by C. G. Hatton
I pulled back out of the main system without setting off any alarms and started working through the test. It was simple enough stuff they were asking for but I could feel everyone else getting slower as they worked through it. I got half way through then skipped to the end and ran through it backwards. The questions at the end were similar to the puzzles Charlie and NG had given me. Patterns, logic crap, random questions that made no sense, a load of math strings that I knew by then were AI logic strings. I sat there for a moment looking at it then started filling it in. At the guild, I’d always got it all right. It hadn’t occurred to me to do any different. There at the prison, I answered exactly fifty eight percent of them incorrectly. It was more difficult. Some of them took a while to figure out an answer that wouldn’t look fake.
I checked my last answer, hit end and pushed the board aside. It went black. I didn’t realise I was the first one to finish until I looked up. One of the instructors caught my eye before I could pretend I wasn’t done. I thought I’d taken ages to complete it but the rest of them were all still heads down.
The instructor walked across, loomed over me and said quietly, “Anderton, stand up.”
I half hoped that meant an early dinner and expected to see other kids start to finish but no one else was even looking up.
He said, “Come with me,” and a sickly chill settled in my stomach at his tone. I ran every answer back through my head as I pushed back the chair, double checking what I’d done, sure beyond doubt that I hadn’t tripped any alarms in the system.
They pulled me out of the hall and escorted me to an interview room. I was sitting there for what must have been an hour. I ended up with my head down on folded arms, fast asleep, running the gauntlet of the garrison on Kheris in my dreams.
I jerked awake as a guy came in. I wasn’t sure if he was a guard, an instructor or something else. He was wearing the same black uniform but there was something about the way he stood that was too casual. He was holding a board, but he also had a battered old notebook tucked under his arm. Real paper by the look of the curled edges to the pages.
I was still shaking, unsettled by the nightmare, having to sit on my hands so they wouldn’t see how much I was trembling.
He sat down opposite me and put the board on the table. “Not smart.”
I just stared at him.
He didn’t introduce himself and he wasn’t wearing a name badge. He looked disappointed. “Luka,” he said with exaggerated disapproval, “this is a correctional facility. We have a duty of care to rehabilitate you so you can re-enter society as a useful member of the community.”
That was the standard line. A useful grunt to use as cannon fodder more like.
I didn’t care. That’s not why I was there. I was just waiting for a chance to get to the library and get on with it.
“Whatever has happened to you before…” His voice was soft, phony as hell, like the teachers at the missionary school I’d flunked out of. “…Whatever you’ve done, this is a fresh start. Work with us, not against us, and you will find being here much easier.” He tapped at the board. “Complete the test again. Don’t screw it up. And don’t try to break into the system this time.”
Busted.
He stood up and threw a casual, “You’re smart, Luka, but perhaps not as smart as you think you are,” as he left, conspiratorial, as if knowing they’d caught me out would throw me somehow.
I kept my expression neutral. We’d all known it wouldn’t be easy. Now I knew how closely they were watching, I’d know how far to push it next time.
Chapter 13
They let me loose once I was done. The commissary was closed and everyone was being chased out of the central rec area into the bunkrooms already. I limped into ours, hoping no one would try anything. The big lad, Raine, was in there, laughing with Hilyer like they were old mates. I got a few shoves, jibes about the wall, mutterings about where the hell I’d been while they were on damn cleaning duty, a few hardly veiled threats but nothing worse. I still couldn’t find my pillow. I got into my bunk without upsetting anyone and lay there thinking.
It was a long night.
Next morning, we had classes. It was interminable. History and politics followed by spatial engineering and geometrics. I was hard pushed to stay awake. They didn’t cover anything I didn’t know and the teaching staff were going through the motions like they couldn’t wait to get out. I couldn’t wait to get out. After classes we were supposed to get library time.
I could feel the apprehension building in my stomach.
But once we were done, they told us to get to the hall for lunch then get into gym kit.
I trooped out of the classroom behind Jem.
“What the hell happened to library time?” I muttered.
She laughed. “You want library time? You’re Delta now, kiddo. We don’t do freaking library time.” She shoved me in the back. “Library time was cancelled three weeks ago. We don’t have to suffer that shit anymore.”
Damn.
They gave us soup for lunch that had a strange aftertaste to it. Thinking about it, a lot of the food tasted strange but I just put that down to lousy prison catering. Didn’t even occur to me at the time what supplements they might be feeding us. Once we’d eaten, the shouting to get into gym kit and get out into the yard started again. I wrapped the bandage tight around my knee, hoping it wasn’t going to be a thirteen mile run, desperately trying to come up with a new plan and vaguely hoping that Markus would turn up, take control of the tab and make everything work out.
He didn’t.
But it wasn’t a run. And it had stopped raining. They made us line up in our blocks then took us round to an open area where there was some kind of pitch marked out. Then they gave us each a stick with a curved end, threw a small hard ball out there and told us to go beat the crap out of each other. Or they might as well have done. Two teams, god knows what the rules were, and a son of a bitch instructor who was quite happy to wait until you were on the floor bleeding before he’d stop the game.
I don’t play well in a team. Never have. Never will. And my knee had swollen again overnight, every muscle and joint aching. I watched from the sidelines, running every scrap of intel through my head, twisting it around and trying to figure out a way into the system if I couldn’t use the library. Or figure out a way into the library. There’d be a way somewhere.
When it was my turn to play, I ended up leaning on the stick more than running with it, and avoiding the ball every time it came close to me. There was a way you could hook it with the end of the stick and send it flying. If you knew what you were doing. Which everyone else seemed to and I didn’t. I ducked it twice, missed the next one and was flat on my back before I knew it had hit me. The instructor ran up, screaming at me to get back on my goddamned feet and start playing. My head was ringing but it gave me the idea I needed.
I got up, tapped the ball away and backed off.
Jem ran up with a grin, whacked the ball away and gave my stick a crack with hers. She pointed up the field. “Come on, Thirteen, you gotta hit it. You never played hockey before?” Like it was the most weird thing she’d ever heard.
“No.” On Kheris, we’d sometimes kicked a football around the streets. Never anything organised.
She laughed. “You’ve never been inside before, have you? I knew with a tan like that, you hadda be brand new. C’mon, we’ve gotta get the ball back or they’ll annihilate us.”
They weren’t annihilating us. Hilyer was on the field. He got the ball as I watched, ran with it, nudging it ahead of him with the stick at full stretch, sprinting full speed and dodging round the kids of the other team. It was Gamma Block we were up against. Kat was standing in the middle of the field, blue hair tied in bunches, hardly making any effort and looking as unimpressed as I was.
Hilyer hit the ball hard and it flew into the net at the far end. There were cheers from the kids standing around the edges. The instructor yelled out names, subbing kids in, se
nding others off and shouting for the game to restart.
Hilyer was subbed out, I wasn’t. I turned as he passed me, stuck out my stick and caught him on the ankle. He turned on me, had me round the neck and landed me on the floor before I could say a word.
“I need to get into the infirmary,” I breathed before he punched me in the face.
He leaned close. “Yeah, I can arrange that.” He let up and shoved me aside, walking off with a laugh.
Five goals later and I still hadn’t been subbed. I’d given up even trying to run. Everyone was looking at me like they didn’t know why I was still out there when everyone else had been given a break and a chance to get a drink.
Hilyer got subbed back in, along with Raine. The other kids shouted to them as they both walked on, wielding their sticks like they were weapons. Hilyer had the ball in his hand, tossing it up and catching it. He walked to the centre spot, waited for the instructor to blow his whistle, then looked at me, eyes narrow, threw the ball forward and hit it, mid air, right at Kat.
She didn’t duck in time, spun round as it struck her and collapsed to the ground.
She didn’t move.
I was yelling obscenities at Hilyer and running towards her before I could think. One of the big kids from Gamma stepped in my way and shoved me backwards, swearing at me like it was me that had done it.
I stumbled, felt a body run up next to me and couldn’t get out of the way as Raine slammed into me. I went flying, lost the stick and rolled, getting to my feet as someone else knocked me from behind. A stick rapped against my shins. I tried to sidestep, turned, and came face to face with Hilyer as he ran up, hockey stick in a two-handed grip like he was holding a staff. I saw what was coming and I still couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, slipping in the mud. He swung it at me, striking hard. I tried to catch the stick but he had too much power behind it. It hit me in the chest. I folded, went down, and another blow landed against my head as I hit the ground. Game over.
I woke up inside, in the infirmary from the sterile, medical smell of it. My head was pounding, eyes sore when I blinked them open. I tried to sit and couldn’t, nausea pulling at my stomach, my left wrist rattling, the handcuff chaining it to the bunk clanking softly. I was in a cubicle. It was cold but I could handle that. Apart from being restrained, I couldn’t see what was so bad about it.
There were people outside, voices, someone saying something about concussion, lucky there wasn’t a skull fracture. I guessed they were talking about me. I’d had concussion before. It felt like concussion. And my chest was hurting every time I took a breath so I reckoned cracked ribs too. Not great, but not terrible. Hilyer was being a dick but he’d just got me exactly where I needed to be.
I waited until lights out, after they’d done the rounds for meds and obs. There’d be a terminal or a data board somewhere. I just needed to steal a pass from someone and get free.
In the end, I decided to keep it simple. I can dislocate my thumbs if I want to. I never appreciated growing up on Kheris how useful that would be. I twisted my hand and snapped out of the cuffs, pulled the IV line out of my arm and climbed off the bunk.
I didn’t have long. I slipped out of the infirmary, ignoring the urge to see if Kat was in any of the other cubicles. I half expected the collar round my neck to zap me again but it didn’t. The corridor outside was empty, dark except for faint red nightlights, some light coming from under a few of the doorways, soft voices at one end. I crept in the other direction, keeping close to the wall. I didn’t think they’d shoot me if they found me out of bed but I still wasn’t expecting the ferocity of the reaction when it came. There were yells, heavy footsteps descending on me, and I was hit by a blow to the back, hard enough that my knees buckled. They grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, twisting my arms behind my back, an elbow pushing hard into the back of my neck.
I didn’t resist.
They turned me around as one of the medics ran up, protesting, and they backed off then, still keeping me in a restraint hold but letting me stand at least.
It was Brennan. She reached a hand to my cheek, hitting a sore spot where I’d hit the wall.
I raised my eyes.
“What the hell were you doing?” she said.
“Needed the bathroom,” I muttered.
She didn’t look impressed but she didn’t look pissed at me.
I sucked in a breath, and didn’t need to act as a stabbing pain shot through my chest. I felt my knees going again. She snapped something at the guards and they let go, releasing me into her care and she took hold of my arm gently and led me back down the corridor.
She persuaded me back into the cubicle and back onto my bunk, taking her time setting up the IV line again. “This isn’t summer camp,” she said quietly. “You need to remember where you are or you’re going to get hurt.”
I don’t know what her definition of hurt was but I was lying there with broken ribs and concussion after a crack to the head. I mumbled something about being sorry, yawned and gave her my best, most shy smile. I was hoping she wouldn’t want to check my stats again.
She didn’t. She injected something into the tube that caused the pain to subside almost immediately, stood aside to let the guard refasten the handcuff, then left with a soft, “Get some sleep.”
I waited until she was gone then pulled the blanket over my head, pulled her data board from under my pillow where I’d stashed it after I’d lifted it out of her pocket, and went to play.
It was simple enough to check superficial records. I was listed as admitted to the infirmary. Nothing about a girl so she must have been okay. There was a record of Raine and his bust nose. And a couple of other kids with minor injuries. I couldn’t resist digging around, trying to see if there was any mention of the little kid who’d come in with us but there was no mention of anyone his age they could be keeping in there.
I ditched it, he’d be somewhere, and went deeper. I was more careful that time, got past a load of protections without alerting the AI, and I found Markus. Or rather I didn’t. He’d gone. Transferred out on promotion according to the records. I stared at the entry in the personnel file, heart thumping.
We were on our own.
Chapter 14
According to the prison records, he’d just been transferred out to another facility. If it was that simple, the guild would have known about it. It didn’t add up.
I started to take it slower, hitting up against barriers and working my way round and through, the way NG had taught me, absorbing all of it fast, starting to mentally tick off the intel I’d been briefed to gather. There was too much for one night. It was going to take time. I did what I could and started to back off. I didn’t want to push it. They were due to check on meds soon. Then I hit on a level of prisoner records that were protected. Beyond simple security. There were test results and notes on each kid but there was something else, something that was being shielded. I cracked it gently, fooling the AI into releasing the files for a routine maintenance and sync procedure, and laid it all out.
It was encoded but it just took a simple nudge to get it to realign so I could read it. There were priority tags against each name. I figured out the pattern and queried it, then fired off commands as if the system was running an archiving schedule on the data, and watched the way it was falling into place. There was still a huge dark hole of classified information beyond where I was but I’d seen enough for the night to make my stomach queasy. I stared at it, becoming vaguely aware that footsteps were echoing down the corridor.
I didn’t leave any trace of what I’d been doing, wrapped up fast, and reset the board. I threw it to the bottom of the bunk under a fold of the blanket, as if Brennan had just dropped it, and curled up to sleep.
She came to check on me first thing next day, wasn’t impressed, and retrieved her board with a frown. I was half expecting it to set off alarms as soon as she activated it but nothing untoward happened. She just left me to rest and I didn’t argue wit
h her.
They let me out after the evening meal, so I missed food. I was escorted into the rec hall and stood there, just as much of an idiot as I had been in the mess on the Alsatia. Everyone was sitting around, playing games or reading, some of them sitting at tables like they were doing homework, some of them in the bunkrooms already. I didn’t know what time it was but it was dark outside. Jem was sitting on Hilyer’s knee, watching as he worked on a board. Raine and a couple of the other big kids were playing cards. I didn’t know anyone else.
People looked around as I appeared in the doorway, a hush settling like they were expecting something to kick off.
On Kheris, we’d all looked after each other. We’d grown up together. There was always someone there, a friendly smile and a ready hug, whatever else was going on. I’d never needed to try. We were family. As much as I wasn’t really one of them, and we all knew it, no one cared. I’d never appreciated how much that meant.
There in that prison, it struck home just how alone I was. I didn’t know how to make friends because I’d never had to before. I didn’t know how to fit in because I never had. I was nothing and nobody. Hilyer wasn’t just working a board, he was showing Jem how to do something. She was laughing and working with him as he showed her. I’d always been the one who could do stuff, the one who taught the little ones and made them smile. Now it was Hilyer.