The following is an excerpt of a story from the Battlespace anthology, currently available on Amazon.com.
This excerpt is from The Code by Stefan Alford:
The wall before him shimmered and then was gone, revealing a room almost as empty as his – save for what looked like a small, green circle about two feet in diameter in the center.
He had been right about the electricity, just not in the manner of its employment. He heard the crackling static behind him and turned to see an even wave of thin blue sparks arcing along the floor toward him.
“Yeah, sure, you can herd me into the circle,” he muttered, determined to at least walk there at his own casual pace and not rush like a frightened animal. He wondered if that’s how they viewed him… if that’s how they viewed all humans. His deliberate gait was a little too slow and he felt the nerve-contracting shocks in his feet with his last three steps. He winced and bit his lower lip, swallowing the blood so they wouldn’t get the satisfaction of that either. It hurt like hell, but along with the torn lip they’d only managed to elicit an almost inaudible grunt from him.
The green spot felt oddly familiar and he allowed himself to look down just to confirm the soft sensation.
Grass.
Real grass.
Interesting. He wasn’t sure what kind of psychological effect that was supposed to have on prisoners here – perhaps it was meant to instill a hope of being able to return to Earth and experience the real thing again if they politely answered all the questions. Fat chance on both counts, he thought.
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