“Not long, but the question isn’t how long have I been here, it’s how long you’re going to be here. Elias shifted uncomfortably at the side of the bed.
“I’m not sure how long I’ve been here, and my memory is kind of hazy, I can remember being told about the horses in some sort of hospital and then just before the transport came I fell asleep and now I’m here, how long did that take, as Felcey seems to think I was asleep for ages.”
For a long moment the room remained silent, until Nayan broke it. “You were asleep for a while.”
Elias finally snapped. “CAN EVERYBODY STOP SAYING THAT!”
Nayan looked over to Jago who nodded back to him; it was Nayan who spoke next. “Do you know what the name ‘Gommerstall’ means, Elias? You don’t mind me calling you Elias do you?” Elias shook his head and Nayan continued. “In the old language of the Jezelians who frequented this dirt pool long before our arrival, the term Gommerstall meant ‘Peace’ and how do people usually find peace, Elias?”
Elias shrugged his shoulders and gave a terse answer, “Death?”
“Which you would eventually find at this prison, but that’s not the answer…anything else?
“Nope.”
“Gommerstall means to sleep, people find peace in their sleep.”
“Even though it’s in the middle of nowhere Gommerstall have the best stasis systems in the inner and outer regions, it’s like this, you can either choose to serve out your time normally or go down the stasis route and be suspended in a holding tube for the duration of you sentence.
All of a sudden Elias’s mind began to kick in with a flurry of backlog information from his studies at university.
“Stasis? Isn’t that like sleeping?”
Nayan wasn’t surprised that the teacher knew what it meant. “Yes, and most of the other prisoners have been in stasis since your arrival, some of them were awakened recently before you to acclimatise themselves to their new surroundings and to welcome you, show you a friendly face.”
Elias’s stomach started to churn slowly; he pressed his left hand into his gut to subside the awkward feeling that had appeared, his right hand rubbed his knee pressing against the cloth that was his nightgown his head bent down anticipating bad news, his voice was sharp and devoid of any emotion when he spoke next.
“So how long have I been asleep for, Nayan?”
Nayan stood up quickly and walked over to Jago rested his hand on his shoulder and pressed hard, he replied to Elias without looking at him.
“A year, you’ve been asleep for one year.”
An emotional punch to the stomach reeled Elias followed by a sudden trapdoor of panic, his guts twisting around and now both hands held tight to his stomach, trembling as if his body had a mini earthquake inside.
“That can’t be true, that’s impossible, I can remember yesterday,” he began to stammer. “Or the day before, one of the two, but I can remember!”
Nayan was quick to dismiss this.
“Stasis depuration is what you’re having now, your memories from the time you went into stasis are slowly coming back to you. The depuration has cleansed the aging process so you look exactly the same as you did when you went in and–”
Elias had had enough. “Cleanse? I don’t want to be ‘cleansed’ and I didn’t ‘go in’ somebody put me in.”
He turned to the other prisoners. “You were in on this too, were you?”
Jago stepped forward, but Nayan continued. “We were shipped in from the prison just before the destruction of Big Man’s arena. Do you remember the prisoner guard, Dandridge? Well our prison was directly under the ‘The Arena’, if he had not moved us we would have surely had been crushed to death when the stadium came down. We had no idea what was happening to us and then found out that we were being transferred to Gommerstall. We too were in stasis, some longer than others, I’ve had a few months in stasis and the other months I remained here as a caretaker, watching over you and the rest of our friends.”
“So why didn’t you go back to Olympia when you’d finished your sentence?” Elias’s voice grew in anger. “Are you married? Do you have children?”
Nayan nodded. Elias wiped his hair back. “Then why not go back home to see your wife, go back home to see your beloved kids?”
“Steady on old boy,” Aubrey had noticed the tension festering. Nayan motioned his hand to say ‘It was ok’.
Elias was still shaking on hearing this breaking news about the lost year of his life. “Why didn’t you get me out of stasis sooner? You could have done something, you could have stopped this.”
Nayan continued, “To bring somebody prematurely out of a deep sleep in stasis isn’t recommended, emotional trauma whilst sleeping is acceptable, physical trauma isn’t – there could be disastrous side effects, stomach ulcers with bleeding or perforation, heart attacks, wasting of the bones or advanced ageing…if we’d brought you out too soon it could have rapidly aged you and you could have been looking twice the age you are now, only if your R.E.M is affecting the process and you are in the early stages of sleepwalking which could damage you or your stasis pod, would we consider bringing you out early.
Nayan stopped for a breath. “I think that just about covers it.” It looked like Elias hadn’t taken any of this in. He began to jabber away under his breath, his eyes wide as they studied the ward floor.
“I’ve got find something, I’ve got to get someone, where are my clothes? Where are my shoes?” And then at great speed launched himself over to Jago and gripped his shoulder.
“WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?”
Jago tried to shrug his hand away, but even for a man just out from deep stasis his grip was too tight,
Nayan pulled him of off the old man. “This behaviour is getting you nowhere, Mr Glaucas.”
Elias hissed back. “I’m in prison, I’m already nowhere.”
His mumblings complete; Elias looked Nayan in the eye, with tears forming in his own. “You…Nayan? You’re going to have to help me; I’ve to get out of this place and find my daughter.”
Elias was crying now, wiping back tear after tear from his eyes, all but Nayan and Jago turned away.
“She’s so trusting with people, we said never to talk to strangers and always hold my hand when you cross the road, God…I left her in summer camp.”
Wiping the tears he kept his eyes on Nayan. “WHO’S LOOKING AFTER HER? WHO’S GOT MY LITTLE GIRL?”
At this time, Nayan thought this was a good enough time for all visitors to take their leave.
As the ward of guests emptied the room, only Felcey remained, stricken on his bed, his eyes now transfixed on Elias and laying in complete agony of the Hustle beetles wriggling inside him, he thought concentrating on Elias would be a distraction from the pain, he was wrong in his assumption and closed his eyes and finally hoped to die, not even registering the screams of a broken man next to him that lingered on the ward.
Prisoner Tettlow had earlier had an urge, a sudden urge to bake a cake – a birthday cake to himself. His wife usually made him a cake on his birthday, but as he wouldn’t be seeing her for a while he’d have to do it himself, which he was more than capable of, having watched his wife and his mother before her make him a cake on his birthday.
He’d already had a good morning, beating his friend Breyner at table tennis and finally catching up with the rest of his comic subscriptions from the supply ship, everything was looking like the makings of a good day which were few and far between in his current abode, he was a prisoner in Section Two of the prison, not all prisoners had come to Gommerstall in stasis, and Tettlow and his companions were no exception, they were teachers from Olympia too but had defied Big Man to keep teaching their students long before Elias had.
But they were deemed too dull to go onto Big Man’s game shows so they were shipped to Gommerstall without stasis.
And it was some of these same teachers who had come with him on his quest for cooking ingredients and broken into on
e of the of the supply containers.
Tettlow eagerly baked two chocolate sponge cakes and had intended to share them with the other prisoners on his block as a surprise, to let them all revel in his birthday secret.
Tettlow was a shy and nervous type but was an exceptionally good teacher, secondary school kids loved his nerd-like qualities when it came to explaining something difficult and technical but today was different, he really wanted to make this cake and for once it was him who had roped in two of his friends in a spot of night crime.
The similarly thin build of Breyner walked next to Tettlow, holding one of the chocolate cakes, his finger had wiped away most of the icing from the top, and in front walked the slightly bigger build of his other friend Leedon, a prisoner with the amazing ability to see what most couldn’t in the dark, this ability made him a brilliant lookout man against security guards and a great teacher for night schools.
But like Tettlow, his trustfulness and choice of associates was his downfall, being made a scapegoat from them and an example by the Network.
He held back, allowing the others to pass him. Holding his other birthday cake and resisting the temptation to swipe icing from the top Tettlow asked what was wrong. Leedon stopped completely and murmured, “There’s something following us, I’m sure of it.”
Breyner put his chocolate flavoured tongue back in his mouth and looked around nervously behind them. All three of the men were walking in a brightly lit tunnel connecting two platforms fifty feet from the ground. The platforms were built onto a rock face, which was part of the old Katarium Mountain range of Gommerstall, long worn away and used as miners dug deeper for their search for Jezel rocks.
There was another platform twenty feet higher wedged in the rocks above, like half a giant dinner sticking out from the rock face, and this was were the trio were heading, their prison block was built in to the rocks and all they wanted to do was to get back into their wing and share some cake with their fellow inmates. Even Leedon wished he had tasted a slice for himself at the kitchen, but he thought he’d wait until they were back safely in their bunks to enjoy the smooth taste of the chocolate sponge, although now he was doubtful that was ever going to happen as the strange sounds grew louder.
As they quickly exited the tunnel to the platform, Leedon pointed to the ground far below. “Something is down there, I know it.”
Tettlow could feel the security of his bed calling him and dismissed Leedon’s fears.
“Yeah of course there’s stuff down there, there are vines down there…look I’ll show you.”
Tettlow carefully placed his cake on the ground and picked up one of the industrial candles. He showed the sparkling implement a little to close to Leedon’s eyes before flinging it over the platform, all three heads looked over the platform edge to see the candle seem to hang in the air for ages until finally coming to rest on the ground below, only Leedon could see in the dark as the ground opened up and a low sucking sound could barely be heard as huge monstrous green vines came up and gathered the candle and pulled it back into the earth, as Tettlow expected.
“See? It’s only vines down there and if we stay high above the ground then we’ll be fine, nothing to worry about…now can we please, please, please get back so I can enjoy my birthday with the others? Please?”
Leedon stood silent for a moment and then squatted on the soles of his boots, rubbing the ground beneath them.
“Yeah, we can go, it must be my imagination.”
Leedon’s smile was as good as any birthday present Tettlow was going to get, and he gave a thank you smile back. Breyner was about to join in with the smiling but instead of a smile a look of confusion shot across his face, he looked down and saw a thin like vine crawling up his leg, they had obviously failed to spot it when they had looked over before. Panic and realisation hit him and with a sudden violent tug to his leg. The birthday cake fell to the ground as Breyner was being dragged off the platform, through desperation and pain he screamed for help, but by the time Leedon had recovered from the initial shock and raced over to the edge to the grab him, it was too late, the only thing that remained of Breyner was his one scream heading closer to the sea of vines amassed at the bottom.
Tettlow still clutched his birthday cake and stood rooted to the spot, his eyes blinking madly in the night, Leedon made a grab at him, his voice dripped in urgency. “COME ON, TETTLOW, MOVE!!”
They sprinted to the bottom of the rock face between the half-platform and started to climb up the ladders fixed to the rocks to reach home, Tettlow lagged behind has he held his birthday cake in one arm. Leedon climbed ahead and roared over his shoulder to Tettlow, “DROP IT! DROP THE CAKE AND MOVE IT!”
Tettlow whimpered, “It’s my birthday, I can’t, don’t let them get me.”
Leedon’s voice was more angry than desperate. “THEN CLIMB! DON’T LOOK DOWN, DON’T LOOK DOWN, CLIMB AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”
Tettlow didn’t look back, he just climbed behind Leedon on the ladder opposite him, getting the hang of climbing with one hand faster than he’d thought, if he’d had looked back he would have seen the platform full of vines snaking their way across and heading to the rock face where the two men made desperate their escape, both of them were almost at the top and it was Leedon who felt the temptation to look behind him and wished with all his heart he hadn’t. The Vines were scaling the rocks, twisting and turning past and over ever jagged edge of the cliff, he didn’t have far to climb and now his voice was desperate has he looked over to his remaining companion. “WE’RE ALMOST THERE, TETTLOW.”
The skeletally thin body of Tettlow responded by clutching his cake tighter, making some sponge fall on to the pursuing plants. A tremor of relief shuddered through Leedon’s body as he hauled himself over the top of the half-platform, rolling himself over to the other ladder he waited for his friend to play catch-up, cursing him for still having the cake in his arms, finally he grabbed the remaining arm as Tettlow’s head had passed the penultimate rung of the ladder and hauled him to safety and looked him in the eyes to calm him down.
“Look at me, Tettlow.” Tettlow looked behind him. “Look at me!” He did this time, head shivering. “We’re going to have to make a break for it now, ok?” The birthday boy nodded. “Ok on three…now!!”
The two men sprinted to the entrance doors and Tettlow realised that he had found climbing with a cake in one hand easier than running with a cake in one hand, as he tripped and fell but managing to turn at the last moment so as not to damage his cake, the cake still in its baking tin fell to the ground and to Tettlow’s horror began to roll away to the side of him. Leedon heard a despairing groan and looked behind and saw the slim figure of Tettlow chasing after his cake whilst the vines bore down on him, with focused ferocity Leedon screamed at him. “LEAVE IT! LET IT GO!”
But his shouts were wasted on the determined chef as now he criss-crossed his legs and gave chase to Tettlow, who was bending down to collect the cake, seamlessly oblivious to the onslaught of killer vines behind him, standing up he felt a sudden sharp tug on his right arm.
“Time to go now.” It was Leedon, pulling at his sleeve and this time Tettlow listened to him, with the cake safely back in hand he followed Leedon to the entrance doors to the block and for the first time he could actually hear the sounds of the slithering vines on his tail.
“LET US IN!” shouted Tettlow which was the first time he’d shown any encouragement for escape which briefly impressed Leedon, they both banged on the huge reinforced doors expecting the prisoner on door duty to open it.
Relief hit them hard when they could just about hear a voice behind the door and the faints sounds of scratching as the bolts were being pulled back, bent over double, and panting heavily, Leedon gave a huge smile to his friend, but Tettlow didn’t smile back, he just stared at Leedon who twitched a bit as if someone had just pricked him with a fine needle. He didn’t move from that spot, just trembled slightly as the unseen vine slithered up his leg, around his waist a
nd began to squeeze.
Leedon’s nose began to bleed and he even had time to wipe it before the realisation of his imminent demise kicked in, he smiled whilst shivering to Tettlow who had sunk to the ground with his back against the wall, clutching his cake and shaking with fear.
“Hap pi bur day,” were the final words that came from Leedon’s mouth, as the huge door finally was opened and Tettlow fell in, all the prisoner guard at the door saw was Leedon being put to death by the vines, but he didn’t scream, not once, the others did so for him.
Elias sat in the canteen alone, it was quite late at night but the remaining member of the catering staff on duty had fixed him something to eat before he left the kitchen, it had been a while since Elias had eaten using utensils, twelve months apparently.
The wooden cup at the side of the plate contained some sort of home-made alcohol, another treat from the chef.
He had been staring at the food on his plate for so long that it had gone cold and that was when he decided to eat, slowly at first and then shovelling in the remnants and mopping up the gravy with what passed for bread in these parts, he hadn’t even noticed Nayan sidle up next to him as he finished.
“I’ll give the cook your compliments,” he chuckled.
Elias took a deep breath but Nayan spoke quickly again. “Couldn’t sleep? It takes some getting used to on your first few weeks.”
Elias answered with ice in his voice. “I don’t want to ‘get used’ to it.”
He turned to Nayan but not looking in his eyes, the floor did for now. “You forget, I have been here longer than a few weeks…one year I’ve been here, seems like only yesterday.”
He went back to picking at his plate, and took a long swig from the cup. “And you know what a lousy day yesterday was.”
Nayan put a comforting hand on Elias’s shoulder, but Elias failed to register the gesture.
“I am leaving this prison, Nayan, and you’re not going to stop me.”
Nayan pulled his hand away and Elias looked him in the eyes for the first time and noticed the scars on Nayan’s face. It was a handsome face and the scars didn’t really change that, but it seemed that his eyes had borne witness to too much death and despair, whether it was in the prison or in his past life as a security guard for Big Man. It made Elias wonder, and the sound of Nayan’s voice bought him out of his thinking.
Paintshark Page 20