Red Chamber

Chapter 3

"Lex."

"That name rings some bells in my empty head. But I did a lot of drugs. Can't place it. What's your surname?"

"Decan."

A stone landed in the pit of my stomach when I voluntarily gave up my full name. Too eager for human contact, decent conversation, I let a secret slip out my mouth. I was taught better than that, smarter. In my rookie years as an enforcer, I worked in District 1. Fresh from war, sober, shell-shocked, racked with unchecked aggression. Eager to injure, busting heads throughout the shanties, flushing Blue Diamonds, their horrific drug of choice, down many drains. My partner Darius used to eyeball me on the long rides home like he had dialogue within himself on what kind of person I was.

He used to say "Darkness cannot drive out darkness." I'd nod, check the bullets left in my service weapon, or stare into the baby picture of my daughter Halo. Sometimes he'd irk me into saying something back. I'd tell him "Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which they never show. How can I trust you with my life without showing you both sides?" Usually, that'd shut him up. But this tattooed inmate, standing here within killing range, if he remembers me, tells his gang, my sentence is going to be two days long. The silence became deafening, till he broke it with a smokers a cough.

"Nope, not ringing any bells. Anyhow, reason no one gets the full boat here is because they don't expect you to live past five years. The way its setup, the design of it all. You'll see. Me personally, I think the animal they let us feed on got something in it. Kills you from the inside."

"I wouldn't doubt that."

We both heard the symphony of electronic hums, a pleasant rumble beneath our feet, as one of the IT staff re-configured the loud chemical station. Pencil thin man of incredible height, he had to lean over to service the machine. Fixed it with the press of a button, how I envy their career. The walkway was gearing up to put us through the next five chemical stations, right before we moved, he tossed me a secret of his own.

"Leif, Leif Samuels. I saw you looking at my tat. I don't mind, but I should let you know, there's no sugar in my tank."

"Same here, Leif, same here."

The rest of the disinfectant passageway went as usual as it could in a place like this. Some of the substances would stick to your skin, a few burned, itched. Reminded me of a human car wash. Down the long corridor, headed towards the arrangement center, the opaque sides were all replaced with spectacularly cleaned curved windows. I didn't realize how high up we were until then. You could see nearly the whole top quadrant of Saturn, and the side of Lustrous Utopia I resting upon the rings. Only the prisons were constructed on the planet, the rest of the world lived on the rings around it, and the bottom quadrant of Saturn was undiscovered.

Every explorer that went there, to the 'Dark

Side' we called it, never came back. The closest thing to it is Haunted Hills, which used to be called Raven Hills, near the east. Papers say the ghost of lost souls traveled there after meeting their death in the Dark Side, possessing the people in the hills. Guards and prisoners alike. An expose? claimed that a member of the medical staff woke up speaking a different language, and tried to sacrifice his co-worker in a strange ritual. After the Citadel killed him, they burned the body, not taking any chances. Thus the legacy was born, and the name was changed. Even with that rumor flying around, Haunted Hills was still a better choice than Titan.

I let my mind drift, staring into the nebulae heavenward, the fuchsia blended with the magenta, the backdrop a blanket of stars. Magenta...that was my daughter's favorite color. I remember she crawled into the bathroom one night while I was sleep, ate my wife's lipstick. We panicked, her more than me, she screamed that 'kids need eyes on them at all times.' I would say 'that's how you were raised.' Regardless, when we contacted the poison center they assured us she'd be fine, she was just attracted to the color.

Of all the things that could've killed her, she chooses the small box with the magenta color and fancy lettering. We still don't know how she got behind the mirror or managed to turn the lipstick up. I remember pacifying my wife. She had the shakes even on a good day. Spent thirty minutes explaining that Halo could've ingested bleach, but that only amplified her anxiety. As Halo grew into a lollipop stick full of hair, she refused to wear any other color, and when I tell her that lipstick story, she'd say 'Lipstick isn't for eating, silly.'

A big filthy spoon scooped what I imagined to be the remains of Black Sword lumped inside meatloaf, splattered on my aluminum tray. These are my last few moments inside, before life in the mountains, life on Titan. I was still paired with Leif, and it was comforting to see his face turn green when he looked at the slop on his plate. I'd ask for more information about the man behind me, but he was stuffing his mouth with the mystery food. I assumed him to be an i***t, a dumb criminal, probably set up, a patsy or pawn. Also, I wondered if you ate Black Sword's remains, would all the souls he killed tag along for the ride, now residing inside of you.

I awkwardly scooted my hard metal seat closer to Leif, which further pressed the 'sugar in my tank' theory. Though he never said it, I could see it in his eyes. By now, we were all clothed in a typical prison uniform. The orange jumpsuit, hologram tag on the right pectoral, laser branded SPC (Saturn Product Code) on the back of our necks. I was Lex Decan no longer. Now I was 00929. A janky projector screen thrashed its way down from the casing within the ceiling. A few of the Umbrages laughed, whispering jokes about how the screen was as old as Grey.

"Consider this the last movie you'll ever see, narrated by me, even though it is not a movie, it is a slideshow. An overview if you will of the landscape of Titan. I will tell you now. It is the biggest terrain prison on Saturn. Wider than the Lowlands, and three times that of Raven Hills. We, the Umbrage, occupy all four corners of Titan. The command towers are armed with every type of spotlight, weapon, poison, even torture chambers if need be. NO ONE escapes Titan alive. Even though you will serve your time in the mountains, trust me, no amount of mutiny, teamwork, gang relations, conspiracy, plot, union will help you in overpowering the Umbrage. We are invincible. You will be immediately killed on the spot. More than likely from a sniper bullet so far away it will sound like a faint whistling in your ear, followed by your death, and we will not clean up your corpse. You will be an example for all else to see," orated Grey, as he marched around the room, his posture annoyingly straight.