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Energia Tower
Chapter 2: Must Get Out

Chapter 2: Must Get Out

After Gil changed into his new white prison uniform, he was escorted to his new spacious cell by Charles, Barney, and several other guards. The prisoners who managed to get a glimpse of Gil eyed him in fear, their expressions filled with trepidation and unease. Charles hastily left the cell after accomplishing his tasks, his face glistening with fearful sweat. Barney however, briefly stayed behind.

"Does it feel good to finally have those cuffs off?" smirked Barney.

"Feels amazing! My wrists will probably be bruised for weeks though," sighed Gil, as he rubbed his sore wrists with a wince.

"Understandable," laughed Barney.

The plain white color of the tile and the gray metal walls certainly did not contrast well together, creating a stark and impersonal atmosphere. The cell, however, was surprisingly sizable, providing an eerie sense of relief amidst the gloom.

"Do I really have a hundred thousand points? That would take more than two hundred years to earn! Can I really get out of here?" asked Gil.

"Don't worry about points for now, just do tasks now so that you don't end up getting executed. I'm going to get together a team to prove your innocence, we'll do our best to get you out of here. I'm confident we'll succeed, we'll just need a lot of time," explained Barney. He then walked away from the door of the cell. "Take care Gil."

"Barney wait!" Gil said.

"What is it?" Barney asked as he turned his head.

"Well... You're the only one who believes I'm innocent. Even if you aren't able to get me out, I'm grateful! Thanks a ton!" said Gil.

"Don't mention it," said Barney. "...I just happen to have knowledge about things I shouldn't." He walked away like a ghost planning it's next haunting.

What knowledge could that be? Gil thought. Perhaps it wasn't that important.

He turned his head once more to eye his white cell. Perhaps it looked more luxurious than he expected due to AquaLux's humongous revenue. Arthur Lux was a trillionaire, so perhaps he purposely kept his prison towers in tip top shape. He seemed very passionate about the productivity coming out of the towers so that was a huge possibility. The tycoon owned many prison towers throughout AquaLux's owned regions, Energia Tower was just one of several.

His jaw dropped when he saw a door for a bathroom. Judging by the size of the door, it wasn't that large, but it was surreal to have your own personal bathroom in a prison. Just what was the catch?

He then noticed a large bed with white sheets to the right corner of the room, he titled his head to another bed and realized a blonde young man was lying in it with his face buried in the pillow.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were there!" Gil said excitingly. "I'm Gil. And you are?"

"I know who you are," the man said quietly and fiercely.

"I guess that's not surprising, everyone in the other cells were looking at me," chuckled Gil.

"So what is there to do around here?" Gil asked as he slowly walked around the cell in awe. To think that he could be there forever was sort of haunting.

"I'm not here to be your friend," the man said as he moved the pillow away from his face and sat on the bed. "I will tell you this though... During dinner tonight, or whenever you're out in public, I'm going to kick your ass. If it's not me someone else will do it. I'll make sure I'm the first one to bash your teeth in though."

Gil was taken aback. The young man on the bed appeared to be a few inches taller than him and he probably could beat him up if it didn't happen. Perhaps it would be socially appropriate to pretend to be afraid; he just wasn't quite sure.

"You're scrawnier than I imagined you would be. You don't look like you did on the holoscreens at all. It'll be easy to crush someone short and skinny like you," the young man continued.

"I'm five foot seven, I'm not that short!" Gil complained. "But then again... I'm not the tallest guy either. Eh I don't know."

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"You're puny to me. Every guy in this place is going to be coming for your head after what you did! There's no rest for you. I overheard your conversation, a hundred thousand points is no joke. You'll be a target every day for the rest of your life now," said the young man.

"If that's the case, why do you want to beat me up?" Gil asked as he placed his hand on one of the cell's hard pearl white walls. "Are you mad at me for the crime they're accusing me of committing, or is there another reason why you want to beat me up?"

"Accused of committing? Are you saying you didn't commit that crime," the young man said with an entirely new countenance. "Well... I'm still going to beat you up though!" he said with his previous expression. "You don't need to know the reason!"

"Well if that's the case, beat me up right now," said Gil as he turned his head towards the cellmate. "I'm completely defensive now and the guards probably won't come to assist me. You're also larger than me so it's unlikely that I'll overpower you. Now's the perfect time for you to 'bash my teeth in'. That is what you said you were going to do, right?"

"Man, what's with you!" The young man said angrily. "Don't you get how this stuff works! If I beat you up in front of everyone, I gain a lot of respect here! Once I do that I'll run this hellhole."

"Why would you want to run a prison? Wouldn't it be better to be in charge of something more meaningful?" Gil asked.

"Just shut up already! Just know that I'm kicking your ass during dinner. If it's not me it'll be someone else," the man said turning his back away from Gil.

"Sounds like you really don't want to beat me up." He eyed the cellmate and realized he was completely disengaged. "Fine I'll drop it."

Gil walked towards his white bed. He was flabbergasted by the bed's phenomenal level of comfort when he sat on it. "Sorry if I came off rude, so how's the food here taste!?"

"Dude... You're apologizing to a guy who said he was going to beat you up and now you're trying to make friends with him? Seriously, what's wrong with you!?"

"Sorry, my psychiatrist asked me the same thing," chuckled Gil.

The young man rolled his eyes and buried himself into his blankets without uttering another word. It seemed the conversation was officially over.

Gil lied on his bed over the covers and eyed the clean impenetrable metal ceiling of the cell. No video games, no holoscreens, and no sports... he was bored out of his mind. If he was never accused of the crime, he would likely be gaming and then preparing for his upcoming career test. His career test was scheduled that week; he was super bummed that he couldn't take it.

A career test was a test that all residents of AquaLux were required to take. The test would reveal the occupation that the tester would be legally required to complete for at least a decade. High school seniors were the primary test takers. He wondered what career the test would have given him. Hopefully it would have been something related to computers. He loved gaming, so a game developer probably would have been most ideal. Now all he could do was imagine his life inside his new boring cell. Somehow, he needed to get out of Energia Tower. Regardless of his inadequate emotions, an innocent man should have no business in prison. Escaping seemed unlikely, so all he could do at that time was try to find an accelerated way to earn more points, or put his trust in Barney (which probably wouldn't be a good idea since he didn't know Barney too well.)

After a long agonizing hour of ceiling gazing, the back door to the cell opened. Gil glanced up and saw a large bearded man with a large hat. Judging by his exquisite uniform, he had to be a high ranking officer of some sort.

"So you're the guy everyone here keeps talking about," the large bearded man said with a strong thunderous voice.

"I'm the guy, sadly," Gil said as he sat atop his bed.

"My name is Officer Daryl Bowman, I'm the warden here in Energia Tower. During your stay here, you will listen to every word I say or face the consequences! Is that understood!"

"Eh... Yes sergeant!" Gil said.

"This isn't the military!" Bowman shouted.

"Sorry," remarked Gil.

Bowman pulled out a holotablet and began reading from it. "Every day at nine in the morning, required tasks will be given. A guard will unlock your door before that time and then you will go to the end of the hall to the basement level, after eating a quick breakfast. This is a large tower and we are currently on floor thirty-one. Once you reach the basement level, you will work until five pm. You are required to check in before each shift. You will be given three breaks only, two fifteen minute breaks and one hour break. Lunch will be given during your hour break. At five pm, you will take the elevator back to your cell! At seven pm, dinner is served, nine pm is the curfew to return to your cells. Do you have any questions regarding this schedule!?"

"Eh, sounds pretty easy to understand so far," said Gil.

"At the end of each shift or task, you will be given one point. Optionally, you can choose to not go to a shift and complete a task any day you want. You will be penalized the more you wait though, and remember if you don't complete at least one task in thirty days you will be legally executed!" Bowman explained.

"It's pretty intense that they'll kill you for not wanting to work. Have you seen people here get executed before?" Gil asked.

"I have," Bowman said with a new somber tonality. "Many kids come here lazy and ambitionless, they come here not wanting to work and lose their life because of it... I've seen kids come here with only a petty theft charge; they only needed thirty points to get out but chose to stay in their cell and mope. Once the thirty day mark came, they tried to work, but it was too late." (There are no children in prison towers. Bowman is just saying kids because he's way older than the average prisoner).

"How tragic," said Gil.

"If you don't complete tasks in thirty days I won't mind though!" Bowman said with his signature intensity. "...After all... because of the crime you committed, several people lost their lives!"