I didn't know what to do with myself after breakfast. The mess hall slowly filled and then emptied as breakfast winded down. Otten had told me that there were around three hundred people and it looked like about that many passed through. I knew Keerthana worked around here somewhere but I didn't catch a glimpse of her throughout breakfast. Finally, when the last stragglers were returning their meals to the windows, I decided that it was time to go. Where, exactly, I wasn't sure. On exiting the dining hall, I turned left on a whim.
I passed one of the common rooms on the way down the corridor. The small sign over the door identified it as Common Room 3, the one I'd been in the day before with Brick and Otten. Just past it was number 2 and, after I rounded another corner, I found the men's and women's quarters. I slowly made my way around the square of the complex, passing the training facilities, town hall, and the rec center. I stopped for a full minute in front of the room marked "Pool," wondering why this place was just as nice as the town I'd grown up in. A part of me almost understood Cort's terrifying declaration over breakfast. These people were locked up, but at least they were in a decent place and, most importantly, with other shapeshifters. Even the guards seemed relatively accepting, once you got past the fact that they carried blasters. It was...comfortable.
The next door I came to was the park and I realized I'd come full circle when I saw the mess hall just across the hall. I was starting to get a map of the place in my head. Not knowing what else to do, I entered the park and started walking across the springy grass. The park wasn't large, but it was laid out to make it seem like it was. I crossed through a stand of trees and found a Jort field stretching out in front of me, hoops rising from both ends. A few men were throwing a ball around and I stopped for a minute to watch them, trying to remember how long it had been since I'd seen a good game of Jort. My father had used to take me to them but that had been two decades ago.
My thoughts would have taken an uncomfortable trip through my memories if at that moment the Jort ball hadn't come sailing towards me. I snagged it out of the air about a second before it hit my chest and stepped forward to meet the man jogging towards me. As he approached I realized it was Brick.
"Shit, I'm sorry about that!" he panted as he came to a stop. "We just got Vince into playing and I swear, he can run but he can't throw for anything."
I handed him the ball. "It's fine, I should have known better than to stand so close. I used to get hit with fouls all the time when I went to the Krasper games."
"You've been to pro games?" he asked, sounded stunned.
"Ages ago. I went to games in Beldon when my dad took trips for work."
"I only ever saw the league games," Brick told him with a hint of envy in his voice.
"The stadiums were really something," I said, thinking back again. "But I don't want to hold up your game." I gestured at the five men waiting for him on the midpoint of the field.
"They're fine, it's not even a formal practice." He turned around and hurled the ball to the closest figure. "I'll be a minute!" he shouted before turning back to me. "So how was your first day here?"
"It was...weird. Everyone's been ridiculously nice, though."
Brick laughed. "We try. It's because we were all in the same boat at first. It gets better."
"So I've heard," I muttered, thinking about Cort. I now remembered him getting upset yesterday when I had asked why they just accepted it here. His annoyance made more sense now, because it wasn't just because he was making the most of it. He actually preferred it here.
"It's true. Oh, what happened with the guards last night?"
"They took me to my quarters. I apparently have early curfew." I chewed my lip for a second. "Is Grey around here a lot?"
Brick started. "Minister Grey? No, I've never seen him. I've heard that a few people have seen him on the different levels when they had to go up or down but he doesn't seem to be around a lot."
That wasn't comforting. I already knew Grey was singling me out with the personal tour and early morning meeting, but that fact that he was rarely around made it more probable that he was sincere in his promise to just leave me here.
"Why do you ask? Did you see him?"
"This morning. He had me brought up to his office."
"Wow... What'd he want?"
"Just asked me some questions." Again, I wondered how much I wanted to tell him or Otten or anyone else. I honestly didn't think they'd care about the Federation or the wormhole or anything else, but something was still preventing me from being entirely honest.
"That doesn't sound too important," Brick said after I didn't volunteer any more information.
"It's....complicated," I told him, not wanting to outright lie. It seemed strange that while my entire world was falling apart and my friends on the Enterprise were God knew where, Brick's day was going exactly like expected.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I answered automatically but Brick shook his head.
"I don't mean 'I know you're locked up in prison, but are you okay with it?' You seem like something's really wrong."
Well that was straightforward. "It's something I have to take care of on my own," I said carefully.
"I don't want to push," Brick said hurriedly. "I know it's none of my business. But one time offer, do you need help?"
I let out a sigh. I had told Otten yesterday that I had to get out of here and it was true, but both he and Cort seemed to think it impossible. I didn't know if opening up to Brick about the same thing would just lead to the same reaction. But I sure couldn't do this by myself.
"Yes," I admitted. "I think I do."
"Here's..." Brick stopped and looked around. "Do you mind if we take a walk?"
I gestured my arm for him to lead the way and we started back through the trees, turning left before reaching the main path. Brick lead us to a bench in the trees and sat down. I settled beside him on the fake wood.
"Here's the thing," Brick continued. "I've gotten used to it here."
I could have almost cried.
"But that doesn't mean I don't realize what's going on." I returned my attention to Brick. "It's been a year and I admit it, I've gotten comfortable. It's better than Paria but it's still a prison. It almost makes it worse that it's so nice, like they think they're doing us a favor."
"But everyone seems to be buying it!" I declared. "I talked to Otten yesterday and he told me that if I wanted to try to change anything, not to involve him or anyone else."
"Otten's...protective," Brick said slowly. "He's only been here a few months but he cares about everyone here. But he can be bull-headed at times."
"He said that people have tried to get out before," I suggested.
"They have. They never got far. A few people have shifted during training and tried to get out, but as soon as someone goes missing they shut the entire place down. Nothing goes in or out until the missing person reappears."
"How long does that take?"
"A few days. There must be an air system because we didn't run out of fresh air, but we started to run out of food pretty fast." Brick took a deep breath. "Tasha, here's the thing. Whoever was missing usually showed up within three days. I talked to this one girl, named Inis, before the guards took her away and she said she spent two days trying to find any way out of this level, and she couldn't find one. It was air tight."
"But there are the turbolifts," I insisted. "They only lock it down after someone goes missing, right?" I stopped, realizing I was well on my way to planning an escape with Brick. I didn't even know if I could trust him, as cynical as that sounded.
Brick shot me a glance that told me he understood what I was thinking. "You don't have to tell me what you're planning," he said. "Or what it has to do with Grey. But Otten was right. Whenever someone tries to get out, it hurts everyone."
"I won't do anything stupid," I promised him. "But I can't stay here. There's so much at stake." I thought about the Enterprise yet again, wondering what they were doing. At this point, I accepted that they weren't coming for me, at least not right away. They had their orders and they had bigger worries at the wormhole. Things could have already progressed to all-out war. I didn't know what I could do if I got out of here, but it was a lot more than what I could do from inside. I had tried to change Sebastian's mind but that had gone exactly nowhere. Maybe all I could do now was get out.
"What will you do if you get out?"
"I'm not sure... Try to find a ship offworld." I didn't realistically think I could do anything at the wormhole but neither could I just give up on the Enterprise altogether. "Eventually I need to try to find my friends," I told him.
Brick sighed and leaned back in the bench, tilting his head back to look up at the canopy of trees above us. He looked almost sad.
"Tasha, I don't want to tell you to give up, but no one's ever gotten out of here before. What makes you think you can?"
"I don't know. I did it once before and... well, I'll be damned if I let them keep me locked up again after all this. I can't survive here." That was the long and short of it. I couldn't live out the rest of my life here.
"For some reason I believe you," Brick said. "Alright, I'll make you deal."
"Alright..."
"I'll help you however I can, and you let me know when you're making a break for it. Maybe two will have a better chance than one."
I stared at him. He wasn't exactly asking to come with me and I knew he wasn't asking for my help, but it still scared me. I had started this thing and if he got hurt then I'd consider it my fault.
"Are you sure?" I couldn't help but ask. "I know you've been here longer and I'm sure you want to get out, but I don't want to be the one..." To what? Be blamed for his death? He was an adult and he had put up with a lot more than I had. Who was I to say that he had any less of a right to try to escape than I did? "Okay."
Brick looked surprised. "Oh. Alright then."
"It's still a long shot." I rested my elbows on my legs and my chin in my hands. "But don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Of course not," Brick said immediately. "But I need to go, they've probably given up on me." He rose to his feet and offered me a hand. "Oh, and one more thing. I assume you don't have training privileges, so you'll have to find a way to get that off. Only the five trainers are allowed to remove people's restrainers."
I frowned. I had assumed it was something to that nature because I severely doubted they'd be able to keep things under control if everyone was able to take off these bracelets whenever they wanted. Still, they had to have some kind of sensors that detected when we shifted or something. Otherwise they wouldn't know when to put the place on lockdown.
I thanked Brick and he headed back to his game. I slowly headed back to the entrance of the park, trying to figure out what to do next. It had already been a long day and I doubted it was even 10 yet. I had to make the most of today because the longer I stayed here, the worse it got. I couldn't just keep wandering around either, I had to come up with a plan. Given the little I had learned about my situation though, there wasn't much I could do. All I knew was that I had to get the bracelet off without anyone knowing and then make it to the turbolifts. When Dominic had taken me from my cell, he'd had to swipe a card and scan his fingerprint to operate it, so I was guessing that just getting to the lift wouldn't be enough. I had to have someone with me who could get access to it.
I rubbed my face with my hands as I meandered down the corridor. I wasn't holding up so well. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn't built for this kind of stuff. I didn't have the stamina or strength that Riker or Beverly or any of the Starfleet officers had. Some sleep and a decent breakfast had put some strength back in me but I still wanted nothing more than to cuddle up in bed and pretend that none of this was happening. I knew that wouldn't help though, so I steeled myself for another long day. And I knew what I was going to do with the next part of it.
The training rooms were located close to the turbolifts I had taken the day before. I found them without much effort, having realized that if I walked long enough in one direction I'd find what I was looking for. I stopped in front of the doors, uncertain if I was technically allowed in or if they'd even be unlocked. While I wasn't concerned with following Sebastian's rules, I didn't want to be locked up again. I couldn't escape if I was put back in the cell. Fortunately, the doors opened at the press of a button and I stepped into the large, empty space.
Well, almost empty. There was a man standing at the far end of the gym at a large display, tapping at what looked like diagrams. As I got closer, I realized it was Otten. He turned around when I was halfway across the space, and nodded.
"Lawrence," he said as I joined him at the screen. Close up, I saw that he was working on designs of an obstacle course like the one I had seen him running his group through the day before.
"What's this for?" I asked, genuinely interested despite myself.
"I'm making some changes to this week's training regime," he told me. He zoomed in on one of the obstacles, which looked like a row of rings suspended from the ceiling. Noticing my interest, he explained, "We're shifting to more flight-based exercises. This is for working on maneuverability."
"That looks tough," I told him. I wouldn't admit it, but I wasn't sure if I could do it. I had gotten out of shape during my time on Karos VII. Other than shifting for flights to work or occasional runs through the street, I hadn't done much exercising in the past four months. Having a real job had made me lazy.
"It is. I've been pushing my group harder the last two weeks. They've been doing well, though." He looked proud, I realized. Brick had been right, Otten really did look out for the people in his group. I'd noticed that most of them had been younger than him, so maybe he had taken it upon himself to be responsible for them. He certainly seemed to put a lot of effort into their training.
"Does Sebastian tell you what to teach them?" I asked. I knew this all had to be Sebastian's idea, but I had no idea what he could be getting out of it.
"Minister Grey?" Otten frowned at me. "We get weekly training schedules that outline the basics, but the specifics are left up to us. The Prime Minister doesn't oversee it, the orders just come it."
It seemed that, contradictory to my experience, Sebastian didn't have much to do with this place. I wondered who was actually in charge. The man he called Dominic had seemed comfortable here but he hadn't struck me as the kind of man who would be comfortable running a prison.
"You don't look like you came down here to discuss my training schedule, though."
I shook my head. "Not really. I did want to ask you more about the training, though. It seems like this whole place is built around it."
"I wouldn't go that far," Otten said. He tapped a few more buttons on the screen before turning his whole attention to me. "Once someone's been here a while, he or she gets a training schedule and is assigned to one of the five trainers. No one spends more than a few days a week here though, if that."
It still seemed strange to me, but I held my tongue. Instead, I asked another question, trying to find a way to find out what I needed without Otten realizing it and shutting me down again. "So how do they know how to start? If they're used to the shifting restraints and everything."
Otten had opened his mouth to answer when a booming alarm sounded from what seemed like all around us. His eyes widened as the turned to the display, which had gone red.
"What the hell is that?"
"Come on." Otten grabbed my arm and tugged me towards the door, starting across the room at a run. When we reached the hallway, I noticed people exiting into the hallway ahead and behind us, all heading in the same direction.
"What's going on?" I demanded as I kept pace with him.
"Emergency meeting," he told me. "We're to go to the town hall immediately. The last time this happened..." He trailed off.
"What? What happened last time?"
"It was when someone tried to escape and they shut the place down."
I tried to keep the fear off my face. They couldn't know about my plan, they couldn't. I didn't even have a plan. Regardless, Sebastian had to know that I'd try to get out.
Still, I couldn't shake the thought that this was for me as we siphoned into the town hall. Otten found us seats near the front of the room just a few rows back from the podium. The small stage was currently empty but the audience was full. As more people entered, I realized this had to be everyone who lived on this level. It was at least several hundred. The buzz of frightened conversation filled the room, as if they were all too afraid to be heard but too nervous to sit quietly.
Nervousness was too kind a word for what I felt when I saw Dominic come striding down the walkway and step up into the center of the room. He held up a hand, even though the room had gone quiet as soon as he had entered. I shot a glance at Otten to see how he was reacting, but from the confused expression on his face it seemed that he had no idea who Dominic was. Had I been the only one to have had the pleasure of meeting him?
"I apologize for disrupting your morning," he said, although he looked anything but apologetic. "However, something has occurred that I feel you all must be informed of immediately."
I sat up further in my seat.
"All of you have come here from other facilities around Sandor. Many of you have come to think of this place as home, something we have worked very hard for. However, there are those who wish to disrupt the peace that we have built here, who are blind to the needs of the community that nurtures them." He stepped forward and scanned the room. I shivered as his eyes passed over me, but no hint of recognition lit his eyes. "When someone disregards the rules of this community, it damages you all. You rely on each other, and you should hold your neighbor's welfare above your own. That is the only way this place will be able to function with the same freedom it has enjoyed thus far. Unfortunately, not all of you understand that. It pains me to tell you that one of your own has been plotting an escape this very morning."
I felt my stomach drop. The room fell even quieter, if that was possible. But it wasn't, it couldn't be possible. How could they know that I had been planning on trying to get Otten's help?
Dominic began speaking again. "Moments like these are painful, but punishments must be made." He nodded toward the door, where two guards who I hadn't noticed before were stationed. They stepped outside for a second as I watched, baffled. Why were they leaving? I was already here. But a second later, it became terrifyingly clear.
They walked back in leading Brick.
The three of them made their way toward Dominic as he turned back to us.
"This man has been plotting an escape. In the past, we have been lenient with these kind of attempts. Those who have tried had been transferred to other levels and allowed to readjust after realizing the futility of the exercise. But I've realized that this kindness is only making criminals like this bolder." He nodded toward Brick, who was standing with head hung only a few yards to my right. I couldn't help but stare at him. It had been less than an hour ago when I had last spoken to him. It wasn't possible, Dominic couldn't know that he had agreed to help me. Because that had to be it, Brick hadn't been planning an escape before he'd met me. He wanted to, as a lot of people probably did, but I was the one who had actually agreed to help him. And now Dominic was going to lock Brick up as a way to make me tell him what I was supposed know about the Enterprise or their plans.
"Guards," Dominic continued. "Take this man to Level 4 and execute him."
"No!" I stared up at Dominic, horrified. "You can't!"
"Let me be explicitly clear," he continued as if I hadn't spoken, continuing his steady survey of the rooms occupants. "You cannot escape. Anyone attempting to escape will be executed. Anyone consorting or discussing escape will be executed." He looked down to lock eyes with mine. "There is no way out." He stepped down from the stage. "I want you all to think on that."
He turned to go and the guards followed him, pushing Brick in front of them. When they reached the door, Brick turned back to look at him, his eyes wide with fear. Then they were gone.