The Labyrinths of Karrack-Sol 

Tommy De-Haniler stepped cautiously from the translator and looked around him. He had entered a small cave with a single entrance, a short tunnel falling away from him opening into the bright sunlight beyond. No bars, no cells, no manacles hanging on the walls and no baying inmates. 

'Mr?' A soft gravelly voice echoed around the cave. 

Tommy instinctively swung round, his legs braced he swiftly brought up his fists in front of his face. He looked sharply about him. The look on his face told of a man unafraid, untamed and ruthlessly vicious. 

At the back of the cavern sat a man hunched over a single wooden desk. In the gloom Tommy could just make out that his frame was that carried by the elderly, shrunk over the years with a fragile brittleness about it. His suit had assumed a certain familiarity with its owner, it hung upon him creased, frayed a little round the edges and worn thin with age - both it and its owner had seen better days. The man's hand hung over a large red ledger open on the desk in front of him. For a moment his bushy white eyebrows arched questioning at Tommy awaiting a response.  

He repeated his question. 'Mr?' 

Tommy took a step forward warily checking back down the tunnel for any Gorratt-hounds before turning back to the seated figure. 'Tommy De-Haniler.' 

It was a name that would have made the people of the dust ridden moons of Riddoh shudder. Tommy watched the old man for signs of any reaction.  

'Ah yes. Here we have it,' remarked old man impassively as he ran his fingers down the page. He made a swift tick in the book. 

Tommy could hear the wind buffeting the mouth of the tunnel. He rolled his hands into balls and readied himself for what might lie beyond.  

'Well then. That's the paperwork done.' The book owner rattled quietly to himself before easing his shallow frame up from the table. He gazed slightly diffidently at the heavy ledger and with an effort lifted it, struggled across to the old mechanical safe at the back of the cave and slipped it in. Closing the safe door he spun the combination lock, then brushing his hands together he shuffled across the rock strewn floor. Suddenly he looked up as if he'd forgotten Tommy was there. 'Ah, yes. There you are. I suppose you have some questions.' 

'Where am I?' 

'The planet of Karrack-Sol. You may have heard of it. It's famous for its labyrinths among a few other things. The labyrinths are the home of the Tazi worm, it makes its home in the caverns roofs. The worm has an odd bio-luminescent property that makes it glow different colours in the darkness. With billions of them lining the tunnel walls the effect is unbelievably spectacular, it would no doubt be visited more but for the nature of this planet.' He nodded reassuringly to Tommy before adding. 'In some ways you are most fortunate to have the opportunity to see them.' 

'Sure I'm lucky. Reeeaaaallly lucky.' Tommy growled, momentarily flashing his metal cased teeth. The old man looked a bit of a pushover. 'Your labyrinths, never heard of them.' 

'Ah well Mr De-Haniler that doesn't surprise me, most people have not to tell you the truth.' He gathered Tommy's arm in his hand and led him gently down the tunnel. 'Shall we walk down together so you can get a better look?' 

'Why am I here?' Tommy checked up and down the tunnel. No restraining bars, no psi correctional headsets. Just the old man.  

'Why Mr De-Haniler? We both know why you are here. The planets send their worst criminals here. It's a penal colony. Don't tell me you're innocent.' His wizened face looked up at Tommy's in mock seriousness. 

Tommy shrugged his shoulders.  

'Now there's a good lad, let's not have all that pretence shall we. It's just you and me here today. You know you've done some pretty terrible things which is why you are here. Like all the others your death sentence has been commuted to life on Karrack-Sol. You heard the ruling and now you are here.' 

Tommy gestured down the wind swept tunnel. 'So out there, what is it? Forty degrees below or a sun so hot I'll burn the skin off my back. What?'  

'No, not at all. The planet is a perfect place for self-contemplation and the enrichment of the soul. It's mostly mountainous. Full of snow caped peaks and long valleys and a sky so blue it overwhelms the senses. In the spring the pink blossom of the Fuller trees is swept by the cool breezes up the valleys like huge clouds of migrating butterflies. In the summer you'll be able to walk among the tall meadow grasses and run your hand through the myriad of wild flowers. The autumn brings spectacular colour to the lower pastures, and in the winters the glistening white snow caps crawl down from the mountains to touch the upper pastures. You are in a way most fortunate to be here. See for yourself.' 

'If I don't want to?' Tommy stooped and glared at the hand guiding him. 

For a moment the old man watched as a tattoo of a serpents head appeared between the forefingers of one of Tommy's battered hands before disappearing and slowly making itself up his arm, its long green body twisting and turning slowly around his forearm before disappearing under his shirt sleeve. 

'Like it?' Tommy pulled open his shirt to reveal the serpent curled up across his chest. 'I had it done in Dampner City.' 

'Very interesting Mr De-Haniler. I'm sure you were very pleased. The work of a true artisan. There are a few others here with such body art but none as well executed as that.' Smiling fleetingly he gently placed his hand back under Tommy's arm and steered him down the tunnel until they stood at its mouth. 

They were high above a wide rocky crevice. Tommy could see green meadows far below and glistening mountains rearing up high above them. The warm wind ran up the rock face pulling reassuringly at his shirt. The sun above was blinding bright. He shaded his eyes with his hand. 'So it doesn't look too bad. I can just go where I want?' 

'Wherever you want Mr De-Haniler, see it as a brand new adventure in your life.' 

'Food. What about food and what if I need medical support?' Tommy steeped cautiously back into the tunnel. 

'Well there you are most fortunate. You see Karrack-Sol is most unusual; its sun has a most peculiar property, an amazingly regenerative effect on the body. You will not need to eat or drink, you will never fall ill. In fact when they sentenced you to life it was a little more than perhaps even you anticipated.' 

'You mean it will extend my life expectancy. How long old man?' 

For a moment his guide looked a little put out. 'Well some of the prisoners here, and I'll admit there are not many, this sort of facility goes in and out of fashion. Err now I've forgotten. What was the question?' 

'How long to people live here?' 

'Yes, thank you. When I come to think of it there no record of anyone ever dying and the prison's been running for some five hundred years.' 

Tommy blew out a low whistle of disbelief from between his scarred lips. 

'Step out Mr De-Haniler. Go on, try it.' 

They stepped into the sun together. Tommy instantly grabbed the old man to steady himself. His heart raced, he could feel the blood pulsing around his body like it was going to explode out of his veins. His head felt as if he was sucking in huge lungfull's of pure oxygen. An explosion of adrenaline smashed through his body. 

'Do you feel it? Invigorating isn't it?'  

'I'll say.' Tommy flexed his broad shoulders, sucked in more air and glared up at the sun. 'What a rush!' 

'But there is one more thing I must tell you about. The planet has but one single native species- the Necronak. They are very few, so few in fact they are probably close to extinction I should imagine.' 

'Uh huh.' Tommy stared at his arms and flexed his muscles testing his new found energy. 'What does it look like?' 

'No one has ever reliably reported what it looks like. Some see it as a giant bird with huge tearing talons, others, a giant fanged Tobag. Some talk of a red eyed beast that lurks in the labyrinths. So it's really hard so say what it is.' 

'So why should I care.'  

'Mr De-Haniler. Unfortunately it does need to eat. It seems the sun does not have the same effect on life forms native to this planet as life forms from other worlds.' The old man tugged his ear reflectively as if considering the peculiarity of this. 'If it should catch you, it may take an arm or a leg, I knew one prisoner who unfortunately lost a head.'  

Tommy turned looked and looked down at his guide in disbelief. 

'Don't worry Mr De-Haniler the loss can be rather unsettling and somewhat painful but here arms and legs and even heads grow back again given a little time. I've seen it myself. Until...' 

'Until?' Tommy's shot black eyes looking searchingly into the old man's. 

'Until next time it catches you. It seems to understand it has a limited food supply so there is a need to eek it out, as it were.' 

'So where, if I want to, do I hide from this thing?'  

'Most prisoners head into the labyrinths, there is an opening over there.' He raised his arm and pointed across the valley. 'After a few run in's with the Necronak some find the whole experience rather unsettling and prefer to just bury themselves in the snow, or have their colleagues cover them in rocks. They can spend many years there undetected.' 

'You're kidding me.' 

'Don't be afraid Mr De-Haniler, your people have made this decision for you. It is the case that after a few encounters with the Necronak most of the inmates here seem to lose their propensity for violence. I suppose they could be repatriated back into society but it all seems somewhat academic given that the sentence here is a lifetime one. But far be it for me to question who is sent here and for what reason. I hope your life here is a very long one and we shall perhaps meet on occasion. I do enjoy a little company. It can be quite lonesome here all by oneself. You should go now.' 

Tommy looked back up the tunnel. He wasn't going to live in some dam labyrinth waiting for some dam creature to come and lop off one of his limbs. The warden must have facilities back there, he could take those. The old man could go and live down his wonderful labyrinth if he liked it so much. 

'Well thank Warden.' Tommy reached down and shook the Wardens thin hand. 

'Oh, I'm not the Warden Mr De-Haniler. The Warden is up there somewhere hiding under thirty foot of snow. He made the mistake of stepping out into the sun you see. By doing so he put himself on the dining table as it were.'  

'What are you saying,' Tommy snapped. He drew his hand back instinctively bearing his teeth. 'You're a prisoner here as well? Like me?'  

'In a way I am Mr De-Haniler.' Slowly the old man's body darkened, his shape appeared to waver like a candles shadow before descending into a bout of violent shudders and spasms. Grey shadows writhed round the form as it took on a new shape. Whirling and twisting it rose above a transfixed Tommy. From the blur of shapes emerged, like a phoenix from the ashes, a huge chested beast, ochre skinned, wide black head pierced with burning devil sent eyes. 

Even as Tommy snapped back and flipped around to make his escape back down the tunnel he could feel the creature's tail snake around his legs and race up his body wrapping itself tightly round his chest, cracking the bones in his ribcage as it went. He cried out and tried desperately to tear free. 

Having him tight in its grasp the monster slowly unfurled its wings and looked up into the intense rays of the sun seemingly to soak the light into its ungodly form. Then it bent its demonic horned head down next to Tommy's, so close he could feel the hot breath on his face.  

From deep within the creature a guttural sound rose, 'I'm glad you walked into the sun Mr De-Haniler. Welcome to Karrack-Sol.'