Galactic Bounty by William C. Dietz

Author:William C. Dietz [Dietz, William C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 0-7592-8423-7
Publisher: EReads
Published: 2008-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Ten

After being disarmed, they were herded through a maze of hallways, corridors, tunnels, and lift tubes that always headed down. The farther they went, the fewer people they encountered. Those they did pass ignored them. McCade decided prisoners must be a fairly common sight on the Rock. He remembered stories he'd heard about pirate prisoners winding up as slaves and shuddered.

Meanwhile the hallways and corridors through which they passed had grown darker and shabbier. Eventually lift tubes gave way to endless stairs leading down. McCade noticed it was getting warmer and more humid. Even the walls were sweating. Soon water dripped, gurgled, and slid off every surface, turning his clothes to wet rags which clung to his skin and rubbed it raw. What he had first noticed as a vibration in the soles of his boots had become recognizable as the throbbing beat of heavy machinery located somewhere nearby.

He glanced over his shoulder to see how the others were doing and got a hard shove for his trouble. A soaked Van Doren and Sara were right behind him, but there was no sign of Laurie.

The stairs finally ended in a dark area of indeterminate size. McCade decided it was probably large, since their footsteps echoed as if off distant walls. Widely spaced pools of light marked a path through the dark. Somebody rammed something hard between his shoulder blades to hurry him along. On the edge of his vision, light and dark met in gloomy twilight and he could just barely make out endless rows of old-fashioned bars. Then he realized this section dated back to the time when the entire complex had been a prison. Since then they had quite naturally renovated the upper levels first, leaving the deepest areas for detention cells and heavy equipment.

The floor suddenly shelved upward, causing him to stumble and almost fall. Strong hands pulled him back up and roughly shoved him on. Then they rounded a corner and were ordered to halt. Dark forms moved to his right, accompanied by the squeal of unoiled hinges. He was unceremoniously propelled forward. Metal clanged behind him. He turned to see the bulky shadows move off into the dark.

Not far away machinery beat out a massive rhythm that made his head hurt. He thought he heard the sound of two more cell doors closing, but they were too far off for him to be sure. He tried yelling, but there was no reply. If Sara and Amos were anywhere nearby, they evidently couldn't hear him over the machinery.

Strangely enough, other than weapons, they hadn't taken his personal possessions. If his lighter had been a miniature blaster, they would have been sorry. Unfortunately, it was only a lighter. He used it to examine his cell. Except for a plastic bench set against one wall, and some pathetic grafitti left by previous tenants, the cell was bare. McCade lit a cigar and sat down on the bench. He flinched as his back came into contact with the damp wall, and then decided to ignore it.

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