LOGAN (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 5) by Marilyn Campbell Read Free Book Online Page A

clean.
    Exactly where he did belong was a question he'd stopped asking himself years ago. As a child he was constantly daydreaming about being somewhere else. He was always the good guy fighting the bad, righting wrongs and saving the world from dark forces. As he aged, his daydreams spilled into real life. Whenever some kid was getting picked on, he just happened to be there and could never resist lending a hand to the underdog.
    For his efforts, he occasionally received mementos, like the scar on his jaw, when he had stopped some punks from beating a wino, and got razor-slashed in the process. Or the scar on his forehead when he interrupted a man trying to force himself on a woman and learned what it felt like to get hit in the head with a brick.
    Despite numerous lessons however, he never seemed to learn to keep his nose out of other people's business. Fortunately, he grew big enough and became tough enough that his wins soon outnumbered his losses. Eventually he discovered how to cast an impression of danger without having to fight all the time. The strangest part was, the only time he felt right was when he was playing the hero. Otherwise, he always had the feeling he was in the wrong place and time... like he didn't belong anywhere.
    The closest he'd ever gotten to belonging was in the military but, as it turned out, the politicians in control had no use for heroes either.
    One of the oriental men came up beside him carrying a large basket filled with pink, pear-shaped fruit. He smiled at Logan and, with a movement of his eyes and head, requested his assistance in emptying the fruit into the back of the wagon. Logan gave him a hand then walked back with the man to help him pick some more. The men here didn't move very quickly or work all that strenuously but they did keep working... and looked rather happy about it.
    Duncan had been right about there being little use for English or any other language for that matter. These men had barely spoken a dozen words aloud. Whatever thoughts they'd needed to express so far had been accomplished silently. Normally that would have been just fine with Logan but he needed to learn more from them than how to tell which fruit was ripe enough to be plucked. Only verbal questions and answers were going to explain what had happened to them.
    Hans, this group's English-speaking guide, was a slightly built, middle-aged man from Frankfurt, Germany, who had arrived here when he was in his twenties. He knew very little and didn't particularly care.
    That attitude would have seemed odd coming from anyone in this situation, but when Logan uncovered the fact that Hans had previously been a research marine biologist, it made even less sense. When had the man stopped questioning things around him and peacefully accepted a life of performing brainless tasks?
    On the way to the orchard, Hans had politely answered every question Logan could think of about the layout of the farm, the residents and how they filled their days. The farm sounded as though it was about a mile square and the men worked it from sunrise to sunset. Besides their chores, they ate and slept. Nothing else. No entertainment, playing or distractions of any kind.
    When asked if he or any of the others had ever tried to leave the farm, Hans said everyone tries at first, but they soon realize what a pleasant life they have here and how satisfying it is to put in a good day's work. His dumb-looking smile had stayed plastered on his face the whole time he was talking.
    As Logan considered the bits of information he'd learned, another question came to him and he sought Hans out again.
    "I'm curious about something, Hans," Logan said as he pulled a piece of fruit off a branch and dropped it in the basket at his feet. "I can see how important it is for you fellows to do your work. How is it so many of you were standing outside of the barn when we came out?"
    Hans's smile broadened a bit. "Because it was locked."
    Logan could tell that was