed to the chair, seemed to plead with him as the large, Ailanian man said, “he is that person, who tells ya that ya gotta be patient, that ya just gotta wait your turn, and that more important people, than yourselves, have been waiting longer than you have. Waiting for what? Is he the kind of man that you must ASK politely in order to receive what he owes you? Why do you need his permission to get something that he OWES you? He’s got what you want…and if he won’t give it up…then you have every right to do what is necessary, to make sure that you get what you want. Which one of you boys wants to take the first swing at this guy, eh? Who wants to convince him to pay up?”

  In the dream, Moke didn’t know who beat the man bloody, making him beg for his life as they drove their fists into his face. He just remembered the sound of a fist hitting flesh and bone as the man cried out;

  “NO! NO! PLEASE STOP! NO!”

  It was like accepting an invitation to join the legions of hell. They didn’t know this man; they didn’t care one bit about him. They didn’t care what they did to him. In their minds he deserved every bit of the abuse and pain they inflicted upon him.

  In the dream, Moke remembered how the cigar smoke parted with the words, “that was impressive, boys…I got another job for ya…just do as I say, it will be the best thing for everybody. Ya see, what we have here…is family. We have a tremendous respect for each other. And because we are family, each of us, are bound in the honor that comes with being a part of this family. Well, apparently, some of us have it easier than others. Some people in this world just don’t know how to appreciate a good thing when they got it…they just get greedy and when that greed starts to affect the well-being of everybody…well then, that certain somebody, has got to go. I got a job for ya boys. I need to know just how far you are willing to go to keep these dreams we have together, alive and well…I need ya to take care of something for me. This guy, wh
o I need you boys to help me out with, could jeopardize everything…ya know what needs to be done…now go do it…go make me proud…”

  In the dream, the voices of the young men echoed as if they were coming from a great canyon. “Iki, do we have to do this?”

  “Yes…we do.”

  In the dream, the images of blood flowing everywhere were accompanied by the sounds of gunshots.

  “Oh my gods! Iki! What have we done?!”

  The ringing of the com jolted Moke out of the nightmare as he sat up in bed.

  “Huh?” He cried out as he reached over to his bedside stand, feeling for the small, thin plastic com. He found it on the second swoop of his arm, and answered it, “Yeah?”

  Pete seemed a bit despondent as he said, “Moke, we got ourselves a problem here.”

  “What it is?”

  “I can’t say…just get here as soon as you can.”

  “I’ll be right there, Pete!” Moke leapt out of bed and began picking his clothes off the floor.

  “Moke?” Malia said as she rolled over and gazed at him. “Where are you going?”

  “To see and old friend,” Moke said as he rushed out of the room while his mind fixated on one terrifying thought, “I sure hope this plan of mine works…this might be my only chance…and Ailana’s only hope!”

  Location: Audrey’s Office in Hana Paloi.

  Ailanian Standard Time: 0630 Hours.

  “Yeah…” Cindy said in between thoughtful pauses. “That shit is weird. I have never seen a physiology report like this before. What’s the deal with this guy?”

  Audrey sat down beside Cindy with two cups of steaming, hot coffee and shook her head as she said, “That’s what I have been trying to find out…that medial file, which the Captain had us decode for him, has been giving me the creeps and I just can’t stop thinking about it.”