The Solitude of Peace
Professor Dale sat on the harsh metal floor of his new cell, his back supported by the wall. Some, 30 minutes previously (time is immaterial on the Moon) he had been led, pushed through the maze of cell wings to the Solitary Confinement zone. It was here that he would spend the next…?
Having spent several years as a political prisoner Professor Dale was accustomed to its accommodation. Indeed he had been moved from one cell to another on numerous occasions, the reasoning for each was simply to teach members of the Peace Party leadership a lesson in respect for the Earth Government.
Humiliation was a useful weapon and being shoved from one part of the prison complex to another was designed to humiliate. Ordinary Party members were usually spared this; once they were transferred to the Moon they became irrelevant, unable to cause any more trouble on Earth or the colonies. Leading party elite could still be a threat and Professor Dale, despite his frailty and declining health was regarded as such.
He had been shoved into the cell by one of the prison trustees, a vile, brutal man with no redeeming qualities named Barrett. Dale was warned to keep quiet. The door was slammed shut and the lock mechanism activated. It seemed that escape had been suffocated by Cross's betrayal. It was conceivable that others were also involved (Patel perhaps?) The Penal Colony was full of spies for the Military's Intelligence and Security divisions.
The attempt on his and the Doctor's lives was now apparently a ruse to further discredit and silence him. The reasons for getting him were obvious but it appeared that this man the 'Doctor' also had enemies in high places. Dominion's tended not to make a habit of demanding the extradition of political prisoners, regardless of their crimes off-world. The Doctor's knowledge of a plot to provoke a new war with Draconia had antagonized influential people in Earth Government. Now it would seem that he too would pay for his protestations for peace.
The years he had spent in this prison had been bearable. Surrounded by the Peace Party, his work continued unabated by the Prison Governor and his thugs, if anything it took a more pressing urgency to succeed with the Doctor's claims of a conspiracy to incite another war between Earth and Draconia. He could see the time as preparation for his eventual freedom. The Peace Party was gaining in strength and public support. Sooner rather than later it would be destined to gain power.
Hope had been destroyed. Now he could only see the cell door. Dale stared at it thoughts drifted to politics...the Party...career...the war...arrest...imprisonment...family...