Echoes of Harmony

General Augusta Zorn decided he put the conversation off long enough. With Vertyn officially in service, there were not going to be many opportunities for him to make his way down to the prison ward on a regular basis. It was finally time for him to treat one of his two prisoners to a visit. After the orientation, he made his way to that end of the station.

The cells were in a relatively nondescript section of the space station. It was one of the few sections of not entirely finished, mostly due to the lack of a need for them as of yet. Panels still hung loosely from the walls and ceiling. Lights were not fully wired.

Two human guards stood outside the set of doors leading into the prison ward. They came to attention as General Zorn approached. Part of him was surprised when Rausch decided to have humans rather than robots like most other aspects of their society. Then again, that was the whole point of the station, to training a new generation of human soldiers to be ready for combat.

“At ease, gentlemen,” he said, walking up to the door. It was a semicircle, coming to a height of two and a half meters in the center. To the right sat a scanner with a iris scanner as well as hand print reader. “Just coming to have a chat with one of our prisoners.”

“Of course, sir.” The soldier stepped aside to allow Zorn access to the biometric scanners. He gestured to it nonchalantly. Zorn scowled at the movement, knowing he would need to discipline the casualness eventually. “If you wouldn’t mind just verifying your identity, sir.”

“Not at all.”

A brief scan of one of his eyes and hands resulted in the door splitting in two with a hiss. He stepped forward, into the short, five meter long hallway, ignoring the well wishes of the guards. At the far end was another door, nearly identical to the last. On either side was a bay of scanners built into the walls to ensure he didn’t smuggle any contraband into the prison. A pair of metallic arms came out at right angles across from each other.

Knowing they wouldn’t find anything, he walked forward. The scanners whirred to life with each step he took. The arms followed him down the length of the hall, watching him every centimeter of the way. By the time he reached the opposite end, the door opened for him.

The current state of the cells left something to be desired. There were two levels to the prison ward, each consisting of a series of cells running the length of the twenty meter long room. Each cell held a toilet, a bed, and a holographic tablet containing nothing but reading material. As a precaution, the module connecting it to the CoreNet, or any other network, was removed. The doors to each cell were made of a partially transparent wall of solid light that Zorn didn’t care to know how it worked.

A balcony ran along the second floor where a guard patrolled. Another human made a circuit down each side of the bottom level. Near the door was a guard booth where a third man sat ready. A bay of controls sat in front of him. When he noticed Zorn in front of him—perhaps a second or two late—he stood and came to attention.

“General on deck!” he called out. The other two guards immediately straightened and stopped their patrols.

“As you were,” Zorn said. “Open cell A-3.”

He strolled to the third cell on the right side. As he reached it, the light barrier vanished, and he stepped inside. He was surprised to hear the door hum back into place less than a second after he passed the threshold. At least they followed procedures on one thing.

In the cell was a man he had not met in person before this day. He currently laid with his back to Zorn. His hair was disheveled from the time spent in the small room. The smell emanating from the orange jumpsuit he wore caused Zorn’s nose to wrinkle.

Stolen story; please report.

The man seemed broken. He was no longer the strong-willed individual he spoke with during the battle.

“About time you decided to show up,” Hayden Reid said. He didn’t move, continuing to face the wall with his arms supporting his head. “I was beginning to think I wasn’t important enough to warrant a visit.”

“Consider yourself lucky you were important enough for me to bring you here at all. I didn’t need to have you transported to the Wagener nor did you need to come here.”

“And why did you bring me along?”

“No reason you need to concern yourself with.” Of course, Zorn couldn’t admit he was only keeping the man alive to keep his son in line. What little he knew about Hayden Reid showed he would not go along with that.

“I think I deserve at least an explanation, you bastard.” He rolled over and put his hands behind his head. “Why me? And where the hell is my son?”

“Don’t worry, your son is safe and sound. In fact, I just saw him. He seemed happier now than he did at home.”

Hayden quickly sat up. He slammed his feet into the ground with a bang. His eyes attempted to bore into Zorn’s but failed. Zorn hid his smirk. That was a sore point he would have to keep in mind for the future.

“Take that back.” His voice was low. It would have sounded dangerous if he didn’t know Hayden wouldn’t harm a fly. Then again, his son had probably never been used as a pawn before. “Take that back or I swear…”

“You swear what, Provost?” Zorn took a step forward, clasping his hands behind his back. “From where I’m standing, you couldn’t hurt me if you tried. But that’s neither here nor there.

“I came here to see if we could reach a mutual understanding.” Zorn moved to the side of the room and leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. He was shocked at being able to control his temper. Any other time, he would not have been surprised if his prisoner ended up with their face smashed against the nearest bulkhead. Now, though, he was calm. Perhaps too calm. “Not to insult you or be insulted by you. Contrary to what you may have been told about our government, we still believe in the will of the people. There will be a vote for governor of Stariek. Of course, we will be providing candidates for the people to choose from. If you agree to our terms, I can ensure your name makes it to the ballot.”

“And what would those terms be?” Hayden’s voice held a venom that may have scathed a lesser man. Unfortunately for him, Zorn had been through worse.

“Agree to do what we tell you, when we tell you.” Zorn shrugged. “Some on the council may disagree with my wording, but you’d essentially be our puppet.”

“How does that respect the ‘will of the people?’” Hayden scoffed and paced on the opposite side of the room. “I led my planet with freedom in mind, not just blindly following orders.”

“And look where it has gotten you. If you had simply accepted our rule when we arrived, we would have avoided much unnecessary bloodshed. You might have retained your position far easier than you are now.” Zorn smiled, knowing it looked as forced as it felt. “If it helps, we’re working with those members of your parliament who didn’t denounce us. A little less than half resigned already, but the rest are more than happy with our takeover. We’ll replace the missing ones, of course.”

Hayden scoffed and shook his head.

“I refuse to believe any of my people would willingly side with you tyrants.”

“Is that why we had to rescue you from your own capitol building?” Zorn let the fake grin drop. He took a step forward, letting his voice rise. “Why your own people protested your abhorrent rule? Why you forced thousands of your own people to their deaths with no chance of success? Yet you call us the tyrants.”

“The difference is your actions were to cause as much terror and harm as possible. Mine were to protect my people.”

“Quite a lot of good that did you.” Zorn’s breathing started to increase, and he had to stop and turn away. Now was not the time for him to lose control. He was doing so well so far. If this filth would just take the olive branch he offered… “But I digress. Voting will commence on the first of the year. The ballot must be finalized before then. I need your answer now.”

“My answer is I refuse to be anyone’s puppet, least of all yours.”

“Very well.” Zorn turned and slowly walked towards the wall of light. “Then we shall see how long you last now that you have outlived your usefulness.”

The light vanished as he neared, reappearing the moment he crossed the threshold. A bang came from the other side, followed by a sizzle and a shout. Zorn smiled. Perhaps Hayden wasn’t as broken as he originally thought. That would prove useful in the future.

Very useful.

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