Created for a writing contest hosted by Planet Quest. Enjoy!

Heavy steps echoed off the walls of the too-tight corridors underneath a Federation Parliament building, the Parl’hui. In the darkness, it was difficult to make out the identities of the six officers that had been assigned to this dismal task, but that was how the brass wanted it, right? The tenuous peace being held here on Sol meant that one could never be too careful. Spies could be anywhere, and anyone to the left or right of you could be a card-carrying Empire bootlicker… or maybe worse, a Union terrorist.

I kept my eyes forward, concentrating on the task ahead, my footsteps hard and my breath growing heavy. The narrow tunnels here were typically reserved for political prisoners, but with the recent news of violence in some of the far systems, almost any Empire or Union captive had been sent here. News had come that Union-supplied outer planets had started amassing weaponry near some of our new colonies. If that wasn’t bad enough, rumors had reached too many ears that the Union had found something potentially troubling.

Our little procession stopped in front of a sturdy wooden door, number 101. I wrapped my Federation-issued coat around myself more tightly as a sudden chill passed through the corridor. The shifting of feet around me confirming the sudden tension in the air. The first of our delegation fumbled around in his pockets until he withdrew his key card, turning he began to discuss protocol.

Blah, blah, blah… we have all been through this before. He was to act as the Adjudicator and Primary Witness and we were to each take turns interrogating this newest prisoner. Each of us was to stick to the questions we were assigned. Afterwards we would be debriefed by another faceless boss-man who probably filed away whatever we reported into a bottomless hole of bureaucratism.   

“Gan kuai!” I muttered, sotto voce, in exasperation. Realizing my mistake too late, I carefully cast my gaze around me, but no one seemed to notice. I was surprised to notice for the first time that among the six of us assigned, only one appeared to be a woman. And I was also pretty certain that Officer Gan was here. Weird.

The formalities were over soon enough and I was fortunate enough to selected as the first to interrogate. I made my way though the small, assembled crowd, and yes, that was definitely Officer Gan. It’s like the Fed wants this to be meaningless.

As I entered the room I hesitated. “Adjudicator,” I bowed my head to the masked man in the corner of the room, and turned to see the prisoner. His hands were manacled to the table in front of him and he was sitting awkwardly; his face was bruised and patches of his hair seemed to have been pulled out. Officer Gan’s work. I glanced down at the tablet I was assigned, the Holo’pian, and saw that his name was listed only as ‘Bay.’

“Yes,” I stated as I turned my attention back to the prisoner. “Where are you from, Bay?”

The prisoner looked up at me after a moment’s pause, his eyes sharp despite his apparent condition. “I’m a proud citizen of Sol,” he stated with an edge to his voice.

“And Bay, is that a common name where you are from?” I asked in curiosity. Almost immediately, the Adjudicator in the corner cleared his throat, a not-so-subtle warning.

“It’s a family name,” came the terse reply.

“Bay, do you know why you are here?” I continued from the designated list of questions. Presumably everyone was asking the same questions.

Bay took a deep, raspy breath. “I can assume it’s because I was in the wrong place at the wrong cao-ing time.”

I ignored the light profanity, what could I expect in this kind of situation? Again, I took notice of his bruises and the awkward way he sat there. Torture was normally not condoned in the Federation, but ‘enhanced torture techniques’ were sometime employed. For this to be the case, even before interrogation…

Finally at the crux of the interview, I asked, “In your own words, can you tell me what led to you being here?”

The Miner’s Story

Growing up on Sol within the Empire, every day was a struggle to survive. Heavy regulation of personal freedoms and the constant knowledge that even a single word spoken heard by the wrong ear could lead to internment in a labor camp kept me living in constant fear.

But every night, I was able to look up into the sky and, when the overwhelming pollution on Sol allowed it, I caught sight of a star or two. I knew that if only I could find a way to get off world, I wouldn’t be subject to the constant scrutiny of life here.

So, when I heard that manual laborers were needed for a mining operation on a distant asteroid, I jumped at the opportunity. There weren’t many willing to risk life and limb with the prospect of never seeing their home anyway, but I think my enthusiasm won them over and soon I was boarding a small class-C craft with about two dozen others to reinforce some miners.

It was on that colony that I started to hear more and more about the Union. All I ever heard about them was that they were terrorists and smugglers; the Empire played down their activities off-world. It wasn’t long before I myself was smuggled off the asteroid when the colony was being resupplied. I found my way to meet with a Union Agent, operating to liberate people like me.

So, merely a year or so after mining rare minerals on an asteroid for the Empire, I was aboard yet another C-class ship heading for a Union-aligned colony. I tried my hand at various tasks, including engineering, but found that I was really suited for little more than mining. I had been on the colony for only three years before rumors began to circulate that the Empire was planning an invasion. I knew that if I was caught, I would be tortured or killed as a defector, so I once again volunteer for a mining mission, this time on behalf the Union.

I sought the furthest assignment possible and was sent to the outer-limits of the Union’s reach. I think they were surprised and delighted to have anyone volunteer for such a remote post. The colony I was to call home, at least temporarily, included no more than a dozen miners.

That, ultimately, was the problem.

We were searching for rare minerals for use in weapon’s development and we occasionally came across minerals that were previously unknown. My limited engineering experience allowed me at least a passing knowledge of them and the small number of colonists here made it so that I was the head researcher.

So, imagine my surprise when we started to uncover ancient circuits. These were clearly very, very old, buried deep within the asteroid. The team realized the relative importance of this discovery, both a confirmation of a previous, intelligent life form and also something potentially valuable. I stopped all my efforts, as insubstantial as they might have been, and focused on these discoveries. What I found baffled me, these circuits, ancient as they were, still had power. Further, the power source seemed to be changing, adapting, moment to moment. It was like the power within the circuits was alive. When I tried to measure the power output itself, my instruments were overwhelmed and broke.

As incredible as this find was, it paled compared to what came next. As we started to furiously seek out these circuits, we came upon a totally intact, ancient contraption. We had no idea what it was, but it was clearly a momentous find. I contacted the nearest Union outpost and within a tenday, the little asteroid colony was swarmed with Union leaders. They lauded this discovery as world-changing and universe disrupting.

 *    *    *  

Bay stopped talking, having my undivided attention throughout. An Empire deserter in the employee of the Union? And it would seem that some of the rumors were true, the Union had discovered something powerful out in the expanse of space. This could change everything. But something still bothered me.

“What happened then?” This time there was no reaction from the Adjudicator and I assumed he was interested as I was.

“The leadership left with the artifact,” Bay concluded, and within a month my small team was back at work. But we were too few and inexperienced, the asteroid collapsed. I was injured, as you can see, and if it weren’t for a passing Federation ship, I wouldn’t be here.”  

Realization hit me, perhaps too late. “So, you are not the prisoner here?” I stammered, aloud as I could hear the Adjudicator shuffle his position behind me.

“No,” came a harsh bark from Officer Gan. How long had he been standing in the doorway? It was the last thing I ever heard.