A Handyman Goes to Prison

 

A HANDYMAN GOES TO PRISON

 

 

            Why am I in a prison? Well, the short answer is that I needed the job. There are powerful people that have blackballed me from working anywhere in the Solar System. Someone even hired a hitman to take me out.

And it’s all because I made the hard choice on Eris. There was no scenario where people weren’t going to die. My solution saved more lives than it took. The problem was that the wrong people died. People that were connected.

So, I set up shop on one of the lesser-known asteroids in the Kuiper Belt. The only people that know about it are ship captains. It makes an ideal way station for emergency repairs. It was how I managed not to starve to death.

There are two things I am good at. I’m a good dancer and I’m a problem solver. Dancing never got me anywhere, but solving problems is what made me a good bounty hunter. It also makes me a good engineer.

I seem to have an instinct for how things work. I have even repaired the more advanced ships from Techspace. Certain design elements run true regardless of where you are.

It was one of their ships that brought me to Anaximander’s Well.  That’s what we call the prison. The other universes call it Lucon. Regardless of what its name is, it is the most secure facility in the multiverse. Very few know its location. I don’t even know. Those of us without the security clearance were put in stasis pods for the journey.

Why did they bring me there? Follow along and find out.

 

 

“Welcome to my shop, Captain. How can I help you?”

“Forgive me. My tranlortal is not wronik.”

His words were garbled, but his meaning was clear.

“I.. will..speak..slowly..so..your..translator..can..keep..up..okay?”

Numen aren’t very expressive, but he still looked embarrassed.

“Yes, that is right.”

 

 

That is another peculiarity of their species. Their idea of courtesy is to tell you that you are right.

This conversation took a while, so let me give you the overview. I told him to dock and then boarded his ship. He led me to his mainframe and pointed me to the translator panel.

Numen use artificial cells that power their equipment with bioelectric fields. I was a little rusty on my microbiology, but I managed to work out that a cluster of cells was compromised. The captain wasn’t an engineer, but he did keep spare parts on board.

It was while I was patching in the new cell cluster that I met Viseryan. He moved so quietly that I didn’t know he was there until he spoke to me- in my head.

 

 

I was told you were a backward species. That does not appear to be the case.

I nearly dropped my tools. His voice pierced my brain.

“I don’t suppose you could whisper?” I asked.

I am whispering. You cannot handle my regular voice.

“Then I thank you for your consideration. You probably already know my name. How should I address you?”

I am called Viseryan. In answer to your unspoken question, I am a Paran from the universe you call Psispace. Of greater import to you, I am the warden at Lucon.

“I was cleared of any wrongdoing. But you knew that.”

Yes, and neither am I here about Fleur Whelan or her crew. I offered your friend, Ahlan Gaines, a job. He turned me down but recommended you in his place.

I have to admit that this took the breath right out of me. It took me a moment to recover.

“I’m not gonna lie. I do miss chasing bounties. But, as you already know, I know very little about Psispace. Besides, I don’t think your fellow Parans would accept my authority.

You misunderstand. I do not want you in Psispace. I want you at Lucon. You have experience with beings throughout the known multiverse. We need guards with that kind of familiarity.

 

 

As a bounty hunter I had done work for prisons in the Solar System. I had even gone into some of the cells to look for clues. Even the ones with high security made me uneasy. After all, a caged animal is dangerous.

I had never been to Lucon, but I had captured several of those beings he mentioned, and they now served out sentences there. They were already unhappy to be there. I felt sure that my presence would unnecessarily provoke them.

Repairing ships is not as glamorous as bounty hunting. I often worried that I was getting soft from such a sedentary lifestyle. But I also valued my physical safety.

We humans are a mass of contradictions, aren’t we?

 

 

“I’m honored by your consideration, Warden. But don’t you think I would cause more problems than I would solve?”

I am familiar with the prisons in your universe. If our facility were like them, I would agree. We do things very differently at Lucon. Let me give you a brief tour. You will see what I mean.

Even ordinary humans from my universe would have recognized what I thought of that suggestion.

“Did you use that line on Ahlan?”

You are perceptive for a human. As you have already surmised, Mr. Gaines did not impress us in his interview. No one willingly accepts an invitation to tour our facility unless either their greedy or slow of wit. He was both.

“We could quibble about the difference between impulsiveness and stupidity, but that would be a waste of your time. So, let’s move on. What assurances can you give me that I would be treated as an honored guest if I took this tour?”

You are not currently in an advantageous position with your government. Nevertheless, they have representation in the council that oversees Lucon. A word from one of them would guarantee safety for you. It would also quell any trepidations I might have concerning you. I will return here in thirty of you solar days.

 

I can count on one hand the number of individuals I look up to. Viseryan is one of them. He makes me feel like a child. If there were more like him, then he wouldn’t need to hire guards.

I’m sure you noticed how he turned the pressure back on me. I asked him for guarantees, but he’s the one that needed guarantees. It’s typical of him and I admire him for it.

I still had a few friends in the bounty hunters. I had established secure lines of communication with them before I went into this exile. But they were my only contacts with home.

I knew that a few in the government were sympathetic to my cause or else I would have lost more than my job. Unfortunately, I didn’t know who they were.

My only choice would be to ask one of my friends to look into this for me. Ahlan, as I have said before, is my best friend. But he just isn’t very subtle.

I called May.

 

 

“You don’t ask for much, do you?”

“Be honest. You’d be insulted if I came to you with the easy assignments.”

“I’m insulted that you gave up asking me out so easily. Ahlan had flowers delivered to my apartment on Earth every day for a week.”

“Aren’t you allergic to flowers?”

“Of course. Why do you think I stopped accepting work assignments with him?”

“I’ll send you a bouquet of artificial forget-me-knots if you put me in touch with Commander Landon.”

“If this works out, you’ll owe me more than a bouquet.”

 

 

I only asked May out once in all the time I have known her. It was awkward and clumsy. She has never let me live it down. I have since learned that she is attracted to older men.  She has been dating Commander Landon on the sly.

Perri Landon is a retired Star Force officer. When we lost Pollux Holden to a retirement colony, he took over the Bounty Hunter Corps. He doesn’t work in the field, but he understands what hunters go through.

When he called me in about the incident on Eris, he was sympathetic. He had made some tough calls as an officer of Star Force that had made him unpopular. But Star Force was better insulated from public outcry than the bounty hunters. He had no choice but to fire me.

The Bounty Hunter Corps survived the scandal, but my enemies had a long memory. I wasn’t surprised that seven solar days passed with no reply.

When he finally answered, it was not what I was expecting.

 

 

“This is Ambassador Wallis’s shuttle requesting permission to dock.”

“Permission granted.”

As I stated before, I have worked on some of the ships from Techspace. They had all been freighters. I had seen some of their military cruisers during the Eris incident. But until that time, I had never seen anything like the diplomatic yacht.

After initiating docking procedures, I ducked into my living quarters for a quick shower. After donning one of my nicer jumpsuits, I raced out to meet the ambassador.

Maren Wallis is considered very short for a Numan. She stands at just above five feet tall. That’s only an inch or two below my mother. Her hand looks bare without a flute of tea in it. A fact which is quickly remedied by her attendants.

“Mr. Mede, it is good to know that you have not succumbed to the predations of my colleagues in the Solar government. Their sentimentality is irrational and wearisome.”

“Thank you, Ambassador. I apologize for the poor accommodations. My clients have been generous, but I can’t risk spending too much.”

“I understand and I am here to assist. I have been made aware of a unique opportunity that has been offered to you. I have the honor of serving on the board that oversees Lucon prison and am prepared to conduct you there.”

There is a kind of panic that seizes your heart when you are confronted with something new. It doesn’t matter whether you are interested in or repulsed by it. The physical reaction is the same. That is what I was experiencing.

“How soon?”

“At your earliest convenience.”

 

 

Her timing was impeccable. I had completed my last repair job two solar days prior to her arrival. It was a mining barge that had suffered damage from raiders. The owner was scheduled to pick it up in a couple of standard hours.

I considered my time on this asteroid to be an exile from my real home. I had brought nothing of personal value when I came here, and I would not miss it. I did not know what the future held in store for me, but I felt my time at the way station was over.

I set up a proximity beacon with a recorded message for the barge owner. I hinted that he was welcome to commandeer the asteroid for his own use if he wished. I packed what clothes I had into a hover trunk and boarded the shuttle. I didn’t look back.

 

 

The captain was a large Numan with a blue-tinted visor over his eyes. They reminded me of the old-fashioned eyeglasses my great-grandfather wore when I visited him on Earth. I assumed they performed a similar function but chose not to ask.

“I’ll take your belongings to the cargo hold, Mr. Mede. You won’t be needing them until we arrive.”

“Really? I didn’t know the prison was so close.”

“It is not close. You will be unconscious for the voyage. Follow me and I will take you to the pods.”

Reality and perception are two different things. In reality, it took no more than five standard minutes to walk down the passageway. In my mind, however, it was the longest two minutes of my life.

Stasis pods are standard technology on generation ships. I knew a couple of friends from school that had boarded one bound for a proposed colony in the Alpha Centauri system. The rumors of that expedition were unsubstantiated but grim.

I also knew that prisoners from other universes were loaded into stasis pods. I was there when they closed the lid on the pod bearing Fleur Whelan.

After an eternity, the captain stopped at what looked like an opaque glass door. He pressed his thumb to a sensor and the door shimmered and melted away.

I could rhapsodize for cycles on the amazing technology of the Numen, but I will save that for another time. The stasis pods were set into two large spiraling columns in the middle of a large bay. Ambassador Wallis had already been loaded onto a pod. A tall, female Numan was making the final adjustments to the medical panel.

Her name was Auspicious Layah. She was from a tribe that had migrated to one of their moons generations ago. Her story would take too long to tell here. Let me just say that above all her exotic features, it was her smile that is engraved in my heart.

“Your stasis pod is ready, Mr. Bede. If you will step into the changing station. We have a robe for you to wear.”

“Whatever you say, Doc.”

 

 

The hands of Layah were warm as she fastened me into the pod. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the light in the bay shining off the smooth, purple skin of her face.

Needless to say, I was disappointed when the first thing I saw when I awoke was a grizzled old Paran staring at me with his large black pupils. Others of his kind were bustling in the background. I tried to voice my feelings, but my throat was dry as a bone.

One by one, the bindings on my body melted away until I was free. The problem was that I was disoriented and unsure of my muscles. Without a voice, I wasn’t sure how to convey my misgivings. But these were Parans I was dealing with.

I felt a sudden pressure on my right knee that caused my foot to kick out. Moments later the same thing happened to my left knee.

A short, plump Paran waddled over with a flute of juice in his hand and motioned me down from the pod. I think I counted five different psi abilities being used as they guided me to the changing station and handed me the juice.

I’m taking too long to tell this part of the story. To sum up, I changed back into my regular clothes and met Ambassador Wallis on the bridge.

 

 

“I trust you have recovered sufficiently, Mr. Mede? We are about to disembark.”

“What about your crew, Ambassador? I noticed they were still in their pods.”

“They will not be joining us. They will be brought out of stasis once we have returned to the rendezvous point.”

I had other questions, but I filed them away in my mind.

Four large Parans marched in and formed up around us as we walked down the ramp into the loading bay. The walls looked like a kind of metallic granite. From the floor of the bay, we walked to a wall that I estimated to be four stories tall. A set of massive stairs shimmered into place. As we mounted the first steps, they began to move.

At the top of the stairs was a platform that led to an oval of bright light. The guard in front motioned for us to wait as he moved to an alcove on the side of the oval. From where I stood, all I saw in the alcove was a bench.

“What is he doing?”

“The Paran guards of Lucon prison are all what you call astral projectors,” said the ambassador. “They are the only ones who can penetrate the outer security.”

“And this portal. It’s made of solid light.”

“You are right. A small group of scientists from the planet you call Venus was brought here to install the system.”

“I know the head researcher at the Photonics Lab. I’m surprised she didn’t try to buy this facility.”

“We know Ms. Fyllister, as well. She was not invited.”

I was still chuckling as the light flickered out from the portal. Viseryan was waiting for us with another Paran guard.

I fear that we will have to delay your tour, Mr. Mede. We have a situation.

 

 

Viseryan led us down a corridor with tricky walls. They made it look like we were walking in a straight line, but they actually curved. Only if you looked at the ceiling did you see past the optical illusion.

We arrived at a massive wall of jet-black rock. I saw no openings or faint outlines. It appeared to me to be solid.

I am up on the basics of photonics. Solid light has many applications. They can even manipulate the color spectrum. But they cannot create illusions. This was not Solar technology.

Parans’ faces are incapable of showing emotion. But Viseryan’s telepathy allows him to convey what he is feeling anyway. At that moment, he was amused.

He took one glance at us then at the wall. I felt my brain drop into my stomach and nearly fainted. When my equilibrium was restored, I saw that there was now an opening in the wall.

Psispace technology is scary.

Viseryan’s office was large and well-appointed. The furnishings looked comfortable. The walls were covered in abstract murals that still managed to settle my nerves.

The one thing out of place was a Numan guard seated in the middle of the room and flanked by two Parans. I was inclined to believe this was a minor incident until I saw the Numan’s face.

The veins in his forehead bulged out and had turned a darker hue. His nose was like a pot starting to boil as his nostrils flared with heat.

Oh, and his eyes were glowing.

 

 

“Is he the only one?” I asked.

Yes, fortunately. My bailiffs converged on him before he could cause any trouble.

“Was he guarding Gideon?”

“You are right,” said Ambassador Wallis. “But how..?”

Mr. Mede and his fellow bounty hunters captured him.

“I thought your Space Force did that.”

“No,” I said. “They captured or destroyed his followers, but we were the ones who had been commissioned to go after Gideon.”

What we don’t know is how he managed to turn one of our guards. As with all our inmates, Gideon has been rendered unconscious.

“You do know, you just don’t believe it. You have already read my mind.”

I can read what you think and believe. I cannot read what you have experienced or felt. Those are separate abilities. And no, I cannot accept your interpretation of what happened.

“Then you should act as if you did, because the evidence is sitting in that chair.”

“I seem to be missing part of this conversation,” said the ambassador. “What are you implying about Gideon?”

“There is a force emanating from Gideon that pulls irresistibly on most living creatures. We never determined if it was pheromonal or psionic, but it is very real. I had to knock out a couple of my friends before they could get near him.”

I have felt no such pull.

“I think you’ll find that psi users with your ability are immune. It isn’t an instant feeling like the pull of gravity. It builds up with increased exposure.”

I must admit that your logic is compelling, Mr. Mede. Assuming you are correct, Gideon will need to be further isolated.

“How did you manage to capture him without succumbing?” asked the ambassador.

“We set a trap and boxed him in. But we didn’t really know how far his influence reached. Our perimeter was pretty wide once we chased him into that factory.”

“What is needed, I think, is a way to detect this field of influence. Our medical scanners have a fairly wide range, but they aren’t intuitive. They would have to be manually calibrated.”

“I might be able to do that for you, Ambassador. Let me take a look at one of them.”

“You are right. It might also be right to bring this guard with us.”

I think that odd suggestion convinced Viseryan more than any of my arguments.

I don’t believe that will be necessary, Ambassador Wallis. Why don’t you take Mr. Mede back to your ship? We will see to our guard.

 

 

Thanks to psionic interference from Viseryan, we managed to break free from the guard’s influence.

Yes, I said we. Knowledge is only a partial defense against power like that.

To say that the ambassador was embarrassed would be an understatement. It’s one thing to have your thoughts exposed to a telepath, but it is far worse to have your will dominated by a monster.

Before I continue, I feel I should clarify a few things. First, we didn’t know what Gideon was back then. Speculation ran the gamut between vampires and an evolved human. We had believed that a government black ops team had collected him. It wasn’t until recently that I had heard of Necrospace.

 The Rabisim of Necrospace are not all bad like Gideon. Most of them tend to be sanctimonious prigs, but they are generally safe to be around. It’s also true that few of them are on the level of power he possesses.

The reason Gideon was in Anaximander’s Well was because Rabisim are completely opposed to the death penalty. He is too dangerous to remain in their society and he is too powerful to be held in one of their prisons.

Don’t get me wrong. If Viseryan’s bailiffs hadn’t shown up, I would have killed Gideon. Lethal bounties weren’t as lucrative, but they were sometimes necessary.

All that is to say the turned guard was now a Rabisu, but he was not beyond redemption. Viseryan contacted the authorities in Necrospace, and they came and collected their new denizen.

But let’s get back to the medical scanner.

 

 

“I think I can adjust this scanner, but I need to know what we are looking for.”

“My first discipline was medicine with an emphasis in pharmacology. I may not be an expert in xenobiology, but I have a possible theory.”

“A guess is better than nothing. What is it?”

“There is one kind of microorganism that we have found to be present in every universe. Our version is called racnis. It is a microbe that corrupts our biology.”

“Yes. On Earth, it is called cancer. What about it?”

“Part of its corruption is that it transforms cells to match its structure. The Rabisim are able to do that on a large scale.”

“Oh, I see what you’re saying. We’re looking for something like an airborne virus.”

“You are right.”

“That doesn’t explain how Parans are immune.”

“I am not sure that is right. Their minds are undoubtedly stronger, but they could possibly be turned as well.”

“Then it’s a good thing they are rotating the guard on Gideon’s cell.”

“If my speculation is right, then we will all need to be scanned for any remaining contamination.”

“I will need a genetic profile of Gideon. I can rig this device to scan him from outside his cell, but it should be done by someone who hasn’t had any contact.”

“I will notify Viseryan of our requirements.”

 

 

We might never have proved our theory if Viseryan had not verified it with the representative from Necrospace. Rabisim are born with a pair of pheromonal organs that help them create a symbiotic bond with others. These organs are a part of their reproductive system and are usually benign.

There are exceptions. Newborns have to be trained in how to control the output of these pheromones. The same is true for those who have been turned. This explained the guard.

Another exception is apparently the source of vampire stories in the Solar System. Rabisim discovered a bridge to our universe a long time ago. It could not have been at a better time for them. They had nearly used up their food sources and they were dying out. The earliest contacts with humans showed them that we could solve both problems. Luckily for us, they have since found better alternatives.

The final exception would be rare individuals like Gideon. It normally requires chemical enhancement to achieve the output and mastery of the pheromones that he has. We soon determined that his cell was absolutely saturated by the pheromones. The guard willingly entered the cell and inseminated himself.

All that is to say that we were able to isolate a molecule of the Rabisu pheromone. It breaks down when exposed to extreme heat. That provided a short-term solution to the problem. We encased his body in a heat shield and turned the rest of his cell into a furnace.

Needless to say, my solution convinced Viseryan that I would be an asset to Lucon. I also impressed Ambassador Wallis so much that she granted me asylum on her world when I am not on duty. It has given me plenty of time to get to know Auspicious Layah.