Star Kitten (4 page)

Meanwhile, the prison Warden and his
managers were making quite a good living for themselves, under the
table. There were port fees, docking fees, refueling fees, and
loading fees. Ships landed to offload supplies, then took on as
much ore and raw gemstones as they could. They would refuel,
resupply with food for the voyage back, and then take off again.
Neither the ship captains nor the Warden himself had any concern
for fulfilling the promises made by other planets regarding
completed sentences.

But then something happened that made
conditions even worse—if that was even feasible given the already
deplorable conditions at New Australia Planetary Prison.

A new discovery deep within the mines of
Rijel 12 caused quite a stir in the scientific communities of
several planets seeking “infinite” power sources for their
intergalactic space craft. Discovery of massive veins of Perovskite
and Quartz on Rijel 12 occurred in the 30th Earth year of New
Australia Planetary Prison. At that time, copper, lead, and zinc
could already be mined in abundance from Rijel 12 and refined into
silver (to make silver wire). This eventually meant that space
craft could be powered by CRYSTALS mined from Rijel 12.

Many years ago back on the planet Earth, a
piezoelectric transducer was developed which extracted mechanical
vibrations and provided electrical output in a more efficient,
clean, and reliable manner than burning fossil fuels. At first this
technology could be used for small electrical components on
automobiles; and also in the ignition mechanisms on cigarette
lighters. But the technology continued to be developed over the
centuries. This gradually evolved into an almost infinite power
source for engines on spacecraft; and the process used
piezoelectric materials available in abundance such as ceramic,
polymeric and crystals.

Perovskite, it was discovered, could be
mined from Rijel 12 in great abundance. Quartz was also discovered
in large veins below the surface, and when crystals the size of an
office building were found within the planet core of Rijel 12, it
was merely a matter of burrowing down and extracting them. This
required extremely arduous labor for the already hard-pressed
inmates, because they’d have to tunnel around with hand tools to
finally free the giant crystals for extraction. The Warden could
see massive profit was at stake, and soon the Interplanetary
Authority was demanding increased production from Rijel 12.

Piezoelectricity refers to the property of
certain crystals, such as quartz, to become electrically polarized
when the crystal is subjected to mechanical pressure, thereby
exhibiting a voltage across it. Compression and stretching generate
voltages of opposite polarity. The piezoelectric effect merely
needs to be amplified via a transistor, and then channeled along
copper (or silver wire preferably) to create a vast amount of
energy.

Basically Rijel 12 had all these raw
materials.

When these massive
crystals were discovered deep inside the mines of Rijel 12,
scientists on other planets announced proudly to the galaxy that
they could now be used to power intergalactic space craft. Solar
panels the size of sports stadiums on the outside of galactic
crafts could store energy in great power plants to run the
piezoelectric process, and this gave an almost infinite power
source to run spacecraft engines. Now, advanced modern spacecraft
could… finally…
explore the entire
Universe
!

Suddenly the planet of Rijel 12 had a brand
new income source… and the new Warden saw how he could become
extremely wealthy. Wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, he
imagined.

Warden Ggggaaah, was a Zorgolong with a
pirate past who had taken over after the second prison warden from
Earth had retired in the 35th year of prison operation. By that
time, the realities of New Australia Planetary Prison were accepted
at face value: They were only there to make money for the
Interplanetary Authority, and as long as the production goals were
met or exceeded, there was plenty of extra lucre available for
Ggggaaah and his managers. He got rich quite quickly! But Ggggaaah
also instituted some new reforms which changed the way things were
done on Rijel 12, and this led to the formation of brand new
societies below ground.

To Ggggaaah, the whole
concept of work performance could be managed by the control
of
food
….

Guards were difficult to recruit from other
planetary systems, so the quality of men willing to work there had
declined to literally the lowest dregs of society. But it also
became a great place to go disappear to for a while if a being was
in need of a fresh start: if he was running from the law, an angry
spouse, or from his family obligations back home. Ggggaaah seized
upon this to recruit guards who would carry out his orders without
question or face being sent back home.

It was certainly no paradise for the guards
of course, but the guards and prison administrators lived in
relative extravagance compared to the poor souls pressed into
service in the horrid mines below ground. These new guards,
recruited by Ggggaaah or by his administrators, gradually replaced
the original staff as the years passed, and their function
eventually became merely to distribute food and achieve production
quotas. To do so, they learned to manage their sections of the
prison by delegating work detail and organization to the prisoners
themselves—then merely distribute food based on production
performance.

That was how Ggggaaah envisioned it, much
like in the way pirate ships operated in his youth: Work and you
eat. Mutiny and you die. The system worked quite well that way for
the prison mines, and guards became mere armed defenders and
proprietors of the food depots. Meanwhile, the food depots became
fortified underground military outposts.

Then a remarkable thing happened. A social
structure developed among the prison population where gangs
established themselves to protect the flow of food supplies to the
struggling souls below; making sure everyone got to eat, as well as
providing protection to its membership from other gangs. Some gangs
developed more quickly than others and benefited from stronger
leadership, so over the years, the prison guards found they could
refer more and more of the work supervision to the gang
leaderships. Gangs gradually took over almost everything regarding
prisoner management. They would train and manage their own work
shift supervisors, order materials, tools and supplies. Gangs even
trained Slartigifijian maintenance workers to repair and service
the air and water filtration systems.

Guards developed into mere go-betweens,
commanding sections of the ever-expanding mining network, and
dealing with gang leaders exclusively, regarding matters of
discipline and food distribution.

Water was plentiful (the Slartigifijian
prisoners were excellent engineers and because they often lived
very long lives, many gangs employed and prized them), but food was
not, so the planet imported most all its food stuffs, sending
supplies down into the mines to be provided to well-performing
gangs meeting their production quotas. But the Slartigifijian
prisoners used their brilliance to devise and eventually develop
hydroponic farms which grew crops and supplemented the prisoners’
diets.

Lighting was always being installed and
maintained in the mines; and these resourceful squid-like beings
from Slartigifij began stockpiling lighting systems to supply
artificial sunlight for their hydroponic gardens. The guards rarely
ventured out of their food depots anyway, so they were unaware of
the amazing progress with agriculture going on down below in the
mines. Yet over the years, the gangs who had wisely protected and
kept their highly-prized Slartigifijian comrades safe and alive,
were already growing their own food and bolstering the diets of
their fellow prisoners with desperately needed additional
calories.

Enforcing discipline was otherwise
relatively simple: Work hard and achieve production goals: then you
eat well. So the gangs were incented to keep their membership
working hard toward these goals. Amazingly this system worked quite
well for several years, and death or disease from malnutrition
began to stabilize or even decline—at least for a while.

Social structure developed, and the
evolution of the gangs into hierarchical communities based on
specialties of ability (and exhibited value of service to the
gang), led to the prisoners gradually identifying themselves more
and more with their new gang identity—rather than with their
previous lives as criminals back on their home planet. As prisoners
frankly, they all gained a level of respect for each other, in that
despite whatever they’d done to get sent to prison; they had indeed
survived this hellish place.

But even with all this amazing effort to
find a way to survive the un-survivable and create a meaningful
existence, the beings of New Australia Planetary Prison still faced
the failings of character and ethics that inevitably accompany the
evils of absolute power.

The last straw occurred when prisoners would
meet quotas only to find food deliveries were late in arriving… or
held back by corrupt guards who cruelly demanded higher production
goals to further their own rank and position.

Many of the guards did that, and when they
felt they could get away with it, they’d literally try and starve
the prisoners into submission. The prisoners would naturally be
compelled to step up production; furthering the performance numbers
for the unethical guards engaging in this practice. The guard of
course, might get praised for his results and even get promoted!
But prisoners would often die from malnutrition as a result. It
just required so many calories to work through a full work shift.
Malnutrition could lead to exhaustion. Exhaustion could lead to
illness. Illness could lead to death.

Warden Ggggaaah of course made things far
worse, when prisoners would strike and demand better living or
working conditions. Air and water systems needed maintenance, tools
needed repair, and food quality was often quite horrid. Sanitation
was downright abhorrent. Risking disaster still, the Gang Leaders
would find a way to organize and call a strike to damage production
temporarily to try and force change. It did little, except for
repeatedly proving the complete and utter immorality of the prison
administration.

Expecting to quell any uprisings or strikes
quickly by starving the malcontents, food deliveries would be
totally suspended—by order of the Warden—and weaker prisoners began
to starve when that happened. Warden Ggggaaah would simply cut off
ALL food distribution to the mine, electricity to the fans,
lighting, and water filtration systems, and work would soon
resume.

A hasty meeting would be called with
striking gang leaders and a settlement would be reached… but little
would change, and a few hundred more prisoners would die each time
it was attempted. Nevertheless, the gang leaders had to at least
try and force change. Their very position as leader of the gang
demanded it. Failure to defy the guards could be construed as
complicity, and gang leaders could and did get overthrown on
occasion.

Malnutrition wasn’t the only major problem,
they pointed out repeatedly. A lack of medical supplies for injured
or ill workers led to resentment toward the gang leadership who had
promised protection to their members and therefore taken
responsibility for their well-being. The gang leaders argued that
the Warden should consider—and respect—the potential threat of
losing his gang leader contacts and subsequently losing control of
the entire prison if there was a wide-scale riot. The gang leaders
really were the key to maintaining order, they professed. There
were over a hundred thousand prisoners in those mines now; and only
about 35,000 thousand guards defending the food depots. In their
view, Warden Ggggaaah really needed them to help in preventing a
riot.

But Ggggaaah simply would
not listen to this preposterous idea. Only
he
could control the food supply,
the electricity, and the guards. He simply couldn’t believe in such
a threat as this: a prison riot? How could they expect to succeed?
The food depots were basically subterranean fortresses with armed
guards. Prisoners had nothing but mining tools. They’d stand no
chance against modern weapons, so attacking a guard station was
practically suicide.

Therefore, negotiations would conclude,
peace would temporarily be restored, and work production would
return to acceptable levels (for a while anyway). Each strike would
lead to some mild concessions or promises of reform; but little
would be done. The prisoners just kept on working, the
Slartigifijians kept on designing better farms, and the gangs
continued to protect these farms from detection by the guards.

Long term, the belief was that a successful
hydroponic farm network was the key to surviving the next strike,
and when greater concessions were achieved, this would truly mean a
better life for the gang members. But that was taking too long.
They still had to rely on the guards for food, and there was little
they could do about corrupt guards raising production quotas in
isolated sections of the mine. The guards would behave well for a
while, on orders from the Warden, but eventually they’d slip back
into their old habits of driving workers harder in their assigned
production sectors with threats of withholding food. Corrupt guards
were never discharged, merely transferred to a different section of
the mine and go right back to their old habits.

Everyone knew it, even the wise
Slartigifijians: a planet-wide rebellion was the only answer. Even
the timidly cautious and rodent-like Schpleeftii admitted it. In
time, the naturally warlike Zorgolongians, Porkonjii, Pumalars, and
Humans just downright demanded it. The only thing left to do was
organize. Planet-wide, too. It was high time for desperate
action.