Adam sat at a small reading bench in Huntsvilles Library. The room was dimly lit and it was only about half an hour till lights out and a guard would come and hurry him back to his cell.
The book before him was an old copy of an Ancient earth story; The Time Machine. He had always loved this book and its sense of possibilities. He sat here alone under a single desk lamp flicking its yellowing pages.
He had read it many times, but tonight he sat here not for reminiscing and revisiting an old story, though he did sit here with the distinct hope for possibilities.
Whoever he was; was late.
Everything had been falling into place, a select group within the prison had been chosen to be in the breakout, some of them, were not even aware of it; they would be told when the time was at hand and given little notice. Security was paramount. However, as the day drew closer it was all he could do to suppress his amusement whenever he was beaten by a guard, or overworked by a supervisor. Were going to take the Wardens little toy and there isnt a damned thing any of you can do about it because youre too stupid to know.
Not without codes to unlock the computer they werent.
Each Navy vessel had a pass code used by its captain to unlock its systems, the warden of Huntsville had his own for the Merrick and it was already decided that it was almost impossible to get.
The Admiralty override code for the vessel was not however.
They had been told that an operation had been mounted to retrieved these very codes from the Liberty Navy command data bases but they knew little more of it other than that. The mission had been a success they were told, and the codes would be arriving on a courier, on a supply ship, to be delivered to Greerson personally, here, twenty minutes ago, tonight.
He looked up from his book only slightly at a sound across the room. A man he didn't know was walking towards him; dressed in the uniform of one of the catering companies that the LPI hired to feed the inmates, beside him walked an LPI guard.
They stopped in front of him, Greerson the guard grunted, "This tech said hes lost his book from the cafeteria."
Adam raised his eyebrows, "He lost his what?" he started, but the guard butted in, he was tired and clearly didnt want to be bothered over such a trivial matter, "His book, Greerson you maggot, a goddamned book" he snatched the book Adam had been reading and passed it to the catering tech, "Is this it?" he snapped.
The tech scowled and looked it over, a frown crossing his face, "No, this isnt it"
He passed the book back to the guard who dropped it back on the desk with disdain; "Well this jerk off is the only one who reads around here, you can check the supply draws, lets go."
He motioned the tech to the door and then turned, Greerson, "10 minutes to lights out, if you're still here when I come back Ill give you something to read about". He strolled out.
Reaching down, Adam picked up the book, flicking its pages to where he had been reading he found it, a wafer thin, tiny data slip.
He stood up and turned off the lamp.
Soon, others would be reading around here all right, even the guard.
They would all be reading about him.
"You take a small child.
You put that child in a room from the moment it is born and you keep it there. You tell that child that up is down, black is white and that wrong is right and then on its 18th birthday you release it. Now, that child puts on a black shirt and swears to god its white, stands at the foot of a staircase and looking up he tells someone to go down the stairs.
Now we all know that the child is wrong, there are certain fundamental truths in the universe that you cant alter. But as he see's it, his reality tells him he is right and he believes these things so fundamentally because its all he has ever known - Whats wrong with these people the child thinks.
But of course he is completely wrong.
But is the error the fault of the child?
Of course not you say, its the fault of those who raised it and who filled its head with lies from the day it was born; who manipulated this childs reality until their lies became its reality and so it is on them that the blame should be laid. But what then do we do with the child? You inform him he is wrong he becomes angry, you tell him what he should be able to see with his own eyes but he closes them and insists you are a liar, a deceiver who is trying somehow to manipulate him after all, the ones who raised him cared for him didnt they? They provided for him? They gave him everything he knew - what possible reason would they have to lie?
Maybe eventually, that child will grow to realize he was lied to, see the betrayal committed against him by those who should have given him truth but maybe it wont. Maybe that child clings so obstinately to its skewed version of the truth that it fights against you that it gets defensive, that it even slanders, attacks and try's to hurt you.
You can only take so much of this, you can try and try and try again - to try and make him see the truth but there must come a point where you have to protect yourself.
So it is with the Liberty Police, the Liberty Navy and the LSF. These are the children of Liberty, like you and like me. But these children are the ones who have been locked up in that small room since the day they were born and lied to. Betrayed by the ones who should have been nurturing them, helping them grow. Instead they were lied to, instead they were used.
I pity every single member of the Liberty military and Liberty law enforcement, because, like the child, they cant help that they have been lied to and they have been manipulated by those who should know better.
Well we know better.
Let it be known that while we the people of Liberty will be slandered attacked and persecuted we will never stop trying to teach these people the truth. We will never stop trying to open doors that were forbidden them all their lives so that they may walk through and like us, truly know what it is to be of Liberty, truly know the freedom that has been stolen from all of us and sold out to money, to business, to foreign corporations and vested interests."
Lights out had been called and Adam lay quietly on his bunk. The night sounds of the prison surrounded him and sounded more amplified than he remembered them usually being. He was on edge, but not afraid.
The plan had been laid out meticulously, nothing could go wrong, there were only the unseen variables to consider.
Soon he would be free.
He considered what he would do once this was done and he was out. He would be a fugitive, but that was no change to the last year or so of his life. An open, comfortable working life back on California was out of the question. He toyed with the idea for the briefest spell; he was educated, he had friends, he had friends in legal circles as well, surely strings could be pulled - a man of his abilties could certainly find a place.. somewhere.
No.
He had found that place. The Xenos had pulled out all the stops to get him out, His cause was their cause and the two had fit together like pieces designed to do so. He had friends and supporters on the outside, people who had money, people who knew people, the kind of people who could get things done, quietly, no questions asked.....
He would go back to the road, he would go back to speaking, making appearances. He would go back to directing his followers to "Take back what has been taken from us".
He smiled to himself, the LPI would rue the day they took him in. He had endured their beatings time after time after time, he silently vowed that for every blow his body had taken, he would end the life of a policeman, but more than that, he would command others to do so. His would be the unseen hand behind the knife in the alleyway, behind the blaster in the parade ground, behind the bomb in the barracks....
A sound roused him from his thoughts, someone was outside the door.
He heard the gentle click of a ident card being swiped through a reader. An ident card that they had had created for this purpose, and one being held by Matthew Flax.
The door clicked open and Adam sat up.
Flax entered the room, "It's time" he said simply.