“This is what happens when you spend too much time in the Tirrella mines,” one of the warriors quipped.
“Don’t get too close. You don’t know how radioactive he is,” a female warrior advised.
Raia ignored the group as they moved away. She hadn’t considered that she might be viewed as a potential danger. That might work to her advantage.
“Chummy, where is Pi?” she asked.
No sooner did the words leave her mouth then she saw her furry friend. Pi was in the control room up ahead. One way led to Engineering Maintenance and the other way led to the prison cells where she needed to go.
Pi was sitting on top of a series of cabinets. There were two men inside the control room. Raia turned to the left instead of the right when she reached the intersection.
One of the men frowned and motioned to her. She acted like she didn’t see him and continued along the corridor. The man reached out and knocked on the glass. Raia continued to act like she didn’t hear him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two men talking before the one who had banged on the glass opened the door and stepped out. She was forced to stop when he stood in her path. Grumbling under her breath, she glared at the man.
“I’ve got a load of Tirrella power crystals to deliver,” she snapped.
“You are going the wrong way. This is the prisoner cell block. You need to go to the right,” the man informed her.
“The map the tech gave me said to go to the left,” she growled.
“The map is wrong. Engineering Maintenance is to the right,” the man retorted with annoyance.
“Stupid Tech. He probably wasted my time on purpose,” she grumbled.
“I’ll speak with his supervisor in the morning,” the man replied.
She shifted from one foot to the other. In order for her plan to work, she needed to get both men out of the control room. Maneuvering the cargo skid, she almost rammed the man standing in the corridor.
“Watch what you’re doing!” he snapped, barely jumping out of the way.
“The controller is acting up,” she said.
She slapped the controller against her palm. The skid swung back around, nearly running over the man and slamming into the wall across from the door. She mumbled an apology when the man angrily yelled at her again.
Just as she had hoped, the second guard stepped out of the room to see what was going on. Raia pressed the button on the side of the controller and started the container alarm as Pi quietly closed and locked the door to the control room behind the second man.
“What’s going on?” the second guard demanded.
“The container is malfunctioning, and the crystals are overheating again,” she stated.
A second alarm sounded. “Warning: Radiation levels rising to dangerous level. Power crystal destabilization detected. Warning,” a computerized voice stated.
“What the… get that thing out of here!” the first guard demanded.
Raia shook her head. “I can’t move it until I’ve stabilized the container. If I do, it could explode,” she replied.
“Well, fix it!” the second guard ordered, retreating until his back was pressed against the locked door.
“Warning: Radiation levels are reaching critical levels,” the computer stated.
Raia pushed a second button, and a loud hissing cloud of glowing red fog began to seep out from under the lid. She hid her grin when both men turned and tried to get back into the control room. They frantically waved their badges in front of the door control.
“Being in there won’t save you from radiation. You’ve got to be in a fully enclosed room farther away,” she stated.
“How far?” the first guard demanded.
She looked at the end of the corridor and nodded. “One of those little cells would work. Well, would you look at that! My skin is beginning to burn,” she commented, holding up a holographic hand that was beginning to blister. “Radiation must be bad enough to burn your bollocks if I’m turning toasty,” she reflected.
“Move out of the way,” the second guard growled, pushing the first one to the side.
“Wait for me,” the first guard called.
Now, Chummy, she instructed.
Chummy peeked out from the bag and focused on the security badges attached to the men’s waists. He pulled the badges off seconds before they stepped into the cell. Pi appeared in midair, captured the cards and flashed one across the access panel, locking the two men in the cell.
Raia watched as her furry friend curled into a ball and rolled back toward them. Bending down, she plucked one of the badges out of Pi’s outstretched hands and turned off the alarm on the container. She jerked her head toward the door.
“Can you unlock it for me?” she requested.
Pi grinned and disappeared. Seconds later, the door opened, and Raia stepped inside. On the row of monitors, she could see inside each cell. She grinned at the two guards who were pacing back and forth in the cell. She didn’t miss the way they both kept touching their balls to make sure they were still there.
“Well, hello, General De’Mar. I think today is your lucky day,” she said.
Her target was sitting on the edge of his cot with his head bowed, his arms on his knees, and his hands clasped together thanks to the wrist cuffs he was wearing. All she could see was the top of his head. She estimated he was around six feet tall.
“It’s going to be a tight fit. I hope the guy is flexible,” she muttered. “Pi, he’s in the cell at the end of the corridor. You take your badge and unlock his wrist cuffs. We aren’t going to have much time before someone figures out that something hinky is going on.”
Behr De’Mar worked the small piece of metal he had finally broken free from the cot into the seam where the wrist cuffs locked. It would take a miracle to break free of the cuffs and an even larger one for him to escape the cell and make it out of this prison alive. He grimly acknowledged that this time he might not be so lucky.
“Sheetz ta!” ‘Shit!’ he muttered when the wire slipped and cut his finger.
He studied the blood beading from the wound. Rolling his shoulders to ease his tension, he closed his eyes. The weight of exhaustion pounding at him was bone deep. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a full night’s rest.
General Maradash and the Council members had made sure of that. When the drugs hadn’t worked on him, they resorted to sleep deprivation to lower his resistance. They wanted the locations of the rebel bases and their fleet positions, along with intel on those supporting the revolution against the tyranny of the Council, but so far, Behr had refused to give them anything.
He was guaranteed a painful death. Maradash had informed him that he was to receive a ritual public execution modeled after the ancient ways of the Marastin Dow which is one reason he had been kept in relatively good health. No one wanted to watch a half-dead man put to death. It was always more fun to cheer on one still alive and kicking. If he were lucky, he would die from the death of a thousand cuts. If not, he would feel the excruciating pain of slowly being roasted alive.
Nothing says civilized like being tortured and murdered while everyone watches, he grimly thought, opening his eyes.
Another curse burst from his lips when the piece of metal slipped again and cut the palm of his hand. At the rate he was going, he might finish the job for Maradash before he arrived. Shaking his head at the morbid thought, he twisted and wiped the blood on the hard surface of the cot. He would never give Maradash or the Council the pleasure of hearing him beg for mercy—nor betray everything that he and others had lived and died for over the past twenty years.