18 Days Remain

The duty guard plodded down the hall. At each cell he stopped, evaluating. Some he unlocked. Others, he kept walking.

Lucinda watched him pass Terzo's cell without even breaking stride. No surprise there, Terzo ended up in block C after his brawling had led to a death or two. He didn't get much time with others.

The rest of the cells Lucinda found much harder to predict. Each guard had their own preferences, although whims might be a better word. And no guard was consistent, at least not as far as she could tell. They always had a reason to open: It was in one of their books somewhere that they were supposed to keep the prisoners happy. On the other hand, there was another rule in an even more important book that said everyone in block C had done something to get there.

She stepped back from the bars as he approached. Would it be better if the guard opened her door, or not?

In the long term, on a large scale, a few months - or even weeks - without leaving their cells would be a clear demonstration to the other prisoners. But in the short term, Lucinda herself would do better let out. She couldn't just demonstrate by example. She had to make them prepare.

Lucinda had a deadline to keep.

And she'd be able to keep it, because the guard unlocked her cell. Then he walked through the door at the end of the hall, locked it, and pressed the button to release the unlocked door's latches.

Or at least, if I don't keep it, it will be on my head.

She started immediately. A hushed word in one cell, a significant glance to a colleague. This part, she'd learned to do. She'd made herself mysterious, connected, just out of reach. The other prisoners would want to hear her out. And she didn't have to worry too hard about rats, not after the last block C snitch had ended up knocking on the red man's door along with his conspirators.

The group congregated not-too-subtly into a cell at the end of the block, Mafalda staying in the hallway as the sentry. She was Renato's, but only on duty: No Whipspine was truly tamed. And she wanted the same things as Lucinda, more or less.

That gave Lucinda room to breathe and survey her potential recruits. "How have the guards been acting lately?"

"Jumpy," answered Tore. "Since yesterday or so."

"And short with us," added another voice. One of the newer transfers.

Lucinda nodded. "The Warden's coming down for an inspection next month. Anyone know where he's been the last four, five hundred years?"

A few prisoners shook their heads, so she pressed. "No? Wasn't in block B with gen pop? Not treading water behind the barrier in block D?"

"He wasn't here," Eustorgio cut her off.

"Right." Lucinda couldn't have stopped the smile creeping over her face if she'd wanted to. "So somebody outside... is coming here. Outside of Proteus."

"And you think there's a door," interrupted Eustorgio again.

"You don't?"

Lucinda knew it was the wrong thing as soon as she said it. She could lead her audience along, but getting snippy wouldn't win them over. "I mean, if there's not... What are we here for?"

She'd tried not to grab the apathetic, which seemed easy in a block like C. But apparently her analysis had been incomplete, because Pietronella had an answer: "This ain't so bad. Food's better than B."

"It's not." Tore rolled his eyes.

"Food I eat beats food I can't. Nobody here steals my food." Pietronella was in C for killing two men, but that was before Lucinda's time. Pietronella was old, for a human.

"Well, those that do want out..." Lucinda took a breath. "I can't guarantee your safety. I can't guarantee a lot. But we do have ways of learning more, and we have some supplies stocked up. If you want to be a part, stick around."

The room rose to their feet in near unison. The only people left sitting were Tore, Imelda, and a man she didn't know very well. Seeing the others filing out, Imelda bit her lip and cast a Lucinda a sidelong glance.

Three recruits. Plus the few she'd already convinced. That took all brute-force strategies off the table. It also made it harder to gather the information to plan a more subtle strategy. Damn. Damn damn damn. She'd thought... But these people were born prisoners. They didn't know how to dream of freedom.

Mafalda leaned into the doorway. "Guard's making his way... Where's everyone going?"

The crowd stopped for just a moment before shifting and streaming out around her. The look hadn't changed, but now they were whispering. Lucinda heard the word "whipspine" from multiple mouths.

That wasn't how she planned to conduct her business. But if she needed the endorsement of Mafalda, Whipspine Enforcer, to get her credibility... Well, Lucinda would live with that. She had a deadline to keep. And something to prove..

And quite frankly, Lucinda wanted to use force