CHAPTER 1
PENAL COLONY 156
My name is Billy B. The B stands for Balentine but no one ever calls me that. In the year 2074 I was sent to prison for a computer crime. I crashed the state betting system for a week with a virus. I served my time on Penal Colony 156 in Deep Space 7. Thatâs no holiday resort. Deep Space 7 is a wilderness of dead stars. Penal Colony 156 is its black heart. Only the worst criminals end up there. The judge sent me there to teach me a lesson.
I learnt a lesson all right. A year later I came back to Earth a changed man. But not in the way the judge had hoped. On Penal Colony156 I learnt, for the first time, the thrill of real, live sport. We boxed, we raced, we threw⦠but, best of all, we played football. Nobody I knew on Earth had ever played football. Weâd gamed it on screen with simulators, yes. But not on a pitch, kicking a real ball. No one did that any more. It was stupid, violent, dangerous⦠Thatâs what we were told, anyway. But what I found out in prison was that it was also wild, amazing, fun. And I couldnât get enough of it.
Itâs all thanks to Danny Marconi. Heâs a lifer on Penal Colony 156. His grandad was Tony Marconi, a famous football star when it was the most popular game in the world. Thousands of people used to go to stadiums to watch it. That was back before simulators took over. There are no simulators in prison. You have to make your own fun. So Danny started games of football.
The football on Penal Colony 156 wasnât like the game Iâd played on screen. It was hard and tough. The ball was a pigâs bladder. The goals were chalked on the prison yard walls. Youcouldnât handle the ball (unless you were the keeper), but you could handle your opponent. It was like a cross between football, rugby and wrestling.
I lost count of the times I was thrown to the ground the first time I played. I was grabbed every time I got the ball. I ended up with a mass of cuts and bruises. But I learnt fast. The secret was to keep one step ahead of your opponent. You had to think fast and move with speed. I was quick on my feet and I had skill too â a lot of it. I could go past a man with ease. And I had a good shot on me. I could score with my right or left foot from a long way out. After only a few games I was the prisonâs star player. Every team wanted me on its side.
I got offered âgiftsâ to buy my services. My work duties were covered. I was given the best food. My bedding became luxurious. Other prisoners looked out for me. I made some good friends. But I made some enemies, too. Pablo Martinez, for example. Heâd been the star player beforeI showed up and he didnât like me being better than him. He didnât like it at all. More than once heâd threatened to kill me. I knew it was only talk, though. He wouldnât dare harm me. Danny Marconi would have killed
him
. I liked Danny. He was good to me even before he saw how good I was at football. He liked my spark, he said. Most of the prisoners on Penal Colony 156 had lost their spark years ago. I didnât blame them. If it hadnât been for football, Iâd have lost my spark pretty fast. The football made life OK.
I was glad the day my sentence was up. But I knew Iâd miss the football and the friends Iâd made â Danny, Mitch Brown, and my cellmate, âCogâ Lorenzoâ¦
âSee you around, Cog,â I said when I walked out the cell door.
âI hope not,â Cog said grimly. âYou donât want to come back here.â
I smiled and raised my hand.
Little did either of us know just how soon Iâd be back.
CHAPTER 2
BORED
I found it hard to settle back on Earth. I was given a place to live. There were no jobs but I had my state bounty. Every citizen had one â a sum of money to live on. I had no family â my parents and my two sisters had died in the Great Plague of 2069. Iâd had a few
PENAL COLONY 156
My name is Billy B. The B stands for Balentine but no one ever calls me that. In the year 2074 I was sent to prison for a computer crime. I crashed the state betting system for a week with a virus. I served my time on Penal Colony 156 in Deep Space 7. Thatâs no holiday resort. Deep Space 7 is a wilderness of dead stars. Penal Colony 156 is its black heart. Only the worst criminals end up there. The judge sent me there to teach me a lesson.
I learnt a lesson all right. A year later I came back to Earth a changed man. But not in the way the judge had hoped. On Penal Colony156 I learnt, for the first time, the thrill of real, live sport. We boxed, we raced, we threw⦠but, best of all, we played football. Nobody I knew on Earth had ever played football. Weâd gamed it on screen with simulators, yes. But not on a pitch, kicking a real ball. No one did that any more. It was stupid, violent, dangerous⦠Thatâs what we were told, anyway. But what I found out in prison was that it was also wild, amazing, fun. And I couldnât get enough of it.
Itâs all thanks to Danny Marconi. Heâs a lifer on Penal Colony 156. His grandad was Tony Marconi, a famous football star when it was the most popular game in the world. Thousands of people used to go to stadiums to watch it. That was back before simulators took over. There are no simulators in prison. You have to make your own fun. So Danny started games of football.
The football on Penal Colony 156 wasnât like the game Iâd played on screen. It was hard and tough. The ball was a pigâs bladder. The goals were chalked on the prison yard walls. Youcouldnât handle the ball (unless you were the keeper), but you could handle your opponent. It was like a cross between football, rugby and wrestling.
I lost count of the times I was thrown to the ground the first time I played. I was grabbed every time I got the ball. I ended up with a mass of cuts and bruises. But I learnt fast. The secret was to keep one step ahead of your opponent. You had to think fast and move with speed. I was quick on my feet and I had skill too â a lot of it. I could go past a man with ease. And I had a good shot on me. I could score with my right or left foot from a long way out. After only a few games I was the prisonâs star player. Every team wanted me on its side.
I got offered âgiftsâ to buy my services. My work duties were covered. I was given the best food. My bedding became luxurious. Other prisoners looked out for me. I made some good friends. But I made some enemies, too. Pablo Martinez, for example. Heâd been the star player beforeI showed up and he didnât like me being better than him. He didnât like it at all. More than once heâd threatened to kill me. I knew it was only talk, though. He wouldnât dare harm me. Danny Marconi would have killed
him
. I liked Danny. He was good to me even before he saw how good I was at football. He liked my spark, he said. Most of the prisoners on Penal Colony 156 had lost their spark years ago. I didnât blame them. If it hadnât been for football, Iâd have lost my spark pretty fast. The football made life OK.
I was glad the day my sentence was up. But I knew Iâd miss the football and the friends Iâd made â Danny, Mitch Brown, and my cellmate, âCogâ Lorenzoâ¦
âSee you around, Cog,â I said when I walked out the cell door.
âI hope not,â Cog said grimly. âYou donât want to come back here.â
I smiled and raised my hand.
Little did either of us know just how soon Iâd be back.
CHAPTER 2
BORED
I found it hard to settle back on Earth. I was given a place to live. There were no jobs but I had my state bounty. Every citizen had one â a sum of money to live on. I had no family â my parents and my two sisters had died in the Great Plague of 2069. Iâd had a few
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