CHAPTER 19: WELCOME HOME
One week later. Slave Camp of Zikf ?
Skip stood next to Captain Belzar, waiting for the hover-truck of new prisoners to enter the front gate of the slave camp. The breeze blew through Skip's dark hair, which was now significantly longer, touching the top of his shoulders. He scratched at the thick beard on his face and breathed in the air. The air was hot and thick with humidity; the smells of the jungle penetrating his senses.
Skip looked up at Captain Noran Belzar. Small beads of sweat dripped down over the brow of his ebony forehead. It had been over a week since Captain Belzar had discovered Skip with his artificial leg open. Strangely, he didn't say a word about it; he had only confiscated the items that Skip found in his artificial leg, including the key that would free all of the slaves from the slave camp of Zikf. He also wondered why Commander Schaal didn't torture or kill him for what he had discovered in his leg. Skip got the impression that Belzar didn't even report it.
He turned his attention back to the hover-truck as it stopped in front of them. The two Gnol guards escorting the prisoners exited the vehicle and opened the bay door at the rear of the craft. The prisoners, locked in shackles, filed out one by one. As the prisoners passed by Skip and Belzar, Skip scanned the tattooed bar codes on the top of the prisoner's right hands. Skip was shocked when he looked at the last two prisoners - directly in front of him stood Bantyr and Sean. Skip tried to make eye contact with them as he scanned their hands. But Bantyr and Sean kept their eyes down. Skip knew that they were already in the control of the Gnol Enforcer.
After scanning the prisoners, Skip turned around and began walking toward the camp administration building with Captain Belzar at his side. Skip put his head down and let out a sigh. Feeling hopeless, he knew there was no way he could escape with Skyler, Sean, and Bantyr under the twenty-four hour control of Gnol Enforcers. In addition, without the item that Belzar took from him, there was no way he could wake his friends up from the mental prison they were in.
As Skip began to make his way back to the administration building of the camp, Belzar gently grabbed Skip's right shoulder to stop him. Skip stopped and looked up at Belzar. Belzar reached into the pockets of his fatigues and pulled out the item that Skip desperately needed. "Is this what you need to free your friends?"
Skip, astonished, reached out for the item. Belzar handed it to him, and Skip responded, "Wh ? I don't understand, Captain? What are you doing?"
For the first time that Skip could recall, Captain Noran Belzar turned the corner of his lips into a small smile. "I had been up all night the night I found you with these items. I monitored everything the hologram said to you. When I entered your room, I wasn't angry. My eyes were red because I had been crying."
Skip looked at Belzar with confusion. "Crying?"
Belzar continued. "Earlier that day, a female prisoner gave birth to a baby girl. Commander Schaal ordered that the baby be killed immediately and that every male and female prisoner be sterilized."
Skip nodded, knowing about the sterilization program, but he was unaware that a female prisoner had actually given birth. He continued to stare at Captain Belzar as tears began rolling down Belzar's face.
Belzar gritted his teeth. "What kind of person does that? This was an innocent, new life. What kind of god enslaves and kills innocent people?"
Skip didn't know what to say.
Belzar continued. "The night that I confiscated those items from you, I was in turmoil about my own allegiances. I decided not to give the items to Commander Schaal. Instead, I had that last item analyzed. The disk is a computer virus. When inserted into the mainframe of our computer system, it will kill all power to the camp, including the signal that the Enforcers use to keep the mind control of the prisoners. The virus is powerful enough to completely destroy the camp computer and power systems. There will be no way for our experts here to recover."
Skip was speechless. All he could do was put his left hand on Belzar's shoulder.
Captain Noran Belzar managed another small smile and said, "Oh, and Skip ? you can call me 'Tiny.'"
Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1) Page 85