I repeated my head punch, then I repeated it again. By the sixth impact, he began to show signs of slowing. Two more punches, and he collapsed stiffly off me and onto the floor. I shoved his leg off me and stood quickly.
“Who’s next?” I asked the other two Midriacks.
“Enough,” shouted Mercutcio as both guards moved toward me.
That froze them.
“Impressive performance,” said Mercutcio blandly. “I’ve never heard of anyone killing a Midriack in personal combat. Even with your force field, I’d have still bet good coin on my slave.”
“Keep that in mind, Merc, as you talk down to me and bluster.”
“Unacceptable. But, I shall let it pass for now. So, you received the membrane technology from a friend?”
“Wasn’t at the time, but later, yes, he was a friend.”
“Interesting a stranger should bestow such a great gift.”
“He had good reasons.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Wait, you don’t have membrane technology?” I asked.
“No, not at the present. We have heard rumor of it, but up until now, I wasn’t sure it wasn’t just another ancient legend.”
“Ah. And I’m guessing you’re keen on possessing the tech to recreate it?”
“No. We are not anxious to have the technology. We will have the technology.”
“And I’m going to supply you with it?”
“Voluntarily or involuntarily, that is correct. The Adamant will not be denied.”
“That is an incorrect statement, booby. I deny you access. That’s all there is to it.”
“Please, know that we will dissect and dismember you and extract the device. Come now, how ineffective do you think we are?”
“On a scale of one to ten, one being the lamest, so far you guys are zeroes.”
“You underestimate our will and our abilities.” He turned to the guards. “Take him to the interrogation section. I will call ahead to let them know you’re coming.” Back to me. “You will learn it is foolish to doubt the Adamant. It is even more foolish to think you can resist us, Jon.”
“Hey, you said you didn’t know my name. What gives?”
“I said I didn’t want you to introduce yourself. You are too inferior to permit such an act. But we know your name.”
“How?”
“We are the Adamant. We know all. That which we do not know, we will soon learn.
There was no way they could know my name. But they did. That was unsettling. Maybe they were as all-powerful as they claimed to be. I was about to find out, wasn’t I?
FOUR
I was prodded, shoved, and occasionally knocked flat on my face by my escorts as we proceeded to the interrogation section. I assume that was a euphemism for prison/torture venue. I was having a profoundly bad day. Recall I was still in the first twelve hours of my sentence of not being. I did figure there was no wiggle room for it to get measurably worse. Yeah, never say that to yourself, Jon baby. Just as certainly as there’s always room for Jello, there’s always a chunk of undesirable that can be crammed into one’s existence.
Not surprisingly, the prison section was a long way from the pristine, semi-religious part of the ship Mercutcio lived in. The high and mighty wouldn’t want to experience any off odors or shrill sounds, the delicate SOBs. The entrance to the detention section was as imposing as I imaged the gates of hell were. Massive and unyielding, forged of foreboding, malice, and fear. Again, they were etched with drawings and ancient-looking runes. I couldn't read these either, but they were not happy tidings for the newly arrived. The figures were dark, threatening, and evil—a consummate, all-consuming evil. If they were added for effect, they were doing an excellent job. If they were genuine religious icons, I didn’t think I’d be converting to that sect. Too negative by, oh say, the diameter of the universe.
I trudged ahead of a new contingent of guards, these being the ones stationed inside hell’s look alike real estate. They were much larger and had penetrating eyes. They appeared to be smarter too. I began to take in how large the space was. I was reminded of the cored-out asteroids before there were any structures built in them yet. Massive open spaces, like an indoor sports stadium gone mad. Why the Adamant wanted a communal hell was not clear. Construction would be much easier using a conventionally designed, compartmentalized complex. Shared misery must have been their goal. They wanted every hopeless, hapless soul detained to know that there were countless others being treated just a horribly. Yes, temporary guests of the Adamant, they really were just this nasty.
Almost immediately I was hit by two aspects of the space. Its smell and the heart-wrenching cries of desperation, pain, and extruded hope. If there’d been a brimstone smell too, I’d have lost it. Luckily, it wasn’t that specific foul odor. I’d say there was a burning, smoky element, but the dominant quality was acrid fetid scent. I didn't know if it was decaying flesh being dissolved in pools of acid. Hell, for all I knew it was. Whatever it was, I turned my olfactory sensors down to almost zero.
We passed tens of thousands of imprisoned souls. There were so many species I didn’t recognize it was mindboggling. What seemed clear was that entire races had been rounded up and confined. There were all sizes and sexes of the alien captives. That part was certain from the few species that were familiar. For example, I passed a section of Churell. I’d fought alongside them back in my day. Among the thousands I saw, even tiny infants were imprisoned.
What was more, all those being held had a universal look of anguish and despair. Most individuals were starving. Some raised their eyes, or whatever, to watch me pass. But most were either too ill or too disheartened to bother. It was grim. I thought I’d seen cruelty in my life, but what I witnessed in this one location was well beyond anything I’d even heard of. If the Adamant had the overall vision of interspecies relationships that I saw, they were very bad indeed. Unthinkably horrible and vicious. Note to self: if I had a chance, destroy the Adamant completely and without mercy. They truly deserved it.
Finally, we arrived at my holding spot. It was a large barred cell by this jail's standards. But what claustrophobia it lacked more than made up in filthiness and starkness. No bed, no head, and nothing to even sit on. I was glad, once again, I was an android. The absence of creature comforts would otherwise have been tough. I received a final shove to the floor in lieu of a request to enter. As I rose, a heavy barred door was slammed shut and bolted loudly. My escort marched away without any further regard for me.
I didn’t really mind being locked alone in a prison cell just then in my life. Recalling that I’d woken up not dead and being ripped apart, had then read a chilling letter from Toño just prior to being detained by a truly awful race, I needed some downtime to think. I also needed time to feel sorry for myself. I knew it sounded lame, but I had to grieve. I’d lost everything that meant anything to me and I’d never get a scrap of it back. What I still had were the vivid burdens and pains I’d struggled with up until the day I was supposed to die. It was a lose-lose situation for me.
I probably sat there on the sticky floor for six hours with my face planted in my palms feeling sorry for myself. I was so depressed I resented the universe as a whole and every disgusting thing in it. I hated the universe mostly for what it had done to me. I tried to do the right thing, tried to be the good egg. In return, my reward was something approximating being hanged, drawn, and quartered. It hit me hard. I was the ultimate fool. I should have let the first guy I met, the Quep, scrap me, or I should have simply turned my membrane off when the Midriack attacked. Here I was bemoaning the fact that I wasn’t dead, but I was struggling to remain alive. How stupid was that? Why had I resisted?
I sat up straight. The next chance anyone had to off me, I wasn’t going to lift a finger to stop them. If they dissected me and discovered the membrane tech, what the frack did I care? To hell with the future. Let it solve its own crises or just blow itself to kingdom come. It was all the same to me. M
y needs were remarkably simple. Nonexistence.
Wouldn’t you know it, right? As I sat there and looked straight ahead, I saw a little girl in the next cell. She was holding something small in her arms. I figured it must be a doll. Girls everywhere loved their dollies. She looked abjectly miserable. Thin, frightened, and alone. She was a very humanoid species, just a bit smaller than us with gray skin and long tapered fingers. Her matted hair had once clearly been luxuriant. Despite all my wishes to the contrary, my old instincts kicked in. Service, duty, and empathy. That child needed help. No one had provided it, or if they had, they were dead and gone. Jon Ryan to the rescue, version ten million point one.
I crawled over to where she crouched. Our cells were separate, each with its own formidable bars, but the space between us was less than a meter. As I neared, she started to withdraw.
“Hang on, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you. My name’s Jon. What’s yours?”
She was mute, but she did stop backing away.
“Sure, you’re scared, but I’m here now so everything will be just fine.” Somewhat of a massive white lie, but I was trying to comfort a frightened child. No rules in that, just like love and war. Only difference was that this was a good thing. “What’s your doll’s name? I asked pointing to what she clutched.
She looked down at the figure, then back to me, but still said nothing.
“Hey, I bet you and you doll are hungry, right?” I said pointing to them both. I knew she had to be by the look of her.
She lowered her head and began to sob.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said as I reached across the space between us.
She glanced up to see my hand very near her face. She lurched backward, then stopped. Maybe it was the kindness she recognized, maybe she just didn’t want to get in more trouble. She had to be pretty damn confused about why anyone would be treating her so badly.
“There, see? I’m a nice guy. I only want to help you and your dolly out. Can I do that? Will you let me?”
“You can’t help Siev,” she whispered back.
“Aw, sure I can. Just because she ’a doll doesn’t mean I can’t take really good care of her.” I smiled as warmly as my mood would permit.
She stared at me for several seconds. “Siev was my brother, not my doll. He’s dead. No one can help him.” She held his tiny corpse up for me to see. At that point, I truly wished I’d never woken up. This was too much.
Then it hit me like one hundred million tons of bricks. Jon fucking Ryan, stop feeling sorry for yourself. What has happened to you is nothing. What has happened to this child? That is tragic. That is insufferable. That is … unacceptable. I commanded myself to never wallow in self-pity again as long as a child like this existed. If I could destroy the Adamant, I would. More importantly, I was going to save this child. My rage was refreshing. It was an old friend just when I needed a friend the most.
“I’m going to get you out of here. I’m going to take you home. Everything is going to be all right. I promise you.” I said it, and I meant it.
Damn if she didn’t see it in my eyes too. She smiled. It wasn’t much of a smile, but it was a teeny-weeny positive expression. Now all I had to do was keep my robust promise. Yeah. Trapped in the biggest prison ever, held by the cruelest race imaginable, and almost completely void of assets, I was going to have no trouble making good on my promise. Easy-peasy.
“Hey, you there,” shouted a very mad sounding voice, “no talking. Prisoners may not talk. The penalty is immediate and painful death to all offenders.”
The girl jumped back like a little kangaroo.
I winked at her. “Don’t let the bad man scare you. Watch.”
The guard stormed over. His head was tilted to speak into his shoulder-mounted microphone as he moved. “This is 88—2-1. I have a 6-55b in progress. Isle AA 27, Lane 450-33. Send backup.”
He lumbered to a halt in front of me. I was still on my knees, so he towered over me. He was a hippo guy like I’d met back on Exeter. Big and strong, but dumb as dried mud. Perfect. I switched off my membrane shield. The home team was back on offense now. No more defensive mode for this player.
He lowered his rifle toward me and clicked a switch.
“You can’t shoot me,” I protested. “That wouldn’t be a painful death. Dude, you’d get your considerably oversized ass in so much trouble, and it would be my fault. I couldn’t live with myself.” I shook my head mightily.
I saw he was confused, confused and trying to do something completely unnatural for him. He was reasoning through what I’d said. The barrel of his gun slowly lowered, and he actually put a thumb-like digit in his mouth, so lost in thought was he.
Three guards appeared around the corner at full tilt. These were the different inner-prison guards I was transferred to once I entered. I extended my probes to the hippo guy. Enemy approaching. Fire now, I said in my head. Simple suggestions worked well with my command-prerogative fibers in the past, but this was a more complex suggestion. Then again, he was light in the brain category.
He jerked up his gun and rapid-fired at his comrades. They went down never knowing why the hell their associate had shot them.
Sleep, I suggested to him.
He balled up like an armadillo and was out like a rock in seconds. All right, Team Ryan. My alien technology still worked in the far future.
Now to test the metal of the bars. I cut a rod near the ground. It was slow, but my laser finger did the job. I did take pause noting that the Adamant were able to produce a material that partially resisted a terawatt gamma ray laser. It was a brave new future. I removed two bars, which allowed me to squeeze though. I only had to fry one bar to get the girl out.
“Leave Siev, sweetheart,” I said softly. “He’s already escaped. If we bring him, he’ll slow us down.”
She looked to her brother, kissed his forehead, and sat him down gently. “He told me to leave him and get out of this place.”
“Great, you’ll make your brother proud that you took his advice.”
I placed a firm hand on her shoulder and led her away. Now I needed a Jon-plan. Those were the insane, on-the-fly, harebrained plans I came up with in a crisis. They usually worked even though they shouldn’t have. I said a quiet prayer that my luck held. There’d be an all-out search for us immediately. Where was the last place they’d expect us to go? Deeper into the prison. Any idiot would run toward the exit, not farther away from it to gain their freedom. I turned us left and picked the girl up so I could sprint.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked as we flew toward almost certain death.
“Mirraya.”
“That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl. Mirraya, is your family here, or are they back at home?” I gritted my teeth in anticipation of her response.
She buried her face in my shoulder and began to sob. That was sort of the answer I anticipated. Everyone she knew and loved was dead. Sonsabitches Adamant.
My android stamina put us ahead of those pursuing us, but this detention area could only be so big. Plus, there had to be a prison wall sooner or later. There. I saw the roof finally descending to a back wall. No cells shared a wall with the outside world, so I easily ran to the smooth surface. I scanned frantically for a door, window, electric panel, or any opening to somewhere else. Nothing. The wall was one massive continuous sheet.
I tried to laser through. I managed to poke a tiny hole, but cutting an exit would take an hour that we didn’t have. I could hear the rapid approach of many guards, probably hundreds. Mentally I scanned my assets list. My probe fibers, my laser, my shield generator, and whatever else was in my backpack. I had some gold bullion, not nearly enough to buy off a vicious hoard of enraged guards. The data disk Toño left me, his letter, and the two old fusion cells. One was long dead, the other had only trace of hydrogen fuel.
Hey, wait. The fusion cells. I still had a little hydrogen in the spare cylinders Toño left me. In a flash, I put what was left in the functioning cell and f
lipped the test switch to perform a maximal output trial. I set the cell right against the back wall, directly across from where the column of guards would charge into. This move might work, but we would be going from the kettle into the fire. It could fail, and they would catch us. That was bad. It could work too well, and we’d be blown to smithereens. Oh well, one out of three were excellent odds for a Jon-plan.
I fired my laser at the fuel cell just as the largest number of guards were turning toward our position. Luckily for me, they took the turn like the Keystone Cops—wide, pushing at one another, and colliding like billiard balls.
I fired a quick pulse. A silent electroball burst to life and blinded everyone but me. I witnessed the energy release incinerate most of the guards, the wall and the floors, and most of the structure Mirraya and I crouched behind for cover. I lunged to cover her ears. A massive explosion went off as air rushed back into the vacated space where the energy had spread from. The concussion knocked everyone within hundreds of meters to the ground violently. It crumbled the remainder of our cover, but it didn’t impact us directly.
Mirraya was so frightened that she didn’t resist when I snatched her up and sprinted through the breech. She was too scared to even whimper. As I turned and ran in the direction my shuttle had docked, I was impressed that I heard almost nothing. Certainly, there was no shouting, no weapons fire, and no loud footfalls. Any nearby guards were down for the count. That wouldn’t last long, plus there were bound to be lots of really pissed off guards where I was headed. All had to fear for their lives, since failure was not acceptable in the service of the Adamant. Good. The more of their own people the puppy dogs killed, the fewer there’d be for me to exterminate.
Maybe a hundred meters into the clear, I ran into my first barrier. The blast doors were all shut. That was probably SOP in a crisis, especially in a mass escape attempt. I attached my probes to the control panel by the door and tried to hack in. Wow. The computer operating systems and coding had changed fundamentally. I had no clue how to communicate with the AI who I supposed monitored the blast door.
Embers: The Galaxy On Fire Series, Book 1 Page 4