Chapter 23

The transport came to a stop.  Moments later the back door opened and the Golds were escorted to another bare room.  Along the short walk, Katherine noticed a significant change in the quality of the facility.  Where the first building had been sterile this one seemed abandoned.  Where the first one seemed to run on well-oiled efficiency, this one seemed haphazard.  She noticed rust clinging to corners and joints, and though she wasn’t sure how this alien world was similar to Earth, Katherine was confident that mildew was creeping across the ceilings.  She coughed reflexively.

After opening the holding room door, Katherine felt the guard’s hand between her shoulder blades and he gave her a push.  It wasn’t an authoritative push, but meant to remind her not to try anything.  The door clanged shut and Katherine turned to see Evan looking at her with tired eyes.  It had been, oh, what was she thinking, there was no way to know how long she’d been there or even how time worked in this place.  But she’d started to see the same hangdog look on Evan’s face that inspired the handyman work in the first place.  It was a faraway gaze, as if his body was there, but his mind was wandering distant lands.

Katherine sat in the cleanest chair she could locate.  She’d read somewhere about certain diseases or metals that could leach into your skin just by contact.  She hoped those didn’t exist wherever they were, or if they were there, they would take her quickly.  As for Evan, he began to mindlessly pace the room.  Katherine watched him for a moment, but since the room was not even half as big as the previous one, he didn’t have much pacing room.  The longer she watched the futile action, the more disdain grew in her heart for her husband, so she closed her eyes in the hopes that she could forget this was happening to her.

The silence was broken eventually by the sound of someone fidgeting with the door on the other side.  Katherine opened her eyes in time to see the door open and the man who had slipped the note to Evan step in.  He was accompanied with a pretty blonde woman.  She reminded Katherine of Kim Novak’s character in Vertigo.  If she remembered correctly, Kim was a villain in that one, or was she?  Katehrine couldn’t remember.  How was she supposed to remember a movie from a few years ago when she was stuck in an alien holding cell.  All that mattered was that this woman gave her cause for concern.

The woman in question set a device on the table in front of Katherine.  Without looking up, she pressed something on the device, lights came on, and Katherine notice the two strangers visibly relax a little.

“Thank you for your patience,” the man said.  Katherine tried to remember the name he’d used earlier.  It was a blur.  “I had you brought here so we could talk more freely.  This,” he pointed to the device on the table, “will ensure that what is said in this room stays in this room.”

Katherine wasn’t sure if he meant that it was some fancy spy device to block others from hearing, or a bomb that would kill them, or, a sudden thought hit her, or it would suck the thoughts out of their minds rendering them catatonic.  Katherine flashed her eyes in the man’s direction.

“This is my assistant, Keetha Catha,” the man said, pointing to Kim Novak, “and we are going to see what we can do to free Princess Lillian, and maybe start a bit of a revolution.”  He said the last part with a touch of a smile.  It did nothing to help Katherine relax.

“Who are you again and when can we go home?” Katherine blurted.

The man paused, looked down, and smiled to himself.  “You’re right.  A lot has happened to you in a short time.  I should go slower.”  He sat down across from Katherine.  “I’m Amnon Saxe.  I’m the Director of Prisons on Merlain – that is the realm we’re in.  Keetha and I are, for better or worse, working on removing our Supreme Leader, Ciheftan Zungher Dol, from power so that a free Merlain might have a chance to return.  A key to that is Princess Lillian from Coellum.”  Amnon turned to Evan.  “You’re familiar with her, correct?”

Evan nodded.

“I recently had a run-in with Lillian where she told me of the mark on your hand, Evan.”  Evan unconsciously opened his right hand to look at the mark.  He rubbed it gently with his other thumb and Katherine saw it begin to gleam.  “Please don’t do that,” Amnon said to Evan.  “It will only bring attention we don’t want.  That mark is given to people we have conquered and placed in servitude.  Most of the time, it is used by owners to contact or retrieve servants, but it also works so that servants can contact their owners.  If you rub it, you activate it.  The marks you both have,” At this, Amnon looked at Katherine, “saw that you are the property of Saw Yatha.  So far, I don’t think he knows you’re here, and we don’t want to speed that up.”

“Who is Saw Yatha?” Evan asked.

Amnon, confused, looked at Evan, then said, “The,” he paused.  Amnon turned to Katherine, “Who gave you your fetterseal?”

“My what?” Katherine said.

“Your mark.  I assume you also have one.  I’d mentioned to your husband that the only way to get here without the owner triggering the retrieval process was to touch to fetterseals together.  Since you’re both here, I’m certain you have one.”

Katherine touched her blouse where it hid her tatoo.  She remembered the man in black and how he shot her.  “This, person, what was his name?”

“Saw Yatha,” Amnon said.

“Does he have an eye patch?”

“A sliver one.  Over his right eye,” Amnon said, and Katherine’s blood ran cold.

“We were never properly introduced,” Evan said.

Amnon nodded.  “Turns out that when Lillian gave you yours,” he again turned to Evan, “she embedded in it a message that will impede our Central Processing Unit.  This unit is the only thing keeping the forces of Coellum from entering our realm and removing Chieftain Dol.  If I understand things correctly, we need to both free Princess Lillian before she is executed and disrupt the Central Processing Unit.”

“So she’s still alive?” Evan asked.  Katherine rolled her eyes.

“For the moment.  There is to be a trial, where she will undoubtedly be found guilty and then executed.”

“How long?”

Amnon shrugged his shoulders, “The trial hasn’t yet begun, so I’d say we have a little while to figure out a plan.”

“Excuse me,” Katherine interjected, “can you just send me back?  I don’t care about any of this.  This sounds like the kind of thing my husband would walk over broken glass for, rescuing princesses and facing death around every corner, but I’m just a housewife and would be no help to you.  If you would be so kind to send me back, I think that would be the best for all of you.”

Amnon looked at Keetha.  Then Keetha caught Katherine’s searching eyes.  “I’m afraid that will be impossible.  The fettersleals are used to retrieve, not send.  The only way to possibly send you back is impossible to reach given the current state of security.  Once Dol is out of the picture, it could be a different story.”

“Could be?” Katherine asked.  “You mean I’m trapped here?”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Amnon said, “but I don’t think that will be helpful.  I mean we could use all the help we can get in this effort.”

Katherine crossed her arms and clucked her tongue.  She couldn’t decide who she should stare her daggers at Evan for getting her into this mess or this other man who seemed so glib about her predicament.

“So, what is the plan?” Evan spoke up.

“Right now the plan is to sneak the two of you out of here.  Keetha knows of a group of underground freedom fighters and they will be the brains of the effort.  To keep up appearances, I’ll need to keep progressing Lillian’s trial and execution preparations.  The good news is that I can stay on the inside of the information and help direct Dol’s plans in a way that is advantageous to us.”

“So, it’s just the four of us against the entire government, and I assume military, of, what did you say this place was called?” Katherine said.

“Merlain,” Amnon said, “and it’s a little more than just the four of us.”

“Right.  The freedom fighters.  How many of them?”

Amnon thought carefully how to answer her.  Katherine could tell from the reaction that they were woefully short of anything close to a substantial show of force.

“So, we go with you, we will all die, or we don’t go with you and we die.  Lovely.”  She turned to Evan, “Thank you so much for mixing me up in your detective work.”

Amnon wiped his mouth.  “I’m not going to lie, the chances failure are high.  But I have confidence in the Princess.  She asked for you,” he pointed to Evan, “and I can only assume she knew you’d be coming,” he looked at Katherine.  “I wish you could have known Merlain in its former days.  It is something Keetha and I remember fondly, and even if it doesn’t happen, we want to have done everything we can to see it return.  While success might be slim, its chances increase if you can trust us.  You are strangers here and I want to protect you.  Do what we say, and it will go better for you.”

“So, we are your slaves after all.” Katherine said.

Amnon, at a loss for words, looked at Keetha and stood.  “I need to head back before I’m missed.  Keetha will get you to a more comfortable dwelling.  I will see you as soon as I can.”

With that Amnon exited the room.  The Golds were left with the beautiful stranger who did her best to disarm the tension with a smile.  When that didn’t work, Keetha reached to the device on the table, pressed it again to disable the light on it and assessed the Golds.

“Will you please follow me?” was all Keetha said and she walked to the open door.  Evan stood and offered a hand to Katherine.  “Come on, Kathy,” he said softly.  “Looks like the fastest way home is this way.”

Without taking his hand, Katherine stood and followed Keetha out the door.  Evan shook his head and followed to two women into an uncertain future.