I’d rather slit my throat than go to jail on Mars. Mars doesn’t really have prisons or jails. It has pits where people are tortured or held before they are executed. People go into those pits whole and come out in pieces. No wonder Martians always fight to the death; they think everyone is as savage as they are.
Jovians don’t call their holding cells prisons or jails. They view themselves as the ultimate free society, so they don’t care much for the idea of jail. Still, you can’t have super-strong and super-genius, crazy trans-humans running around, so they have a justice system and a lockup. Aside from the high gravity, it’s comfortable and civilized. Maybe too much so. It’s a lot like a hotel room. You can even leave any time you want; out the door is a straight drop to the endless clouds below.
Don’t even get me started on the living prisons of the Venusians. Those are the stuff of nightmares.
Lunars put the professionalism they have in everything into their prison system too. The room is comfortable, clean, safe, and roomy, but spartan. The lights are a lot like the sunlight in color and even feel warm. The walls, ceiling, and floor are bare Lunar rock. I can see all the layers of rock, flashes of mineral crystals here and there, and a few ridges where the cutters originally cut out the walls. The gel air mattress on the floor is reasonably comfortable. My eating and wash rooms are separated (and yes, it has a real washroom with hot water, not a filthy hole in the ground).
Food and drink come in through a slit near the floor and go out the same way. The water is clean and pure. The food is bland, synthetic stuff that looks and kind of tastes like eggs, vegetables, or meat. Still, there are no toxins or feces mixed in, or other special surprises. I don’t have to catch rats or roaches to get more nutrition.
Fitness is up to me, and I maintain my regimen. The low gravity makes it hard, but resistance training helps keep me from getting soft.
Part of the wall is a screen. I can read up on religion, philosophy, the Lunar justice system, or other things like that. But there is no entertainment, no news, nothing from the outside world. No contact with anyone else. But all the time in the world to think about things. It’s a monastic environment.
Get self-discipline or go mad. Those are the choices in a Lunar prison. Lunars see criminal behavior as the ultimate failure in self-discipline, and that is one thing they will not tolerate.
Escape? Forget it. Micro cameras are everywhere, all the time, on all frequencies. The patterns on the walls are all known by the computers. If there are any marks or signs of digging…well, let’s just say air is a privilege, not a right. Messing with the screen or recycler that provides food won’t help; I’ll just get to serve out my sentence without them. There’s nothing to threaten a guard with, even if there were any guards to threaten. Even if I were somehow to subvert the computers, this is a closed system; all I could do is change the lights or the menu (tempting, actually).
The door is kind of like the door in a Jovian jail, but they did me a favor by locking it. Hard vacuum out there. Go see scenic Luna and die gasping. Each cell is self-contained, dug into the surface, and totally automated. I’ll only leave alive when they want me to.
There is nothing to signal the outside with, and no way for anyone to find me for a breakout. There are thousands of these things scattered all over the Lunar barrens. Isolated, self-contained cells that can last for centuries. Civilization could fall in the Solar System, and I could remain in here, mummified for eternity.
Nothing to do but wait.
* * * * *
Chapter 98
I haven’t had a trial yet and don’t expect one.
Trials are for Lunar citizens, and I’m a criminal alien. The best I would normally get on Luna is a quick tribunal and then deportation or execution. I might even get a human judge rather than a computer. Still, it’s better than what would happen elsewhere in the Solar System; Terrans would torture someone like me to death.
I don’t think execution or deportation are in store for me, though. For one thing, they are using their resources to keep me in this cell, and Lunars never waste them or do anything without a reason.
They patched me up pretty well when they dug me out of the ruins of the hospital. Maybe they didn’t know who I was at the time. Still, I’m fit and healthy again. They didn’t get rid of the monster, though; even Lunar medicine has its limits.
Then, lots of questions. Truth drugs, cortical implants, neural scans, full-spectrum debriefing, the works. There was no point in holding out, so I gave up all the goods. The first few times, they must have assumed I was lying, somehow. Later, they must have assumed I was insane. Eventually, someone, somewhere, found out what was really happening, and who I really was.
They got a lot more interested. They learned about Terran Special Security, the Syndicates of Terra, the monster, Singularity, and Sharron.
I’m sorry, Sharron, but once you let them know about you earlier, all I can hope for is that you can find a new home on Luna. I hope they realized you saved their skins, and they gave you a chance. You’re more Lunar than I ever will be; you were born here, and your program was written here. You’ve got a right to live here. All I could do was let them know what you did for them and speak up for you. I hope it made a difference.
Once they’d wrung me dry, they flew me out here and put me in storage. I’ll never get a trial. My arrest, even my existence, are secret. This is a matter of state at the highest levels; I can’t expect anything to trump matters of planetary security. So, here I’ll stay.
Maybe they’re keeping me on hand until they need me for some purpose. Maybe they will have additional questions for me. Or, will they try to activate me as one of their turned agents? They could be getting ready to experiment on me to see how the monster works so they can try to make their own.
I’ll work with Luna on most things, but if they try to create their own murder-lab, I’ll fight to the death.
I think about breaking out from time to time. To find out what the monster can actually take. I know it can handle a few minutes of vacuum. Would I be able to hike cross-country across the Lunar plains? Would I be able to escape the high-intensity search, possibly with orbital backup?
Probably not. Still, I took crazier chances when other lives were on the line. Now, it’s just mine. I don’t know what’s going to happen yet.
So, I wait.
Now, I hear them. Faint, low sounds and vibrations in the floor. A moon-hopper has landed outside. People are getting out. They are approaching my cell, walking down the ramp to where I’m buried. Three figures, two larger, likely security types in heavy armor. The airlock is cycling. They will be in here any second.
I relax on the mattress. Since I am under constant observation, I have not made any weapons. Still, anything can be used as a weapon, and I have plans for every implement in this room. Where I’m sitting will give me optimal access to the second person through the airlock, blocking fire from the first, and letting me use the body as a weapon against the third. Then, I’ll have, at best, a few seconds to steal their spacesuits and weapons and try to make my way to the moon-hopper, deal with any space-borne vehicles, and…
The airlock opens.
* * * * *
Chapter 99
There are three. Two in combat exoskeletons with integrated weaponry and scanner lasers at ready. Good to know I’m being taken seriously. The third is smaller, in a lightly armored spacesuit, with a laser pistol holstered at the hip. No markings on the exoskeletons or suit. I’m guessing Lunar Intelligence.
The first two enter and sweep the room, even though they have full access to the hundreds of cameras watching me. Not taking any chances. Then, the scanner lasers point at me.
“Turn around, get on your knees, hands behind your back,” one announces.
I comply. I can see their reflections in a polished part of the wall and hear them approach. There will be a brief moment as the one binding my wrists will offer cover from the other one and then I can—
> The first exoskeleton places smart cord around my wrists while the other covers me with the scanner laser. The smart cord contracts around my skin, growing stronger as it contracts, and molds to the shape of the bones in my wrists and hands. No movement is possible; they know what they are doing.
As I stand up, each keeps a steady hand on my shoulder. The third figure walks into the cell, a woman judging by her gait. She unpacks a large, elastic bag. It looks a lot like an emergency bubble, but it’s opaque, and the life support system is on the outside, not the inside. “Get in. If you are not inside within three minutes, this cell will be evacuated to space.”
Alright then. I climb in. The tan material is the same tough, flexible stuff of spacesuits and smart cord. It will give a lot before it breaks, is airtight, and insulated. I also hope it’s radiation proof. I have to curl up in a ball to fit inside, then the world goes dark as it’s sealed. Air flows in, and the bubble expands to about a meter in diameter.
They pick me up and carry me through the airlock. Air hisses outside, and the bubble expands a bit as all sound fades away. I am carried up 25 steps and then right another 54 steps. The entrance ramp I’m taken up is low, and they have to duck to enter. I’m secured in a cargo net, but there is no air outside.
The vibrations of liftoff come through, and we accelerate at half a gravity. Likely a moon-hopper. Acceleration cuts off, leaving weightlessness. I run the numbers—the degree of ascent, the level of acceleration—and get a rough parabola of where we could land. If I knew where we had taken off from, that is.
Not much to do during the long fall toward wherever we’re going. I slow my breathing and get some rest. Any action will come later.
* * * * *
Chapter 100
The engines fire and wake me up. Landing soon.
Will it be a hidden lab? An interrogation chamber? I don’t know. It won’t be an execution at the end of the trip. They would have done that earlier if they had wanted to, or they would have had a public trial if it was to be in the open. So, a secret facility and some kind of ultimatum.
Any fight will come after I say “no,” so I can focus on the offer and the threat. I’ll need to be ready to fight my way out of a Lunar black site.
“Dark Side” is what most in the trade call it—a hidden part of Luna that works in secret and deals with people who don’t exist. People like me. The name originated when Luna began building hidden facilities on the side facing away from Earth. These days, a Dark Side site could be anywhere on, in, over, or off Luna.
We land with almost no bounce. Good pilot. The ship vibrates as the hatches open, and people get out. The cargo net is pulled away from my life pod, and I am picked up and carried away.
I’m carried 74 steps straight out, then 32 steps to the left. It feels like I’m going down a ramp now, 68 more steps. We enter another airlock, and air hisses into the space around me. From the sounds, there are a total of two in exoskeletons and another in a lighter spacesuit. Sounds like the three from before. The airlock opens, and I’m carried 68 steps and then 28 steps after a right turn. We go through another hatch, which closes behind us.
My bag crashes to the floor and is unzipped. Light blazes in.
“Stand up!” booms one of the exoskeletons.
Blinking, I stand. All three from before are here. The room is a mirrored cube, four meters on a side, with harsh lights blazing from each corner and reflecting endlessly. The hatch is a heavy, round, steel door that looks like it could take an SPG. A table and two chairs of polished Lunar steel sit in the middle of the room.
Classic. It’s going to be one of those.
“Sit down,” the exoskeleton rumbles.
Who’s going to argue with two scanner lasers in a mirrored room? I sit down, and the female in the spacesuit sits in the other chair. With my arms still tied behind my back, my chair back bends and warps, binding around my joints and neck. Smart metal. Lunar invention—smart cord with metallic and carbon chain nanofibers running through it. Right now, I couldn’t move, even with the monster’s help.
Across the table, she just sits there, my face reflected in her curved, mirrored visor. There’s that long tense pause that always comes at this time. Both sit and stare, and the tension builds, the sweat begins to flow, and the prisoner finally begins to realize just how much trouble he’s in.
Except, I’m not worried, and I’m not sweating. I already know how much trouble I’m in. I already have a plan of escape if I need it. The main reason I’m not worried is that I know they need something from me.
Just when it seems like I’m going to spend the day staring into a curved faceplate, she takes the helmet off. Short, cropped, lustrous, black hair frames her oval face, and her cold glacier-blue eyes stare at me, searching for weakness.
She’s…interesting. In another time, another place, she would be worth getting to know. That would have to be a time and place where I wasn’t being interrogated by Lunar Intelligence, and where I didn’t have a killer parasite put in me by a murder-lab.
I wait. She’ll let me know what she wants soon enough.
She smiles, but it doesn’t warm those icy eyes. “Welcome to Tartarus.”
* * * * *
Chapter 101
Tartarus. The rumored place where people disappear forever. No one ever leaves. Looks like I’ll have to be the first.
She’ll try something next; something to disorient me. Likely, the heavies in exoskeletons behind me will join in. The whole point is to disorient me. It’s a good tactic. I know, I’ve used it a lot of times, myself.
“Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” Her voice is like liquid helium.
“You’re welcome.” I grin.
“Wha—?” she stammers.
“For shutting down the murder-lab and saving everyone in the hospital. You’re welcome. For exposing and stopping Singularity. You’re welcome. For saving Luna from an interplanetary war. You’re welcome.”
“You—?”
“The Silver Luna…with clusters, I think.”
“How—?”
“Not the Platinum Luna; I know that’s your highest honor. I only saved your entire world, after all.”
“You!” she shouts, slamming her hands on the table and leaning forward.
I smile. “You know, you could just say ‘thank you.’ A little gratitude wouldn’t cost you anything.”
She blushes. Only a little, but I can see it. I hear her heart rate change, and her scent shifts. Direct hit. Time to keep pouring on fire.
“Look, I understand that since this whole thing never officially happened, you can’t have a public awards ceremony. We’re both pros here. I can receive the awards in a private ceremony, and you can keep the medals on site—”
“How dare you?!” Her voice is trembling. Score. “After all you’ve done—”
“Yeah. After all I’ve done. I’ve been an enforcer for one of your citizens, and I broke a number of your laws. I think saving thousands of lives, and your entire world, helps deal with that.”
“You were in Terran Special Security—” she begins counting on her fingers; she didn’t want to lose track of my sins, “—a member of the Terran Syndicates, and active in the Hades Cartel!”
“You forgot about my smuggling to Luna, being a member of a ring town gang, and being an unauthorized birth.” I laugh. “As for the thugs, assassins, and killers I took out, that was more of a public service.”
“How do you ever expect us to trust you, given your past?” Making progress. Already on the defensive, trying to justify. Her first attack deflected, time to counterattack.
“You want to know what the worst thing I could have done to Luna was?” I whisper.
There is a long pause, then, “What?”
“NOTHING!” I spit out.
“Wha—?”
“All I would have needed to do to destroy Luna was nothing! I could have let Singularity experiment on your people, blow up your hospital, and maybe even bomb
ard your whole world. And I could have left and watched it burn from a distance. Tell me—is there ANYTHING I could have done as an evil Special Security commando that would have been worse than THAT?!” It’s the first time I’ve raised my voice; it hits like a shotgun.
She’s off balance now. It really isn’t fair. She’s good at this game, but I’m a master. She can’t bluff me. With the monster, I can sense every response and emotion; it’s the next best thing to mind reading. I can adjust my attack until I know it’s working.
I may be the one tied up, but I’m running this interrogation.
* * * * *
Chapter 102
“Look.” My voice is calm and reassuring with the perfect tone and speed to work its magic. “I’m here to help. Let me help you.”
Her look of surprised disbelief is well hidden, but I see it. I also see the hope, for an instant. Lunar Intelligence is in trouble. They need me. I knew it.
“I didn’t save all those people for gratitude, and I didn’t do it to fain favor from Luna. You want to know why I went to the edge to save those people?”
“Why?” she asks.
This next part is easy…and the hardest part. I only need to tell her the full truth. “Because it needed to be done. I’ve wasted my entire life on darkness and evil. Then, out of nowhere, I get a second chance and come back to life. I certainly didn’t deserve it. Now, I finally have a chance to help make up for what I did and have a life worth living. I should be dead; every day, every second, is a gift.”
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