Shades of Freedom

by Linda McNabb

  “Everybody back. There's nothing going on here,” the guards had come between the two Sectors and formed a human wall to replace the destroyed one. “Go on back about your business.”

  The Level One and Two's slowly backed off but Kala was delighted to see that they all looked confused and unsure about what they had seen. It was a better result than ten years of speaking from Station walls could have achieved. The Clover Down's residents however, didn't take any notice of the guards.

  “Let us through.”

  “You've got no right to keep us in here.”

  The guards didn't wait for the Level One and Two's to be out of the market before they turned on the Sector Ten people. With Stun sticks and fists they beat them back. Kala noticed that many Level One and Twos' had witnessed this and the beating would not be for nothing. Several guards fell under the savage defence that their prey put up. Kala slipped back quietly to where the others were still hiding.

  “We should be out there helping them,” Kala said feeling torn by her loyalties as she looked concerned at the paleness of Johan's face.

  “We'd be no help,” Damon stated calmly. “Clover Downs isn't going to win this fight. It's enough that the seed of doubt has been set in so many minds. The fight itself is unimportant”

  Kala thought about it for a minute and nodded her head in agreement but it still didn't seem right not to help.

  “And we are already wanted by the State. If we get arrested then we have no chance of doing more damage,” Roma too made sense and Kala sighed.

  “I'll be back in a minute,” Damon said with a gleam in his eye. It looked as if he had a plan.

  “Is Johan going to be okay?” Kala turned her attention back to Johan as Damon slipped off down the alley.

  “I think so,” Roma replied. “He's got a cut on his head and he'll have a nasty headache when he wakes up but I think he'll be fine.”

  Kala breathed a sigh of relief and hoped he would wake up before the guards thought of searching the alleys. Just as she thought, that the sight of a guard coming down the alley made her freeze.

  “It's okay Kala, it's just me,” the guard pulled off his black riot helmet and Kala saw that it was Damon. “I've got the easiest way to get us all out of here.”

  “And that is...?” Kala prompted as Damon and Roma pulled Johan up and Damon slung him effortlessly over his shoulder.

  “I've just arrested you,” Damon said with a straight face.

  Kala stared at him, aware that her mouth had dropped open, wondering if she had been wrong about him all along.

  “I'm joking, I got this uniform from one of the guards that had been knocked out, but it should fool the other guards,” Damon looked a little apologetic, jammed the helmet on again and turned back down the alley. “Come on before the fight is over.”

  They hurried out the alley and followed Damon towards the nearest Hoverpod. One of the guards looked over from where the fight was still going on in Sector Four but Damon simply waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need any help and pushed them all into the back of the Hoverpod.

  Within seconds they were in the air and moving quickly away. Kala looked back down at the wall that had seemed so solid only a few minutes ago. Now it looked as if a huge monster had taken a bite out of it.

  “We'll take him to my house. I don't think there is anywhere else safe in the city at the moment,” Damon said as he expertly manoeuvred the Hoverpod across the city.

  Kala sat next to the unconscious Johan and held his limp hand during the short flight. She didn't like to see him looking helpless. She almost laughed, as helpless wasn't a word she associated with Johan, ever. She felt the gently bump as they landed and looked out the window.

  “You've landed in the middle of the street,” Kala commented thinking they would look a strange bunch walking around carrying Johan.

  “My house is just up there,” Damon pointed three houses up the street. It was the plainest house in the street with almost no flowers or trees in the small front garden. “If I landed in the back garden it would kind of lead them straight to us. Let's just hope everyone is still sleeping.”

  Kala doubted it but when she looked at her watch she was surprised to find that it was still quite early. It felt like she had been going all day.

  Damon, still dressed as a guard, and Roma carried Johan down the street and Kala followed with Alissa and Katee. Alissa hadn't made so much as a comment or a complaint all morning and Kala was beginning to become a little worried about her. Her ordeal with being kidnapped may have upset her more than they had realised. She pulled Alissa close and they hurried up the steps to Damon's house.

  Damon's house was totally different to any of the Level One houses that Kala had seen so far. It was almost empty of furniture and only one ornament stood on the mantelpiece.

  “I only live in the front two rooms,” Damon commented as he and Roma laid Johan gently on the only couch. “I don't see the need for all the others and I don't entertain here.”

  Johan stirred and Kala quickly rushed to his side. He didn't open his eyes though and after muttering incoherently for a few seconds he lapsed back into unconsciousness.

  “We'll wait for Johan to wake up and then decide what we should do next,” Damon had removed the guard's uniform and thrown it into a corner of the room just as the door chime rang.

  Kala stared at the monitor in disbelief. What was Suan doing here? Her heart began to thump loudly again as she hoped that Damon wasn't going to let her in.

  “Damn, she invited me for dinner last night and I forgot,” he grinned back at Kala. “I was rather preoccupied.”

  “I guess I had better apologise to her and then I'll get rid of her,” the door chime rang again and Damon went to open the door.

  “Damon, I was worried about you when you didn't turn up last night,” Suan swept past Damon and into the hallway as he attempted to keep her standing on the doorstep. “Kala! What are you doing here?”

  “I just... popped in for a chat,” Kala hunched her shoulders as she tried to appear like a casual visitor and she blocked the view of the sitting room with her body. “I was thinking that we should do lunch today.”

  “Oh yes, I know a wonderful place...” Suan started but then Kala realised that she was staring past her and not at her.

  Suan looked suddenly distant and Kala dared a quick look to see what she was looking at. The only thing she could have seen from that angle was the guard's uniform. She saw Suan look, through the still open front door, at the abandoned State Hoverpod and then back at both Kala and Damon.

  “I just remembered I've got a hair appointment in ten minutes,” Suan spoke calmly as she turned and walked sedately out the door. “I'll come back later.”

  Damon shut the door behind her and he and Kala stared at each other. Kala knew he was thinking the same as her. Suan was the most Pro-State person she knew. Their safe-house wasn't safe anymore.

  “We'll take the Hoverpod and go back into Sector Four. I know we were told we weren't welcome... but it would be a lot safer than staying here,” Damon frowned and rubbed his chin with his thumb and checked the clock on the wall. “I'd say she'll have them here in less than five minutes.”

  They broke the news to Roma, Alissa and Katee and quickly headed back to the Hoverpod. They had just reached it when two more Hoverpods landed right in front of them and six guards piled out.

  “I think you had better come with us,” one said menacingly, waving his stun stick.

  Kala could see no way out of this one and they let themselves be herded into the back of one of the Hoverpods.

  **

  Johan tried to open his eyes but they felt sealed shut and his head was definitely twice the weight it should be. He could tell that he was laying on a cold rocky surface but he didn't know where. He tried to piece together what had happened and finally his foggy brain released what he wanted. The wall, he had done it. He allowed a small smile to play on his lips and then he remembered the
piece of wall heading for him that had been the last thing he had seen.

  “Uhh,” he winced with remembered pain and felt someone's hand slip into his. He instantly knew it was Kala and he squeezed her hand to let her know he was okay.

  “He's waking up,” Kala's voice sounded distant but slowly the noises in the room around him grew louder. He could hear peoples feet shuffling on the floor and someone was crying. It sounded like a child. The bang of metal on metal brought him completely awake and his eyes flickered open.

  “We were beginning to think that you were never going to wake up,” Kala's smiling face looked slightly fuzzy and he attempted to sit up. “No, stay there until you feel a bit better.”

  A small body suddenly leapt onto him, making him almost cry with pain.

  “Johan, I thought I'd lost you too.” It was Katee, and by the look of her swollen eyes it had been her that he heard crying.

  “Where am I? How long was I out? What happened to Charat?” Johan suddenly had lots of questions that he had to have answered. Even though Kala was smiling, he had the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong with his plan. He appeared to be in a room with stone walls and there were at least twenty people there.

  “I.. um well” Kala was sounding evasive and Johan's heart began to sink. “You've been unconscious for almost three hours and Charat is fine. He's right here.”

  Kala's tone of voice made it clear that she thought the last piece of news was supposed to cheer him up. She didn't know what he knew. Johan scanned the room and when he managed to focus properly he saw Charat standing a few feet away.

  “Get that bastard away from me before I kill him,” Johan tried to shout but it came out as a hoarse whisper.

  “But he helped you bring the wall down,” Kala was looking confused and worried.

  “He was trying to stop me,” Johan corrected her and forced himself up into a sitting position.

  He stopped speaking for a full minute while his head thundered its protest at being moved. Now that he was sitting up he could see the whole room and realised they were in a holding cell. He saw that the people in the cell were all from Clover Downs and some were nursing cuts and bruises. They must be the people from the fight by the wall.

  “Why would he do that?” Kala had dropped her voice and moved neared as she looked around to see if anyone was listening to them.

  “Because he's a state spy!” Johan accused loudly, his voice beginning to recover.

  “You must have hit your head too hard,” a familiar voice made him turn his head painfully and he saw Gil sneering at him. Charat came over to stand next to Gil.

  “Don't listen to him. He's a raving lunatic,” Charat said confidently.

  “You still can't admit that Charat was better than you can you? If he was a spy then he wouldn't be in here with us would he?” Gil shook his head in disbelief and Johan got even angrier.

  “Guards! Guards! Get this spy out of here,” Johan didn't care that the whole room had gone quiet or that they were all staring at him. He didn't want Charat anywhere near him.

  “Keep it down in there!” a guard came to the bars and raised his stun stick menacingly.

  “We don't want your spies in here. Get him out!” Johan demanded and pointed at Charat.

  “He's not a spy now,” the guard said with a harsh, nasty laugh and whacked the stun stick against his empty hand. “There's no room for failures and he failed so badly that he's one of you now.”

  The guard let out another harsh laugh and wandered off down the corridor, whistling as he went.

  Johan turned back to stare at Charat who was now looking very wary. He had backed away to the wall and looked nervously about the room. Everyone else was also staring at him, most with disbelief and anger.

  “So what do you have to say now?” Johan raised an eyebrow even though it hurt terribly. He wasn't going to miss this opportunity to get back at Charat. “Are you still going to profess your innocence?”

  Charat didn't answer and he was the first to break the eye contact between them. He slid down the wall into a crouch and hung his head in silence.

  “Johan, I don't know what to say...” Gil looked mortified at what he had done but Johan wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

  “I thought you were my friend,” Johan said quietly.

  “I was... I am... I'm sorry.”

  Johan let his apology hang unanswered in the silent room. It seems everybody had learnt something from all of this.

  Kala was still sitting on the stone bench next to his legs and her hand was still encased in his. She had never doubted him and was, not counting Katee, probably his only true friend right now. Slowly, the room began to lose its stony silence and people began to discuss the latest development in whispers.

  “We're glad you're okay,” Roma and Damon came up and gently patted him on the shoulder. Well maybe he had one or two more friends. Petari was with them and had her arm around Alissa. Petari didn't look vague as she had done back in Clover Downs. She looked fully aware of what was going on and bravely reassured Alissa that everything would be okay as long as they were together.

  For some reason Johan thought they would be left down in the holding cell for hours and he was very surprised when half a dozen guards came along about ten minutes later. They unlocked the cell door and started moving them all down the corridor. Walking was difficult for Johan but Roma and Damon helped him along. There were many other willing hands but he ignored them. He wasn't quite ready to accept any apologies. Charat was the last one out of the cell and nobody walked beside him or spoke to him.

  “Are we going to trial?” Damon asked the nearest guard.

  “What for? You're all guilty!” was the blunt reply and Damon didn't ask any more questions.

  Johan knew where they were going. He had known ever since he had realised that he was in a cell. There was only one place to be sent after Level Ten.

  They walked down many corridors and eventually out into a large courtyard with four Hoverpods in it. They were split up into groups of six and loaded into Hoverpods. Nobody spoke as they took off and the port loomed larger with each second.

  Johan wished his head would clear. There must be something he could do to stop them all being shipped off to Belgara. He couldn't think clearly and he shook his head, immediately regretting it. He still hadn't thought of a way out of their situation by the time they arrived at the port but he hadn't given up.

  Again Damon and Roma had to help him walk as they were pushed roughly onto the ship and down into the very corridor that they had been in just the night before. Johan fought the overwhelming feeling of tiredness as they were forced into a cabin and the room started spinning in circles. He knew by the softness beneath him that he had been laid on a bunk and his head was starting to throb. The last thing he saw was Kala's face hovering over his. Why was she looking so worried?

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The heavy metal door banged shut and there was a stunned silence in the cabin. The enormity of the situation was sinking in for everyone now. Kala avoided meeting anyone's eyes and turned her attention back to the unconscious Johan. He looked pale but he was still breathing, just. She rolled up one of the few blankets and gently placed it under his head. She would have to wait for him to wake up again.

  Kala looked around the room and saw that everyone was still standing around staring at each other. She felt like telling them all to snap out of it and get used to the situation but didn't bother. They would all come to terms with it in their own time. Roma was the first to move and he guided Petari, Alissa and Katee over to a bunk. The others slowly followed suit and a murmur of whispered voices crept amongst them.

  A low rumble from somewhere below their feet brought instant silence again and Kala looked over at the single porthole. They were moving.

  “It's all Charat's fault!” one of the men said loud enough for everyone to hear. “We might have been hungry every now and then before he came along but at least we weren't
being shipped off to Belgara.”

  “You fools brought it on yourselves!” Charat sneered “And you dragged me into it all as well. I'll get out of this, no mistake, but don't expect me to get any of you out!”

  “How do you intend to do that?” came the almost hopeful query from the man, but Charat didn't answer him.

  “We should have listened to Johan,” Gil said barely loud enough for anyone to hear. His eyes were downcast and he had his legs pulled up against his chest. “He always was a good judge of character.”

  Kala shook her head in disbelief. It had to take something like this for them to realise how much Johan had done for them. They must have been walking around with their eyes shut for the last six months.

  “So what do we do now?” the first man asked.

  “Do?” Gil looked up briefly and then hung his head again. “Nothing, it's all over.”

  Silence fell again and Kala got up to stretch her legs. The cabin they were in was the same one the children had been in, but in the daylight it looked much worse. There were only six blankets and not all of the twenty one bunks had mattresses. Apart from the door they had come in, there was only one other door and upon inspection Kala found that it was a very small bathroom.

  Kala walked over to the porthole and watched in the growing darkness as Jerrac slowly got smaller. She stood there until it was dark and then even the city's lights disappeared from view. With an audible sigh she walked back to check on Johan and then climbed onto a spare bunk. Someone clicked on the single bulb that hung from the ceiling and she turned her back on it and closed her eyes.

  Dim light crept into the cabin just as Kala opened her eyes and she wished she could close them again and pretend it wasn't all happening. But it was and Kala forced herself to sit up. She walked quietly to the bunk that Johan was on and checked him. He was still unconscious, or maybe just asleep. He didn't seem to have a fever and the gash on his head wasn't bleeding. She wished there was more she could do for him but there wasn't.