Cage

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. As she looked fearfully out of the port-side window from her confinement pod, Ella may have begged to differ. It is a whole different story when the scream is inside your own head – one born from a wasted opportunities and now, a rising regret. She leaned her head against the cold metal wall as a tear made its way down her cheek. Earth was lost to her now, forever.

The noise of a door opening caused Ella to sit upright and quickly wipe the tears from her face, while she did her best to compose herself. It was one of the wardens who was accompanied by a humanoid robot with lifeless eyes. A second look had her wondering who was the colder though as the warden’s eyes glowed with disdain and made her feel like a stain on his floor.

“Ella Boyd,” the warden said with stern expression. “It is time.”

Summoning any strength still possessed, Ella stood as she felt her heart pound behind her ribs. She turned her head quickly as the sight of Cage loomed larger. It would be on this remote world that she would carry out her sentence for Crimes Against Earth. Though the court had heard her case and delayed its decision to sentence, missing evidence was not forthcoming. Max had searched high and low, presenting a solid argument, but it was never going to be enough, especially when the Judge was a factory produced, mechanically minded, android, devoid of pity. It had been determined long ago that Earth no longer had time for mercy.

“Face me!”

Ella’s head snapped back to attention at the sound of the warden’s voice.

“It was deemed, by your assigned Judge, that your sentence will be carried out on Cage. You will never be able to return to Earth, nor will you again contact any family or acquaintances. As far as Earth is concerned, you are dead.”

Though she knew the details already, hearing them from the warden made it all the worse. Pain rose in her mind and grief at the thought of what was now lost, filled her heart. She heard the scream again.

The warden continued. “You have been designated this Cage101 android. For the first few months, it will help you with some practical needs. You would be advised to pay attention to its directives. Cage is a hostile world for which, this android has been specifically made and programmed. After the time determined, it will lose power and shut down. At this point, survival will rest upon your," he lowered his eyes, looking her up and down,"own shoulders.”

Ella swallowed and tried to keep her breathing under control as the warden snarled,

“No-one has lived more than a few weeks after loss of their Cage101. Such is your sentence and – “

He stared briefly out through the window to the red/orange glow of Cage’s atmosphere, then back to meet Ella’s eyes with a cold indifference that felt like an icy wind swirling around her spirit.

“- such was your choice.”

Ella looked across at the Cage101. Those cold black eyes reflected her image as would a mirror in a room bathed in dull moonlight. Perhaps now it would help to be…more like them. Cold. Lifeless. Robotic. But she could not be. Now, at the end, she would not succumb to that temptation, to fall in line behind those who replaced humanity with…with this.

She looked back at the warden who asked if all he had said was understood.

Ella nodded slowly as her eyes drifted from the android to the warden and out to Cage.

“The Cage101 will stay with you now. The pod will detach in seven hours and take twelve to reach Cage. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, I understand.” Ella held back the tears with all her might. There was no mercy in here to receive them.

As the warden left the room, darkness, like the thickest of storm clouds, wrapped itself around her soul and the Cage101’s eyes kept it there.

Ella sat against the wall once more and peered up at the numbers, counting down her last hours and minutes before descent. It would be the longest twelve hours of her life.

Life.

The image of butterflies and a child running through the lush, green countryside, bathed in sunlight drove the enveloping darkness away for a while and Ella rested her head against the wall as she thought upon the word. She saw rivers, mountains, and a starry sky. Then the tears found a way back as the faces of Mum and Dad, brothers and her sister painted her mind. Even so, as she again dried her eyes, she took strength, comfort, in the fact that, there, in her heart, life resided still. Safe, untouched, and pure. They could not drive it from her entirely, they -

- a sound broke her thoughts and she turned to see the Cage101 had taken a few steps toward her. Ella braced herself for whatever this encounter with this lifeless machine was about to be forthcoming. Stopping a few feet from her, the android tilted its head to one side and then back again. Still drying tears but now a little curious, Ella found herself looking this thing up and down.

The 101 continued to “stare” at her, not moving at all.

Managing to find some voice, though wavering, Ella said, “Can you go back and stand over there,” motioning with an extended arm and shaking finger. Her tone was hardly impressive, but it was all she could muster, and it did not have any effect, or so it seemed. The 101 stayed exactly where it was. Ella’s curiosity was now starting to make its way toward fear. Those black eyes made that more real as she beheld her troubled face in them. As she considered moving to the other side of the pod, the android spoke.

“Listen to me very carefully, Ella Boyd.”

That this robot’s voice conveyed some form of comfort was very unexpected. She would have imagined his words to match those black eyes, or even his human master, the warden. As she waited for what it might say next however, she was puzzled by its friendly tone, which made not a lot of sense, given the situation.

“I have reprogrammed the course co-ordinates for this confinement pod.”

Ella’s brow furrowed as she listened.

“We are not going to Cage.”

Now Ella stood slowly to her feet. “W-what?”

The Cage101 lifted its hand and gently rested it upon her right shoulder.

“We are going to another place.”

Ella turned her head to look at the hand on her shoulder and then back into those dark eyes.

“What place?” she enquired, a strange and intuitive hope dimly lit as she spoke.

The 101 moved its hand back from her shoulder and paused for a second or two, as if thinking.

“Somewhere safe,” it replied.