The Thirteenth Day

The cargo container that held the captives was packed tightly, women, children sat against the walls, most wept to themselves or hugged their young children to them tightly. One child, sat away from the others. He curled up into a corner, half of his face hidden and what was visible was flecked with old dried blood and tear trails. He visibly rocked back and forth, his arms wrapped around his legs tightly.

It was the thirteenth day of his captivity. His head ached. He didn't remember how he had gotten the head wound, but it hurt, badly. He was barely capable of thinking beyond his own pain and animal fear. The scene kept replaying in his mind, the large big toothed man grinning over him while the product number was tattooed between his shoulder blades. He was then pulled into a sparse room containing only a table, a chair and a small folder with a green label. The big-toothed man stepped behind the table, sat down and pulled out a pen. He peered down at the boy and studied him carefully. He scribbled a 9-digit number down on the folder label and opened it. "We have already preened what information we could from the ship manifest, but this process can be made easier for you if you are cooperative." His voice was rough and his eyes were cold. "We have polled your information through Galnet and were able to ascertain much of what we need for your new file for the market. It seems however, that you were trained at the Society for Conscious Thought and those files are not accessible to us." The big-toothed man paused, wrote something down in the folder and continued. "How long were you trained at the Society and what was your focus?"

The boy shook with a mix of sadness and rage, and could barely speak. The man across from him sat silent while the boy stuttered out his answer. "Political... diplomacy and... and... civil ... admin...administration for sev...seven...years." The man scribbled furiously and grinned wide, his mind already calculating the massive potential profit for this latest run. He sat in thought while the boy was escorted out.