In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,34
through the slot in their cell door. Only the evening meal, they’d learned, was communal and inside a dining hall. The Gatifreyan guards limited the prisoner’s contact opportunities beyond that.
“Nothing,” Setin replied, shaking his head. “They must be in a different section of the prison. This complex is so large.”
“Yeah, no way we’d be so lucky as to get in their section and find them right away. We have some time, but I’d like to find them sooner rather than later.”
“We can ask around.”
“We will, but not just yet. Let’s get more established. We don’t want to tip our hand.” At Setin’s blank look, he explained. “We don’t want them to figure out why we’re here. Your Farlian friend Egam said he’d send us a message tonight. How the fuck does he plan to do that?”
“Ah, I heard one of Egam’s men talking about this, I think. It’s called ‘fishlining.’ Humans taught it to other prisoners in Alliance prison camps. Later tonight, someone will pass a string down to us. Egam or one of his men can attach an object like a note to their end of the string, slide it out of a cell and into the hallway, and then we use the other end of the string to yank it across the floor, this way and that, until it slides in front of us into our cell. These fishline things work as a way to distribute contraband but are also used to send messages from cell to cell. Then we send it back the same way.”
“What kind of messages? What do you think Egam wants?”
“Messages that ask for information about us. And they want us in their gang. They’re not the only ones. I talked you up a bit and your reputation got out. They know you used to work for Prince Tibiel. Egam knows you’re smart and slick, and if he’s heard of you, then the others have too. You might get more of the messages tonight or in the days ahead from other groups. The Tygerian king finding his son on Laltana was big news. Everyone’s heard about it and knew Prince Tibiel and you were both involved.” He gave Rasc a considering look. “They think you have some big jonlos.” He grabbed himself to illustrate and Rasc nodded.
“Big balls.” He shrugged and smiled. “Never had any complaints in that department.”
Setin laughed and nodded. “It’s good they think so. They respect that.”
“What do they want to find out? What kind of questions will they ask me?”
“They want to find out what you can do. More important, what you will do if you need to. The messages will be questions for both of us to see what we can do for them and telling us what they can do for us. They want to know what we did to get in here, and who we know on the outside who can send or bring in contraband…that kind of thing. They may even use their communicators to confirm details.”
“They have communicators? Where do they keep those so the guards don’t confiscate them? Wait…don’t tell me.”
Setin grinned. “Hidden in their cells during the day.”
“What about when the guards do the shakedown thing? Don’t they take them?”
“No, they hide them.”
“Where?”
“Where do you think? Up their tulas, their asses.”
“Yeah, that’s crazy.”
“Small, basic communicators. A common practice, I think. It’s the only place the guards won’t find them unless they do a cavity search. It’s where they keep their drugs and some other contraband too.”
Rasc shook his head, becoming aware that he had entered a totally different world, and one where he had to get up to speed quickly. The only way he was going to survive this place was to gain power, and in order to do that, he had to find a way into these groups and then take over. It seemed a pretty daunting task at the moment.
“I think maybe I shouldn’t join any of their groups. Maybe I’ll just start my own.”
“Ah, I like the way you think. But no, I think you should join one already established and take it over. You need help. Much more of it than I can supply. You need a gang to back your play, but you need that gang to be the toughest in the yard. You can start with the slavers, but you’ll need more than just them, if you’re going to have any influence. We can start with Egam, though, and go from there.”
“So who is the toughest in