A Future Torn: Chapter 2 - The Dawn of Hell
05 Apr 2016LordPsymon
Previous chapterA Future Torn: Chapter 2 - The Dawn of Hell
---Unknown Location---
“What about this one? Fresh from Cubeo.”
“Put him on the boat to Eravate. They buy Imps for quite a hefty price.”
“You got it boss. Man, Reck’s going to be pleased with this haul.”
“Yeah just don’t be too rough. You can’t sell a broken slave.”
“Wait, hang on. He’s awake in there.”
“What? Why is he not in stasis? Ah god damn it! The pod’s malfunctioned!”
“Get that thing open and have him sedated. I’ll find him an empty pod.”
Everything was hazy. I heard two voices. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The pod opened then everything went dark again.
---Eravate - Unknown Location---
My head hurt and my vision was cloudy. My stasis pod was opened and I fell to the floor. I felt someone grab the scruff of my neck and swiftly yank me up on my feet.
“Get up you piece of shit! We don’t have time to fuck around! Move it!”
I tried to ask where I was, but all I could do is let out a faint slur of what might have resembled words.
“Don’t mouth off to me! Get moving!”
There was a group of us, all dressed in the same blue boiler suits. Everyone looked just as confused as I was. I felt a wave of bleakness rush over me as I realized that I had been captured by slavers and sold off to the highest bidder. I remembered very little since the attack on the Spirit of Nortes. I had no idea where I was. We were surrounded by grey walls and dull lighting. I could barely see straight, let alone walk, but we were hearded into a room full of heavy machinery and other slaves working away. Work that could easily be automated by robots. A man walked up to the front of the crowd.
“Alright you worthless insects, now is the time where you forget about the lives you once had outside of this factory. Forget about your aspirations, forget about your friends, forget about your family. They mean nothing now. You’ve all awoken to the first day of the rest of your lives working for us. Now how long the rest of your lives last is entirely up to you. You’re our property, and you’ll do as you are told, when you are told without question, without comment. You’ve all been implanted with tracking chips. We can see your every move, so if you even try to escape the facility you’ll be dead before you can scream I’m free! You’ll each share a bunk with two other shifts. You work your shift, you eat when we tell you, you sleep, you repeat. You’ll be assigned to your teams momentarily and if I so much as glimpse any of you not pulling your weight, I sure hope you learn how to switch off your pain receptors!”
His speech droned on for a few more minutes, with more instructions, more slurs and more insults. In the distance I could see a pair of guards beating a slave senseless. I felt sick, like someone grabbing onto my stomach and squeezing hard.
---Slave Recreation Area---
I was assigned to third shift. The shift was not due to start for several hours, so guards escorted the third shift people to the recreation area. Much like a prison, we were provided with the basics - a ball court, a courtyard, mess hall, medical bay and other basic needs. Despite the speech earlier, it did seem that they cared at least a tiny bit about the welfare of their slaves, at least enough to keep us alive. I stumbled toward a nearby bench, my head still cloudy from the stasis drugs. I held my head in my hands, trying to regain my composure.
“Don’t worry mate, the stasis drugs wear off eventually,” a voice said. I looked up and squinted. “Hopefully before our shift starts! You don’t wanna be all muggy when they start you off working.”
I didn’t say anything. I tried to but was unable to form any words.
The man sat next to me.
“It’s okay buddy. I was the same when I first arrived here.”
“Wh…” I coughed, “where are we?” I said faintly.
“Somewhere in Eravate. No idea where. My name’s Luke.”
“Simon. How long have you been here?”
“Four months.” He pulled out a photo from his inner pocket. “I was on my way to my own stag do when my transport got hit. Was meant to be married to this lovely lady.” He sighed.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I was on my way to Nortes for a vacation. I had just graduated.” I looked down at the ground.
“Nortes! That’s where my fiancèe lives! On Fach. Lovely planet that is.” He smiled.
“You seem cheerful, given our situation.” I turned and looked at the photo he was holding. “You left a lot behind.”
“You know what, Simon? You do what you can to get by. I’m going to get out of here one day. I don’t know when, I don’t know how,” he paused, “and I write to my Emily every day. It gives me hope. Not much, but it’s something. I plan to give her these letters when I bust out.”
He pat me on the back. “The trick is not to let these animals break you.”
Third shift report to your superior. Move it dirtbags!
---Loading bay/hangar---
My first task was loading containers onto ships for transport. The loading bay was hot and loud. The workload was heavy and the guards were everywhere, armed with cheap machine guns, yelling obscenities from time to time and pushing us around. They loved their jobs way too much.
“You! Imperial,” a manager yelled, “you fly?”
“Ummmm, nothing more than a simulator.” I replied.
“Good enough, got a job for a worthless slave. Need you to make a small delivery.”
“You sure you want to be letting your slaves fly a ship?”
“Quit your smart ass mouth boy. We’re sending you near pirate territory. A trip too risky to send pilots we actually pay,” he laughed as we walked to a beat up looking Sidewinder. “That thing can barely jump to a new star system, and don’t even think of trying to run away. You have a tracking chip implanted in you that will trigger an alarm the moment you step out of line. You deviate off course and the ships controls will sieze and you’ll be left for us to come retrieve you. That is of course, if a pirate doesn’t get you first!”
He briefed me on where I was going, a small installation on the moon orbiting Eravate 10, not listed on the system map. It was well hidden. I was handed a really worn out flight suit and the destination was programmed into the navigation computer. I begun to tense up as pre-flight checks displayed on the HUD and the engines roared into life.