The walk back to base camp didn't take long, and there wasn't nearly as much banter as there had been before the device had been retrieved and the declaration of 'WICKED IS GOOD' had been made. They were all on edge, Thomas and Brenda even more so, having gone through several highs and lows all in the space of a few hours. In place of the banter, there was not silence, but discussion. About what this could mean and about what it would do for our future. They were all feeling foolish, for allowing themselves to think it was over, that it could ever be over. There was discussion about how the people would react, would there be chaos, anger, or both? And they were all smart enough to know that both, left unchecked, would lead to dire consequences within their small utopian colony. Even though they had not got a huge amount of distance to cover back to the camp it felt like an eternity and more than once they had picked up their pace in order to get this information relayed to Vance.
When they did get back to camp, however, there was a surprise waiting for them. Two of the guards were waiting when they got back, and they knew they were in trouble. There would have been no point resisting or putting up a fight, especially against their friends, so they accepted what needed to happen and were escorted to where Vance wanted to talk to them. When they made it to the interrogation room, they knew they were in deep shit. Vance entered only moments later, wearing an expression that none of the could really discern.
'Vance, listen' Thomas began.
'No, Thomas' he replied. 'You listen. I know what you found, one of the guys from the other group thought it would be funny to plant one of the devices we picked up before we could reprogram it. The knife marks were added for 'effect', there'll be a disciplinary hearing for them tomorrow. We're thinking of 4 weeks in confinement with only 2 meals a day. But that's not the point.'
He steadied himself before continuing.
'We need to be able to trust everyone here. We can only depend on ourselves and what you did, sneaking off, four of the most senior members of this camp no less, is very, very stupid and quite frankly idiotic.'
Then he turned to Jorge.
'How could you think that was a good idea, we've only preliminarily mapped out this place and we're still finding new spots every day. I would have thought that with your seasoned experience you would have tried to stop, or at least advised them against doing this. I have enough to deal with in this place without worrying about the four/five of you wandering off trying to be heroes. To ensure this doesn't happen again, you'll all be incarcerated for seven days, with two meals a day. Except you Jorge. You'll do two days. I hope this serves as a reminder that you can do what you need to do if you notify me or anyone else before you do it. Am I understood?'
They all nodded, solemn in anticipation of the punishment they would now have to face in the coming days.
