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Freedom’s Convicts (story fragment)

"Wake up, Bitches!"

It wasn't the usual wakeup call the guards used. Probably the reason we were instantly awake. There appeared to be maybe fifty inmates secured to surprisingly comfortable seats. I reached for the simple release button but was stopped by the guard’s voice.

"I'd think twice about releasing the safety harness."

Red lights started flashing and there was a sickening lurch and then the sensation off weightlessness.

"Congratulations, you've all just received early parole."

We looked at each other in confusion. Three lifers, convicted of particularly violent crimes were within five seats of me. There was no way they were being paroled.

"Those looks are real money shots. You have a few minutes so perhaps I'll explain it to you. For the last two years you've been in hyper sleep. During that time nanobots were injected into you and have taken up residence in your optic and aural nerves so we see and hear everything that you do."

"Da'fuck you thinkin'? I want my public d'fenderyer. Dis shit is 'ginst mah civil rights." Brenda, an overly hot blooded Louisiana cook. Talked Street but was white supremeist to the core. Serving multiple life sentences for serving the homless, to her customers. Nine bodies found with the remains of twelve more. Laughed at the judge when she was refered to as a serial killer. Claimed she'd never killed a cereal unless the judge counted the rice in her Latino surprise Gumbo.

"Sit your ass down and secure your harness or you won't survive the drop. If you want a lawyer I'm sure one will tune in eventually."

"Tune in?" Honeypot, self-styled internet porn star. She trolled college towns pulling in young jocks with promises of a night of wild sex. She would get them all worked up, tie them down, bring them right up to the edge and then castrate them for the camera. Brenda's bitch.

"That's right, everything you see, say, and hear will be available to the public."

"Everything?" Ellen, former Bible belt mother of six boys. Convicted of murdering seven infants and their father. She claimed that God required her to kill the demon spawn since they were all seventh sons of a seventh son. With her husband dead she claimed she wasn't a threat to anyone. She was receiving counseling once a week and was due to be transferred to minimum security in eight months. Rarely talked and kept to herself. Left alone by the rest of the inmates as being God crazy.

"That's right, they'll see and know everything from which hand you wipe with to how often you finger yourself. Not that you'll need to worry about that anymore."

"Why is that?" Lisa, African American mother of three convicted of embezzling close to nine hundred million dollars. Sentenced to seventy-five years. Likely one of the few truly innocent prisoners in the section. The judge barred the jury from hearing about Lisa's boss' three mansions, twelve high end sports cars, and two yachts as being irrelevant. As was the facts that Lisa lived in a small apartment, rode the bus to work, and her three kids went to a public school in a high crime zone. While her boss' son attended a private school.

"Because ten minutes after you land the male inmates will be released in the same location."

I gagged a bit. The last thing I needed was another man in my life. After killing my ex-husband, when I caught him raping our twelve-year-old daughter, I knew I was done with men.

“Ladies, welcome to Freedom, the first human habitable world within range of our current faster-than-light capabilities.”

I knew that was a load of shit. If we were that far out we’d be well into Bug or Wild space.

“Your job is simple, survive for as long as possible. Don't worry, if you die we'll know what killed you and in five to ten years we should have enough reliable information for real colonists to begin settling."

Suddenly the drop pod jerked as retro jets fired and Brenda hit the ceiling with a wet crunch.

"I call dibs."

Everyone turned and stared at Ellen.

"What? It's not like we're going to get much else, we know is safe, to consume."

Ellen might have a point, but I wasn't going to start on the road to cannibalism with Brenda. I wasn't that hungry. Besides my first objective once we were on the ground would be to get as far from the drop site as possible before the men arrived.

As soon as the pod hit the ground I was out the hatch while most of the others started arguing. I was surprised to find that the area was littered with supplies. It seems the guards wanted us to live for a while anyway. I grabbed a first aid kit, backpack full of MRE's, water filtration kit, and a knife which I considered discarding since it was carbon fiber, but any weapon was better than none. Finally I grabbed a collapsible two gallon water container and two full quart water bottles. I stuffed everything but the knife into the pack.

I quickly took in my surroundings. The landing zone was on a small hill. In one direction was open grassland and the other there were more hills. I could already see the next pod coming down. I headed for the hills. As I made it to the edge I found another crate had landed down the hillside. Only this one was red instead of green and was intact.

I used my knife to pry it open. It was packed with weapons and tools. I grabbed two gun belts with revolvers, a rifle, several cartons of ammo, a hatchet, steel knife, fire starting kit, and a trenching tool. There was probably more, deeper in the crate but I was already overloaded and risking getting caught. I took off as I heard the second pod touch down. I figured I'd continue until the sun started to get low in the sky and then find some temporary shelter.

***

"All up!"

Something wasn't right. We were well conditioned to wake up on command, but we weren't in our cells.

"You have all been transferred. The Federation has seen fit to put your asses to good use. From now on you will be calling the planet Freedom your new home."

"Sir, there seems to have been a mistake. I've served my full term and I'm set for release." I spoke up.

"And you are being released just not on Earth. You will be setting down in a few minutes and I'm required to warn you that the female inmates have had enough time to prepare for your arrival. Now, try to enjoy

Freedom."

"Hear that? We gonna get some pussy!" Brute, the prison alpha male. Considering the number of inmates he'd sent to the infirmary after being sated I was surprised he cared what he put it in, as long as its owner was screaming.

Looking over the other inmates I knew that getting as far away from the drop zone as fast as I could was the only way I'd survive. I was only left alone up until now due to the fact everyone knew my life was owned by one of the most ruthless women on the planet. A woman so vindictive she had her own son castrated.

I really should have realized my life was over when she complimented me on how nice I looked. Closely followed by telling me to strip and polish her $1800 shoes with my tongue. I simply walked out and immediately complained to human resources. I was escorted from the building by security within minutes.

As if that day couldn't have gotten any worse, I accompanied my partner to meet his family for the first time only to be confronted by the horror of learning that my now ex-boss was his mother. She claimed assault, not having time to get creative, and I was sentenced to five years.

As I was being led away from the court room she yelled, "Enjoy your little vacation". Within a week the prison got a special live video gift of her son's modification. She finished off by addressing the prisoners. If anyone damaged me before she had her turn they would suffer like they couldn't even imagine. After all, what was the life of some stranger compared to her son's balls.

"J-Jay?"

I was pulled from my memories by the timid voice. "Martin?" I could only stare at the young man wedged in the seat between the airlock and Hiro.

Hiro was the grandson of a Yakuza boss sent to the states to earn his place. He'd been transferred into the prison a day earlier for "safe keeping" and I expected him to be released by the end of the week. The fact that he was here meant that heads were going to roll, quite literally.

Martin, while blending in with the decor of the drop pod stuck out amongst the rest of us. Instead of a prison orange jumpsuit he was dressed his normal jeans and t-shirt. Five years and he looked the same as I'd last seen him. At least when I'd last seen him in person.

"What is going on? The last thing I remember-"

"Not now, we'll talk later if we both survive." The drop pod gave a sudden lurch. "The retros have fired, I guess this is where we find out if there is fresh pussy out there or a firing squad."

I noticed several men look at each other fearfully. The pod hit the ground and the hatched popped open. I hit my restraint release and lunged across the aisle hitting the release on Martin's, and accidentally the one on Hiro's, seat. Yanking Martin up and pushing him out and to one side I was surprised to find Hiro standing next to us.

"No fi-in' squad, an da bishes chip is a hunned yahds to dah light." Hiro yelled back into the open door.

As the drop pod quickly emptied he grabbed my shoulder and pointed toward the hills.

"She has the right idea."

I could see the distinctive orange just before she disappeared behind another hill.

"There are supplies on the ground." Martin tossed backpacks to the two of us and then started grabbing water bottles.

"Don't take more than two bottles. I've found a filtration kit so extra water will just weigh us down."

"Here's a couple of medical kits." I looked in confusion at Hiro but passed him a filtration kit in trade.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll stick with you two. The odds of survival are higher if we work as a team. I know your stories and you're not violent psychopaths."

"Let's move before someone notices we're thinking of something other than immediate gratification." They both nodded and we headed over the hill. We were stunned at the sight of the second supply crate.

"You think they pushed it over the side so no one else would notice it?"

I shook my head, "No, it landed here. There's no drag marks and only one set of footprints." I grabbed a knife and cut more of the straps.

"What are you doing?"

"Each of you take a gun belt, rifle, trenching tool, hatchet, fire starting kit, knife, and ammo. I'm opening this thing up to see what else it contains." On the side opposite the weapons was a crate of boots and survival packs with bed rolls, blankets, coats, and tarps. I pulled out four packs and found a pair of boots in my size. "When you’ve got your supplies get over here and find yourselves a pair of boots but don't change into them. We need to move as fast as we can for a few days and blisters will slow us down worse than wearing out our prison shoes."

"Why did you pull out four packs?"

I smiled at Martin as he started sorting the boots by size. "It's a peace offering. The woman we're following didn't get past the weapons so she may have an uncomfortable night. The pack will be in exchange for not shooting us. When you find your boots see if you can match up a pair to her footprints."

He smiled, "Yes, boss."

I rolled my eyes and kept digging. The area around the weapons crate was starting to look like the mess at the top of the hill but I finally found what I was hoping would be there. I grabbed four bows and quivers of arrows. "Have you gotten the boots? Because it's time to get moving."

Hiro was sitting on the ground next to where I'd pushed a box of knives. In his lap was a broken katana. It was obvious he'd been set up to be sent here. "Hiro! You can give up, or get up and prove that you have more honor than whoever framed you believes. Here, take a machete, I know it's not the same thing, but here and now you are probably the most honorable person on the planet." I was actually rather surprised when he did stand up.

"You're right, I pledge my honor to-"

"No, before you make any vows, pledges, or anything of that sort you need to get to know me. Right now we are just comrades working together to survive."

"I- Yes that is acceptable."

"Good, then let’s get moving. We don't want to be anywhere near here when those lunatics find the weapons."

"Just a minute, I found something else that might be useful." Martin came around the crate with four bundles of nylon rope.

We split the supplies as evenly as possible, nodded as one, and took off following the tracks of the woman had left earlier.

***

The sun had slipped below the ridge and the air had started to take on a chill and I hadn't yet found anything that looked like shelter, but I was exhausted. The best option seemed to be perching in a "tree". Like the grass they looked like broad leaf Earth trees except the leaves seemed more blue than green and as it got darker they started to glow. The first ones had been blue and green but soon other colors began to appear. As strange as it was I had to admit it was a beautiful planet to be stuck on.

I climbed halfway up one with glowing orange leaves that would mask my jumpsuit, and used the back pack straps to tie myself in place. I cursed myself for not checking the weapons crate more thoroughly, or maybe a clothing crate had landed elsewhere, because I could really have used a coat, blanket, or heavier clothes.

"Well, shit." I unclipped the food pack and climbed back down the tree. With the glow lighting my way I decided, tired as I was, to keep moving rather than risk hypothermia. I'd have to get a bit of rest when the sun came back up and then hope I would be far enough away for a fire tomorrow night. I made my way back down to the stream I'd been following.

I was being carful watching where I stepped since the multiple light sources were creating tricky shadows when I ran into another inmate.

***

We walked along the stream, keeping to the rocks as much as possible, to hide our tracks. The one we were following, while having the right idea didn't seem as concerned. She seemed to be focused on speed and ease leaving a clear trail. I only hoped that the riot that would undoubtedly break out when the others discovered the weapons would obscure any chance of being followed.

It had been several hours and the hill country around us wasn't getting much steeper. I also hadn't seen anything resembling a conifer telling me that the area probably had a mild climate and the hills were likely created by glacial deposition in the ancient past.

"It's so strange how quiet it is. Not like the city at all."

I stopped. Martin was right, it was quiet. I really hadn't noticed since I was concentrating on the tracks. The only sounds were the running water, leaves blowing in the breeze, and our breathing. There was no birdsong and no buzzing of insects. I look around and there wasn't a flower in sight only the grass and blue leafed trees. There wasn't even any bushes.

"We may have a serious problem."

Hiro and Martin both raised their rifles and scanned the tree line.

"Not that kind of problem, at least not yet. We may be looking at the possibility that we have the choice of becoming vegan or cannibal and even then our choices may be extremely limited."

"What do you mean?" Hiro asked.

"Martin is right, it's too quiet. I know he meant without the city sounds he is used to, but I grew up in the country. On Earth there would be the sound of birds calling out their territory and the droning of insects but here there is silence."

"Is it possible that only plants have evolved? Something has to produce carbon dioxide for the plants right?" Martin asked.

"That's correct, on Earth, however this isn't Earth so it is possible that a different system has developed. For now we should keep moving while we have the light."

Martin and I nodded at Hiro's advice and we continued on in silence trying desperately to hear anything other than leaves and water. It was probably why we heard the exclamation. We watched as the female inmate climbed down out of a tree and made her way toward us. We watched in shock as she came toward us without even lifting her rifle. She seemed a bit slow especially when she bounced off of me like she didn't even see me. She would have fallen if I hadn't grabbed her arm.

"Shary didn shee oo."

"Hiro, get her other arm! We’ve got to get to high ground!"

Even though we were exhausted we scrambled up the hill. The higher we got the more obvious it became what was happening. As we got above the tree line our heads began to clear.

"What happened and who are you?" The woman demanded.

"I'm Jay, and that is Martin and Hiro. We're the ones that just saved your life."

"Oh really, what from?"

"Carbon dioxide poisoning. Martin, I think we have the answer to your earlier question. Whatever is making the leaves glow is using oxygen and producing massive amounts of carbon dioxide. You can actually see it flowing down the valley like a river of wind."

"Listen, I don't know you and I don't care how smart you think you are, but the last thing I need is to be raped by a bunch of-"

"Whoa, let me just stop you right there. The only one I plan on sharing a sleeping pad with is Martin. Of course I can't speak for Hiro."

"You're perfectly safe. While I'm gender flexible, I'm only interested in willing partners." Hiro said.

"Wow, you're going to get low ratings then."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't get 'the talk'? We've been implanted with nanobots that lets everyone on Earth see and hear everything we do."

"That's sick, but I'm not surprised. I know Lucinda's research division has been trying to perfect that technology." Martin said.

"Oh my God, I thought you looked familiar. You're 'Her' son. Honeypot has a picture of you that she keeps to remind herself who is to blame for her incarceration."

"What are you talking about?" Martin asked.

"After she 'fixed' you for your mother, Lucinda had her convicted and imprisoned. You were her final conquest."

"I still have no clue what you're talking about."

"Martin what is the last thing you remember?" I asked.

"Returning to our apartment and maybe the first glass or two of getting smashed."

"That's the last thing you remember? What about-" The woman started to ask.

"Don't say anything else." I quickly changed the focus. "So Hiro, what is your story?"

"I was sent to deal with Lucinda after her company stole prototype nanotech from my uncle's company. Unfortunately I failed. However, I'm fortunate that my nanites are top of the line so only my clan can see, hear, and communicate with me. Any new nanites would have been co-opted or destroyed."

"What are your plans toward Martin and me?"

"At first I had planned to kill you as a blow against Lucinda."

"And now?"

"I can see that helping to keep you alive and safe would be smarter. Not to mention that the better off you are the angrier she will be. So, other than sleeping with her son what did you do?"

"Yeah, what did you do to piss her off before she even knew about us?"

"I was a low level employee, basically a paper pusher that caught her eye. She called me in, told me to strip, and worship her shoes. I may have said something along the lines of not sullying my tongue even if she was the last woman on Earth and covered with the very last tub of whipped cream. Then I did something really stupid I complained to Human Resources threatening to go public if action wasn't taken."

"Holy shit! I'm kind of surprised you're still alive. True we're together here instead of you going to prison for five years so it isn't all bad."

"Uh, yeah. So, what is your name and story?" I asked the woman.

"Unlike you three I'm not in the crosshairs of the most powerful business woman on Earth. My name is Carl, and I was serving a normal murder sentence. Unlike many of my fellow inmates the bastard deserved it. I actually regret killing him. At least the way it happened." She shivered and I realized that we were in such a hurry to get out of the valley I hadn't given her the extra pack.

"Here there's a coat and blanket in there. Continue while I set up a fire."

"What about other inmates?"

"Look around, do you think anyone is going to notice a little campfire with all the hills glowing like a world spanning Christmas tree? Besides if we were being followed it is a good bet they didn't survive the CO2 river." Carl continued once we stopped talking.

"There's not much to tell. I came home from work one day and found my ex-husband raping our twelve year old daughter. He came after me and I dodged. He went over the banister."

"Sounds more like an accident." I finished clearing an area for the fire and digging a depression in the dirt. I started looking for rocks as she continued.

"Yeah, maybe, except for the twelve rounds I put into the bastard before taking my daughter to the hospital. It's hard to win a self-defense case when you take the time to reload. Plus I didn't bother to call the police until after I knew my daughter was safe. I was still lucky to make a plea bargain for a reduced sentence, not that it matters now."

"How long did you have left?" I had the rocks in place and plenty of dry grass but we'd still need to gather some wood.

She laughed, "If what they told us is true, and we've been in hyper sleep for two years, then I should be getting out any day now."

Hiro joined her with a laugh of his own, "While I'm not going to say I'm completely innocent I'd like to point out that I was never charged with any crime. If anything your country is criminally liable for sending me here after I provided my diplomatic immunity papers. I was only being held for extradition back to Japan, not to another planet."

"One thing I'm sure of is that Lucinda made damn sure anyone that crossed her, and was still breathing, was sent out here. There was an inmate in my pod that everyone knew had been falsely convicted of embezzling from Lucinda. Looking back I probably should have found a way to bring her with me, but with the men's pod coming down and most of mine arguing over whether or not eat the first casualty my only thought was escape."

"I can't argue with your logic. It's not like I'd planned to bring Hiro along with us or even follow you, but that's just the way it worked out. So, now we need to gather some wood. We've got plenty of light, but it would probably be best to pair up. Carl and Martin, Hiro and myself, any problems?" Nobody responded, "I'll take that as a no. Remember, don't go below the tree line and only gather dead stuff on the ground. Carl, can I speak to you alone for a minute?"

She nodded, but pulled out one of her pistols. We walked a short way from the camp site and then I turned to her. "Listen, I put you with Martin because you know that he isn't likely to try anything with you. All I ask is that you don't tell him about what was done to him while he was drugged. I don't think he has realized what he's lost yet."

"You want to break it to him as gently as possible. I get that, but he can likely tell you're keeping something from him, so if he asks I'll do my best to keep the conversation limited to the fact that he was in hyper sleep for five years while you served your sentence. I may have trouble trusting men, after what happened, but that doesn't mean I hate you either. Now, let’s find some firewood before it gets any colder."

***

As we made our way around the hill top Martin remained surprisingly quiet. Unfortunately, most of what I knew about outdoor survival was from watching movies and the combination of silence and eerie lighting reminded me too much of horror films. "So, Martin, how did you and Jay meet?"

He laughed and I relaxed a little. It was a self-deprecating type of laugh that held volumes of information. The type of laugh that Romeo might have given when asked if he took Juliet 'for better or worse'".

"Yeah, it isn't exactly normal for an eighteen-year-old to hook up with a man coming up on 32, but we really do have a lot in common."

I tripped over my own feet and nearly fell. Jay was only 37. He looked to be in his mid-50's at the very least. I could accept that prison might have been hard on him, but there was only so much credibility in the notion of 'blinded by love'.

"I know that look. You're thinking he looks older than that and that he's too old for me anyway. The truth is his looks are what really get me going. Anyway, as I was saying, we both had an overbearing parent. However, unlike my mother who was determined to micromanage my life through caretakers, Jay's father was a fanatic survivalist. Jay refuses to say much about him, other than the fact his not coming home after one of his solo outings was the best days of his teen years, sadly it's because of him we're likely going to survive."

I laughed, and Martin looked at me strangely. "Sorry, it's just that he decided to follow me out here when my only survival skills were learned from movies."

"Really? That's pretty good since the only criticism Jay had was that you needed to learn how to better hide your tracks."

"I wasn't smart enough to get my own coat and blanket."

"Don't worry about it your first thought was on escape not long term survival."

"It's not like Jay would have missed anything."

"You want to bet on that?"

"Like we have anything to wager with."

"Tell you what, once we get back and Jay has a fire going I bet you that he'll swear at his stupidity for missing essential survival gear. If I win I get to trade my least favorite MRE for my choice of any one of yours and the vice versa for you if he doesn't get mad at himself."

"No deal, you've already noticed something he hasn't."

"Well it was worth a try."

The little shit smiled and winked at me as he bent down for a dry branch. "Oh, and for the record, you're the only one that had the fore sight to grab a collapsible water jug. Since it seems we're going to have to live on hill tops, packing water is going to be an essential part of our survival."

I picked up a couple sticks of my own and then we continued walking.

"Anyway, as embarrassing as it is, I actually 'met' Jay when I was sixteen."

I gasped at that revelation.

"Oh, it was nothing like that. I was working at one of those big box stores, mainly to piss off Lucinda by lowering myself to such a menial position, and Jay came up and asked if we'd gotten in the latest toy assortment."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, one of his hobbies is collecting and customizing toys, along with collecting vintage games, movies on discs and printed books. Anyway from that very first moment I knew I wanted him. Call it my mother's influence if you want but I stalked him for the next two years. Like I said we have similar interests so it only took a bit of work on my part to figure out that we already knew each other online. It was really difficult to keep myself in check for two years. On my eighteenth birthday I finally asked him out."

"And he actually agreed?"

"Well, yeah, but I did it through my online persona so he didn't realize it was a date, or that he'd recognize me. It was an awkward date to be sure, but I was able to convince him to at least meet me again. After that date everything just seemed to get better until, well, you know."

"So, what did Jay want to talk about before we split up?"

"Oh you know, not to hurt you or else. Just the normal type of veiled threats that a . . ."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Anyway we've both got pretty good armloads let’s head back, I can hardly wait for the dinner show."

I nodded, glad that he had interrupted me. I'd been about to say the threats a concerned parent makes. At 18 he was only a couple of years younger than my daughter and I couldn't help but feel a bit of mothering instinct myself.

***

I’d planned on spinning this out into a longer work of survival on the alien world but, as usual other things came up and this has been sitting in my notes. So with a few minor adjustments I added it to the Virtually Real story. I’m putting posting it here for anyone wanting to get a bit more perspective on the MAS game’s new team of convicts.