Highman, all bosses work for me. You took out Chin, not an easy thing to do.”
“Yeah, I found that out. He hit like a train.” I looked down at my bruised covered chest and abdomen.
“I see that,” Highman said.
“Where are my clothes?” I asked.
“I have questions. I have found over the years that it helps in questioning if there are no clothes. People don’t lie well this way.” He indicated my mode of dress. “No clothes.” He smiled.
“What questions?” I asked, thinking I could lie dressed, naked, or standing on my head if I had to.
The guard, on my right, kneed me in the thigh just above the knee. It hurt and I would have dropped to the floor had the guards not been holding me.
“I also find that this goes better if I am the only one asking questions.”
The guard kneed me again, only this time it did not hurt as much because it still hurt from the first strike.
“First question.” Highman picked up the Taser from the desk and walked toward me.
“A Taser,” I replied not understanding how a prisoner on a prison planet did not know what a Taser was.
“Where did you get it?”
“Big Chin’s quarters after I took over. I found it there.”
“All right, I haven’t seen one of these before.” Highman stood taller than me and was younger. His long, brown hair needed washed from the looks of it. He did not worry about things being clean like Big Chin. That cleaning issue included Highman’s body odor. He needed a bath even more than a demo team member did after a full day’s work. What he did have was youth and physical size. He was close now and bulged with muscles. “How does it work?”
“Like any other Taser. How long have you been here?” I asked.
The second guard kneed me high on the thigh, almost in the groin.
“How does it work?” Highman asked me again. This time his voice had lowered just a bit. He punched me in the chest. It hurt, but not like the knees had.
“Do you see that yellow tip?” I took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. “You push it against a person and squeeze the body of the unit. When you do that, it jolts the person the tip is against.”
“Deadly?” Highman asked.
“It can be, but most times no.”
Highman pushed it against my chest and stared me in the eyes. He smiled and squeezed the unit.
I screamed, as did his guards, as all three of us got electrocuted. Shared this way, I got less of a shock than if it was just on me.
His guards released me as fast as they could, and I collapsed to my knees.
“You didn’t mention that little contact problem,” Highman said. He leaned forward and jolted me a second time.
I fell backward and lay there. “You didn’t ask?” I laughed a mean, painful laugh.
The guards moved forward and began to punch and kick me. One guard kicked me, stayed close to kick me again, and I grabbed the ankle of the foot he was standing on. I threw my weight against his knee as I pulled his foot to me. The knee snapped and he fell to the ground next to me screaming and clutching his broken leg. More guards ran forward and pummeled me before they dragged me to my feet in front of Highman.
“There is some fight in you, too much I think. Guards, soften Boss Danbeu, then we’ll talk.”
The guards in the room surrounded me, held my arms, and took turns with body shots to my already battered gut. I do not know how long I got beat, but it seemed like years. Afterwards, I was dragged back over in front of Highman again.
He smiled. “You look more cooperative now.”
I gritted my teeth, forced my shoulders straight as much as the two guards holding me allowed, and stared straight back at him. “Funny thing about that, you look pretty much the same. How did you do that? I mean, manage to watch your men do what you couldn’t do yourself. How is it you still look as angry as you did before?” I asked. “Two questions, I just asked you two questions, what no answer? You, The Highman, you know all, see all,
Zak Bagans, Kelly Crigger
L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt