Ch.153One Step Forward, Three Steps Back! (5)

#153

When Dexter first heard the news that he would be working as a guard at a women’s prison, he had many thoughts.

Since they could watch movies and dramas from Earth even in space, he expected all sorts of cruel incidents and endless accidents to occur in prison.

‘Turns out prison is just another place where people live.’

Surprisingly, no major fights broke out unless they involved Jessie and Emily.

In particular, Honeygood Prison, where Dexter worked, had relatively good conditions despite being privately operated, so the inmates’ moods weren’t bad.

Dexter, with a relaxed expression, was strolling around the yard of Medium Security Facility Block 2, looking around.

Due to Nevada’s murderous heat, not many inmates chose to exercise outside, leaving the area mostly empty except for a few people.

Then a Latino inmate standing close to the building caught Dexter’s eye.

‘Hmm?’

The Latino inmate with a ponytail had a scar across his cheek, suggesting he’d lived a rather rough life.

Otherwise, he was an unremarkable inmate, but the problem was that he was intently staring at a group of four Black inmates near the fence.

It wasn’t just a casual glance, but a look filled with hostility.

‘I wouldn’t even look at my parents’ murderer like that.’

It seemed like trouble might brew if left alone, but he couldn’t put someone in solitary confinement just for glaring at other inmates.

‘I’ll leave it be for now.’

After making sure to remember the inmate’s face, Dexter entered Medium Security Facility Block 2.

‘Why is the atmosphere so strange today?’

It was quiet.

He could feel that the atmosphere was different from usual.

Just a few days ago, inmates would normally be joking with each other or talking so loudly that passing guards would have to tell them to quiet down.

But today was different.

‘Was it like this in the morning too?’

As Dexter thought back to the morning, he realized things had indeed been odd since then.

‘It was quieter than usual.’

Everyone was doing their own tasks, but there was hardly any conversation, and above all, everyone seemed to be watching each other cautiously.

Normally, inmates would have thrown some jokes at Dexter when he entered the building, but today they just quickly looked away when they saw him.

‘What on earth is going on?’

When he asked Dan, who was in the staff area, Dan just shrugged.

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this in all my time as a guard.”

“I don’t understand why they’re acting this way.”

“Even when I asked the inmates, they said it was nothing… But apparently the atmosphere has been strange since after we clocked out yesterday.”

“Is that so?”

Even Dan, who was more experienced than Dexter, found the inmates’ behavior strange.

“Don’t you have any inmates you’re friendly with?”

“You know my situation. I was even summoned by Raymond for being too friendly with a particular inmate.”

“Just try to probe a bit.”

If this continued, both Dan and Dexter would find it unbearable.

Leaving the staff area, Dexter headed to Emily’s cell and immediately witnessed a strange sight as he looked inside.

Emily, who rarely showed emotion, was sitting on her bed with furrowed brows, resting her chin on her hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“…You’re here?”

Her voice was even lower than usual.

Seeing Emily like this, Dexter almost thought the world might be ending today.

“What’s going on with everyone?”

“It’s because of the new person.”

“New person? An inmate?”

“Yes. The one in cell 38.”

Dexter recalled the morning roll call.

“Cell 38… Oh. That woman with the shaved head? I don’t remember her name… but it was a new face.”

Emily, seemingly not wanting to even think about that person, turned her head sharply and said:

“That’s right. Turner.”

“Turner?”

“It’s common sense to leave people alone if they’re minding their own business.”

“It’s a bit strange hearing that from you, but go on.”

“She keeps bothering me.”

This was the first time Emily had expressed such discontent, even though she would normally remain silent when other inmates threw punches at her.

“If she hit me or pressured me, I’d understand. But she keeps invading my space.”

“Your space.”

Everyone has their own personal space.

While everyone has their own space, there are those like Dexter who hardly set boundaries, and those who think, ‘Just don’t enter my space and we’re fine.’

Emily was the latter.

“I come into your cell whenever I want too.”

“Well, you’ve been in my deepest space already.”

Dexter chuckled at that remark.

“Well, that aside. How does she invade your space?”

“She comes in without saying anything, or sometimes takes my things. She also has this attitude of not caring what I say. Even if I kick her out, she comes back.”

Dexter found this a bit ironic.

“Isn’t that exactly what you do?”

“I don’t do that.”

“What do you mean you don’t?”

Emily was someone with exceptional skills at entering garages without the owner’s permission or taking cars.

“Should I euphemistically say that one of your charges is being a specialist in car ownership transfer?”

“In prison, I don’t…”

“You don’t?”

“Well, I might have done it a few times.”

While he didn’t know much about Turner, Dexter felt she might be similar to Emily in some ways.

“Rumors say she’s a neo-Nazi.”

“A racist?”

“That’s common in prison.”

Dexter looked at the red-headed Emily.

With her relatively tall stature and long limbs, Emily had what might be considered an ideal white appearance on the surface.

‘But she has red hair.’

While Dexter actually found her hair color attractive, some people dislike red hair.

Some even discriminate against it because they believe Judas, Jesus’s disciple, had red hair.

Of course, there’s no evidence anywhere that Judas had red hair.

Anyway, Dexter became curious about this inmate named Turner who might be trying to include Emily, with her relatively discriminated-against red hair, in her group. He nodded.

“Just bear with it a little longer. You’ll be out soon anyway.”

“That’s hard to do.”

“Why?”

“I get angry just looking at that bitch.”

“Huh.”

When Emily, who rarely cursed, used such language, Dexter realized the situation might be more serious than he thought.

“I’ll meet her once, I guess. I’ll also tell the other guards to keep an eye out. We can’t punish her when no actual problem has occurred yet.”

“I understand what you’re saying.”

Emily’s expression returned to its usual emotionless state.

Dexter approached Emily and gently touched her furrowed brow with his thumb.

“Relax your face.”

“…Alright.”

Now that he knew which inmate was causing problems, he needed to talk to Dan, the senior guard.

When he returned to the staff area, Dan was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

“What did she say?”

“She said an inmate named Turner is causing problems.”

“Turner? Turner… The one who was transferred here a few days ago. The one with the shaved head.”

“Probably? There’s talk about her being a neo-Nazi and quite racist.”

“Racism is common in prison, so that’s unavoidable, but a neo-Nazi, well…”

Still with his arms crossed, Dan rolled his eyes and trailed off.

As in other prisons, it was common for inmates to group together by race, and Honeygood Prison was no different.

When you put together people who don’t know each other, there’s nothing easier than dividing them based on appearance.

“They can form gangs, but neo-Nazis are a bit much. I should mention this to Raymond. The warden won’t like it either.”

“Why the warden?”

“Oh, at the beginning of the year, he talked about operating an ‘equal prison’ or something like that. While it’s inevitable that inmates of the same race stick together, supremacy is a step too far.”

“Hmm. He might not like it.”

“At most, they’ll move her to Block 3 or 4 where surveillance is better, but that’s better than nothing.”

Dan took a sip of coffee from the cup on his desk and said:

“By the way, which inmate are you friendly with?”

“Curious?”

Seeing Dexter’s smile, Dan frowned and said:

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“Of course not. There are so many people who would be jealous.”

“Huh, popular men really are different.”

As someone who embodied the epitome of ordinariness, Dan couldn’t understand Dexter’s life.

* * *

“Oh my goodness! I knew that if I lived righteously, a day like this would come!”

After leaving the Turner-related matters to other guards and clocking out, Dexter entered the Special Investigation Team’s office to find William crying profusely.

William Pilgrim, an ill-fated civilian researcher whose predictions were accurate but who couldn’t be employed due to significant mental issues, had officially joined the government’s secret agency, the Office of Space Affairs.

According to Himena, who had brought him to the office, William had been jumping around and rolling on the floor until just before Dexter arrived, after first entering the OSA during Dexter’s off-duty hours.

“Mr. Pilgrim, why are you crying on such a good day?”

William, who had been sitting at his desk crying without noticing Dexter’s arrival, grabbed Dexter’s hand tightly and said:

“Thank you, this is all thanks to you.”

Seeing this, Himena smiled gently and said:

“I told the director that we’re severely understaffed and internal personnel aren’t willing to join, so he suggested we look externally.”

Himena handed William a handkerchief and looked at Dexter as she continued:

“So a few days ago, I directly proposed to the director about bringing Mr. Pilgrim onto our team, and he approved it without saying a word.”

“That’s great. How are you doing these days, Mr. Pilgrim? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, really! The medication provided by OSA is incredibly effective!”

“Medication?”

“It seems his hormonal issues were significant. So I asked the Science and Technology Department if they had any hormone-controlling medication, and they gave us pills that only need to be taken once a week.”

“Is it a permanent cure?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure about the mechanism of the drug.”

After briefly talking with Dexter, Himena looked at William and said:

“Mr. Pilgrim is… our Special Investigation Team’s investigation support. You can research as much as you like, and freely use OSA’s facilities and materials. But you need to help us as much as possible when we’re investigating, you understand that, right?”

Having already been briefed once, William nodded and started a different conversation:

“By the way, is the Special Investigation Team just the two of you?”

“Ah, that. There’s also a friend named Jessie who works in the maintenance department.”

“Hmm…”

William seemed to sense something odd about the significantly smaller number of personnel compared to other departments, but he was so excited about being inside OSA that he quickly dismissed his suspicions.

“Good, very good!”

Seeing William’s cheerful smile, Himena showed him a new photo created based on Ambassador Yekaterina Anna’s description of Commander Olivia and the impression Dexter had seen.

“…She’s quite beautiful.”

“This woman is that person.”

“That person?”

“The one you researched before, Mr. Pilgrim. The person who could pose a threat to this world.”

“This is that person?”

William carefully examined the full-body image of Commander Olivia, then nodded.

“She’s currently under investigation for illegal human experimentation involving merging the Engineer, who was OSA’s technical advisor, with a car. Of course, there are other charges as well.”

When Himena also handed over documents summarizing the cases she and Dexter had solved, William began to read them carefully.

“I’ll need to pull all the documents related to the case… Do I have that authority?”

“Of course. You can do it whenever you need to.”

Beaming with joy at finally being involved in important work related to aliens, William said:

“This is… truly thrilling!”

Just as Himena and Dexter, who had rarely seen someone so genuinely happy, were smiling along with him…

-Ring ring.

The landline phone in the office rang.

Specifically, it was the phone on Himena’s desk.

Himena picked up the receiver.

“Yes, this is Libero… Yes. No, not there but Nipton… What? The entire area? Wait, what about Orbis Corporation? Oh, that’s safe… Yes, I understand for now. Please let me know if you find the cause. Yes. I understand, see you later.”

When Himena put down the receiver, her face was grim.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Pink Industries has been completely burned down.”

“Burned down? Everything’s gone?”

“Yes. And apparently people were inside…”

As Dexter and Himena’s expressions hardened, William, not knowing what was happening, could only look back and forth between their faces and the documents.