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.Extraterrestrials! We were greeting more visitors from outer space, for Christ’s sake! What the hell is Brunn thinking?But.since Brunn was one of few human beings on the whole planet who knew what was really going on in Montana, Michael grudgingly admitted to himself and the others that this must truly be something critical.Swallowing a yawn, Michael walked with Mark through the front gate of the rogue pit and waited as the guards on duty (which had doubled in number since their last visit) placed some rushed calls.In very little time, Lieutenant Commander Falkenberg, the pit’s warden, hurried out to meet them in the yard.“Thank you,” Falkenberg said, somewhat out of breath, “thank you for coming so quickly.Thank you so much.” He was an older, overweight desk jockey, who nevertheless possessed a youthful face and an endearing smile that soothed some of Michael’s irritation.If Michael recalled, Falkenberg had been drafted directly from the norm penal system; his prisoners were far more dangerous now, but otherwise, Michael imagined that his daily routine had changed very little from the old days.“You coulda thanked us inside, ya know,” Mark complained, unaffected by the man’s gratitude and inherent charm.“We’re both draggin’ ass and the sun’s too damn bright this morning.”“Yes, yes, I imagine,” Falkenberg agreed with a nod, though he had no way of knowing how long they’d been up or where they’d come from to be here.“I wanted an opportunity to explain the situation to you before we reach the prisoner’s, well, holding area.”Michael perked up a bit.Requests for additional information from Brunn had been either deflected or ignored, so Michael had guessed they were maintaining the same electronic-silence as before.After all, since precious few people knew that the Taalu had now made formal contact, they had to maintain the same professional paranoia as they had leading up to the “Arthian” synod.To Falkenberg, Michael said, “Any information at all would be appreciated.We really don’t know anything except that this is a ‘prisoner negotiation,’ which is not something PCA field agents would usually handle.”“You’re right, of course,” said the warden.He turned and guided them back toward the main building, but at a slow pace.“And we did begin the proceedings with representatives from the DA’s office.But the prisoner, well, he’s made a few unusual requests, and one of them,” he gestured to Michael, “was to request you.We don’t make it a habit of giving in to prisoner ultimatums, but some of his claims got the attention of the higher-ups.You know how that goes.”“Any idea why this prisoner wanted me?” Michael asked.“Did I arrest him?”“The first time, yes.You see, he’s one of our escapees.”Michael and Mark exchanged a look.No shit? To the warden, Michael asked, “Are we talking about Perry Cooper here?”Falkenberg nodded.“We are indeed.He was recaptured two nights ago.He attacked a PCA way station, if you can believe that.They thought he was trying to help free a rogue they had just arrested, but once he recovered, he started saying a lot of, well, strange things, making a lot of odd demands — all hush-hush like.” He glanced at Michael.“I don’t just mean we’re keeping it hush-hush, I mean he wants it hush-hush.”As they reached the building, a pair of guards opened the doors for them.Then another guard immediately inside opened a side door, which led into a narrow, concrete service hallway with small windows running along at ceiling height.It struck Michael as odd that they weren’t heading toward the prisoner cells.Falkenberg noticed the confusion on his face.“This is the sort of thing I’m talking about.Cooper demanded not to be kept with the other prisoners, not even in the solitary confinement wing in the basement.He wanted us to lock him up in the smallest space possible, a space tight enough that no one else could get in there with him without his knowing it, just him and that force field of his.Really paranoid.So we ended up putting him, well, in a utility closet.”They rounded the corner, heading deeper into the building, which put an end to the high windows; now the bleak hallway was lit only by banks of sickly fluorescent lights.About fifty yards down, Michael spotted another pair of guards and a lot of standalone equipment stationed outside one of the periodic doors.Falkenberg again read Michael’s expression.“Yes, that’s all we had time to put together on such short notice.We can’t do much about his force field itself without keeping a psi-jammer on him — one of the first demands he made when he woke up was our taking that off — but he can’t build up any momentum in there.And to be honest, it hasn’t been a problem so far.He’s made no attempts to escape, this time around.”Mark spoke up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Extraterrestrials! We were greeting more visitors from outer space, for Christ’s sake! What the hell is Brunn thinking?But.since Brunn was one of few human beings on the whole planet who knew what was really going on in Montana, Michael grudgingly admitted to himself and the others that this must truly be something critical.Swallowing a yawn, Michael walked with Mark through the front gate of the rogue pit and waited as the guards on duty (which had doubled in number since their last visit) placed some rushed calls.In very little time, Lieutenant Commander Falkenberg, the pit’s warden, hurried out to meet them in the yard.“Thank you,” Falkenberg said, somewhat out of breath, “thank you for coming so quickly.Thank you so much.” He was an older, overweight desk jockey, who nevertheless possessed a youthful face and an endearing smile that soothed some of Michael’s irritation.If Michael recalled, Falkenberg had been drafted directly from the norm penal system; his prisoners were far more dangerous now, but otherwise, Michael imagined that his daily routine had changed very little from the old days.“You coulda thanked us inside, ya know,” Mark complained, unaffected by the man’s gratitude and inherent charm.“We’re both draggin’ ass and the sun’s too damn bright this morning.”“Yes, yes, I imagine,” Falkenberg agreed with a nod, though he had no way of knowing how long they’d been up or where they’d come from to be here.“I wanted an opportunity to explain the situation to you before we reach the prisoner’s, well, holding area.”Michael perked up a bit.Requests for additional information from Brunn had been either deflected or ignored, so Michael had guessed they were maintaining the same electronic-silence as before.After all, since precious few people knew that the Taalu had now made formal contact, they had to maintain the same professional paranoia as they had leading up to the “Arthian” synod.To Falkenberg, Michael said, “Any information at all would be appreciated.We really don’t know anything except that this is a ‘prisoner negotiation,’ which is not something PCA field agents would usually handle.”“You’re right, of course,” said the warden.He turned and guided them back toward the main building, but at a slow pace.“And we did begin the proceedings with representatives from the DA’s office.But the prisoner, well, he’s made a few unusual requests, and one of them,” he gestured to Michael, “was to request you.We don’t make it a habit of giving in to prisoner ultimatums, but some of his claims got the attention of the higher-ups.You know how that goes.”“Any idea why this prisoner wanted me?” Michael asked.“Did I arrest him?”“The first time, yes.You see, he’s one of our escapees.”Michael and Mark exchanged a look.No shit? To the warden, Michael asked, “Are we talking about Perry Cooper here?”Falkenberg nodded.“We are indeed.He was recaptured two nights ago.He attacked a PCA way station, if you can believe that.They thought he was trying to help free a rogue they had just arrested, but once he recovered, he started saying a lot of, well, strange things, making a lot of odd demands — all hush-hush like.” He glanced at Michael.“I don’t just mean we’re keeping it hush-hush, I mean he wants it hush-hush.”As they reached the building, a pair of guards opened the doors for them.Then another guard immediately inside opened a side door, which led into a narrow, concrete service hallway with small windows running along at ceiling height.It struck Michael as odd that they weren’t heading toward the prisoner cells.Falkenberg noticed the confusion on his face.“This is the sort of thing I’m talking about.Cooper demanded not to be kept with the other prisoners, not even in the solitary confinement wing in the basement.He wanted us to lock him up in the smallest space possible, a space tight enough that no one else could get in there with him without his knowing it, just him and that force field of his.Really paranoid.So we ended up putting him, well, in a utility closet.”They rounded the corner, heading deeper into the building, which put an end to the high windows; now the bleak hallway was lit only by banks of sickly fluorescent lights.About fifty yards down, Michael spotted another pair of guards and a lot of standalone equipment stationed outside one of the periodic doors.Falkenberg again read Michael’s expression.“Yes, that’s all we had time to put together on such short notice.We can’t do much about his force field itself without keeping a psi-jammer on him — one of the first demands he made when he woke up was our taking that off — but he can’t build up any momentum in there.And to be honest, it hasn’t been a problem so far.He’s made no attempts to escape, this time around.”Mark spoke up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]