Perdition

By Lee Emory

Aaron Gromar, former UFC Senator who’d lost favor with the new world
order, is warden to Androneda Prison, a remote planet which takes five
years to reach in a ship with FTL drive, but he is as much a prisoner as
the inmates. He can never leave. Aaron is a strong man with a dark
secret he dare not reveal as it would mean his death.
Apart from the occasional use of an isolation cell, there is no need
for bars in Androneda’s Prison. Staying alive from day to day is enough
deterrent to misbehavior for most prisoners. That, and a device called
Lobe-O. The only sure escape from this planet is death.

It’s been tried.

Berina Colchek is sentenced to life on Androneda, better known as
Perdition (Eternal Hell). She’s an assassin, inured to killing. The one
emotion, perhaps the strongest she feels, is anger. Her anger and hatred
is directed at the Warden Gromar and all he stands for, but she soon
discovers quite a different enemy facing her she never counted on.
Perdition is everyone’s enemy, and the struggle to survive its daily
torments is a vital priority for staff and prisoners alike.
One thing is certain. If you’re human, Perdition will either make you
stronger or destroy you utterly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Emory
• Release date: Jul 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452497518

Lee Emory

Lee Emory is the former owner of Treble Heart Books, Sundowners, MountainView Publishing and WhoooDoo Mysteries. Many, many books were published by Lee over the last 13 years. Shewill always treasure her years at the helm andis so sad to turn loose of her many fine authors.

Book preview

Perdition

by

Lee Emory

Perdition

Printed Book © 2008

Lee Emory

All rights reserved.

Cover layout/design

Copyright 2008 ©Lee Emory

All rights reserved.

WhoooDoo Mysteries

(Science Fiction)

A division of

Treble Heart Books

1284 Overlook Dr.

Sierra Vista, AZ 85635-5512

http://www.trebleheartbooks.com

Published in the U.S.A.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The characters and events in this ebook are fictional and any resemblance to persons, whether living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

Ebook ISBNs: 978-1-936127-73-3

1-936127-73-3

Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

About the Author

Dedication

To my brother, Richard Emory, who died March 6, 2008. More than 30 years ago he gave me a planetary prison idea and the title for this book, and it swirled in my brain all these years, cooking. I hope somehow he knows I've finally written this story in his honor.

Chapter 1

Miss Berina Colchek, you stand convicted of twenty two counts of murder against the aforementioned, high ranking, United Federation Collective members. This court believes you and your gang committed many more murders, but the prosecution failed to prove any certainty of this.

My motive still eludes you, poor idiot sucker.

"This court therefore waives the death penalty only because, in addition to these heinous murders you perpetrated upon innocent citizens, we cannot find enough solid evidence of you following your deceased parents' former religious teachings. You have demonstrated no evidence of such ignorant beliefs.

You are hereby sentenced to be transported from Earth to Androneda Prison in the Damnation Alley sector in three days' time. There you will spend the rest of your natural life. His thick, white brows arched as he paused. Be sure to bring a raincoat. Judge Helmsfeld smiled, but quickly adopted a bland countenance and looked away. This court stands adjourned.

The sharp crack of the gavel caused Berina to jump despite that she anticipated the action. In other words, if I followed Mom and Dad's belief in Christianity, it would have been an offense punishable by death, but killing twenty-two worthless, brainwashed world leaders who could be easily replaced only warranted life in Perdition.

With a toss of her long black hair hanging past her butt when she stood, she felt nothing short of contempt for the judge, the court and for the hated UFC. More underground leaders would follow her example to surgically remove as much of the world's cancer as possible. There were splinter groups who still believed in democracy, instead of the world dictatorship Earth had become. Not everyone completely abandoned his or her belief in the Holy Bible or other religious teachings, either. She smiled, a cynical, bitter curl of her lips that often caused people to shudder in fear when they looked in her eyes.

The officers escorted her in chains back to her cell, where she must wait until the ship transported her to Androneda, commonly nicknamed Perdition. True hell if ever one existed.

Someone waited in her stark white cell when she arrived, a redheaded, doe-eyed woman dressed in a long white coat. She held a haircutter in her hand. Berina's lips tightened, so this would be another degradation she must face before arriving at her new destination 145 light years out from Earth. To get there she must undergo cryo-sleep, for how long, the authorities declined to say.

Sit down, please. The barber motioned to a hard looking chair in front of her. The only consideration to preventing cut hairs from getting into her clothing was a thin drape placed over her shoulders.

The guard smirked as he watched the barber capture Berina's mass of hair close to her head. The power cutter passed inches away from her scalp. Just that quick her head felt a great deal lighter. Miss redheaded barber continued, far from finished.

The drone of the cutter persisted, this time shaving Berina's head. The air hitting her naked scalp felt cold. Closing her eyes, she endured losing the one feminine attribute in which she could feel the slightest pride whatsoever.

Want to see yourself in a mirror, Miss Colchek?

Do you want to go on living, you filthy maggot? If you think I've got anything to lose at this point, you'd be dead wrong.

Affronted, the barber jerked away, and the guard challenged, ready to thrash the prisoner if she tried to carry out her threat even though chained. Watch your foul mouth, Colchek. I can make you regret opening that nasty trap.

The barber left after bagging Berina's long hair for sale. She never uttered another word as she made her exit.

A small delta-shape vac disengaged from a nook in the wall to vacuum the shorter leavings of Berina's once crowning glory. Then the guard swaggered out and the force shield hummed to ON, but silenced at once. To touch the near invisible field meant spending time in a burn center after foolishly attempting a painful escape. She'd seen the results on other unfortunates and had no desire to inflict such pain upon herself.

On her cot she found a small pamphlet explaining what to expect while living in Androneda's prison. An ultimate place for the criminal irredeemable. With a growl she balled it up in her fist and threw it against the white concrete wall. Be damned if she cared to read it. She'd heard the stories. Nothing she could do about it anyway. No matter what that eternal hell planet might be, it was her future home. She must live with it.

Flopping onto her cot, the images of the murders passed through Berina's imagination like a slide show of old. Did she feel remorse for the murders? No. But neither did she feel a sense of triumph. What little she managed to accomplish wasn't enough, not near enough.

So while she could, she must plan to get herself off of Androneda and as far away as she could go. Never again would she attempt returning to Earth even if a FTL ship made itself magically available to her. Her world had become diseased, a political cesspool, and everything she knew destroyed itself from within.

* * *

The morning of the third day after sentencing, Berina dressed in a shapeless gray jumpsuit provided for her, then waited to be escorted. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she willed herself to the comfort zone of angry memories. She lived with anger. She lived for anger. The sum of her wretched life.

Soon familiar shackles snaked around her ankles and wrists, placed there by yet another guard. He forced her to move from her cell down the long dim hall and out to the alley. A clumsy procedure adding much to the impatience she felt to get this over with. A red UFC transport hovered above the dirty, malodorous pavement. Two other inmates garbed in gray were already seated inside.

Her guard pushed her into the cabin, securing her shackles to the bars designed for such purpose in the rear of the hovercraft.

The craft lifted almost immediately with two officers seated up front. She didn't bother looking at her companions again after once noticing they were as bald as she. One man, the other a young woman.

No one spoke and the ride to the spaceport took some forty minutes. Washington D.C.'s sprawling 'port rose in the distance, evoking in her a moment of wishful thinking, but Berina squashed the torment as soon as it hit her.

Minutes later the prisoners were led up the gangway to a small red and white offworld transport shuttle. Her footfalls sounded on the metal grid leading to a short, unadorned access strip. A cramped area with six acceleration couches came into view. Berina and the others were quickly outfitted, strapped in and chained into the security locking devices on each couch. The guards vacated seconds later.

With barely a moment to breathe, the liftoff mashed her into the couch. The engine's lifters sounded deafening even through the helmet they'd placed on her head. She didn't react when the shuttle punched through the atmosphere and reached weightless altitude. But surroundings grew eerily quiet. Strapped down as they were, one would never know they were weightless if someone's lost stylus had not floated past Berina's faceplate. Her gaze followed its wayward path to nowhere in particular.

Her straps felt uncomfortable. Too tight. Anger again grew inside her to the point she would have killed again if not for being chained. There was no place to go aboard this shuttle. Why must she be trussed up like this?

Ah, well. She knew the answer. Killers were not exactly idolized celebs. Those were still free to make complete asses of themselves every day of the week.

She fell asleep on that small spate of cynicism.

* * *

Many hours later, after a long nap, Berina felt a jolt as the shuttle docked with the "UFC Postern" that would take her and the others to Androneda.

In short order the process of floating guards releasing chains and wrist restraints made her anxious to get on with it. Using handholds, a pair of escorts herded the three prisoners through a corridor. Sheer vastness of this new ship seemed to go on forever, and it was some minutes before the inmates and ship's guards came to a chamber lined with more couches, though these did not look as deep-cushioned as the others. Boring colors of gray and brown everywhere. She supposed less cushioning made sense, because they already left Earth's gravity and it would no longer be needed for bodily protection.

Behind the couches stood rows of cryogenic pods. Overhead lights gave off a green cast, reminding Berina of puke. She pondered the procedure for putting her and the others under for the length of time it took to get to Androneda. On the other hand, did she really care?

Her lips curled down. Days, weeks, months, years. Hell, it didn't matter.

If something went wrong and she died on this ship during the journey, there was no one left to care, least of all her. She might welcome death to life in prison, but it remained to be seen.

An announcement came over the shipcom: Stand by. Initial acceleration in six minutes, twenty-two seconds. Guards removed the prisoners' helmets, strapped each in his or her flight harness. But for the weightlessness, there seemed little need. Scowling, she tried to spit on the beefy guard who fastened her restraints.

Bitch! He backhanded her even though her wet missile floated off without hitting its mark.

Leave off, Harl! his superior commanded.

Captain on deck, someone warned. Berina could not see the speaker hovering behind her.

A short, stocky man in black with UFC insignias on his sleeves floated in and faced the prisoners. Captain Jencort, he said by way of introduction. "Gravity will engage in a moment. If you've never been in space before, you're in for a brief encounter before going to sleep. Once we reach FTL acceleration, some forty-six hours from now, a medic will come to assist us into our pods. Gravity will then disengage for the majority of the journey, except for temporary ops inspections when one of my rotating officers will revive briefly to make sure the ship is running in top form.

When the medics come, whatever you do, don't panic. Doing so will fight against the drug you'll be receiving and therefore prolong any discomfort you may feel. Do yourself a favor and be glad you're still alive and not standing in front of an executioner. Right? Right. That is all.

Gravity engaged as promised.

Captain Jencort's shoes touched down on the deck with a thump. He turned and walked from the cryo chamber. Near Earth normal heaviness rushed onto Berina. A peculiar sensation. For a second she glanced to her right where the other woman prisoner lay strapped down. Her eyes were rounded in fear, her breathing fast and shallow. Berina smirked to let her know what a wimp she considered the frightened woman.

My...my name's Cinder.

Berina glared from half-lidded eyes. So do I care?

The young inmate hushed, her face and scalp turned crimson. Berina stared straight ahead, saying nothing further. What idiot would name their kid Cinder?

Their skin headed, fiftyish male companion snickered but kept his mouth shut.

Engine noises rumbled and whined from the ship's bowels, oxygen blowers and recyclers came on full force, wafting over Berina and her companions in crime. The air felt frigid, but it wasn't as if she could ask an attendant for a blanket. She clamped her jaws tight.

Cinder's teeth soon chattered. Her cheeks grew pasty, her nose red.

Berina almost felt sorry for her one second, then the feeling dissolved as all emotions except anger always did.

The man next to Cinder swore vilely, and in a few more minutes his teeth started rattling as well.

The more the two suffered the effects of the cold, the more determined Berina was to keep her jaws clamped and silent. Never let it be said Berina Colchek whined for any reason. She didn't even bellyache or cry during all those months of pre-trial incarceration, when she was regularly attacked and raped by a couple of joy-seeking guards. But soon they stopped. Totally uncomplaining and ever hateful, she showed them not the least discomfort or revulsion, no matter what degrading thing they did to her. She wasn't any fun like some of the other females and they grew bored with their abusive sport.

Since she'd already been sterilized from the time of initial incarceration, Berina had no worries about bringing a child into the total oppression Earth offered. She felt grateful for that much. No love existed in her to give anyone, much less to a helpless baby.

Uncounted time passed before the medics came to give the inmates their sedatives. The ever present guards accompanied the medics with their weapons drawn.

Stand and strip, Troxel the medics commanded the single male prisoner after removing his restraints. Doffing his jumpsuit, he eyed the women with a smirk as if he owned something of value to show off.

Berina stared at his dangling, hairy genitals, unfeeling, unimpressed.

Cinder squeaked out a sound of distress and turned red again.

Who wants to be next? A burly guard asked as the medic led the naked inmate to his pod. It took several minutes to hook up all the tubes and apparatus. Come on, don't be shy, girls."

Glad you're getting such a kick out of this, hogface Berina blurted.

Guess that means you're next. He began unlocking her shackles and wrist restraints. Strip to your skin, slut. Cinder, the guards and medics all gawked at her as she unzipped.

Of a sudden, Berina didn't appreciate the attention. The back and front of enough. Lashing out with her booted foot, she landed a hard blow to the guard's midsection, narrowly missing his family jewels.

Furious, he charged back with a roar. She twisted away. Guard number two leaped toward her, connecting, slamming her to the deck. Her naked breasts mashed into the metal grid. Wiggling free again she almost made it to standing, but then number one recovered. Berina eluded them a mere moment more.

She was had.

Nearly yanking her arms from their sockets, the two men kicked her feet from under her, each smashing a knee into her backside on each buttock. Unable to move, she could barely breathe. The floor grid dug into her tender flesh.

Off me, you bastards! she grunted.

Hold her there, one of the medics said. Feisty one, isn't she?

A moment later she felt the sting of injection in her neck. In seconds her head felt light, vision blurred. After the guards ensured themselves Berina reached sufficient grogginess, they yanked off her boots and let her go. A medic helped her stand, led her on wobbling bare feet to a pod, then began hooking up life support tubes, catheters and cryo-fluid, plus hydration and nutrient feeds. Then came the protective eye gels and pads. Worse than getting raped.

Cinder started screaming. The girl's voice sounded very far off.

Giddy as Berina felt, these body invasions didn't hurt much, but the sheer bulk of them felt foreign and damned objectionable. The girl's screams ceased. Berina heard the pod's lid close over her. Her mind soon blanked to nothingness.

Chapter 2

Androneda

Damnation Alley Sector

UFC Standard Year 2199

Atmosphere in this long, dark passage stank of sewage. Aaron Gromar was not pleased the pipe seal remained neglected, the floor a fetid puddle. He grabbed his assistant by the elbow and then pushed his head down near the leaking sewer pipe. The man's nose hovered a scant inch above the reeking drip. It's been two weeks, Simon. What's the hold up? Do you want us all getting sick and diseased? Better yet, do you want this pipe to flood the entire level?

I apologize, Warden Gromar. I was assured repairs were done.

Then let's put it this way, he said quietly. You stand over the repairs and the inmates, until this pipe is replaced and completely sealed beyond question. While you're at it, check and recheck every seal in the entire line. Is that clear?"

Very clear, sir. I am sorry.

Gromar strode away from the stench and the careless fool forced upon him as his assistant on this godforsaken pile of hell. The supply ship was due any day now. He could not afford slipups. Everything had to be in superlative order or this facility would not pass inspection. His butt was on the line.

Nothing new about that.

Near the entrance to the lift he stepped into a crisis sterilizer.

Emerging minutes later, he turned to gaze down the murky expanse behind him. Quite a comedown, he murmured, recalling his days in the Senate. He turned again and caught the lift to his office level.

Androneda's prison, Warden Aaron Gromar's home, consisted of some seventy levels under the planetside surface. Its volcanic rock area stretched more than three kilometers, in the widest part and only half that in the opposite direction, but as close to the ocean wall as was safe to build, yet far enough away to make