Captivity

by Maureen Toonkel

  Two guards came into the Punishment Center. They were in the middle of a conversation and laughing loudly. They totally ignored Josh and Keith while they fiddled with knobs on the control board.

  Eventually they turned their attention to the two officers.

  “I hear that you two boys have been fighting,” said the larger of the two guards. “Over a woman!” He laughed deeply. “A woman won’t do much for either of you in your circumstances.” He continued laughing.

  The other guard chuckled. He walked over to Josh and stood in front of him with his hands on his hips. “General Platt has given orders that we are not to show you any mercy. You can avoid all punishment if you tell us why you came to Brisula.”

  “I believe my officer already told you why we came here,” answered Josh.

  “Yes, slave 1190 C, over here, said you came to evaluate Brisula’s suitability for humans. But why?” the smaller guard demanded.

  “What did he tell you?” asked Josh.

  “I know what he told us. But I want to hear it also from you.”

  “Why? I would only be telling you the same thing.”

  “If you insist on playing games with us, we can play games also.” The guard snapped his fingers and Keith yelped.

  “Please,” pleaded Josh. “I am afraid I injured Keith badly when I punched him. I don’t think he will be able to withstand much punishment. He is almost ready to pass out.” Josh blinked his eyes at Keith who had turned to look at him. “Please punish me instead.”

  Both guards laughed. The small guard snapped his fingers and Keith was hit with several electric bolts. He let out a scream, then shut his eyes and slumped down in his chair. Again the guards laughed and sent a couple more bolts to Keith. His body twitched, but he did not make a sound.

  “I guess you will get your wish,” the small guard snorted. He snapped his fingers, and this time the electric bolts hit Josh. Three, four, five. He gritted his teeth. Don’t scream, he told himself. The bolts started coming faster and faster. Josh bore down on the chair arms as his body continued to absorb the shocks.

  The small guard signaled to the guard at the control panel and the bolts stopped. “So, are you ready to tell us why you came to Brisula?”

  “Is that all you have? Those electric shocks are child’s play,” answered Josh.

  The guards let out loud bursts of laughter. They had to hold onto their sides to steady themselves.

  “Again, we will give you your wish.” The large guard came over to Josh’s chair and unchained his wrists. The other guard lifted Josh’s shirt over his head. He flung the shirt onto the ground. They pulled Josh up to his feet and dragged him over to the whipping post. They lifted his arms up in the air and strapped his hands into the leather handcuffs, so that Josh’s arms were secured high above his head.

  The large guard brought out a buckskin whip. He snapped it several times before slashing it across Josh’s back. The Captain grimaced but did not yell out. As the second strike landed on Josh’s backside, he lifted his left leg and quickly kicked his leg straight out. The chain links still attached to his leg iron smashed into the large guard’s face. The guard screamed and crashed to the floor. The smaller guard ran toward Josh. Again Josh raised his leg. He kicked as hard as he could and managed to make contact with the man’s head. The leg iron struck the guard’s skull, and he fell face down on the floor alongside his partner. Both were unconscious.

  Josh began tugging with all his might on the straps of the handcuffs. The rusty nails began to loosen. He pulled fervently until the nails popped out of the wood.

  “You can open your eyes now,” whispered Josh. Keith’s eyes fluttered open and he sat up straight. Josh picked up the whip and tucked it into the waistband of his pants. He rushed over to the control station and retrieved a key ring lying on the table. He unlocked his leg irons and tossed them aside. Next he ran over to the torture chairs and opened Keith’s wrist clamps and leg chains. Putting his index finger over his lips, he gestured for Keith to be quiet. Josh held out his hands and Keith unstrapped the leather handcuffs. Keith picked up Josh’s shirt and handed it to him. Josh tiptoed over to the door and peeked out. The hall was empty in both directions. He motioned for Keith to follow him as he slowly crept out into the hall.

  “Whose computer was this on?” asked Dennis Pearson after reading the typed message that Andrews had handed him.

  “I retrieved this message from the communications system computer,” answered Dave Andrews.

  “Are you trying to say that Diane sent it?” Dennis felt the anger rise to the top of his head. This couldn’t be happening again.

  “I am merely presenting the facts as they are,” responded Andrews. “The message was sent from the communications computer on the Bridge. According to the date of the correspondence it was sent yesterday. Diane was released from the Brig yesterday. The initials on the message are DP. Those are the facts.”

  “Well, the facts are wrong,” shouted Dennis.

  “Did you tell Diane about our possible plans to send divers down to explore the lake?”

  “Of course not,” yelled Dennis.

  “Where is Diane right now?” Dave asked.

  “She is back in the Brig for the night as ordered.”

  Andrews rose and went over to the intercom mounted on the wall near the Conference Room door. He pressed the button for the Brig. A young seaman answered. “Seaman Chase, Ensign Rubin will be arriving shortly to bring Lieutenant Pearson to the Conference Room. Please release her to Ensign Rubin’s company.” He then pushed the tab for the ship’s directory and chose the number for Ensign Rubin. He told the Ensign to collect Lieutenant Pearson and accompany her to the Conference Room.

  Dennis Pearson got up and began pacing back and forth along the rear wall of the room. Dr. Loring and Dave Andrews sipped coffee out of their ceramic mugs. Amanda sat and stared at her hands which were locked together and resting in front of her on the hard marble inlay of the wooden table top. Jackson Greene wasn’t sure what to do, so he re-read his report summary on the planet’s surface.

  Finally, Ensign Rubin and Lieutenant Pearson arrived at the Conference Room.

  Andrews did not invite them to sit down. He asked them to give an accounting of their time since they had been directed to begin working on their assigned task.

  Diane responded to the request. “After leaving the Conference Room we went to the Library and reviewed the notes on Officer Greene’s USB drive. We also worked on a plan of how we were going to proceed with our assignment. We stopped for supper and then went up to the Bridge where we did some experiments on the transmissions. At 2400 hours Ensign Rubin escorted me back to the Brig.”

  “Did you talk to Dennis at any time?” inquired Andrews.

  “Um, yes, he stopped by while Ben and I were at supper and we talked for a bit,” said Diane.

  “Ensign Rubin. Were you with Lieutenant Pearson at all times.”

  “Yes, sir,” Rubin answered.

  “Was Diane alone at any time?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Did you hear her conversation with Lieutenant Commander Pearson?”

  “I did not eavesdrop on their conversation. I felt they should have some privacy, sir.”

  “Do you know if Lieutenant Pearson sent any computer communiqués?”

  “I don’t believe she did, sir.”

  Andrews handed each of them a copy of the typed message. “Please read this.”

  “Sir,” cried out Diane, “this did not come from me.”

  “This message was sent from the communications computer on the Bridge.”

  “But I did not send it.”

  “The initials are DP.”

  “I don’t know why it says DP. But I did not send it. ”

  “Did Dennis send it?”

  “What the hell kind of question is that?” yelled Dennis jumping up from his chair. “Of course I did not send it.”

  “Well, your initials are also DP.”

/>   “Andrews do you think either Diane or I would be stupid enough to send a message like that and put our initials on it?” Dennis was furious. He wanted to smack Andrews. The nerve of him to suggest that he had sent the message.

  “Diane, do you have any idea who could have used the communications computer to send that transmission?”

  “No, sir. I don’t.”

  Ensign Rubin was standing alongside Diane. For a few moments he wondered whether he should speak up. He liked both Diane and her husband. In the end he decided that he needed to disclose the truth.

  “Um, Diane.” Ensign Rubin turned his head and looked her straight in the eye. “What about, you know, the user logs?”

  “Oh,” said Diane. She closed her eyes and bit on her lower lip.

  “Lieutenant, is there something you need to tell us about the user logs?” prodded Andrews.

  Diane opened her eyes. She glanced over at Dennis who was still on his feet. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  “What?” muttered Dennis.

  Diane took a deep breathe. “I checked the recent user logs on the communications computer. Besides Ensign Rubin and myself the last two people to log onto the system were Dr. Loring and Dennis Pearson.”

  There were several gasps and everyone looked over at Dennis who was standing with his mouth hung open.

  “When did Dennis use the computer?” asked Andrews.

  “Lieutenant Shea said that she saw Dennis using the computer in the early evening,” responded Diane.

  “Dennis, is this true?” asked Andrews.

  “Yes, I did use the computer. I checked to see if the remote messaging program between that system and the engineering bay was still intact. I did not send any messages,” explained Dennis. I can’t believe Andrews is insinuating that I might have sent that strange message to UGC.

  Dave Andrews said nothing for a couple of minutes. His thoughts were racing. Could Dennis Pearson have sent that message? Dennis obviously is not happy with the way I am handling our predicament. Is Pearson trying to get me ousted? Or is he our informant? This situation could easily turn volatile. I have to be careful.

  “OK,” said Dave addressing everyone in the room. “This state of affairs needs more investigating. I recommend that we table this discussion for right now. Any objections?”

  There were none. The meeting was adjourned till 0800 hours.

  They walked very cautiously down the shimmering tunnel, hugging the silver walls. Once in a while they came across directional arrows mounted on the walls. Josh did not remember seeing the signs when he was previously in the silvery tunnels. He wished he had paid more attention to their whereabouts when they had first entered the underground city. His hunch was to go north. As they followed the pathway going north, Josh felt like he and Keith Hampton were rats lost in a maze. It would seem that the northern pathway would eventually rise to the planet’s surface. They needed to find the spot where the boulder had opened up and sucked them into this world. Josh tried to commit everything they passed into his memory. If I only had some paper and a pencil I could begin to sketch a map. He knew that they had made a sharp right turn after leaving the corridor that led to the Cages. That was where the silver tunnels started. A left turn after leaving the cage area led to the gravel pits.

  Josh and Keith continued walking in silence staying as close to the walls as possible in order to reduce revealing reflections. They came to a fork in the road. They had been walking straight ahead which Josh was guessing was still north. But the road straight ahead had ended. They needed to go either left or right. A couple of days ago Keith had told Josh that the underground lake was in the northeast. The Lake was not going to provide a way out, so Josh decided they should take a left and head west. That’s when Josh noticed the sign hanging straight ahead of them.

  They headed down the west corridor.

  “ATTENTION GUARDS. TWO MALE SLAVES HAVE ESCAPED FROM PUNISHMENT CENTER C-9. REPEAT, TWO MALE SLAVES HAVE ESCAPED,” blasted the loudspeakers attached to the upper part of the tunnel.

  As Josh and Keith approached the Medical Lab they slowed down their pace and peeked quickly through the small window centered on the silver door. The lab was empty. Suddenly a blue mist began floating down from the pores in the tunnel walls. Josh twisted the door knob, and the door swung open. The two officers quickly rushed into the lab and closed the door behind themselves. As their eyes adjusted from the brightness in the hallway to the darkness in the lab, their gaze focused on the gurney standing right in front of them.

  “Holy smoke!” exclaimed Josh. It was the first words either of them had uttered since leaving the Punishment Center.

  The Conference Room emptied out until only Dave Andrews and Dennis Pearson remained. They sat in their seats on opposite sides of the table with their heads in their hands. After several minutes Andrews sat up straight.

  “Dennis,” Dave said. “I hope you realize that I have no choice but to examine all the facts. I have to consider all possibilities.”

  “And one possibility is that I am a spy?” spit out Dennis. He was still furious.

  “I cannot ignore the evidence.”

  “You are wasting valuable time trying to prove that Diane and I are traitors. You should be looking for the real spy.”

  “And who do you think that might be?”

  “I don’t know, but it is not me and it is not Diane.” Dennis slammed his fists down on the table.

  Dave stood up. “I cannot talk with you when your behavior is out of control. You need to calm down.” He walked around the table to the door. Pulling the door open, he shook his head. “Goodnight, Dennis.”

  Dennis sat alone in the large Conference Room. He was too wound up to even think about going to bed. He thought of what Andrews had just said to him. You’re telling me to calm down. Sure, you’re not the one being labeled a traitor. There had to be some explanation for that transmission being sent from Diane’s workstation. Who could have sent it? Who did he think was the spy?

  There was a pad of lined paper in the middle of the table and also a pencil can filled with felt tip pens. Dennis took a pen and reached for the tablet. He began jotting down a list of possible suspects: Dave Andrews, Paul Loring, Jackson Greene, Josh Stoner, Wayne Shasta, Keith Hampton, Beverly Glenna. At the end of the list he added Diane Pearson and Dennis Pearson. He laid down the pen and stared at the list for a few minutes. Picking up the pen he underlined the names and started making notations next to each one.

  Dave Andrews: Refused to take Bio-Scan, could be trying to take over command of the Gladiator, is stalling on trying to rescue Captain and the others.

  Paul Loring: Obtained Diane’s password, used Diane’s computers on at least two occasions.

  Jackson Greene: New, belongs to a radical group that could have an interest in mind control.

  Joshua Stoner: Disappeared, on purpose?

  Wayne Shasta: Disappeared with Stoner.

  Keith Hampton: Captured by Brisulans at the time the original information was leaked.

  Beverly Glenna: New, captured by Brisulans at the time the original information was leaked.

  Diane Pearson: Two transmissions found on Diane’s computers, one message signed DP and one message sent to General Platt.

  Dennis Pearson: Used Diane’s workstation computer, One message found on Diane’s computer was signed DP.

  Dennis read over the list several times. He tore the sheet off the perforated pad. He folded the sheet into thirds and then in half. After stuffing the sheet in his pocket he went over to the intercom. Dennis dialed Dave Andrews’ number.

  “Dave, I know it is late, but I’d like permission to visit Diane. I need to see how she is handling this latest accusation.”

  “What are you doing still up?” yawned Dave. Dennis did not answer. “I’ll call down to the Brig and tell Seaman Chase to let you in. Goodnight again.”

  Lying on the gurney was Commander Dave Andrews. He was dressed in his blue United Galaxy Command un
iform. His arms were straight down the sides of his body. He looked at peace.

  “Sir, is it really Commander Andrews?” asked Keith Hampton.

  “I don’t know,” muttered Josh. “It may be one of the fake bodies.”

  “But, it is so perfect,” gasped Keith. “How can it be a fake?’

  “Your body and Beverly’s were also perfect replicas.”

  “Oh, yes,” said Keith. “I forgot about that.”

  “We’d better hide,” commanded Josh. At the far end of the room there was a solid brown door. Josh pulled the door open and realized it was a medical supply cabinet. There was some light coming from a small fluorescent bulb on the ceiling. Metal shelves stuffed with bottles and boxes of supplies lined three sides of the small compartment. However, the closet was big enough for the two officers to sit comfortably on the floor. They settled into the closet and closed the door.

  “Your back is bleeding, sir,” remarked Keith.

  “I know,” said Josh. “It stings.”

  Keith looked up at the shelves above his head. He reached up and took down a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, then reached up again and grabbed a box of extra-large bandages.

  “Please turn around, sir,” said Keith. He then lifted Josh’s shirt and poured the peroxide on the two raw welts on the Captain’s back.

  Josh held his breath and frowned as the cold liquid seeped into his wounds. He was surprised that Keith was concerned about him. After the way he treated Ensign Glenna, he did not think that Keith would be so civil toward him.

  Keith applied several of the bandages to Josh’s back and pulled down his shirt. Josh turned back around and gave Keith a nod.

  “Thank you, Keith.”

  Keith nodded back and reached up to replace the peroxide and bandages on the shelf. While he was shoving the wrappers from the used bandages under a box of tissues he noticed a large bottle filled with a brownish liquid. The label said Energy Booster.

  “This must be the stuff that they gave Beverly to drink,” remarked Keith. “She said it really helped.” Keith opened the bottle and sniffed the contents. The smell was awful. He passed the bottle to Josh who also smelled it.