“And there is no need for you to be sarcastic,” Andrews answered back as he sat down in the chair vacated by Dennis. The two men sat silently for a couple of minutes. Then Dennis spoke up.
“By the way, Andrews, it was Paul who voted against you.”
“I don’t believe that. How would you know anyway?”
“He told me.”
“Why would he vote against me? And why would he tell you?”
“Apparently he is convinced that you are our spy.” Dennis watched as Dave’s face revealed his astonishment. “As much as I would desire that to be true, I must be honest. I do not believe that you are a traitor.”
“I thank you for that,” responded Dave. “But what have I done to cause Paul to think I am the informant?”
“Maybe it’s your poor leadership, indecisiveness, and lack of action.”
“Ouch,” remarked Andrews. “Is that Paul’s thoughts or yours?”
“Mine, I guess,” admitted Dennis. The Conference Room door banged open. Dr. Loring and Nurse Rugan entered followed shortly by Jackson Greene and Diane Pearson.
The committee discussed various strategies for the next possible move. Most involved sending teams down to the planet’s surface, this time heavily armed. Andrews did not like any of the ideas that were presented. He still felt he needed to protect the crew especially after the diving debacle. But he was also under pressure. He had received a call from Admiral Wilcox informing him that the Gladiator’s seventy-two hours were up. A search and rescue team had been dispatched and would be arriving within the next thirty-six hours. Dave’s orders were to relinquish command to this team of naval officers. Not only would he have to endure the embarrassment of losing control of the ship, but he would need to divulge the fact that he had not informed United Galaxy Command of the true status of their predicament.
“Dave, I really think my idea would be the way to proceed,” Dr. Loring was saying. “We should send a small team down to the exact location where Josh and Shasta were last seen. There has to be an entrance in that vicinity.”
“I suppose you are correct,” answered Dave, clearly succumbing to the immense pressure he was feeling. “If the committee is in agreement then I suggest we proceed with that plan first thing in the morning.”
“Great,” said Paul. “I propose that the landing party consist of Andrews and myself along with four combat trained crew members.”
Dave indicated his assent. He ordered Dennis Pearson to have the James K ready for take off at 0600 hours. Then he dismissed the committee.
The faint roar of wild cats could be heard up ahead as Josh and Keith approached the Zoo. The sign posted at the intersection read
Unless there was a back door to the Zoo, they had come to a dead end. The tunnel they had been traveling down ended abruptly, and they had climbed over another short wooden fence that landed them at the entrance to the Zoo. The gigantic silver doors of the Zoo were propped open. The lights inside were turned down. Josh and Keith walked through the doors. Roaming through the many pathways they came upon cages filled with a variety of jungle animals. Most of the critters were asleep, but some woke up as the officers passed by. There were chimpanzees asleep under rope swings and bears sticking out from shallow caves. One cage contained six tall giraffes asleep standing up. Another cage housed the wild cats that the officers had heard roaring. Two tigers and a large male lion were up and pacing back and forth. They roared loudly when they spied Josh and Keith. Over against a wall was an aquarium containing turtles and frogs. Standing directly in front of the fish tank was a large penned in area with several artificial trees. There were many species of birds nesting in the trees. Josh recognized a macaw and a hawk. There were a couple of owls hooting softly.
Suddenly voices could be heard coming in the front door. Josh and Keith quickly dashed between the bird cage and the aquarium. They squatted down low. Two Brisulan workmen were wheeling in a large animal cage.
“Hey, Gus. I wonder what has the cats stirred up,” said one of the workmen.
“Who cares?” answered Gus. “Let’s get this over with. I can’t believe that Colonel Flax got us out of bed in the middle of the night to cage up some monkeys.”
“Yeah. Well, I guess they got a rush order. These chimps need to be ready to ship out first thing in the morning,” responded the first worker. “If we hurry we can get them loaded and down to the Lake in a jiffy. Then we can still catch a few more winks before morning.”
Gus pushed the wheeled kennel over to the chimpanzee cage and unlocked the small door. His fellow workman crawled into the cage and using a net he was able to drag a monkey out of the cage. Together they lifted the chimp into the kennel. They repeated the procedure capturing a second monkey. After securing the locks they pushed the wheeled cage out the propped open doors into the corridor. Gus came back and closed the doors. Josh and Keith heard a key turn. The officers were locked in the Zoo.
“Well, it looks like this is going to be home for tonight,” remarked Josh standing up and loosening his legs. “Let’s find a corner to camp out in.” They circled around until they came upon an area with some benches. There were some bins alongside the benches that were labeled “Animal Food.” A clear glass jar with a slot in the top stood on a small table. It was filled with coins.
“I bet visitors to the Zoo can buy food to feed the animals,” observed Keith. He began looking in the bins. He reached into one bin and pulled out a bunch of bananas. “There’s a lot of fish in some of the barrels,” he reported.
“Ugh, no more fish. The bananas look scrumptious,” said Josh. “But should we be stealing food from these poor creatures?”
“Um, well, sir. I was thinking. Perhaps we can take the bananas in exchange for more fish.”
“Uh?”
“I think the fish we’ve been carrying in our bags is getting smelly. We could dump them into these bins and instead fill our sacks with bananas.”
Josh chuckled. “Brilliant idea.” They removed the stinky fish from their bags and stuffed as many bananas as they could fit in the canvas sacks. Keith noticed a bucket of water standing against the back of one of the benches. He spread out the white gowns that the fish had been wrapped in and poured some water over them. He then rubbed the gowns thoroughly, removing as much of the fish smell as possible. Josh watched as Keith then hung the gowns over one of the benches.
Keith noticed the Captain looking at him. He blushed as he said. “I think we should take the gowns with us just in case we— Well you never know.”
Josh chuckled again. “Let’s eat,” he said. After devouring several bananas and cupping their hands in order to drink the water from the bucket, the officers stretched out on the benches.
“Looks like we’ve been headed in the wrong direction,” announced Josh. “You said that the Lake is in the northeast.”
“Yes, sir. However from what I could gather from the guards, it is an underground lake.”
“Well, it sounds like there’s a way out by the Lake,” said Josh. “We will need to change course and head northeast. Of course we will first need to figure out how to get out of this Zoo.” He stared up at the ceiling as he wondered if they were going to be able to sneak out undetected in the morning.
Keith interrupted his thoughts. “Sir, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“Did you call Beverly’s parents?”
Now it was Josh’s turn to blush. “I am embarrassed to admit that I did not call them,” Josh told Keith. “I felt that I did not really know Beverly very well, and I didn’t know what I could say about her to her parents. Instead I contacted her Space Academy Advisor and asked her to contact the family. Professor Sawyer told me that she spoke to Beverly’s mother and father who live in Boise, Idaho. Like your parents they were quite devastated.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Keith. “I think you did the right thing. I am sure that her advisor was able to add some personal touches to the bad new
s.”
“Let’s get some rest,” said Josh. He looked back up at the ceiling and began thinking of his own family. He grew up on the banks of Lake Erie in the small city of Sandusky. In the summer the city was swollen with tourists who flocked to the amusement parks. Sandusky boasted one of the largest collection of roller coasters in the world. His childhood home was within walking distance to the lake shore. For Josh there was nothing more exciting than watching all the traffic going back and forth across the lake. During the summer when his dad had a weekend off from his job as a firefighter, he would take Josh and his sister Allison sailing. After several hours out on the lake they would join his mother and grandparents at the lakeside picnic area. His grandfather would fire up the grill and cook hot dogs and hamburgers. After high school graduation Josh moved to Columbus to attend Ohio State University. This was a culture shock. Columbus was a huge metropolitan area. Josh found that he missed Lake Erie. He discovered the nearby Buckeye Lake. It was his escape. On weekends he could spend hours sitting along the shore watching the boats. He’d go for early morning swims before classes started and return late in the afternoon with his textbooks. Yes, lakes had been a significant part of his upbringing. And now it looked like the lake was again going to be an important factor in his life. Josh closed his eyes and dozed off.
It was strangely quiet aboard the Gladiator. Usually even in the middle of the early morning hours there was activity going on. But tonight everyone seemed to be holed up in their cabins awaiting the launching of the James K in the morning. But Diane Pearson was wide awake and sitting at her station aboard the Bridge. Over the past several months, in her spare time she had been tinkering with learning how to hack into the computer’s main storage files. Unbeknownst to anyone she had been scouring through computer magazines, technical guides, and Internet sites. She also had been closely watching Dave Andrews and picked up a lot of tricks that he used. It was a task she had undertaken as a way to keep her skills sharp and herself challenged. Diane had never intended to actually use her knowledge to snoop in her fellow crew members’ personal files, but under the present circumstances she felt justified in breaking into the crew’s outgoing and incoming computer transmissions.
Diane’s fingers flew across her keyboard, and her eyes quickly scanned dozens of computer messages that were sent and received in the last twenty four hours. One particular outgoing transmission caught her attention.
“Let’s rendezvous at 0700 hours at BE. DP”
I wonder what this message could possibly mean, Diane thought. DP. I didn’t send it, and I am sure Dennis didn’t. Is it another fake message sent to implicate Dennis or myself? Well, I will print it out and show it to Denny in the morning.
She hit the print button and continued searching through the rest of the messages. She came across another fragmented message sent by DP. This message was sent only a few minutes ago. It said:
“New info on DA. Camo. Briefs are… DP”
Diane printed out the partial message and resumed her search. There was a communiqué sent to Admiral Wilcox informing him that they would be traveling to the planet’s surface at 0600. It was signed Commander David Patrick Andrews.
DP. I never thought about Dave’s middle name. Could he be the DP? She hit the print button again.
Keith Hampton was restless. He got up from the bench and rubbed his limbs. He had bent his legs at the knees in order to fit onto the short bench. Now his calf muscles were cramped. Keith decided to try to walk off the pain in his legs. He tiptoed past a large penned in area where several elephants stood with their trunks gently swaying. A couple of ostriches quickly buried their heads in some sand when Keith walked by. And the hippos ran into a shallow pond when they spied Keith. Over in one corner Keith came across a gated area with a large padlock. The sign tacked onto the top of the gate read
After a while Keith found himself standing at the front gate of the Zoo. On an impulse he reached out, grabbed the handle and twisted it. The gate sprung open. It was only locked from the outside. How dumb that they had not thought to try the gate. He sprinted back to the bench where Josh was lightly snoring.
Tapping Josh on the shoulder, he was able to awaken him. The Captain’s eyes fluttered open.
“Is something wrong?” he asked scrambling to his feet.
“I am sorry to wake you sir,” said Keith “But I just discovered that we can open the front gate. I wonder if we should make our way out of here before the guards return. I think it is almost morning.”
Josh agreed, and they gathered up their bags. Keith rolled up the medical gowns which were just about dry and stuffed them into his sack on top of the bananas.
Just as Josh was about to reach out for the handle of the front gate, he heard Keith yell out to him.
“Captain, do not move. Stand perfectly still.” Then he heard a loud hissing sound. Trying not to move a muscle, Josh lowered his eyes and saw a humongous brown snake circling around his legs.
“Stay still, sir,” whispered Keith. Josh was still staring at the snake when he saw something white and red whiz by and land a few feet to the left of the snake’s head. Instantly the snake’s attention turned to the object that was now on the floor. The snake slithered to the left.
“Run!” yelled Keith. The Captain jerked open the door, and he and Keith dashed out into the corridor. The tunnel only led in one direction, south. The two officers jogged quickly down the road. After a bit the tunnel turned sharply to the east. The entrance to the Graveyard loomed in front of them. They stopped to catch their breath.
“What did you throw at the snake?” asked Josh.
“The bloody gauze pad that I had used to wipe the blood off your forehead,” answered Keith, “I had stuffed it in my bag as I didn’t want to leave a trail. I thought the scent of blood might distract the snake.”
“Well, it looks like you guessed right. Thanks. That was a close call.” Josh patted Keith on the back. “Let’s forge ahead.”
Josh and Keith walked along the hallway for quite a while before seeing a sign at an approaching intersection.
Josh stared at the sign. “So now where do we go?” he said thinking out loud. He looked over at Keith who was leaning against the wall. “We’ve been to all of those locations, and I do not recall seeing any signs that mentioned the Lake. We obviously do not want to go back the way we just came. It looks like the only choice is to go south but that will do us no good. We need to go north. Should we—” Josh suddenly quit talking.
There were sounds of doors opening and people talking coming from a short distance away. Captain Stoner reached up to his face and tapped out a message to Keith. “I hv idea.” Josh then motioned for Keith to follow him. They went south toward the sounds. The Brisulans were leaving their apartments ready to start their day. As Josh and Keith approached the intersection, they could see children carrying books. Men and woman dressed in their brightly colored clothes were scurrying along most likely on their way to work. Josh and Keith stood flat against the wall of the north corridor. All the traffic was headed south. They waited until the south corridor was quiet again. Then they crept slowly to the intersection and headed west. They took a right at the first corridor. Walking very carefully down the tunnel, they read each of the green numbers nailed on the silver apartment doors. When they got to 642, Josh put his ear to the door. It sounded quiet inside. He made a fist and banged on the door.
The slaves in Cage C were all chained together. The head guard ordered the cage doors to be opened, and the slaves marched out. There were six guards monitoring the line of slaves, two guards in the front of the line, two at the rear, and two who walked back and forth along the middle section. The procession proceeded north down the earthen tunnel. They passed a corridor going west then turned to the left at the next intersection. According to the sign hanging on ropes above the wide open expanse they had arrived at the Gravel Pits C-1 — C-6.
The slaves filed into the pits, and each was handed a metal shovel with a
long wooden handle. One of the guards blew into a tin whistle that hung around his neck. The shrill sound meant that the slaves were to begin digging. Normally the sound of the shovels striking the rocky gravel filled the air. On this morning there was silence. The guards looked dumbfounded as they viewed the slaves all standing perfectly still with their hands resting on their upright shovels. The guard with the whistle began blowing on it repeatedly, but the slaves did not move.
“Get shoveling now!” shouted another guard, but still there was no movement. Two other guards reached for the whips and cattle prods that were hanging on a wall above the guards’ station house.
There was now some movement. Wayne Shasta and Joban raised their shovels over their heads. Wayne brought his metal shovel down hard on the skull of one of the guards who was stationed at the end of the line. Watching Wayne’s actions, Beverly lifted her shovel as high as she could and dropped it down on the head of the other guard. Both guards screamed as they fell to the ground.
Up at the front of the line, Joban had clobbered the guard with the whistle. Fabiana was using all the strength she could muster to knock out the guard who had been yelling for the slaves to get to work. Another slave stepped forward and hit that guard across the back with his shovel.
Wayne looked ahead and saw that several slaves were now attacking the two guards who were getting the whips and prods. “Get the keys from the guards,” yelled Wayne. “We need to unlock the leg irons.” He and Beverly searched the unconscious rear guards and found key rings attached to each of the guards’ leather belts. Wayne unlocked his own leg chains and hurriedly placed them on the two guards. He quickly helped Beverly unlock her chains. After locking those chains on the guards, he passed the key rings down the line, and the slaves began one by one to free themselves.
Captivity Page 21
