"The Generational Purge"
9. With A Clear Head
Orcus Penitentiary – in the year 3086
There were five who had been let out of their cells thanks to Jaya Misra. The girl was twenty-three years old, and she had been at Orcus since only a few days before Nathaniel Nash had been installed as warden. She'd had little trouble believing who these guards were; Harinder Singh was her father… would be her father, in little to no time, she imagined. He kept whispering her mother's name like he needed to get back to her. She'd changed her name when she had left home, but if he looked at her long enough, would he see her mother in her?
Two more women had been freed. The Allaway twins, Sara and Ingrid, were twenty-nine and an Orcus case for years before they had been caught and sentenced two years ago. They might have been sent to two different places, but word was Ingrid had done 'something' to make sure they both ended up at Orcus.
The three men, like the others, had been brought together by nothing more than their ability to retain memories of their purged fellow prisoners. It had not been smooth sailing for them as a 'team.' Though he was the youngest of the three at twenty-eight, Nico Reyes had been at Orcus the longest. Eight years already he had been one of their prisoners, and nothing had ever thrown him, not until Nash and his so-called treatments. It took something menacing to get someone like Nico Reyes to toe the line. It was another story for Percy Hackett. Thirty-one years old, the man was so quiet at times you wouldn't know he was there at all; this was precisely the kind of thing which had landed him at Orcus five years ago. He made no waves. He would serve his sentence and then he would be on his way. The last of the three was the closest to what one might call a loose cannon. Deck Vicario was thirty, and when he had seen his cell neighbor erased from existence, his cries had fallen on deaf ears, getting him branded as a case for psych ward, all until Jaya Misra and Ingrid Allaway confirmed they knew the purged one as well.
With all other prisoners immobilized, the six had made quick work of rounding up all the confused guards they could get their hands on. They were forced to relinquish weapons and helmets before sitting where the six could see them. As easily as this had been achieved, now the next phase would be so to the point.
The Doctor and Rose, still unaware of this turn, had followed the two guards who found them, knowing they had to get along with these people, to figure out how to stop it, but also to try and stop the meddling warden. Somehow in the time before they had found the man and the girl, the previously quarrelsome pair had started to communicate, which could be a good thing or a very, very bad one. When they had found the Doctor and Rose, they had made them stand and follow, which left them with no answer still as to what they would do. Rose had stumbled to a stop when she heard the whistle, and the man behind had nudged for her to keep going.
"Didn't you hear that?" she turned to ask, seeing what the guard didn't see. A prisoner rushed up from behind and struck him down. Rose reacted, as did the Doctor, before the second guard stopped him and pointed his weapon at the prisoner. But before he could say a word, he was struck as well… by Jaime Grant.
"Are you two alright?" he asked.
"Yes, well…" Rose looked to him, to the stranger.
"That's Norman, he's a friend," Jaime promised.
"Handy, Norman," the Doctor nodded.
"Where's Jack?" Jaime noticed his absence.
"We were separated," the Doctor revealed. "He was on my ship when this started. He got away, which could be good news for you, if what you said is true. He'll be our man on the outside."
"Right…" Jaime had no choice to accept.
"Now about these guards," the Doctor crouched by the fallen men.
"It was no accident," Norman spoke with confidence. "This was orchestrated. The Doctor looked up, then stood and offered his hand.
"And that's Norman…"
"Larsen," he replied.
"So how do you know this, Norman Larsen?"
"Because they knew I could do it, so they made me," he bowed his head.
"You did this?" Rose was surprised.
"I had no choice." He was trying to sound at ease, but there was stress in his voice. He was telling the truth, but that wasn't all he was saying. The Doctor looked at him for a moment before turning to Jaime.
"Who's 'they?'"
"That'll be the other ones, those who can remember the purged. There are six of them back in their cells."
"What makes you think they'll still be in their cells?"
"They wanted the guards to have a clear head," Norman spoke up, and the Doctor turned back.
"What for? What are they going to do with those 'clear' heads?"
"I don't know, they didn't tell me anything else except what to do and when."
"When? They gave you a time?" Rose asked and he nodded. "Why now and not earlier or later?"
"I haven't figured that part out yet," Norman shook his head. "I was coming back when I found Jaime in trouble."
"My guards had some… issues as well," he looked to the men on the ground.
"Right, well we better find out. We need to get to the warden," the Doctor declared.
"Wait," Jaime spoke. "Before that… I need your help with something."
TO BE CONTINUED (FRIDAY)
