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Kino (1)
The doubt returns, so quickly, but this time I know it’s a fight against the truth. Keef is so assertive now. Physically, vocally, a man of absolute conviction. But I try and fight by voicing my doubts, even now, because I know where this all leads.
And I can’t tell him.
I can barely tell myself.
But I hear the men, I hear Keef trying to explain, not being heard, trying to assert - and I know I have to shout the truth.
“NO ONE IS GETTING OUT.”
The truth will out.
But there’s only one way out.
For me: no getting out.
Melshi
“Cheaper than droids and easier to replace”. Keef knows how to phrase things really precisely and it all comes clear - we have to break the system. Disrupt the production line that treats sentients like expendable machines.
Not just in here.
If I make it out, I’ll go on fighting. This has to stop. People have to know.
I’ll die trying to bring them down, if that’s what it takes.
It is necessary.
Keef has set a fire in the darkness. I’ll be drawn to this flame now even if it burns me.
Even if it kills me.
One way out!
Davo Sculden
They make a game of it, and we play. I already know I’ve won.
I’ve played this game for years; make a move only when you can predict your opponent’s response.
Her husband, the gambler, never learnt that lesson.
We both want what the other has. Win, win. It’s the only option and she knows it. She can’t walk away. I can sense her desperation beneath the crisp veneer.
If only she hadn’t left things quite so late.
An introduction, that’s all. But we both know it’s more than that. We both play the game.
She knows when she’s lost.
Mon
It’s like facing an executioner. Not that I should know, living this sheltered life. But I have a rich imagination. Especially now, trying to grasp the enormity of what we are facing. Of what Luthen might have done and the things Vel has seen.
Meanwhile I’m on a couch opposite a thug who’s proposing the unthinkable.
Except nothing is unthinkable anymore.
Of course, he knows this. And that I know it too.
The blade is at my throat. I had been distracted by the stone in my own hand.
The point is sharp with the promise of pain to come.
Cassian
It is as if I've had another man concealed within, all this time. Perhaps he’s the man that boy with the fighting spirit and drive for vengeance might have grown up to become if he hadn’t been knocked down again. So often.
I don’t sleep, can’t sleep. Nemik was naive. Faith doesn’t comfort us. It makes us fight but the fear remains. Of course.
But it’s different to losing your nerve.
I know now: I can’t lose mine again.
I will die fighting, if that’s what it takes.
I will lead, inspire, keep fighting until I can’t.
I will try.
Kino (2)
I can’t sleep. I’m not sure many of us can. I’m going to act like I’m dead already.
Well, I already am. I know what the plan involves. Overwhelm them, take control.
Then just… jump.
A leap of faith I know I’ll fail. I can’t swim. It’s as simple as that.
I couldn’t tell Keef. He hates leaving people behind. His … weak-spot.
I’m afraid, of course. But I’ll hold my nerve. Be the man they want to see. I’ve looked after them, in my way, through my time here.
I will look after them now.
It’s for the best.
Ham (Table 5 prisoner)
I got through by keeping quiet. Becoming a ghost in my own life by forgetting who I had been in the world outside. Being a nobody made survival here a bit more bearable.
Taga is terrified, but he’ll find his fire. I know mine’s there already, burning strong through all these months. Just waiting.
I will shout for freedom loudest when the time comes.
I will fight.
I will be myself again and banish the ghost to the shadows, and if that means my death then so be it.
I’m already a ghost. Let me live again, blaze some glory.
Zinska (5-2- Night shift manager)
I can’t believe it. It’s Kino. Over the PA. Sounds like he’s taken over … wherever they control us from. Or don’t control us. They have let us control ourselves.
That ENDS TODAY too.
I think it’s real.
I think it’s actually happening.
I have to think of my men too. I have to lead by example.
‘All floors are cold’. So is my heart. With dread. But what choice is there? This is a chance.
I take that leap of faith…
… cold metal under my foot. Life in me yet.
And now the fire, from inside me.
"ONE WAY OUT!"
Guard (who demonstrated electric floor)
I’d told them. I’d tried to tell that bastard prefect - we need more guards. It all happened too quickly - P.O.R.D. Double sentences. Double numbers. No releases. Boost output. Get more in.
Unsustainable.
They had looked after themselves, generally. Just needed the odd reminder of their place to stay in line.
We should have seen how vulnerable it all was.
I cower with the others, hiding, as they flood against the door. Murderous.
The floor failed. The system failed.
We lost the most important thing: their conformity.
We panicked.
They found out.
The veneer of control: lost. Coming apart.
Breaking, leaking.
Luthen
It’s dramatic, I know, the setting, the cape. The abstract words.
But it needs to be. It’s an act: I need him at a distance. I need his awe. His fear.
His vertigo.
I’ve had to embrace my fear of heights. And depths.
Very deep down. But so many levels still to fall.
The words… not an act. I realise as I speak them. This is me. What’s left. A litany of sacrifice. A man aware of how far from the light he is. But one who needs heroes nonetheless.
I miss calm most, but I wish I could be kind.
Lonni
I didn’t mean to cry, didn’t want to embarrass myself like that: let him see my desperation. Make him dismiss me, in both senses, after outdoing my own pain.
What am I supposed to say to him after that, if he’d even given me a chance before closing the elevator doors? He controls even those. Everything. Puppet master.
He terrifies me, as always, but as always the thing that scares me the most is the realisation of how fragile this is.
My wife. My baby girl. My life.
My belief in the cause.
The darkness, above, below, behind.
Ahead.
Everywhere.