Tales of PulchraGea, Vol. 1

10: Jailbreak (Ruby Keystone) (Final/3150)

Situated in the ocean off the western coast, Mount Spilmor is the only volcano in PulchraGea. It's been long extinct and hollow, and its current primary use is as a prison for what few violent offenders exist. Though violent crime is incredibly rare in PulchraGea, it does still exist. Rather than being held in their respective towns long-term prisoners were kept on the island several miles offshore. It's relatively low security, as the rehabilitation program has traditionally had a very low recidivism rate. Those that cannot be rehabilitated, however, are dealt with using Spilmor's other famous feature.

Below sea level lay the shadow mines. This odd natural feature holds a mysterious substance held by legend to be liquefied darkness itself. The PulchraGean people have long mined it in order to make so-called "fade grenades," essentially visually impenetrable smoke bombs. Standing in the middle of one is incredibly disorienting. Light, sound, even touch, are all muted on contact. Prolonged exposure can leave one with symptoms of severe sensory deprivation.

Katy had gathered this potential location not from ancient texts, but rather from the travel itinerary of Alex Shepherd. Doug, Katy, her friend Crystal Clear, and myself stood in the cargo bay of a borrowed UTPod. Robin had business to attend to back in Argentum, so our pilot friend Jason, who had rescued us from Big Rock, was chauffeuring us to the island.

***

"Spilmor control, this is UT Echo four-one-niner," Jason said in his slow drawl. "Priority landing with royal cargo, repeat, royal cargo."

The comm line was quiet for just a few seconds too long.

"Acknowledged, Echo four-one-niner," Control finally replied. "Permission to land granted."

Jason was somewhat taken aback.

"What do they not get about 'royal cargo?" he asked to nobody in particular. "That means I don't need docking permission!"

"Anybody in a flight control position should know that," Katy agreed. "They also didn't give you a landing pad number. That's either a big series of rookie mistakes, or something major is going on."

Crystal pulled out her holophone and tried to activate it. It tried to glow impotently.

"That's never happened before," she said.

"They're supposed to be quantum linked," Doug said. "The only way to brick a holophone like that is to cut the link by 'observing' the quantum state of the link. That forces the particle to fall into a binary state instead of a quantum state and..."

"I don't like this, it feels wrong," I interrupted. "We should turn around and come back with help."

"We'll be fine," Katy scoffed. She turned to Jason. "Find an empty pad and land this bird like you own the place."

"Yes, ma'am," Jason said with a chuckle.

***

A man in the uniform of a general stood before us when the forward mandibles of the UT Pod opened. An armed retinue stood behind him, eyes scanning the hold. Katy nudged me from behind, a warning to go along with the act until we figured out what was going on around here.

"Welcome to our facility, my lord," the general said. He bowed low, but kept eye contact. His eyes were much smaller than average, and a deep dark green. "I'm Paladin General Kientain."

Katy kicked the heel of my shoe with the side of her foot. She was calling attention to the fact that it was a thaliel name while Paladin General Kientain very clearly was not thaliel'ai. Thaliel'ai, as I've previously pointed out, are descended from the original population of PulchraGea and their lines are generally untouched by those of the Chosen Kings. Their eyes are larger and much more brightly colored than the average modern citizen. Kientain's eyes were only slightly larger than mine, largely due to how much he tended to squint.