BENNY’S CONFLICT
Finally the gang are in the prison, and Benny and Shana are looking through the system to find Carlos’ parents. Carlos would be there with him, but he’s away getting processed, but don’t worry, that’s just part of his plan.
AFTER 45 minutes of scanning the long, long list of humans, aliens and AI in this prison, they finally found Carlos’ parents.
It was hard, as Carlos’ surname, like all human surnames, was a symbol, of which there were millions, but they eventually found two names, male and female, who had been imprisoned on the same date. Bernard and Bertha, who were being held on floor 85, in Cell Block G9 on that level.
Benny and Shana began the long journey down to the 85th floor. The security bots wouldn’t do anything to them unless they were doing something they had been programmed to respond to, so they were untouched during their journey.
All the way down, Benny wondered how they were going to do this, but Shana appeared confident.
Finally, the lift arrived down, and opened with a ting. A couple of security bots walked inside, holding a muscly blue alien with a beak like a parrot, who grinned at them as the doors closed.
Benny shivered, but followed Shana down to Cell Block G9, past cells holding hundreds of inmates, some human, some alien and some androids. Benny wondered what crime Carlos’ parents did to get imprisoned with these criminals.
When they reached Cell Block G9, Benny was on the lookout, inspecting the name tags of every inmate he saw, even the aliens. After a while, he found who he was looking for, in a quiet cell together. Bernard and Bertha were both in their 60s, but they still looked fit enough to take on a number of people and come off without a scratch. Their eyes were calculating, always searching around, which made Benny ponder how many times they tried to escape.
They instantly recognised Shana, and Benny could tell they did not like her. The feeling appeared to be mutual, but nonetheless she came close to the bars and told them she was going to help them escape. Bernard looked confused, “How? We’ve been trying to get out of here for twenty years.”
“Well, you didn’t have this,” Shana said, triumphantly, as she reached into Benny’s pocket and withdrew the Freedom Cube. Bernard looked over at Bertha, equal confusion and dismay. “And what about you?” Bertha asked, looking at Benny and his broken arm, “Why are you here?”
“Oh I’m Benny, Carlos’ friend.” At the mention of Carlos, they both turned directly towards Benny.
“Where is our boy?” Bernard questioned, “Is he safe? Is he alive?”
“He’s fine, you can see him soon,” Benny assured them, “but first we need to get you out of here.”
While they were talking, a security bot had walked up to them. MOVE ALONG, it said to Shana and Benny. Shana was fiddling with the Freedom Cube managing to press a plate on it. It opened like a flower, and Shana jumped round the back of the bot and inserted into its head. After a pause, the bot turned to Bernard and Bertha. COME WITH ME, it droned as it unlocked the doors.
Benny turned to Shana, “How did you do that?” “Freedom Cubes have the ability to hack the mainframe of any android. I gave the Cube some orders on the journey and now it should take us back to the ship safely.”
The bot took Carlos’ parents through the many cells, with Carlos and Shana following. Occasionally, the passed other bots, but they acted like none of them were there. Benny realised Shana must have been an expert with technology to pass this off. Then again, to fight against Izen, you had to be.
When they finally arrived to the hangers, where The Golden Dawn sat tantalisingly close, an alarm blazed around the prison. A mechanical voice echoed around the prison, WARNING. ESCAPED CONVICTS. SHOOT ON SIGHT. Benny looked over his shoulder as he heard the thumbing of metallic feet and the firing of lasers, and realised he’d never make it to the ship in time.