"Pordo wands do keep you alive awhile," one of the guards explained, referring to the clean cell. "If dis formula doesn'd show resulds, id's going do be doo bad for you fellows! Pordo don'd like do be dampered wid, so, if all dis is jusd a drick—look oud!"
The Jovian slammed the door to and the pair went off down the tunnel, echoes of their laughter rolling back to bounce gleefully through the cells, plucking one more anguished groan from the lips of the half-dead men within.
The old-fashioned wax candles were relics of a long-gone day and age, manufactured solely for ornamentation. But some scientist had whiled away a few idle hours by adding a couple of new features.
Augie removed the cap from the wick of one and it burst into a brilliant, unflickering flame. Even it was far superior to the crude electric lighting of the ancients.
"What now?" Augie asked.
"We wait," I said. "This cell isn't too uncomfortable and we can bide our time here; play the game Pordo's way and lull him into a sense of invulnerability. Things may come to a head sooner than you think, and you can bet we'll be in there fighting at the end."
Augie's eyes flamed and his face screwed into a mask of hate.
"I despise that tyrant Pordo!" he breathed soulfully. "D-damn him, if I may use such a vulgar term."
I glanced about the cell and located a musty, well-worn cot. It was the only one the room contained, so it was the floor for one of us. Night must be spreading its black cloak across the world outside and we were both dead-tired.