Ch.4First Day on the Job!

5:00 AM.

Still too early for the sun to rise.

Dexter was tying his olive-colored necktie.

“I really had a good 8-week rest.”

It had been 15 years since he was forcibly boarded onto a space freighter.

For Dexter, holidays only existed when he was lying in a hospital bed.

He remembered something from 10 years ago.

Even with bandages wrapped tightly around his arms and legs, he had tried to leave the hospital, while the doctor and nurse held onto his limbs saying:

‘Patient, if you go out to work now, you’ll die!’

As that memory suddenly came back to him, Dexter gave a subtle smile.

For someone who had spent 15 years living that way, the 8 weeks of physical training, even combined with the heat of the Nevada desert, could hardly make him break a sweat.

“The studying was actually harder.”

Dexter started experiencing what felt like his head might explode from week 3.

That was when they began learning about prison-related laws and drug-related legislation in earnest.

Anyone who counsels, encourages, hires, commands, induces or procures another to commit a felony or misdemeanor is a principal…

The fact that the person who aided, abetted, counseled, encouraged, hired, commanded, induced or procured could not or did not fulfill the criminal intent is not a defense for the person doing the aiding, abetting, counseling, encouraging, hiring, commanding, inducing or procuring…

What was all this nonsense?

Throwing a punch at someone’s face was easier; putting letters into his brain didn’t suit his aptitude.

“Now that training is over, why does the law matter? No, I guess it is important.”

Dexter stopped grumbling and looked at his uniformed reflection in the mirror.

Sand-colored shirt with olive tie and pants, the American flag on the right shoulder and the Honeygood Women’s Prison logo on the left.

Though it was a private prison, peculiarly, the uniform was identical to that of federal correctional officers from the Nevada Department of Corrections.

This was because P&J Secure had a contract with the Nevada Department of Corrections, giving their officers the same treatment as state correctional officers.

“A man looks best in uniform.”

The clothes Dexter had been wearing until now were the Preston Express work uniform—a sky-blue jumpsuit with red stripes.

Comfortable, but not stylish at all.

For Dexter, who had worn such baggy clothes every day, the prison work uniform was very much to his liking.

After striking a pose in front of the mirror like he was firing dual pistols, Dexter slung the duffel bag he’d received after training and left his house.

The car, one of the support items from OSA, was a black full-size pickup truck.

It wasn’t new, but a few years old used car, though it was so well-maintained that it could pass for new.

“Right, if they’re going to provide support, it should be at least this good.”

This was support received for the mistakes OSA had committed.

It wasn’t a luxurious house or a car everyone would covet, but since it was “his” property, Dexter couldn’t help feeling good.

After tossing his duffel bag onto the passenger seat, Dexter got in the car and headed from his town of Honeygood Springs toward his new workplace, Honeygood Women’s Prison.

Between the small town of Honeygood Springs and Honeygood Women’s Prison was nothing but barren wasteland except for the road.

The road wasn’t complex either, being almost a straight line, so it took about 10 minutes to reach the prison parking lot.

When he arrived at the parking lot in front of the prison’s main gate, he saw cars with their lights on.

As Dexter got out of his car, a Latino male correctional officer who was taking something out of his passenger seat looked toward Dexter and said:

“Haven’t seen you before.”

“Yes, I’m new.”

Looking at Dexter, who wore a sly smile rather than a crisp demeanor, the man nodded without much reaction and said:

“Where are you from?”

“New Mexico. Albuquerque.”

The man, who seemed to treat Dexter differently than a typical new correctional officer, glanced at him repeatedly and said:

“You don’t seem the slightest bit awkward around me. Have you been around the block?”

“Ah, you can tell right away. I worked at a detention center in Albuquerque.”

Dexter said with a grin.

According to the “background” set by OSA, Dexter had previously worked at a private detention center somewhere in New Mexico.

“Really? Right next door then? I’m Dan Diaz, senior correctional officer.”

“Dexter Hughes.”

The two shook hands lightly.

Yawning widely, Dan gestured for Dexter to follow him and headed toward the entrance/exit facility attached to the main gate.

As they entered the building, a stout Black female correctional officer was greeting Dan with a metal detector in her hand.

“Marsha, good morning.”

“Good morning, Dan. Wow, who’s the handsome friend behind you?”

Dan, who had placed his watch and cell phone in a small plastic box, stretched his arms and said:

“I hear he’s experienced. Says he’s from New Mexico.”

“That guy from Albuquerque? He’s famous among the trainees.”

After quickly scanning Dan’s body with the metal detector, Marsha gestured for Dexter to come closer.

For Dexter, who had been friendly but not close with his fellow trainees or instructors to avoid revealing his identity, this was news to him.

“Really?”

“I heard you were always first in physical training?”

“Well, you know…”

As Dexter spoke dismissively and winked his right eye, Marsha laughed heartily.

“Hahaha! This guy is so slick! Dan, you might lose out!”

“Oh, that can’t happen! Are you trying to take my position right after arriving?”

Dan, who was putting his watch back on, said with a chuckle.

“Marsha, how many new correctional officers are there this time?”

“Hmm? I’m not sure about that. Not many, I think. See you at lunch, rookie.”

Marsha waved one hand with a grin.

After Dexter finished the metal detector search, he picked up his duffel bag again and went outside the building.

From now on, he was inside the prison fence.

Unlike the dim sky, the inside of the prison was as bright as day with illumination from street lamps placed throughout.

The prison was so quiet that it was hard to believe thousands of criminals were housed there, quite different from what Dexter had seen in movies.

“It’s quiet. Is that because everyone’s sleeping?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s usually quiet during the arrival shift. It’ll get incredibly noisy from around 5:55.”

Dan said, looking at his wristwatch with his right hand in his pants pocket.

He was referring to the night shift changeover and inmate count that would begin around 6 AM.

“I don’t know how they did things in New Mexico, but it’s probably not much different here than there. Prisons are all pretty much the same. Shift briefing, relieving the previous shift, wake-up and count at 6 AM. You know all this, right?”

He meant that this was a schedule Dexter should already be familiar with, so further explanation wasn’t necessary.

Dexter quickly understood and nodded.

“Oh, right. During the shift briefing, you’ll probably see the colleagues who came in with you.”

“Colleagues, huh. Well, I wasn’t that close with them.”

“Still, you’re part of the same company now. It can’t hurt to be friendly.”

Dan said with a shrug.

When the two entered the two-story correctional officers’ office building closest to the main gate, a tired-looking receptionist greeted them.

“Good morning, Dan. And you are… a new recruit?”

“Yes. Dexter Hughes.”

The employee opened a drawer and carefully examined numerous files inside with her finger.

“Hughes, Hughes… H… Ah, here it is.”

The employee took out a file, removed a card from inside, then took out a lanyard card case from another drawer and handed it to Dexter.

“If you lose this, you’ll be stuck here. Be careful.”

“Oh my, I’d better be careful then, right?”

Seeing Dexter grin, the employee suddenly started fanning herself.

“Whew, it’s getting a bit hot in here.”

Seeing this, Dan pursed his lips.

“She never even glances my way.”

“What?”

“Nothing, come this way.”

As Dexter followed Dan, he saw that the conference room was already filled with many correctional officers waiting for the shift briefing.

“Dan.”

A muscular Black man whose uniform looked like it might tear if he flexed, holding some documents, gave Dan a light hand greeting.

“Raymond, good morning.”

As Raymond nodded slightly in response to Dan’s greeting, Dexter pointed at Raymond with his eyes and asked:

“Who’s that?”

“Chief Correctional Officer Raymond Anderson. Right below the warden.”

Raymond glanced at Dexter but showed little interest, continuing to examine the documents he was holding.

Dexter had heard that P&J Secure was a new company and expected the conference room to be quite chaotic.

But there was no such atmosphere; rather, it felt like he had entered an already well-established organization.

“P&J Secure is fairly new, but it seems like the discipline is already well-established?”

“Did you expect everyone to be running around in confusion?”

Dan made a knowing expression.

“Yes. But it’s not like that at all. I actually feel like I’m the one who doesn’t fit in.”

“You know CentCivic?”

“Yes. It’s a private prison corporation many times larger than this one.”

While P&J Secure operated just one prison, the giant corporation CentCivic ran about 60 prisons.

“Honeygood Prison used to be under CentCivic.”

“Really? How did that happen?”

“CentCivic was short on this.”

Dan rubbed his thumb and index finger together, indicating money.

“Why would CentCivic be short on money?”

“They had many ongoing projects, the federal government was reducing subsidies for private prisons, and there were successive setbacks. Plus, they had a bunch of lawsuits from inmates tying up their funds.”

“And then?”

“That’s when our warden, Mr. Branson, came in and said, ‘I’ll give you as much money as you need, hand over the prison.'”

Dexter was amazed that P&J Secure could provide financial support to CentCivic.

“But if they had enough money to give to CentCivic, wouldn’t it be better to just build a new prison?”

“The federal government had put restrictions on increasing the number of prisons because there were too many. So they decided to acquire an existing prison instead. Staff and all.”

Dan shrugged.

“Warden Branson must be rolling in money.”

“He’s originally from ‘Universe X.’ This is a subsidiary created with Universe X shares. What did he say… something like ‘if you’ve made this much money, you should know how to give back to society.’ That’s why he created the company.”

Universe X.

Even someone as uninformed as Dexter had heard of it.

“Ah, that rocket company. But isn’t the president of that company, you know…?”

Dexter put his index finger to his temple and twirled it, suggesting craziness.

Universe X was a top aerospace company not just in America but worldwide.

They had developed a reusable launch vehicle called “Eagle 9” and harbored ambitions to send humans to Mars.

“Don’t do that in front of Warden Branson later. He’ll kick your butt. Though I can’t deny he does seem a bit off-kilter. Hehe.”

What Dexter referred to was the common gossip about the Universe X CEO’s eccentric behavior.

Since Dexter had caught on accurately, Dan couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ahem, looks like everyone’s here. We’ll now begin the shift briefing.”

Chief Correctional Officer Raymond stepped onto the platform and cleared his throat.

The somewhat bustling conference room quickly fell silent.

“First. The warden will provide more details when he arrives, but our prison has been staffed with new correctional officers. New officers, step forward.”

Dexter quickly jumped forward, followed by three tense-looking new correctional officers.

“Hughes, introduce yourself first.”

‘Oh, he knows my name?’

Though he thought Raymond wouldn’t be interested, he had already memorized all the new officers’ names and faces.

Inwardly impressed, Dexter looked around with a smile and said:

“I’m Dexter Hughes. Live long and prosper… Oh, I mean, I’m lacking in experience, but I look forward to working with you all.”

Dexter raised his hand with his index and middle fingers together, a gap between his middle and ring fingers, and his ring and little fingers together, then quickly lowered it.

It was the universal space greeting used in formal settings.

Of course, since no one else knew what that greeting was, they assumed Dexter was just a bit nervous and gave light applause before moving on.

After Dexter, it was the turn of a petite female correctional officer with brown hair.

The brown-haired female officer, who stood about chest-high to Dexter, looked straight ahead with a stiff posture and said:

“Pl-pleased to meet you. I’m Judy Goswell.”

‘Is she British?’

It was an accent Dexter often heard in British sci-fi dramas on TV when he was young.

‘She’s just a kid.’

If he had met her in an informal setting, he might have worried that just talking to her could be a crime, she looked so young.

“…I’m lacking in experience, but I’ll do my best.”

Perhaps feeling Dexter staring at her, Judy glanced at him as she finished her introduction.

‘If someone tapped her from behind, her eyeballs might pop out.’

That was his overall impression upon seeing Judy’s large eyes.

After Judy came a plump person who looked like a white ham.

He seemed to be the fattest person in the conference room.

‘How did he complete training with that body?’

But even if someone is fat, they might possess corresponding strength.

‘There could be an iron fist inside that velvet glove.’

However, despite being introduced as a new correctional officer, Dexter hadn’t seen him during the 8-week training.

‘Maybe he trained somewhere else.’

While Dexter was lost in thought, the new correctional officer began speaking:

“H-hello… I-I’m G-Gomer Lawrence, n-new here.”

Seeing this, Raymond smacked his forehead.