The Gen

Angreius, 34th Day of the Summer Companions, 3367

Angreius, 34th Day of the Summer Companions, 3367

With ointment on his knees and elbows and nourishing intravenous food in his veins, Dalek was just about to drift to sleep when the door to the infirmary opened. A moment later Dr. Lariv Jinla thrust her face into his line of sight.

Lariv smiled at him. "How do you feel, Dalek?"

"Oh, excellent, Doc, overwhelmingly excellent."

She grinned, then relieved him of her sight, and sat down.

"What do you think your future will look like, Dalek? By the way, I believe I got everything out of you that you know about the operations of the FTS, which means you have become useless to me from the FTS point of view."

Dalek's heart sank. The fucking bitch talked about his death. Fear bit through his guts... that, and a cry for life. Damn it, despite all he was going through, he didn't want to die, not like this.

"Your expression tells me, you know what that means. Time for termination."

Dalek closed his eyes for a moment.

"You're a high-spirited young man and I'd hate to see you go. I've come to like you."

Dalek scoffed.

"I know you don't believe me, but I have good news. There are only a few who made it as long as you did, Dalek. You've hung in there for a year and two months already. Most people break or freak or whatever you want to call it between six and nine months. Few have held on for a year. The longest candidate I had so far hung in there for a year and seven months.

"Things will change around here once the Gen is on its way. It's scheduled to fly in a year. If you hang on for another year, you can actually get out of here, I could discharge you as a free man."

Dalek tried to look at her, but she was out of his range of sight. Fuck. Could he believe her?

"You serious?"

"I am serious, Dalek."

"Why?"

"I just told you, I'd hate to see you in the morgue."

"And you expect me to believe that shit?"

"Believe what you may, Dalek."

Dalek tried to read the truth from her voice, but couldn't determine whether she meant it or not.

"What will you do to me during that year?"

"What you already know, immobilizer, sometimes the grave, sometimes electroshocks if you behave badly."

"For another year..."

"Yes, plus minus a few weeks, depending on when the Gen will leave. And your physical condition of course."

"Why the torture, why can't you just let me be in a cell without all that torture shit?"

"It's a test, we wanna know how people react to the long-term effects of immobilizer."

"What the fuck for?"

"It's not your place to ask that."

"Fuck you, Doc."

"No thanks."

There was amusement in her voice. Of course they had a reason for this torture, but what it was he couldn't imagine for the life of him.

"And once the Gen's gone, you'll seriously let me go free?"

"Yes. With a few credits to get you going and a restraining order for Angreius. I work and live here. I don't want you anywhere near me, in case you are thinking of revenge. You could try to find a job in Palgreia or Shilas, I don't care. You could even go to Kurie if you wanted to."

"Who guarantees me that you'll keep your word and won't torture me for another five years or whatever?"

"I can't give you a guarantee, only my word--"

"Fuck you, Doc."

"Come on, Dalek. You might think me a sadist, but I'm not. I like you. I'm offering you something to hold on to, a future. You're twenty-seven now, soon twenty-eight. You'd be out of here latest around your twenty-ninth birthday. You could live happily ever after for another seventy years or so, get a job, find yourself a nice girl, start a family. You'll have a life, Dalek, a second chance.

"I can't let you go as long as the Gen is still here, I guess you understand that. I can't just let you stay in your cell without treatment; the RSW wants a reason for feeding you. As a long-term test subject for the immobilizer I can sell you as a meaningful inmate."

Dalek shivered despite the immobilizer. What she said sounded honest.

"This is insane."

"It's life, Dalek. So, you better behave and try not to get too many electroshocks and keep your mind occupied with numbers."

"How do you know about the numbers?"

"You sometimes mumble your calculations aloud."

Fuck, he hadn't been aware of that.

"I have a tip. Try talking backwards, that's awesome memory and mind training too. See you later, Dalek."

Lariv got up and left the infirmary without another word.

Dalek concentrated on his hectic breath, trying to calm it. One more year of torture. But then freedom? Why? What was going on here? What was the purpose of this immobilizer crap? Did Jinla mean what she said? Fuck.

He stared at the gray ceiling, felt the dull pain in his knees and elbows. Fuck, he didn't want to die.

Hope was a horrible thing. He hadn't hoped in a long time, not since they caught him. The wonderful shimmer of hope suddenly surged through his body. No, no, no, he couldn't trust Lariv. But... he'd be out of here, he'd live. He'd get a job, a girl.

Holy Tral, he hadn't had sex in a year and three months. Blood surged through his body suddenly and seemed to concentrate between his legs. Ah... to be with a woman again, any woman. To live. He'd turn 28 in two months, way too young to die. He wanted to shout: Bring it on! Bring on your fucking torture! I can take it. I'll defy it all! And in a year, I'll be out of here!

He cried suddenly. Hope was cruel and he fell for it. Whatever Lariv intended, she had him by his balls.