Project Charon 2 by Patty Jansen (brene brown rising strong .TXT) 📗

might remember word for word, because she had wanted to escape, for whatever unfathomable reason teenagers want that. Tina had been the same at that age: always wanting to be somewhere else, until she was somewhere else and far away when her father died.

She would have loved the opportunity to see him once more.

It was time to move on, accept the past as something that could not be changed, only forgiven. “There’s no need to be angry anymore.”

“But I’m sorry, Mum. I really am. I was a horrible kid.”

“So was I, at that age.”

“I thought I’d never see you again. I heard the stories, and then both you and Dad disappeared and no one knew where you’d gone.”

In her voice, Tina could hear the little girl who had asked her to read a story, the girl who had begged her not to make her go to school. There was always trouble at the school at Project Charon. It was too small to employ enough teachers to keep track of all the students, and older kids used to do terrible things to the younger ones.

The sense of failure of their little family oozed from this conversation. “I know this isn’t the way I planned to see you, either.”

“But why are you here? Have you joined them, too, like Dad?”

That was one bit Tina had suspected but didn't know for certain. “You probably know more about Dad than I do. Has he officially joined the pirates?”

“Dad was always sympathetic to them, because he said he didn’t believe the Federacy Force was using the full potential of the things they discovered in space.”

“We were working with it at Project Charon, but unfortunately Dexter got impatient. We weren’t up to the stage where we would ever think of releasing it to the public, let alone pharmaceutical companies, and Dexter was instrumental in spreading it and enabling the pirates to take over large sections of inhabited space. They’re changing the face of humanity. They’re turning people into monsters with tentacles.”

“I know. I’ve seen them. They say that it gives you great mental power and cures diseases. Other people say that while this is true, the effect is very temporary. I don’t know what to believe.”

“Were you doing research?” Tina asked.

“No. I’m a communications officer.”

“I wonder whether Dexter is one of these monsters.”

“When’s the last time you saw him?”

“I spoke to him probably about eight years ago. He was complaining about having to pay for some items that he didn’t agree with.”

“He mentioned that to me. He said that apparently I have a brother, or at least that you were telling him he had a son. That’s not really true, is it?”

“It’s true. His name is Rex. He’s fifteen.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Why would I kid about that?”

“Where is he? At Cayelle?”

Tina was highly tempted to tell her about Rex, but she was also aware that the pirates were probably listening and trying to get information out of this discussion. So she said, “I’ll tell you about him later.”

Evelle said, “First, there’s got to be a later.”

“We are going to get out of here,” Tina said. But she didn’t know how yet.

Then someone called out, “Shhh!”

Everyone went quiet and stopped inspecting the wall.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed on the gallery outside, as well as the voices of other prisoners in the cell next door.

A man who was nothing but a silhouette against the grey rectangle of light that came in from outside opened the door. The door was of a thick metal type that swung into the room. At the top and bottom of the frame sat a shiny metal plate with slots for bolts. Two red lights blinked in the recess that held the lock.

The man came one step into the cell. He plonked down a box, backed away and shut the door again, returning the cell to complete darkness.

“What’s that?” Tina asked.

“Whatever passes for food here,” Evelle said.

Several other women had already gone to the box. Someone directed a light at it, showing a box with an open top containing neatly wrapped parcels. Some type of food ration.

A woman had unwrapped one that contained a kind of hard, dry bread. The box also held a few bottles of what appeared to be water.

“Smells funny,” a woman said. She had taken the lid off one of the bottles and sniffed the top.

“I wouldn’t trust that,” Tina said.

“If you’re thirsty, you’ll drink it,” someone replied.

The women were thirsty so they did drink it. Tina got a few swigs, too, before the bottle was empty and the middle-aged woman who appeared to have taken control of the distribution of food said that the other bottles would be shared later.

“Has anyone found anything of interest?” Tina asked the group.

“There’s a panel next to the door,” someone said.

“Probably a room control panel for light and temperature. There’s likely to be a small box or recess above the door. It would be great if we could open that.”

Aliz said, “Do you still have any electronics on you? Our equipment was all confiscated.”

“So was mine, but I just spotted something interesting when the fellow opened the door. This area wasn’t built as prison. I don’t think Aurora had an official prison, because civilian stations don’t tend to keep convicted criminals on-site. Too dangerous. This room is part of what used to be a hospital.”

“That sounds about right,” someone said. “Hospitals and prisons. Roughly the same thing, right?”

“This room was probably a private room for infectious or difficult patients and there would have been a camera, which you said you already ripped out of the wall. If none of us have found any additional panels, that points to an older system, which would fit with the rest of the station. This was only a hospital after all. No need for huge security investments. I’d hoped to find a second camera.”

“I have the old one in my pocket. Would that help you?”

“No. I’m after the control box that would be associated with