So nearly 2 months without an update....Yeah, sorry about that. But the creative juices are flowingg like a waterfall now, so the finale is in sight. And Splat, ya better believe you owe Arthur a mention
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]Chapter 26: Reasons and Choices
After hearing Max’s words, Larry slumped as well, deflated. “So now what?”
Max shrugged “I don’t know. The Sligs will be checking the files, looking for anything to ask Godrar to execute us. As for Trevor, he must have had a reason for lying.”
Larry cut in “Yeah, to save my damn skin.”
Jeff spoke up “No….He’d know you could end up getting the chop as well anyway. He must have another reason.”
Larry felt the venomous bite of treachery rise up in him again “But we’ll never know now will we, and he’d never have needed a reason if Max hadn’t told that damn mudokon.”
Max’s voice cracked “I’ve said I’m sorry Larry! What more can I do?”
“I’m sorry too Max. You didn’t mean to break our trust to the Slig, but you told that mudokon. He might have told the Sligs anyway. You broke our trust.”
A cloud settled over Max “Trust? I didn’t break your trust. If I’d done that I’d have told that guy wilfully. I thought slow and so just told the truth to him. But that doesn’t mean I don’t regret it.”
Max sat on the dirty floor of the so-called bunks, and stared into nothingness for a moment. Larry began to speak but Max looked up and cut in.
“Do you know why I’m always so angry, bud? Do you know why I’ve got such an ill temper? It’s entirely to do with trust, that someone broke ages back. Back before I was here, before I met you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arthur, having ducked down a number of unconventional routes in order to avoid the majority of the bustle, and arrive from the other direction; hurried round the corner for the Security Room. He stopped abruptly as a trio of Sligs, one of whom seemed to be Merrick, but Arthur could not tell from his position, hurried out and…
’Phew.’…Walked the other way, the direct route towards the interrogation room.
‘Strange that Merrick’s so late in getting’ goin’, he been busy at this s’posed thievin’ or summat?’
Arthur quickly gabbled out the Voicelock command and entered the Room, closing the door quietly behind him with a quick prompt. He was relieved to see that it was empty.
‘He don’t think 5 minutes ahead of his face. Mind you, I hardly think he expects any of us Sligs ta break in to this office.’
Arthur hurried to the central seat and swept his eyes across the monitors. Each monitor possessed 2 disk drives of their own, 1 for the current recording, 1 to copy or play archive footage. Arthur spotted one sscreen labelled as Interrogation Room #6, the room he had previously been in. After looking around the switchboard, he found a function to rewind that particular monitor, playing it back to just before he began to pour his verbal rage out to Trevor. Looking around again on the switchboard, he found a button marked “Delete.” He pressed it, and the video began to play from where he had paused, with text appearing on the screen reading “Press Again To Finish Deleting”. Arthur repeatedly tapped on the “Delete” button, random sections of the tape sliced out and replaced by the default, pre-recording static. He pressed Rewind again and watched as it played in reverse, intermittently going to fuzziness, the handiwork of Arthur’s deliberately poor cut-job. Satisfied, Arthur then turned his attention to the job he had been commissioned to do by his infuriatingly informed employer. He looked around for any screens labelled as some of the less inhabited areas, figuring that would be as good a place to start as any.
“Nope…..Nope…..Hmm, Mayb-Oh, nope….”
But barely a minute into his searching and the patter of pant legs and garbling of Sliggish outside was audible. Arthur froze, and quickly shut off his observations, hitting “Normal” On every button available, to revert the cameras to their usual maintenance. He made sure that the high-backed chair he was seated in faced fully away from the door, and finished closing his hunt down almost in tandem with the door opening.
“Hey, whatcha doin’?”
Arthur paused. The voice was familiar but unknown, one of the rabble that stayed in the same Barracks quarters as him. He affected a voice different to his natural, more South Mudosian and marble-mouthed; a voice he recognised a couple of the Slig who typically worked in this section as using.
“Checkin’ cam’ras. I ‘eard ‘bout the shit in the interrorgance rooms an’ so I came ta check the footage. Is fooked. All full o’ schtatic n innerference.”
He pressed “Play” on the button to show his inexpertly edited handiwork, taking care to let as little of his body be visible to the Slig in the doorway as possible. The screen showed the edited and static filled footage. Arthur knew the audio was still present, he had no idea how to remove that, but it was sufficiently intermittent to destroy any thread of the conversation.
The Slig in the doorway snorted. “Heh. Musta damaged the recordin’ cable, that normally only happens with short circuits. That Arthur’s a proper bastard, an’ a lucky shot. I’ll go tell Merrick.”
Arthur waved his hand distracted. “Yuh. Yuh do dat.”
The Slig turned and left, and Arthur sighed in relief. He turned back to the cameras, and pulled open a compartment, finding a few blank discs. After a few botched attempts and trying the wrong slots, he slid them into a few of the disc drives, picking the cameras that he hadn’t looked at yet. He pressed the relevant “Copy” buttons on the switchboard, and waited for it to finish, worried that he might yet be caught. After another agonising minute, the copying finished and he hurriedly retrieved the discs, stashing them in a compartment of his pants. Glancing round the room and spotting an unopened bottle of Brew, Arthur hurried over to it and picked it up. “Mine now.” He took another quick look then turned to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry cocked his head, puzzled. He didn’t bother with the words he had been about to voice and let Max speak.
“It was when I got caught and brought here. I’d been a Tomahawker at my village, I think I told you. I was first freed when I was quite young, so was brought up to be able to help the Native resistance. The village I was at took on some escapees, they’d been freed by Abe, and wandered their way to us while he went off to continue heroic-ing. Bunch of them idolised the guy, the shmucks. They were decent workers, most of them. Some of ‘em wanted to go back and fight the Cartel full on, and some wanted to be like Abe, freeing slaves. Couple of them got quite pissy when the village Chief wouldn’t let them. The Shaman wouldn’t neither. There was a Slig raid on the village, we’d had a couple before and fought them off. But 1 of the slaves that got rescued was rather unhappy about not being allowed to bugger off saving slaves and fighting Sligs. He made an agreement with the Sligs- He’d let them in and muck up the Zap Henges, and he in return was promised safety as a Mudokon news reporter for M.O.M. He didn’t really want to do that, he just wanted to fight the Sligs face to face, violently, instead of just repelling them with Zappers and the Shaman’s powers.”
Larry sighed “So that’s why the trust issue upset you. I’m sorry man.”
A nod from the red colossus “Yeah. There was damn open fighting alright. Bunch of Sligs and Natives died. The bastard Sligs won, they had the better weapons. I got caught. No idea what happened to the guy who betrayed us, I expect he died cause he wanted to get into the thick of things, the prick. But it’s what made me so angry. Seeing so many of us get killed, and finding out later how we’d been turned on, that’s why I despise the Sligs. And it’s also why I wouldn’t deliberately betray you.”
Larry nodded sadly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There you are! Mind telling me what the blue bloody blazes happened here!?”
Arthur had been heading away from the Security Room only to walk straight into a fuming Merrick. He stopped and hopped a step back to avoid being tentacle to tentacle with his ill tempered peer.
“I already told the damn guards. That mud got under my skin, so I shot out the camera so’s I could beat him up without getting’ in trouble fer breakin’ them new mandatory Mud treatment laws. Funny how not long after this Factory introduces laws enabling more punishment, the Cartel pass a slave rights act cause they’re scared the mud terrorists are gonna go after ‘em otherwise. Means we have ta tread carefully ta be able to carry out the factory laws without breaking main laws.”
Merrick open-hand slapped Arthur, staggering the slightly-potbellied Slig. “Don’t talk ter me like that, shithead. I’ll decide if yer lyin’ when I see the footage. Which makes me ask, what were ya doin’ in the security room, and why were ya there so long?”
The erstwhile troublemaker cupped his stinging cheek, before glaring back. “I went there ta find you,
sir. An’ I took so long cause I took a long way round so I could get a Brew” He held up the finagled bottle.
Merrick took little notice. “Don’t believe you. You’re a liar, a troublemaker, a killer, a vandal, an’ a mudlover. Dunno if you heard but the mud in them interrogation cells, what you say you beat up, he’s getting’ executed tomorrow. Boss don’t wanna waste any time, risk any outsiders getting’ ahold of it or risk him workin’ his fuckin’ Spooce powers on anyone. It’s gonna be done in the amphitheatre, good an’ proper like the old days.”
“Good. I wanna see him die. How’s it bein’ done? Shootin’ or grinder?” Arthur responded.
A grin “Grinder wouldn’t fly with the Mudfuck Brigade that’s in Nolybab now. Shooting, all proper and clean. But you ain’t gonna see it. I don’t trust what you’ve said, so I’m puttin’ you on Barracks leave. The Boss wants all the Sligs possible in the theatre to watch it, just keeping a few back to supervise the muds, an’ then there’s the injured ones an’ the ones unfit to wach, like you. I don’t need no paperwork,, I have all the authority myself. You’re stayin’ in the Barracks and likin’ it. If ya wanna see the death so much though, find a way ta hook the TV up to the camera in the theatre, ot likely that’ll happen though. Once the mud’s dead, I’m gonna look at you. Hope that yer story’s the truth, if it ain’t I’m comin’ for ya.”
Arthur produced his baton and looked at it, before swinging it at his Brew bottle, smashing the neck off. He replaced the baton at his belt, and , to avoid the sharp glass, tipped the broken bottle up, letting the Brew pour out of the end into his mouth. He gulped it down and refocused on Merrick.
“Sure thing sir.”
Merrick punched Arthur between the eyes, who collapsed against the wall from the force of the experienced Slig’s blow. The Brew bottle fell to the floor but didn’t break. Merrick was quick to retrieve it before too much leaked out, and he sloshed some of it into his own mouth before spitting down the neck and handing it back to the dazed Arthur.
“I can’t wait till I get yer. I really can’t.”
With that he walked past and left, followed by a cohort of his security drones.
‘Talking to Trevor’s got me in it deep. Every time I talk to them damn muds it gets me in the shit. Why did I fucking bother? I’ think I’ll go tell Larry what’s happening tomorrow, might cheer me up.’
He rummaged in a compartment for his cigarettes as he walked towards the slave quarters. Sorting through the pack, he selected a cigarette and then fumbled for his lighter as he continued on his way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I never said it was deliberate Max. Never said you wanted to do it. Maybe betray was the wrong word to use. You cost us the escape, I know you didn’t mean to. But it doesn’t change that Trevor is gonna be dead in a few days if we don’t do something. We need to think of a way to get him out.”
Max sighed “No way I see of doing that, not without busting out the entire factory. It’ll be that guarded, and there’ll be no staying here afterwards. We’d need to find a way to escape properly and let’s be honest- we’ve got nothing.”
Jeff spoke up, snapping out of his reverie “Ain’t cool stuff. Done the boilers. Done the Vents. Done the packing rooms when we all hid in barrels about 3 years back. Done the train now too. Nothing chill left ta get us out, and if we need to get out all the other duders here too to be safe I can’t see no way to do it, Larry.”
A disappointed nod “I know Jeff. We ain’t got anything. But we have to think ,we have to try someth-“
The door to the corridor running past the cells burst open loudly, cutting Larry off. Arthur walked in, a broken brew bottle in his hand, a freshly lit cigarette in his mouth, and an unreadable yet unpleasant look in his eyes. He walked to the bars and pointed at Larry.
“Got some news for ya about Trevor, might cheer ya up.”
Larry hurried to the bars “What is it?”
A grin “Don’t get so cheery. He’s getting’ executed tomorrow. Nice an quick an professional, getting’ shot.” Arthur smirked, the new cigarette smouldering in the corner of his mouth.
Larry shook his head and sighed “What’s happened to you Arthur? Why are you being like this?”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed “Whats happened to me? Ive become NORMAL! That’s what! I’m a normal Slig with abnormal shit still happening to him on yer behalf!” He roared, the cigarette fell some distance from his mouth into the cell.
“Now look what yer made me do, lose a perfectly good cig.” He punched Larry in the stomach, dropping his former friend to all fours. A Slig moved forward, possibly to join in, possibly to stop Arthur before he brought more flack onto another group of guards. The Slig stopped however as Arthur then turned and left, eyeing the Slig who had made to stop him.
“Ooh, concerned fer them, mudlover?” He reached into the Slig’s own pants-pocket and pulled a cigarette from them.
“I lost mine in your area, so I’ll count it as 1 of your cigs. So here’s me collecting what ya owe.”
The other Slig sneered back “Gettin’ all tough now? I heard about ya trashin’ the prisoner’s cameras. Good job, idiot.”
But Arthur had already ignored him and left, and the Slig found himself talking to a closing door.
Larry picked up the cigarette, extinguished by the filthy and damp cell floor. He regarded it sadly.
“He used ta be swell. Shame what’s happened.” Jeff mumbled to nobody in particular.
Stereo nods from Larry and Max.
“And now Trevor dies tomorrow. We’ve got about 6 hours to come up with a foolproof rescue plan to save the entire factory.” Larry tossed the cigarette to Jeff.
“There Jeff. I remember you saying you used to like a type of them before you got caught. See if you can light it up.”
Jeff nodded “I did. Mine had nice green stuff in though.” He fiddled with the fag, unable to light it he just started unwrapping the rolled paper cylinder. Larry couldn’t tell whether he was doing it just to have something to occupy him, or whether Jeff wanted to just swallow the tobacco in the centre whole.
A sad sigh from Max. “I wish this factory was as easy to open up and make fall apart as that cigarette, Jeff. Doesn’t look like there’s going to be a light on the horizon this time.”
The unofficial leader of the group nodded “Me and Jeff got lucky once before and Abe busted us out, from separate factories. You and Trev don’t look like you’ll ever get that fortunate chance. And lightning isn’t going to strike twice for us.”
The 3 sat in a trio, still apart from Jeff’s fiddling, entirely silent. Unspoken words hung in the air, unsung lamentations passed through their minds. Trevor’s death approached.
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DONE~!
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