Page 69 of Protected By the Convicts
Sersie glanced at Ren. Foley could still use Ren and Vaughn against him. It was a tactic Dresden had employed often enough. Sersie wanted to kick himself. He had promised Hannah to keep the three of them together. Not that he thought he’d ever see her again at the time, but it had been a way of holding onto hope. That’s why she’d said it. She didn’t want him giving up.
“Causing trouble again, Mr. Campós? You have that look in your eye, the same one you had when we first met when you challenged me on the new rules about going outside the fence.”
“I only asked a question.”
“Your questions tend to incite. How many years do you still owe the Company?”
“I honestly don’t know at this point. It should be three, but Dresden added to my sentence at every opportunity. I’m up to twelve or thirteen by now.”
“Ten is the term for colonists here. Earning additional years would qualify you to be Level 5.”
“The extra years weren’t justified,” Ren quickly spoke up to his defense.
Perhaps Ren hadn’t given up on their unit after all. Or maybe he simply wanted Foley to acknowledge Dresden had been unjustifiably adding years to a lot of the men here, Ren included. He wouldn’t want to be condemned to a Level 5 planet any more than Sersie would.
“Yours is the unit with the missing miner and woman, correct?”
“Yes,” Sersie answered.
“I’ll look into your sentence, see what the files show. Perhaps it’s time you go home to Argus. But if you stay, Mr. Campós, your unit won’t qualify for another female, not until the first one’s body is found.”
Ren sucked in air beside him. Sersie was too focused on keeping the contents of his breakfast down to say anything. He bent over again, laying his hands on his knees, trying to breathe as images of Hannah and Ky’Li dead overwhelmed his mind.
“As for the rest of you,” Foley said as he spun around and headed back to the dais. “Children born to a unit result in higher wages. When a third child is born, the entire unit will be assessed for early return with the children to Argus, to ensure the children receive a proper education. When the female’s sentence is complete, she will be allowed to return to Argus with the children, regardless of the men’s status, though the fathers will receive credits toward their sentence.
“The females can choose to remain on Narkos until the entire unit qualifies for repatriation to Argus. The Company is not in the business of educating children and will therefore not be opening any schools or daycare facilities for those units which remain on Narkos. Females who remain will have a reduced quota so that they may raise the children but they must continue to contribute and not merely be a drain on resources. I don’t care who in a unit fills the quotas, as long as the unit’s quota is filled.”
Foley ascended the dais. “This is your last chance to accept or reject this offer, men. What say you?”
With a collective voice, the crowd shouted, “Accept!”
The din of the crowd, the shift in emotions, the sense of hope moving through the men darkened Sersie’s mood.
“Hannah would have approved,” Ren said, patting him on the back.
“Screw you,” Sersie said unable to contain his bitterness any longer. Foley’s plans to turn the colony around would work. He was giving the men what they wanted most. . . women, families, and a chance to leave one day. And Sersie hated every one of them at that moment but mostly himself for the jealousy he felt. Not because they would likely leave before him, but because they’d all find their own Hannahs, never appreciating what his Hannah had endured.
“What the—” Ren said. His voice trailed off, and his hand slid from Sersie’s back. Sersie started to rise, to see what had startled Ren.
The South Gate opened. “Just guards returning from patrol,” Sersie said, disregarding the commotion behind them.
Ren grabbed Sersie’s arm, hoisting him up before he bolted toward the gate. Sersie was about to yell at him to stop, not to charge at the guards. These new guards were trigger-happy. They had already killed three miners since they arrived. Then Sersie saw what. . .whoRen was running to.
Ky’Li. Dirtier and more tired than when Sersie had last seen him, but alive. Against all odds, the man was alive.
Hannah? Was she with him? It was too much to hope for.
Sersie’s heart sped up only to feel tight once again as the gate closed behind the group. Ky’Li was alone, surrounded by guards. Sersie shouldn’t have let himself hope.
Then a small figure stepped out from behind Ky’Li and walked in his shadow. There was no hesitancy there in the way Ky’Li reached out and pulled the waif close to his body, protectively.
“Hannah!”
Sersie broke into a run. By now, the guards had formed a line between the incoming prisoners and the colonists at the assembly. Ren broke through the line of guards and was hugging her so tight her feet left the ground. Sersie tried to push his way through, only to be shoved back by a Company guard.
“Hannah!”
“Sersie!” She wiggled out of Ren’s grip to run toward him.
