Sick
(Lucas, many years before)
"He wants to keep our issues in the family. The two of us, we suffer from a Shakespearean relationship that borders on Greek tragedy." - Lucas.

Lucas is going to work very soon. Like he does every morning. If he leaves his house early, there are very few people around. Nobody looks, nobody asks questions.

He sees something in the middle of the market square, and a lump forms in his throat.

They're tying a young man to a pole, above a wooden structure. Military. One of the new recruits of his father. They're getting younger. Who knows what inconceivable crime he committed? A brawl in Boylan's bar? A glare at his superior?

Below, to monitor the operations is Jim Shannon, the face of a man who has had enough. Arms crossed over his chest, he looks as though he wants to be a thousand miles away. After all, he was in jail, he knows what it's like to feel powerless, overwhelmed by the regulations and by an iron fist.

The two look. Lucas would like to say something, but the lump in his throat does not allow him to utter a word. He remembers very well when he was up there, Shannon looking uncertain while tying his bonds.

Shannon looks, runs a hand over his eyes, as if he had not slept well. As if he had not slept well in years.

"Insubordination," he spits out, as if Lucas had asked.

"Of course. And the good old Commander? He's not stopped to look after his prisoner?" asks Lucas.

"Today he's dealing with Wash," replies Shannon, pretending not to hear the contempt in Lucas' voice. "I'll be easier on him, it's better for the kid."

"Undoubtedly. When will it end, Shannon?" says Lucas.

"What?"

"All this. The military court, the curfew, the search for conspiracies in people's homes. You won, there is no more threat. No one's trying to take Terra Nova away from my father. "

"A good speech, for someone who has so much blood on his hands. You remember Kara?" replies Shannon.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I knew nothing about the bomb." Lucas answers impatiently. "It was Weaver's idea."

But he remembers it very well, the remains of hair and blood, collapsed near a tree. He remembers when he emerged from the portal and found himself in front of smoke, rubble and corpses. Sometimes the dreams of that night haunt him, and reminds him of what happened to his mother.

"Maybe your father would be more lenient with his people," says Shannon, "had he not been stabbed by his own son. And it's understandable that he doesn't trust anybody anymore."

"It's been years. The Sixers are still rotting in jail. We paid enough. I paid. My every sin, every guilt, and with interest. And most of the people of this colony have already endured enough."

Jim Shannon turns and walks away, while the kid begins to cry.

Lucas makes a face, the memories fall upon him and suddenly he's 26 years old again and he is the one hung up there.

Obviously, it is his father carrying out the sentence.

Lucas was convicted of, among other things, assaulting two officers with the intent to kill them. Wash and his father. He failed both times, once intentionally, the other because of the love of his life. Who, thank God, is locked in the house.

Deborah is sick again, or maybe she pretends to be. The important thing is that Skye is busy and does not see this.

They could not prove anything about the bomb that killed those people. For the other deaths in the colony, well, the Phoenix Group were not prisoners, they are mercenaries. It was easy to blame them, so no one could deny it. The soldiers of his father executed them like dogs, chasing them to the Badlands. Lucas suspected that they would willingly execute him too, but his brain can still be useful.

Shannon ties his wrists. The sheriff is white in the face, too pale. The whole business of convictions and courts should not please him much, our dear Jim. Strange, thinks Lucas; he was going to hurt that stupid brat, his son. Lucas would want the blood of those who seek to do harm to his family.

But perhaps, the first sheriff of Terra Nova is not as hard as he is trying to make himself out. Anyway, Shannon is going to see much of Lucas' blood now.

Yesterday, Lucas heard the screams of Carter. The sound came from his cell. It lasted very long.

Silence. It must be his father who has arrived. Lucas twists his neck backwards to be able to see. His arms, linked at the top, make it difficult to move.

The great commander is rolling up his sleeves, as if about to throw a bait in the water. As if he were on a fishing trip with his favorite son. He's picking up what appears to be a large barrel. The soldiers are still as statues. They were convinced that the commander would not have had the courage to publicly flog his only child in the market square of Terra Nova.

Deluded. If Lucas was a monster, he is the father of the monster. He created him.

Lucas looks at his father, then he winks at him, smiling barely."Now I am found to be a sinner and a son of sinners. You, that drank my father's blood offered you by my hands, do you remember the delicts that I did?" (1)

Nathaniel Taylor looks at his son and he blinks, confused. He doesn't understand, obviously. He has always been ignorant.He would have never lost any time with the Greek tragedy, because there was a lot of military tactic to learn.

The first hit surprises Lucas at his shoulders. He turns his head just in time to be not hit on his face. Then there is a second hit and yet another one. At the fourth, he is already screaming.

He keeps on swinging up and down, his wrists twist each other and he is tugged by the strength of the hits.

Every time that the whip touches his back, the wrist join wrings and makes strong twinges. Lucas bites his lip to hold back groans with empty and wide eyes. He can't see well because tears cloud the sight, but he can recognize some of the faces of the people reunited to see the show.Boylan, with terrified eyes, who looks like he wants to escape and hide in his bar.Josh Shannon, paler than his father.Two settlers that were evidently enjoying the show. Maybe their relatives died. Revenge. Lucas understands very well its sweetness.

Another hit ends up on his clavicles, on the already red and purple skin.

It's too strong and blood starts to pour. Lucas sees some drops in front of his feet, he can perceive them dripping hot on his wounds, making his back burn more and more.

He must stand. He mustn't fall. He mustn't faint. His father would be able to cheer him up, and then continue for another day.

This time the hit beats his hip and he staggers and stumbles over. His arms wrings unnaturally, a stab of pain takes aim at his hit, this time on the opposite side, pulls out another scream, the tendon of the neck bends backward. The head turned to the sky, in a shout that he can't suffocate.

With the corner of his eye he sees a pair of women taking out from the square fast. They look in tears. Are they like this for him? For the first enemy of their colony? It would be touching if the skin on his back was not being ripped.

Lucas knows that he can't bear the pain for much longer. The ears start to buzz. He can't forget Bucket's present, the bullets to extract.

He isn't as strong as before, his body fails and his soul is weak. He must make his father stop, even if he has to implore. But, maybe, imploring wouldn't be necessary."Wait. Please," he babbles to his father.

Nathaniel Taylor stops with the arm still raised to beat."Lucas, what…" he says to his son.

"I would say to you…" his son interrupts him, every word is torn off from his bloody lips, "…that this also happened to Mom. They were fine, they kept her alive for a long time, but you… you don't have anything to envy to them. You're a perfect torturer!"

Commander Taylor opens his eyes wide, astonished, as if someone gave him a punch to the stomach.

He starts to beat his son again, but without mordant. The whip falls at random on the legs, the bottom and the kidneys of the guy, missing him sometimes.

Then he throws the whip away, Shannon makes a sign, turns and goes away, without a word. But Lucas doesn't move, the head dangles on his chest. When he stands up, with tears streaming on his face, he sees his father running away, splitting the crowd.The young Shannon vomits all his breakfast on his shoes.

Then, luckily, Lucas faints.

Nb (1) The sentence pronounced by Lucas is taken from "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles)