Read Online Prisoner of Earthside: A Novella (STRYDER'S HORIZON Book 2) by Daniel J. Kirk - Free Book Online

of the Red Empress.”
    “What?”
    “The Red Empress attacked the moon, and claimed them. But Colonial pursued her crafts. That’s when we learned the attacks were all automated. The attack ended and the ships were retreating on programmed courses. The Colonials attacked every ship, but followed the wrong one. Knocked off its course and adrift for a year was the craft that imprisoned Thom Crisp and all the others. They were barely alive when we found them. They thought we were the Red Empress.”
    “So you rehabilitated them?”
    Gentry stayed down on his knees, still cowering from my rage.
    “Yes, I thought I cured them of their pain. We convinced them to start a new life. They all did. Even Thom Crisp. But they knew what had happened to them, and they started talking. Colonial didn’t like that and apparently someone else didn’t like it. The survivors started to die. They came to one of my Jubilees and we concocted this plan of misinformation.”
    “A lie.”
    “The sole survivor,” he said. “We could put out a press release, make a big show of it. I of course would be called in to help with his rehabilitation and the profits I would reap would only further my ministry.”
    “Why did Nehalem think Thom Crisp was a traitor?”
    “Nehalem was crazy. He had been promoted to keep him out of the way. He didn’t voice his concerns to anyone in Colonial. He had dinner with us as friendly as could be but….”
    “But what?”
    “We didn’t know he was killing the survivors. That he had worked to land himself here in Earthside to expose Thom Crisp as a traitor and kill him as well.”
    “But Thom Crisp is not a traitor.” I wanted to make sure we were clear on that.
    “Thom Crisp is not a traitor. Nehalem was delusional, a product of paranoia after the Massacre on Pendant’s Ridge. He lost his wife and two daughters that day.”
    “Was Randall helping him?” I asked.
    “Colonial believes so, I don’t know. But the boy is to take the fall for his father’s actions. That has already been decided.”
    “But he didn’t kill his father did he?”
    Gentry didn’t answer. I could tell he didn’t want to.
    “Who killed Grand Officer Nehalem?”
    “He won’t be charged for it. Trust me, it’s better this way. We need hope. Thom Crisp is supposed to be our hope.”
    I realized now, Thom killed Nehalem when he found out all his friends were being murdered. It was a messy kill. Thom had made Nehalem suffer.
    “Well if that’s all settled, can my friend see him now?”
     
     

14. THE PRISONER
     
    In a moment in time nothing else mattered.
    It didn’t matter that Randall Nehalem was being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. It didn’t matter that I was being awarded some random medal of honor for assisting the Colonial in his capture.
    All that mattered was Thom Crisp and Alice Murphy. Their embrace was short. It was like that moment when you wake up and touch your face to be certain you’re awake. They stared, taking in the years that had past. Their eyes actually sparkled from where I was sitting. I know it was just the way the sun was coming in through the window, but it didn’t feel like it.
    Gentry caught me smiling.
    “You owe me for this,” he said. “There were those in Colonial who thought it would be wise to kill two birds with one stone if you get my drift. I want you to keep that in mind, Kimberly. I’m not as high and mighty as I pretend to be. My reach only goes so far. I called in a favor for you.”
    “Don’t worry about me anymore,” I said.
    “But you’re right about me, aren’t you?”
    “That you’re a creepy asshole? I can get others to vouch for that if you really want me to.”
    Gentry shrugged. “I was better when I was younger. I wasn’t happy then either. But I saw all this as what I wanted to have. Now I need it. I’m a fraud, Kimberly. Those two are real. I bet that’s why he did it.”
    “Did what?”
    “When I came up with the plan of the sole