Chapter 5
'A break out? Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure!?' TANTALUS asked as Summer spoke to the mysterious voice from the cell above her. Summer merely nodded her head in affirmation, relaying what Sprocket had told her.
She had no further information than that. Sprocket had said that it was a bad idea to spend too much time talking about it while working, the likelihood of being overheard was low, but occasionally the steel mill did grow quiet enough for conversations to be heard. Worse still, idle conversation while working was prohibited, Sprocket and Summer had been able to get away with what talking they did do by pretending to show her how to work the machines.
'A break out... of course, how could I have been so stupid as to not think of that...' TANTALUS said with worry in his voice. 'I'm getting dull... been here for far too long... Summer? Have you met Karkov yet?'
'No', Summer said, shaking her head in the negative. 'Sprocket didn't think it was a good idea, the guards started watching us for a while when we were spending a fair bit of time with each other. Sprocket was worried that they didn't buy the cover of him showing me how to work the machines, said it was too dangerous to talk to Karkov today...'
'I see... he's organising the Steel Mill workers... but can't get the miners... so then that means that...' TANTALUS' voice said before trailing off. He was silent for a moment; Summer almost asked him if he was still there, before another response came through the hole in her ceiling. 'Let me tell you about Viktor Karkov, he was an officer in their army before being sent here, his commanding officer had done him wrong and he killed him. Karkov is ruthless and doesn't do subtle. His break out isn't a simple tunnel out or cut through a fence at night while no one is looking. It's going to be a full on prison revolt... has to be...'
Summer waited for TANTALUS to speak again. He was silent for a long time, too long, Summer was starting to get impatient with him. 'And? What's your point? ‘she asked finally.
'My point? My point!? My point is that a violent revolt is going to do nothing but get everyone held in this camp killed! That's what! Karkov is the kind of person to throw lives away on a lost cause, he did it during their Invasion of the Capran Republic, and he’ll do it here too!' TANTALUS cried out.
Summer blinked, and thought about what the mysterious voice had said for a moment. 'So... you don't want to escape?' she asked.
'I... what?! You can't be serious, even after everything I've told you, you still want to take part in this uprising?' TANTALUS asked, understanding immediately what Summer had meant by her question.
'Yes', Summer said nodding her head in affirmation. To be frank? She didn't see a problem with what TANTALUS had said in the slightest bit, she didn't care about the lives of the other prisoners, she didn't care how many would die in such a revolt. All she cared about was getting out, returning to Equestria, and putting a bullet between Madeline Wolsey's eyes. She didn't care what she had to do, or how many had to die for this to occur. She would sacrifice the entire prison population, including TANTALUS, Sprocket, and Karkov to do it if she had to.
'All those lives! Thrown away like that... all so that one person can have his revenge on the system that put him in here...' TANTALUS began before being interrupted.
'Sacrifices worth making', Summer said. 'Karkov and I have something in common in that regard. Revenge is all that's kept me going these last five years. I don't care what has to be done in order to achieve it, but it will be done'.
TANTALUS was silent again. 'I regret ever speaking to you', he said finally after what seemed like an eternity. 'You're just as much a monster as Viktor Karkov, and it's going to come back to bite you, hard'.
She heard TANTALUS get up in the cell above her; she heard his steps fall as he walked away from the crack between their two cells. She knew that she would never again speak to TANTALUS through the crack in the ceiling, but honestly? She really didn't care. Whatever happened to TANTALUS after this was no concern of her. She only had two concerns in her life, and that was escape, and exacting her revenge upon Madeline Wolsey.
Summer trotted over to her bunk and laid herself down on it, shutting her eyes to try and get some rest. She had to wonder what Wolsey was doing right now. She hoped that her former commanding officer was having the time of her life, she hoped that the mare that had gotten everyone killed during the Emergency was enjoying the time she had left, because now Summer knew for certain. Madeline Wolsey would not have much time left.
…
Madeline Wolsey let out a sigh of pleasure as she lay under the covers of her bed, looking up longingly at the stallion sharing her bed with her, she leaned forward and kissed her lover’s lips. She needed this, she had needed this bad. It had been a long time since she had felt the embrace of another living being like this.
'Sjaak...' Wolsey moaned quietly.
The afrikneigher stallion smiled at her as he nuzzled her gently, kissing his lover's neck. 'I've been looking forward to this all month', he said softly.
Wolsey nodded in agreement as she leaned forward to kiss him again. It had felt like an eternity since she had last made love, and now she finally had the opportunity to sit back and relax.
Five years, five long years to bring her to this point. She had been honourably discharged from the Fillydelphia regiment after being shot during the Salayan Emergency, she'd been rehabilitated, and was back to living a normal life. A couple months after coming back, she'd gotten involved in politics, and had worked her way up through the ranks of the Ponies’ Progressive Party. She'd even served as the Member of Parliament for Fillydelphia Central. Before she knew it, she had become the head of the party at the national level, and when the results from the election came in... if the PPP held the majority of votes, she would be forming a government with herself as the Prime Minister! Imagine that! The idea excited Wolsey; she had to admit, not as much as the embrace of her lover, Sjaak De Vries, but almost as much.
Sjaak De Vries was an afrikneigher pony, an immigrant from the nation of Zhosa-Borwa on the continent of L'afrique. Afrikneighers were the pony minority in a land full of zebras, but while being the minority, afrikneighers made up the majority of the middle class, and nearly all of the upper class, and held the political power in Zhosa-Borwa. Sjaak was in his early thirties, just like she. His coat was a light crème colour, and his mane a jet black, slicked back in a professional cut. She had met him during her time as MP for Fillydelphia Central. Sjaak De Vries was a Senior Systems Analyst for FutureTec, working at Station BRIGHTHOUSE in the Whitetail Industrial Complex in Ponyville on the Discovery Project. Wolsey liked him a lot; he was the shy, quiet type around her. He was a gentle lover and would cater to her every whim if she let him. It was kind of funny how different he was when they were alone when they were around other people.
When they were in public, Sjaak was a sardonic bastard, hardly a people person. He'd been passed over for a promotion to the administrator of station BRIGHTHOUSE in favour of some nobody named Sparkplug Starlight because of this. She had spent many hours soothing his ego afterwards, and frankly, she had been okay with it. She liked Sjaak, he was kind to her, the sex was pretty good, and it offered her a chance to escape for a little while from the problems that she had.
Wolsey did not deserve the honourable discharged that had been given to her. She had led the soldiers under her command into an ambush; she'd frozen up and gotten a lot of people killed. She'd ordered a retreat and only three of her platoon had escaped alive. Her and two others...
She couldn't remember their names, as much as Wolsey struggled, she could not remember their names! She remembered the canary yellow unicorn mare, that had threatened to kill her just as she had been dragged off into the jungle by two Præsidium Spetsnaz soldiers. Wolsey had never told anyone, not even Sjaak the true story of what had happened. How could she? It would ruin her if anyone found out the truth. She had been seen as a war hero, sole survivor of a unit that was wiped out in a valiant fight. No one could know the truth, she felt guilty over what had happened to the canary yellow unicorn mare who had threatened her, but not enough to admit the truth.
'Are you alright?' Sjaak asked her.
Wolsey looked up at her lover as he lay on top of her. She had almost forgotten that he was there. 'I... yeah, I'm sorry, just nervous about the election is all', she lied. Sjaak seemed to buy it; he pulled out of her and rolled over onto his back. 'I'm sorry...' Wolsey added with a frown.
'It is alright', Sjaak said, taking her foreleg in his, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. 'Relax, go to sleep, in the morning we will see the results of the election'.
Wolsey nodded and kissed her lover back, the two of them rolled over, and Sjaak went to sleep. Wolsey, however, would not be getting any sleep that night. She had not thought about the canary yellow unicorn mare that she could not remember the name of in a long time, and she would be occupying her mind for the rest of the night.