Contributor: BinaryAgent


John was mildly surprised when the light went out in his cell. He was more surprised when the electric lock on his door shorted. However, he remained completely still on his cot. This had happened before. During a major windstorm, the Eastern Mars Penitentiary had lost power before. There had been an attempt at escape. What none of the prisoners knew was that Mars had backup power for emergency situations. Large reserves of it -- enough for a week's operation at least. None of the would-be escapees made it out, and all of them received an extra fifteen years for trying. Too bad John had already been sentenced for life.

After a full thirty seconds, John slipped from his bed and felt underneath it. His finders closed around a knife he had painstakingly shaped from a few odd items. He had smuggled them over the years, not because he had ideas about escaping, more to keep himself from going insane. Fifteen years ago he got his hands on a shoelace – before they were banned. Twelve years ago, he had smuggled in a Styrofoam cup. Ten years ago he had transported a spork from the cafeteria in his socks. Seven years ago, he had fashioned a candle from some baby oil, loose threads in his prison uniform, and a crack in the tile floor. He had shaped the plastic, and hardened the foam over the open flame -- attaching handle to blade with his shoelace. It wasn't pretty, but John was pretty sure it would be effective.

Before the new technician was even aware he had accidentally cut the power to Cell Block Gamma, John was at the main gates. In a few seconds, he was loose in the courtyard. It had gone better than John had ever dreamed. No resistance -- everything powered down. With any luck the power would remain off for another twelve seconds. The first part of his escape was over in under a minute flat. Time to move on to phase two.

This was going to be fun.