Paragon just had to come up with a few reservations.
”What you are talking about? There are ideals most agree to and strive for. But that doesn’t mean they are deployed everywhere. Many people would argue that there is a long way yet to go; and some are even afraid the ideals are so lofty that the planet cannot meet them for quite a great number of people at the same time. So the system is perhaps wavering due to all these threats constantly piling up to block its progress.”
“Yes, our leaders said that, too….. But what the heck, mate. It is the principles that matter. The goodwill, intentions, ideals. Those are some damned great ideals many other forms of life would be proud of, and as I said, are similar with us Gluvarps as well,….. or at least some of us. But we are still a minority.”
“That may not explain why you are here. Isn’t it just criminals who are imprisoned here on Taurus X?”
“Not at all. That’s a myth, Brother. Most of the inmates here on this planet are political prisoners who have been inconvenient for the regimes on their home planets, and are therefore transferred here so they hope people will forget our views. But that will not happen. Once you feel the smell of liberty there is no turning back! Hail Flygamor!”
”Hail Flygamor!”
”Hail Flygamor!”
The Gluvarperne in the prison yard each raised one of their four hands with clenched claws.
Paragon understood that position well.
“Let me guess! You are regarded as terrorists by the regime on your home planet?”
“You bet,….. and how! We’ve had to experience a true genocide in the province from where these ideas first came. A genocide the regime does everything it can to deny, but which nevertheless is true.”
“What will you do if your prison revolt succeeds?”
“We want to escape from here.”
“There is an old spaceship parked over in the hangar. It should be possible to escape in it, so we can gather all the rebel groups on the Gluvarp moons and mount a mutual attack on the Empire of Evil in our galaxy.”
“Is that what they call themselves?”
“No, of course not. We freedom fighters call it that.”
“What name did that regime actually choose?”
“Plyvornikam Magyarikim.”
“What does that mean?”
“Our beloved leader's generous benevolence.”
Paragon nodded.
“I detect a bit of inconsistency in that.”
“That’s an understatement!”
“Hail Flygamor!”
“Hail Flygamor!”
Chapter 24
CHAOS
The system daily assisting the prison administration in maintaining order had now become a double-edged sword. As much of a relief the entrusting control to privileged prisoners was in helping out in daily routines, it was just as problematic in a crisis of prisoner rebellion.
These collaborators among the prisoners had different status. Some of them really made a wholehearted attempt to make things run smoothly, so the prisoners avoided unreasonable confrontation with management. They were conciliatory and usually respected by both parties.
However, some favored prisoners used their status to get personal benefits and oppress fellow prisoners. In a way they were more hated than management because they got a personal gain out of supporting repression. The prisoners could tolerate such behavior from the management but not from people from their own ranks.
After some time in that job, management could sense what kind of prisoners they had placed in those intermediate positions. But they could not withdraw their privileges and reduce them to ordinary prisoners. Otherwise, their fellow prisoners would instantly approach them and kill or maim them. Therefore, they had to continue to back them up, although they would have preferred otherwise.
These privileged prisoners were actually the catalysts that were bringing the situation to the point of becoming out of control. They had access to keys and passwords, and the other prisoners soon came into possession of them. This occurred either because the leaders were sympathetic to the prisoners, or because they felt threatened with death if they did not give in to the demand to hand over the keys.
That resulted in the rebellious prisoners getting access to move across their sector, and sometimes even to access other sectors. Once the doors and gates opened, they were not locked again as long as the prisoners were now in control.
Paragon, Andrew, Chris and Victoria joined the Gluvarps in their escape through the other sectors of the prison. The captain of the Flygamor supporters, called Maskyvir, had an idea of what was the best strategy. But first, they had to get through some of the other sectors before it could be implemented.
"What are you doing here?"
A brutal-looking creature barred the way.
"We are Gluvarps on our way to Green Sector. We’re just passing through."
"Gluvarps? It is you who are followers of Flygamor?"
"Yes, he is our leader."
"Then I better go with you."
"Thank you, but why?"
"The prisoners in this sector are pirates. We detest orderly conditions that prevent our business. But Flygamor is someone I can get behind."
They went with their local guide through dirty and messy corridors with objects smashed and thrown all around. There was also a terrible stench from something completely unfamiliar.
“So, are there some prisoners among you from Caspian II?"
"Yes, there are. I, myself, come from there. Do you know that place?"
"Oh, it’s well known that there is substantial piracy around that planet."
"But you also know why?"
"No, not really."
"Our home planet was made uninhabitable by the over-exploitation of minerals excavated by the Archelon Alchymist mining company on Caspian II and its nearby moons. Eventually the farmers could not work the land anymore and couldn’t get food on the table. And competing warlords mined much of the surface, so just moving about became dangerous."
“Shouldn't that company be prosecuted, then?"
“That procedure dragged out because of the civil war. And, also, to provide an income, the residents began to hijack spaceships moving in the space nearby. They established business demanding ransoms for the release of those ships, which worked fairly well. The procedure followed a set pattern with ransom by hijacking considered a necessary cost of space transport in that region."
"Is that still the case?"
"No, the civil war has stopped and so has the lawlessness. Several pirates were apprehended, convicted and brought here. Therefore, many of my fellow prisoners oppose orderly conditions. They don’t realize that the uncontrolled mining and civil war destroyed the livelihoods of farmers. Things would have been different if that had not happened. I can understand all that. Therefore I am not against what Flygamor stands for."
During the trip through the section of Space Pirates, their guide repeatedly had to defend his followers claiming, they were friends, and explaining why they came through the building and the next prison block. Maskyvir tried to gain an overview. Paragon randomly turned to the right at a place in a corridor which looked relatively safe, as no one was there.
"No, we aren’t going through there. Follow this road instead."
Paragon was about to go through an open gate to a new cellblock.
"Why not?"
"That passage belongs to the Bumkovites."
"Who are they?"
"They are criminals from the twilight planet Bumkovit."
"But the prisoners here are all criminals!”
"There are differences. These Bumkovites convicted of abduction and abuse are heartless sadists who get a special pleasure from abusing their victims. Just listen to the screams coming from inside."
“ARRRRRRGH!"
"It sounds awful."
"They have obviously caught some of the fellow prisoners who have run prison management's errands. If I know them well
, they have used their position of power to behave harshly suppressing their fellow prisoners. Hated so, they must pay the price. Right now, the victims cannot expect any help from their superiors."
“AAAARRRGGHHHH!"
"Come on, we’ll pass this way."
They entered a new sector. There was fire burning in several places, and the fire was about to spread.
"That was only to be expected."
"Yes, the prisoners' hatred will turn into destruction when the opportunity arises."
"A lot of arsonists are congregated in this sector. They were subject to a special restrictive guard regimen, which now has been removed. I think we can get past the wall over there, where the fire has not been spreading as thoroughly. If you skip quickly past, the flames will not grab hold of your clothes."
They rushed to pass on the least fire-affected place, but Victoria's dress still ignited. Resolutely, Nargykar, one of the freedom fighters, spread his cloak on the floor.
"Hurry! Down on the mantle!"
Victoria got down and Nargykar quickly wound the cloak around her. It smothered the fire.
"Come on, we’ll head for the stairs before the flames reach it."
Maskyvir jumped in ahead and the rest quickly followed.
Coming up the stairs, they reached a large room that had been used to guard prisoners. Dead bodies of both guards and prisoners were scattered all over the floor. The rebels hadn’t taken all the weapons with them. The Gluvarps gathered guns and knives, and Maskyvir found a gun that was loaded.
The fleeing party reached through another portal into an aisle where there was a hatch in the ceiling. Maskyvir looked up.
"Get a table and chairs from the guard room."
"Why should we go up there?"
Anders was uncertain. Maskyvir explained the matter.
"The section in front of us is reserved for rapists. We had better avoid that place. Here they have breached the interests of circadian rhythms by gathering all the criminals of that kind from many planets in a special secured section. But I also think they have all fled. In any case, I have no desire to venture that way."
They quickly picked up weapons from the guardroom, and put table and chairs under a hatch in the ceiling. Nargykar climbed up and shoved the cover aside. Then he pulled himself up into the loft and extended his hand downward to help the others up.
When half of them had come up, a prisoner appeared from the neighboring section. He ran over to Victoria and grabbed her. She screamed. Two of the Gluvarps pounced upon the prisoner, who pulled a knife and wounded one of them. Just when he was about to raise the knife to stab his next opponent, Maskyvir fired his weapon, and the prisoner fell.
"Come on! We’d better leave before more of us get hurt. Others may have heard the shot."
The small group wandered off under the tile roof of the wings and jumped from bar to bar. Soon, one of the Gluvarps lost his footing and landed in the space between the beams. His foot plunged through the roof, and if he had been wearing sandals, he would have lost his footwear.
The Gluvarp was quick to draw his foot back, and they continued along through the unused attic. They saw smoke rising. Perhaps the building would soon be engulfed by flames.
About midway, there was a cross in the roof structure, and to each side corridors led in opposite directions. They were a trifle narrower than the main building, and therefore had lower roofs. There were no windows in the roof, so they had to make do with the light that came in between the loose tiles, which left many areas in darkness. To orient themselves Maskyvir went over to the roof and knocked some tiles out, so he could look around inside. The bricks hit the pavement below. From the elapsed time of the drop Paragon was able to figure out that they were four floors up.
"Now we have to turn left over the extension."
Chris was curious.
"Where are we going?"
“We’re on our way to liberate Lorkamel XXX. He is in an isolation cell, and I think only management has the key."
"Is he one of Flygamors’ followers?"
"No, that case does not concern him. He may not be directly against such action, but he doesn’t want to become involved in more than he already is."
"Is he dangerous?"
"Many would call him that. They say he is dangerous if you have fallen out with him."
"If it's risky to free him, why will you do it?"
Maskyvir looked at Paragon.
"We need his vessel to get away from here."
"What vessel?"
"The Centennial Eagle."
"Why is it called that?"
"I asked the same question once. That name reminds him of another vessel in a long story, which he did not have time to tell me then, but he has promised me to do it when things quiet down."
When the small party had reached the gable of the extension building, Nargykar beat a hole through the ceiling and looked down.
"You're right, Maskyvir. Here is the staircase that connects the floors."
"We must go all the way down."
One by one, members of the group jumped down onto the top landing. And when it was too deep of a drop, Nargykar grabbed onto them, so no one in Paragon's group was injured from the jump.
The floors they passed, which had suffered tremendously during the prisoners’ vandalism, that had been executed in their hatred of the system, were now given the chance for revenge. The management of the prison planet, along with many of the guards, most likely had retreated and barricaded the Main Administration Building. In any case, they didn’t witness any battles between guards and inmates. Such clashes may well have occurred. And, the next confrontation may occur when security personnel try an overall counter-attack or obtain reinforcements from the outside.
"We’ll need the explosives."
Maskyvir had gotten an overview of the strong gate to the isolation cell with Lorkamel XXX imprisoned.
"Good thing it didn’t explode when we jumped through the flames."
"It’s not all that dangerous, Maskyvir. You just have to understand how to handle it."
One of the Gluvarps came and emptied his backpack, and filled with something that looked like sticks of dynamite. Then he began to secure the rods to the iron grill gate and pulled fuses to a corner on the ledge. Everyone knew in advance they shouldn’t go near there. That was a prudent idea, for soon a powerful explosion echoed through the stairwell and lime and rubble scattered in all directions when the grid gave in. It all hit the stone floor creating a loud ruckus.
When the dust had settled, the group gathered by the opening to the basement, which now had free access.
"It worked effectively."
They straddled over the gate and rubble and entered the crypt, which seemed engulfed in almost complete darkness. Nargykar lit a torch in a holder near the entrance and took it with him.
"Lorkamel? Are you here? "
They crept through the vaulted corridor built of large boulders. No one answered. Then they heard a low grumbling voice humming a melody, and cautiously ventured nearer. Following the sound, they soon came to a cell. There, through a small hole in the plank door, they glimpsed a figure sitting hunched on a bench, humming softly and persistently.
After using a Herculean effort to shove the horizontal beam that blocked the door to the side, they pushed the door open, with some difficulty. They stumbled upon some empty bottles rolling across the stone floor.
"Now do look around, for Heaven’s sake, when you decide to barge in like a band of Gnorbeasts!"
Paragon looked at Maskyvir.
"Is that Lorkamel?"
"Yes, that’s him."
The prisoner was a longhaired, brownish monster that looked like a bear. His head was a bit more humanlike. He was obviously familiar with some rough ballads which were mostly performed by prostitutes during the wee hours of the nights on the pleasure planets, Bumsengore and Fannymare.
"You must excuse me, Lorkamel, but if you don’t mind, we have come to
free you."
"Why for Heaven’s sake would you do a fool thing like that?"
"I'm the Gluvarp Maskyvir. We traveled together in the Centennial Eagle, but were seized and brought here. I hope we can still call ourselves friends."
"Maschkyvir? There ish a tiny bell ringing there."
"Yes, I hope so. Where did you get all the booze?"
"In exchange for parts of my treasure map, but I have given the guard the last part now scho we might asch well sckedaddle."
Lorkamel XXX rose with difficulty. He was heavily intoxicated.
"You are drunk!"
"It isch schome heavy booze he scherves, that devil guard. Gimme a hand, now that you have come anyway."
Nargykar helped him to his feet.
"Where did you get that treasure map?"
"Well, I damn well had to draw that blaschted map all by myschelf. I do have some vivid imagination concerning fabrication of treaschure maps."
They left the damp, underground cell, where only a narrow hole at the top of the outer wall let a narrow strip of light enter from the outside.
"Are there other prisoners we must free now that we are here?"
"No, I am currently the only one. I guessch there are none naschtier than me around right now."
"I believe you."
The group of prisoners left the isolation cells in the crypt and went up to ground level, where they 0 try to locate the hangar.
Chapter 25
MINE SHAFT
The small crowd of refugees was about to leave the four storey extension building, where they had liberated Lorkamel from imprisonment in the crypt. Then they saw a group of guards running across the yard towards the block where they were.
Paragon- Ghost Hunters Page 20