Ben and the other prisoners lay in the soft dirt, eight or nine paces from the top of the rim. Their fingers and toes were dug in deep to keep from sliding into the open-mine p—where Em had minutes before heaved Og to a quick and unexpected death.
Fast and furious, the phasors continued to fire their deadly bolts in a random pattern, every now and then hitting a few feet from the top of the rim or just several paces above the prisoners.
This was not a design by accident. Roqford had once told Ben in his slow mental speech, If ever the phasorsss start firing get to the slopesss of the pit. When the prison was first built, it was decided, in order to squelch a prison riot, random phasor shotsss would be used, but in order to keep from killing the majority of the prisonersss there should be a small safety area, which will hem the rebelliousss prisonersss into a corner. The design isss meant to keep the prisonersss in the pit until more guardsss can arrive.
Ben turned and looked down the slope searching for Samsung, and there he was holding onto Keegan's wrists to keep him from sliding over the edge. Keegan's legs were hanging into the abyss up to his thighs. There was a glassy look in his eyes and blood was running out of his mouth as he feebly hung unto Samsung's grip. Slowly, inch by inch, they were sliding further into the hole as there was not enough traction in the soft dirt. Samsung attempted to jam his toes deeper into the dirt, but to no avail. The two of them were slowly losing ground, and it wouldn't be long until Samsung would have to let go or be pulled to his death along with Keegan.
The loose gravel around Samsung’s toes gave way, and they slid another foot and a half in an instant. Keegan was up to his waist in the pit, and his legs were no longer in sight. They were sliding faster.
"Hang on," yelled Ben exhorting Samsung to dig deeper. "I'm coming." He turned and did a swimming motion in the soft dirt until he was just above them. He grabbed Samsung's ankles and started pulling. He grunted and pulled harder, but they were still slipping. With Ben's help the decent into the pit had slowed, but hadn’t completely stopped. Keegan was too far over the edge. "Keegan, you've got to help. Push against the side of the pit with your feet."
But Keegan was too week, and it seemed he was slipping in and out of consciousness. They were loosing ground. "Come on, Keegan. You're not helping," yelled Ben. He pulled harder. He knew in another few seconds he and Samsung would have to let go. "Keegan, push!" he yelled.
Someone grabbed Ben's ankles and with a mighty yank, pulled Ben, Samsung, and Keegan up the side of the embankment. Without looking Ben knew it was Em. His strength was unnatural.
Ben righted himself, as did Samsung, and they pulled Keegan up to their level. Ben studied Keegan's look. His face was ashen. His eyes had a glassy stare. Blood was running from his mouth. "Damn," growled Ben, "we have to get you to the hospital."
Samsung was lying on the other side of Keegan holding on to him. He wiped the dirt and blood from Keegan’s face and talked softly trying to encourage Keegan to hold onto his life.
Ben started up the incline.
"Where are you going?" asked Viella. "You can't go up there."
"I'll be okay," he said in a quiet voice as if sneakiness would keep the phasors away.
He stuck his head over the rim. Three feet to his right a phasor bolt hit the dirt causing the soil to steam and ooze.
As he looked around he saw prisoners strewn about the yard like a scene in a ghastly war movie, except this was real, and they were really dead, dying, or wounded. And the wounded wouldn’t be alive much longer with the phasors tearing into them with random shots. He could see the guards in the yard standing near the wall. The lieutenant of the morning watch stood facing the warden in a stance that he always maintained while waiting for the warden to give the orders to escort the prisoners into the pit. But this time the lieutenant had a puzzled, pained look on his face.
Ben followed his stare. By all that's holy, thought Ben, it appears the warden won't be giving any more orders, this morning or any other morning. The warden was lying face down with his head and one arm hanging over the walkway in an unnatural position. His throat was torn open and blood was pooling beside him and dripping over the edge. The lieutenant, the sergeant, and the long row of guards stood next to the wall on the other side of the phasor firing line. They were staring at the warden's corpse.
Roqford, thought Ben in a loud mental voice, did you do that?
The guards on the upper walkway were in a state of panic as they rushed for the elevator shafts. Roqford was slowly stalking behind them. It wasss my pleasure to help you out, responded Roqford.
You didn't help us. You just sentenced yourself to death. The guards are still in control and the phasors are firing.
Not to worry, replied Roqford, help isss on itsss way.
What do you mean by that? snapped Ben.
Roqford padded softly down the walkway until he was above the guards in the prison yard, and then he lay down with his paws and huge face hanging over the edge.
Try to keep from doing anything obtuse, said Ben. At first he thought the huge cat was going to pounce on the guards in the yard.
Patienccce, said Roqford as if he were talking to a small boy. And then he turned off.
Ben had that sudden empty feeling he always got when Roqford mentally pulled away. He looked back at the guards. He knew his luck may be running out with the phasor bolts, but he had to get Keegan to the hospital before the internal bleeding killed him.
He watched as the sergeant looked away from the warden and back to the lieutenant. Ben overheard him say, "I believe you're in charge of the yard, sir. What do you want us to do?"
The lieutenant turned and looked toward the pit. He could see Ben peering over the edge. "You're either very brave or very stupid," he said.
"You have to turn off the phasors. We have an injured man down here and if we don't get him to the hospital quick he's going to die." Ben nodded his head to the side signifying where the man was lying. “And all those wounded men in the yard are going to be killed, or maybe I should say murdered.”
It didn’t seem the lieutenant was in a hurry. "As soon as the reinforcements arrive, I’ll give the order, and we’ll . . ." His sentence ended abruptly.
Out of the corner of his eye Ben caught a momentary blackout, like a hole in space—reflection of the sunlight was there and suddenly it was gone. He turned his head toward the tower and in a state of confusion he lost his vision as it was pulled into the black hole, then instantly it returned, and he watched the effects of a sonic bomb. He had never seen one in real life, only in the movies and on the viewer where it was make-believe.
Up close and in real life it was phenomenal, to say the least. The top of the tower was there one moment and the next it was totally vaporized. Only small pieces of artificial material and human flesh remained and floated away in the gentle breeze of the morning. An instant later the remainder of the tower fell into a little heap of powder as the inaudible sound destroyed the molecular bonds.
The deadly rays of the phasor beams blinked out freeing the prisoners to run loose.
Viella scrambled up the side of the pit and laid down next to Ben. She peeked over the rim to see what was happening.
"By God," said lieutenant Lasitor in disbelief, "am I seeing things or did the tower just disintegrate before our eyes?" He stood for several seconds with his mouth hanging open. He looked up at the warden and then back where the tower had been. Finally, he said, "What the hell is happening?" and then he closed his mouth, still looking at the little pile of powder, which had once been the tower.
"It had to be a sonic bomb," said the sergeant.
Lieutenant Lasitor hesitated with a look of worried concern, then he said, "Sonic bomb? No one has sonic bombs on Ar."
"Must be the G15's sitting on the landing pad," answered the sergeant.
"Yeeaah," replied the lieutenant, slowly. He thought for a moment. "But why would they want to destroy our tower?"
"Must hav
e something to do with the mystery prisoner."
"Yeeaah," he said, again. He started contemplating the situation. Finally, he said, "Have the men . . . ," but he halted his sentence. Someone stepped outside the mystery prisoner's prison and shot down three of the six guards who were standing on the porch, and then he jumped back inside with a phasor bolt close on his tail.
"You know," said lieutenant Lasitor, "I think we better stay out of this until we find out what's going on."
"Good idea," said the sergeant.
"Damn," grunted Ben, as he pulled himself out of the pit. "In all the commotion I forgot about the Galaef." He could see the three remaining Federation guards hiding behind the posts with their phasors drawn. They were watching the door.
Ben pushed the stun button on the phasor and started, in a crouched run, toward the Galaef's little prison.
"Hold it," came a voice from behind. "Drop the phasor and turn around."
Ben lowered the phasor, but he didn't drop it. He glared at the lieutenant as he turned. "We don't have time for this. I need the phasor, and I need to get over there, now." He pointed toward the Galaef's confinement quarters. "I know who your mystery prisoner is, and if we don't help him, the consequences could be disastrous."
"You don't need to go anywhere," said the lieutenant pointing his phasor at him in a threatening manner. "I don't know what's going on, and we're not taking any action until we find out."
The sergeant eyed Ben quizzically. "So, who is he?" he asked.
"The Galaef of the Galactic Empire," said Ben.
The lieutenant laughed contemptuously. "You must think I'm the slowest turtle on the beach. In the first place, no one is ever going to take the Galaef prisoner, and secondly, how is a prisoner, such as yourself, going to know who's in the confinement area?"
Ben shook his head. "Why do you think they have two G15's sitting on the landing pad? Why do you think they just knocked out the tower with a sonic bomb? Come on man, think."
The lieutenant started to say something and then hesitated.
"Look," said Ben, he had just about made up his mind to shoot it out with this fool. "keep your phasor rifles trained on me if you want, but let me take the phasor and go over there."
"I can't let . . . ," once again the lieutenant was interrupted in mid sentence. He watched as the three remaining guards in front of the mystery prisoner's prison threw their phasors on the porch and stepped into the open.
A moment later the Galaef and another man walked out of the small prison.
"Oh, crap," said the lieutenant, and then again in a more subdued voice, "Oh, crap."
Ben turned toward the pit and yelled. "Samsung, take two men and get Keegan to the hospital.” He turned toward the lieutenant, and said, "It would be good if you would have your men take the wounded prisoners to the hospital.” He used his hand to indicate the men lying about the yard.
The lieutenant nodded his head. "Sergeant,” he said.
"Yes, sir?"
“Do as he says.”
“Yes, sir.”
"Come on," said Ben to the lieutenant. "Let's go talk to the Galaef." Ben was trying to sort the events in his mind as they walked in that direction. It sort of made sense that the Galaef was still alive, but what about the tower?
When they arrived the Galaef was giving orders to the Federation guards. When he finished he looked at Ben and noticed his prison issue uniform. "I see you're still alive," he said.
"Yes, sir," answered Ben. "And I'm surprised to see you're still alive. I thought Thorne's plan would have been to have you killed as soon as there was any trouble in the yard."
"That was the plan, but one man remained loyal. The Galaef turned toward Frosty. "Meet Frostadeem, my new head of security."
Ben nodded his head toward Frosty. It only took a second for Ben to remember that he had seen Frosty outside the Galaef’s office on Galactic VII and then again outside the Galaef’s office on the flag ship.
"Now," said the Galaef, "until this usurpation is put down, we're going to be sorting through the problem of who we can trust and who we can't trust." The Galaef was clearly not happy. He surveyed the six men who had been members of his elite guard. "For the present I'm going to trust the power of my office, knowing what all my guards know," he said it loudly so that all those in the near vicinity would hear, even those lying on the porch in stun, "if they betray me, they and their families will suffer a horrible death."
Bale stepped forward. "Please believe me, sir, when I say I had no idea you were our prisoner. I was told to guard this building and to let no one in." He looked horrified. "Believe me, sir, I was only following orders." He got down on one knee to show his reverence.
"Get up," boomed the Galaef. "We have matters at hand to deal with. You." he pointed at Shast. "You stay here and watch over these three." He pointed at the three guards in stun. "And keep a phasor on them. We still don't know who can be trusted. The rest of you follow me."
The Galaef, Ben, Frosty, Bale, and the lieutenant walked into the small building, where the Galaef had recently been a prisoner.
Ben looked around and saw a man lying on the floor in a state of stun, to the left there were two bunk beds, to the right a barred prison cell, and on the far end of the room, about thirty feet away, there were two consoles.
"You see those two red buttons?" asked the Galaef.
Ben looked again at the two consoles and this time he noticed the buttons to which the Galaef was referring. "Yeah," answered Ben. He was never happy about being subservient to others, especially politicians, but he was glad the Galaef was back in command, and he knew the Galaef was glad too. "I see them."
"They have to be pushed simultaneously or Thorne is going to send a G15 down here to wipe this prison out of existence, and then he's going eliminate the families of the involved elite guard." Taul saw the quizzical look on Ben's face. So he added, "The two red buttons will send a signal telling Thorne that I've been killed."
"I see," said Ben. "So let's push the buttons."
"It won't work unless they're pushed by the two inside guards, it recognizes their thumb prints, but as you can see Mordrous isn't going to be pushing anything for another twenty minutes."
"Okay," said Ben, "so let's carry Mordrous over to the console, put his thumb on the button and push it down while Frosty is pushing the other one. Or is there something else I don't know?"
The Galaef never did seem worried, "Actually, that sounds like it will work," he said.
Once the deed was done the Galaef pointed at Mordrous. "Put him in the prison cell. I'll be sending him and his family to the Zi pits."
Ben wondered what had happened in this little room, but Frosty was shocked. "You promised," he said in a whispered voice trying not to let anyone hear him question the authority of the Galaef.
The Galaef wasn't concerned about quietness. He loudly exclaimed, "Haven't you learned yet the worth of a politician's promise? We only say what we have to say in order to get what we want. I'm the ruler of the Galactic Empire. It's not my job to keep promises. It's my job to protect all the inhabited planets of the galaxy, and sometimes, as in this case, it becomes a difficult job. I have found that I can't trust this man, and with his knowledge of classified information that makes him a threat to my job."
"But," exclaimed Frosty, no longer in a whispered voice, "it was a lose-lose offer. And it wasn't the money that prompted us to take it. We thought we could best protect you by taking the offer and being here with you. It was our plan from the very beginning."
"And, indeed, you were successful," said the Galaef, "but he wasn't."
"Sir, I am sure it was fear of his family's well being that turned him at the last moment."
The Galaef glared at Frosty. "Your lobbying for this traitor should make me angry, but I won't let it because I understand that the offer put both of you in a difficult situation." He thought about it for a moment (and no one dared say anything). Finally he said, "Okay I w
ill have his family moved to a safe location, but the best I can do for him is to offer him a choice of a swift execution or solitary confinement with no human contact of any kind for as long as it takes us to put down Thorne’s attempted overthrow. After that, if he has chosen the second, he and his family will be placed on an obscure little planet with no space travel privileges."
"Thank you, sir," said Frosty. "Your decision is most generous." It appeared that Frosty was a bit angry that the Galaef wasn't keeping his promise, but considering the alternative he was content with the compromise.
That being done the Galaef turned to Ben and motioned him off to the side. "I've had a lot of time to think while I've been in here," he said. "And it pleases me that you're still alive, since it fits into my plans." He paused. "I've decided to make you second in command."
Ben looked at him warily, "Second in command of what?" he asked.
The Galaef grimaced, "You know," he started, "I'm not going to consider that a foolish question only because you've been through a lot lately, and because it's not everyday someone is offered a job like this. So I'm just going to say it one more time. I want you to be second in command of the Galactic Empire. I want you to take Thorne's position in the government."
Ben looked aghast. "You want me to be second in command of the Galactic Empire?"
"Take your time and let me know. You've got five seconds."
Ben thought for a moment and realized he didn't want the job. In the first place he wasn't qualified and in the second place he hated politics.
Then the next second he was thinking, on the other hand, it seemed the Galaef needed his help, and also if he didn't take the job, Taul might choose another fool like Thorne. "Okay," said Ben, "I'll take it."
Much to Ben's chagrin the Galaef patted him on the back and said, "I knew you would."
Chapter Sixty-One