Deep Yellow Read Online Free PDF Page A

heavily.
Grabbing a towel, she wiped the sweat off her hair and stared at
Carac's image. Years later, despite all his wealth and political
influence, he received a life sentence for corporate homicide. He
had filtered credits, bought cheap equipment, and when the mines
collapsed, two hundred staff died. He could not wriggle out of his
involvement, despite trials, appeals, and retrials. She enjoyed
watching the events unfold from the comfort of her cell. He had
only been in prison properly for a year.
    Missed me? Good luck
in prison. I believe you will be there a very long time
    That was just one of
the messages she received from him.
    When incarcerated
himself, more messages arrived.
    From one cell mate to
another. Happy birthday.
    So it went on. His
influence in prison allowed him to send messages outside of the
normal prison filters. He was always present, deep in her thoughts
or on her media cube, like an infatuated ex-boyfriend stalker.
    At the end of every
note, it said, “blue skin”, “bluey” or similar.
    She walked around in
circles, calming her breathing, shaking out her shoulders and arms,
then hit the punch bag four times. It was time to view her own
profile.
    ***
    She found her image
and paused the screen. A dispirited, dejected ex-Corpswoman, a Deep
Yellow and intox addict stared back at her. It was the lowest time
in her life and took no effort in remembering stepping off the
prisoner transport ship in beam cuffs. Passing through each
successive secure entranceway, she felt a growing realisation of
never seeing freedom in the outside world again. The processing
guard smirked when Brell was officially booked in, a convicted
Corpswoman in for life as well. The indignity of the body scans
whilst standing naked in a small room was one thing, but did it
need that many guards to observe the procedure? It was unlikely
that she would cause a problem or try to escape, but they all
wanted to have a look at her. Her case had been a popular news item
across the Association.
    Time to get it over
with.
    “Play.”
    “Born on Celeste to an
indigenous mother, Brellinane Sturlach grew up without knowing the
identity of her father. After a problematic childhood, she left
home and joined the Police Corps. Working on various inner cities
as well as mining and pleasure moons, she rose up the ranks, making
Captain with hopes of becoming a Skiff Commander.”
    “However, after a Deep
Yellow and intox session, she stole a Command Skiff, flew over the
Inter Association Hotel, and fired into the penthouse suite,
killing a hotel guest and seriously injuring his family. Extensive
damage was caused to the hotel.” Images of the dead man, his
family, and the hotel appeared on screen.
    “The Judiciary Corps
threw the full force of the law at her. The Police Corps were
embarrassed, the hotel had to be re-built, and the family was
devastated. Appearing at a real Assizes court, she received life
imprisonment for Association Homicide with yearly voluntary
termination interviews. She has currently served five years. Could
she be our winner?”
    Her profile had many
items, galleries, images, and streams to view. She pressed “Holo
psyche interview 4.”
    "Well, Brell, you have
been incarcerated for six months now. How are you settling in?" the
prison psyche analyst said.
    "What do you want me
to say? Wonderful, everybody is being so helpful. The taunts, snide
remarks, pushes, punches, etc, are just my fellow inmates settling
me in."
    "That’s to be
expected, though, isn’t it?"
    "Look, I’ve been
stripped of everything: pension, promotion, enhancements, self
belief, and status."
    "How is the Deep
Yellow treatment coming on?"
    "The psyche and holo
treatments have helped." Brell's voice trailed off.
    "Any virtual or real
visitors?"
    "Not my mother,
obviously. Gorst has made a holo visit. That’s it. As soon as I was
arrested, all my friends suddenly had something else to do."
    "So settling in okay,
then?"
    "You’ve been