Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 7

Nolun had woken up in many prison cells before, but none like this. Usually he had been thrown into some rusty old room with an iron barred door that barely worked, after a drunken row at a bar, but this was a bit more sophisticated than that. In front of him was a shiny chrome door, with no open window, and no locks or bolts that seemed apparent. The room contained a stainless steel bed, with blankets and a pillow, along with a toilet, and no windows. There was one luminescent light that was glaringly bright, so much so that Nolun had to keep his eyes permanently squinted until he adjusted to it. He looked down and saw that his clothes and gear had been replaced with a grey jumpsuit which had metal bracelets and anklets on each arm and leg, and had the GDF symbol on the right side of his chest. Suddenly, it all made sense. Nolun put his head in his hands and cursed his stupidity. They were in some kind of GDF prison camp. Why had he just let those people on the boat come right up to them without seeing if they were dangerous? He had put himself and Andress in danger, again. Andress...he had rescued her only to deliver her back into the jaws of the beast. He hoped she wasn't hurt. But before he could think about her again, the door suddenly slid open, and GDF Riot Guards walked in, wielding stun batons, and stared down at him. "Up, prisoner!" Nolun looked up with a glare and stood up. There was no point in resisting. Not yet, anyway. As soon as he got up, the bracelets and anklets seemed to magnetize together, binding his arms and legs. He could still walk, although at a very slow pace. The guards moved him through the hallway, and as Nolun looked up, he saw the extent of the prison. There were levels upon levels of steel doors, all of them identical. Guards were patrolling, some with batons, others with full-on rifles. There were no windows, only lights. Nolun looked forwards and focused. Difficult, but not impossible.

The guards walked Nolun through a series of corridors, passing through a large space for the prisoners to get exercise, more cell blocks, and each time they entered a new area Nolun noticed that the guards held up a small device on their arms to a scanner, which beeped green then opened the door. Then, a small red light went over all of them as they walked through, beeping once for each person. When Nolun went through, he saw a barcode appear on his jumpsuit, which was scanned. He kept a mental note of all of this, until they finally reached an area that oddly enough, seemed more normal then the rest of the prison. It was an ordinary wooden door, next to some brick walls, which looked starkly out of place compared to the steel chrome of the rest of the complex. It still had a scanner to get in, and the guards pushed Nolun in when they opened the door. Inside, sitting in a regular armchair, was a man with grey hair, and a large burn across his face. He looked at Nolun and gave a chillingly pleasant smile. "Hello Nolun. Come in, have a seat." Nolun looked confused, then shuffled over to the sofa that was opposite the man's chair and sat down. The man poured some amber-coloured liquid from an old-fashioned teapot into a small cup. "Tea?" He asked with a polite tone. Nolun shook his head. The man shrugged and smiled. "Suit yourself." He picked up the cup and sipped the tea. "Aaah. Earl Grey. This stuff is imported you know. The cost is high, but it's definitely worth it." The door opened again, and a few more guards walked in, along with Andress. Nolun turned around and his eyes widened. Her mechanical arm had been replaced with a more updated version, clearly one manufactured by the prison itself. He grit his teeth in anger. "Ah, Andress! There you are. Have a seat next to Nolun." 

Andress had no idea who this man was. She was a little disoriented after waking up in her cell, and as the effects of the tranquilizer wore off, she began to be more and more aware of the new pain in her arm, thanks to the replacement prosthetic. She had then been dragged to this room and sat next to Nolun, and was now faced with the same man with the burned face who she had seen when they were taken. Andress had met a lot of high-ranking members of the GDF during her time, but she had never seen this person before. That made her uneasy. He stared at the two of them with an unnatural calm. He sipped some more tea, then spoke in a soft, and almost conversational voice. "My apologies. I know your names, but you don't know mine. I'm Warden Alistar Caligula. I run this place. If you'd like to know exactly where you are, I can't tell you. Honestly, I forget myself sometimes. There's an official name for this place, but we've taken to calling it Purgatorio." Andress didn't flinch, and he stood up and walked around the room as he kept talking. "I've been Warden of this place for over 5 years, and I've been in charge of keeping the worst prisoners of the GDF and the galaxy in general safe from the rest of the world. And now, the two most wanted criminals in the entire galaxy just happen to drop onto my planet." He laughed, as if it was all a big joke. "It's fate, I tell you. I've already contacted Director Gottlieb, who was very pleased to know you two were still alive." Andress clenched her fist. "He's on his way, but since he was all the way across the system, he'll take about a week to get here. Until then, you two are my guests." He leaned in close to them and smiled. "Trust me, you're going to like it here." He sat back down in his chair and sipped his tea. "And by the way, if you're thinking of escaping, don't. I can tell you, over a thousand people have tried, and miserably failed. If you want to make that same mistake, go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you." He motioned to the guards. "Take them back to their cells, please." The guards grabbed them and were walking them out of the room when Nolun spoke up. "You know, these theatrics won't scare us. We've been through worse than this." Caligula simply looked at Nolun and smiled, as if he was indulging a small child. "By the end of this...you'll have been through plenty worse than that."