Free THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION by Rob Buckman Page A

could…” He sobbed and walked out the room on unsteady legs. Neither Simpson nor Musgrave said a word for a moment.
    “Time.” Musgrave said at last. “It’s not the same in there is it?” Penn pursed his lips and shook his head. “The test takes as long as necessary, irrespective of outside time.”
    “So… it’s all in our head?” Simpson asked.
    “Like hell it is. Those tests were as real as it gets.” Gina Musgrave snapped.
    “The tests are real, you bleed, suffer and even die… well sort of die in there if need be to prove you are worthy to wear that uniform. If you aren’t, you end up like him.” Penn nodded towards the retreating figure.
    He’d have to ask Michael about him later, suspecting he knew the answer. The man was just plain dangerous, and had never stepped out of the self-imposed gilded cage he’d built for himself, and the pyramid had taken away from him the one thing he could never replace. His age. He’d been in there so long, locked into some fantasy he’d become an old man and no longer a threat to anyone.
    “There is one other thing you should know. Wherever you set up your headquarters, there will be a similar doorway to that one somewhere nearby.”
    “Phew! And we’ll have the ability to use it for what?”
    “Whatever is needed. Re-education, a sort of prison, healing, even for yourself if you get injured, and an emergency supply depot.” Both the new Rangers nodded, at last beginning to understand the scope of their responsibilities.
    Just then, two more people emerged, one after the other. Much to Richard’s surprise, one of them was the young man who looked so cocksure of himself when he walked in. Now he looked more mature and centered. The young woman who came out behind him was the same. Penn introduced them and gave them the same basic information. An hour later, he had fifty-three people, and Michael told him there were fifty more to come. The remainder had all died and been transported back to where they came from, a little wiser, a little healthier, and maybe a little richer. It all depended on the reason they ‘died’. Self-sacrifice was always rewarded. After all the introductions were made, the people changed into their new uniforms and started checking out their vehicles and equipment.
    “I’ll let you get on with it. Good luck to you all.” Penn shook hands with each of them, and with a casual wave walked across the room and through the archway.
    “Why do I get the impression that there is nothing in there that scares him?” Musgrave muttered.
    “Probably because there isn’t.” Gina shivered.
    “I have the feeling that whatever he went through in there was a lot worse than anything we did.
     

Chapter Six
    Inside the Pyramid - Sigma Draconis
    …♫ Our 'prentice Tom may now refuse to wipe his scoundrel Master's Shoes, For now he's free to sing and play O'er hills and far away, through Friend, Foe, and Markoff’s hand, Emperor Cytec command and we obey, O'er hill and far away♫...
    Staff Sergeant Isaac Ben-Sharon walked out of the short tunnel onto the training grounds, and a slight smile touched his lips as he eyed the strange looking red and gold hieroglyphics adorning the walls. He now knew what they were, unlike when he'd walked down a similar tunnel many months ago, or was it? His sun-darkened face settled into his normal grim look as he walked out into the early morning sunlight. How none of the ten thousand human troops he was part of had figured it out quicker only pointed out to just how effective the simulation was. They should have clicked earlier when no one had gotten permanently killed, only wounded. Not that they knew it at the time. For all intents and purposes, many of the men were dead as far as he, or the medics could tell. And yet, a few days later those same men were back on the line fighting the Thrakee.
    He chuckled to himself as he remembered the months of slogging through an impossibly thick jungle, full of all sorts