The snake flag

         Max picked up the connecter to his PTA (Personal Technical Assistant) and snaked his hand back under the iron accelerator control unit to the Thermocouple command module. He helped the fiber optic cable along with his free hand, feeding down the open hole as he worked his hand in between lines and wire bundles, hoses and optical cables. He spat as debris fell from where his hand brushed it loose.



         “Need a hand?” Morlo’s familiar voice said from somewhere behind him. Max grunted and he stretched his arm to it’s fullest. The open socket was just a bit further…





         “Sure,” Max replied. Behind him he heard clapping. Max let out a sigh as his fingers brushed the open socket. He pushed and twisted the connector until he felt the alignment ridge line up with the slot in the socket and slid the connector in, twisting it slightly to lock it in place.



         “Ha, ha, very funny, mutt.”



         “I’m glad you like it,” replied Morlo, his ears forming his species’ version of a grin that was visible in the gloom under the engine compartment. “I learned it on Earth.”



         “Is that where they sent you?” Max replied.



         Morlo nodded, an expression he had picked up from Max. “I’m glad to be back though. Handling you is enough; being with almost seven billion of your kind was a bit overwhelming. Say, what’s there to eat?”



         “Nothing! And now I know why you didn’t take me.” Max worked his hand back out of the hole and initiated the test on his PTA before standing up. “Too bad they didn’t steal your appetite. If you’re not careful you’ll end up as fat as you claim my kind to be,” he jested, softly jabbing his handler in the gut with a finger.



         The alien swept his ears in a frown and Max caught a flash of his canine-like teeth in his wolfish muzzle. Morlo’s eyes practically glowed in the dark, the vibrant blue irises slightly above his own and a frigid, wet nose was pressed against his.



         “Remember your place, Ehrak,” his handler said, using the word for Max’s own position: somewhere between a house pet and slave.



         Max was surprised by the sudden strictness. Normally his keeper was fairly relaxed when it came to how they related, but Max was careful to quickly quench any sparks before they were able to burn him:



          “Rekan, Sir. I didn’t mean to be offensive. I’m sorry Sir,” Max said, repeating the apology.



         “Gah,” grunted Morlo, “I still can’t do that sarcasm thing your kind does. I mean, I understand how it works, and I know when they do it to me, I just can’t seem to portray it myself. Lighten up Max, its ok… this time at least.”



         “Perhaps it has more with who you are delivering it to? Sarcasm usually doesn’t go over well with subordinates until they get used to it, if they ever do.”



         “Maybe,” shrugged the alien, “I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing on you until you accept it. Are you almost done?”



         “Last check before the ol’ LF-37 is back in flight status.”



         “Great, they’ve tasked me to move software and, uh, fruit to Eth-, Epermom, Eperon,” he said, repeating the name until he got it correct.



         “Thank God. I’m sick of this septic tank. I’d rather be cooped up on the Orris,” Max said with a gesture to the freighter they both called home. “At least we’ll be going someplace.”



         “Hey, the Mari Echo is not a bad vessel once you get around her.”



         Max lifted up on the brown, seamless collar that encircled his neck, “And how am I supposed to see more than the loading docks while your away on my home planet? Last I checked I needed an authorized escort.”  “and that was fifteen minutes ago…” he added, hoping Morlo would catch the joke.



         Morlo sighed and put a clawed hand on his bondsman’s shoulder, “I’m sorry Max. I wish I could bend the rules for you. You’re so good on the job-”



         “ But?”



         “-But I can’t give you permissions aboard a vessel that isn’t mine. And besides, if you had known where I was…”



         “Yes?”



         The light furred alien sighed. “I know you Max. You’re loyal. You’re trustworthy, but I know you still want your freedom. I refuse to put you in a situation where you’re tempted to do something I know will  end badly.”



         “So just let me go Morlo! We’re right here, you can dump me off in the woods someplace, write me off as an ‘accident’ and be done! Hell, leave my collar on with a block so I can’t talk about you. My species can’t get this thing off without killing me, and all this alien life will still be a secret to the masses.”



         “Because you arn’t mine Max! You know this, we’ve talked about it all ready! You are only issued to me by the Fleet command.”



         “-But I am to ‘assist you in any manner you deem necessary’. Morlo, you keep me when you leave! If that’s not giving me to you, then what is?”



         “I still don’t have ownership rights while employed by the fleet. I can’t sell, trade, or free you until my service ends. I can’t get ride of you any more than you can leave me! Why are we going over this again Max?”



         “Because before I was kidnapped I was a warrior, and tyranny is what I fought. You are the best master I could have ever asked for, but you are still just that: my master. I can’t and won’t give up my will, my desire for freedom.”



         “I know that, Max.” Morlo said in a tired voice, “That’s why you’ll be wearing the double check tonight when we pick up our cargo… from Earth.”



         “WHAT?! NO! Please sir, not those. I mean, why? Don’t you have enough power with my collar? It’s not like I can run-“



         “I know your history Max. I know what it took to bring you down, and I know what you did before that. Your life will be agonizing and short if you try to return to them Max; they’ll hunt you down, and when they catch you they’ll torture you until you tell them everything. Even if I block it through your collar so you can’t tell, and they’ll just torture you until you either lose your mind or die. I care about you Max, so you’ll wear the restraints for your own good.”



         “I hate they way they make my hands and feet feel, like they arn’t even mine! I’m so slow under that thing! Please!” begged Max, shaking Morlo lightly by the shoulders.



         “Back down Ehrak!” barked the alien. Reluctantly Max obeyed, and sunk down to his knees. He lowered his eyes to his master’s feet, but not before he noticed the comm module in Morlo’s hand. His finger had been on “the button”.





         Even after three years together, Morlo still held a healthy respect for Max. He valued his intellect, appreciated his strength, and was enthralled with his creativity. True, Max had accepted that he could do nothing about his position, but those traits combined with his unwavering sense for liberty meant Max could still be frightening. Morlo had only needed to punish Max twice since taking charge of him. Both times the collar had functioned as designed, and both times sent Max straight into a screaming mess on the floor. He had since learning his lesson to obey Morlo, but the alien was no fool. He knew the brown collar and the immense control it gave his fingertips over Max was the only thing that prevented the human from taking his freedom in any way he could.

         Morlo watched as Max reviewed the test results on his PTA screen before working his arm into the bowls of LF-37 “Orris” to retrieve the connector again.

         Most Ehrak had accepted their position by now, and given up on having a will. They saw their masters as life its self, and would do anything for them -collar or not. Not with Max though. Morlo didn’t doubt for a second that Max would have to wear his collar until the day he died, and Morlo would always have to keep the remote within reach. But that was what made Max unique. As a younger officer Morlo had worked under captains of larger vessels and seen the bondsmen and women of them. The spinelessness of them had always made him sick, and it wasn’t long before he repulsed the idea of ever having one for himself.

         He had even rejected the dirty, angry human when he had been assigned Max at first, and intended to simply leave him in his cell and perform all the ship’s duties himself. THere were things that required two people, however, and during those times Morlo had to constantly remind Max that “You’re mine” and eventually he had begun to enjoy the company of his possession. He had planned to release Max upon his egress from the service in eight years, but now he wasn’t so sure. Life would seem dull without the constant competition for control. It made him feel alive.



         Max grunted, finally retrieving the connector from the hole. Morlo helped him replace the panel and drove the fasteners in as Max placed them in the holes.



         “So the Phase is done? Any problems with the inspection?” Morlo asked.



         “Just some paperwork left,” replied Max. “Had to replace a couple of things you’ll see on the expense list, but nothing major. Mostly just fasteners and some cable.”



         Morlo nodded, “Good. I was surprised to not see anything awaiting my approval to be ordered.”



         Max shot him a smirk, “Well, I had to make a few things work, and couple of other things might have been repaired in the onboard shop rather than the ‘authorized repair facility’” He said the last bit with Morlo’s specie’s version of an air of snooty-ness. Morlo laughed.



         “As long as it was done right, I don’t care.”



         “Its safe to fly. My hide has to ride in it too and I can’t escape if I’m dead, now can I?”



         Morlo drove the last fastener home and stood up, grabbing the tool bag. He gazed around the loading dock as Max gathered his PTA and cables and got to his feet. Bondsmen, paid laborers and technicians scurried the bay like a colony of pissed off ants. Morlo’s stomach growled.



         “Let’s get inside,” he said to Max. “You fix us something to eat while I finish the paperwork, then we can bail this septic tank.”



         “I thought you said it was paradise.”



         They looked at each other for a moment, then both let out a chuckle.



         “I’m going to spit in your food,” joked Max as they walked up the personnel ramp of the small freighter.



         “Good,” winked Morlo, “Maybe it’ll improve the flavor.”



         He closed the airlock behind them before they parted ways, he to his “office” in the cockpit, Max to the galley. As Max walked down the passageway Morlo called after him:



         “I expect to eat in five!”



         “See, now that’s doin’ sarcasm right!” Max shouted back.

****

         Morlo jumped as a plate slid in front of him. He glanced up from his computer to see Max sliding into the opposite side of the booth that was their conference table, office, and dining room combined. The man held up his glass of water,



         “To life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”



         Morlo rolled his eyes, set down his computer, grabbed a spoon and plunged it into something that looked like the parasite infested innards of some creature. By now he was used to Max’s meals looking less than appetizing. But looks can be deceiving, and rarely did he make something that wasn’t at least edible. Max was slowly getting the hang of cooking dishes from off his home world, but he still relied on the expanded seasoning add-on he had begged Morlo for to cook things he knew well.



         “By the way,” began Morlo, his thoughts returning to their upcoming voyage. “You need to do the preflight as soon as your done eating. I want to get going as soon as possible.”



         Max waved as he swallowed a mouthful of food. “Nah, It’s redundant to the phase, so I all ready did it. I’ll just stamp ‘em off so you can sign the checklist, then we can kick tires and light fires.”



         “Kick who and light what on fire?” said Morlo, slightly surprised. Max usually reserved the violent side of his personality for away from the dining table. It had taken him a while to understand it (and even longer to respect it), but the act of eating was sacred to Morlo’s people. Sharing a meal had significance, and while the rules were bent a lot because work often overlapped with meals, some things like voicing anger or verbally confronting someone where still taboo.



         “Its a saying from my home. It means to mimic the formalities, and start the engines to go fly.”



         “I swear Max, just when I think I’ve heard all your weird sayings… It’ll save us a lot of time though. Do that. ”



         They finished their meal in silence, each in thought about one thing or another. As soon as Morlo was done Max got up to take the plates back to the galley. He paused as he went to leave-



         “Morlo?”



         “Uh,” grunted Morlo in reply.



         “I um, have a request to make, sir, and I’d really like you to at least consider it.”



         “Yes?”



         “I’d be willing to do whatever you wanted sir, work extra hard, clear the ship maintenance workload, polish all the floors..”



         “Well, what is it?” snapped Morlo, getting irritated.



         “I, -I’d like to see my family while we’re on Earth, sir. Even if its just for a couple of minutes.”



         Morlo looked up from his computer and stared at Max. Max continued, “I never got to say good-bye to them sir. My wife, my daughters, they’ve been wondering where I am, -if I’m even alive! I just want to let them know I’m ok, even if I can never see or talk to them again. I-“



         “Absolutely not!” Said Morlo, slamming his fist into the table.



         “But sir-“



         “But nothing! If your family is anything even remotely like you, once they found out what you were to me I’d be dead so fast my mother would find my corpse in the crib thirty years ago! No, no, no, and no! I know you want to see them, but I’m not going to risk my life for that.”



         “We don’t have to tell them!”



         “I know what that collar prevents you from doing to me Max! I get an alert every time you even think something rebellious, I see your thoughts about me! You’re smart Max, I could forbid you from telling, but you’re crafty enough that I can’t trust you to not find a way around that. Maybe you should consider just accepting your position and try to enjoy what you can of it for once. Maybe if I could trust you to actually want to serve your master I would let you visit your family. Maybe even make a special trip to do it.”



The human’s posture seemed to melt. He muttered something that sounded like “Yes sir,” and ambled towards the galley down the hall. Morlo felt a twinge of guilt, but he knew he had been right in his decision.



***



“These are the co-ordinates to the pick-up,” explained Morlo, pointing to a spot on the globe just south of Lake Superior. “Our guys on the ground suggest coming down over the northern axis and hugging the terrain this way to the point. That area up here is supposedly mostly wilderness, and they say as long as we stay low, avoid any cities and don’t hit anything we should be undetected. But since you’re a native I figured I’d ask you as well. Are you familiar with this area of Earth?”



Max sighed. He could tell from Morlo’s tone of voice he was nervous about this pick-up. Max didn’t really understand why -they had done many other lifts from places far more hostile- and the middle of the U.P. wasn’t exactly densely populated either, but the tone of Morlo’s voice denoted that he was going to put up with Max’s desire to keep his previous life as hidden as possible.



         “I grew up here,” he replied, pointing to an area about fifty miles south of the indicated lift point. “So I would consider myself a little familiar. I don’t know if anything had changed.”



         “Can you see any flaws?”



         “Yes.”



         Morlo waited a few moments before he growled impatiently. Max still remained silent. “For the love of god, Max, stop making me force everything out you and tell me what you fucking know! What are the problems?”



         Max frowned, but the collar’s grip on his brain was ruthless, compelling him to speak: “We’ll be open to radar crossing Superior. The team should meet us on the north side of the lake, or west of Duluth.”



         “Where and where?”



         “This is Lake Superior, here,” said Max, pointing to the body of water. “This city here is Duluth. West and north of them there isn’t much. If your troops down there don’t want to cross the border into Canada, this nation up here, then they should meet us west of Duluth where we won’t have to cross any big bodies of water. And,” he added, looking Morlo in the eye, “Just because you own me now doesn’t give you the rights to the life I lived before.”



         Morlo, stared at the map. The image of his cousins chasing each other around, wrestling in the sand at the last family picnic he had been to floated across his mind. He shook his head to clear the memory, and turned back to Max. “I wish no harm to your family, friends, or kind. But being your handler does give me the rights to your memory, and intend on using it. I know you worry, but you don’t have to protect them. ”



         Max didn’t reply. Instead he fidgeted with his collar and stared at the globe with a glazed look in his eyes. Morlo noticed and briefly wondered what memories Max was experiencing. He considered asking, but the tears in the corners of the man’s eyes made him change his mind. “Go prep the cargo bay, and when that’s done you are at leisure.”



         Max looked up at his words, nodded, and left the cockpit.



         Several hours later Morlo had finish his review of the entry and exit routs, confirmed the randezvu time with the ground team, checked the cargo bay, and programmed the ship’s auto pilot to hold behind what Max had called a “New Moon” until the planet hat rotated enough to allow them to enter under the cover of darkness. Morlo shuffled down the passage way to his quarters, and as he did his thoughts returned to Max. The trip in general had to be rough on him. He was sure it had dug up memories that Max had buried since his capture, some probably good, others possibly bad, and all painful. He still felt the pang of guilt about denying Max the opportunity to “close the books” -as he had put it- with his family, but Morlo couldn’t endanger the operation like that. He shuddered. Or his own life, for that matter. Just the thought of a whole group of humans with the same tenacity and drive as Max-

He paused, having reached the door to Max’s cell. The door was open, a portal into darkness, but Max had heard what he thought was a stifled whimper. Or was it a sob? Come to think of it, how did Max’s species express sorrow and loneliness? He had seen Max cry once, when he had crushed his hand in the bay doors about a year ago, did his kind express mental pain the same way?

He paused for a moment outside the door. He didn’t hear anything more, but he wondered what he would feel if he found himself in a similar situation. Suddenly, an idea hit him.



         “Max, I know your still awake. Get up, and come to my quarters.”



There was silence. Morlo continued on to his quarters. He knew Max would fight the order while the collar forced his own brain to work against it’s self until he couldn’t stand it any longer and obeyed. In his own captain’s quarters Morlo got undressed and brushed his teeth. There was a noise, and he turned to see Max standing inside the doorway, glaring at him. Morlo pointed to his own, king-sized bed.



         “Get in.”



         Max’s expression changed in a flash from anger to pleading. His body jerked as he fought himself, one park of his mind hating, fearing what was coming, the other seeing obeying as essential to survival as breathing. “Please Morlo!” He begged, “I understand you have needs, but mentally I’m really not up to this. I mean, especially unrestrained. Can we at least use the rape stand? It’ll take some strain off my mind if-“



         “I’m not going to have sex with you Max.”



         Max went blank, half under the covers. “Uh,” he started, unsure of what to say.



         “I know its rough,” Morlo said as he slid into the bed, “being home but unable to see those you love and you miss so much. You probably hate me for it, and there isn’t another person you’d rather not be around, but I don’t care. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”



         “I-“



         “I don’t care. Relax for once Max. This is another pick-up for me, nothing more. For you, though, it must be very painful. Part of being a handler means you have to take care of your ehrak, and the more personal your ehrak serves you the more personal you have to take care of them. I care about you Max, and hurting you is the last thing I want to do.”



“Then don’t.”



“You don’t always give me a choice Max. I have to maintain control or I loose my job, the ship, you, everything. You know that. Why can’t you just relax and trust me? Why can’t you be good and obey when you’re not working on the ship?”



         “Because that’s who I am, sir.”



         “I know Max,” replied Morlo, running his fingers through Max’s unkempt hair. “And I love you for it. It’s just frustrating sometimes, that’s all.”



         “I’m sorry?”



         Morlo threw back the covers on the other side and sat down. “Don’t be. Nobody knew your values before you were taken, or they probably would have chosen someone better suited. Besides, I know you try. You just need to learn to accept your role. There isn’t any shame in it. It’s not like you had a choice.”



         Max finished climbing under the covers, muttering something about choice and caring. He lay on his side, facing away from his master. Morlo moved behind him and slid an arm under Max’s neck, wrapping it across the human’s chest. He lay his other arm on Max’s side, wrapping his fingers around his collar before leaning in to whisper in his ear:

“You know, I never thought I’d ever hear you ask to use the rape stand.”



“Fuck you Morlo.”



Morlo gave Max a squeeze. “I’m glad I have you too, Max. ”





         

***



Morlo glanced over at Max, who was staring at the the rising moon with a blank expression.



“Are you ok, ehrak?”



“My friend and I hiked that hill over there when I was seventeen,” said Max, not breaking his stare. “We swore at the crest that if anything ever happened, anything world shattering or devastating to one of our lives, we would meet the other at the top of that hill at the drop of a hat. For over fifteen years, it’s been our secret. Until now, that is. I can’t help but wonder if he’s needed my help in that time. Sent that message. Sat on top of that hill for days or weeks waiting for me. I am not ok, sir, and I don’t know if I ever will be.”



Morlo patted Max on his back. “It’s rough, but none of it is your fault. You can’t do or have done anything about it, or you would have. I’m sure your friend would understand if he knew.”



“I know. I just want to tell him.”



Morlo opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the crackle of the comm.



“Orris, this is Shovel.”



“Go Shovel,” replied Morlo.



“Cargo is go. Are you going to open up or are we just going to sit here till daybreak?”



“You’re an hour late, like you can talk.” Morlo closed the channel and stood up, stretching his limbs. “Well, we’d better get this over with. I hope they brought some help; I’m not looking forward to moving eight tons of fruit with just the two of us.”



Max got up and followed Morlo towards the cargo bay. He stopped in front of the storage compartment outside his cell and held out his arms. Morlo turned and looked at him, cocking his head to the size in puzzlement. Max read the gesture.

“Go ahead, let’s do this.”



Morlo sighed, then gave Max a hard look. “You. Will. Not. Cause. Any. Problems. Understand?”



Max nodded, and Morlo motion for Max to follow him. “If you do, I’ll stand on that button until that collar starts smoking.”



“You won’t need it sir.”



“Good.”



“And thank you.”



Morlo patted Max on the back again, then activated the terminal beside the cargo doors. The screen flicked to life, and they could see a group of three humans standing outside.



         “Code?” asked Morlo.



         “Whitefish,” replied one of the humans.



         “And the cargo?”



         “Prairie grass and dog shit.” Another said in english. Morlo glanced down at the phonetics he had on his PDA.



“Its legit,” said Max.



Morlo nodded, pressed a few things on the terminal, and opened the door. The cool, crisp air poured in with a hiss as the hydraulics drew the doors apart. Max closed his eyes as the air flowed over him, fighting tears as the summer forest smells washed over him, dragging up memory after memory. Morlo didn’t wast any time getting down he business as he ignored his slave.



“Where is it?”



“In those crates.”



“Cripes that’s a lot! Your going to give us a hand, right?”



“Before any fruit is moved, you pay.”



Max was remembering another night, years ago, when he and his friend had lay on a near by mountain top and watched the meteors and satellites streak over head. But he heard Morlo sigh, and the clink as he handed over a sack that would have the gold chips in it. There was a smack, probably the data brick containing all the intel that had been gathered since the last visit. There was a chuckle, and he heard footsteps start to walk away,

“Have fun moving alone!” Another voice called.



Max opened his eyes. The doors were opened to a small clearing, in which a circle of pick-ups surrounded a pyramid made of plastic crates filled with what looked like apples. There was a group of about ten men or so, smirking at Morlo, who was looking a bit overwhelmed. Max looked back at the men, threw back his head-



and he howled.



The men stopped smiling. Morlo stared at him.



And the wolves began howling back.



“Here,” said Max, “you are never, ever alone.”



Slowly the man who was beginning to seem like their leader broke into a nasty smile. “I can see why they sold you off. There’s your help Morlo!”



With that they quickly got into their trucks and left, leaving Max and Morlo in the clearing illuminated only by the bay lights. They stood for a few minutes, listening to the wolves howl.



“I don’t know what scared them more,” said Morlo, “You, or whatever is calling out there.”



Max smiled, enjoying what he took to be a compliment as he stepped off the ramp, hoisted the first crate of apples up and began carrying it onto the ship. Morlo sighed and followed, grunting as he hoisted a crate up. Not to his surprise Max was suddenly beside him again, picking up another crate before scurrying off with it. Morlo watched him effortlessly jog the crate up the ramp, across the bay, and set it down in the far corner beside the first one.



He never complained about Max being lazy.



****



Morlo groaned as he sank into the booth. All eight thousand pounds of apples had been loaded and secured in under an hour, and he didn’t feel like moving off this seat for the next day and a half. Max seemed to be fairing a lot better, and was scratching up something in the galley. They had followed the ground back to the northern axis, -dodging a small airplane and nearly clipping a tower crane in the process- and then left by straight ascent. The last leg had taken a healthy bite of their fuel, but they could restock at one of the many oasis that dotted the galaxy.

He pulled out his PDA to review his payload and rout destination when he noticed that someone had left a message for him. He tapped the screen to pull the message up, his eyes following the screen as Max slid into the seat across from him, shoving a plate and utensils at him. Morlo groaned.



    “Lemme guess, they want us to bring the apples back.” Said Max with a grin.



    “No,” said Morlo, “Change in destination. “Ethu-“



    “Eperon,” corrected Max.



    “Yeah, they didn’t want to pay for this stuff, so we’re diverting to Romuk. Apparently they will, though I don’t know why.”



    “That’s your birth planet though, isn’t it?”



    “It is.”



    “So why is going there so terrible? Wait, I know. Your family doesn’t like you because your gay.”



    Morlo gave Max a perplexed look. “Uh… no. I actually enjoy my family a fair bit. But it’s the fact that their over on the far side of Andromeda. Nearest fuel is about two thousand parsecs into the milky way, so we’d have to go back, refuel, and then make the jump.”



    “Ugh,” groaned Max, “That’s a lot of shipboard time.”



    “It is. Not to mention a lot in fuel. These ‘apples’ must be pretty special, eh?”



    Max shrugged. “Not really. I mean, they taste good, but that’s about it.”



    Morlo shook his head, wondering what spurred on some of the actions of his superiors. Needing a break he picked up a spoon and looked down at the congealing pink mess slopped across what he had come to know as “rice”.



    “What the hell Max!? Did you puke on mine? Are you ill?”



    There was a chuckle across the table. “MMmmmm,” said Max, stirring his own puke-ish plate up before shoving a spoonful into his mouth with a smile.



    “Your disgusting,” Morlo grimaced before timidly sniffing his plate.



    The tantalizing oder could have been any number of things, but it definitely wasn’t something that Max had regurgitated. Morlo imitated Max’s action of stirring the sauce into the rice before having a taste. He swiftly came to the conclusion that even if Max had puked on his plate, if he could make it taste like this he didn’t care.



    “This is amazing! What the heck is this?”



    “Shrimp Etouffe.”



    “Srimth… well, whatever it’s called. Its amazing. Remind me to have you cook it for my family when we get to Romuk-“ Morlo realized that he had just brought up a sensitive topic, and he prepared himself to have to debate with Max again. He could hear it now: “Oh, so we can visit your family…”



    But the attack never came. Instead, Max shoveled away his plate and got up, offering to take Morlo’s half finished plate as well. Morlo waved him off, not yet done eating, so Max returned towards the galley and Morlo brought up his PDA again, this time to the payload. He scanned down everything indicated, checking it off against what was on his manifest. He got to the last item and froze. Over a hundred gigabytes of data had been downloaded over Earth’s planet wide network. His first concern was that someone on Earth had been alerted to their presence and had hacked into the Orris’s computer system. He started to delete the package, then stopped as he remembered Max passing the opportunity to harass him at dinner.



    He isolated the package to his PDA before disconnecting it from the network. If Max had initiated the connection and downloaded the file it could be anything. True, Morlo didn’t think Max would do anything to hurt the ship -he took too much pride in the Orris- or that Earth would even have anything capable of interrupting her systems, but he knew better than to risk underestimating Max. On the other hand, Max might have found something he wanted. Something he actually enjoyed and desired, something Morlo could with hold from him and use as a reward.



    Morlo had read the training manual forwards and backwards that first year, desperate to find something that would calm the angry man and get him to be accepting of his position. The theory was simple: punish behavior that the slave knew was bad, and reward behavior that Morlo wanted. The only problem was that the only things Max cared about were the Orris, something Morlo himself cared deeply about and couldn’t with hold work from Max, and his freedom. Morlo had tried with holding food, clothes, privacy, hearing, even the ability to talk, but the problem was that as soon as Morlo started using something as a reward, Max wanted nothing to do with it. Three weeks after he stopped using food Max still refused to eat, only ending his fast when he slipped into a coma while trying to climb up the ladder to the bridge. Max’s vow of silence lasted almost six months, ending in a torrent of profanity after he had caught his hand in the cargo bay’s hydraulic linkage.

    Max would have known Morlo would discover the file after he had downloaded it, which meant that wanted it bad enough that he didn’t care. And since this had been the first time the file had been accessed since it was downloaded, Max hadn’t copied it from the ship’s computer onto anything else yet. And now he couldn’t.



    Soft footsteps paused around the corner of the booth behind Morlo. Max was back, trying to be invisible. Sometimes he was good at it, other times, like now, he wasn’t.



    “Max,” said Morlo in a normal voice, “Did you download anything from Earth side servers?”



    Max stepped out from behind the corner. He looked nervous: his hands cupping his elbows in front of him, the faint smell of sweat mixed with fear, and he trembled slightly. He paused long and hard, fighting the impossibly fight to lie. Morlo simply waited, knowing the answer from Max’s actions before he even opened his mouth.



    “Yes. Yes I did sir. Its not important to you at all though sir. If I were you, I’d just throw it all out. Delete it. There could be anything in there. Think about Orris and her systems. It was really stupid of me. I’m really, really, sorry sir. You should just can the whole thing now and I’ll go wait in my cell to be punished. I-“



    “Shut up Max.”



    “Yessir.”



    “And it’s nothing? Over a hundred gigabytes of worthless data?” Morlo looked up at Max for the first time and broke into a smile.



    “It’s worthless to you sir. And it might damage Orris’s systems. Please, just delete it before it’s ope-“



    “Nice try Max, but I already know to take your ‘truths’ literally and to read more of what is not said than what is. Just because it might be worthless to me doesn’t mean its worthless to you. In fact, I think it’s worth a good bit to you, and you know what I’ll do with it if I discovered that truth out as well.”



    “But it might hurt the Orris! Dele-“



    “I seriously doubt that, and just to make sure I’m going to screen all the data to make sure. Sit down over there now, Max, and don’t leave until you are excused. I’m going to have you explain exactly what everything in this package is, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.”



    Max slammed himself into the seat across from Morlo, shooting him a look that would freeze methane.



    “I FUCKING HATE THIS GODDAMN COLLAR!” He screamed, slamming his fists into the table top. “I HATE IT, AND I HATE YOU! I CAN’T EVEN KILL MYSELF! WHY? WHAT THE FUCK?” He finish, slamming his head onto the table between his fists. He lay there, and began weeping, wrapping his arms around his head.



    Morlo felt a twinge of sympathy for the man, but he didn’t let it show. Instead he pulled up the file, labeled in characters he couldn’t read, and turned the PDA around.



    “Look at this Max,” he said, pointing to the icon. Max looked at the screen, the muscles in his neck bulging and throbbing as he fought himself internally, tooth and nail.



    “Is this the package you downloaded?”



    “Yes.” Max seethed.



    “What is this package?”



    “Its everything off what was my computer at my house.”



    “So what is in it?”



    Max chuckled, “I hope you’re comfortable, because that’s one hell of a list. Let me see, there’s recipes, old work schedules, project cost projections, budgets for projects and my family, tax packages from the past eight years, test-“



    “What files were you interested in this package? I don’t doubt you hid your needles in a needle stack.”



    Max frowned. “My writings from before I was taken. A big collection of stories by other people. Music. Photos I took, and any that my family uploaded after I left -I wanted to see how they’ve all grown, what they’ve done. Some instructions for some of my old hobbies I miss, games I wanted to play while we’re out for months at a time -just to pass the time better. Technical books that I’d find useful at work and…”



    “And?”



    “And a journal I used to keep on my computer. I’d update it weekly, or whenever something important happened. My wife enjoyed reading it whenever I was gone on business, and she’d update it sometimes as well. I wanted to read any of her entries since I left, as well as… as well as tell her that I was sorry, that I miss her, and good-bye. I posted an entry before I downloaded the file.”



    Morlo nodded, “Did you divulge anything you shouldn’t have?”



    Max shook his head, and stared at his open hands. “No. Just that I was enslaved, and not on Earth anymore. In the package there were also writing programs that I could use in my native language, some engineering software, a flight simulator, and the operating system needed to open everything. That’t why I downloaded the whole computer.”



    Morlo nodded, and was about to speak when he noticed Max was still struggling internally.



    “What else?”



    Max looked Morlo in the eyes with fire and grinned. The captain felt the fur on the back of his neck rise as the human spoke.



    “The secrets I hid for my posterity should they ever need to secure their freedom. But you can’t find all of it. I’ve outsmarted you Morlo. I outsmarted you and this god forsaken collar, and I did it before I knew of either of you. Oh, you can force me to show it to you, explain it to you, but the only way you’ll ever understand it is if you knew who I was, who I still am.”



    Morlo, smiled back at Max, convinced he was either trying to talk himself up in an attempt to hide something, or the internal conflict with the collar had finally broken his mind. “Well then Max, who are you?”



    Max leaned over the table and whispered, “A free man.”