Deep Yellow (25 page)

"Go get the Abbott,"
Meren said calmly.

The nun pulled her
legs together and stood up, looking down to avoid stepping on the
body. Standing for a moment acknowledging that her nightdress and
face were covered with blood, she just ran out of the cell. Meren
could hear the footsteps receding along the corridor. Remaining by
the body, she waited and before long, there was a sound of people
approaching the cell.

Meren, arms down by
her side, head held high, watched the Abbott's incredulous
expression.

***

The fact that the
Abbott had opposed Brother Marchantte's posting to their charitable
community due to previous questionable behaviour with nuns was not
mentioned in the Jayzan Ecclesiastical Court hearing. Neither was
the fact that he managed to avoid the effects of the special herb
in his food, by using illegal substances. His assault on Meren was
deemed a conflict of personalities. The judgement, given by a
Jayzan Elder, was just a series of quotations from texts. The Guild
tried hushing up the whole episode, but the locals, especially
those who had worked with Sister Meren, contacted a local stream
news channel. Unfortunately, the media were more interested in the
“murdering nun” news headlines, than investigating what happened.
Offers by private donors to buy Meren out of the Guild were made,
but the sentence forbade it. She would serve the rest of her life
in daily penance at the Sanctuary.

***

The studio interview
continued, with Argenta becoming increasingly flustered and Meren
more relaxed. Clips were shown, more questions put, but Meren added
little to what was already known. She spoke about her surprise at
being chosen as a challenger, considering the other, stronger
people. However, when Argenta told her that the Abbott had
contacted Williams before the programme had been officially
approved, Meren could only say, “What has happened is history and
for others to judge.”

Finally, Argenta gave
up and thanked Meren for the interview.

***

Later, in the
interview debrief, Argenta discussed her frustration with Williams
and Flip.

"I could feel the
Jayzan hierarchy giving a huge sigh of relief when Meren did not
reveal all. Why didn't she say anything?"

"Jayzan thoughts and
beliefs are part of her life. This whole studio thing must be a
shock to her system. Perhaps she doesn't see the point of the
questions," Williams said.

"This is her last
chance to put it straight," Argenta said

"Yes, I know,"
Williams said.

The evening before the second challenge,
Technician 22 finally received information from the Twins regarding
the location of the exit doors. Lifting a foot off the floor, he
rotated an ankle, and then repeated the exercise with the other.
Preferring to stand whilst working, he mulled over the
co-ordinates. As for the location of the keys, there was a chance
that the clues would change the day before. Probably be Williams’
attempts at keeping control over his little secrets. Liberal media
types. The co-ordinates matched the holo world schematics, so there
was a very good chance the information was correct.

The Twins were
obviously feeling the pressure from the Tinker, judging by their
increasingly panicky messages regarding the requirement for Carac
to win. They probably did not consider that his credits were at
stake as well.

He displayed a plan of
the challenger's cells and the interlinking corridors. If he could
pass over a message before the challenge, there would be less
chance of Carac making a fool of himself during the live event.
Considering the amount of time and credits wrapped up in helping
him secure victory, Technician 22 did not consider Carac as being a
grateful or reliable person. However, credits were credits.

Tracing one of his
spindly fingers across the plan, he plotted a course from the
technical area to Carac's cell, and a possibility emerged.

***

Near midnight, a cell
tidy bot woke up, ran a self-check routine, and promptly reported
itself as requiring a service. Off it trundled along the corridors,
through security doors, and into a repair space on the far side of
the service centre. A safety bot stationary in the next space
opened its side panel and extended a pincer arm. Once the cell tidy
bot had collected the item, it paused, ran a routine, and then
started its journey back to the cells.

"Welcome to Round Two of Convict Challenge."
Flip paused and scanned around the audience. "Greetings, everyone."
He waited until the cheering stopped.

"Five challengers,
three keys, and three clues. This time there are no key boxes to
add a little spice to the mix."

Argenta took over from
Flip.

"Following our theme,
our holo technicians have recreated an old Inhab-47 prison set
within a town called London, where prominent people were tortured
and executed. Many had their heads chopped off. As always, you can
follow the clues and solve them for great prizes."

"First, we have to set
the countdown. Everyone. Are you ready?" Argenta placed her hand
behind her ear and motioned to the audience as the words flashed on
the screen above her.

"It's time to start
the countdown to termination." The audience shouted out. The doc
bots sprang into action.

"Forty-five minutes
only for this challenge. Forty-five minutes," Argenta said pointing
towards the countdown clock that started with its usual
bong
.

"Now for the clues. We
will read them out and repeat them throughout the challenge.
Ready?”

“First one.
Try
shopping in the old jewel store
.”

“Number two.
W
here are the three queens now? Look near the
sign outside
.
”

“Number three.
The
arbalist by the old Police Corps tower.
”

“And finally, listen
carefully, this may help you find the exit.
The Queen lived here
or next door
.”

"We provided the
challengers with a copy of the clues, and there are some maps
inside the world. Whilst our challengers are doing a bit of
research, we will take our one and only break during this
programme. Be right back."

***

Mayleth and Ayleth
chose to watch events from their office, far removed from the
studio. With her current levels of stress, Mayleth preferred the
privacy with her brother. If they both visited the live floor
during the Challenge, she knew they would just get in the way.
Williams' body language would change, sitting upright and choosing
his words more carefully. Mayleth was used to people’s reactions to
her and her brother. That is why she preferred virtual assistants
and bots; they can be programmed not to judge.

She had agreed with
Williams about the length of the second challenge; a big build-up
ensuring everyone watched on live beam. Advertisers were falling
over themselves to get involved, many showing the programme within
holo advert display frames. Programme replays and challenger
interviews could be spread across numerous commercial breaks, so it
was all building up nicely for the longer third challenge. The big
studio bosses were very happy, now that approval ratings and
commercial income had exceeded expectations.

The deaths were not
her taste. She had once hosted a termination party, where drinks
and nibbles were on offer whilst invited guests viewed a series of
live convict terminations. It was the fashionable thing to do at
the time, but she didn't enjoy it. Her brother took bets on how
long it would take the unfortunate convict to enter the chamber,
make his or her last speech, be terminated, and then formally
pronounced dead. Mayleth hid her feelings as her brother laughed,
cheered, and guffawed his way through the executions with his male
friends. Of course, he lost more credits than he won, as the Tinker
knew very well. Perhaps after this challenge, she would breathe in
one of Ayleth's "medical" sprays to help her relax.

***

Brune sat upright
within his security dome, completing security sweeps of the landing
areas, hangars, and general outside areas of the whole facility. He
monitored several Corps officers on patrol to check they were
acting professionally and diligently, in line with his initial
briefing.

"Do not lessen your
attention because you are patrolling a studio where they are
hosting a game show. We must be alert to the fact that criminals
may try to liberate one of the inmates or get a weapon through to
them. Prison Corps are ensuring that the inmates do not escape or
take a hostage. Ensure you perform equipment checks and keep your
uniform smart as per regulations."

His door sensor
chimed.

"Enter."

The hard beam door
faded. Scrivvens appeared, his second in command. Though
fresh-faced, he was keen and had picked up a lot of experience over
the years. He also kept his uniform clean.

"Sir, all correct, I
conducted a security check outside the studios and hub areas
myself."

"Thank you,
Scrivvens." Brune glanced back towards his screens.

"Has it started yet,
sir?"

Brune leaned forward,
as if to hide the fact that one of his security screens was showing
the live challenge.

"They have just read
the clues. Who do you think will win?" Brune said.

"Well, sir, me and the
team have been betting on a winner and a loser."

Brune considered this.
Betting was not something that he enjoyed doing. Hunting, yes, but
not betting.

"Have a lot of the
officers and staff put bets on the game?"

Scrivvens shuffled his
feet and looked at the floor.

"It is quite popular,
sir."

"Who are the credits
on?"

"Carac." He inspected
the floor again, unsure whether to speak.

"Is he the
favourite?"

"He is the gamblers
favourite."

"Stand firm,
Scrivvens. How so?"

"Well sir, the big
gamblers back home have put all their credits on him to win. There
are good betting odds on the other four, but it has not attracted
many punters. Sir."

"Scrivvens, you
obviously have a lot of knowledge about gambling. Make sure all
Corps and security staff know it is just for fun and that it does
not interfere with their work. Understood?"

"Understood. Sir."
Scrivvens flushed.

After Scrivvens left,
Brune sat back in his chair and wrinkled his forehead. He had not
thought about the gambling side of things. It was just a game show
with a random result, wasn’t it? There would be regulators involved
to monitor the show, and surely the beam studio would be playing
fair, according to the rules. An inmate could easily run out of
time, not find a key, or get lost, and bam that's it. But what if
they did get help? He stared back at the screens, frowning.

***

Brell focussed fully
on researching the clues. She gave herself ten minutes for
research, then adding time for getting into the world, left roughly
thirty minutes for finding a key and getting out. Having examined a
Tower of London map, she saw that it was within a compact area.
With no key box, someone could get more than one key; everyone will
be alert.

First, she scanned the
map to see if any locations jumped out at her. Of course, the
Police Corps clue was interesting, but it didn't make much sense at
the moment. She followed the onscreen almanac regarding London
police history. Peelers, London police, and a reference to parish
constables. Constables, patrolling police. Glancing back at the
map, there was a Constable Tower.
The arbalist by the old Police
Corps tower.
She knew that arbalist meant arc beam bowman, it
was an ancient Elytian word. The Police Corps version was a
heavyweight weapon used mainly during Police Corps raids. Brell had
used one during a security demonstration. Once the auto tightener
has pulled a span of stringed beams back, the energy bolt is placed
in the stock. After the self-targeting system locks on, it can be
fired through any type of wall. Very useful for taking out power
conduits or individuals in a basement. A powerful weapon, but not
for everyday use.

The Constable Tower
was definitely worth a look, but what if someone got there before
her? She acknowledged the time and gave herself five more minutes.
It was pointless just running around the holo world. Brookko had
shown that.

Three queens next.
W
here are the three queens now? Look
near the sign outside
.
Executions were a theme,
ha, ha Mr. Williams, so she searched on queens and executions at
the Tower of London, viewing images of where the executions took
place. The sign must be around the grassy area. The last sentence
regarding the Queen’s House must be something to do with the exit.
Have to work that out on the move or follow Ooma. Her live feed
display had not shown anyone entering the Tower. Were they waiting
for someone to make the first move? Time to get on with it.

***

With twenty-eight
minutes left on the clock, Brell entered the world. Immediately in
front of her were two round, grey towers with an arched
entranceway. Whilst walking underneath the towers, she realised
that the walls were thick for protection. Old stone, basic building
methods, but of no use against Police Corps weapons. Must have been
impregnable for any Inhab-47 attackers trying to get in. The
cobbled stone pathway felt hard on her soft prison shoes, and a few
metres up on the right was a low wall. A large black gate was set
back from it with a pool of water underneath.

"Traitors’ Gate," she
read aloud.

Taking a paper map
from a pile stacked against the wall, she tried to orientate
herself. It was a jumble of buildings, towers and walkways. Groups
of people walked around her, oblivious to her orange jumpsuit.
Orange coloured jump suit? No idea.