Shades of Freedom Read online

  Slowly, everybody else woke up and soon a line was forming for the bathroom. Seasickness was something Kala hadn't anticipated and even she felt nauseous. She wandered to the window, hoping that if she kept moving it might ease the churning feeling in her stomach. One look at the waves that were rising and falling told her otherwise.

  The waves looked as high as an apartment building. No wonder they needed a ship as large as this one. Anything smaller would be swamped instantly. There was no land in sight and Kala hadn't expected there to be, but the sight of such a great expanse of ocean made her feel uneasy and wonder what would happen to them if the ship sank.

  Petari was coping well with the situation, not at all like she had been when they were in Clover Downs. She was being a pillar of strength for the few children that were with them and Kala was pleased. She wanted to spend her time watching Johan.

  “When do we get breakfast?” Kala heard Alissa ask her mother.

  “I don't know darling,” Petari answered trying to smile. “How about we play a game to pass the time?”

  Petari took a small pencil from her pocket and drew a grid on the wall. “I'll be crosses, who wants to be noughts?” she asked and the children were immediately diverted from thoughts of food.

  About midday a small panel in the door slid open and a face appeared.

  “When do we get food?” Roma instantly moved towards the door along with Damon and several others.

  “Food!” the guard let out a harsh snort and then laughed. “Why would we bother giving you food?”

  “You can't just let us starve!” Damon argued and Kala realised he still wasn't really aware of what the State could do.

  “There's no point wasting food on you lot. You won't need it where you're going!”

  With that parting remark he let out another laugh that sounded as if he were choking and slammed the panel shut. Kala could hear his footsteps echoing up the corridor, punctuated by snorts of laughter.

  Won't need food! What could he have meant by that? Kala quickly glanced over at the children and was relieved that they hadn't heard the conversation. Petari was keeping them occupied and most of the walls were now covered with noughts and crosses. Petari though, had obviously heard as she looked over at Kala with a desperate expression.

  For the rest of the day Kala kept one eye on Johan and the other on the porthole. Neither changed and she went to sleep that night trying to convince herself that she wasn't hungry.

  **

  Johan opened one eye slowly and then the other. He struggled to remember where he was and failed. He turned his head slightly and the sight of the porthole brought it all back to him. By the look of the sky it wasn't long till morning so he must have slept for hours. His head didn't hurt as much now and he was surprised at how quickly it had recovered.

  He could tell by the low rumble of the engines that they had left the port. He hadn't much of a plan before but now they were at sea he didn't have one at all. It was possible they could overpower the crew and turn the ship around but they weren't likely to be able to sneak back into the harbour unseen. Their chances of slipping back unnoticed into Level Ten were zero.

  “Kala,” he called softly.

  He repeated her name and then heard a shuffling of feet.

  “Johan? Are you okay?” Kala sounded upset and he could only just make out her face in the dim light.

  “I see we've already left the Port. I guess I fell asleep,” Johan had a feeling he had missed something. “It's going to be a lot harder to escape this time.”

  “We left the port the day before yesterday,” came Kala's quiet reply and Johan frowned. That would mean he had been asleep for about 36 hours. The whack to his head was worse than he thought.

  “What else has happened? Have they treated you badly?” Johan forced himself up into a sitting position and looked around at the bodies curled up on the bunks.

  “They've only been to check on us once since they put us here and there has been no food. The children are starving,” Kala replied.

  Johan pulled Kala toward him and held her tightly. In a perverse way he wished he had never met her. For then she wouldn't be here now, on her way to an island that nobody returned from. Kala seemed to welcome his embrace at first but then she suddenly stiffened and he pulled away.

  “What's wrong?” he asked quietly.

  “The ship has stopped,” she replied and he noticed the low rumble had gone.

  Johan stood up, not even aware that his head hurt. He crossed the cabin to the porthole, with Kala by his side. They were in a large inlet that must be sheltered from the heavy seas as the water was calm and flat. The early dawn light made everything seem grey and foreboding.

  There was another ship, just like theirs, moored on the other side of the inlet. Directly in front of the other ship was a large open cave on the side of a huge grey mountain. Johan didn't think it was the dawn light that was making it grey though. It looked to be bare rock for as far as they could see.

  So it was true! Belgara was just rock and sand. He put his arm around Kala and they both stared in silence. Nobody else was awake yet and he didn't have any intention of waking them to see this. They would see it soon enough. As the sun rose over the horizon the gloom lifted but Belgara, a huge hunk of rock rising stiffly out of the sea, remained grey and uninviting.

  Johan pulled Kala away from the window and they retreated to his bunk. All they could do now was wait. Where did everyone live on Belgara? Was there a settlement on the other side of the mountain or did they live inside it?

  “Are we there?” Damon had woken up. He stood up and went to look out the porthole. The sight had the same effect on him as well and he silently retreated back to his bunk. Soon everyone, except the children, had seen what was waiting for them and the cabin was thick with tension and worry. Even the children could feel it and they began to cry.

  “Everybody up!” a loud voice boomed from the corridor outside and footsteps could be heard coming closer. Something heavy was used to bang the metal door and it echoed loudly. The door was unlocked and then flung open. “Come on, on your feet!”

  Nobody moved and the guard came into the room. He hit out with the spiked wooden stick he was carrying and caught one man across his arm. The man crumpled in pain and the guard laughed. He raised his stick again and Johan got off the bunk. There was no sense in anyone else getting hurt. Everyone followed his lead and they filed slowly out the door.

  “Keep going!” the guard yelled when the line slowed and he let fly with his stick again.

  **

  A woman cried in pain and Kala quickened her step. Two more guards were waiting on the deck. They too, held wooden sticks with spikes on them and didn't look shy about using them. Kala almost faltered as she turned and got her first full view of Belgara. It was an enormous volcano that lived up to every harsh description she had ever heard.

  They were unceremoniously pushed down the gangway and onto the black sandy beach. Kala's foot sank slightly into the wet sand but as she lifted it her footprint quickly disappeared, as if she had never been there. The guards hurried them up the beach and into the cave opening. Kala realised it was actually a huge tunnel and it was lit by unseen lights somewhere up near the roof.

  They walked for several minutes before they came out into a large cavern. Crates stood packed against one wall, empty ones were on the other side. What were they going to put in them? Kala wanted to go over and look in one of the full crates but she wasn't sure she really wanted to see what was in it. There was something odd about this place and Kala shivered. That was it, it was cold!

  Kala had never really been cold before and she looked at the goosebumps that had raised on her arms. Everybody else was noticing the cold as well and they all started rubbing their arms to keep warm.

  “Wait here for processing,” one of the guards barked and walked off though the cavern. He disappeared though a small door at the other end and slammed the door shut behind him.

&nb
sp; “Where do we live, outside or in here?” Damon spoke the question she was thinking.

  “Live? Nobody lives here! Only old Peitor. And you might as well get used to being cold!” he nudged his fellow guard and they both broke down into fits of loud, harsh laughter as if he had just told a very funny joke.

  Kala couldn't see the joke and Damon offered no more questions. So where would they live?

  The guard that had left, came back a minute later and they were all pushed through the door at the far end. This room had metal walls and a metal roof as well. One door led off from the left wall and in the centre of the room was a large glass chamber with a small door on one side. It was completely empty and didn't seem to have a purpose at all.

  “Right, the first ten of you...” the guards roughly pushed ten people away from the others and herded them into the small glass chamber. “We can only process ten at a time.”

  Process! This wasn't what she had thought it would be. She had assumed they would be counted, cleaned up and hopefully fed. She wanted to run away and hide as she knew something awful was about to happen. Petari and the children had been among the first ten and they stared helplessly at Kala through the glass. The door was closed and locked with a resounding clunk.

  “No!” Kala couldn't stop herself from shouting. She felt Johan holding her back as a hazy mist filled the glass chamber and the ten people inside fell instantly to the ground.

  **

  “We have to try one last time!” Johan whispered as he held the struggling Kala.

  “What do we do?” Roma was staring, in shock, at his wife lying motionless on the floor of the chamber.

  “Fight!” Johan said loud enough for everyone else to hear.

  It took only a split second for everyone to act on his command and the surprised guards faltered against an unexpected attack. Probably by the time most people got here they had no fight left in them. The guards recovered quickly and hit out with their heavy sticks. Johan ducked and heard a whoosh as one passed over his head. A scream made him look across the room and he saw Charat hit the floor with a snapping noise that said his neck was broken.

  It was a short fight. Desperation had strengthened the Clover Downs people and they easily overcame the three guards, but not without casualties. They were all breathing heavily as the last guard fell and hit the wall with a crunching sound. The other two guards were bleeding from severe looking head wounds. Damon was nursing his arm and Gil was lying by the wall looking very pale. Johan went over to Gil and lifted his head.

  “Where are you hurt?” Johan didn't hate Gil, at a time like this they needed everyone.

  “My head...” came the weak reply and Johan noticed the warm sticky blood all over his hand where he was supporting Gil's head. “Johan, I'm sorry...”

  Johan just nodded. Everyone had been taken in by Charat and Gil deserved a second chance. “You’ll be okay,” he told Gil. He motioned for one of the other men to come over and look after him as he stood up and went to check for other injuries.

  “Johan are you okay?” Kala was limping slightly and it looked like she had caught a spike but she seemed fine apart from that.

  “Yes, help me check the others,” Johan replied, relieved that Kala wasn't hurt too badly. They found other minor injuries but the only death had been Charat.

  “What about those in the chamber?” Damon queried.

  The mist was gone now but Petari and the others still lay on the floor. Johan saw one of the children's feet twitch and a spark of hope reignited within him.

  “You see if you can revive them. Kala and I are going to check out the rest of this place. Then we'll decide what to do. It goes without saying that we will destroy this place but I want to find this Peitor chap first.” Johan grabbed Kala's hand and they hurried off towards the only door on the left wall. It led to a very small corridor and the door at the far end would not open until the one they had come through was shut.

  “If they didn't kill them, why did they gas them?” Kala asked, obviously having seen that they weren't dead.

  “I don't...” Johan began but as they went through the door he stopped. This room was even colder than the last one. Freezing, to be exact but Johan didn't notice for long. He could see exactly why.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The room was a huge cavern which went up at least as high as a ten story building and an eerie green light cast an unnatural glow from recesses in the wall. Metal shelves lined the walls and stood in rows for as far as Johan could see. Lying on each shelf was a motionless body and there weren't many empty spaces. Somewhere in the distance water was dripping and the slow steady sound echoed mournfully all around them.

  Johan stood staring at rows and rows of frozen naked people. The cold air stung at the back of his throat and numbed the tip of his nose. Each body was covered in some sort of clear cling wrap and they had a tag on their big toe with a number on it. The gassing was probably just the first step in turning them into the ice blocks that these people had become.

  His shock was quickly replaced by anger he and moved up and down the narrow spaces between the rows of shelves. He tried to ignore the bile that rose to his throat as he looked at each face, skin tinged green from the light and clammy looking. After several minutes he stopped at one of the shelves and stared.

  His father lay on a shelf above his mother's looking neither peaceful, nor in pain. He brushed a tear away from his eye as he wondered how they came to be here and if they were even still alive. With great difficulty he dragged his eyes away and took a deep breath. Steam surrounded him as he breathed out and he shivered as he felt unsure what to do next.

  Kala had not followed him and looking down the narrow aisle he could see she was as stunned as he was. They had certainly not expected anything like this! Trying not to look at the expressionless faces of the bodies as he passed by, he walked slowly back to Kala.

  “We have to find out who is doing this, and why!” Johan told her, his eyes already looking around for another way out of the cavern.

  “Are they alive?” Kala's quiet voice echoed around the high ceiling of the cavern.

  “I don't know.”

  One aisle was wider than the others and Johan decided it was the best choice. There had been no other doors in the last room so this was the only way they could go. They followed it for the entire length of the huge cavern feeling totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of people it held. At the far end were dozens of empty racks, waiting to be filled. Two doors were on the far wall and they stopped in front of them.

  “What do you think we'll find in here?” Kala whispered and Johan didn't even try to answer. Quietly he opened the door, half expecting someone to jump out at them, but nobody did. He peered into the dark room and saw the green light from behind him glint off something metal. More shelves, and empty at that. Just how many people were they going to put in here, and why?

  He closed the door and tried the other one, this time expecting another room the same but it led to a dark set of stairs which spiralled down into the mountain. It was warmer once they closed the door on the frozen storage cavern but Johan's toes were still numb and he had to take the steps carefully. They followed the steps downwards for what seemed like ages, deep into the heart of the mountain and came out into another sterile looking room. This room wasn't empty, or full of frozen people.

  A huge machine filled half the room and it hummed loudly as lights flashed off and on at various places on it. It had rows and rows of buttons on it with numbers on them.

  “What.. what.. are.. you doing here?” a small, frightened voice came from the shadows at the far end of the room. The voice didn't sound like that of a dangerous person and it shook as if it was not used to being used at all.

  “Who are you? We're looking for Peitor,” Johan stated bluntly. He was ready to deal to this Peitor when he found him.

  “I am he,” the querulous voice replied. “What do you want?”

  “To shut this place down!”
Johan roared.

  Johan heard a shuffling in the shadows and a withered looking old man, leaning heavily on a walking stick, crept out into the light.

  “Damn!” Johan thought to himself. It would not ease his anger to beat an old man like this. Surely he couldn't be responsible for it all.

  “No no! No no! You mustn't do that!” the old man looked terrified and his eyes were so wide it was surprising they didn't pop out.

  “Why not old man?” Johan wasn't really interested. He was busy looking at all the buttons and lights, wondering which one turned the machine off.

  “Because we would all die!”

  That got Johan's attention and he turned towards Peitor again. He stared at the wrinkled old man until he continued.

  “The planet is running out of oxygen. When the temperatures rose, so did the water...”

  “We already know that!” Johan snapped.

  “But with most of the land under water there were very few trees left. Only a few small portions of land were left out of the great continents of the north and only Jerrac survived in the south. With so few trees left to provide oxygen, it is slowly running out. We have far too many people for the amount of oxygen the trees can produce!”

  “The State set up this place to ease the population explosion. Hopefully if the temperatures and sea levels start to fall we will be able to plant more trees. Then we can wake up some of the sleepers you saw upstairs, hopefully. But until then, if we don't keep freezing people at the rate we have been, then there won't be enough oxygen and we'll all die!” The old man looked as if he was about to fall over and he hobbled over to a chair, shaking his head with worry.

  Johan felt himself struggling to come to terms with what he had just heard. Kala was staring, open-mouthed at the old man.

  “But we must let everyone on Jerrac know. They should be told!” Johan had given up the idea of turning off the machine for now and he turned to look at the flashing lights. “There must be a better way!”