Wraith

Dark Stirrings Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

When she reached Warbeck just after lunchtime however, the warden assured her that Snake was still safely in his cell. "He's been no trouble," the man added. Some of our guests really test the limits of our containment procedures, but Snake has been here before so he knows it's pointless." He guided her along a corridor toward the viewing room as he spoke. "We have of course added some new precautions since the last time and we're confident that that he'll continue to give us no problems."

Wraith nodded silently although she was not nearly as confident as the warden. After all, the last time Snake had been in Warbeck he had successfully impersonated several of the prison staff before his escape; and she already had evidence that he was able to at least send his copies out into the world. She surreptitiously studied the warden's eyes the next time he turned to speak to her, but unless the man was wearing contacts he wasn't one of Snake's copies.

"If you'll just step in here, I can show you the procedures we undergo to keep the Abuser confined," the warden said as he opened a door. Wraith followed him inside and saw that the room wasn't empty; another pair of observers were already present. Her guide kept on talking. "As you can see, one of our staff is with him at the moment just finishing up a routine check. Now watch carefully."

Wraith nodded and moved to the enormous panel of one-way glass set along one wall of the small long room. Through it she could see Snake and the warden talking, although she couldn't hear what they were saying. Then Snake moved back to the middle of the bare white-walled room and held his hands up with the palms facing out so that it was plain he wasn't concealing anything. The warden nodded and exited through a small door. A few seconds later Snake dropped his hands and copies began to proliferate in the room. The warden who had led her there spoke suddenly from where he had been watching behind her.

"As you can see, the man in the room is definitely Snake. Now look through this bit of the glass."

He directed her to move down the side of the room to where she could see into another room. This one was tiny compared to Snake's cell; not much more than four-foot square. In it stood the warden who had been conversing with Snake. As she watched Wraith saw the man place his face near an eye-scanner set into the wall near the door. He held the position for a few seconds and then one of the observers behind her said.

"No presence of contacts or other alterations. Retinas match both internal and external records. No match to unique color variance of prisoner 1347. Open the door."

"Opening," answered the other observer as he pressed a series of buttons on a keyboard in front of him. A second later the warden who had been with Snake was leaving the small anteroom and going about his business.

"As you can see," the warden who had led Wraith to the observation room explained with pride. "We make very certain that neither Snake nor his copies can escape into the rest of the facility; and without that option there is little he can do. He understands this of course, and so he gives us no trouble. I think he is hoping that in time he will be released for good behavior."

"And will he?" Wraith asked curiously.

The warden shook his head. "If he had a minor talent that could be used equally as well or better as a User, and if he proved to be genuine about turning over a new leaf and leaving crime behind, then it would have been possible that if the situation in the prisons gets worse in the next ten or fifteen years he would have been considered for release. But his particular talent lends itself so well for crime that it can't be risked." He shrugged. "We try not to let on to him that he has no hope of release, but he seems intelligent enough to have worked it out on his own."