CYDONIA 6: Escape or be Eaten by Matt Sylvester

Author:Matt Sylvester [Sylvester, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-05-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

September 14, 2335 M.E.

5:04 p.m.

Dr. Selleck rocked back in his chair, his feet up on the desk. The bottle of whiskey in his lap was much lighter than it had been twenty minutes ago, when he first opened it, but his mind wasn’t getting any lighter. He had finally come to terms with thoughts and emotions he had been shunning for a decade—well, almost two decades in real time.

Edgar sat wordlessly in the cushioned inmates’ chair, holding his own bottle of whiskey, his eyes shrouded behind a veil of black hair. Unlike Dr. Selleck’s, Edgar’s background didn’t include traditional military service; he was one of the millions who had taken an opportunity to leave prison in exchange for leaving everything else too.

The Prison Militia, as they came to be known during the war of species, were more or less mercenaries that were thrown at the front lines, combat fodder that would absorb initial IIL attacks while the real military troops mobilized. Militia veterans were given amnesty for their previous offenses upon discharge, regardless of what crimes they had previously committed, and were allowed to settle in the colonies as societal equals. The probability of a Prison Militia member actually surviving until their discharge date, however, was very low, which meant that Edgar must have been very lucky, or one hell of a fighter.

Dr. Selleck never asked Edgar what he had been in for, but it must have been bad. Even with the amnesty, lifers, rapists, and murderers had a hard time integrating into the law-abiding population of the colonies after the war. Edgar had been with the camp since the very beginning, even longer than Headmaster Green, and Cydonia camp staff members were strictly volunteers. In a way, Dr. Selleck would rather not know what crimes Edgar had committed.

Ropy chunks of oily hair parted as Edgar tipped his bottle back and wiped his mouth with a fist as large as a small bowling ball. The two men never spoke much; tonight they were extra-quiet. Order number 20 and their baby had been served to the Masters yesterday, and Charlie threw himself into oblivion only hours later. Minutes ago, Headmaster Green had announced that another prisoner was about to be liquidated, possibly two.

Liquidation timelines were being sped up by the Masters, and Dr. Selleck didn’t like any of the implications associated with such a drastic change in routine. Nothing new ever happened in camp unless there was a reason, and the reason was always something bad, frightening, or both.

Since the Masters wanted to eat lamb and carrots together, Arva’s pending murder made sense. She was just a side dish anyway; her taste didn’t matter as much, and wasn’t as valuable, as Charlie’s lamb-infused flesh. Charlie was dead; she should go too. That, he understood.

However, killing Jonah and Arva in the same night went against the terms of the contract. Liquidation of both meant five bodies, not including the infant, were being out-processed in less than seventy-two hours, one body over the agreed-upon limit.

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