PRISON ISLAND

   "I have some reservations about this trip, Ecnelav. I'm not so much worried about my own safety, although the Militia targeted me specially for many years. And there can't be too many of them left. Still, they could be armed, and they are certainly dangerous."
   "But your laser guns should keep them at bay. And we're interested in seeing this curious prison, where everyone is apparently free. Our STUs must be in a similar state."
   "My real concern is for your safety and that of the other Damosians who would be coming with us. The thought of there being non-human intelligent life in the universe is anathema to the Militia; in a sense, that's why they were formed. They thought our climate-changing activities were sacrilegious, and that our building space stations, planning to colonize Venus and Mars, beginning to explore our corner of the galaxy were contrary to the law of their God. One look at you will fill them with hatred. They will try to harm or kill you."
   "I understand, Christina; we've often discussed the Militia and the STU. But how dangerous can they be? After all, you have the weaponry to dissuade them from acting."
   "I see that you'd be really disappointed if we didn't go there. So let's see: you've picked five people to accompany you: Tsepa Dub, Siol Saats, Kram Ned, Amil Urep, and Onapac Mot. I'll have our newly-promoted Security Officer, Lieutenant Amadou Mbamba, pick a squad of two pentads for protection. We'll also make sure that if our communicators fail us, more troops will come down."
   "With preparations like that, we'll certainly feel safe."
   "I only hope you'll be as safe as you'll feel."

   "My friends, here near the end of our lives we have come to a crossroads. Adews and I saw, on the visuscreen, Christina Vasa (Vasa! The Militia-killer!) materializing in the company of what seemed to be intelligent aliens (My God in Heaven!). Judging from their appearance, they seem to be lizards rather than mammals (Thinking Lizards!) . They're tall, greenish, hairless, earless. Adews suspects that they might be demons (That's it! They're devils!). But to tell you the truth, I think that Vasa has found, somewhere, intelligent creatures. And I must confess that my faith is shaken by this. Shaken but still firm. I believe that Vasa will bring these devils here to torment us. Devils or mortals, they appear to refute what we've believed all our lives, and what our founders believed over 450 years ago when the Militia was begun."
   "Deacon, may I say a word?"
   "Certainly, Ycnan. We might be prisoners, but we're free in spirit."
   "Except for me, we're all over 100 years old, and at 94 I can scarcely be considered a child. We have about 25 or 30 years left to live. One by one we'll disappear, and right now there are only 15 of us left. We'll soon be needing assistance just to be able to grow what we need to eat; it's hard enough now to produce enough food for the little community that has survived. Maybe this is a time to ask for help. I'm sure that our tormentors will be able to see our needs. We could ask Vasa to intercede on our behalf. (Ask Vasa? Never!)"
   "Vasa! Help us! Ha! She put us here, and smiled with insane pleasure when we were put on board a spaceship, in chains. No, she's our sworn enemy. Trebor, you seem to want to speak."
   "Yes, Deacon, I do. We all have good reason to hate and to distrust Vasa. Without her, our movement might have succeeded. She's responsible for the death and imprisonment of countless brothers and sisters. And yet, maybe we can use her to enable us to get off this island, once and for all."
   "Trebor, what folly! We've been told about the giant jellyfish, and the tide has brought back the rafts of our colleagues who tried to sail to the undeveloped continent we saw when we were brought here. But never a living person, never even a trace of their clothing came in with the tide."
   "Yes, Ycnan, what you say is right. But remember that we're talking about rafts, and we're talking about people who had only crude weapons, bows and arrows, spears, knives."
   "What's your point, Trebor?"
   "My point is this, Deacon: we can get weapons from Vasa and her party, when they come–we know they'll come, and soon. We can get a good boat from her, too."
   "Do you think that out of the kindness of her heart she's going to supply us with the means to escape?"
   "Not out of the kindness of her heart, but suppose we can make her give us these things."
   "What? Have you lost your senses, man? A well-trained squad of well-armed fighters? Look around at us, Trebor. We might have been able to fight them 25 or 30 years ago. But not now. Be reasonable."
   "Adews, I am being reasonable. They must have a vulnerable spot: we'll have to look for it, we'll have to find it. If we succeed, we'll have our ticket to freedom."
   "Or at least escape. I agree with your idea in principle, Trebor, but let's sleep on it tonight. Maybe one or more of us will have come up with an insight that will point to their weakness. Once we find that--and everyone has a weak spot--we'll have to work on a plan of action. Let's meet after breakfast tomorrow."
   "Hear, hear, Deacon!"
   "After breakfast, Deacon!"
   "Somebody will have a plan, a good plan, I'm sure."
   "An idea is already starting to take form in my mind."

   "Each of us has a communicator, and Lieutenant Mgamba's squad and I are armed with laser handguns and rifles. I think it best for our guests, who are all civilians, to be unarmed. But you will have to remain alert, ready to deal with crafty and desperate people."
   "We understand what you're saying, Christina. And although we're scientists and politicians who have not faced combat, we think we know that danger might be lurking there. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to observe and eventually to report on the behavior of hardened criminals in a free environment, a prison that they control."
   "Commodore, this is Lieutenant April Leira. Captain Marlowe has just beamed aboard. She would like to speak with you and your party."
   "Send her right in, Lieutenant."
   "It's obvious I can't dissuade you. But whatever you do, Ecnelav, don't trust them for a second. Now, we're not sure how many of them there are; I would guess about twenty. Most of them must be 100-120 years old. But that doesn't mean they're not dangerous. They might have some weapons, certainly at least knives and spears and clubs. We must all stay on our toes. Ah! Captain Marlowe."
   "Commodore, unless you have strong objections, I would like to accompany you. I will not go as a member of a military squad, but since I am at least technically in charge of the prison, I would like to see this island and these prisoners myself, from up close."
   "Captain, you are most welcome to join us. But you must go armed, at least with a handgun. Lieutenant Mgamba has arranged to provide each of the military personnel with a weapon. As you know from personal experience, these are not people to be trifled with."
   "Yes, we have to take them seriously. They will surely try to kill us if they get the chance. And I have my own weapon."
   "If no one has any further questions, let's beam down. First the two pentads, then the Damosians, then Captain Marlowe and me. Is everything ready, Commander Kwambe?"
   "Everything is set, Commodore."
   "I wish you could join us, Kwali, I mean Commander, but you are in charge here."
   "We'll be monitoring the site, Commodore. Incidentally, we have found evidence of only 15 living persons on the island, if our personnel tracking devices are functioning properly."
   "Fifteen! Well, at least we outnumber them!"

   "No need to come here armed, Vasa. We have no weapons, and as you can see, we're almost 60 years older than we were when you sent us here."
   "One thing I've learned in dealing with the Militia, Deacon, is that we can never be too careful."
   "Oh, you flatter a group of aging men and women. But no matter. I assume you've come here to show these loathsome creatures, these emissaries of the devil, our humble quarters, and to torment us. Did you scrape these green monsters from some corner of Hell?"
   "Deacon, some of us want to be more cordial with the Commodore and her guests."
   "You're right, Ycnan. I'll control my tongue."
   "Where do we start the tour, Deacon?"
   "I hope you don't mind the slow pace we have. Adews and Trebor are a bit lame, and most of us have some ailment or other. Living in this damp climate doesn't help. The village is about a kilometer to the west, just beyond the cemetery where thousands of our comrades are buried. We'll pass by many unoccupied houses that once were needed, when our village had over 1000 people. Since you deprived us of the ability to propagate our species, in defiance of the biblical command to our first parents, our population has withered away as one by one our friends have died."
   "Noslohcin, your guilt is enormous, you and the rest of the Militia. In any case, it was not I, nor any of the members of Space Fleet, who made the decision to render you all sterile. That directive came from Earth Government. We were carrying out our orders."
   "Criminal orders, and you participated in a crime. But enough of that: it's water under the bridge; we'll never be able to turn back the current and retrieve those years we have lost here. And we'll never be able to bring back to life those who lie buried here."
   "The cemetery is built in a beautiful place, and it is well maintained. One can see a lovely bay from here, and the ocean beyond."
   "What? You speak our language?"
   "Deacon, on the planet Damos in the solar system centered by a sun called Chromos, across the galaxy, Dr. Ecnelav Enohr is Director of the Catta Space Center. Damos is an Earth-sized planet with a similar climate. The Damosians are Kolok in the same sense that Earth people are human. Dr. Enohr is also the Damosian Ambassador to Earth. She and her party of scientists and politicians have asked to see this prison. They want to know how we treat our prisoners, and what life in this kind of exile is like. Dr. Enohr has learned to speak English, as you have observed."
   "Yes, Deacon, as Commodore Vasa has explained, we're interested in this special kind of prison. We imagine that ordinary prisons are places where the prisoners are deprived of freedom. This seems to be a new concept. An exile that can be humane."
   "All right, Enohr, you'll have your wish. You see we have a little farm near here, where we raise vegetables and some animals for meat and milk. It was once much larger, extending far down to the south, where all you can see now is open prairie. And as far as the cemetery is concerned, we respect our dead. We are very religious people."
   "We have learned something about the human religions from the crew of Constellation. We are astonished at the extraordinary variety of beliefs. On Damos, we too are religious, but we have only one principal religion, along with a few dissident sects."
   "If you're really religious, maybe we could interest you in visiting the chapel. We have some old Bibles there, along with various religious vestments and objects we use in our services, many of them dating back several hundreds of years. Adews and Trebor will be glad to show you around."
   "We'd love to accompany you. Tsepa Dub and I are elders in the First Church of Oarnn in Catta."
   "Do you mind if I join you?"
   "Marlowe, when's the last time you've seen the inside of a church? You wouldn't know what to do there."
   "Adews," the Deacon interceded, "let her go with you. She might be an infidel who only wants to admire the old Bible and other devotional objects we possess, or she might have decided to go because she believes that we wish to harm the Damosians. Let her go."
   "Grrr. I don't like it, but I'll take her with us. I'm only doing it because you're asking, Deacon. This way, everyone."
   "We'll join up with you in an hour or so, Adews. Vasa, perhaps your soldiers and the remaining aliens would like to see our food processing area. We do everything by hand, like the people in our Mother Church, in Canaan. I think you're familiar with them. Rumor has it that you go there to visit some infidels while pretending to be interested in the work of the ADP."
   "Rumor has it partly right, Noslohcin. I go there to visit my friends, some of whom are ADPs. I admire their way of life, in a way, although I must admit that I've never fully understood their beliefs and the reason they've resisted even the good aspects of post-industrial technology. I suppose they think that once you begin to allow things like electricity or visuscreens into your life, the temptation to take in more is irresistible."
   "What makes you go back there? Do you laugh at their primitivism? Do you preach atheism to them?"
   "It might be hard for you to believe, Noslohcin, but I respect their ways, and I've tried to learn from them. I find their way of life very calming, very tranquil. I can enjoy it in small doses, but frankly, I prefer the kinds of things modern technologies allow us to do, on a day-to-day basis."
   "OK, in we go, honored guests. We can start with the water mill. I'll open up the sluice gate for you, so it can grind up some grain. It makes a lot of noise. Don't say you weren't warned."

   "This Bible comes to us, in a direct way, from one of the founders of the Church of the Ancient-Day Primitivists, to which we adhere. One of his descendants, our first Deacon, was the founder of our movement, the Militia, which was dedicated to fighting evil and to spreading the word of God."
   "It must be very old, Adews."
   "It dates from 2262. Hmmm. That makes it exactly 600 years old now. We should have a little festival to celebrate. In here you'll see a beautiful side chapel, with extraordinary stonework. You'll have to get up close to the altar to see the detail."
   "These paving stones are unusually large. Was this once used as a burial place?"
   "You're very observant, Dub. But it'll be your burial crypt! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
   While Adews was saying these words, Trebor released a mechanism that made the large stone fall four meters down to a sand platform below. Ecnelav, Tsepa, and Mariko fell with a shout into a tiny cell. The two Militiamen turned upside down a large table that served as an altar, and enclosed their captives. Then they released a poisonous gas through a small hole in the wall. In minutes, the three visitors were overcome by the fumes and lay unconscious.
   "They should be out now, Adews. Let's get these masks on and climb down to retrieve their communicators and their weapons. Then we'll tie them up, hoist them up here with the pulley we set up yesterday, and march them to the Deacon's little show-and-tell party. Ha ha ha ha ha!"
   "I hope our trick works. I've got an idea. We'll put Marlowe in the middle, tie her left leg to Enohr's right leg and her right leg to Tsepa's left leg. It'll be a scream to see them walking, because she's so much shorter than these aliens. Ha ha ha ha ha!"

   "Let me turn off the mill. You get the idea. We have a few hundred kilos of grain stored above, much of it as flour. I can show you our vegetable canning operation, if you'd like."
   "Will it be as noisy as this?"
   "Not quite, but no matter: you don't have any ears, so you can't be hurt. Oh, I'm sorry, I promised Ycnan to be polite."
   The door opened at this point. The three captives entered, followed by Adews and Trebor, who was wielding Mariko's handgun.
   "I understand we have an Ambassador here. If you value her life, drop your weapons, now."
   One of a Pentad members went for her weapon. A red bolt ended her life.
   "Anyone else want to join your Maker? Drop all those weapons, now, then back up to the wall. If not, this one goes first. Next it'll be shorty in the middle."
   "Drop your weapons," ordered Christina, who set an example by placing her handgun on the floor. "These people have nothing to lose. They'll kill us all, one by one, even if it means they'll die, too."
   "Always thinking, Vasa? Now we want your communicators. Everyone's except Vasa's."
   The communicators were dropped, and one by one the "honored guests" were searched, bound, and made to sit on the ground. All the communicators were destroyed, except Christina's.
   "OK, Vasa, call up to your cronies, and have them send down one of your surface boats. Tell them you'd like to take some of your party fishing."
   "You must be mad, Noslohcin. Do you really think you'll escape by sea? Those jellyfish will get you once you're just three kilometers out. You might get away from us, but there's no escaping them."
   "Good sermon, Vasa, but keep it to yourself. Do as I say, or your green friend there gets killed."
   "Don't listen to him, Christina! Do what you have to do to save everyone else's life."
   A club fell on her head. She slumped over.
   "You swine, Deacon! I see you haven't lost your touch."
   "Do as I say, or she'll be a martyr."
   "Commander Kwambe, this is Commodore Vasa. We'd like to take some of the Damosians on a little fishing trip in a cove nearby. Would you send down a Wavehopper, fully equipped?"
   "A fishing party! And we thought you were working, Commodore!"
   "They say that fishing is hard work. Set the craft down in the little harbor."
   "I'll make sure this is done. It will take about 10 minutes."
   "Thanks a million, Commander. Commodore Vasa signing off."

   Kwali looked puzzled at this brief conversation, and let Susanna and April know of the strange way Christina spoke. A crisp, really military manner of speech they were unfamiliar with, coming from her. Still, they obeyed their orders. April had suggested that they slip a few commandos in the craft, just to be on the safe side, but the others rejected her suggestion.

   "All right, Vasa, now drop your communicator on the ground, and stomp on it. Good. Now you won't be able to contact your friends."
   "You're mad, you'll never get away with this!"
   "Your conversation's getting repetitious and boring, Vasa. Shut up."
   Out on the shore, Wavehopper materialized. Seeing this, the Deacon ordered, "Kill them all."
   The weapons all seemed to fire at once. Only Ycnan protested, and Trebor aimed Mariko's handgun at her, and fired on a nod from the Deacon.
   "Let's get going. Now we're only 14 strong. We can kill those jellies with these guns. To the Northland!"

   "Commodore, this is Kwali! Are you there? Damn! Still no answer."
   "Kwali, let's face it, they're in grave danger. Let's get down there with a couple of squads. It'll almost empty out Constellation, but we do have this back-up plan if we lose communication."
   "You're right, Susanna. We'll round up whoever we can. I'll summon everyone to the teleport room. Make sure everyone is armed. April, you'll be in charge here. Let's go!"

   "Everyone's alive except for this woman and Martina. Somehow they killed Martina and one of their own, but just stunned the others. I don't get it."
   "Maybe Christina or Mgamba can explain what happened when they come to. Meanwhile, let's get our people up to Constellation, and find a spot in the cemetery to dig a grave for this woman, whoever she is. We'll get Martina's body on board for a full service."
   "Kwali, shouldn't we go after the Deacon and Wavehopper?"
   "They won't get far. The jellies will eat them all. Look, Mgamba's stirring. They're all regaining consciousness! So fast! What's going on? Mgamba, can you hear me?"
   "Hear you? Kwali? What happened?"
   "That's what we'd like to know."
   "See if we can get them to sit up. Christina, what's up?"
   "Ooh, my head! What's up? They shot us, thought they'd kill us all, but we're alive."
   "All but Martina and this woman."
   "Martina and Ycnan? Ycnan didn't agree with the idea of killing us all. Martina tried to shoot the thug who had a weapon."
   "Yes, they left you all for dead."
   "Well, they didn't know that Mgamba had doctored all our weapons. We didn't want to take any chances, and to be sure we didn't accidentally kill someone in a potential scuffle, he froze the weapons at the lowest level of the stun control."
   "That explains why you're alive. But what about Martina and this Ycnan?"
   "I don't know."
   "I do," offered Mariko. "They were both shot with my personal weapon, which they must have set at kill. Mgamba had not touched it."
   "The jellyfish will get the Wavehopper gang, and they killed one of their own," offered Susanna. "There are no prisoners left on Prisoner's Island."
   "Kwali, April here. We've located Wavehopper, or what's left of it, about three kilometers north of the island. There are no survivors."
   "Kwali here. We've lost Martina, but everyone else is safe and alive. We'll get outside in a few minutes so that we can be beamed up."
   "We'll be waiting for your signal. April out."
   Christina thought for a moment, smiled slightly, and said, "Suicide, or the nearest thing to it, and murder. What an ironic way for the Militia to come to an end. There are no Militia left anywhere. That long chapter can be closed."