Betaen 6.5 1

Excerpt from the “He Chronicles”.  Probably written 2468 after his release from the Mars penal colony.

Earth. An unknown bar. 2468

Then he hit me. Before I could move or react. Right on the nose. I could feel it break where it had broken before and felt the blood rush onto the table.I rocked back in the chair and noticed that there was a sudden silence in the bar. Everyone was looking. Then the music started again, the prattle, the jokes and laughter. It was just two men fighting over a woman. That still happened once in a while. Not often, but it still did.

I pinched my nose together with my thumb and forefinger like the women had shown me how to do in the pen. It had been a good punch.

She hadn’t moved. He stood up and came around the table. I started to get up but he pushed me back down.

„Lean your head back“ he said „Try not to swallow“

I leant my head back. He grabbed my nose and twisted deftly. It cracked but it didn’t hurt as much as it had before.

He sat back down and handed me a towel that the waitress had brought. I held it against my face until the bleeding stopped. They must have put some anti-coagulant on it because it stopped pretty fast. 

It was only then that I thought of it. We were here to talk about the photo. Why that fucking photo of her father was so important. 

„What has any of this got to do with that photo?“ I asked

„Everything“ she said.

„Catenol?“ I asked again, I couldn’t really believe it.

„Yes“ she still met my stare, and I was using my best I will not be raped stare „Catenol. Enough for a horse“

„That is why it’s always beech trees and moss right?“ I shook my head and downed my beer. There was blood in it. I have drank worse. „Because that’s what we talked about - about home and the trees and my memories“

She nodded. 

„I wanted you to have a nice memory when everything fucked up“

I wanted to tell her that it had been part of the torture, part of the unknown, this mantra leading to nothing but confusion, but I didn’t. That would have been too hard on her and I could see something in her eyes that was making me start to love her again. 

„How did it go down?“

He answered instead of her.

„I brought in a couple of people I knew I could trust and we triggered the Catenol when you came through the door. Used an EM pulse to do it. That would be the light you think you saw, probably affected your retinas a bit for a while“

„About three years“ I whispered into my beer. I don’t think he heard me.

„I‘ve investigated enough problem scenes on Betaen 6 to fake a good one. Everyone was certain of your guilt. Especially because there was never a body found. Just hair and skin and blood.“

I nodded. He had done a good job. His crime scene and the Catenol had put me away for a long time.

„You still haven‘t told me why?“ I said „I don‘t want to be maudlin, but I thought you loved me?“

She was sobbing. Huge gasps of air and sobs breaking from her. I had said something that hurt her as much as I had hurt the Inspector. But what had I said??

She managed to get herself under control. Choked back a sob and wiped her eyes. Looked at me with a look I hope she never gives me again.

„It's not about that. It's about you. And about me“ she drank down the dregs of her beer, trying to keep her herself together but I could see she was fraying „And its about that fucking photo. That photo is the reason why we did it. That fucking photo of my father“

I started to get up. I had to hug her. I couldn’t take this anymore.

„If you touch me I will kill you“ she whispered between her clenched teeth. Her jaw muscles were so tight they looked like wires under her skin.

I sat back down. I think she meant it.