Displaced

Chapter 31

Rudra Kapadia leaned back against the wall of his prison cell, feeling the smooth wood against his back and pondering whether or not to try to break out. The subject was far more complicated than it seemed. The material composing his cell, and the other cells that he could see through the wooden bars, was some sort of lightweight wood that was far, far stronger than any wood that light had any right to be. Still, strong or not, no wood could keep Rudra from leaving this cell if he so chose. But exiting the cell didn't actually mean Rudra could leave, because of one simple fact: the Stragmans were insane. That was the only justification Rudra could come up with to explain why they thought it was a good idea to literally suspend an entire prison building in midair, hundreds of meters above the ground.

It was a surprisingly standard prison, given the circumstances. There were two sections: the regular prison where prisoners could intermingle and the smaller solitary confinement section where Rudra sat, alone in his cell. As far as he could tell, the solitary section was little more than two rows of cells on either side of a hallway. He'd noticed as they'd marched him down the hallway that many of the cells were empty. His cell in particular was all the way down at the end, separated from the other prisoners. Rudra was no jail expert, but there was little he saw that jumped out to him as strange, other than, of course, the fact that it was far from solid ground.

During the trip from the arena Rudra had gotten a very good look at the entire place, and he still couldn't get over its sheer audaciousness. Hundreds of ropes as thick as his waist hung down from massive branches, each looping through one of many thick rings sticking vertically from the building's roof. The entire idea struck him as an exercise in absurdity, but he couldn't deny that it worked — it turned the idea of escape into less of a hope and more of a deathwish.

In Rudra's cell was a small hole, just a centimeter or two smaller in diameter than his head. The toilet, he assumed. Through this hole he could see the forest floor far below and by his best guess, he was at least two hundred meters in the air. There was no way he'd survive a drop like that. The only other way out was up, climbing the large ropes. But guards watched those ropes from above, meaning he'd be a pincushion far before he made it up to the top. The only way on or off the prison was an elevator platform that would come down from the tree branches above. If he timed his escape right, while the elevator was down, maybe get a hostage...

The sound of footsteps brought Rudra's attention back to the present. He looked up just as several guards marched another prisoner into his view and locked him in the cell across the hall. The prisoner, a man of average height with large ears sticking out of his spotted tan hair. The man stretched and let out a small groan of relief before turning around and freezing at the sight of Rudra in the cell across from him.

"Well I'll be," he laughed. "It's you!"

Rudra raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You know me?"

"Everybody knows you, my friend," the other prisoner laughed, his one ear twitching. "The advanced examinations are watched by the entire country. Even we prisoners get to watch it every year. Nobody has ever done what you did. Willingly choosing to be a Shell? You're crazy, my friend. But boy was that entertaining, at least. Ah! Where are my manners? Bitol Fogrunner-fleg, at your service." He chuckled again.

"Rudra Kapadia," Rudra replied.

"You're quite an interesting fellow, Rudra. What are you doing here, in the high-security section of a prison?"

"I'm not really sure myself. This place confuses me much of the time."

"Well why don't you tell me all about it? Maybe I can help you understand."

"I don't know..."

The man chuckled again. "Let me tell you, Rudra. The days grow long in here. You're gonna need somebody who's willing to talk to you, or you'll go mad eventually. So why not your old pal Bitol-fleg here?"