Captivity

by Maureen Toonkel

  “You have got to be kidding,” said Paul Loring spitting coffee out of his mouth. “Whose computer was it on? Lieutenant Greene’s?”

  “No, it was not Lieutenant Greene,” answered Andrews.

  “Who then?” asked Pearson.

  Dave Andrews looked at Dennis Pearson. This was going to be one of the hardest things he had ever been asked to do. Despite his animosity toward Pearson, he did not wish this on him. Dave hated what he was going to have to do. This was going to crush Pearson.

  “I found the fragments on Lieutenant Diane Pearson’s computer.”

  “Are you crazy?” exploded Pearson. He jumped up and tried to leap across the table. Paul Loring grabbed one of his arms and pinned him to the table.

  “Remember who you are, Lieutenant Commander,” ordered Andrews. “Calm down and let’s discuss this. I would like to hear what Diane has to say about this situation.”

  Dennis relaxed his body, and Loring released his arm. He turned to Diane. “Dear,” he said. “Do you know what Andrews is talking about?”

  Diane shook her head. Her red hair swirled back and forth. “Denny, I do not know what Commander Andrews is talking about. I would never communicate with the Tradians. I wouldn’t even know how to contact them.”

  Andrews looked from Dennis to his wife. “Diane,” he said gently, “how did the fragments get on your personal computer? You are the communications officer. You are very skilled in sending and receiving transmissions. It therefore would be easy to assume that you have the capacity to communicate secretly with the Tradians.”

  “I do not know anything about those fragments.” Her eyes welled up with tears. She walked over to Andrews and got down on her knees. She tugged on his shirt. “Please, you must believe me.” Andrews looked away. Diane crawled over on her knees to her husband. “Denny, you do believe me don’t you?”

  “Of course,“ said Pearson, “but, honey, how did those fragments get on your computer?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” Diane was now crying heavily.

  “Hey, don’t cry. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.” He reached into his uniform pocket and drew out a linen handkerchief. He handed it to Diane, and she dabbed at her eyes and wiped her nose.

  “Dennis,” interrupted Andrews, “we have no choice but to place Diane under arrest.”

  “Arrest! What for?”

  “For suspicion of treason.”

  “You have got to be kidding. I am not going to let you lock my wife up.” Dennis was livid. That stuffed shirt Andrews would like nothing more than to place Diane in jail. He’d do anything to pull his weight.

  “Dennis, you know that protocol dictates that we arrest Diane.”

  “To hell with protocol. This is my wife we are talking about.”

  “Dennis,” inserted Paul, “Andrews is right. We have to follow standard procedures. I’m sure this will all get straightened out.”

  Dennis shook his head. He wanted to smack Paul. “Paul, how can you defend Andrews? How can you go along with accusing Diane of treason?”

  “Look at this from my point of view, Dennis.” Dave Andrews jumped in before Paul could respond. He tried not to sound angry or demanding. But he needed Pearson to stick with him. His participation and cooperation was mandatory if they were to find out what happened to the Captain and the others. “With Josh gone, I am now in command. I need to maintain control if we are to find Josh. We received instructions from Admiral Wilcox ordering us to locate the informant. Evidence presently points to Diane. This does not necessarily mean that she is guilty. I am only recommending that she be arrested on suspicion. Dennis, if it was anyone else other than Diane, I am sure that you would be one of the first to insist on detention.”

  Dennis bit down on his lower lip. Andrews was right of course. They had to detain Diane. There was no way that Diane was a traitor. But the evidence was undeniable. And until an explanation could be found, he had to obey Andrews. Dennis placed his hands on Diane’s arms and gently pulled her to her feet. He looked into her eyes. It broke his heart to have to watch her go through this. “Diane, I’m afraid you need to be detained.”

  “No. Denny, please. No.” She slumped down again to the floor. Dennis pulled her up again.

  “I am sorry Diane. Please understand that we have to do this.”

  “Denny, you can’t go along with this. Please don’t let them do this.”

  “Paul, would you escort Diane to the Brig.” Dennis let Paul put his arm around her shoulders. It pained him to watch his wife walk out of the room and to hear her sobs bouncing off the corridor walls.

  Andrews and Pearson sat in silence after Paul left with Diane. Dennis asked to see the full report, and he thoroughly read every word. When he got done he leaned back and twiddled his thumbs. He did not look at Andrews. Finally, Loring returned. He informed them that Diane had been checked into the Brig without incidence. There were no other detainees at this time, so she would be safe. They threw out ideas of what to do next. They argued. They could not come up with a consensus. Andrews wanted to put together a landing party and begin searching again. Loring thought they should do some more searching on Diane’s computer. Pearson wanted to review all the reports they had put together so far to see if there was anything they had missed. Finally Andrews suggested that they all get some sleep. They would continue their discussion in the morning.

  Dennis Pearson stopped at the Brig before going to his quarters. The seaman on guard allowed him in to see Diane. She was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and was lying on a canvas cot. She was still crying. They sat and held hands. They didn’t talk. There was nothing to say. After a while the seaman came and told Dennis he had over stayed his allotted visiting time. He pulled Diane close to his chest and hugged her tightly. He kissed the top of her head and told her that he loved her. Slowly releasing her, he got up off the cot and left. He crawled into bed but lay there unable to sleep. He was not used to sleeping in an empty bed.

  Paul Loring was also having a hard time sleeping. Diane Pearson’s arrest had unnerved him. He couldn’t dismiss the vision of her on her knees begging Andrews and Pearson to believe her. Having to be the one to accompany her to the Brig had also shaken him up. Why was he letting this get to him? Paul pulled himself out of bed, changed back into his uniform, and headed to Sick Bay. Nurse Jill Mann was on duty. He flashed her a smile and went into his office. He flipped the wall switch up, and the ceiling lights flooded the room. He turned on the computer and entered his password.

  Dave Andrews returned to his quarters. He switched on his computer and brought up all of the reports that had so far been complied on Planet Brisula. Andrews hated to admit it, but Pearson was right. They needed to see if they had missed anything. He spent the rest of the night reading and rereading the reports.

  “RISE AND SHINE. YOU HAVE A WHOLE NEW DAY IN FRONT OF YOU,” boomed the loudspeaker.

  Josh Stoner opened his eyes and stretched out his arms. Ouch. The muscle pain raced up his arms into his shoulders. He stood up and shook out his aching legs. He looked over at his officers. They too were waking up and getting ready for another day of digging. It’s been three days now, reflected Josh. There has been no rescue squad. And no new captives, which was good news. The last thing Josh wanted was more of his crew in captivity. What, he wondered were Andrews and Loring doing to find them? Were they organizing search teams? Were they strategizing? Were they awaiting help from United Galaxy Command? It was so frustrating not being able to communicate with the Gladiator. It was even more frustrating not being able to communicate with his fellow captured officers. The one hour of the day that we are allowed to talk goes by too quickly. I need to be able to brainstorm ideas on how we are going to get out of this wretched place, he thought. But how? They were lucky that they were able to talk so openly at all. Thanks to the pandemonium of a few hundred slaves all chattering at the same time, he and his officers were able to talk freely with no one listening to them. Bu
t they needed to be able to communicate at will.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his shoulder from Wayne Shasta. He turned around. Shasta pointed ahead and Josh realized he was holding up the line. He quickly caught up to the slave in front of him just narrowly avoiding the guard reaching toward him with a cattle prod. As he fell in rhythm and marched along down the dank and muddy tunnels he thought of how Wayne had just communicated with him non-verbally using a tap and a gesture. Was there a way they could talk to each other without speaking? All of a sudden he remembered being in a freshman class at the Space Academy, It was History of Military Communications. They learned about a very old system known as Morse Code. It had been invented in the early 1800s by a man named Samuel Morse. The system consisted of using dots and dashes for the alphabet and numbers. It was used back in World War II so that the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard could communicate via radio signals. At one time Naval ships used large lights to flash out messages such as SOS — dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot. The freshman class required all the cadets to memorize the code. Was there a way he and his officers could use Morse Code to talk to each other?

  “Start shoveling,” yelled a guard. They had arrived at the gravel pit.

  Andrews, Pearson and Loring found themselves back in the Conference Room. There was a steaming pot of coffee in the center of the wooden table. Lying nearby was a tray of bagels, cream cheese, and jelly packets. Pearson tried to stifle a yawn as he reached for the coffee.

  “I see you got about as much sleep as I did,” said Paul rubbing his bloodshot eyes.

  “If you mean, none, then, yes,” responded Pearson.

  “How about you?” Paul asked Andrews.

  “I was up all night reading all the Brisula reports as Pearson suggested.” Andrews looked at Pearson and saw his eyebrows rise to indicate surprise.

  “I’d like to discuss the transmissions we have received. Officer Greene intercepted another one early this morning.”

  “Dave,” inserted Loring, “is Greene still a suspect?”

  “Although the evidence is pointing at Diane Pearson, I don’t think we can really eliminate anyone as suspects. That includes all of us aboard the ship and those on the ground. We have not considered the possibility that the informant may have an accomplice.”

  “Go to hell!” blurted out Pearson. “Are you trying to say that I helped Diane commit treason?”

  “Whoa!” Paul shouted. “Dave never said that.”

  “Lieutenant Commander, once again I need to remind you to remember who you are talking to,” Andrews said slightly raising his voice. “I did not mean to imply that you are anyone’s accomplice. I simply was pointing out that we do not know if we are dealing with one informant or two or even more. We also don’t know if we have detained the right suspect.

  “Now, let’s look at the transmissions. I believe we have been assuming these are some sort of computer messages. But as I study them, I think they are announcements from a public address system.”

  “What was the latest one?” asked Paul.

  “RISE AND SHINE. YOU HAVE A WHOLE NEW DAY IN FRONT OF YOU.”

  Dennis was still steaming. How dare Andrews accuse him of being a traitor. I don’t care what he says. He was trying to imply that Diane and I are trying to sabotage the ship. He tried to calm himself down and recover his composure. If he wasn’t careful he’d end up in the Brig alongside Diane. He had known yesterday that the transmissions held some kind of clue, and now Andrews was taking credit for discovering that revelation.

  Dennis spoke up, “It seems to me that these indeed are announcements. Apparently there is a slave colony somewhere on the planet, and they receive instructions over a loudspeaker of some sort.”

  “Yes,” agreed Andrews, “the first transmission suggests that two intruders entered this city. Let’s assume that those intruders were the Captain and Lieutenant Shasta. Let’s also assume that they were apprehended.”

  “According to the transmission, if they were caught they were taken to a punishment center,” added Paul. His words were slurred as he chewed on a cream cheese covered bagel. “That suggests they were tortured.”

  “Unfortunately, I believe you are right. If they survived the torture and were of no further use to the Tradians, they most likely would have then been turned into slaves,” replied Andrews.

  “What if they did not survive?” asked Paul taking another bite of his bagel.

  “We need to believe that they survived. We also can assume that Lieutenant Hampton and Ensign Glenna were captured earlier. They most likely were also tortured and now are working as slaves.”

  “So, what is our next move?”

  “Pearson, I need you and I to work with Officer Greene on trying to locate where on the planet the loudspeaker announcements are coming from. If we can pinpoint the source of the loudspeaker, we may be able to locate the slave colony. If our theory is correct the Captain and the others should be among the slaves.”

  While he worked mindlessly shoveling dirt and tossing it up onto giant piles that were on top of huge flat board hand trucks, Josh’s thoughts were on Morse Code. He had devised some ideas that he was sure would work. He could not wait until the work day was over, so he could talk to his officers and set his strategy in motion. It was actually pretty simple. They would use non-verbal gestures to send messages in Morse Code to each other. So that their slave masters did not catch on, they would each use a different set of gestures. For himself a tap of his nose would be a dot while a swipe across his upper lip would be a dash. With practice he should be able to tap out a message pretty quickly. Once they had a way to communicate during the day, he and his officers could spend the talking hour conversing with other slaves trying to learn more about their guards and Brisula City. It appeared that the slaves were kept in order by the numbers pinned onto their shirts. Whenever a new slave joined the colony he or she was assigned to a cage and given the next number. Lieutenant Shasta was the last slave issued a number. He was 1192 C. The cages were circular so that the lowest numbered slave was chained to Shasta’s left. Of all the slaves imprisoned in Cage C, that slave would have been here the longest. The slave was a tall very thin man with a thick brown beard and shoulder length curly hair. Josh hoped that he and Wayne could engage that slave and the female slave to the man’s left, in conversation.

  Ensign Glenna’s arms were throbbing with pain. The digging pace had been accelerated, and she was having trouble keeping up. I just can’t pick up one more shovelful. She pushed the shovel into the dirt and lifted it up a couple of feet. Her legs began to bend at the knees, and she felt herself going down. The shovel tumbled out of her hands. There was nothing she could do to break her fall. She landed face down in the gravel pit.

  Keith Hampton felt the tug on his ankle as the chain that went from his ankle to Beverly’s became taut. He was almost thrown down but managed to remain standing. He noticed that the slave on Glenna’s right had also managed to stay upright but had lost hold of his shovel. The slave picked up his shovel and began digging. Keith dropped his shovel and rushed over to help Beverly. As he kneeled down and pulled Beverly’s face out of the dirt, he was attacked by two guards with active cattle prods and whips. As he was not expecting the electric shocks, he ended up letting out a scream and dropped Beverly. She fell face down again into the dirt. Two other guards unlocked Beverly’s leg irons and removed her from the chain gang. They carried her off.

  The guards, who were still giving Keith short frequent prods, dragged him to his feet. They withdrew the prods. One guard grabbed Keith’s hands and held them tightly. Another guard lifted Keith’s shirt up onto his shoulders. A third guard flung his whip at Keith. The leather strap left a bright red streak across Keith’s back. He yelled out in pain. The guard grasping Keith’s wrists let go. The other guard handed him his shovel.

  “Dig,” they ordered.

  Keith’s eyes shifted briefly to Josh Stoner. The Captain was still digging, but he w
as watching Keith. Great! I’ve given him something else to hold against me. He thinks I’m a wimp howling over some electric shocks. It doesn’t really matter though. I’ve been branded a traitor. If we ever get out of this place, I’ll be spending the rest of what ever life I have left in a prison cell. Why did I ever join the United Galaxy Command? Keith recalled leaving home when he was eighteen to attend the Space Academy. He had told his parents when he was just a youngster that someday he was going to be a pilot and fly to the moon. They had laughed at the time, but they were so proud of him when he had been accepted into the space program. What would they think of him now? The idea of bringing such disgrace to his parents was an unbearable pain that laid heavy on his heart.

  Josh Stoner was watching Lieutenant Hampton. I hope he is all right. Those electric shocks are painful especially when they catch you by surprise. The welt from the whip looked ugly. He also hoped that Ensign Glenna was going to be OK. He still wasn’t sure if she was their spy. But Keith has fallen in love with her, and for his sake I hope that Beverly wasn’t injured. He still found it hard to believe that Keith had given up confidential information, but he could understand how difficult it would be to watch someone you were fond of being tortured and not doing what you could to stop it. It had even been tough for him to watch Lieutenant Shasta suffering.

  It didn’t seem like they were making much progress, but Dave Andrews felt that they were close to a breakthrough. Pearson thought Andrews was just trying to keep their enthusiasm up. Jackson Greene listened to the five interceptions over and over. He was fairly certain that they were all made by the same person. The public address system was most likely in a central location away from the slave activity. Therefore if they found the source of the communications it would not necessarily lead them to the slave colony. There had to be more than one loudspeaker since one message was meant for law enforcement and the others were directed at the slaves. At least one loudspeaker would be positioned in the slave colony. Their theory still led them to believe they were searching for an underground facility. There was an entrance, a punishment center, a slave habitat, a slave work area, and the communication center. In addition it was presumed that there was a residential area for non-slaves and a laboratory where the fake bodies had been fabricated.