by Merita King
I was smiling as I made my way back to the canteen and hopped up onto a chair. “Guys? Hey guys,” I yelled and the hubbub quietened. “For those newcomers, welcome. I’m Sam Sinclair and I’m a Freelance Law Enforcer, Tag code Sinclair 27593-4/167AZP. I have three prisoners under restraint down in cell wing four, so I’m afraid the cells are out of bounds to everyone without my express permission. During the daytime, one of them will be joining us up here. He’s no danger to anyone and is innocent of the crimes he is wanted for but I have to follow the proper procedure and keep him in restraints until I can hand him over to the proper authorities. That doesn’t mean he deserves to be treated like an animal okay? He’s been through it here with us since we got here and a lot of it while everyone thought him to be a murderer. I don’t want to find out he’s being bullied while my back is turned. The next thing is that now we know the island is free of creatures, we can continue the clean up tomorrow and should be able to let you all out to get some sunshine by the afternoon. If you do go outside, please be aware that you may see or encounter three large hairy humanoid creatures. They are harmless and friendly and saved our lives a couple of days ago on more than one occasion and if I get even a sniff of anyone being cruel to them, I will go right off top okay?”
“He’s only saying that cos he delivered their baby, ain’t you papa?” Luggs squeaked and everyone laughed.
I blushed and couldn’t help laughing with them. “Okay, okay yeah I helped deliver their newborn and I feel kinda, responsible. Now that we know the island is safe, I vote we all sleep in the Accommodation sector from now on; sleeping on the floor here is getting seriously old. Is everyone okay with that?”
The following morning we cleared the cell wings of the dead, then moved around the island methodically and had the job done by mid afternoon. Everyone was glad to be able to get out into the sun and I escorted Nembier as he took a walk around the island. We could relax for the first time in what seemed like months and some real friendships were made during that experience, many of which I know will remain solid despite the vast distances between them and a few of them, my own. There were a couple of the guys I wanted to keep in touch with and I had already exchanged Unicom numbers with Dex, Luggs and Baz and I knew that we’d all keep in touch and maybe even meet up from time to time. The emergency team finally arrived on the third day after the clean up finished and the day after that, the Law Enforcement Agency arrived to take official control of the prison and I was finally able to hand my prisoners over. Relief flooded through me as I gave them the evidence bags and the data from my mobile blood sampler and data recorder and told them everything Kitt and Nembier had told me and officially signed them over into the care of Floxham’s new Governor, who assured me that this new information would most likely ensure Nembier’s release. As the shuttle returned for the last of the Sally B’s passengers and crew, I went to speak with Nembier for the last time.
“Hey buddy,” I smiled and shook the hand he offered me. “You did good Professor. You did good.”
“Thank you Sam and thank you for believing in me.”
“Just doing my job,” I smiled. “I’m sorry again for losing it with you that first day. I’ve told the Governor all about it, so don’t feel it’s been brushed under the carpet and if you wish to file a complaint, I want you to know I won’t fight it and will happily compensate you okay?”
“You’re a good man Sam,” he smiled. “Your belief in me in compensation enough. Money I can acquire easily but the belief and trust of another man is a rare treasure and one I wouldn’t wish to exchange for money.”
“You take care of yourself Professor?”
“Be safe Sam. Be safe in all that you do.”
Well, that’s where the tale of Floxham Island ends really. We returned to the Sally B and I got some much needed R and R, which the leggy blonde was more than happy to help me with by the way and I was able to enjoy the liner and its delights for four days before my next job came in. Oh, one thing before I sign off. The governor assured me that the three hairy guys, Omega, Adam and Eve and the newborn Floxy would be taken care of and that they and their kind had been welcome members of the Floxham family since the prison was first built. Their scientists study them and learn about them and their medical team take care of their needs. He told me that they’d been trying to encourage them to breed for ages without success and were delighted that they now had a healthy newborn. He also told me he would make sure she was always named Floxy.
Thanks for listening folks; I hope you found my Floxham adventure interesting. Be sure to catch my other video logs huh? This is Sam Sinclair, Tag Code Sinclair 27593-4/167AZP signing off. V-log reference AZ267/M complete.
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OTHER WORKS BY MERITA KING
The Lilean Chronicles: Book One ~ Redemption
The Lilean Chronicles: Book Two ~ The Sleeping
The Lilean Chronicles: Book Three ~ Changing Faces
The Lilean Chronicles: Book Four ~ Avalanche Effect
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Merita King has loved the science fiction and fantasy genre in both books and movies since she was a young child. She has been greatly inspired by years of watching movies and reading books and has wanted to make a contribution to this genre for many years. Her stories all contain a strong spiritual thread as she believes that spirituality is universal and crosses all boundaries. She believes that the creative process is largely intuitive and can be very effectively blocked by too much pre-planning. “Plot lines, characters and events all come to me intuitively,” she says, “and this makes the act of writing a constant pleasure.” She is a psychic medium and lives alone in Hampshire, UK.
