A woman sat in a windowless room, illuminated only by a dying lamp which stood vigil at the side of the her desk. The edges of the room's only door lay parallel to the sides of the desk as the door remained soundly closed. The papers on the desk described the names and former "occupations" of men now held in deep imprisonment.
The woman sighed, tossing aside a paper authorizing the movement of a prisoner away from the cell block he was currently residing in because of his relations to the Bundschuh. The grimace on her face showed her disdain for such menial activities. The woman had asked Civil Minister Kohler several times to make it so these things could be approved without her consent, but, she didn't think much would come of it.
The door opened abruptly, interrupting the delicate silence that had drifted over the room. A man in a pale green RFP uniform stood at attention, blocking the stream of light from the door's opening. The woman who sat at the desk looked up into the light, pen still in hand.
"Yes, what is it, Johann?" the woman asked the man standing at the door, squinting slightly at the light emitted from the opening "It's almost time for the nightly inspection."
"We have orders, Anya," the man said, removing a folder which matches his uniform from the crook of his arm, "Directly from the Rheichstag."
"It will have to wait," the woman replied, leaning over the desk looking for something "Seven o'clock is time for inspection. Put the paper on the desk, it's probably unimportant."
Johann put the orders he had attained on the desk and walked briskly out of the room. Anya followed, having found the files for inspection. Shutting off the lamp and closing the door gently yet abruptly, Anya left the room in darkness.
Anya moved through a thin hall in a casual gait. In her arm sat a folder, the same pale-green folder which lay in her arm every evening at this time. The folder contained a detailed form describing the contents of a cell block, ready to be filled out by the warden of Vierlande.
Anya emerged from the hall into a three storied, open area. As she leaned over the second story railing she inhaled the smell of sweat both of nervousness and exhaustion that permeated the air. She opened the folder and pulled out the manila colored form ready to be filled out for cell block C.
Though the intellectuals of the Bundschuh didn't often cause trouble in Vierlande, Anya liked to inspect them first in order to set the right mood for the inspection. As she did expect, nothing but the usual taunts of the politicians was out of the ordinary procedure. She recorded the events of the inspection, and the particularly nasty insults as well as who had uttered them, on the manila paper she had exposed to the stench.
In the second and third cell blocks to be inspected, Anya expected many more uncivilized sights, and fewer politically fueled insults. Though the Landwirtrechtbewegung were often well behaved, the Unioners and Red Hessians were not very well mannered.
Emerging into the second story of cell block A, Anya noticed the same stench as in the Bundschuh sector, with a significant increase in the amount of exhaustion sweat. She returned the manila form to the folder, and retrieved another blank one, marking which cell block she was in.
Upon moving past the first cell, Anya's nostrils were filled with the odor of human excrement. Anya sighed, marking down the cell number that housed the odor.
"Helmut," Anya began, looking at the shell of a Stuttgart citizen with disgust, "We do remember what happened last time, right?"
"That depends, darling," Helmut responded, "Do you love Stuttgart so little that you can't stand smelling the mockery you have made it?"
Anya motioned to the guards waiting by the door, and recorded the events that were about to occur. Anya took three steps forward, still writing, and heard several grunts, and a final short one signifying the end of the scuffle.
"Put him into solitary confinement again," Anya ordered the guards still holding Helmut while looking away from her folder, "After you make sure his eye won't get infected. I want him to suffer, not die. If I wanted him to die, I would see it done."
Anya then resumed the inspection noticing a keen compliance to whatever she said and an eerie silence wherever she stepped. It was the kind of compliance that no single woman would get anywhere else in Rheinland, not even a military career woman. As she expected, after such a display of brutality, nothing was out of the ordinary. On her way out, Anya made sure she personally flushed the fictitious metaphor Stuttgart.
By the time Anya had reached the women's cell block, news had reached the girls about the beating Anya had ordered upon Helmut. Strangely, the women weren't as affected when brutality was ordered as the men were. The women, however, were not as stupid as the men, braving no insult against the already enraged warden.
Anya returned to the darkness of her office, sealing the folder and filing it in the outbox to the Civil Minister. She looked away from the papers on her desk and turned her attention towards the door, staring into the distorted light that emerged through the window. One could never tell whether it was day or night on the Vierlande, but Anya was sure it was deep into the late hours of the day after the inspection. She sighed deeply, and opened the orders from the Reichstag as her last act before the day.
Prisoners required for military testing in Hamburg. Suggested subjects:
Male
Age 22-36
Political Undesirables
Enclosed are forms entailing the prisoner transfer to Mainz Storage Facility.
- Defense Minister Guido Gross
Anya smiled, thinking back to the LWB who had caused so much trouble that night. What was to be done, and how it was to be done, didn't matter to Anya. It was not hard to remember several other residents of the prison Anya would also enjoy sending to this testing. She removed the transfer papers and entered in the necessary information.
Name: Helmut Mueller
Sex: Male
Age: 26
Height: 5' 8''
Weight: 168lb
Affiliation: Landwirtrechtbewegung
Name: Udo Johannson
Sex: Male
Age: 34
Height: 5' 9''
Weight: 152lb
Cell Block: A
Affiliation: Bundschuh
Name: Jonas Decker
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Height: 6' 3''
Weight: 208lb
Cell Block: C
Affiliation: Bundschuh
Name: Isabelle Koch
Sex: Female
Age: 28
Height: 4' 11''
Weight: 128lb
Cell Block: B
Affiliation: Red Hessians
Anya sat back, looking at the work she had done today. For all she knew, she had condemned five people to a horrible, painful death. The thought didn't strike her as necessarily unjustified, seeing as how the people resided in the Vierlande. In one way or another, they must have deserved such a punishment.
Anya leaned forward again, returning the pen she held into her left hand to write out escort assignments for the best pilots she could bring to mind. Instead of retrieving the necessary forms, she rose, and exposed herself to the bright light outside her office.
"Johann?" Anya asked, as she opened the door to the prison's staff quarters.
"Yes, ma'am?" Johann replied, looking away from his duties at his assistant's desk.
"Do you think yourself prepared to accompany me on a special assignment?" Anya asked, rather nervously.
"Of course, ma'am," Johann replied in proper Rheinland Federal Police fashion, "I'll have the papers ready before I retire."
"Thank you, Johnn," Anya replied, and closed the door to the staff quarters.
Anya sat on her bed, her auburn hair resting at her shoulders. Lifting the mattress, she removed a book wrapped in black tape, one which the Rheinland Federal Police couldn't know about. If they did find out, Anya would be put to trial for the illegal documentation of military operations. Though she upheld the law to her best abilities, Anya could not break her habit of recording the day's events, and decided that for her own sake, she should continue her trend to relieve stress.
February 20th, 798 AS
Honestly, I don't know where these men think they get off doing what they do. Thinking that they can spit at me, both metaphorically and otherwise, won't lessen their sentences. Hell, being nice would do more, though, still little. Poor Bundschuh. They know how to suck up, but, the Reichstag won't allow us a bit of lenience on them. A pitiful life for some of these students. A life in prison. I guess they do deserve it, though.
The others, though, they deserve what happens to them. Guido should have something fitting in mind under this "Research". If not, well, I'm still here.
Lifting the mattress again, Anya returned the book to its place. Closing her eyes, she lay down and drifted into the sweet caress of sleep.
Anya jumped out of her Phantom, stopping for a moment to admire the cross of the Federal Republic of Rheinland painted on the side of her ship. The Firekisses, being standard issue for the RFP, which were mounted on the Phantom, served well against the Bundschuh and Hessians that Anya had faced over the past week.
Moving away from her ship, Anya went to oversee the removal of the prisoners. She reached the cargo bay of the armored transport, and put on a stone face for a keen effect on the prisoners.
"Anya," said a familiar voice, "You aren't needed here, at the moment. We have more important matters to discuss."
"Important matters?" Anya asked as she turned to find the face of Defense Minister Guido Gross behind her, "What do you mean by more important matters?"
"Well, you do want to see the fruits of your work, do you not?" Guido responded with a sly grin.
"If it is so my place to see it," Anya responded, maintaining the stone facade she presented for the prisoners.
"Then, please," Guido responded, quite happily, "Let us discuss this further in my temporary quarters."
The two figures moved away from the transport. The sound of a scuffle was heard, but, it didn't phase either Anya or the minister as they made their way towards the employee's quarters of the station.
The orange mist of the Westerwald encircled Anya's Phantom as she flew alongside a new Armored Transport laden with the same human cargo as she had escorted to Mainz. The orange of the cloud was strangely stained, as if the maker of the system had taken up a new brush to it and augmented his original design.
Anya felt anxious. She didn't know what she was looking for and Johann was forced to remain at Mainz despite her insistent requests to Guido. The dust was foreboding, ominous. The green tint gave it a life of its own, and it called to Anya, warning her to break formation and leave, but Anya knew she couldn't do that. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and she knew it would not end well.
"Marshal Johannson," The new transport instructed, "Lead the pack through. Warden, follow second. Lieutenants, follow through last."
"Through what?" Anya inquired, just as a wall of purplish-green diamonds appeared in front of her.
"Through this, Warden." The transport captain responded, "A new...Development, of sorts. Now, then, lets get through to the facility."
Anya followed the captain's orders, feeling the anxiety increase her heart rate. The mines seemed to close in on her as she followed the marshal through this slender path of safety in the mines. His abrupt turns, his subtle strafes, all of them made Anya panic, both from the situation she was physically in, and the thought of what exactly she had agreed to witness.
Two minutes passed in the maze of purple. The guiding lights did little to reassure Anya of her safety within the haze. Passing the last light, Anya met a bubble within the mines. The orange-green of the cloud gave the shipyard cradled within an ominous visage. Her breath continuing its heavy trend, Anya was given the clearance to dock by Guido. She took closure in the thought of being in control of herself, at least to a minor extent, in the station.
The lights turned on in a room overlooked by Anya, Defense Minister Guido Gross, and several other men Anya could only assume were high ranking Rheinland officials. Helmut lay strapped across a surgeon's table, near naked, though no tools were present in the room that indicated a medical procedure. The machines he was hooked up to were prepared as if the test did not want to cover any part of Helmut, with wires tucked under and around the table to minimize exposure.
Two men emerged from the doorway farthest from Anya and the audience, carrying a cage, from which emerged a faint blue-purple glow.
"We've found an enhancement, Anya," Guido whispered into her ear, still facing forward, "For our soldiers. Or, at least we believe it to be an enhancement. Of course, all things need testing, and so, this is where your prisoners come in."
The men set down the cage on the cart next to the surgeon's table, opening it and quickly stepping away. From within the cage emerged a blue being, almost like a caterpillar, yet in the same sense a squid. It slithered, slowly, towards Helmut, who began to writhe and jerk in an attempt to escape from the being.
Once near Helmut, the being began to quicken its pace, moving to position itself over Helmut's still squirming torso. What could only be a head emerged from the main body, long and slender, and probed Helmut's torso. All at once, though, it tore his flesh, causing a gasp amongst the audience and invoking a scream from Helmut. It slithered within Helmut, as a caterpillar would. Helmut continued to writhe and squirm, as if trying to push the being out of himself, somehow. After five minutes of watching the being slowly encroach into Helmut, he suddenly stopped moving completely.
Helmut's head fell to the side, limp, as if he had died. His heart-rate, breathing, and bodily functions all showed irregular on the machines. Jumping between high and low, quick breaths and small, as if something had stopped his autonomous functions and he was forced to do so manually. After a minute, though, Helmut's body returned to normal, even the bleeding which occurred at the small hole where the creature had entered on his torso had ceased, and Helmut's eyes gained focus. The men relesaed the straps which held Helmut in place, and he moved, erratically at first, but slowly regained control of his movements.
At this point, many of the men had stood, and began chatting with each other, rather regularly, about both menial things, and the experiment. Anya sat, fixated on the Helmut's body, though, she doubted that at this point that it was still his own. Even as the men began to leave the room, Anya remained fixated on the body which moved subtly on the table.
"Anya," Guido said, not yet standing either, "I do believe it is time to go."
"Yes," Anya responded, standing abruptly, yet still looking forward through the window, "We should go."
Guido stood, and left the room. Anya looked yet for half a minute more, looking at the troublemaker of Vierlande. Though, this time, he stared back, through the one-way glass, straight at Anya. Anya was unsure whether or not it was Helmut, or something else, but, she knew it was looking directly at her.
Anya returned to her office on Virelande, thanking Johann for waiting at Mainz for her. She went immediately back to her desk, and looking for any new work with which she could immerse herself. Upon the top of her inbox was a folder marked ominously.
CLASSIFIED: Anya Amsel
Briefing: Nomads
Anya set the folder down, looking at it as if it was diseased, then, sullenly, opened the folder and read its contents. Despite finishing the briefing at five o'clock, in only an hour and a half after she began, Anya did not complete any other work before the daily inspection at seven o'clock.
Approaching her office after the troubled inspection, Anya decided that she would withhold further work until tomorrow. Johann had found himself feeling ill and had taken an early bed and so Anya found the office preceding hers empty and somewhat eerie. Upon clearing the office, the vestibule to her personal quarters was also found to be eerily quiet.
When she reached her room Ahe set the briefing folder down on her personal lectern. She sat on the bed, and lay her face in her hands for a moment, deep in thought. She removed her hands from her face sullenly, and lay down, removing the black book from under her mattress.
February 22nd, 798 AS
Nomads: What the hell? A briefing, after I was submitted to, what I can only assume is, a test procedure more torturous than burning a man at the stake. Possession for physical and mental enhancement? Isn't possession...Possession? The act in which something else possesses another being? This term makes no sense. Why would they call it that?
I hope to god I don't have to submit anyone else to this. Helmut was an *******, of that there is no doubt, but, he didn't deserve that. His screams...Lord, his screams. And the squirming. Can I sleep? Should I even try to sleep?
I'll put this out of my mind, that's all I can do. The Reichstag has its tests, and, for my own sake, I hope that the briefing was correct, and that these men are in complete control of themselves, and that possession is only the military term.
Sleep came slowly to Anya, but, it did eventually come. She embraced the soft caress of exhausted unconsciousness.
The door to Anya's room shut, slowly, as if Anya was waiting for something, for someone to say something. She walked, almost irregularly, to her bed, again.
March 3rd, 798 AS
I think I can sleep...
The images, the sounds, the memory, they've stopped bringing themselves up. The briefing is in the lectern, where I left it. I hope the change in sleeping patterns hasn't been noticeable. The prisoners would tear me apart with their quips and insults if they could tell I haven't been well, and heaven forbid I don't give an inspection. I can only imagine the hell I would cause myself...
I heard some of them, particularly the other LWB and the Unioners, wondering about Helmut and the others that were sent to Mainz. The Bundschuh and Hessians seem to know better, but, these men are full of ignorance.
I didn't know this, but the girl in the 19th cell in the female block was apparently Helmut's lover. She doesn't seem to know what to do with herself anymore. The guards have told me that she's been asking during eating periods and her hair has become more ragged. Never usually notice these things, but, I haven't been my usual self, either.
The rumors, though, they were almost funny. That Unioner in the 32nd cell said I took Helmut to my office and had my way with him, being the only man that was man enough to please me. Sometimes, I swear, but, that isn't good for me...
