Escape from Altera Ch. 04

"You want to be good community members, but first you must reform your thoughts, and then your actions will follow. Your selfishness is what brought you here-"

And on and on and on. But it got a little bit interesting when Captain Olov started to describe the wonders of the Slurian system.

"Our system takes care of everyone, the poor, the sick, the unwell, while creating an industrial economy that rivals any economy in the galaxy! Unlike the greeders of the League, we don't leave people to die of hunger on the streets-"

At that point I raised my hand. Questions were encouraged, though few if any were asked.

Captain Olov looked at me. "Yes, a question? Identify yourself."

"Idaho Took," I said.

Olov looked startled, then a strain of recognition crossed his face. "Yes, the Greeder spy. Would you like to make a political confession?"

"Maybe later," I said. "Actually, I just want to make a tiny correction to your comment."

"A correct?" Olov looked puzzled.

"About people dying in the streets," I said. "It doesn't happen. No one dies of hunger in the League."

"Of course they do," said Olov. Then a thought struck them. "Or perhaps you are being literal when you say they do not die on the streets. It is well known that your disposable worker class is often taken to death camps, left there to die."

"You mean death camps where they are given little food and clothing, and worked to death?"

Kerensky looked up at me like I was crazy.

"Ah, you admit it!" said Olov.

"Yes, I admit it," I said. "We have death camps on our coldest ice worlds, where we regularly work prisoners to death, and feed them nothing but small bowls of kem."

The smile immediately disappeared from Olov's face. "I would watch what you're saying, spy. I can see it will be a long road to reform your thoughts."

He returned to his lecture. "As I said, our Communitarian system has created the strongest economy in the galaxy-"

I raised my hand again.

"Yes, spy?" said Olov, a bit wearily.

"If your economy is so great, how come you are a net importer of food, and why is the industrial output of August alone greater than half your entire-"

"Lies! All lies!" Olov screamed. "Guards! Have the spy taken to the therapy room!"

Two Redcaps came over and grabbed me. They lead me forward to the entrance to the room, where Olov stood.

"Perhaps a few days in therapy will help you to become a positive force in the Community," said Olov.

"Uhhhhh," was all I could think of to say.

They dragged me to the detention center, a sinister lockup area, where they gave me a single order. "Strip."

They couldn't mean what they said. It was incredibly cold!

Perhaps they were giving me new clothes....

But when I stripped down to my undergarments, they simply pushed me into a cell. The cell was incredibly small, with not enough space to stand, and barely enough space for me to sit in. It was completely dark. The floor was damp. Shivering, I felt around the walls of the cell. They were damp too! I also felt a cold breeze. How could I feel that, in a sealed cell? My hands grazed the low ceiling. There was a small shaft in the ceiling, big enough to stick my hand in. That's where the freezing air was coming in. They were purposefully piping in cold air from the outside to torture me!

I sat in the dark, my teeth clattering. At some point I fell asleep, only to wake up freezing a few minutes later. The cold prompted me to have fierce nightmares.

I had no sense of the passage of time. It seemed like I was in there for days. And they weren't even looking in on me or feeding me! Were they starving me to death?

I tried to calm down. I decided to take a trip in my mind. I couldn't move more than four inches in any direction, so I moved four inches forward. Closing my eyes, I dreamed I was in August, enjoying the technological wonders of the League's capital. Then, moving four inches left, I imagined I made another trip, to Greenfields, wandering around the places I grew up. Then I moved four inches backwards to go to Karis, and then I moved right to Aridor, making trips to other places, like Tiria and London II.

But it was so cold!

The light blinded my eyes as the door opened. I think I had been asleep because I felt groggy. I heard a screamed order to get out, and I crawled out on my hands and knees. I vaguely remembered getting dressed, and was mildly surprised to find that my flight jacket hadn't been "appropriated" by the guards. Then I was brought back to my bunk, and I didn't remember any more...

...although, perhaps I imagined it, but I thought I heard Kerensky over me, saying, "Stupid Richman... very stupid."