“I hate this job.”Stahn swept down the long, pristine hallway of the Omnitech research facility - literally swept, forcing a large, wide-brushed, synthetic push broom in front of him. He’d been working here for three years now, not by choice of course. After being fired from his last position in retail, he’d received a notice from the Department of Labor politely requesting that he take up this offered position for which he was “perfectly suited” or rot in jail. All inhabitants of Colony 17 are required to put in their fair share of work by law, as it states in the idiotic and archaic statute established at the creation of the colony, 39 years ago. “Oh sure, it was a good idea at the time, but now it only makes us poor saps miserable,” Stahn had remarked at the mail server. It didn’t respond. It never did. Nobody seemed to care too much about Stahn’s problems. He had no family, no friends, and what little hardware he owned didn’t seem too interested in conversation.
“Bloody hallways. Too many in this blasted place. Don’t see why they can’t construct some robots to do this kind of thing. They’ve certainly got the power for it now.”
He rounded the corner and continued down the stretch of subject cells. “Subject luxury suites is more like it” is mumbled as the first door slid open and he entered the room. “Look at this, comfy chair, bed, entertainment projector. The prisoners here live better than I do. Should have just gone to jail when I had the chance.”
It was true, after all. With no fauna on the planet but the unresponsive ragnasaurs, science needed subjects for testing and what better source than the prisoner population. The process was solely volunteer, but contrary to what one might believe, there was always a crowd to sign up. In return for being subject to minor experimentation, the subjects live in rather “posh” quarters as compared to the rest of the population. There were even a few downtrodden people who chose to quit working, enduring jail time on the rare chance of becoming a research subject; this lifestyle was better than their own.
He buzzed through the room as quickly and with as little effort as possible, pausing outside to gather the dust into a dustpan and deposit the mess into a nearby waste receptacle. He’ll probably have to dump those out afterward as well. If there was anything Stahn detested more than dusting, it was taking out the garbage. None of the scientists in his zone was smart enough to clean up after himself, so he had to collect all of that trash as well as everything from the hallways. Everyone’s but Dr. Steiner’s, that is. At least he was good enough to do his own cleaning. Every week, like clockwork, he’d take his junk to the incinerator before going home for the night. He even told Stahn never to worry about his office. Great guy, that Steiner...
With a sigh, Stahn pressed the control plate to the second room and entered as soon as the door slid open. The room was a disaster. Whoever had been here last had left the place a wreck. “Not fair that I have to clean up everybody else’s mess too” Stahn thought to himself as he grabbed a couple of crushed cups from the floor, straightened the projector screen on the wall, and knocked his broom around under the bed. As he reached up to clear the higher of two short shelves, his fingers grazed something wedged tightly into the crack next to the wall. His brow furrowed in concentration as he picked at the unseen object, working it free. One more dig and it rolled free, off the shelf and onto the floor with a small ping.
“Eh? What’s that?” Stahn chased after it, reaching under the chair and retrieving... what was it anyway? He pulled out his hand and held the object up to the light. It was completely smooth and round, about the size of a large marble and a metallic shiny color - a data sphere. “Now how did you get here?” Stahn asked, examining the ball a bit more. He stood back up and slipped the sphere into his shirt pocket, patting it lightly and deciding he’ll use the lab’s computer to see what sort of material it has after work. Maybe this day won’t be as dull as the others after all. And so, with a bit more energy to his motions, Stahn went back to cleaning the room, completely unaware of the camera in the upper corner now magnifying in and silently recording his every move...
************
Hours later, after most of the scientists and workers had returned to their homes for the evening, Stahn walked through the quiet, dimly lit halls of the facility, his footsteps echoing off the tiled floor. He was headed for the lobby of the Energy wing, where he knew a large computer console would be waiting empty. As he entered, he realized his assumption was correct. The massive machine that housed copies of all the data for the sector lay dormant and unoccupied. Though Stahn knew he couldn’t begin to understand all the complex inner workings, simple data retrieval should be no problem. He sat down at the keyboard and hit a few keys to awaken the computer from sleep mode. A quiet hum filled the room as the screen lit up and loaded. Stahn flipped up a small panel next to the keyboard, revealing a small round hole and a couple more buttons. He reached into his pocket, retrieved the data sphere, and dropped it into the opening, watching as it was caught and surrounded in a small geyser of blue energy that sent it slowly rotating in an algorithmic pattern.
Reading data....... three files detected:Stahn blinked. Three? Where was everything else? These tools were capable of storing enormous amounts of data, enough to fill the entire screen, not just three lines in the upper left. He checked the storage space indicator in another corner of the screen. Barely a sliver of a percentage appeared on the pie graph. It seemed to him that it was a huge waste of space. Curious, Stahn moved the cursor over the first file and tapped the enter key. Control panels for playing audio popped onto the monitor and started motion. A younger man’s voice rang through the speakers, ranged in volume and accompanied by static. A few signals blinked and a few bars shifted on screen as the frequency and volume corrected themselves...
Main.aud
Conversation.vid
Machine.audNewsion Energy investigation? This data was nearly fifteen years old! Stahn’s eyes widened. How long had this sphere been crammed into the shelving? He thinks back, remembering the public announcement of the new energy source, one that would finally replace the decaying battery cells of the transport that brought them to this miserable little planet. More energy meant more power for the Runners and thus more expeditions to nearby planets to gather much needed resources, which added more meat to a planet’s normal diet of hydroponic vegetables and also lead to more synthesized materials and equipment, which meant more jobs making and using technology, better housing, heating systems to ward off the always uncomfortable chill in Granite’s air, expansion along the planet further than the five mile limit imposed by the batteries. Everyone was thrilled. Even Stahn had to admit that life did get better after the Newsion reactors were up and running. The investigations by Enforcers were to make sure that the energy extraction was safe and that there would be no harmful radiation or side effects. These concluded successfully and the machines were installed less that 20 colonial days later.“...port by En... Rus... vis, day three hundred ei... seven, twenty-four years after Granite colonization. Investigation of Newsion Energy Reactor.”So what is this? port... Report, perhaps. One of the Enforcers must have recorded his end of the investigation. “Probably just a bunch of nonsense on how Newsion energy works,” Stahn grumbled to himself. “Still, got nothing else to do tonight...” He leaned back in the console’s chair, placing his hands behind his head, and listened to the rest of the file.
Another, deeper voice sounded through the speakers. It had a fainter volume than the first; whoever was speaking must have been standing a good distance away.“Raynor, Gonzales, and I have been assigned to this case by special request of the Minister of Justice. We are standing just inside the entrance to Omnitech Research, here to inspect the premises and the operation of the reactors and report all findings back to the department.”The next part of the conversation was muffled a bit. Evidently Davis had his hand over the recording device so it wouldn’t be heard. Stahn chuckled; it seemed Davis didn’t do to well masking the sound. A few automatic control compensation shifted the volume right back to the level of previous recording.“Hey Gonzales, look at this. The kid’s recording our investigation. [laughter] Regular training school cadet, ain’t ya, Davis? Put that thing away. You know as well as I do they only assigned us here to get rid of us for a while. My guess is it don’t matter what we come back with. Let’s just get this done and go home.”More laughter appeared in the background and some mumbling that, to Stahn’s disappointment, really was kept off the recording. A couple blips on the screen signaled the return to normal volume and the file continued...“Look, you do what you want. I’m sure they’re looking for an official report and that’s precisely what I’m going to give them. If I do this well, maybe they’ll start taking me seriously back at the station.”“The preview of the facilities, discussion with the scientists and inventors, demonstration of the process, and so on is to last 10 colonial days. Day 1 begins with a tour of the grounds which should commence right about...”
************
“...now.” Davis switched off the pocket-sized data recorder as a short brown-haired man dressed in a crisp white lab coat approached them. The stranger peered down at an electric clipboard he was holding and eyed the three of them, making no attempt at all to hide his disinterest. “You are the three Enforcers for the tour?”
“Yes, Sir!” Davis barked as he stood at attention and heard Gonzales mumble “yeah” and Raynor grunt. The man with the clipboard continued, muttering “Follow me, then” and without a second glance back, turned and started down the lobby.
They wandered through hallway after hallway, each looking exactly the same as the next. It seemed impossible that the structure could be so massive given that there was such short supply of building materials in Colony. After about the fifth left, second right, and four or more doors, Davis gave up trying to keep a sense of direction and simply followed the man ahead of him, hoping that at least their guide knew where he was going.
“You three are scheduled to see the Energy wing only, as that is where your investigation lies, though if you wish, I could show you the entire center.”
“I think that would be a good-”
“NO!” The combined power of his superior officers’ shout cut Davis off mid-sentence and brought him to an uncomfortable and slightly annoyed silence. Even the guide seemed a little taken aback, “Very well, we’ll start here. This stretch of hallway and the five doors behind me are the subject’s rooms. Every volunteer for service is kept in the best comfort possible during his or her stay. Separate restroom facilities are a short way further down the hall. Carefully balanced meals are provided three times a day and there is always a member of staff on duty to see to the subject’s needs... Yes Mr...?”
Davis put down his hand, giving the guide his name. “What is the need for research subjects? I thought we were just going to be shown a reactor...”
The guide’s eyebrow lifted as he stared at each of them in turn, “None of you were briefed on how the extraction works?” Each Enforcer shook his head. The guide let out a deep sigh and dropped his clipboard to his side; “Well there is no point in continuing this, then. Not without prior knowledge. I was told you already knew - we’d sent project reports to the Ministry days ago... I’ll arrange to have you meet Dr. Steiner tomorrow; he’s the one that developed the Newsion theory and reactors. He’ll be able to explain the process and finish your tour. You may as well return home, gentlemen.” Without another word, their tour guide left, walking briskly down the hall to return to his task and more pressing matters.
“Wait!” Davis called after him, “How do we get out of...?”
“Just go straight down this hall in the other direction. You’ll get there,” he replied, not even looking back.
Davis turned to look down the designated path. “If that’s all there is to it, why did we go all the way arou...”
But he was gone. “See, lad? What did I tell you?” Raynor clapped his large hand onto Davis’s shoulder and started him walking toward the exit.
“But the investigation-”
“Will continue tomorrow, if you’re so interested. But right now my stomach’s calling louder than my duty. What say we get something to eat? For searching a place like this, we may get some actual meat for dinner tonight. C’mon.”
There was a moment’s hesitation until Gonzales took hold of Davis’s other shoulder and together the two started pushing him along. “Alright!” Davis snapped, “Alright, I can walk for myself, thanks. His mind, however, wasn’t focused on food. They had been briefed; why hadn’t the department told him about Newsion energy if they had the information? Perhaps they wanted a fresh perspective? Maybe...
************
Day 2? Already? Stahn frowned and set the time bar back a few seconds, just to make sure. The same click sounded, the same skip in time frame. Dumb kid must have turned his recorder off. His frown deepened to a downright scowl as he leaned even further back and crossed his arms. Davis had better keep that thing on this time; it would be more entertaining to watch dust gather than to listen to “ten days” worth of that junk. He continued to listen anyway...“...right about now. [click] ....... Day 2....”Well what do you know? It was Steiner’s voice on the recording. Stahn grinned; the old coot was working for Omnitech even then. Inventor? Steiner was the one who invented the reactors? That’s strange, Stahn thought to himself, I wonder why there was no mention of that. It was public knowledge that the reactors were done as a team effort, headed by the Ministry...“... here with Dr. Oswald Steiner, inventor of these machines, who is about to give us a preview of the reactors.”“Ah, good afternoon gentlemen. I trust you have slept well?"
A loud, guttural snoring sound erupts through the speakers, followed by a sharply yelled ”Wake up, Raynor!” Stahn broke out laughing, doubling over and clutching his side as his face started to flush. Shuffling sounds of clothing material came over the recording, evidently some sort of struggle. Then a clearing of a throat sounded out, and Stahn began to regain his composure, continuing to listen as things quieted down.“Now, what I am doing for you today is explaining the Newsion process and showing you one of our reactors in action. Is good? Yes? All right, I will keep this simple. The theory came from ideas of Ryu Mikoto. He postulated that humans could produce their own unique source of energy, a weak sort of wave that surrounds the body. He was not the first to hypothesize – there has been much discussion whether or not man has an “aura” – but he was the first to devote his life to proving such scientifically. Mikoto wasn’t able to substantiate his theories. I, however, took them another step further. The body does indeed generate an “aura” of sorts, composed of heat and a slight magnetic field. These, I’d proposed, were controlled, perhaps even caused, by the billions of electric neural impulses. You gentlemen know of these, correct? These impulses have been used by science before; they can be restored to a correct flow, resurrected with the right catalyst, why couldn’t they be removed?”It took a great deal of study, years of experimentation, and just a bit of luck, but I happened upon the perfect extractor – a specific pattern of waves that attracts electrical impulses throughout the body. Metal bands then collect this charge and yet another wave form amplifies it. The glass that houses the room, you see, intersects the wave pattern and prevents anyone on the outside from being affected.”
“What produces these waves?”
“The reactors both produce the waves and collect the resultant electricity. The process of production is rather complex and I’m afraid I could not explain it in more understandable terms.”
“Well, what powers the machines?”
“Very good question. Right now we are being allotted a portion of the transport’s battery power, but in time the energy created by the machines will also run them.
“How safe do you…?”
[SNNRRRRRRRRR]
“Well, gentlemen, evidently you did not sleep as well as I’d expected. I certainly wouldn’t want to bore you with any more details, so perhaps we shall skip right to the demonstration. Katarine?”
************
“Katarine, you may enter now.”
The laboratory door clicked and in walked a stunning blond, dressed in a close-fitting orange jumpsuit. She flashed a magnetic smile at the three gentlemen as she walked, no swayed, her way toward the doctor and the room housing the machinery.
“Katarine, these three are observing the operation of our reactors. We will conduct a session as normal. Please prepare yourself.”
She nodded politely to the doctor, passed through the glass door into the enclosure, and proceeded toward the great mass of metal and synthetics. The main unit of the reactor reminded Davis of old historical constructs called “silos” with a huge magnet-like device attached to a small pole on the top. Next to it rested a large metallic box with a crystal display and several strange switches and wires. Along the top of this box was arranged a row of ten lights. Katarine ignored all this and walked straight toward a large metal slab, tilted back about twenty degrees. She slid across it in fluid grace and strapped herself in at the ankles, waist, and wrists. Each restraint was made of the same shiny metal; only the left wrist restraint differed. Several thin wires of various colors branched off the back of that cuff and disappeared into the interior of the great box.
“Are you ready, Katarine?” Steiner inquired, receiving a response of another dazzling smile and a nod.
“Very well, we shall begin.” The doctor pushed his glasses higher onto his nose, flipped three switches upon a podium-like control panel outside the glass room, and stared down at the monitor. As he turned a large dial clockwise, the machine started to hum and the magnet-like apparatus began revolving. Faster and louder the machine ran until a soft blue light began to fill the room.
“The core is resonating now, drawing Katarine’s electrical impulses toward it. The restraining table is so positioned that her wrist is the closest point to the device and thus the destination for the energy. As it is carried through the wires, the secondary device multiplies the energy output and passes it through to the storage battery in the corner. The reactor is developed in such a way that several secondary devices can be installed and the energy can be drawn from multiple subjects using only one core.”
Davis glanced over at Katarine, watched her tighten her closed eyes for but a moment and then relax. Within a few seconds afterward the first bulb on the cube began to shine brightly, followed by the second, though dimmer.
Dr. Steiner beamed at the three Enforcers, “You see? Those lights show the energy siphoned from Katarine. Each represents the equivalent of an average citizen’s use of electricity in two hours. In this case and at this setting, around three hours of electricity is generated every minute. Now we shall shut down and bring Katarine out.”
He flipped a few more switches, and turned the dial back to its original position; the machine whined to a halt. As Katarine slowly opened her eyes, Steiner’s assistant entered the room and removed her bonds. Katarine took his hand as she stepped down, paused a moment to steady her balance, and walked out of the room under her own power.
“How are you feeling, Katarine?” Davis asked. A perplexed expression crossed her face and she glanced over at Steiner, receiving a nod before she spoke. “A little tired, but fine, thank you.” Her voice was warm and tender with an appeal that matched her body.
Raynor let out a low whistle. “I’ll say you are,” he quipped quietly.
“You had your eyes scrunched a moment there. Did it hurt?”
“Hurt? No, it was uncomfortable for the first few moments, but then I didn’t feel it at all. If… I may be excused, though, I need to rest…”
“Of course. Sleep well, Katarine. Meet me again tomorrow morning. Dr. Steiner nodded politely to her and turned to address the other three men. Only Davis returned his attention; both Raynor and Gonzales were more concerned with Ms. Katarine’s departure.
“This concludes the demonstration, gentlemen. Have you any questions?” Davis raised his hand. “No?”
“Yes, Dr. Steiner, I have a-“
“Then I shall leave you for the day. I’m afraid I still have much work to do.” He turned to his assistant. “Would you escort them out please?”
Again the three were ushered off, Davis the only one bearing a puzzled expression over the abruptness of it all. Why didn’t the doctor acknowledge him? This is certainly going into the report, he thought to himself, as he was persuaded back down the now familiar corridors to his quarters.
************
Stahn commanded the data player to pause and moved his cursor over the file name. At least now there’s something more than having to listen to this people drone on and on… Plus, this could be pretty interesting – this would be a part of the facility he hadn’t seen before. A few more commands and a second window popped on screen. Image and audio levels auto-adjusted until the picture became clear. Though the image was sharp, the camera kept bouncing around, causing the computer to work frantically to try and correct for the shaking. Stahn scowled. Obviously this Davis had attached the camera to his shirt, which would account for all the jerking about. “Together” he and Davis skipped along the main corridor and past the front desk, very similar to the one where Stahn was sitting now, only without nearly as much equipment. The secretary in charge looked up as Davis walked by.“Day 3 now, and the group has opted to investigate separately, though by their previous behavior, I suspect Raynor and Gonzales are only investigating the inside of their eyelids. I, on the other hand, am back in the research facility where I am determined to get some answers from Dr. Steiner. I managed to bargain a video adapter from the main office so I could record the interview full-image, but I have to move to another file to do so. Investigation continued on supporting file ‘conversation.vid’ [Click]To Stahn’s amazement, Davis brushed right past the desk without a word; he continued his vigilant march to the reactor rooms. Stahn’s estimate of the kid immediately went up. “Maybe he’s not as much of a coward as I first thought…” The video showed Davis arriving in front of a large parabolic doorway. Davis’s hand appeared on the side of the screen and pressed against the touch plate. With a familiar sounding release of pressure, the doors opened…“Sir? Sir, can I help you? Do you have an appointment? Hey, you’re not allowed back there without authorization! Sir!”
************
“Next.”
Just as he had expected, Davis found Steiner standing in the center of the reactor room. The tall, thin man with the skin tone that somehow seemed lighter than his finely pressed lab coat stared down with pale blue eyes at another electric clipboard. Davis cleared his throat.
“Yes, Mr. Davis, I know you’re here and I know why you’re here, but I’ll not let you distract my research. Now if you have something to ask, I suggest you do so. Next!”
“Steiner-“
“DOCTOR Steiner.”
“Sorry, ‘Doctor’ Steiner, are you sure you can go through with this? I saw how tired Katarine was yesterday. Surely there are some restrictions.”
Suddenly the door behind them opened. Two lab assistants in similar attire dragged a veritable behemoth of a man in by his arms. The captive’s bright orange jumpsuit clearly identified where the majority of the subjects were coming from.
Steiner had already shuffled over and passed a small scanner across the prisoner’s left hand. The machine blipped and shot some numbers onto its LCD screen, which Steiner glanced at immediately.
“Let me go, bastard, I ain’t done nothin’,” the prisoner grunted out.
“Please 14-0-763, you’ve already been indicted and I’d rather not hear your sob story again. Simply cooperate and you’ll be on your way.”
“This ain’t what I agreed to, I ain’t doin’ this s### no more. Put me back.”
“Now, now. The testing is nearly complete. You’ll be a free man in a month or two.”
“Free man, my ass. Frikkin zombie’s more like it.”
“You’ll recover soon enough.”
“I ain’t goin’ back in there! You can’t do this to me!” He jerked at his bonds, straining against the assistants’ hold. His face flushed a bright red from the exertion and sweat beaded on his brow. Davis just watched, again perplexed. It didn’t seem possible that those two scrawny assistants to either side of the frantic prisoner were able to restrain him so easily. They couldn’t have been strong enough to stop him, but they didn’t even move.
Steiner shook his head and backed away. “Hook him up.” The two assistants nodded quickly and dragged the struggling captive into the glass chamber. Steiner glanced over at Davis, and handed his clipboard to one of his now-returning assistants, mumbling something to him in a low tone. The assistant nodded yet again and walked over to the control panel, scrolling through the data, while Steiner left the room. As soon as the door had closed behind Davis, who had followed him out, the doctor spoke again. “I’m sorry, you were saying?”
“What do you think you’re doing?! Using prisoners as test subjects… Did you see that man’s eyes? There are laws against-“
Steiner raised his hand in Davis’s direction and heaved a small sigh. “Mr. Davis, I assure you that this is all perfectly legal. I have taken much care into contacting the proper authorities and I have their full support.”
“Whose?”
“The Ministers of Technology and of Justice, Mr. Davis. In fact they were quite intrigued by the proposition. That’s why we were able to get such generous donations for the project.”
Davis furrowed his brow in confusion. Not only did the Minister of Justice know of this project, it already had his support. Why would he send a team of investigators to the project, then? “Why would the Ministry put such faith in an untested project…” Davis paused and blinked. He’d said that out loud, hadn’t he?
“Listen, Mr. Davis, the rapid decrease in transport battery cell output is making people nervous. In another year or so we may be entirely without energy, that means no water, no food, no filtered air, nothing. Newsion energy has proven to be quite stable and effective; no harmful exhaust, no dangerous radiation levels, nearly universal adaptability. It is the best thing we’ve discovered until actual fusion is developed, and unless my hypothesis is wrong, it may even exceed that. I know it sounds dangerous, but desperation demands action.”
“Surely there are safer methods than this…”
Steiner’s eyes narrowed and his lip curled into some combination of a sneer and a glower. “Safe? Mr. Davis, what other method do you suggest on this barren, lifeless asteroid, for if you have any other ideas, I’d greatly like to hear them. Besides, in time Newsion energy extraction will be no more dangerous than a gentle breeze. I’ll have the machines running smoothly in a week.”
Davis shifted his weight nervously. What the doctor said made sense, but he still had a nagging feeling that trouble was brewing. There were too many discrepancies, too many questions. All thoughts of the reward of a job well done had faded from his mind. This was a matter of the public now. The investigation must be finished.
A low robotic hum filled the corridor, gradually rising in pitch until it became a piercing whine. Blue light spilled through the crack beneath the door and onto the tile floor. It grew in intensity, making Davis have to cover his eyes and turn away. The instant he did so a tortured cry echoed down the halls, then, abruptly, everything faded back to normality. Shaken, Davis immediately whipped back around to face the doorway, but there was no sign at all that anything had happened.
Steiner clicked his tongue. “Perhaps two weeks. One of the parameters must still be off. I need to recheck those calculations.” He looked over Davis’s shoulder and nodded in approval, muttering, “Good day, Mr. Davis.”
The secretary had returned, followed closely behind by several members of facility security. They flashed their badges in Davis’s direction and told him that the sector was dangerous, and thus off limits. Rather than protest, Davis decided simply to comply. He could return another time. As he was led – yet again – down the hallway, he turned back to see Steiner speaking to one of his assistants who had returned carrying a limp but breathing prisoner. Thin strands of their conversation reached the rookie Enforcer as he left: “Yes, I do think he’s had enough for today. Send him back to his quarters and fetch the next one will you?”
************
Stahn simply stared at the screen as the video image faded to black and the program ended. That was indeed Steiner in the recording, albeit younger, but Stahn had never seen him so…annoyed before. The blue light he recognized; it pours from the reactor labs all the time, as well as nearly every energy outlet on Colony. He relaxed his arm, realizing it was still tensed after listening to the piercing cry. The subjects may have things easy now, but he sure wouldn’t want to be one back then, he decides. In a few more keystrokes, he returned to the main audio file and continued listening…
“Day 3, early evening, technically off-hours. I had to return the video recorder to avoid arousing suspicion. I’ve managed to reenter the facility on the pretense of routine rounds and I think I know where the prisoners are being held, luckily not close enough to the Energy wing to cause a stir. Security seems to be down, anyway; with the energy routed to the reactors, there must be nothing left to power them. Maybe I can get some comments from the one who was in here earlier… Yes, these here must be the doors to the holding cells… seems to be locked…”
************
Davis looked around the hall. There has to be a key somewhere, or a passcode, or… At the far end of the hall he noticed another security guard approaching him. “Hey you, what are you doing here?”
“I… was… just here to visit my friend. The secretary told me it would be fine to talk to him for a while.”
“Oh she did, did she? Your friend?” The dark-clothed guard scowled at him for a few moments, hesitated, and broke into a mischievous smile. “Well then, I don’t see how there’s any harm in you talking to him. What’s he look like?”
“Really big guy, kind of tall, dark hair…” Davis tried desperately to recall as many details as he could.
“Oh yeah, I know him. Here you are then, this cell.” The guard took a keycard from his belt and swiped it into a slot near the right side of the door. “Go on in.”
Davis blinked, “I don’t need an escort or anything?”
“Nah, you’ll be fine. He couldn’t escape if he wanted to, makes my job real easy. Go on.”
“Great. Thank you.” Davis stepped inside the somewhat spacious room and approached the familiar face, snoozing away in the corner of the room. The doors immediately shut and sealed again behind him, masking the chuckling of the guard as he picked up a hand radio and called back in to the base. “Yeah I got an intruder down here in the prisoner hall. Don’t worry though; he won’t be going anywhere. Come get him as soon as convenient…”
Davis drew near the sleeping man with caution, “Uh, Sir? Hello?” The prisoner woke up with a massive yawn, stretched, and scratched his side. He stared at Davis a few moments with dull brown eyes, and then turned away.
“Look, I already put in my time today. You f###ers ain’t goin’ to get any more out of me tonight. I been tortured enough. Just let me sleep.”
“No Sir, you misunder-“
“Daren. My name’s Daren. Not like any of you care. All I am’s a number, right?”
“Daren, I’m Enforc… uh… Russel. I’m not with the scientists here; I’m heading an investigation to see what kind of things are going on and whether this is violating the rights of the Colonists.”
“You’re an Enforcer, ain’t ya?” Daren laughed loudly in his deep bass voice. “Yeah, sure, you’re here to help me and the rest of us. Protect our rights. Bull. The Ministry just wants some people here so it looks good. They don’t give a damn about the public, ‘least not us convicts.”
“I’ve witnessed an extraction session, but the subject seemed fine… what went wrong with yours?”
“Wrong? Nothin’ went wrong, that’s how it always is. Hook you up to that machine and bleed you dry.”
“It hurt?”
“Hurts like hell. Every time.”
“It didn’t seem to bother Katarine…”
“Whose Katarine? Don’t know anybody by that name, and I’ve seen ‘em all around here.”
Davis didn’t know how to take that piece of news, especially in context with everything else, so he let the subject drop. “So, how does it hurt?”
“Feels like they’re burning me alive until I pass out. Don’t wake up again until after it’s over. Then I’m fine. Hey, how’d you get in here anyway?”
“The guard let me in. I told him we were friends and that I’d been told I could talk to you.”
Daren laughed again. “Man, you were busted. None of us has ties to the outside – that’s why we’re picked. Check for yourself. That guard’s gone. You ain’t gettin’ out of here til they kick you out.” His eyes narrowed and his expression grew serious again. Curling his right hand into a fist, he growled, “ Bastards are probably laughing it up, especially knowin’ you’ll be fine in here with me.”
“Why would that make a difference?”
“I used to be a killer, bare-handed. Damn good at it too. Wasn’t anybody I couldn’t take down. Look at that.” He rolled up his sleeve and flexed his brawny arm. “Could bench 250 at one point, til these damn experiments. Now I can barely drag myself out of bed. They all think it’s f###in’ hilarious that I can’t do anything to ‘em no more.” Daren restored his sleeve and swung a punch at the mattress. “They told you there ain’t no effects, right? That it’s clean and efficient and all for the public good. Yeah, they tell us the same garbage. They don’t care about how they’re murderin’ us. No better than I was – least I took my targets down quick.”
Davis raised his eyebrows, “Murdering? Surely that’s a bit harsh. Okay, so you’re not at your full strength, but you’re healthy enough…”
“No, that’s not what I meant. They’re killin’ our spirits. Yeah I look the same, but I don’t feel the same, barely feel at all. No fun in life. Everything’s just… gray. Not worth gettin’ up in the morning anymore. Sometimes I wonder if it’d just be better if they finished me off.”
“I don’t understand how the Ministry could allow this. They must not have been given a very good report from Omnitech…”
Daren smiled sarcastically, “Aw, ain’t that cute. Lil’ puppy protectin’ his government master. You need to decide who to trust, Russel, your superiors or yourself. Start usin’ your own eyes.”
Davis sat in silence, the prisoner’s words sinking in. Could it be that he has too much faith in the Ministry? But the Ministry is elected by the people, surely they would work for the public interest; it only makes sense, right? The cell doors “shuffed” open once again and four armed guards entered. The leader of the group took Davis by the arm and barked, “Alright, you. Think you’ve spent enough time with your ‘friend’ here, let’s get moving. Oh and 763, thanks for not roughing him up too much.” The captain chuckled evilly, shoving Davis over to his comrades. “Get him out of here.”
As Davis was forced outside, the captain of the guard turned to the prisoner again. “And as for you, Steiner wants to see you. Seems you’re going to be part of a little endurance experiment. Since you’ve been kind enough to entertain our guest, I’ll give you five minutes to get ready.” The captain turned around on his heel and strolled out again, responding to the piercing glare he could feel on his back with a cruel grin.
************
[Later that evening…]
Steiner examined the control console again. “Is the subject ready?”
“Yes, Doctor”
“Then proceed with the experiment.”
One assistant punched the startup sequence into the panel. In the containment area, the Newsion reactor groaned and began to awaken. Steiner waited for the generator apparatus to reach the right velocity and then turned a certain dial clockwise. Blue light spilled from the left cuff as the energy drained out of the subject. The prisoner’s low groan added to the machine’s robotic whine.
“Previously tested maximum,” Steiner called to another assistant busily scribbling on a clipboard. He turned the dial again to the right. The machine hummed louder, the light grew brighter, and the subject yelped louder, his body beginning to convulse. Six bulbs were lit upon the collector’s surface, the seventh following close behind. The man studying the subject’s life signs turned to Steiner, remarking, “Doctor, 14-0-763 nearing critical stress level.”
“Continue monitoring.” Another turn clockwise. The prisoner howled in agony, loud enough to startle the whole room, and suddenly went completely still and quiet. The reactor snapped and popped, whirring in a new, discordant tone. Every light on the collector blazed a bright, blinding blue and exploded, rocketing fragments across the room. The storage pack in the corner blew next, bolts of the same cerulean-colored energy snapping across its many wires and circuits.
Steiner rotated the dial back to its original position and shut down the machine. “Very interesting… Vitals?”
“No subject life signs present.”
“And the battery cell was empty when we began, correct?”
“Yes, Doctor,” the assistant holding the clipboard remarked.
“Very interesting indeed… Send a message to the Ministry. Perhaps our energy situation isn’t as dire as it seemed…”
************
Stahn sat back further in his chair, trying to calm the growing knot in his stomach. This was worse than he had thought from the conversation video. It’s too bad Davis was ejected then; the convict was giving a pretty interesting story. Only… why did none of this report ever come to the public’s attention? He looked to his right, then to his left, then back at the screen and listened.
Day five?! What happened to the fourth? Stahn grumbled quietly. Just when it started to capture his interest…”Day fo… [click]… Day five…”
************
Davis rose early that morning and quickly prepared for the day. Once ready, he sat down on the edge of his bed, pulled out his recorder, and clicked it on. “Day fo-“
Raynor’s hand reached around his side and snatched the recorder out of his grasp, clicking it off. “You won’t be needing that today, kid, mission’s over.”
“What? No, we’ve still got 7 more days to go including this one. Look, I don’t care if you want to quit. I have a job to-“
“Not anymore. Message came in while you were out, from the Minister himself. We’re being called back.”
Davis stood up and turned around to face his partner, glaring. “No! He can’t do that! Not with what I saw.”
“For cryin’ out loud, Davis. Just give it a rest. There will be other cases.”
“It isn’t about that anymore, don’t you see? I have to protect the-“
“Look. It’s out of our hands. When an order comes down from the Ministry, we have to follow it. You know that. You really want to be fired? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now pack up your stuff. The only way we’re staying here is if the Minister changes his mind…”
“Then I’ll talk to him.” Davis stole his recorder back from his partner and stormed toward the front entrance.
“No, wait, you can’t-“ but Raynor was too late. Davis had shoved open the door and was already out into the chill morning air.
“Dammit!” Raynor stomped across the room and gave Gonzales’s bed a swift kick, shouting as the sleeping man started to stir, “Get up, you bum! He’s taken off!” Gonzales snapped awake and scrambled with Raynor to throw on some clothes and chase after the stubborn fool.
************
[Minister of Justice’s Office]
Grayson ran his fingers through his slicked-back, thinning hair and leaned further into his large, comfortable office seat. Reaching out rather lazily, he touched the blinking intercom indicator. “Yes, Diane? Who?” A scowl briefly interrupted his stoic expression. “I see. Well by all means send him in. The other two as well; I expect they’ll be along shortly.” As the great doors swung open, Grayson straightened his tie, brushed at the coat of his black suit, pressed the pads of his fingers together and turned to face the entryway. “Sit down, Mr. Davis, and tell me what’s on your mind.”
Nervously, Davis grabbed the synthetic handles of the short chair in front of the desk and slid into it. “Sir, I want to know why we were removed from the Newsion energy case. I was on the trail of some powerful evidence…”
The Minister of Justice leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. “It is quite simple, Mr. Davis. We received a second report from Omnitech. Not only has the energy output increased, but also all legal testing has been completed and the safety and efficiency ratings have improved significantly. The data alone should be more than enough to satisfy the public. A lengthy investigation is no longer needed.”
“But what about the prisoners? I know the prisoner population is always used for scientific testing, but I talked with one of them… Sir, you don’t know what this man has been through…”
“Do not be so quick to make assumptions, Mr. Davis. Yes, I know all about the trials the subjects had endured. Dr. Steiner and I have been in close contact the whole time. Had there been any other choice, the Ministry surely would have taken it. There is no reason to concern yourself with them; the testing is complete, safe levels of operation have been found, and all those who have been dealt with… harshly… during experimentation have been released and duly compensated.
“Well why were we continually restricted from certain areas during the investigation? As protectors of the public, we should have been allowed to go anywhere.”
“Your restriction was to prevent contamination of the experiments. I did not want our men in the more delicate proceedings in case they might slow down progress. Our Colony is in danger; surely you know that. We need this new energy source implemented as quickly as possible.”
“I still don’t know. His story was so convincing… I could tell he was miserable. I don’t want that to happen to anyone who might be used in sustaining Colony.”
“You have to remember that he was a convict, Mr. Davis. Of course he was unhappy with his position. No one wants to be a captive of any sort and you happened to overhear his frustration. He was a criminal. He had a better existence in the research labs than he would have in jail, remember that.”
“That… makes sense…”
Grayson’s voice switched to a calm and soothing tone, “Tell you what, Mr. Davis. I can see you’re still shaken by the whole ordeal. Take the rest of the week off to clear your head and return when you’re ready to start back to work.”
“Thank you very much, Sir. I guess… I guess I have just been through too much…”
“Now, I expect you back in top condition by next week. I can’t have any of my best Enforcers off duty for very long.”
Davis smiled softly and nodded. “Yes, I understand. Thank you, Sir.” He rose from the hard-backed chair and quietly left the room.
Grayson leaned back in his own chair again, expressionless and lost in silent consideration. Moments later there was a knock at the doors.
“Enter.”
Both Raynor and Gonzales stumbled into the small room and approached the desk. “Boss,” Raynor sputtered, “we’re sorry that he-“
“I gave you a simple job.” The Minister stood up, glaring at them, his once rather friendly countenance gone stone cold. “All you had to do was keep an eye on him, stand around for a few lectures, and say you’d checked the place out. But you couldn’t even manage that, could you?”
“I can explain…’
“No, Raynor. No more explanations, no more excuses. You two failed, plain and simple. Steiner told me how he’d interrupted a crucial run. You let him wander off alone and nearly sabotaged the whole project, along with my career. I should have washed my hands of you both long ago.”
“Sir, Boss, no… Don’t get rid of us now… Give us another chance. It won’t happen again, I swear it…”
“Fine, I’m feeling generous today. You have one last chance. Follow him. Make sure he doesn’t return to Omnitech. If he does, take care of him. It’s too close now to back out. And should you two screw up again, should I catch news of him around the perimeter, you both will wish you never returned to this office, understand?”
“Yes, Sir. Quite well, Sir.” Raynor and Gonzales slowly backed outside, bowing their heads in compliance.
Grayson turned away from the door and walked over to his grand window. He peered outward, overlooking the vast, dull, cold surface. His constituency. His people. People who, one day, would hail him as a hero for revolutionizing this chunk of granite. People who would keep him in office for at bare minimum a dozen more terms. His flock, properly placated, appeased, which would sustain him for years to come…
************
Walking sounds came over the speakers, then a short-distance run, the quiet of a pause, slightly labored breathing. Stahn sincerely wished Davis had kept the video camera; this on its own was nerve-wracking. The rest of the message came through the speakers as a soft whisper.“Day five. Yes, five. Removed or not, I simply can’t let this case go. Something’s going on here. Something they don’t want us to see. I’m going to find out what… Human security doesn’t seem to have diminished any since the last time… but I think I can make it if the alarms are still powered down and if I keep low enough to stay out of sight of the front guards…”“I’ve made it a little farther up the path, hiding now behind a sizeable boulder, some distance yet from the front doors. Don’t think…”
************
“…I’ll be able to get in that way. If I remember right, there’s a side entrance…”
Davis left his recorder alone for the moment and peeked around his rock barrier. Seeing no one, he crouched and dashed against the wall of the laboratory, pressing back against it as one guard, sensing movement, swung his light around in the half-gloom of Colony’s evening. Davis remained still for several seconds, then inched his way along the surface. Sure enough, there was another door. He pushed and it swung open easily – too easily. He scurried down the hallways as fast and as quietly as he could until reaching familiar territory, the Energy wing.
“All the rooms are quiet and the machines are powered down, as far as I can tell.” Davis spoke for his future audience as he wandered through the facility. “I’d say most of the people have gone home. Wait… I hear something…”
A low whine echoed down the hallway, the sound of a machine starting up. It was the Newsion reactor, Davis recalled. It had the same kind of reverberation and pitch and it was getting louder. He tracked the sound down the halls, returning to the reactor chamber, and stood against the door, listening to the voices inside. Two indistinguishable men were talking, just barely audible above the hum of the machine. There didn’t seem to be any sounds of torture though. None of the yelling he’d heard before. Maybe the Minister was right after all. Though the reactor made it difficult, Davis tried to concentrate on the conversation.
“Reaching critical point again.”
“Vitals?”
“Still stabilized at this point.”
The reactors whine grew louder, making difficult to hear much of anything.
“Mark it off.”
“Approximately three seconds until critical point… two… one…”
Davis winced as the machine roared at a dissonant key. The sound sank through his skin and chilled his very bones, shocked him into covering his ears. Something about the tone was haunting and buried itself in his mind. Even after the machine had shut down he could still hear in his memory.
“Same result as usual. How much was the charge this time?”
“Nearly four hundred times energy expended.”
“Amazing… Life signs?”
“The same as the last one - expired.”
“Help me remove him, then?”
Expired?! Davis rose and backed away from the door, fumbling his recorder back into his hand. “I hope that made it through onto the recording. Subject of the experiment has died, and there’s implication that this has happened before. This is a repeat trial. If this doesn’t contradict the ‘safe’ evaluation the Minister received, nothing will. Testing is supposed to have been finished…” A small racket sounded from inside the room. “Sounds like they’re coming out… better move.”
He backed down the hall and around the corner, watching the two men emerge with a gurney in front of them. On it laid a prisoner in characteristic orange jumpsuit, unmoving.
“Subject is assuredly deceased… skin gone pale, no movement. They’re draining them to death, now…” Davis swallowed hard, “Best leave. This should be enough supporting evidence to-“A large, strong hand clapped down onto his shoulder and Davis, suppressing a yelp, dropped the recorder into his pocket, spun around to face his opponent and held his fists up in defense. Instantly, though, he recognized the man in front of him and dropped his guard. “Raynor? What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you, Davis.”
Davis nodded and glanced down the reactor corridor, “Great, I wonder if we can make it back to the… wait… how did you know I would…” Raynor’s strong grasp pinned Davis’s arms behind his back. “…be here…” Davis finished as he was pulled into the open. “Raynor… no, let me go… you saw didn’t you? You know what they’re doing… We can’t let that happen…”
“I didn’t see anything,” the leading ‘investigator’ mumbled, then turned to a small communicator and depressed a locator button. Security, already having been alerted by the silent alarm on the door, converged in the area.
“How?” Davis watched as guard after guard appeared, looking at Raynor in dismay. “How can you do this? You’re sentencing countless people to death…”
Raynor stared ahead, expressionless. “And if I don’t follow orders, I’d be one of the next…I told you to let it go, kid. We all did. You poked into where you don’t belong…” Roughly Raynor shoved his captive at one of the Omnitech patrolmen. “Take him away.” As the guards dragged the young man off, Raynor stared, waging war with his conscience, still as stone.
************
The time bar reached the end of the line and the sound cut out. Stahn simply stared at the screen. Could it?… Is this real? That was certainly Steiner’s voice, and the last hum of the Newsion reactor sounded exactly as they did today… Surely… no, it can’t be like that. That was a long time ago; they must have been revised by now. He breathed a huge sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair, chuckling nervously. Some kid threw together some sound bytes, that’s all. Or maybe it was one of the prisoner’s ideas of a joke. Rather sick joke, Stahn thought to himself, but if he went through all the trouble, might as well see what the last file is. Tapping a few more keys on the keyboard, he set the only inactive file to play.[click]…”Day three ninety one, twenty four A.C. Former Enforcer Russel Davis, reporting for what probably is the last time… They’ve locked me in one of the prisoner containment cells, and I can imagine what that means. I’ve been waiting in here for… maybe an hour now… while they’ve decided what to do.I haven’t been able to get that reactor sound out of my head. Something about it… unnerved me greatly. So I rewound the recording, opened a new file, and fiddled with the settings. A couple of frequency filters revealed… pretty much what I expected. Call it dramatization or fanaticism if you will, but all the evidence I gathered leads me to one conclusion. What they’re doing here isn’t extracting the body’s ‘electrical impulses’, they’re siphoning out the soul…
Raynor knows I have a recorder, so I’m going to hide the data… somewhere…since you’re listening, it must have been found. Please, whoever this is… get this sphere to the public. Get the message out and find another alternative to Newsion…as quickly as possible, before anyone else has to get hurt…” [click]
The sound came over the speakers as Stahn remembered it, a looped track of the Newsion reactor in function. Though he noticed with some apprehension, that it did seem to be an uncomforting sort of sound when you listened the right way. As the track played, certain frequencies dropped out. One high-pitched warble soon vanished, followed by a low buzz and some metallic thrum. Suddenly the recording was silent and in the background, quite clear with the missing white noise, was an unearthly sort of groan that immediately sent a shudder running through him. If the concept of agony or suffering could be condensed to a sound, this would have been it. The wretched tone rose and fell in volume and pitch, tearing through the mind and body of the listener, nearly driving him mad, when abruptly it cut off. With trembling hand, Stahn reached up to turn the program off, only to encounter that someone else’s arm had beaten him to it. Stahn turned to see the pale, wrinkled face and ghostly blue eyes of Dr. Steiner.
“Dr. Steiner,” Stahn gasped as he leapt out of the chair and starting backing away, “I didn’t see you there… I was just… was…”
“Calm down, Stahn.” The old scientist smiled at him. “You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re more than welcome to use the lobby computer, though I wish you’d have asked first.”
“You’re… you’re not upset?”
“Of course not. What were you looking it?”
Stahn choked a bit on his tongue, debating whether or not to say anything, deciding whom he could trust.
“Stahn?”
“Oh, n-nothing, Dr. Steiner.”
“Nothing, hmm? Did you get a chance to see the whole thing? You’re more than welcome to sit down again, finish it up.”
“No… no that’s okay… think I’ll just sign out now…”
“I think that’s a very fine idea, Stahn. I’ll see you again soon.”
“R-right, Dr. Steiner. Have a good evening.” And with those parting words, Stahn half-walked, half-ran down the lobby hallway to the front door, unaware of the shadows waiting for him outside.
The captain of the guards walked in from the back hallway and stood beside the doctor. “What do you want us to do with him?”
“Hmm…” Steiner contemplated as he closed down the programs on the monitor and tapped in a few commands. “He has done us a great service tonight. See to it that such a hero will also service his Colony.”
“Yes sir, I’ll have the reactors warmed up.”
“And captain, contact Minister Grayson. Tell him that he can relax at last and that he mustn’t forget to uphold his end of the contract.”
“Of course, sir.” Receiving no further order, he too headed outside to tailor to the ‘comfort’ of the potential informant.
“You’ve been more trouble than you were worth, Mr. Davis,” Steiner remarked to the screen. “Such the altruist, yet unable to see that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Quite clever as well; you nearly succeeded. However, your crusade ends here.” A few more keypunches and the doctor stood up, commanding the computer to release the data sphere. He plucked it from its drive and examined it, smiling lightly. Returning to his office to prepare for a late evening’s work, he left the monitor running, cursor blinking at the end of one line of text:
Files deleted...