Escape!

by Bova, Ben

  After a few minutes, Danny pulled away from her and closed the door.

  “How are you?” They both said it at the same time. They laughed.

  Laurie was a little thinner than Danny remembered her. And sort of pale. She was a small girl, almost frail-looking, with hair and eyes as dark as Danny’s own. Danny knew prettier girls, but no one like Laurie. Of all the people in the world, she was the only one that needed Danny. And the only one that he needed.

  “You look good,” she said.

  “You look great.”

  “Are they treating you okay?”

  He nodded. “Sure. Fine. This is more like a school than a jail. How about you? Everything okay?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  They moved slowly to the couch, by the room’s only window.

  “How’s Silvio and the other guys?” Danny asked as they sat down.

  “They’re all right.... Danny, are you really okay?”

  Laughing, he said, “Sure. I told you. This ain’t really a jail. I nearly broke out of here yesterday. Looks easy. Hardly any guards. I’ll probably be out in a couple weeks. Soon’s I figure out a couple things.”

  Laurie’s eyes widened. She looked frightened. “Danny, don’t do anything they can catch you on. If you get into more trouble....”

  “You feel like waitin’ around for five years?” he snapped. “Or ten? Twenty? If I can break out, I’m goin’ to do it. Reason the other guys don’t try it is ‘cause they’re too soft. They got it too easy here, so they stay. Not me!”

  “But they’ll just hunt you down again and bring you back. Or maybe put you in a worse place....”

  “You want me to stay?”

  “No. I mean....”

  “Listen, I got it figured,” Danny said. “Soon’s I get out, we grab a car and get up to Canada. Then they can’t touch us.”

  Laurie just looked scared. “All the way to Canada?”

  “Just the two of us. We can start all over again. I’ll even get a job....”

  “Me, too,” Laurie said. Then she started to say something else, stopped, and finally said, “Oh, Danny... I wanted to tell you. I got a job now. I’m helping my sister in the restaurant where she works....”

  “Waiting on tables?” Danny felt his face twist into a frown.

  Laurie nodded. Her voice was very low. “And... cleaning up, helping in the kitchen.”

  “I don’t want my girl doin’ that kind of work!”

  “Well, I need some money...” She looked away from him, out toward the window. “I want to be able to live on my own. And the bus to come here costs money.”

  Danny’s frown melted. But he didn’t feel any better.

  Laurie went on, “Dr. Tenny said I could come once a week, if I wanted to. And he said he thought you could do real good here. Maybe get out in two years.”

  “I’ll be out in a couple weeks,” said Danny.

  “Please... don’t do anything they’ll catch you on.”

  “I’ll be out in a couple weeks,” Danny repeated.

  Chapter Eight

  Laurie left at five. Danny went over to the cafeteria and picked at his dinner.

  Ralph Malzone pulled up a chair and sat beside Danny. He looked much too big for the thin-legged plastic chair.

  “Hey, I heard you was sick yesterday. Not going to back out of the fight with Lacey, are ya?”

  Danny pushed his tray of food away. “No, I’ll fight him.”

  “Good,” said Ralph. He leaned across, took a slice of bread from Danny’s tray, and started buttering it. “C’mon over to the gym tomorrow afternoon. I’ll show you some tricks. Help make you the new lightweight champ.”

  Nodding, Danny said, “Sure.”

  Danny got up to leave. Ralph was still picking food from his tray, so Danny left it there with him.

  When he got back to his room and shut the door, the lights turned on and the TV screen lit up.

  “GOOD EVENING, MR. ROMANO,” said SPECS. The screen spelled out the words.

  “How’d you know I was in here?” Danny asked, stopping suddenly by the door and frowning at the screen.

  “THERE IS A SENSING DEVICE IN THE DOORWAY. AND THE ROOM LIGHTS WENT ON. I HAVE A...”

  “But how’d you know it was me? Can you see me?”

  “THERE ARE NO CAMERAS IN THE STUDENTS’ ROOMS. I DID NOT KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT IT WAS YOU. HOWEVER, THE CHANCES WERE BETTER THAN NINETY PERCENT THAT ONLY YOU WOULD ENTER YOUR OWN ROOM AT THIS TIME OF THE EVENING. I HAVE A MES...”

  “Well then, how’d you know I’m Danny Romano? I could of been anybody.”

  SPECS’ voice did not change a bit, but somehow Danny felt that the computer was getting sore at him. “YOUR VOICE IS THE VOICE OF DANIEL FRANCIS ROMANO, AND NO ONE ELSE’S. I HAVE A MESSAGE...”

  “You know everybody’s voice?”

  “I AM PROGRAMED TO RECOGNIZE THE SPEECH PATTERNS AND VOCAL TONES OF EVERYONE IN THE CENTER. I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU FROM THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.”

  SPECS waited patiently for Danny to reply. Finally, Danny said, “Okay, what’s the message?”

  “YOU WILL FIND A BOTTLE OF PILLS ON THE TABLE BY YOUR BED. THEY ARE FOR ASTHMA. DIRECTIONS ARE WRITTEN ON THE LABEL. THEY READ AS FOLLOWS! ‘TAKE ONE PILL BEFORE GOING TO BED AT NIGHT, AND A PILL WHENEVER NEEDED DURING THE DAY. KEEP THIS BOTTLE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. NOTIFY THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT WHEN ONLY FIVE PILLS ARE LEFT.’”

  “These pills’ll make me breathe okay?”

  “I DO NOT HAVE THAT INFORMATION. I CAN PUT YOU IN CONTACT WITH THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. DR. MAKOWITZ IS ON DUTY AT THE MOMENT.”

  “Naw, that’s okay.”

  Danny went to the bed and saw the bottle of pills on the bed table. They were white, plain-looking. He glanced up at the TV screen and saw that it had gone dead.

  “Hey SPECS.”

  The screen glowed again, “YES, MR. ROMANO?”

  “Uh... any other messages for me?” Suddenly Danny felt foolish, talking to a TV screen.

  “NO OTHER MESSAGES. I HAVE YOUR SCHEDULE FOR TOMORROW’S CLASSES, BUT I AM PROGRAMED TO GIVE THIS INFORMATION TO YOU TOMORROW MORNING, AFTER YOU AWAKEN.”

  “Can you give it to me now?”

  “IF YOU ORDER THE INFORMATION, I AM PROGRAMED TO ANSWER YOUR REQUEST.”

  “You mean if I tell you to do it, you’ll do it?”

  “YES.”

  “Suppose I tell you to turn off all the alarms in the Center?”

  “I AM NOT PROGRAMED TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”

  Danny plopped down on the bed, his mind running fast.

  “Listen SPECS. Who can give you orders about the alarms? Who can make you turn ‘em off?”

  The answer came at once. “DR. TENNY, THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS, THE HIGHEST RANKING MEMBER OF THE GUARDS WHO IS ON DUTY, THE CHIEF OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT, THE HIGHEST RANKING MEMBER OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT WHO IS ON DUTY.”

  Danny thought for a moment. “Suppose the guard captain told you right now to turn off all the alarms. Could you do that?”

  “YES.”

  “Okay SPECS,” Danny suddenly said loud and firm, “turn off all the alarms!”

  “I AM NOT PROGRAMED TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”

  “This is the captain of the guards. I order you to turn off all the alarms!”

  Danny could have sworn that SPECS was ready to laugh at him. “YOU ARE NOT THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD FORCE. YOU ARE DANIEL FRANCIS ROMANO. YOUR VOICE INDEX SHOWS IT.”

  “Okay SPECS. You got me cold.”

  “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT STATEMENT.”

  “You won’t tell Tenny about this, will you?”

  “THIS CONVERSATION IS RECORDED IN MY MEMORY BANK. IF DR. TENNY OR ANOTHER STAFF MEMBER ASKS TO REVIEW IT, I AM PROGRAMED TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”

  “But you won’t tell ‘em unless they ask?”

  “CORRECT.”

  Danny grinned. Tenny can’t ask for something unless he knows it exists.

  “Okay. G’night SPEC
S.”

  “GOOD NIGHT, MR. ROMANO.”

  As Danny undressed, he wondered to himself, Now, where can I get a tape recorder? And maybe I ought to get a gun, too... just in case.

  Chapter Nine

  When Danny got to his first class the next morning, he thought he was in the wrong room.

  It didn’t look like a classroom. There were nine other boys already there, sitting around in chairs that were scattered across the floor. A man of about thirty or so was sitting among them, and they were talking back and forth.

  “Come on in and take a seat,” the teacher said. “My name is Cochran. Be with you in a minute.”

  Mr. Cochran looked trim and wiry. His hair was clipped very short, like a military crewcut. His back was rifle-straight. He looked to Danny more like a Marine in civilian clothes than a teacher.

  Danny picked a seat toward the back of the room. On one side of him the wall was lined with windows. On the other was a row of bookshelves, like a library. There was a big TV screen at the front of the room.

  Turning around in his chair, Danny saw that the back of the room was filled with a row of little booths. They looked about the size of telephone booths. Maybe a bit bigger. They were dark inside.

  “Hello. You’re Daniel Romano?” Mr. Cochran pulled up one of the empty chairs and sat next to Danny. The other boys were reading or writing, or pulling books from the shelves.

  “This is a reading class,” Cochran explained.

  “Different boys are working on different books. I’d like you to start out today on this one.”

  For the first time, Danny saw that the teacher had a book in his hands. The title was Friends in the City.

  Danny took the book and thumbed through it. It was filled with pictures of smiling people—grocers, cops, firemen, housewives—living in a clean, bright city.

  “You got to be kidding!” He handed the book back to Mr. Cochran.

  The teacher grinned. “I know. It’s kid stuff. If you think it’s too easy for you we can go on to something better. But first you’ll have to take a test to see if you’re ready for harder work.”

  He walked Danny back to one of the booths. Opening the door, Mr. Cochran stepped inside and flicked on the lights. Danny saw that the booth had a little desk in it, and the desk was covered with dials and push-buttons. Just above the desk, on the wall of the booth, was a small TV screen.

  Mr. Cochran fiddled with the dials and buttons for a few moments, then stepped outside and said to Danny, “Okay, it’s all yours. Just sit right down and have fun. SPECS is going to give you a reading test.”

  With a shrug, Danny went into the booth and sat down. Mr. Cochran shut the door. The window on it was made of darkened glass, so that Danny could hardly see the classroom outside. The booth felt soundproofed, too. It had that quiet, cushionlike feeling to it.

  The TV screen lit up. “GOOD MORNING,” said SPECS’ voice.

  “Hi. You know who this is?”

  “DANIEL FRANCIS ROMANO.”

  “Right again.” Cripes, thought Danny, ain’t he ever wrong? Then he got a sudden idea. “Hey SPECS, where can I get a tape recorder?”

  “TAPE RECORDERS ARE USED IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSES.”

  “Can you take ‘em back to your room? Are they small enough to carry?”

  “YES TO BOTH QUESTIONS. AND NOW, ARE YOU READY TO RECEIVE STANDARD READING TEST NUMBER ONE?”

  Smiling to himself, Danny said, “Sure, go ahead.”

  By the time the test was over, Danny was no longer smiling. He was sweating. SPECS flashed words on the TV screen. Danny had to decide if they were spelled right. He pushed one button if he thought the spelling was right, another button if he thought it was wrong.

  After what seemed like an hour of spelling questions, SPECS began putting whole sentences on the screen. Danny had to tell him what was wrong, if anything, with each sentence.

  Finally, SPECS put a little story on the screen. Then it disappeared and some questions about the story came on. Danny had to answer the questions.

  When he was finished, Danny slumped back in the padded seat. His head hurt, he felt tired. And he knew he had done poorly.

  The door to the booth opened and Mr. Cochran pushed in. Danny saw, past him, that the classroom was now empty.

  “How’d it go?” The teacher leaned over and touched a few buttons on the desk top. Numbers sprang up on the screen.

  “Not good, huh?” Danny said weakly.

  Mr. Cochran looked down at him. “No, not so very good. But, frankly, you did better than I thought you would.”

  Danny sat up a little straighter.

  “Look,” Mr. Cochran said, “I know Friends in the City is a kind of dumb book. But why don’t you just work your way through it? Read it in your room. You don’t have to show up here in class every morning. SPECS can help you when you’re stuck on a word. Then, when you think you’ve got it licked, come in and take the test again.”

  “How long will it take?”

  Cochran waved a hand. “Depends on you. Three, four days, at most. You’re smart enough to get the hang of it pretty fast, if you really want to.”

  Danny said nothing.

  Mr. Cochran stepped out of the booth and Danny got up and went outside, too.

  “Look,” the teacher said, “reading is important. No matter what you want to do when you get out of the Center, you’ll need to be able to read well. Unless you can read okay, Dr. Tenny won’t let you leave here. So it’s up to you.”

  “Okay,” said Danny. “Give me the book. I’ll learn it.”

  But as he walked down the hall to his next class, Danny told himself, Let ‘em think I’m trying to learn. Then they won’t know I’m working on a break-out.

  Chapter Ten

  Danny went to two more classes that morning: history and arithmetic. He fell asleep in the history class. No one bothered him until the teacher poked him on the shoulder, after the rest of the boys had left.

  “I don’t think you’re ready for this class,” the old man said. His thin face was white with the struggle to keep himself from getting angry.

  The arithmetic class was taught by Joe Tenny. To his surprise, Danny found that he could do most of the problems that Tenny flashed on the TV screen.

  “You’ve got a good head for numbers,” Joe told him as the class ended and the boys were filing out for lunch.

  “Yeah. Maybe I’ll be a bookie when I get out.”

  Joe gave him that who-are-you-trying-to-kid look. “Well, you’ve got to plan on being something. We’re not just going to let you go, with no plans and no job.”

  They left the classroom together and started down the hall for the outside doors.

  “Uh... the history teacher told me not to come back to his class. I... uh, I fell asleep.”

  “That was smart,” said Joe.

  “Well, uh, look... can I take something else instead of history? Maybe learn Italian.... I already talk it a little...”

  “I know.”

  Danny felt his face go red. “Well, what I mean is, maybe I could learn to talk it right.”

  Joe looked slightly puzzled. “I don’t understand why you’d want to study a foreign language. But if that’s what you want to do, okay, we’ll try it. Just don’t fall asleep on the job.”

  Grinning, Danny promised, “I won’t!”

  After lunch, Danny went up to the gym. One of the older boys showed him where the lockers were. Danny changed into a sweat suit and went back onto the gym floor. He lifted weights for a while, then tried to jog around the track up on the catwalk. He had to stop halfway; it got too hard to breathe.

  Got to get one of those pills.

  He went back to his locker and took a pill. After a few minutes he was able to breathe easily again. He went back to the gym and found a row of punching bags lined up behind the ring. No one was using them. Lacey was nowhere in sight. Danny felt glad of that. Ralph Malzone came from around the corner of the ring, though.

 
“Hiya, Danny. Starting training for the fight? You only got two weeks.”

  Jabbing at a punching bag, Danny answered, “Yeah, I know.”

  Ralph looked bigger than ever in his gym suit. He towered over Danny. “C’mon back here, behind the bags. I’ll show you a few things.”

  For the next half-hour, Ralph showed Danny how to use his elbows, his knees, and his head to batter and trip up his opponent.

  “All strictly illegal,” Ralph said, grinning broadly. “But you can get away with ‘em if you’re smart. Main thing, with Lacey, is keepin’ him off balance. Trip him, step on his feet. Butt him with your head. Grab him and give him the elbow.”

  Danny nodded. Then suddenly he asked, “Hey Ralph... where can I get a gun?”

  “What?”

  “A gun. A zip’ll do. Or at least a blade...”

  Ralph’s smile vanished. His round, puffy face with its tiny eyes suddenly looked grim, suspicious.

  “What do you want a piece for?”

  “For getting out of here, what else?” Danny said.

  Ralph thought it over in silence for a minute. Then he said, “Go take a shower, get dressed, and meet me in the metal shop. Two floors down from here.”

  “Okay.”

  Danny took his time. He wanted to be sure Ralph was in the shop when he got there.

  The metal shop smelled of oil and hummed with the electrical throb of machines that cut or drilled or shaped pieces of steel and aluminum. Boys were making bookshelves, repairing desk chairs, building other things that Danny didn’t recognize.

  There was a pair of men in long, shapeless shop coats wandering slowly through the aisles between the benches, stopping here and there to talk with certain boys, showing them how to use a machine, what to do next. Back in the farthest corner, Ralph was tinkering with some long pieces of pipe.

  Danny made his way back toward Ralph’s bench. No one stopped him or bothered him.

  “Hi.”

  Ralph looked coldly at him. “I just been wondering about you. Asking about a gun. Somebody tell you to ask me?”

  Danny shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

  Ralph whispered, “I ain’t told nobody about this. But I’m showing it to you. If you’re a fink for Tenny... you ain’t just going to see this, you’re going to feel it.”