Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) Read Online Free Page B

Doland.
    “Sir,”
Glitz said. “Will I always be in the same Work Group?”
    Mr.
Quex nodded. “In future, you will only speak when spoken to, but yes. You will
be working with these twelve men for the duration of your sentence. You will
also eat with them in your own section of the refectory.”
    Glitz
cursed inwardly. So it seemed he wouldn’t even get a chance to talk to Tekka
and Doland again. In that case, the chance of implementing their plan
successfully seemed small. In fact, what was to stop Tekka and Doland simply
finding a new third member for their group? Tekka had said himself that he
didn’t care which two people escaped alongside him.
    “Sir,”
Glitz said again.
    “If
you want to speak to me, put your hand up,” Mr. Quex said.
    Glitz
frowned at the man’s pettiness, and raised his hand.
    “Yes,
Glitz?”
    “What
sort of work is it we do here?” he asked.
    Mr.
Quex turned to the largest member of the group, who had a bald head and a
tattoo of a bald eagle across his forehead. “Pieterson’s in charge here.” He
nodded to the man. “Why don’t you tell Glitz all about your work? I might be
checking up on you later.”
    The
prison officer got back into the second wagon and it drove away, leaving a cloud
of dark dust. The first truck, which was carrying the prison guards, followed
it. When he had followed the other prisoners as they scrambled down into the
quarry, Glitz turned to Pieterson and saluted, half-sarcastically.
    “I’m
Piet,” the man said. “And you obey me without question.”
    Glitz
nodded with mock solemnity. “So what kind of work do we do, Piet?”
    “We
break rocks,” Piet said simply.
    To
provide a demonstration, he raised his tool and swung it from above his
shoulder, smashing it into the boulder. A tiny crack appeared in the centre of
the rock. Piet swung his pickaxe again, hitting the rock in the same place. The
crack became slightly larger. Glitz watched the mundane exercise, and then
raised an eyebrow.
    “So
that’s it?”
    One
of the other men laughed. “That’s it, brother.”
    “But
what’s the point of it?” Glitz persisted. “We break rocks, right, but what for ?
What does it accomplish?”
    “Look,”
Piet said. “There don’t need to be a point. We break rocks.”
    “Right,”
Glitz said, looking up at the blackened sky. “That sounds fair.”
    The
men began to drift apart. The quarry was about the size of a gravity-ball
stadium, and they spread out across it. Glitz grabbed one of the pickaxes and
approached one of the smaller boulders. He swung his pickaxe into the rock, and
felt a vibration from the rock jolt his arm.
    Annoyed,
Glitz inspected the surface of the stone. He hadn’t even made the tiniest mark
on the surface. He raised the pickaxe again and smashed it into the rock. This
time, a tiny fracture appeared. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Glitz exhaled
loudly.
    “What
are these things made of?” he muttered.
    “Hey,
no slacking! Get back to work!” Piet shouted.
    Sighing,
Glitz swung the tool into the rock again…

Chapter Three
    The
rest of the day passed in the same way. It took him almost an hour to finally
break apart the first boulder, and he wasn’t allowed even a small break before
he moved on to the next. It was exhausting work, made even more tiring because
he was in desperate need of sleep. Also, he was convinced of the futility of
the job. Why were they breaking rocks? It didn’t make any sense. If the prison
officer was so intent on making the prisoners work, why not make them do
something useful that could actually raise revenue for the prison? Glitz was
thankful, however, that they had free access to water. There was a pump in the
quarry, which provided an unlimited supply of hydration. True, the liquid that
spouted from it tasted vaguely of metal, but it was very satisfying after a few
hours of rock smashing. The work day was ten hours long with only a couple of
water breaks, and by 17:00 Glitz felt like he was