The Imperium administrator insisted on keeping the RS Freedom in quarantine for another six hours. The idea of quarantine was laughable given their scramblers could detect any unwanted pathogens or critters and remove them, but like everything else, it was a game these leaders played to assert some level of dominance over each other. Colonel Freedom wasn’t overly bothered. It gave the crew one last chance for rest before embarking on a day of debauchery for most of them. And the Colonel had a few more hours to study his mission briefings.
Remy had been sealed in his quarters to get some rest himself before going down to the planet. Since he had become a prisoner on this ship, the Colonel insisted on keeping him by his side every moment of his duty shifts. He sat on the floor beside the commander’s chair whenever he was on the bridge. He sat at his right hand whenever the Commander retired to the briefing room to deal with his paperwork or conduct the daily briefings. He even sat in on every mission briefing.
But every moment he spent with the Colonel was about humiliation. The man placed a chain around his neck and led him around like a dog. He turned to Remy constantly as if he knew when his orders and instructions irritated his sensibilities. Freedom almost tried to push his buttons hoping for one more glimpse of the impetuous UN inspector who challenged his orders in those first few days aboard his ship.
As he did every day after the Colonel’s duty shift, Remy retrieved a tiny controller hidden beneath the sink in his bathroom. Returning to his front room, he pressed the lone button and shifted himself into the invisible dimension and into a new room of his own creation. A contraband scrambler allowed him to create a desk for his computer and some other tools and equipment as needed.
Where the material was drawn from in this strange dimension was a mystery. Sometimes, when he decided not to tempt fate, he would create some food with the scrambler within his quarters and cross it over with him in hopes of using those atoms instead of those from the unknown stores. Other times he didn’t bother, almost hoping his scrambler was stealing from the Major’s lab.
He turned on his computer and waited for it to boot up. This was why he wouldn’t give the Colonel the satisfaction of seeing him bothered. The logs and reports he kept in secret were the only thing he had to bring back to the UN should he ever find a means for escape. Occasionally, Freedom would turn his back for a few moments allowing Remy a chance to swipe a stray data chip or a peek into Freedom’s private files. Since the Commander was overly confident in regards to the captivity, most of the time he didn’t bother classifying information from his pet.
If he wasn’t waiting for the computer to boot, Remy would take up his environmental suit from the corner of his hidden room and wander the ship from his invisible dimension. Part of his travel was intended to get a feel for the ship’s layout, another part was to attempt to find the infiltrator.
His secret travels often took him to the other crew quarters to spy on the young officers. Specifically, he wished to check on Anders, who once endangered his career to help him. To his delight, the Lieutenant’s treason seemed forgotten after the Section 13. But it remained to be seen if he would be offloaded for a return trip to Earth at the first opportunity. Remy also feared the possibility the young man might try to take his life.
Anders was so excited about his assignment in the Space Force, but since the incident on LX-925, his tone had been severely muted. Remy noticed even he seemed to put it behind him, odd given how serious a violation he racked up. The Doctor feared his stolid mood hid a certainty toward self-harm. After a month of observation, Remy had been relieved to see his fears did not play out. Still, all it would take was one moment of frustration to cause him to snap.
Then there was Roxanne, Pittman’s “girlfriend.” That Lieutenant gave Remy the dirtiest of dirty looks whenever they were on the bridge or in the briefing room together. No matter what his intention had been toward the welfare of the young woman, Remy noticed the man’s fist would ball up when their eyes connected. No doubt he wanted to kill the Doctor if Colonel Freedom ever left his side.
Remy would often wander unconsciously into Pittman’s quarters to watch the two have sex. It infuriated the Doctor watching the Lieutenant violate this woman night after night. Though she seemed willing, he knew somehow she had been programmed or brainwashed into servitude. He felt it deep down that there was some nefarious reason to explain her part in this relationship.
As the weeks wore on, and Remy insisted on continually torturing himself, he fought back his own tears as their sex grew rougher. He feared sooner or later, Pittman might take it to a violent level, and even kill her for his pleasures. Yet there was nothing he could do. Remy had to suffer in secret so as to keep his limited freedom hidden.
The lone act of rebellion he permitted himself was to bring Roxanne books during those times when the Commander’s off-time corresponded with the Lieutenant’s duty shifts. He had a small selection of literature in his computer that he was able to materialize with the scrambler in his secret room. And he had a couple hours to spend with the woman, reading with her and broadening her simple mind. To keep their meetings a continued secret, he insisted on taking the books back with him, leaving her alone and bored most of the time. It was the only way he could ensure the safety of their meetings.
Remy was certain though, the young woman would ask her boyfriend about some of the places from those books. Those times when he and Pittman shared the room in separate dimensions, he heard Roxanne bother him with silly notions after their act was finished and he would roll over in the bed to try to sleep. Maybe it was because he was too tired, but the guy never seemed too mad when he’d tell her to knock it off with those ideas. By the time Remy would visit again, her questions seemed to have been completely forgotten.
One blessing for Roxanne, though Remy admitted he didn’t get to see the full picture of their lives, was that Pittman never raised his hand for her betrayal. The Lieutenant seemed not to blame her for leaving him. From those looks across the bridge and across the meeting table, Remy knew he received all the blame for her misdeeds.
It was probably safer for the mission ahead that he avoided those quarters during this break. Jade 5 would be his first trip off ship since LX-925, and it was the most likely place for a stowaway to jump ship. Sure it was possible to transfer to one of the handful of vessels they had encountered in the past month or so, but as a hub, Jade 5 would give someone a choice of future directions and destinations. Though Remy expected to be chained to the Colonel the entire time, he could still keep his eyes out for anyone acting suspicious or trying to get away from the Republic delegation.
The Doctor finished with his daily log and powered down his computer. Then he returned to normal space to get some rest. He couldn’t afford the least bit of fatigue clouding his eyes on the planet. Before he could close his eyes for sleep, he attached a personal inhibitor to his shirt to prevent a scramble in his sleep. He had grown comfortable that the Colonel wasn’t out to destroy him, still he couldn’t shake the feeling that he might someday disappear in a white light the instant his brain shut off. If it weren’t for this little piece of protection, Remy would never be able to relax into a sleep state.