Their expressions were serene and their posture relaxed. The Ice Complex prisoners were terrified. Arms rose eternally to hide faces as if that gesture could have saved them from this fate. After being imprisoned, they’d been murdered in their defenseless states. Their body parts had been broken off. Skulls had been crushed. Stone limbs were thrown into piles. Violette walked past a woman’s head. Every detail of her screaming mouth could be seen. Another man was locked in what looked to be prayer, or perhaps he was begging his captors for mercy.
“The perfect prisoners,” Rick stated with a sarcastic drawl. “They don’t sleep, don’t eat, don’t piss, don’t beg for mercy.”
“Bastards,” Lucien swore, having heard Rick’s comment as he came out room only to disappear into another one.
“No one deserves this,” Jackson agreed.
“It shouldn’t be like this,” Violette said. There were, at least, a couple dozen prisoners, maybe more. None of them were dressed in prison-issued suits. They were in gowns and tunic shirts. Even their hair wasn’t the standard prisoner cut from a hundred years ago. She had hoped that there might be a way to free whoever was left here. They’d thawed Josselyn from her prison, and Violette could get her hands on more medicine to reverse the effects of an imperfect freezing process. But, there was no saving the people here. If the prisoners were thawed from their stone state, they would instantly die from their injuries.
Violette pulled the dark cap from her head to expose her ears and head. She breathed hard, looking at the red dust coating the floor. They stepped on bits of the statue. Footprints marred the dust, presumably from when the crew had visited the prison the first time.
“No, no, no,” Josselyn whispered, rushing past Violette to go to a small boy on the floor. He couldn’t have been more than thirteen years. Long hair hung over his eyes. “I know him. This is Tyson. He played with my brother. They put him in stone and then shot him as if he were some target for practice. There are laser marks on his chest. He…” Josselyn turned and pointed to a woman close by. “And that’s his mother. Murielle worked in my home in the kitchens. She didn’t do anything to anyone. She…”
Violette inched away as Josselyn’s grief built. There was nothing that could be done.
“Do you see?” Josselyn demanded, turning to find Violette. “This is why I had to…”
This was not what Violette expected to find. Yes, what happened here was horrible, but that didn’t mean her father did it. He had tried to rescue Josselyn. The holo-box proved that. He pardoned her. He tried to get her out.
“I know all of them,” Josselyn told Evan, crying. He murmured something comforting to her.
“These rooms are clear,” Lucien announced as they rejoined the group.
Violette had to get away from the misery in Josselyn’s voice. She followed the old footsteps on the floor, assuming they would lead her to what she needed to see next.
“There is no honor in this,” Jackson approached Josselyn. His tone was flat, almost militant in its clipped tone. “And nothing we can do to change events. We will honor them by telling their story.”
“Jackson is right,” Lucien said.
“We’re prepared to scavenge for the truth this time,” Viktor added.
“Medical laboratory is this way.” Rick brushed past Violette. “It’s where we found the lot numbers for the prisoners on a handheld. We couldn’t assess the computer because we didn’t have the code, but we’re hoping you’ll have more luck being as you’re Federation.”
“I’m not Federation,” Violette denied.
“Close enough, starshine,” Rick answered. The endearment didn’t sound very pleasant. She found herself almost wishing he’d call her Velvet Violette again, or some such ridiculous nickname.
“I’ll bring up the screen,” Lucien said, moving to the system console in the medical laboratory. “I don’t have the codes to do much else.”
Violette stared at the floating screen as it appeared over the computer console. Lucien stepped out of her way. All portable equipment had been cleared from the room, as was protocol when decommissioning a facility, but since the computer was wired into the main complex, it remained intact.
She slowly sat before the console and contemplated what she should do. Lying was always an option, but then she’d come for the truth. It was the only way she could decide what path to take. She closed her eyes, trying to remember how to calculate the code to unlock the device.
“Can you open it or not?”