by M J Dees
“Sorry, only joking,” Sevan thought for a moment he had made a joke too far on this occasion.
“No, what did you say?”
“I was just asking if it’s turned on.”
“That’s it!”
“What? It’s not turned on?”
“When the power is cut, there is a safety mechanism which cuts off the circuit to prevent the injury of the crew. It isolates the power and has to be reset. Sevan you’re a genius.”
“I am? I mean, yes, I am.”
Tori ignored him.
“Ron, can you reset the power isolator?”
“Power isolator reset.”
“Right, let’s try again,” Tori turned to the control panel once more.
Sevan felt a shudder as the engine sprang into life.
“Maximum thrust, please, Ron.”
“Yes, Tori, power already set to maximum thrust.”
Sevan stared out of the observation window but instead of the second portal getting closer it was still going away and they were moving away from it quicker than ever.
“Ron, what's happening?” Tori demanded.
“We are at maximum thrust but it takes time to reach maximum velocity. At the moment the gravitational pull is still greater than our velocity.”
“How long will it take to reach maximum velocity?”
“I can tell you we are 60 percent through the time we had to reach maximum velocity.”
“That does not help, Ron. How long is it going to take?”
“I’m doing the calculations now.”
“Now he needs time to do the calculations,” Sevan complained.
“62 percent to event horizon.”
“Ron! That is not the calculation we asked you to do.”
“63 percent to event horizon.”
“Can you turn him off?”
Tori removed his communicator from the console.
“You may as well send that message to the president now,” Tori suggested. “We’ve got nothing better to do while we are waiting to die.”
“Oh great,” said Sevan, pulling out his communicator. “President Man? Sevan here, though you know that, don’t you? They have arrested Ay-ttho in Daphnis and we were going there to help her but I think we are being sucked into a black hole and will probably die. Please, would you go to Daphnis and help her, or send someone to Daphnis or communicate with Daphnis because I imagine you’re very busy? Thank you.”
“Nicely done. What about asking him to send someone of save us?”
“Oh yeah. And, sir? Could you send someone to stop us from falling into this black hole? We are somewhere between Tomorrow and Daphnis.”
“We are somewhere between Tomorrow and Daphnis?”
“You do it then.”
“I think I will.”
Sevan switched his communicator back on.
“70 percent to event horizon.”
“Ron!”
“Wait,” said Sevan, staring through the observation window. “We’re not going backwards anymore.”
“What?”
“Look.”
Tori looked.
“You’re right. Ron, it’s working.”
They watched as the second portal filled more and more of the observation window.
“We did it Ron, we will be okay.”
“75 percent to event horizon.”
“Oh shut up.”
“Only joking,” said Ron.
“Ha, ha.”
“No, I was only joking. We were nowhere near the event horizon. There’s no way this little fighter would escape the gravitational pull of a black hole.”
“What?” Sevan was aghast. “What for the love of the Giant Cup would you do that for?”
“I thought it might make an otherwise dull journey more exciting.”
“More exciting? What’s more exciting that being hit by a Corporation missile?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”
“You forgot about the missile? How do you think we got that hole in the hull and lost power?”
“I wondered how that happened.”
“We’re approaching the portal,” said Tori. “Ron, we’ll be with you soon.”
“Be careful there’s...”
“Ron? Ron? He’s gone.”
“I wonder what we’re meant to be careful of.” Sevan wondered.
“I don’t know. We’ll pick up his signal the other side.”
When they emerged through the other side of the portal, they discovered they were almost completely surrounded by a dozen Corporation fighters.
“...a lot of Corporation fighters around.” Ron’s signal returned.
“Yes, we know what you mean,” said Tori.
“Disable your weapons system,” an order crackled out of the control panel.
Tori nodded to Sevan who shut down the system.
“Weapons system disabled.” Tori confirmed.
“Follow us,” the voice crackled.
It was only then that Tori and Sevan realised that behind the fighters a Corporation frigate was waiting, large and menacing. The fighters escorted them to the hangar bay and saw that they docked without attempting to escape. As they entered the hangar, they saw the Mastery of the Stars. Sevan thought they must have captured the ship and wondered whether their communication with Ron had revealed their location to their captors.
Having docked, it was safe for them both to remove their suits and they had only just finished doing so when the safety door was opened from the outside, revealing a platoon of guards pointing their weapons and looking as if they would not be happy about any funny business at that moment.
The guards led Sevan and Tori off the fighter, out of the hangar and through a series of corridors towards the detention centre. Sevan wondered whether they might lead them to Ay-ttho. Sevan wondered why he always allowed his friends to lead him on these fushy marbled schemes. It was a while since he had eaten or drunk anything and Sevan thought he could have done with a large cup of pish.
They threw Tori and Sevan into separate cells in the detention centre and the doors were closed, plunging them into darkness. Sevan contemplated how he got there, whether he would get out of this latest dilemma or whether he had reached the end of the road.
He was ruminating his fate for a long time, expecting the door to open at any moment so they could lead him to his execution. What would he do? Beg for mercy? Try to steal a weapon and die like a hero in a hail of blaster fire?
He wished he could do that thing Ay-ttho did when she was woken too early but he knew there was no-one to grant his wishes, not even the Giant Cup. Hungry and thirsty, he tried to get to sleep, and he was almost successful when something brought him back to full consciousness.
CHAPTER 6: THROUGH DARKNESS AND DESPAIR
When he was awake, Sevan thought he must have imagined a noise because everything was silent, everything was dark.
He wished the Giant Cup had been real. He wished he could call on it now to come and save him. That he knew it was not real and that they also imprisoned the only friends who could save him, filled him with despair.
Thoughts about what his captors might do with him did nothing to lift his mood. Sevan began to lose track of time and had no idea how long he had been in the cell. He tried to get back to sleep but his marbles were buzzing with a hundred questions he had no hope of answering while he was in his current predicament.
Sevan heard the sound again. It was too distant for him to identify for certain but he thought it might have been a scream. He listened to see whether, whatever it was, would repeat the sound again but after a while gave up. Whatever the sound was, it wasn’t pleasant.
He felt disoriented and felt around the cell for the door then tried to imagine the corridor and and where the cell they had incarcerated Tori was. Sevan remembered it was on the other side of the corridor and thought any attempt at communication would be futile. He tried to imagine where the scream might have come from but it was too
faint and he too disoriented to know.
Then he heard it again. It was a scream. Of that he was certain. The direction it had come from or the identity of the owner he could not guess.
He slumped back onto the floor and began to resign himself to whatever fate might be about to befall him. Life had been so mundane and so predictable for so long until they had chosen him in the representative lottery to join the council and then Ron and Ay-ttho had dragged him away on an adventure he had not wanted and his life had never been the same since, he was not the same.
Sevan ruminated on this thought. He was not the same Sevan, he was different. The old Sevan would have sat and felt sorry for himself, just like he was doing now, but the new Sevan was not like that, the new Sevan would think of a plan, would get himself and his friends out of any tight spot in which they found themselves.
Sevan found the door and started to scream as if he was in pain. He continued to do this for a while before deciding the guards didn’t care whether he was ill or bit, so he began to formulate a different plan.
He felt his way around the door, searching for anything he could get hold of but the surface was smooth. For all he knew the cell might also be soundproof. There was nothing for it, he would have to sit and wait until someone opened the door before his opportunity to escape would present itself.
He hoped that someone would come and open the door and that they hadn’t left him there to starve and rot away. These thoughts brought back his feelings of hunger and thirst and the idea that his fate might be to starve to death now started to take hold and the despair began to worm its way back into his marbles.
He slumped in a corner, trying to think of nothing because any thought he had would spiral into nightmarish fantasies of what might become of him. Sevan could not devise any plan for how he might get himself and his friends out of their predicament. Then the scream returned.
The sound was just as distant this time and differed from before, as if the source of the scream was a different individual. Sevan tried to listen but all he heard was silence. It wasn’t until he had given up listening that the sound came again. A scream, he was certain of it.
Could it be that their captors were performing unimaginable tortures on Ay-ttho and Tori and that he would be next? Sevan resolved that they would not do the same to him, that he would escape before they had a chance.
But then he imagined that Ay-ttho and Tori would have entertained similar thoughts. How could he expect to succeed where they had failed?
There had been no more screams. Was that because the torture was over or because the victim was dead? Sevan tried not to think about it but he could not help himself. Maybe his friends had already met their demise. It would be his turn next. He sat and waited for his end to come; for his torturers to collect him.
The wait was longer than he had imagined and at one point he contemplated that his captors might have forgotten about him and then the door opened and the light from the corridor temporarily blinded him.
He was aware of two figures pulling him to his feet and dragging him into the corridor.
“Who is in charge? I demand to see your boss,” Sevan tried to shout but his voice emerged as weak and pathetic.
“He’s delirious,” one figure said.
“Bring him in here,” said the other.
They dragged Sevan into a room and placed him on what felt like a bed. When he tried to sit, they pushed him back down.
“We must restrain him,” one of them said.
Sevan felt himself being strapped to the bed and, although he tried to offer resistance he was too weak to have any effect.
“He’s dehydrated,” said one.
“I’ll get some liquids into him,” said the other.
Sevan’s vision was still blurred, but he imagined himself to be in a medical unit. Perhaps that was it; they would perform medical experiments on him. That’s why he had heard the screams earlier; they were the screams of his friends suffering torturous experiments.
He tried to free his limbs from their bindings but they held him fast. One of his captors was leaning over him, about to insert something into his arm. Sevan winced with pain as, whatever it was, pierced his skin. He wondered what evil toxin they were about to fill him with.
“Let’s give it time to work,” one of them said.
Sevan heard the two of them leave. He was alone in the room. As his vision returned, he saw that it was a medical room. A tube connected to his arm was delivering liquid. He pulled at his bindings again but they were tight.
He felt exhausted but fought the urge to sleep. Was it something to do with the liquid entering him through the tube? If he fell asleep would he ever wake? He struggled to keep his eyes open, but he knew that he was losing the battle.
*
Sevan woke up and for a moment did not understand where he was. He opened his eyes, but all was dark. Then he remembered the cell, his captors and the journey to rescue Ay-ttho.
He thought about the medical room and wondered whether it had all been a dream. Checking his arm, he felt nothing and didn't feel hungry or thirsty anymore. Maybe all he needed was a good rest.
Sevan got up and felt his way along the wall to the door. He pushed it and it moved. He opened it and had to shield his eyes against the harsh light of the corridor. Leaving the cell behind, he stepped out into the corridor. He had a strange sensation of being watched. He thought he saw a figure at the end of the corridor beckon to him although his eyes had not yet adjusted to the light.
Having no other plan, Sevan followed the figure and headed up the corridor towards the place he had seen the apparition. At the end of the passageway, the corridor turned 90 degrees to the left and as Sevan turned the corner he thought this stretch of passageway looked almost identical to the one he had just left. He caught the briefest glimpse of the figure disappearing around the next corner and he quickened his pace so as not to lose it.
The next stretch of corridor was, again, identical to the previous two and there was no sign of the figure. Sevan assumed that it had already rounded the next corner and quickened his pace once more until he noticed that, halfway along this stretch of corridor, one of the cell doors was ajar.
Sevan paused and, peering inside, saw, huddled in one corner, the crumpled figure of Ay-ttho.
He rushed in and tried to rouse her to lead her from her cell but, as he did, the door swung closed behind him, imprisoning him in the darkness with his friend.
Sevan sat down beside her and called her name until she became aware of his presence.
"Ay-ttho, are you okay? What happened?"
"Sevan?"
Her speech was slurred and Sevan imagined they had sedated her. He wondered who had led him to her cell and why they had imprisoned them here together.
He resolved to wait until the next time they opened the door and then attempt to overpower his captor.
While he waited, he attempted to engage Ay-ttho in conversation but whatever drugs they had given her seemed to keep her in a delirious state somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness where conversation was impossible but so was sleep.
Sevan gave up in his attempts to get any sense out of Ay-ttho and decided instead to wait by the door until it opened. The darkness had a soporific effect, and it was all that Sevan could do to stay awake.
His patience was rewarded when he sensed the door unlock. As soon as they opened it enough, Sevan reached out, grabbed his captor and pulled them into the room. To Sevan's surprise, the guard offered no resistance and the struggle Sevan had expected did not materialise.
In the light which streamed through the open door, Sevan could see that his captor was not a guard at all but appeared to be one of the medics Sevan had seen in what he thought might have been a dream.
"Who are you?" Sevan asked the medic who was still lying crumpled on the floor of the cell.
"It is not important who I am," the medic replied.
Sevan had a strange feeling that he
recognised the voice from somewhere.
"It is important. Why did you lead me to this cell and why did you lock us in here together?"
"I thought you might have wanted to speak with her?"
"I did but look at her; she's in no state to have a conversation with anyone."
"Yes, that is the medication; she can still hear you even if she cannot reply."
"Why have you drugged her?"
"She may not sleep. They want to avoid the destruction she would cause if she were accidentally awoken."
"Who are they?"
"The Corporation."
"Why are you so keen to help us and why are there no guards?"
"The Corporation trusts us. They don't feel the need to station any guards here because we keep the subjects sedated."
"Subjects?"
"Prisoners, if you prefer."
"That still doesn't explain why you are helping us. What is so special about us?"
The medic looked at Sevan and then at Ay-ttho.
"She's my sister." he said.
CHAPTER 7: THE SECRET MEETING
"What?" Sevan found it difficult to believe what the medic was telling him and yet the medic looked and sounded like Ay-ttho, the same reddish purple skin. "So what is your plan?"
"I know where your friend is."
"Tori?"
"Yes, I can lead you both to him and then we can plan how we will get out of here."
"We?"
"Yes. I am only leading you to your friend on the condition that you take me with you."
"Why?"
"You do not understand the things he makes me do here. I've never had a means of escape before. If I don't leave with you, I may not get another opportunity."
"Who's he?"
"Barnes."
"Barnes is here?"
"Yes, he must not know we are trying to escape or the consequences would be unthinkable. Come on, let us go."
"What about Ay-ttho," Sevan asked as he tried to get her to her feet.
"She will be okay once the effects of the medication wear off. As long as she does not fall asleep."
"And if she does?"
"Then we hope that no-one wakes her."
Ay-ttho's brother helped Sevan to support her as she half stumbled and was half dragged along the corridor to another cell in which they found Tori slumped in the corner, also medicated.
