“Are you sure about
this?” The gruff voice of the General echoed in Archer’s ear.
He looked at the frail
hands of General Wingate as they wrapped around the bars. He thought about how
funny the act of time was on the human body. This was a five star general. His
mentor, a man he’d stood beside in battle. Looking at his hands now, Archer
wondered if he even had…
“Commander, I said are
you sure about this?”
Archer shook his head
and looked up into the ice blue eyes of the General.
“Never less sure about
anything, Sir.” He drew a breath and smiled. “But I’m doing it anyway.”
Without another word
General Wingate pulled open the barred door and the guard on the other side
stepped aside and saluted.
“I’ll let you take it
from here Commander.”
Archer saluted and
stepped through the door. It closed behind him. The sound of metal grinding on
metal rang in his head.
He wasn’t fainthearted
about prisons. He’d seen more atrocities in his lifetime than anyone needed to.
He didn’t think anything would make him feel faint of heart at this point, but
what he was about to face, he didn’t know how he would react, or how he would
handle it.
He walked down the
hallway, white on white on white, sterile. He could actually see a faint
reflection of himself in the polished floor.
He hadn’t slept all
night.
Sarah had tried to talk
him out of doing this, but this was something that had to be done and as he was
leaving for a three month space journey in the morning, it had to be done now.
“Commander.” The guard
at the next locked door saluted him.
A second man came up
beside them, another salute and then the introduction. “I’m Officer Briggs. I’ll
be accompanying you to the lower level, Sir.”
Archer managed a small
smile. He stepped into an elevator and Officer Briggs pressed the button
sending the elevator down two more floors. As they stepped out this time, there
would be no more doors, this was his destination. Level five secured solitary
confinement.
“If you’ll wait right
here, Commander.” Officer Briggs gestured to a small alcove off to the side.
There were no tables or
chairs, no guards or windows, not even any bars, just white walls, ceiling,
floor… and four doors, each with an electric panel beside it.
When the guard punched
in his code on one of the panels and placed his finger on it, the door slid
open. The guard stepped inside, ordering the prisoner to stand against the wall
with his hands on his head.
Archer swallowed hard
and gave a small tug to the jacket of his uniform. He wasn’t prepared for this,
but how could anyone be? If he could have one wish in the world, it would be to
go back nine months before all this ever started, and end it before it began.
“All clear Commander.”
The guard stood at the door, saluting, allowing Archer passage into the room
beyond.
“Thank you.” He moved
passed and stepped inside and met eye to eye with the prisoner. His black hair
was longer and thicker than the last time he’d seen him. His brown eyes held no
real emotion. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit that of a prisoner, which he was,
but he was more than simply that…
This prisoner was also
his best friend.
“Archer.” He sounded
calm, unconcerned.
While Archer on the
other hand was sure Thoron could see his heart beating through his chest had he
looked for it.
“I knew you’d come.” Thoron’s
ankle was chained to the bunk behind him.
The room was spacious,
all things considered, no window, sparse furnishings. It was cold. The kind of
place designed to make you willing to do anything to have some color, some
warmth, some sense of life.
“I want to know why.”
Archer met his friend’s gaze.
This was a man he’d met
in high school. They’d become close friends, had been through everything
together from the loss of parents and siblings, to first loves and several
broken hearts. They’d been to war together. They were brothers in every way
that mattered. All Archer wanted from him now, was to know why.
“You wouldn’t
understand.”
Thoron’s eyes may have
suddenly flashed sadness, but that could have been simply wishful thinking on
his part.
“Well try me.” He
wished he could be cool and unfeeling, but his emotions were still raw from all
that had happened and lying very close to the surface.
“What does it matter? Are
you still going?”
Archer closed his eyes
and straightened his spine.
“Lift off is in the
morning. Why, Thoron?”
It was all he could do
to keep from screaming his rage and frustration.
“Don’t go.” Two words,
delivered coldly.
“Fuck you.” Archer
turned and slammed his palm against the wall. Then turned back to stare at the
man he once called friend.
“That’s all you’ve said
for three months. No why, no reason, no compelling argument, just don’t go. Then you’re caught sabotaging
the mission, tried and convicted of treason, Thoron, your life is over and you still haven’t said a damn
thing that’s made any kind of sense. You throw away your career, your life, our friendship… for what? I deserve an
answer to this, Thoron. You know I deserve and answer.
“Stay home with Sarah
tomorrow, don’t go on that mission.” He repeated like a drone, standing in
military stance, staring at the wall straight ahead of him.
“This will be the last
time I ever stand in your presence.
You have nothing to say to me?”
Archer had been married twice, was engaged now, buried a mother and a sister
and this heartbreak of knowing he’d never see Thoron again, was worse than any
of the others.
Thoron only made it
worse showing how little he really cared.
“I’ve said everything.
I warned you for months. I begged.”
He turned to stare directly into Archer’s eyes. “I’ve been your friend nearly
twenty years. How much has that even meant to you?”
Archer wanted to punch him
right in the face. It wouldn’t be the first time either, but he tamped down his
emotion.
“How much has it meant?
Thoron, you are my brother. I love you. I’d have given you anything. Was it money?”
Thoron laughed.
“Is that what you
honestly think?”
Archer dug his fingers
in to his short cropped hair.
“I don’t know what to
think. This is madness! Are you working with Al Qaeda, ISIS, The Merque?”
Thoron stepped forward
fast and grabbed Archer by the collar and tie.
“Don’t pretend you
don’t know me. I’ve lain in foxholes beside you. I pulled you out of bars after
Lizzy left you. It was me who saw you cry the day your mom passed. I am as true
to this country and its cause as you are, but I’m more loyal to you than you
know.” He shoved him away.
“Then I don’t
understand.” He was nearing the stage where only banging one’s head against the
wall would bring any kind of release. “Make some sense, Thoron. I need you to make sense.”
Thoron walked away,
then turned back.
“It won’t make any.” He
balled his fists at his side. “No matter how I explained it, no matter how
slowly I went, it won’t make sense, but I did it for you… I did
it for humanity… and I failed both.”
“I’m done.” Archer hoped
against hope, that it wouldn’t end like this. “This is quite possibly the most important discovery of our lifetimes;
we were supposed to do this together. I fought for you. I believed in you. I
told everyone there had to be a mistake, something was wrong, but in the end,
the only thing wrong was me. I’m done
believing in you. I’m done hoping in you, I’m done with you.”
He turned and knocked
twice on the door, then waited for it to be opened.
“Oh Archer, that’s
where you’re wrong. Our story is just beginning.”
The door slid open. Archer
turned to see Thoron staring at him with an expression filled with both pain
and peace.
“Look for me on the
other side and, Archer—” He paused for a breath. “—when you hit the blind spot
behind mars, hold your breath.”
Archer just stared at
him for a long minute.
“You’ve lost your
mind.” He turned and moved past the guard back into the open lobby area.
“Archer!” Thoron yelled
after him.
He knew better than to
go back. He knew this was how the sick mind worked. Thoron was playing games
with him, tormenting him to the end and he should just walk away, winning the
war, but he couldn’t… he didn’t.
Turning back he stared
into the cell.
“What?”
“Love Sarah tonight
like it’s the last time you’ll see her and tell her, I’m sorry.”
A chill ran down his
spine.
He forced himself to
turn away.
It was game playing.
Maybe he’d never know what really happened to Thoron. Maybe it was the war,
maybe it was the last deep space mission, maybe it was just the loneliness, but
something had made his mind snap. It was the only thing that even remotely made sense.
The sound of the door
sliding closed as he walked the few steps to the elevator, was as loud as a
roar in the otherwise silent space.
“Did you get what you
needed, Commander?”
He pushed the call
button and waited.
“I got what I expected.”
Looking back one last time at what was now a closed door. “God be with you Thoron,
because that’s all that can save you now.”
Thoron stared at the
closed door, almost seeing through it to his friend.
Failure weighed so
heavy on his heart he could barely breathe. He risked everything and failed… Yet he didn’t have the luxury of wallowing
in that failure. He had to ready himself for the next phase.
“God be with you
Archer, because that’s all that can save all of us now.”
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