by M. D. Cooper
Erin saw the absolute sincerity in Reiko’s eyes. She wanted to say, ‘If you know me so well, you’ll know this entire exercise is pointless’. But she kept her mouth shut. As long as Reiko held the smallest belief that she might learn something useful, she wouldn’t kill her torture subject.
When Erin didn’t answer, Reiko slipped a slim, steel wand from her sleeve. Its end was rounded, not sharp.
Did she sneak it past the security check when she arrived in New Canaan, or did she make it while she was here?
A good engineer could turn their hand to most things if they had the right materials.
Feeling slightly nauseated, Erin next wondered what Reiko planned to do with her metal stick.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Reiko touched the tip of the wand to Erin’s bloody wrist. Agony flared up her arm like lightning. Her back arched, and she heard herself screaming. The pain seemed to go on forever, then suddenly it was gone. Erin was back from her well of agony and in the tank once more. The nerves from the fingertips of her left hand up to her spine tingled furiously as Reiko stood over her. Though the engineer had described herself as ‘not a bad person,’ Erin saw only curiosity in her eyes, not a shred of pity.
“That was the mild setting,” Reiko said simply.
She said something else, but Erin had tuned her out. If this was what she had to endure, she had to learn to shut out the pain. She was in no position to stop Reiko at that moment, but she could control her perception of what her nerves told her. She didn’t want Reiko to know what she was doing, though, or the pieces of information she intended to feed her would be less convincing.
Reiko touched the wand to Erin’s other wrist. Again, white-hot pain flared, but Erin tried to push it down, closing her mind to it. However, she still screamed and struggled against her restraints.
The torture session continued. Reiko turned up the intensity of the nerve stimulator. Erin didn’t succeed in entirely shutting out the instrument’s effects, but she managed to subdue the sensation. She suffered terribly, but she stayed in control, holding onto the fact that, at some point, Reiko had to stop.
Finally, she did.
“Had enough?”
“Yes,” Erin panted.
She considered that it might be time to pretend to give up, but quickly dismissed it. Reiko would never buy it; she had to play the game a little longer.
She swallowed and added, “Your stick tickles.”
“Still defiant, huh? You’re made of tough stuff. I guess I’m going to have to try something else. I prefer the wand…. It’s clean, leaves no marks. But some people require messier methods. They might be able to bear pain, but they can’t stand to see a limb amputated.”
“There’s no need to do that on my account. I’d hate to see you cut off your arm for no purpose.”
“What wonderful bravado in the face of watching me cut a piece from your body.”
“Appendages can be replaced. I already did that once, I can do it again.”
“Not if you die from blood loss or shock.”
“If I die, you’ll never find out our secrets.”
“So you do know something.”
Erin was silent.
Reiko looked like a cat that had caught a mouse. “I knew it! I knew I was on the right track. Leif—” She sucked in a breath.
“So, Leif is in on this too?” asked Erin. “Is it only you and him, or all four of you?”
A shadow of anger passed across Reiko’s features. “It doesn’t matter what you know.”
“No, it doesn’t, because you’ve planned to kill me all along.”
Reiko scowled. She lifted the wand and thrust the tip against Erin’s cheekbone. The movement was so sudden, Erin didn’t have time to prepare herself. She received the full force of the pain inflicted. For a time, she lost all control. She could feel herself writhing and hear her shrieks echoing off the metal walls around her.
When Reiko withdrew the wand, Erin was blind in her left eye. All her muscles throbbed, protesting against their long restriction and the knives of pain that had passed through them. Echoes of the nerve stimulation reverberated behind her eye and across her face and ear. Blood in her mouth told her she’d bitten her tongue.
Reiko leaned down and put her face so close to Erin’s, their noses were nearly touching. “Tell me what you know,” she hissed.
All Erin’s calmly prepared plans to feed the woman plausible lies and eke out the time until an opportunity to escape presented itself had gone out the window. The torment Reiko had inflicted had provoked a deep hatred in Erin. If she had been free at that moment, she would have strangled Reiko with her bare hands.
This bitch killed Walter. My husband and wife think I’m dead…. My son probably thinks so, too.
Erin worked her mouth, gathering a gob of saliva and blood, and then spat.
The other engineer reared backward and wiped the bloody spit from her cheek. Pale with anger, a deadly calmness settled over her. She glared at Erin. All formality and pretense had dropped away, and loathing oozed from her. Erin was glad of it. Now they both knew where they stood.
Reiko lifted the wand as if to use it again. Erin tensed and readied herself.
But Reiko hesitated.
She held the wand indecisively in midair, then she flung it down. The instrument clattered on the metal floor. Reiko turned, strode to the door, and pulled it open. She passed through the portal, and the door clanged shut.
Erin was alone again. But now, everything was different. Reiko had left the light on, so Erin was no longer in the dark. Even better, the engineer had left behind a handy weapon.
Now all Erin had to do was reach it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
STELLAR DATE: 05.13.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
She’d done it. Erin had pulled one of her hands out of its restraint. The waves of pain were beginning to recede, but she didn’t want to look at the effects of her efforts on her skin and flesh. As long as her hand still functioned, any injury would be worth it. If she didn’t get out of there soon, her physical state wouldn’t matter.
Erin gingerly tried to flex her fingers, touching each one to her thumb in turn. Her blood made the contact tacky, and the pain returned in full force, but victory and relief welled up when she managed the action successfully.
It was oddly ironic that it had been Reiko’s torture that had enabled her to free herself. After enduring that agony and trying to control her reaction to it, nearly pulling off her own hand had been downright bearable.
Now to see if she could remove her restraints.
She explored the neck restraint first. Erin had spent some of her long time in captivity speculating about Reiko’s attempt to extract intel from her. All of the engineers had been searched upon their arrival, and found to be carrying nothing suspicious. She wondered if something had been left behind on the PETER by the FGT, or if they had simply outwitted the ISF inspection team.
As her tender fingertips alighted on a catch on the restraint, Erin found that her guess had been correct. Military-grade prisoner restraints would not be operable by hand; they would require a security access to lock and open them. But Reiko had tied Erin down using simple grips she’d found somewhere on the ring.
Erin fiddled with the grip, feeling out the lock’s design. She wiggled in a broken fingernail and flipped the catch. It sprang open and her neck was free.
She sat up and looked around, noting that she’d been lying on an equipment box. The grips were threaded through a network of square holes in the lid. She reached for the one that was confining her other wrist, trying to ignore the bloody wreck of her free hand. In moments, she had two hands free, and seconds later, both feet.
Erin swung her legs over the side of the box and climbed down. She tried the door, but it was locked. Apparently, Reiko’s rage hadn’t caused her
to forget that task.
With her good hand, Erin unfastened her shirt and pulled it off. Next, she took off her undershirt and wrapped the material around her injured hand. After putting her shirt on again, she scanned the floor of the tank. At first, she saw only bare metal…. Then her gaze alighted on the slim torture device. The silver wand had ended up in a corner near the door.
Erin retrieved it and examined the instrument. It was a simple piece of thin, smooth metal. To ignorant eyes, it looked innocent, and could have easily been passed over during an inspection. There were no buttons or any other physical clues on how to operate it, as far as she could see. Erin guessed that Reiko could connect with it mentally.
The discovery was a big setback to her plans. One touch of the wand would incapacitate an attacker, but only if she could operate it. Conceivably, if her ability to connect to the Link remained intact, she would have been able to figure out how to access the device, but as it was, the wand could possibly be used as a small spear, though a blunt one. Still, it was better than nothing.
Now she only had to wait.
Erin squatted down next to the door, the wand poised in her good hand. She’d chosen to sit next to the side of the door that opened. She didn’t want to risk waiting behind it. The instant Reiko opened the door even slightly, she would be able to see that the surface of the equipment box was empty. She would know that Erin had broken out of her restraints and was waiting for her. Then she might just close the door, trapping Erin inside forever.
No. Erin would have to wait for the door to open, then she would rip it wide and attack. While she waited for Reiko’s return, Erin studied the wand in her hand, trying to figure out the best way to kill Reiko.
* * * * *
More hours passed. Fatigue began to plague Erin. After her legs started to ache unbearably from squatting for so long, she sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. Her nerves continued to jangle from her torture, and the stress of her ordeal had left her in dire need of sleep. She was also desperately thirsty.
If Walter had been with her, he would have taken care of all her physical complaints.
Poor Walter, Erin thought again, aching with his loss.
She’d always missed her AIs when it came time for their partnership to end, but this was different. To know that she would never speak to him again, never hear the slightly nagging and chiding tone in his voice, hurt her deeply. She could imagine his defiance and sharp sarcasm in reaction to Reiko’s attempts to make him turn traitor.
I have to avenge him. She hoped her actions would honor his memory.
She pressed her head against the thick metal wall of the tank. The coolness of the surface was helping her to remain awake, but nevertheless, her eyelids were drooping.
Then she heard movement at the door.
Erin snapped upright and leapt to her feet. The door was opening. Erin thrust her fingers into the gap and pulled, wedging her foot into the space created at the bottom. Through the open space, she saw two surprised, frightened eyes—grey eyes. It wasn’t Reiko returning, then. It was Leif.
Momentary shock weakened Erin’s grip on the door. The portal was open a forearm’s length, but Leif pulled it sharply, trying to close it. The door closed on her foot instead, and Erin renewed her grip on the door with both her good hand and her bloody one.
Leif tugged on the handle, hitting Erin’s hands while kicking her foot. His attempts to dislodge her loosened his hold, and with a grunt, Erin dragged the door open wider.
She pushed herself into the gap and saw that Leif was drawing out his own torture wand. Knowing it would take the fight out of her if he brought it to bear, Erin reached out and chopped at his wrist. He didn’t drop the wand, but it was batted away. In another moment, she was through the door.
With a wordless scream, she flew at him, crashing into the burly man at full force. Leif stumbled backward, and together, they toppled to the floor.
Erin landed on top of the sprawling man, and immediately ground a knee into the elbow of the arm that held the torture device so that Leif couldn’t raise the wand to her. Her other knee was on his shoulder. She plunged Reiko’s torture wand into him, thrusting the blunt metal down, aiming for the hollow above his collarbone where no cloth covered his skin to impede the metal.
She ripped the wand out and thrust it into his chest cavity again like lightning, reminding herself that this man had helped to kill Walter. Twice more she stabbed, speculating wildly on how many more times it would take. She had only a second or two before he would overpower her.
Leif writhed and struggled. Erin’s stabs seemed to be having little effect. Blood only dribbled from the wounds.
Suddenly, he rose up. Grabbing her around her waist, he savagely threw her off of him. Her back hit the wall, and she slid to the floor. His face red with rage, Leif came at her with his wand raised.
Erin skittered sideways on all fours. Abruptly, she hit another wall. She was in the corner of a small room.
Leif advanced, bear-like in his size and predatory gait, a killing look in his gaze. Erin shrank backward, though she had nowhere to go. She lifted the slim piece of metal that was all she had to defend herself with.
He lunged, and Erin threw herself sideways, kicking at one of the large man’s knees. He yelled and fell, but as he tumbled, he reached out and touched the back of Erin’s thigh with his wand. Without time to prepare for the nerve stimulation, agony ripped through her.
For several long seconds, she could do nothing except squirm and scream.
A blow to her head sent her flying into the wall. Blackness encroached, and she fought to remain conscious. She vaguely heard Leif’s footsteps behind her. A hand gripped her neck, and she rose into the air, suspended like a puppy from its mother’s mouth.
Excruciating pain burst from her side. Erin shrieked, but the sound barely escaped; Leif’s huge hand was fastened around her throat, choking her. Then suddenly, she was dropped on the floor, and a thud came from behind. She turned, wondering why she was still alive.
Leif was lying face downward. One of his arms was outstretched, and his wand was lying underneath his open hand. His other arm was folded up beneath his chest.
Erin pulled up her knees and looked around, surmising that she was still alone. With that concern satisfied, she sat up to look more closely at the man. A pool of blood was forming on the floor under his neck and quickly growing wider. Erin crawled toward Leif’s dropped wand and dragged the device toward her. She tucked both wands down the back of her pants and then stood up.
She pushed at Leif’s shoulder with the toe of her boot. When he didn’t respond, she grabbed his hair and lifted up his head. Blood dripped from his beard, and his blood-suffused face was lifeless.
“Huh,” she whispered. “It was me.”
Her strikes had taken a while to have an effect, but she’d killed him. Relieved, Erin let go of Leif’s head, which thumped onto the floor.
She again took stock of her surroundings. She was clearly somewhere on the PETER, but where exactly, she had no idea. The structure had few features that were unique to a section. She was inside an empty, nondescript room, probably intended for storage. That explained the tank, and another storage container on the other side of the passage.
Erin strode to the door and tried to open it.
“Dammit!”
It was locked. Leif must have sealed it before opening the storage tank. Erin had broken out of one prison only to find herself locked inside another.
Even worse, Reiko and Leif had been working closely together; If this part of the ring had Link access, then the other spy had to know by now that Leif was dead. She would be coming for Erin, and when she arrived, she would be prepared.
CHAPTER TWENTY
STELLAR DATE: 05.13.8942 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: PETER (Planetary Exo-Thermic Extraction Ring)
REGION: Athens, New Canaan System
Isa wanted nothing more than to fly to the section of t
he PETER that Reiko and Leif had visited after the eruption and look for Erin, but she had to hold back. If the two engineers had done what she suspected, it would be foolish to make them aware that their actions were under scrutiny. Isa would need time to figure out exactly where Erin was. She didn’t want to trigger the engineers to destroy the evidence of their wrongdoing.
If she was to find her wife, she had to tread carefully.
Lark had put Isa in Erin’s room, after asking if that was what she wanted. Isa had hesitated, unsure if it would be too upsetting for her, but in the end, she’d accepted. She wasn’t about to begin imagining that Erin might be dead.
After Lark left her, the first thing Isa did was look at Erin’s few possessions. It seemed that her wife only kept a brush and a few changes of clothes in her room. Then Isa opened another drawer, and her throat swelled. Sitting inside were two drawings: one displayed stick figures of three adults and a small child. The figures stood in front of a square house, and behind the house, pointed waves splashed against a shore.
The second picture was a sketch Isa had drawn long ago before she’d even thought of becoming a professional artist. The drawing was of Party Field in Landfall with the wildflowers in bloom. She’d forgotten all about it.
In the corner of the drawer sat a pile of seashells.
Isa bit her lip and blinked. She sat on the bed and put her head in her hands, taking deep breaths as waves of emotion washed over her. She couldn’t control the sorrow and fear that rose up. She lay down, and as her head touched the pillow, Erin’s scent wafted up.
That tipped her over the edge. She had tried to be strong, but it was so hard. Isa let herself give into her feelings.
After a time, she grew calmer and took control of herself again. She sat up and wiped her eyes, then walked over to Erin’s washbasin and splashed water on her face before checking her appearance in the mirror.
