October 28, 2361 AIA

P41

Gardner closed his eyes as Vas bashed on yet another place on the wall. “Really, Captain? What are you doing?”

Vas moved his hands over the concrete. “Trying to find a way out of here.”

“I admire your optimism. And your ability to hack out of security cuffs. That was impressive.”

“Yeah, well, they didn’t do a very thorough search. They were only looking for weapons.” He slammed his hand against another part of the wall.

“And your com,” Gardner point out.

“And my com,” Vas grumbled.

The former general stared down at his hands. They were resting in front of his knees, still cuffed together. The captain hadn’t offered to undo them, even though he still had the lockpick and chip stuffed in his jacket sleeve. And Emery Gardner had no intention of asking.

When he looked up, Vas was gazing at him with a slight smile on his face. The captain turned away and took a step back from the wall.

“No trap doors?” Gardner asked.

“Hard to believe, I know.”

“How inconsiderate.”

Vas turned to the general. “How many people come in here to give you food?”

“One man.”

“Only one? That might be—”

“The other three or four gentlemen stay on the outside of the door pointing guns at me so I don’t try anything.”

Vas frowned. “Maybe not then.”

“Captain, I know I’m new to the experience of incarceration—

“I thought you’d been in here for a week.”

“I have.”

“Then you have more experience than I do.”

“This is your first time being taken prisoner?”

Vas walked over to the door. “Oh, no. I’ve been taken prisoner a couple of times. But they haven’t managed to hold me.”

Gardner made a quiet tsk noise and turned his face away as the captain inspected the door.

“Solid metal,” Gardner said. “Hinges and bolts on the outside.”

“Oh, so you did check?” Vas asked.

“Yes, I checked. But you and I both know that it’s infinitely easier to break into a prison, rather than to break out of a prison. Why don’t you sit down and wait?”

“Because the first thing Alix will do when she gets here is ask what I’ve done to try to escape. I’m not going say, ‘oh, you know, I waited around for you to rescue me.’”

“Why? Will she mock you?”

“Worse. She’ll look at me with this tiny smile, right here”—he pointed to the corner of his lips—“and say nothing.”

“I can see how you’d find that unbearable.”

Vas groaned and put his hands behind his head. They dropped back down to his sides. He walked over to the bunk and sat down next to Gardner.

“This isn’t a prison!” He gestured to the room. “There should be a way out.”

“You’re right,” Gardner said. “It isn’t a prison. It’s probably considerably more secure than a prison. This room was designed as a storage space to hold something others would want to steal.”

Adan glanced at the former general. “What did it hold?”

“Drugs.”

The captain gave an unwitting nod in appreciation for the sense it made. “Our apothecary.”

“Since no human was supposed to stay here, the architect didn’t see a point in including an emergency exit.”

“Did you even try to escape?”

“I figured it would be safer if I didn’t. I certainly never expected to find myself here. Hopefully, my enemies will be similarly baffled.”

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Vas sat up. “All right, Gardner. What happened?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Captain. I would’ve told you earlier, but you seemed busy, and I didn’t want to bore you.”

The two men glared at each other.

Vas nodded toward Gardner’s cuffs as he reached into his jacket sleeve to get out the chip and lockpick. The former general talked as the captain worked on releasing him.

“I came here to talk to a man by the name of Moric Sipos.”

“Never heard of him.”

“That’s because I was good at my job, Captain. While I was interviewing him at a public restaurant, we were attacked by an assassin.”

“An assassin? Who sent him?”

“I really wish I could answer that. Sadly, I have no idea. But I felt confident it wasn’t you, so I decided to try to ask for your help.”

“The request for refuge.”

“Yes. But I needed a computer, and for obvious reasons, I didn’t want to go where someone might be expecting me. Sipos said that he could help. He knew Daghar from the facility—”

“What facility?”

“It’s an institution.” There was nothing but a blank look on Vas’s face. “It’s the insane asylum where I made Moric Sipos disappear. Daghar supplied drugs to them. That’s how he and Sipos became acquainted. I don’t know how Sipos found out about what Daghar did on the side, but when we got here, it was obvious he knew.”

“He’s making more drugs than the Supremacy wants him to make?”

“And Helena Melo’s gang is distributing them. Since Sipos had a hold over Daghar, they were happy to let me use their computer. When I was done, they took me prisoner and threw me in here.”

The cuffs fell away from Gardner’s chafed wrists. He gingerly touched the now exposed skin and muttered his thanks before continuing with his story.

“Sipos told them they would be able to catch you when you got here—not you, specifically, but an important officer in the Rising—and then they could turn you and me in for a bounty.”

“Then why are you still here? Couldn’t they have turned you in earlier? Save themselves some trouble?”

“Your concern for me is heartwarming, Captain. But no, they couldn’t. There isn’t a bounty on my head. At least, not one issued by the Supremacy.”

Vas shook his head. “Not us either.”

“That’s comforting.”

“What will they do now?”

“They’re probably arguing about the safest way of transferring us over to the Supremacy. You for your bounty, and me as a traitor. They want the money, but Melo’s group is known to the MPs on this planet. They have to be careful. They’ll probably wind up using an official they already have in their pocket as a middle man.”

“All this corruption. It’s sickening.”

“It’s almost enough to make you want to rebel, isn’t it?”

Despite everything, Vas and Gardner both smiled.

Vas said, “And your friend, Sipos—”

“Moric Sipos is not my friend. He never has been.”

Vas rarely heard that much emotion in Gardner’s voice. The former general’s detached and sardonic demeanor strained to hide his loathing.

“Yes,” Vas said, “I’m getting that. What happened to him?”

Gardner took a breath. “I don’t know. I suspect he’s long gone by now. The last time I saw him, they were paying him for handing me over.”

The captain gazed around the room again, half hoping he might have missed something. Gardner saw his expression.

“I think you’ve explored all the possibilities, Captain, and there’s really nothing you can do, is there?”

“Oh, I have one or two ideas.”

Before the former general could decide if Vas was serious or not, there was a crash and the sound of dull tinkling. A metal fist was pushed through what remained of the small window. Vas was up and standing at it before Gardner could manage to get to his feet. The broken glass crunched under his boots.

“I was correct,” a synthetic voice said. “There were no alarms.”

An even fainter voice echoed around the body of the bot. “Well done.”

“Lynx!” Adan said. “Alix!”

The dim voice responded: “Hello, Captain. How are you?”

“I’m fine.” Gardner thought Vas seemed more than fine. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, trying to get closer to the opening in the window. “Are you all right?”

“I’m all kinds of all right. Thank you for asking. Lynx, give me a full analysis of the room.”

The robot gave a short summation of what he was looking at, including dimensions, materials, and what was inside. It wasn’t much. A festering bucket of human refuse, a cot, and a general.

Alix stopped the bot when she heard that. “General Gardner’s there?”

“Yes,” Vas said. “He’s been patiently waiting for us all week. In cuffs.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Then another voice came from the bot.

“He didn’t betray us?” Adan recognized his brother’s voice.

“If he did, he’s really bad at it,” Vas said.

Gardner made his way over to the window. “No, I didn’t betray you, Miss Reyer,” he insisted. “I know better than to burn the bridge I’m standing on.”

“General,” she said, “are you the one responsible for the Supremacy’s complete lack of knowledge about me?”

“I am. I told Captain Vas I’d delete the files on you. And I did. I’m a man of my word, which is why I try to avoid saying anything of substance.”

“We thought you’d only delete the files related to Project 32,” Ciro said.

“They were tangled up together. It seemed easier to simply delete them all. I hope you don’t mind?”

“It did come in handy, so I have to thank you,” Reyer said. “But do you have any idea how hard I worked to make the most-wanted list? I feel cheated.”

Adan looked directly at the robot. “Lynx, what did you give her?”

“The maximum dose of Exlaudinum allowed for a person of her size,” the bot replied.

“How bad is it?”

Reyer’s voice broke into their conversation. “Who’s the one in prison, Adan?” She went on, “Lynx, tell me more about the window.”

“I estimate it’s eighteen by thirty-eight centimeters. The glass is two centimeters thick and highly tempered. However, I should be able to break out the rest of the glass if it’s required.”

“Don’t bother,” Adan said. “I doubt I’d be able to fit, and the only way Gardner’s coming out through that window is in pieces.”

“If he didn’t betray us, I’d rather keep him in one piece. Thank you,” Alix said.

They waited.

Reyer continued, “What have you done to try to escape?”

Vas gave Gardner a smug look. The general went to sit back down on the cot as Adan described what little he’d learned from his efforts.

When he was done, Reyer said, “Gardner, when do they give you dinner?”

The general hauled himself back over to the window. “They don’t. They only give me one meal a day. Around midday.”

When Emery Gardner stood in the light, Vas noticed for the first time how hollow his flabby cheeks were. The captain glanced down at the red raw skin on the general’s wrists. He could see the sores.

Gardner had never uttered a word of complaint.

Adan was distracted from his thoughts when he heard Ciro mutter, presumably to Reyer, “No good. The satellites are already back online. I don’t think we’re going to have that much time.”

“The rest of the building?” she asked.

“It’s even more secure. We could try to figure out how to break one of the other windows, but they’re all wired with alarms.”

“All right.” There was a soft sound which might have been a sigh, then Reyer’s voice came out louder, as if she had put the com closer to her mouth. “Adan, it looks like we’re going to have to use plan B.”

For a moment, the captain’s mind went blank. “Run like hell?”

There was the sound of laughter. “My plan B is a little more complex than that.”