Xchange

by Stan Mason

  Despite his past military history, the Colonel was forced to undertake a six-week training course which was extremely vigorous but he came through it with flying colours. On the day of the Regiment’s passing-out parade, the Headquarters was filled with many friends and the families of the soldiers attending the ceremony. They sat on wooden chairs observing the graduating recruits from the edge of the parade ground. As a token of his past service, Tyrell approached Masterson with a strange suggestion.

  ’You must have inspected many men in your illustrious career, sir,’ he ventured with the best of intentions. ’Even though you were a member of the teams undertaking training, would you care to inspect the men and women of the Regiment on this auspicious occasion?’

  The Colonel, now ranked as a Private, agreed readily, taking a firm grip of Tyrell’s wooden baton, he broke ranks to stand directly in front of the recruits who were looking extremely smart in their best uniforms. He sauntered past them slowly like an old trooper and when he came to the end of the line he turned staring at one particular soldier.

  ‘Why are you eye-balling me, soldier?’ he demanded with ostensible anger raging through him like a fierce flame in a fire. He raised his baton as if intending to strike him across the shoulders but he resisted doing so. ‘Keep your eyes straight ahead!’ He moved further down the line to a female soldier. ‘Get your stomach in!’ he snarled irately. He moved across to another soldier and it became clear that his attitude was completely irregular for he struck him repeatedly across the face with the baton, something he would never have considered doing in all his years in the service. ‘Don’t slouch, man! Keep your shoulders up!’ he yelled in a fury. ‘If you don’t stand up straight, I’ll make you do so!’

  The crowd looked on with dismay as he went down the line acting like a maniac and the friends and families of the soldiers got to their feet to protest as he went on the rampage striking out at others until a Sergeant managed to restrain him by pulling his arms behind his back and eventually pinning him down to the ground. It was the most ignominious sight of appalling behaviour ever seen on the parade ground especially by a past senior officer. No one had the faintest idea that he had been the subject of a body exchange which had begun to show the first signs of being defective. Somehow the mind of the criminal whose body had been transferred to him had surfaced in his brain which was something that wasn’t supposed to happen.

  Masterson was placed in a prison cell at Regimental Headquarters awaiting psychiatric examination for his part on the parade ground. His file was recovered by the Commanding Officer who pressed a large rubber stamp on the front cover which read: “Unfit for Duty.” It was the sad end of the continuation of the Colonel’s career for, although he had the body of a much younger man, he had acquired the mind of a criminal.

  ***

  Tom Burton lay awake in bed one night in the privacy of his cell with his hands resting behind his head. Every prisoner in the jail had staged a sit in and the stench had become intolerable. He stared at the white ceiling with a volley of thoughts passing through his head as he considered his earlier life. He had been a very disloyal boy to his parents, causing them no end of problems, with regard to his attitude towards them and the company that he kept. His schooling was practically non-existent for he played truant most of the time and he joined a gang of boys who were more evil than mischievous. When he reached the age of sixteen, he shirked finding employment and started on a career as a petty thief and a burglar. It mattered little to him whether he could steal any money because he lived with his parents who had no option but to continue to support him. In due course, he escalated his criminal activities by mugging people in parks and other lonely places until he became involved in a fight with another man outside the local inn. The argument started on something very simple but Burton produced a knife and stabbed the man sixteen times in the abdomen, chest and the neck. When he got home and told him parents what he had done there was a confrontation with them and, after a savage argument, he produced his knife again and stabbed them both to death. He was eventually caught and arrested and thereafter sentenced to life imprisonment at Lancaster jail. Due to his constant truancy, his education had been very limited and his ability to think of any plans for the future were always negligible. Suddenly, after the bodily exchange with Colonel Masterson he began to acquire leadership qualities which took him by complete surprise. He could only surmise that the bodily exchange with the Colonel had also improved his mind. His mind had become militarily oriented and a plan began to form in his head. After a while, he rose from the bed and called out to the other prisoners in their cells to address them even though it was night time.

  ‘Wake up, you guys!’ he shouted at the top of his voice. ‘I have a plan... a really good one.’

  ‘And I have a dream!’ cut in another prisoner with an element of amusement, copying the world of Martin Luther King.

  There were moans from the other inmates who were suffering from the lack of food as they roused themselves to listen to him.

  ‘The aim of this operation is to take over this prison,’ declared Burton adamantly, ‘lock, stock and barrel!

  This brought a roar of negative comments from practically everyone there.

  ‘How the hell do we do that?’ enquired another prisoner in a tired voice.

  ‘The strategy is simple. We stop the hunger strike immediately. It’s a pointless exercise and has done us no good. At the same time, we will need to leave our cells. That’s an important development in the plan.’

  ‘Well that’s something I agree with,’ retorted another prisoner with an element of relief.

  ‘The tactics will be that when we’re taken to the compound for exercise, we overcome the guards,’ suggested Burton with determination.

  ‘How do we do that?’ came the question. ‘They’re all armed with rifles and we’re shackled hand and foot!’

  ‘We take them by surprise,’ added the leader firmly with an air of authority. ‘They’ll think we’re weak from the hunger strike. We start to run round the compound and then break off into groups. Usually there are seven guards and fifty of us. We break off into groups of seven and rush them. They won’t expect it. We should be able to overcome them and take the rifles. One of them will have the keys to our shackles and we’ll free ourselves and then tie up the guards and hold them hostage.

  ‘Yeh!’ yelled one of the prisoners with glee, anticipating a victory for them all. ‘We hold ‘em hostage!’

  ‘Sounds a good plan to me,’ uttered another prisoner. ‘I’ll go along with it.’

  ‘What about the two guards in the tower?’ advanced another man. ‘What do we do about them because they’ll shoot every one of us if we attack the guards.’

  ‘We’ll have the rifles of the guards. I’m a marksman. I’ll knock them out. There’s only two of them after all.

  The emanation of the plan surged through the veins of the prisoners who had been passive and silent for so long.

  ‘We’ll tell the warders that we’re ending the hunger strike in the morning and the plan will unroll after that,’ stated Burton calmly, going back to his bed and laying down again with his hands behind his head. He had begun to consider himself a military genius preparing to go to war. In effect, he had acquired the sharp military mind of Colonel Tim Masterson through the transfer exchange programme... and he revelled in it!

  At early light, he instructed the other prisoners in the form of a military commander.

  ‘You’re to form groups of seven. Each man will run around the compound in short steps so as not to fall or collide with anyone else. There’ll be no collisions... no fights... no arguments... we’re all in this together. On my signal, you’ll rush the guards without hesitation. Any group in difficult will be aided by another successful group. Is that understood?’

  There was a general hubbub of agreement and the scene was set
for the operation to begin.

  The warders were soon told of the ending of the hunger strike and they brought food for the inmates to devour believing that the battle was over. They were greatly relieved as any death of a prisoner always causing problems with investigation and countless reports on the reason why it had occurred Now that the prisoners had ended the strike, it appeared that control would be maintained at the jail. In addition, the prisoners had agreed to leave their cells which was an addition bonus.

  At three o’clock in the afternoon the cell doors were opened electronically and the prisoners staggered out to march to the compound outside. They were watched closely by two guards in a tower a short distance away and seven armed guards as they raced around the perimeter. Shortly, they divided into several small groups running much slower as instructed. Then, as soon as Burton raised his arms above his head in a signal, the separate groups attacked the guards who were taken completely by surprise. Four of them were knocked down and overpowered instantly while the other three began to resist. Shots were fired and two prisoners fell to the ground after being hit but there were too many of them for the small number of guars who were quickly overcome. With immediate effect, the prisoners began to fire at the two guards in the tower who were killed before they could react to the situation. The inmates then led the three captives who they held as hostages back into the prison complex finding the keys to their manacles and leg chains. Suddenly they found themselves free of the fetters and shackles that had kept them so subservient in the past.

  Burton suddenly became their leader and their hero. He strutted up and down like a military commander in front of his troop, holding a long metal rod like a baton, with a determined expression on his face. His aim, strategy and tactics had been successful so far... the prisoners were now in charge of the jail and he recognised that, for the moment, they had gained the upper hand. Although no one was able to reach the Press or the media, it was only a matter of time before the news leaked out. The Governor of Blackstock jail could not prevent the situation from becoming public especially as four of his guards had been shot dead and three hostages were awaiting their fate.

  On the other side of the coin, video coverage had been taken of the passing out parade at Regimental Headquarters by one of the civilians who had come to watch it and he had sold the film to one of the major television channels to be released as one of the news items of the day. The actions of Colonel Masterson going beserk on the parade ground was watch with horror by millions of viewers. With one short film clip, his reputation was reduced to ashes. He would never be allowed to join the military again! He was taken to a sanatorium where he was deemed to be unfit to rejoin society as a result of mental instability. He was termed as totally unstable which soon proved to be the case when he tried to strangle another patient an hour after his arrival there.

  Details of the case soon came to the attention of Jordan who recognised that he would be unable to sweep the incident under the carpet. He approached John Mottley, the Chief Scientist of the exchange project, and they sat facing each other in an office to discuss the matter.

  ‘You do realise what happened in the case of Colonel Masterson,’ advanced Jordan with a glum expression on his face.

  Mottley stared at him tiredly shaking his shoulders aimlessly. ‘It’s a one-off situation,’ he explained weakly. ‘People are all different in their metabolism. There are bound to be some side effects or miscalculations occasionally. This simply happened to be one of them.’

  ‘There’s nothing simply about this, Mottley,’ challenged the government agent curtly. ‘What do you mean by ‘miscalculations’?’

  The Chief Scientist was truly at a lost to explain what had happened but he ploughed on regardless. ‘Sometimes the transference of human body project goes beyond its limitations. Just because we place the equipment in the process on the subject’s body doesn’t mean that the signals fail to reach the brain of both participants. It’s clearly occurred in this case. The mind of the prisoner was particularly strong and somehow it managed to penetrate that of the Colonel. It doesn’t mean it will happen again and yet the odds are that it may do.’

  ‘My God!’ spat Jordan completely flabbergasted. ‘We were told it was a unique process. Now we find it to be flawed!.

  Mottley shrugged his shoulders again. ‘Masterson’s age caused him to become weak. That’s the only explanation I can offer you. His mind was unable to adjust to the change and it sent him into confusion. I understand he’s being held in a private sanatorium so there’s no danger to the public and the matter can remain secret.’

  ‘And what about Burton... the prisoner who was exchanged with him?’ enquired Jordan anxiously.

  ‘That’s another matter,’ returned the other man. ‘No doubt he’s assumed the mind of a military commander. Not that it’s of any use to him incarcerated in prison. His problem is that his body is weak and may not survive for very long... especially if the strain of the exchange proved to be too much for him. Hopefully he’ll suffer a cardiac arrest shortly which will put an end to the matter.’

  ‘And what if it doesn’t? came the question like the crack of a whip.

  ‘I think you need to look on the positive side,’ returned the Chief Scientist. ‘The prisoner’s body is eighty-one years of age. How much longer is he expected to live?’

  ‘You’re a cold callous lot of people,’ criticised the government agent coolly, ‘but let’s put that aside for the moment. What about other ‘miscalculations’ that might occur. I mean this was hardly a one-off situation. How many more can we expect?’

  ‘How long is a piece of string,’ retorted Mottley bluntly. ‘We’re experimenting all the time... improving the system as we go along. That’s what science is all about. Of course we’ll have to face some awkward problems due to the number of people that we’re processing but we’ll cope with them as they occur. I sincerely hope that they’ll be few and far between in the future.’

  The Chief Scientist left the office shortly afterwards with Jordan feeling far from satisfied with his explanations. He was now exchanging one hundred prisoners every month and he could hardly afford to field problems of such an outrageous nature occurring unexpectedly out of the blue. He sincerely hope that the incident was a one-off situation and was less likely to happen again. However he was uncertain of the future if such events occurred far more regularly. The experiment was expected to be kept secret; he could not afford to allow any vestige of the truth to come to the attention of politicians or the public. However his views were shattered later that day when one of his subordinates contacted him to tell him about the video taken at Regimental Headquarters which showed Colonel Masterson at his most evil, striking soldiers at will during the passing-out ceremony. It appeared that the cat was out of the bag unless he could find a means of putting a lid on it. He knew that he had to keep his head below the parapet for as long as possible. The investigation into the Colonel’s actions would almost certainly fade into obscurity as an old man losing his mind. There would certainly be some discussion withy the medical examiner with regard to the state of his youthful body but it was likely to be dismissed as any report of that nature would be considered too absurd as far as the medical profession was concerned. As a result of its strange nature, it would be allowed to vanish by default.

  Jordan’s main problem was Tom Burton, the recipient of Colonel Masterson’s mind. How would the prisoner cope with such a dramatic change of thought? The strain on his brain, as on his body, might possibly be too much for him to bear. For the scientists, the new situation was like manna from Heaven for they would be absorbed with interest in the new development. For the government agent it was a message from Hell because he had no idea what the future would bring but he recognised only too well that he was the person who would have to face it!

  ***

  At that particular moment, there was a classic example of a Mexica
n stand-off in operation at Blackstock jail. The prisoners were out of their cells, uncontrolled, while three guards were being held hostage. On the adverse side, the inmates were still incarcerated, without food or water, while the Governor sat in his office hoping for inspiration to resolve his dilemma. All the prisoners had previously been handcuffed and chained by the ankles; now they were free albeit they were unable to make good use of their freedom by escaping from the jail. The Governor was extremely concerned with regard to the welfare of his warders who were being held hostage. However when push came to shove, if the prisoners decided to kill them, they were expendable. He sat in his comfortable executive chair contemplating the situation carefully having already informed the appropriate authorities of the riot. There is an adage that bad news travels fast and it was proved to be correct for television cameras were swiftly being set up outside the front of the prison which was considered to be highly newsworthy, while newspaper reporters swarmed outside the entrance with their photographers. They all waited patiently for something to occur, such as gunshots or a fire, or for prisoners to appear on the roof, but their wait was in vain.

  The inmates crowded the main area of the prison where only stout iron bars prevented them from flooding into the warder’s offices and reaching the main exit. They stood angrily at the iron bars shouting abuse until Burton made his way into the front and held up his hands for silence.

  ‘I’m going to ask for a meeting with the Governor,’ he announced. ‘We need to sort out our position.’

  ‘Watcha gonna ask ‘im?’ demanded an old lag with an element of suspicion. He was uncertain whether the new-found leader would have enough clout to help any of them. To his mind, it was more likely that he would forge an advantage for himself and abandon the rest of them.