Chapter 29

Escaping the safehouse for the first time since being deposited there, Evan was grateful to get away from Katherine and to get some fresh air.  The air was crisp, and the streets quiet.  Evan stood on the stoop for a few minutes, finally taking in the scope of Merlain’s capitol for the first time.  The architecture was striking.  To his right was a line of boxy grey, multi-level buildings that seemed like full-size versions of what a child might build out of blocks.  Clearly, these were newly constructed and well-maintained.  These structures reeked of efficiency.  On his left were mostly older buildings, houses, and shops.  Each one seemed built with a different set of plans, but each one was colorful, with seeping roofs, delightful details, and inviting facades.

The proximity of these conflicting styles reminded Evan of his time in Europe during the war.  There was the old style of the free and self-governed, marked by whimsy and homespun nature, and the new style of the dictatorial government, focused on meeting a need by the narrowest of margins.  He smirked, musing that this was a government’s tendency, even across dimensions.

So, he began walking toward the new construction and the concentration of high-rise buildings that made up the city’s skyline.  It seemed a fair assumption that the closer he got in that direction, the closer he would get to where Lillian was caged.  He knew that he must stick out with his Earth-bound clothes, so Evan employed his well-rehearsed practice of keeping to the edges, slinking down alleyways, and in all other respects, trying not to call attention to himself.  The empty streets made that seem simple, but Evan had no idea how many suspicious eyes might spy him through windows.  And then, if reported, how long until he, too, was tossed into a jail cell like Lillian?

He had one goal in mind.  Yes, the mysterious glowing blueprint that Amnon had shown them gave a lot of information, but for Evan it lacked context.  If he couldn’t get Katherine on his side in this effort, then he would have to do the work alone and see the prison for himself.  He wound his way through the streets with the tall buildings getting ever closer.  Even the buildings around him got taller and taller, making the sky above him harder to see.  Then, after he exited a certain side street, he entered an enormous plaza.   

The plaza was as full of people as the streets had be absent of them.  Something big must be going on, but Evan didn’t want to take much time figuring out what it was.  He “pardoned” and “Excuse me’d” he way through the crowd with no one noticing him.  Each person Evan passed was instead looking up.  Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the crowd’s gaze up to a giant screen integrated into the side of a wide building at the far end of the plaza.  On the screen was a sight that made Evan’s blood stop – Eye Patch was front and center, addressing what Evan assumed to be the courtroom.  Eye Patch’s face dominated Evan’s view, the silver patch extra polished.

Evan figured if this testimony was so engaging to this crowd, then he should do all the sneaking he could.  He had no idea how long Eye Patch’s testimony would last.  Trying to put his memory of Amnon’s map and the buildings he saw before him, Evan quickly noticed the Central Processing Unit building and then deduced the prison’s location.  Evan pointed his feet in that direction and while Eye Patch continued to dominate the screen, Evan located the loading area of the prision.

He desperately wanted to see how possible it would be for him to spring Lillian from her cage without the aid of Amnon and his overly elaborate plan.  But if the place was highly secured, as Amnon suggested, even if it was half as secure as the Lyon County jail back in Athens, Evan knew he needed a new look to fit in.  Evan peeked around to see what his next move would be and noticed two guards looking at the same view of Eye Patch but at their guard station.  He would need to get past them, and if necessary, overwhelm them and steal their uniforms.  This seemed to work in moves, but Evan was not confident that it would work very long.  Then, as if on cue, a third worker entered the dock area and deposited a large bin of clothes near the loading dock’s giant bay door.  The worker paused and asked if they had any laundry that needed cleaning.  His question was met with silence as the on-screen testimony proved to be to engaging for them, so engaging in fact that all three of them were now fully immersed in the content of the screen.

Silently as a cat, Evan sprang onto the dock’s elevated floor, crouched down and maneuvered his way to the bin.  He was careful to put the bin between himself and the guards.  Evan reached up a hand and pulled at a dangling bit that resembled a sleeve or a pants leg.  He pulled slowly and consistently, and in no time, the single coverall garment was freed from the bin and in Evan’s possession.  Given the confines, Evan assessed what he had as best he could.  Peeking around the bin at the guards and comparing what they wore to what he held, it was a similar uniform.  Perfect, he thought.  He slipped it on over his clothes, grateful that he’d picked something a little too large for his frame.  Then, in the same crouching movement, Evan slipped past the guards and out of the loading dock.

Evan stood up.  He reminded himself to look confident.  Almost no one notices someone who knows where they are headed.  Evan walked with chin up and quick steps, but did not pass many people.  He turned and turned through the different hallways, becoming less certain how he would leave if he was discovered.  He needed to find a map and soon.

After a long time, Evan passed a room that resembled a classroom or a briefing room.  There were long rows of chairs behind long tables.  On one of the tables, Evan noticed a device similar to the ones he’d seen Amnon and Keetha using.  He snuck in and picked it up.  Then, mimicking what he’d seen his hosts do, he tapped at the device’s surface and dragged his finger this way and that.  He quickly learned what these gestures were for, and within a short minute, he located a directory of the facility and a map of the entire prison.  A red dot showed where Evan stood.  He was then able to visually retrace his steps back to the dock.  He smiled at how quickly he was adapting to this alien environment.  Not only was he reaffirmed in his detective skills, but in multiple diemtions, too.  He flashed his eyebrows to himself at his cleverness.  If only Katherine could see him now.

He then, located a maintenence room on the same level where he was and hoped that a more detailed map would be there.  He was grateful that the hallways were as deserted as the city streets as he twisted this way and that through the maze-like corridors.  Once he arrived at the maintenance room he was glad to see a more robust map, but the room also had an employee inside equally transfixed by Eye Patch’s testimony.  The employee noticed Evan and turned his head to him.

“Need something?”

Evan thought quickly.  “I just need a better look at your…” he pointed at the map not sure what the correct term was.  “I’m new.”

The employee looked at the map and then back to Evan.  Then, he shrugged and went back to looking at the screen.

Evan stepped inside and looked at the map.  He wondered if it would respond to the same gestures has his device.  When he saw that it was, Evan made quick work of the maps features.  In particular, the size and location of Lillian’s cell, the best route from the outside to it, and the security devices in between.  When he thought he had a good read on what he was looking at, he checked back with the employee, then his heart skipped as for just a moment when the screen flashed from Eye Patch to Lillian.  She was a radient as ever and looked to be no worse the wear for all the stress she must be under, Evan thought.  Also, seeing her there meant that Lillian was not in her cell.  So, whatever daring daylight escape he might have considered would need to wait until another time.  Which was just as well.  Amnon had briefed him on the high security of the prison, but from what Evan was able to deduce, Amnon had not even told a tenth of the security depth around Lillian’s chamber.

He started to leave and he heard over his shoulder the employee stretch his back and ask, “Find what you needed?”

Evan turned around and said, “Yes, thanks.”  He also noticed that Eye Patch was leaving the courtroom.  Whatever he’d had to say was over, and Evan assumed the magic spell that had transfixed the people would be broken.

He was not wrong.  Suddenly, the hallways were clogged with prison employees bustling this way and that.  Evan did what he could to reverence his device to see where he was headed, but it proved difficult to look down at it and not collide with the passersby.  Still, he was grateful for the volume of people, for he was certain he would get forgotten in the sea of faces.  He kept his strides confident and his face blank.

It was not long before Evan found himself back at the loading dock.  The clothes bin was gone, and the two guards were looking out around the back of the building.  Evan, confident as ever, made his way to the edge of the dock, crouched down, and jumped to the ground.

“Stop!” he heard one of the guards shout.  Should Evan run or should he say put?  He wasn’t certain which would be the more dangerous.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Evan turned, looking as innocent and perplexed as possible.

The guard approached Evan until he stood at the edge of the dock.  “You know you can’t go walking around in your uniform.”

“I was asked to…” Evan pointed vaguely off in a direction.

“Are you new or something?” the guard scowled.  “That uniform is the property of the prison.  I could write you up for stealing from Chieftan Dol.”

“But…” Evan stammered hoping to play the ‘I’m new’ persona as long as possible.

“But what?” the guard chided.  “You got some orders, did you?  Orders to break the rules?  I doubt it.  I don’t know what they tell you people in the orientation these days, but in my day, it was drilled into our heads the moment you leave the facility, whether it is an official duty or not, you are not to leave in your uniform.  So, unless someone tells me differently, I’m going to hold you to it.  So get in here, change, do whatever you need to, and then change back.  It’s a very simple concept.”

Evan felt the sting of the correction as if he should have already known this.  He offered a simple, “I forgot,” and scrambled back up to the dock floor.

“Just leave your things here,” the guard pointed to the floor, “and pick them up when you get back.”  Then the guard walked away muttering to himself about the uselessness of new employees.

Evan noticed the guard get immersed in some task and quickly slipped out of his uniform and left it right where the guard said.  Evan hopped back down, nervous to be back in his Earth clothes, and scampered away.  As he wound his way back to the safe house it dawned on him that he had just ruined his chances of getting back inside the prison alone.  The guard would notice the forgotten uniform and realize something wrong had taken place.  Then every step imaginable would be taken to see who had infiltrated the prison, where he’d gone, what he looked like, and maybe where he’d escaped to.

Evan tried not to be too hard on himself.  At least he knew better what the team was up against and was less confident that he wasn’t needed at the prison with Lillian instead of the Central Processing Building with Keetha.

Sweaty and out of breath, Evan re-entered the safe house.  It was quiet.  He was grateful for that.  He walked to the back room, hoping to tell Katherine he’d learned.  Instead, he saw a stiff and cross-armed Keetha Cata glaring at him from the center of the room.

“And where have you been off to?” she began.