Prison Planet (THE RIM CONFEDERACY Book 3)

by Jim Rudnick

  They all went down in single file to the transformer level. Terrance snorted but went along too. After all, she was the only prison guard on duty with the Power Plant maintenance team, and she traipsed along in the rear.

  On this level, the transformers were huge, round, tall individual units that took the huge power from the floor below. The power was then transformed via the internal workings of each transformer to step-down the power, sent up through the ceiling mounts to the displays above, and then out to the whole city via the power lines. Each handled the step-downs in turn, and they were all linked together in units of fours, each with their own circuit breaker panels that displayed, as usual Terrance saw, the bright green “okay” lighting.

  "Lighting on all those breaker things looks okay," Terrance offered and received a look from one of the team that meant buzz off, so she found a stair to sit on and watched the team check every single transformer. They took it offline by simply switching the circuit breaker to OFF and then worked on the transformer via plugging in to the computer port and reading the displays. One by one, they took each transformer offline, tested it, and then turned it back on. After a bit less than an hour, all the units had been done, and they were happy with the results.

  "Do we test the complete power circuit breaker?" Muri asked as she eyed the big red lever on the master circuit board.

  "Not unless we want to turn the whole city off," the team leader said, "and that's not for us to ever consider."

  The tall convict cocked his head to one side and said, "Wait, there must be some kind of alternate battery power that would swing in—at least for the station itself, right?"

  The team leader nodded in response and said, "Yes, if the power goes off anywhere else on the system—but that big red lever is the manual over-ride for the city only. If you pull it, the battery backups do not engage, and the whole city goes dark."

  The team leader followed the group down the stairs to the next level down.

  "Which is why it's locked up here in the sub-station," Terrance added as she again followed the group down a floor to the switching level.

  Good gosh, Terrance thought, two more floors at this pace would be at least another two hours, and then they still had to take the pod back over the bridge to the Prison. What a bloody way to spend a nice spring afternoon. At least, she'd gotten a level up in her game ...

  #

  "Get yer programs here! Get yer programs here!" the street hawker cried out loudly, and the crowds in the street parted around him but some did stop to buy.

  Tanner smiled and nodded to the man, and Tibah smiled back too. They'd taken a pod from her farm earlier and now stood in front of the stadium along with a few thousand fans, and now they were in the long lines to get in. The man handed Tanner a thick magazine-styled program, accepted the credits, and then moved past the duo to the next customer.

  "This is exciting, Captain Scott," she said and laid her hand on his forearm for the third time.

  Not that I'm counting, he thought, but he grinned back at her and said, "Listen, I think that we can call each other by our first names—would that be agreeable, Countess?"

  He raised an eyebrow and smiled even more as she nodded to him.

  "Yes, Tanner, call me Tibah," she said.

  They moved up to the turnstile, and once they reached the front, the young man behind the entry way quickly took the two tickets from them. He scanned them and said, "Great seats there, Cap ... down the walkway, up two sets of stairs, and then to your left about three rows up." He grabbed the tickets of the next folks in line to hurry Tanner and Tibah on their way.

  Tanner and Tibah followed the others ahead of them, reached the end of the walkway, and then spun to their left to climb the stairs. Once they hit the mezzanine level, Tanner softly grasped her by the shoulder and pulled her out of the line, pointing with his other hand at the food kiosks and souvenir shops, asking but not saying a word.

  "Maybe later," she said, reached down, grabbed his hand, and pulled him back into the flow of fans who were working their way out to the field seats, and suddenly they were out in the fading daylight. Ahead of them, as they looked down at the field being held up by the crowds, was the green, green turf of the field, its white lines stretching out to the other side in perfectly straight rows. Across the field, they could see the other stands as they filled up too. At one end, the huge scoreboard sat up with the immense LCD screen that right now showed the Avenger cheerleaders doing some kind of rhythmic cheer and high kicks.

  At the other end, the force field’s blue screens were noticeable even up here, but needed as the Farm and Max Island prisoners, who had earned the right to attend the game via good behavior, were all behind it. More than a thousand, Tanner reckoned, and they, like others here, waved flags and those short red and white towels that showed they were Avenger fans. From here, he could see the occasional Prison guard and some Provost officers too, but on the whole, it was a space that was usually reserved for convicts only.

  "Looks like even the prisoners are singing along too," Tanner said, "and I'll bet we have 7,500 tonight, for sure!”

  He still held Tibah's hand and said, “This way,” and they moved up the last few rows and then down to seats five and six. They sat and looked around at their close section mates. The first four seats were empty as were the next two in their row. A dad with a couple of kids was farther in, and the small boy was jumping up and down just like the cheerleaders were. In front of the couple, there was a solid row of backs in light spring windbreakers, and behind them, Tanner saw eight girls, who were all about the same age, and they were all on their PDAs taking pictures and sending them out.

  "Want anything?" he inquired as he glanced at Tibah and received a head-shake back, but then she stopped and nodded yes.

  "Yes, I do need something. I need to know how this rugby game is played and what to watch for—do you know?" she said and then she smiled again. "I did look it up in the Galipedia and got a sense of what the game is like, but do you know more than the long scrolling page knows?" she said with a challenge.

  He looked away for a moment then back at her and nodded. He knew how the game was played from a time in his life that he had almost forgotten about, and he nodded again.

  "Yes, Tibah, back a few decades and thousands of light-years inwards, when I was a teenager, yes, I played rugby, and yes, I loved the game, so sure, I think I can help a bit," he said, and his voice was only slightly tremulous. “So sure, what do you want to know?"

  She smiled at him, and her hand, for the fourth time, he counted, fell on his forearm as she said, "You decide what I need to know."

  He tilted his head to the side, thought for a second or two, and then said, "Sure!"

  Tibah smiled again and waited.

  "Okay," he said, "first the field—she's 100 yards long and every single part of it is always in play. The aim of the game is for you and your team to get the ball across the opposite team’s goal line. See." He pointed to the far left side. "That’s the goal line, see, before the end zone area that stretches only ten more yards."

  "So, the game is to just run with the ball from your end to the other team’s, seems easy, yes?" Tibah said.

  "In a perfect world, yes," Tanner said, "but the other team will try to stop you by tackling you—grabbing you and throwing you on the ground. When that happens, it's called a ruck, and the ball carrier must stop and twist his body around to open up the ball so that his own team can grab it up and then begin running with it again. If you are going to get tackled, then you can lateral the ball off to a teammate too, and that is how the game usually works. Sort of. At least most times."

  She nodded and then looked out at the field.

  "What happens, Tanner, if say, two players from opposite teams grab the ball at the same time? Or there's a penalty?"

  "Yes, that happens often too, and then they hold what's called a scrum, where the two teams lock up with three across the front and then the balance of the team cl
ose in behind. The referee throws the ball in between the two rows of three, who are shoulder to shoulder by the way, and each tries to use their feet to push the ball back through their whole team’s feet to the very back of the team’s scrum where the last player grabs the ball and the running begins again. Oh, if the ball goes out of bounds, then they have what's called a line-out, and that's when the ball gets thrown in by one side to try to get it to their own players only. And that can be hard too!" he finished off rubbing his thigh as he remembered being blocked in just such a line-out before.

  "Hmm ... okay, and how do you score, and what is the value of same?" she asked next.

  "If you run the ball into the end zone and touch it to the ground, it's called a try and that is worth five points. If you kick it through the uprights and above the crossbar, you get three points. Trys are the best to attempt, but at times even a kick works too," he said, noticed the hawker, and yelled, "Yes, please" for a bag of peanuts.

  "What are these?" Tibah said as he opened up the bag and showed her how to shuck a peanut.

  "Oh," she said, "they are sort of toasted and salty ..." she said.

  "All we need now is a beer," he said, and as they shucked peanuts and looked around, the stadium was almost full.

  From across the field, a marching band was taking the field and the huge screen was showing them getting their lines in order. Moments later, they began to play as they marched, and the whole stadium came alive with what was obviously a well-known song.

  Tanner and Tibah stared at each other and shrugged. They didn't know the tune, but from behind them, one of the girls leaned forward and said, "It's the Avengers theme song," and soon the couple was singing along as the words appeared up on the huge screen.

  Laughing, Tibah said in his ear, "Sorry, we Olbians can’t carry a tune at all." Tanner laughed as he agreed for himself too.

  Once the pre-game extravaganza was over, the teams took the field, and Tanner noted that they were playing fifteen-a-side and the teams wore the striped rugger jerseys that were the usual uniforms—one in blue and white and the other in red and white was the Avengers. He smiled and made that point known to Tibah, and before they knew it, the opening kickoff was in the air.

  Everyone around them rose up and cheered as the ball tumbled over and over way up and then fell back down to one of the Avengers almost in their own end zone. Gathering up the ball, the player moved quickly to his left, and beside him, other players in red or blue sweaters moved as a single unit. Tackled fairly quickly, the Avenger fell to the ground, and as the first ruck started, his legs pumped as he tried to turn his body to prevent the ball from being stolen by the blue and white team. He was able to keep them at bay for a second while a team member grabbed up the ball, turned, and tossed it instantly to another teammate fifteen feet away, and the running game was back on tap. The Avengers moved the ball well, and from their seats up in the mezzanine deck area, Tanner and Tibah could follow the action perfectly. After two more rucks and the game’s first scrum, the Avengers drew first blood with a try. The crowd cheered loudly and long. On the huge screen, they played the final few moments of the try a couple of times, and the crowd cheered wildly each and every time.

  Now it was time for the Avengers to kick off and that would give the other team—the Raiders they were called—a chance to move the ball on their own. The kick was shorter than the first one of the game but that seemed to catch the Raider player a bit out of position, so he had to run quickly to catch the ball on the run. He kept up that speed directly into a group of Avengers coming at him full speed. The collision was a big one, and as the players all got up, one Raider didn't, and there was a time out for some first-aid workers who ran out and helped the injured player off the field. Substitutions were made, the game resumed, and Tibah looked at Tanner.

  "So, if you're injured, you can be taken off and then a substitution is allowed. That's a good thing," she said.

  "Yes, it's the fair way to play the game," he said and saw a beer hawker coming up the stairs.

  "Would you like a beer or ..." he said as he realized that in fact, he did not want one.

  "Not for me, but you go ahead if you'd like. Maybe a cold drink later at, what, half-time?" she said.

  The Avengers were the favored team, and by half-time, they were up by a score of twenty-four to eight, and as the teams left the field, many fans also left their seats to find the restrooms and get something to eat or drink.

  Tanner and Tibah joined the throngs on the mezzanine level and wandered about for a bit until Tibah spied an Ade-Drink stand, and they stood with others sipping the cold Garnuthian fruit drinks, and the sourness and coldness made them both take their time finishing them off. As they walked and sipped, Tanner offered to buy Tibah a real official Avengers sweater or a hat, but she demurred, and they walked on almost halfway around the stadium.

  Passing them on the left was a line of prisoners accompanied by Provost Guards, but it was anything but a secure detail. In fact, some of the prisoners were not in the normal single file that was supposed to be used but were two and three abreast chatting about the various souvenirs and shops. One was staring at them, and he nodded and waved to Tibah who waved back and said, "Miss you Razin." and they both smiled.

  "Gotta ask who that might be?" he asked quietly as the long group of prisoners moved past.

  "Sure," Tibah said, "that is Razin al Kabilah, my brother’s old aide—oh, you know who ..." she trailed off and then half-turned to look at Tanner, her eyes questioning. Her face didn't look anxious but curious.

  "If you mean Nusayr al-Rashid, the ex-head of the Olbia Council of Nine, then yes, I do know that he's your brother. Which I'd take it is why you came along with some of your other friends to settle here. Would I be correct in that thought?" Tanner asked. It did make sense, but he really didn't know how far to be questioning without trying to infringe on her privacy.

  Tibah nodded and again squeezed his forearm as they began to walk again.

  "Yes, Nusayr got a huge sentence for simply being at the head of the Council when students rose up and the Ramat—our secret police—quelled the uprising with what could only be called overkill, and yes, there were deaths. Then the Farmers Guilds rebelled, then the Parliament shut down, and wham—cousin Sharia thought the whole Council of Nine was at fault ... so they're here, Nusayr, Razin, and the rest. So yes, we did decide to come here, and support, and give them some kind of family presence. And as you probably know, Captain, there is no appeal within the Caliphate—Sharia is the Caliph and what he says is law," she said, sighed a bit, and strode ahead quickly enough that Tanner had to struggle to keep up. With her being over six feet tall, her stride was big to begin with, but when she was upset, she really could cover ground.

  "Look, Tibah," he said as he caught up, "I didn't mean to, uh, well, in any way to upset you ..." he lamely finished off and stopped her from striding along by simply ducking in front of her. She looks upset, damn, damn, damn, he thought, why'd I have to open up this can of worms?

  She looked at him, frowned for a moment, looked away for almost a minute, and then back at him. And then she smiled.

  "Tanner, not to worry. I am so sorry that I got ... caught up, I'd say, in the whole mess again. It was so, so much a real travesty of justice, and my brother is over on Max Island as a result ... wonder if maybe he's even here tonight? No matter," she said, smiled at Tanner, took his hand, and resumed their walk. "I am not upset any longer. It's one of the things that we Royals must learn to get used to—justice!"

  They walked for a while, shopped in a store for a bit, and then turned around to go back to their seats, still holding hands.

  "See that girl over there," Tibah said, "she's the daughter of one of our group. That's Alise and she's here with her dad, Andre—that's him in the Avenger sweater beside her. The girl was animated and she was tossing her Avenger hat in the air trying to catch it on her head. That made her laugh, as she was unable to get it to seat itself on her head,
and that made Andre laugh just as much. Tanner tilted his head toward them as if to ask if they should go over to say hi, but Tibah took his hand and pulled him away.

  "No sense in interrupting, or in fact, sharing my captain either," she said, which made Tanner think this was truly a great evening.

  He smiled and let himself be led away, and in a large circle, they doubled back to their seats.

  After that, the rest of the game was a blur to Tanner. He sat and was keenly aware of the times in the second half when Tibah leaned over to him to talk, or when her thigh touched his, or the two more times she touched his arm. The game ended with the Avengers beating the Raiders by more than nineteen points, and the crowds all rose and sang that team song as the team left the field winners.

  This was an important time, he thought, to remember that this was a date but only a date.

  And no more.

  The woman he was feeling so comfortable with was a Royal, yes, a farmer too, but a Countess. One he thought that had made some sacrifices to leave her planet to join her brother here on Halberd, to provide some degree of family support. He knew that as the XO had checked up on her and the group of farmers, and Tanner had to admit this kind of familial support was unusual but of the highest caliber.

  And yes, still quite a woman, he thought. It felt strange that he even cared about anything else other than the booze, but there it was right in front of him. A woman ... a woman he desired ...

  #

  Warden Lorenz of Max Island sat at his desk, tried to handle the paperwork on the next set of incoming convicts, and realized there would be a problem over at the Farm Camp. More than twenty new incoming prisoners had great experience as real farmers. Normally, that might be a great thing except with the camp being almost at maximum numbers, Farm Camp Warden Shavren didn’t know where he would put them, but then he realized it wasn't going to be his problem, so he clicked the submit button, and the next incoming shipment of prisoners was okayed.