The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [150]
After Grantor signed off, Will said, “Lieutenant Daniels, send a secure message to Admiral Spahiu at Starbase 522.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Sickbay to Picard.”
I looked up. “Go ahead, Doctor.”
Beverly hesitated before going on. “I’m afraid that I’ve lost my patient.”
He takes the bejeweled knife and slices off my clothing, leaving me naked and exposed. “From this point on, you will enjoy no privilege of rank, no privileges of person. From now on, I will refer to you only as ‘human.’ You have no other identity.”
His men shackle me to a pole that hangs from the ceiling, leaving my arms raised. Then he touches his padd, and the pole retracts, lifting my legs from the floor.
He walks out, leaving me alone to hang like that for the entire night.
The next morning, his men take me down while he drinks in front of me, knowing how parched I am.
“Thirsty?” he asks, unnecessarily. “I would imagine so.” He drinks again. “Well, it’s time to move on.”
My voice cracking, I say, “I’ve told you all that I know.”
“Yes, I’m sure you have.” He touches a control on his padd, and four lights behind his head blaze into existence, temporarily blinding me. I blink the spots out of my eyes as he asks, “How many lights do you see there?”
Thinking it a simple question, I say, “I see four lights.”
“No. There are five. You’re quite sure?”
“There are four lights.”
As soon as I entered the brig, Madred said, “I wish to see Glinn Driana.”
Ignoring his request, I said, “I’m afraid your remanding to a starbase will have to wait a while longer.”
“Why is that?”
I tilted my head. “Does it matter?”
“If you are engaging in a mission that will endanger Cardassian lives, then it matters a great deal to me.”
“What were you doing on the Pakliros?”
“Why does that matter to you?” Madred had been sitting on his bunk, but now he rose and walked over to the small water basin. “I must confess to being greatly disappointed in you, human. You’ve been given an unparalleled opportunity, and you’re wasting it.” He splashed some water on his face.
“To do what?” I asked. “To get some of my own back? To torture you as you did me?”
He whirled around, his face still wet. “Torture? I did no such thing.”
That stunned me. I almost lost my footing. Then I recalled that the entire time I was in his office, he very rarely told the truth. In fact, I suspect that the only time he did not lie was when he spoke of his daughter—and of his own childhood.
I clung to that, the memory that had given me strength six years ago. “Whenever I look at you now, I won’t see a powerful Cardassian warrior, I will see a six-year-old boy who is powerless to protect himself.”
“What do you call what you did to me, then, Gul Madred? Interrogation? That part was over and done with a few hours after I first walked into your office. You were trying to break me to your will.”
“Isn’t that what we all do?” he asked, drying off his face. “Our lives in this universe are simply attempts to gain control over our surroundings. The fact that I am particularly expert at it has proved useful in my career.”
“And provided you with an outlet to enact revenge on those who tormented you in your youth.”
Madred sighed. “Again you revert to amateur analysis.”
“Yes—only this time, you do not have your neural implant to get me to stop.”
He stared at me. I stared back.
To my surprise, he looked away. “Where are we going that you cannot remand me to a starbase?”
I thought a moment and decided I had no reason not to share the information. “We are meeting a fleet of Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan ships at the Betreka Nebula and then proceeding to Raknal V to destroy the Dominion base being constructed there.”
“Really?” Madred looked at me again, this time with a surprising intensity in his eyes. Prior to this, he was engaging in his usual tired word games, but now he seemed eager. “Captain, I have intelligence that would be