This book is not only dedicated to lovers of Science Fiction,
but to any and everyone with a hunger for change.
May it indeed happen.
Nathan L. Alston
© 2005
Preface
Crime had risen to an intolerable level, and even the previous sympathizers on a more humane structure of punitive measures had since adopted harsher views on the subject.
For many, many years there had been voices raised, and loudly so, on the benefits to be obtained by making the punishment fit the crime. But, for the most part, those cries had fallen on deaf ears. Until now.
Now, it was unanimously agreed upon that the humane approach to dealing with criminals had served no purpose. It had effectuated no change in the bad element. Incarceration was a vacation period to the vast majority of prisoners, and their post-sentence behavior fed to the proof of them not having divorced themselves from their criminal ways. Not only was there continuation of their past designs, but they grown considerably more dangerous. Even the new journeyers into the world of crime had seemed to bypass the petty stage, and delved directly into the more serious aspects of criminal activity. Yes, these matters were now of extreme concern; so much so that measures of combating this dark behavior had moved far beyond the scope of conventional wisdom.
This type of turbulence didn't just affect Earth, as there were a number of other planets that were being plagued with the same problem. Communication had developed between the leaders of one of those planets, and the decision makers on Earth. They each vowed to faithfully marry themselves within the efforts toward working together for change. A new, and much different way of dealing with criminals had been put into place.
…. and Mani Harris was the first earthling to experience it.
It Begins.
CORE
The time had come, and he stood there, sandwiched between two big burley guardsmen. The smaller of the two stood six-foot-six, weighed three hundred and forty-six pounds, and both of them had an iron grip on each of his arms. The room that they stood in was devoid of windows, and huge - measuring fifty by thirty yards. The only openings in the room were two doors, the nine-foot wooden one that he and the guardsmen had entered through, ten minutes prior, and the twelve foot square solid steel door that stood fifteen feet behind the Judge's desk. The room and everything in it - excluding the steel door and a dark green line that traveled the length of the room, up to the eight foot green square that he and the guardsmen stood in - was white. There were just two lights that hung from the twenty-five foot ceiling; one over the Judge's desk and the other that shone over he and his handlers.
He stood there in the silence, wondering what this was all about; wondering where he was. His name was Mani Harris, and his lifestyle had left him no stranger to courtrooms. But this setup was totally different. He was used to seeing others who would also be present before the Judge - the District Attorney, Defense Lawyers, Bailiff, Stenographer, spectators, and other offenders. But there was no one else there besides the three of them standing in the green square, and the Judge who stared at him from behind his desk. And what a weird looking fellow he was. He just sat, as still as stone, with his fingers intertwined atop his desk, as he stared unblinkingly. He was jacketed in white, sporting a white fu-manchu, and had thick white eyebrows that sat over piercing, black eyes. His head was bald and, though Mani couldn't make it out, there was some type of symbol on his forehead. This whole thing was strange. 'What in the world is going on, here?' He thought.
Mani had been picked up on an armed robbery charge, yesterday, and had fought hard with the arresting officers in an effort to escape. At twenty-five years of age, he had been in and out of the penitentiary three times in the past nine years. When he was sixteen he did fifteen months in Shorton, a reform school for boys, for shoplifting. At nineteen, he did two years, on a burglary charge, in Grungeon - a medium security penal facility.
Then at age twenty-three, he was remanded again to Grungeon for robbery. He was out on parole from that last offense and he knew that the court would throw the book at him this time.
During the fight with the officers the gun had been dislodged from Mani's hand. When he attempted to retrieve it, one of the officers hit him hard across the head with his billy-club, and Mani lost consciousness. The next thing that he remembered was being awakened; very early this morning, by two huge characters, and spirited from his cell. But why so early? The sun hadn't even come up yet. And why were they dressed in white? Transporters were always uniformed, and they always cuffed - and sometimes even shackled their prisoner. But they did neither to Mani. Nor did they speak a single word to him. Exiting the holding center they shoved him into the rear of a long white van. The only windows were those at the operating end, and the interior was partitioned just behind the cab area, so as to deny vision to anyone in the rear compartment. That section of the vehicle was, apparently, unheated, and Mani was very cold. It was the latter part of March, and Mani had been taken from his cell just as he'd lain on his bunk - in pants, socks and T-shirt.
"IT'S COLD BACK HERE", he yelled. "WHAT'S GOING ON? WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?"
The silence continued.
His anger boiled, and he began to kick the walls of the van until his feet hurt. He then crossed his arms tightly together, across his chest, and rocked on his buttocks and heels of his feet, hoping to generate some warmth. The transporters weren't responding to his queries, so he decided to brave the condition. He wasn't wearing a watch, and guessed the time to be about 4:00am. Experience told him that court didn't convene this early, but maybe this was something new. Maybe, due to the increased crime rate, the courts decided to hold much earlier sessions so as to get more cases handled in the course of a day. He knew that the ride to court was no more than nine or ten minutes, so he wouldn't have to suffer the cold too long.
At about the time that Mani figured they should have been stopping, the van sped up. He raised up and began pounding on the partition that separated them.
"HEY, WHERE ARE WE GOING? ANSWER ME." he screamed.
But, just as before, there was no reply.
It was nearly an hour later before the van slowed down, and came to a stop after making a few turns. When the rear doors were opened he saw that it was still dark.
"Thanks a lot", he said sarcastically. "I almost froze back here."
They grabbed his arms and began walking him towards a very old building.
CHAPTER 2
The building stood alone, and was in such bad shape that it looked as though it should have been condemned. The tallest of the guardsmen unlocked the door, and they then proceeded down a flight of stairs. A short distance from the stairs, on the lower level, was a tall wooden door. The guardsman banged three times on the door, took a silver colored pencil shaped object and inserted it into a small hole on the right side of the door, and it opened. It was the longest room that Mani had ever seen, and though there were just the two lights in the room, at the far end, it was bathing enough for Mani to see that the room was all white. It gave him an eerie feeling to see someone sitting at a large desk; the only piece of furniture that broke the emptiness at the other end. He could also see a dark line that traveled the room's length, which was dotted with small green lights. As the guardsmen walked him towards the desk, Mani could see that the large square shape - on the wall behind the figure - was indeed another door, a massive steel door.
The three of them reached the green square, and stood in silence before the still figure at the desk.
"Uh, can someone tell me what's happening? I mean, what is this all about?" Mani asked.
Still silence.
"SPEAK TO ME...I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!" Mani yelled out.
The figure at the desk slowly leaned forward, still staring unblinkingly, and - in a chilling voice that was deeper than any he had ever heard - said, "This is a new court of law. I am the 'Decider', AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS!!"
Mani had never been afraid of anything before, but now a wave of fear began to wash over him. This whole situation was quite unsettling, and the way that the Judge - or 'Decider' - stared at him, made him feel very uneasy. And there was something in the Decider's voice that went straight to the bone.
The Decider spoke again. "You are a sub-dirt dwelling, low-life criminal, and you stand before me for sentencing."
Mani's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his ears. When he finally found his voice he said, "Sentencing? I haven't even had a trial yet."
"No need for one". The Decider said, as he depressed a button, which caused a viewing screen to rise from the right side of the desk.
"Look", Mani nervously began, “Okay. I know what it’s about. But where is the person that I'm supposed to have robbed? WHERE'S ANYBODY? I DESERVE A TRIAL!!”
The Decider said to him, "Mr. Harris, you are guilty as charged, on attempted armed robbery, and now you must pay."
"BUT I'M NOT GUILTY". Mani yelled out.
The Decider sneered as he depressed another button on the desk, which brought the screen to life. Mani froze when he recognized himself on the screen. He was in a gas station, holding a pistol to the head of the attendant. The Decider paused the scene and asked, "That looks like guilty, to me, Mr. Harris. What say you again?"
Mani lost his voice, too shocked to speak.
"Let's move on". The Decider said, as he pressed the button again which caused a different scene, which also starred Mani, to fill the screen. Now Mani could be seen standing over an elderly man with a brick in one hand, and the gentleman's wallet in the other. The old fellow was lying on the ground, unconscious, and bleeding profusely from the head. The Decider, still staring and sneering, again pressed the button, and the scene shifted to yet another visual setting. This time Mani was pulling a woman out of her car. He had lain in wait, crouching behind a Mercedes Benz that was parked in a shopping mall, this particular night. A woman exited the mall, approached the vehicle, unlocked it and had just sat down when Mani grabbed her before she had a chance to shut the door. He made off with her car, her purse and purchased items, and he had thought - until now - that this was the end of it. He stood there stunned. 'How could this be?' And, as if this wasn't enough, the Decider showed him ten other acts against his fellow man - some of them that Mani had completely forgotten about.
The Decider spoke: Well, Mr. Harris, have you seen enough? Or need I show you more?"
Mani, greatly weakened, lightly answered: "I don't know what's happening here. I don't know how these things were recorded, or why you're even showing them to me now. This is a court of law and...."
"COURT OF THE NEW LAW!" The Decider boomingly interrupted.
Mani flinched at this, then continued: "What happened in the past, is past. Any court is only supposed to deal with the matter at hand. I was never caught in any of those other acts that you have- somehow- managed to capture. And those things should not be an issue here".
The guardsmen released their grips, and Mani bewilderingly spread out his arms and asked: "But how, how was this done?"
The Decider stood up, pointed to the green line and explained: "That dark green line hat you walked down is much more than you could ever have imagined. Those green lights are sensors that read your thoughts. Each one that you passed reached deeper into your memory bank than the preceding one. By the time that you stood in that green square your memory bank was totally penetrated, and every one of your negative actions were recorded. The sensor in that square works a little differently. Its function is to enable the gained information to be displayed on the viewer".
The Decider pressed a button to lower the screen, sat down and continued: "Every wrong that you have ever committed, against another, is here before me. I have shown you twelve instances of your evil, self-serving ways - twelve ways in which others were deeply hurt by you. But here, before me", he said as he raised a sheet of paper, "is a total of one hundred and three such offenses. The only good thing I can say is that you haven't taken a life...yet."
Mani, again, didn't know what to think. The whole matter seemed like something that was straight out of the twilight zone.
The Decider went on, "As this is a new court, and a new law...so too will be the prison for you".
Mani attempted to say something, but the Decider thrust his arm out towards him with his palm raised, and Mani knew that the action meant silence.
"Mani Harris, it is the decision of this court that you be teleported immediately to Core - the penal colony on planet Xylon."
Mani burst into laughter. This was insane. It had to be a joke. Yeah, that's what it was....
just a big joke.
"Look", Mani started, "I get it. You wanted to frighten me. Well, you succeeded. Okay? You can give it up now."
The Decider gave a slight nod, and the guardsmen took hold of him again. Mani recoiled as the Decider walked from around the desk and approached him, but the guardsmen held him steady by tightening their holds with vise-like grips. Mani now began to sense that this was no act; there was no game-playing here. It was serious. His stomach tightened as he looked into the Decider's eyes, who was now standing before him. The balls of his eyes were as white as snow, and his pupils were jet black. His white eyebrows, though thick, were naturally arched, and his white fu-manchu was exceptionally groomed. He had a medium build, was the same height as Mani - six feet tall - and appeared to be in his early fifties. In the middle of his forehead was a pyramid-shaped tattoo with a black dot inside of it.
"Mr. Harris, there are no time requirements set for you. Your stay at Core could be a week, a month, a year, or much longer. There you could very easily spend the rest of your life - or lose it. The length of your time, or whether you return at all, is entirely up to you".
The Decider stepped to the left, and the huge steel door behind the desk slowly began to open. As the guardsmen led him around the desk, Mani could see that there was a much smaller room, also white, behind the door. The only thing in the room was a cylindrical object that sat upright in the middle of the floor. It was silver, standing eight feet tall, with a diameter of three and a half feet, and a seven-foot high double door opening. The tallest of the guardsmen again used his silver pencil-shaped object, this time inserting it into a small opening on the right door. Both doors opened, and Mani panicked. He tried to resist being pushed into the cylinder, but his efforts were futile. The doors closed, leaving Mani surrounded by blackness, and fearfully wondering what was going to happen next. After a couple of minutes - which seemed like an eternity - a circular row of yellow lights came to life above his head. They burned steady, for about a half-minute, then darkened. They came back on, ten seconds later, and began to strobe. Mani then started to feel a tingling in his feet that slowly began to rise up his legs. As the tingling ascended through his body it grew in intensity. By the time that it reached his neck it felt like electrical shocks that were getting stronger and stronger. When it rose into his head Mani couldn't take it anymore. - And he blacked out.
CHAPTER 3
What had pushed him into darkness was the very same thing that brought him to. His head felt as if it was going to explode, from the pain. But the pain began to dissipate as the shocking sensation descended down his body, at a faster rate than when it had previously risen. The circular lights, above his head, died out just as his feet had stopped tingling. He attempted to raise his hands, within the purpose of rubbing his aching head, but found that he couldn't. He then tried to shift his feet, but found that, this too, was not afforded him.
He thought, 'What have they done to me?', and he tried to scream. But his mouth would not cooperate. In fact, the only bodily movement that he seemed to have any control over was his eyes.
He heard a metallic noise, as something touched the outer shell of the cylinder that encased him, and the doors opened wide. Mani determined that he was in some sort of room, with whiteness so bright that he had to squint his eyes in order to minimize the discomfort. He heard voices, speaking in foreign tongues, and saw two figures emerge from the left side of the cylinder. They were attired exactly as the Decider had been, and were about the same age. Their foreheads even carried the same pyramid-shaped tattoo with a dot in the center. Like the Decider, the pupils of their eyes were jet-black, and they were also bald. But their faces were devoid of any facial hair. They stopped talking as the one on the left took a step forward, and looked Mani up and down. Staring again into Mani's face, he slightly turned his head to say something to the other man, while pulling something from his pocket. It was a small, black, triangular object. He held the object between his thumb and middle finger, and depressed - what appeared to be - a button on the upper flat side while raising it towards Mani's head. As it was brought closer, Mani could see a triangular-shaped outline, on the side facing him, begin to take on a bright orange glow. The object was placed on his forehead, and it felt as if someone had placed a lit cigarette there. It was removed and the fellow stepped back to the other man's side, placing the object back into his pocket. They were speaking again and - all of a sudden -
Mani could understand. The language was no longer foreign. Both men approached him just as he began to feel that he could move. Mani attempted to flex his fingers, and was successful.
"Movement is returning to you, and you will be totally functional in just a moment". Said the fellow who had burned him. Just as Mani was about to move his right foot, the cylinder began to move. It made a slow one hundred and eighty degree turn, stopping in front of a huge door. It appeared to be the same size as the steel door that the guardsmen had taken him through, before, but this one was black. There was also a black stripe on the floor, about two-feet wide, that stretched the ten feet between the cylinder and the door.
The two figures came around the cylinder and stood just before Mani; one on his left, the other on his right.
"You are on Xylon". Said the man at his left side, as the door began to open. It slowly rose towards the ceiling, and as Mani looked through it all he was able to see was darkness.
'How strange', Mani thought: 'The light from the room should have illuminated at least a little of what lay outside the door - but it didn't.' It looked like another 'flat' black door but, somehow, Mani knew that it was much more than that. When the door had finally stopped, the same man slowly turned his head towards it. And Mani knew, without having to be told that he was expected to exit the cylinder and proceed through the doorway. Not knowing what he would meet, on the other side, made him very fearful. But just as frightening was the icy way in which the two figures stared at him as they were passed. When Mani cleared the opening he stopped, turned around and watched as the door descended and settled to a stop. He took a step forward, placed his hands on the door while lowering his head, and thought, 'What is this place? What's going to happen to me?'
SCREE-AARRRRRGH.
Mani whipped around, fell to his knees and began to shake. He broke into a sweat as he turned his head to and fro, while straining his eyes in an effort to see something. But it was no use; the darkness was too deep. He froze, and concentrated on his hearing. But there was nothing to be heard. Nothing but silence; silence such as he had never heard before.