Mark Two by John Hindmarsh

Author:John Hindmarsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rexon Press
Published: 2017-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

He had no watch, no cell phone, no radio, no television, no computer. There were large clocks in various places along corridors and in the mess, and a warning siren regularly would announce it was time to wake up or turn lights out or time to eat. However, there was no way for him to establish the date or to receive news of the outside world. He showered, ate and exercised to the schedule set by his guards. This discipline had continued, he estimated, for almost a week. His guards had increased the severity of his exercise regime and he was now at the level of fitness that he had always maintained. Also, his memory had returned as the drug washed out of his system.

He tried to speak with the guards; however, their responses had been identical: any attempt to communicate was met with a threat of a stunner. He persevered once, continuing to press the guard for an answer. He woke up the next morning, still on the floor of his small room, every nerve end protesting its extreme agony. There was a guard waiting outside his door. His message was brief.

“Do not ask questions. Do not speak to the guards unless spoken to, first. Otherwise you’ll be stunned again and then drugged for another week. We’ll repeat that punishment each time you disobey.” The guard walked off, his job done.

Mark decided to follow the simple rules, at least for the moment. He needed to find a way out of this strange prison. His energy and mental abilities had returned by the second week. There were no gaps as far as he could determine—except he did not know why he had been kidnapped. He was patient with the guards. Some still showed fear, while some tried to hide it. They rarely spoke except to give instructions, always abrupt, never with any friendliness.

Now, when he ate, Mark sat with the children; they also were prisoners, apparently unable to leave the dark gray walls of the building. Conversations were rare. It was not that he was ignored; rather, it was that they held him in awe for some unknown reason. Occasionally, he thought they were communicating nonverbally, with hand signs or body movements, or else their behavior patterns were so well ingrained, they required no words. When the children finished a meal, they would all stand at once and file out of the mess, youngest first. He had detected other activities that they performed in unrehearsed unison. When his fitness sessions coincided with any of the children, he noted that they ran or lifted weights or stretched or engaged in other exercises in groups, with a lack of conversation and a surprising degree of cohesive discipline.

One morning—it was the beginning of the third week, he guessed, since he had regained consciousness—the morning guard spoke to him as he finished his breakfast. “Today you start to earn your keep. You will help with training. Follow me.”

The guard headed off at a brisk walk.

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