Frontier justice by Lia Faile

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Frontier Justice, Part 5
by Lia Faile

"I know quite a bit. More than I care to know." Yale answered shaking his head. "Jaxsom Frigg committed six serial rapes that involved torture and ended in murder over a period of 4 years." He paused before continuing. "His conviction was facilitated by VR recordings of his victims he'd made to play back later for his enjoyment."

"Oh my God." Denner gasped, voicing everyone's disgust.

"Jaxsom was diagnosed as being a sociopathic schizophrenic. That made him ineligible for both the Yale program and behavioral modification chip therapy. His brain was too far diseased for either to be effective. In fact, they could have exacerbated his condition. Oddly enough, he was incarcerated for life in Prison Station 889. The database lists him as being killed by another inmate two years after the start of his term."

"So if Jaxsom Frigg was killed in prison, this man could have known him, may have even been the one who killed him, and is using his name?" Walman postulated.

Yale shook his head sadly. "I seriously doubt that. More likely, Jaxsom and all the other penal colonists here are listed as dead in Prison Station transcripts. That way, the Council doesn't have to account for missing prisoners."

"Yeah, and who besides me doesn't think that Prison Station 889 is just coincidence?" Danziger added. "Damn! How many criminals *are* here?"

"No way to be certain. It's difficult to scan for cross referenced data pertinent to the E2 project. The Council has been very careful in covering their tracks. The databases are full of dummy files and dead ends making if very difficult to get a good grasp of the scope of the project. One thing we can be certain of is we are *not* the first humans here."

Danziger slide down on his haunches and rubbed his forehead. "Okay, we have to make some sort of a decision."

"No. No more hasty decisions made in anger or while emotions are flying high." Devon interjected. "This isn't a decision we can reverse once it's taken. It won't be as simple as going back for someone. We'll all have to live with this for the rest of our lives. Remember how much we all regretted abandoning Julia the next day."

"Not *all* of us." Morgan scoffed.

"Nevertheless," She continued glaring at Morgan. "I insist that we wait till tomorrow. That will give us all a day to really think this through and be certain of our feelings. Maybe even come up with alternative solutions. Agreed?"

Thirteen heads nodded slowly in mute reply.

"Will we have to vote too?" True asked with wide eyes indicating herself and Uly.

"No baby." Danziger answered her gently. "This is something us adults have to decide. You two don't worry about it." Suddenly Danziger wondered how his and True's relationship would be affected if he ever did kill someone, even in self defense. Something told him he didn't want to find out.

"I guess tomorrow I find out who my friends are." Bess said softly before exiting the tent hurrily followed by Morgan.

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LATE THAT NIGHT:

Morgan held Bess in his arms, gently stroking her hair. Soon her soft, regular breathing told him she was asleep. Morgan laid there wide awake staring at the stained tent ceiling illuminated from the outside by the dual moonlight. He felt wired and restless. Other than his right foot, which twitched rhythmically against the edge of the bed, he managed to hold himself perfectly still so he wouldn't wake her. Images and snatches of conversations from the day played back in his mind like a VR program on the fritz. The image and words that repeated in his head the most was Bess'. Her battered face turning towards him and telling him he'd never failed her.

Morgan knew that was a lie, but he *needed* to hear that lie and Bess knew it. More importantly, Bess herself needed to believe in her own lie. It was the only way she managed to survive intact. She escaped her harsh, dead end life by putting on a smiling, angelic face and refusing to allow her soul to be warped by the bleakness of her earthbound reality. That's what had drawn him to her and what had ultimately caused him to propose marriage rather than just offer to set her up in one of the sectors reserved for visiting administrators as his mistress.

Morgan needed some of that magic. By saving Bess, Morgan hoped to save himself. So he'd entered into a marriage contract with an Earther who wasn't even a member of a powerful Miners Union Family. So much for advancement via the marriage ladder. Bess had brought love into Morgan's life. The hows or whys of that love didn't concern him. She loved him and Morgan worshipped her in return. He finally believed he could have it all: power, wealth, and love.

Morgan's thoughts turned to the morning and the vote that was to come. He couldn't predict who would vote how, but he did know that Devon Adair would never go against Station Law no matter how many people voted in favor of execution. Where Bess was a romantic, Devon was an idealist. Idealism was far more dangerous than romanticism as far as Morgan was concerned. Devon came here and believed she could establish an Utopia.

Morgan rolled his eyes in disgust. He might not be from a powerful Founding Family and he didn't grow up with his very own private psycho tutor, but he *was* educated. He was familiar with the classics including Plato's Republic. He knew that Utopia meant "no place" in Greek. No place as in imaginary, nonexistent. Even Plato didn't believe Humanity could conduct themselves properly and bring about the perfect society.

Morgan didn't believe it either. In Morgan's world--the *real* world, people acted in their own interests. Oh, Ms Adair might think she was acting out of altruism when she created Eden Project, but would she have squandered nearly her entire fortune and a huge chunk of her life if her own son hadn't been afflicted with the Syndrome? Morgan seriously doubted it. Even what Morgan planned to do later couldn't be called selfless. He was doing it for Bess and ultimately he was doing it for himself.

Morgan carefully slipped out of bed and tucked the covers around Bess so she'd stay warm and asleep. He slipped his VR gear on his head and quietly passed the time creating a program while he waited for the camp to settle down for the night. "Eden Project." Morgan muttered to himself. Devon certainly had picked a prophetic name. Look at what happened to the inhabitants of the original Eden. At least that Eden only had one serpent. This place was a veritable viper pit.

###
It was around two in the morning when Morgan finally left his tent. The larger of the two moons had dipped below the horizon and the smaller one was in its third quarter so he didn't have to worry about being seen. Only problem was, he could barely see too. A lumalight was out of the question though, he couldn't risk attracting attention. So as carefully as he could, he inched and groped his way to the Transrover.

Morgan let out a muted "ouch" as he stubbed his foot for the fourth time. "This whole planet is nothing but a huge rock pile." He grumbled to himself. Finally, he reached the Transrover and scampered up into its back bed and began to rummage through various storage boxes as quietly as he could. In the seventh container, he found what he was looking for and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. "Seven, that's a lucky number. That's a good sign that everything will go smoothly--I hope." Morgan whimpered as he replaced the lid on the box.

"What are you doing, Morgan?" A gruff disembodied voice demanded as a big brawny hand shot out of the darkness and clamped down on his wrist like a vise. Morgan nearly fainted from fear. It took his lungs several tries to drawn in a breath. "You nearly scared me to death!" He finally managed to wheeze.

Danziger flicked on his lumalight. Its glow lent his features a fiendish cast. "Sorry, I'll try harder next time." Danziger still had Morgan by the wrist. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing?" His fingers tightened slightly.

"Owww! You-you're hurting me." Danziger released him and stared at him expectantly. Morgan bought some time by making a show of rubbing and inspecting his wrist. "I...I was looking for a filament splicer. My VR gear needs fixing." He lied, praying that Danziger hadn't seen what Morgan had really taken. Morgan didn't have a believable lie to explain why he had taken *that*.

Danziger eyed him suspiciously. "I'm not surprised. As much time as you waste in VR." Danziger motioned for Morgan to get down from the Rover. "Stay out of my tools, Martin. If something breaks, bring it to me and I'll work on it. Though I can tell you right now that VR gear is way down on my work priority list."

"Sure, sure." Morgan hastily agreed as he climbed down and stood nervously next to the larger man. "I'll drop it by in the morning. Well, good night!" Morgan tried to sound nonchalant as he scurried back to his tent, well aware that Danziger was watching.

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END--Frontier Justice part 5 of 7 by Lia Faile

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