Banished Worlds by Grant Workman, Mary Workman Page B

theirs down there. Somehow, I doubt even little Bender knew the full extent of this place.”
    “There are enough people down there that if they did, there would have been a riot. They would have rushed him and the area guards, guns or not,” Roberts agreed, as I started to sit down on the bed. “You’re filthy. First, pull your dirty clothes off.”
    “First, you want me in bed and now, you want my clothes off.” I grinned. I kicked off my boots, pulled off my jacket and top shirt, then removed my pants before I stretched out in the bed. “Your turn,” I said and patted the bed next to me.
    “I’m on guard duty and you have as much chance at anything else as Bender would have.” Roberts folded her arms across her chest with her left hip kicked out and stared down at me. “I’m going to check out the rest of this level, get some sleep.”
    I nodded, rolled to my side, and closed my eyes. Sleep came easily after the long day and the fight, but it was not restful. I woke from dreams of my past before prison when I was an agent. My partner, Marty, and I used to run around together; me, Marty and his family since I did not have one. I sat up, listened to voices out in the living quarter’s area, collected my pants from the floor, and dressed as I headed toward the voices. Roberts, Jenkins, and Bender sat at the table.
    “Hey, the new boss is awake.” This came from Jenkins, as I approached, then sat down.
    Roberts pushed a plate of food my direction. It was a steak with vegetables. “It seems the prisoner supply drops are made, but are stored for management use only.”
    I had the only plate of food with just water in front of everyone else. A stack of steaks and bowls of cooked vegetables sat in the middle of the table. “I see. We’ll have to look into that after we all eat.”
    I motioned for the others to grab plates and dig in which they did. I was going to need reliable Intel until Roberts and I found the girl, and left the planet. Buying that Intel with a steak or two, or even five was fine with me. Loyalty was priceless when you needed it. They all took a plate, loaded it up, and started to eat. I looked to Bender. “Bring me up to speed.”
    Bender took a drink of his water to wash down the mouth full of food. “Day shifts are in soon. The people that needed to know about the change in management have been informed, and I don’t see any issues there for a while. They will obey you until the next change.”
    I looked to Jenkins and thought to myself. Which people needed to know about the change in management?
    “I brought you the people I trust as guards, as you ordered. They are outside the doors right now. No one in or out, other than Bender, myself, and Bikes as Roberts said you ordered.”
    “Tell me about who had to be informed of the change in management?”
    “That would be The Highman Alquin. He owns the compounds, all of them. He is always informed of management changes,” Bender answered.
    I turned my attention to Roberts.
    “After our roll in your new hay, I started exploring this level. It would seem that all of the supply drops are on time and on a regular schedule. Drops are always to the same spot, except the one a few days ago. There is one drop that was off its mark. It came down in the dead city, no word on it.” Roberts looked to Jenkins, then to Bender. “I am told that it’s too far out and not safe that far from the compound. It is closer to one of the other compounds.”
    “Do we have contact with the management of that compound?”
    “Only with sticks and stones, Boss,” Jenkins informed me.
    I sipped my water and studied the people at the table. “Our compound only works the city at daytime because it’s the only time you can see other compound people and scavs. It’s okay, for now. Can I get in to see this Alquin, now that I’m the compound boss?”
    “You don’t want to do that,” Bender said. “Even Big Chin didn’t like to go see him.”
    “Fine,