Beyond the Rim

We passed the shattered, charred remains of the other battlebot not far from the compound. Blood stained its torso, and I looked at Stace for signs of injury.

Beneath one torn pant leg, a bandage showed, soaked with blood. I wondered why they hadn’t just used an energy gun. Had they used an old-style projectile weapon? Or maybe she’d fought with them close-quarters and gotten cut with a knife.

I wondered if there were any people left in the compound, or if the others had fled somewhere. Would Commander Choy still destroy the compound? Would he pick off the others one by one, or would he just destroy the planet? I didn’t even know if the military could destroy a planet; research into those weapons was supposed to be banned, but I didn’t exactly trust the government after what I’d been through.

And then there was Rock. Where was he taking us? Was there any way to get through to him?

As he led us through the trees, I kept waiting for the explosion to hit the compound. Why had they bothered taking us with them? Maybe they planned on selling us as slaves. Even Stace? Zodiak would never allow that. And I was supposedly a celebrity now—they couldn’t sell me just anywhere; I’d be too much of a liability. Maybe they’d hold us hostage. If they were going to kill us, they could have done it by now, or just left us in the compound to be destroyed.

I still couldn’t get my mind around the fact that Rock was one of them. Making other people into slaves, after what they had done to him. He must’ve been brainwashed, but if so, how deep did it go? Would I ever be able to bring him back? It might be the only way for us to get out of this alive.

We reached the edge of a cliff. Rock crouched down and swung over the edge of it. Then one of the guards shoved me forward and I nearly stumbled over the edge—to discover a long, narrow incline in the rock, whether cut there or natural I couldn’t tell. We walked down it single file, Rock in front, Seethe and Stace bringing up the rear, the bot hovering alongside me. I began to wonder whether the bot had imprinted on me somehow, but it was probably just doing its duty like it was programmed, following its leader until further notice.

If I knew more about battlebots, I might give it a covert signal of some sort. But Rock must not have thought it was a threat, or he would have destroyed it.

He did seem to make a very good…enforcer, or whatever it was he did. But he did not belong here. His mind was enslaved—an even worse thing than your body being enslaved.

At least I hadn’t given in.

But then, I could hardly judge him. After what Navarre did to me, I’d been ready to do almost anything, just to stop the pain. I could hardly imagine what they must have done to Rock in order to break him, a man so much stronger than me.

I wondered if he might be playing an elaborate part. He’d never been good at lying, but maybe he’d been forced to comply in order to survive. Maybe he’d buried himself too deeply in his role and lost himself in it.

I had to try to get him out. Somehow.

“Rock,” I said.

He answered with a wall of silence.

I had no idea what to say; I just had to keep talking. “Remember when you came here with me? We were free then. Do you remember what that was like?”

“I am free,” he said.

“No, you’re not. Ranior did something to you. It had to have been bad, because I can’t imagine you breaking any other way….In fact, I can’t imagine you breaking at all.”

Silence again. We turned a corner, down where the valley spread out into thick groves of trees.

“When we were in the compound, you didn’t give in. You held on. Even when they did their worst, you still defied them. You led our escape. And then when they tried to punish me, you took it on yourself. Now—Rock, are you listening? After all this, we can’t let them win!” I jerked my arm away from the guard behind me, my shoulder shoving into Rock’s. He whirled around, but then stumbled over the ledge in a shower of rocks and landed on his back in pine needles, some pine cones popping with the impact. He rolled back to his feet expertly, and brushed needles from his black uniform.

The guard behind me shoved me to my knees and raised his fist.

Rock grabbed his wrist in midair. “No. Get him up. Take off his handcuffs.”

The guard pulled me to my feet.

Without warning, Rock’s fist slammed into my jaw. Sparks lanced across my eyes. When my vision cleared, I threw a punch into his stomach. He recovered and hurled a fist into my temple. I crashed to the ground, ears ringing. Back on my feet, I swung toward his face. He blocked my fist and kicked my feet out from under me. I gasped for breath. He nudged my ribs with his boot.

“You can’t win,” he said. “Face it.”

I crawled to my hands and knees. “I never was a match for you physically. But mentally, I don’t know, maybe—” I meant it as a joke; he was at least as smart as I was. But apparently this version of Rock had less of a sense of humor than the one I knew.

He grabbed my throat. “I am one of the smartest people on this base. Ranior says that I could become her lieutenant one day.”

I rasped out, “Can’t you see what she’s done to you?”

“It is my choice. I chose to be here.” He let go of my throat. Conflict warred in his eyes; for a moment, doubt, then recognition flitted over them.

Icy certainty returned. He grabbed my arm, lifted me to my feet, and put the handcuffs back on. This time, he dragged me in front of him.

Seethe came up beside us. In his arms, Stace stirred, looked at me. “I woke up just in time for the show. You didn’t tell me your friend was so good-looking.”

“Are you okay?” I said.

“Just a headache. And my leg hurts.”

“How’d they capture you?”

“Well, after you abandoned me, a guard came along and stunned me but it just got my arm, and so I ran for him, and his gun jammed or something so he had to cut me with his knife. He used the bot’s gun to stun me again—and that’s all I remember, till I woke up and saw you two fighting.”

“Rock won’t listen to me.”

“Keep trying. I’d like to see another fight.” She grinned.

We passed the place where we’d crash-landed two months ago, spears of green grass pushing through the blackened ground. They must’ve towed the broken pod away or destroyed it somehow.

If anything, Rock should remember something here.

“Rock—” I said.

“My name is Max.”

“Don’t you remember the fights we had? In the dorm when you wanted to study and I wanted to drag you out and have fun? Remember the time we went to Lagesh Moon, and Vega was with us, in that sea of clouds? Remember when you took me to your training that once, and…they all laughed at me, how I couldn’t even shoot a gun?” That incident I had tried to forget, but I was going to try everything. “Remember—” My mind drew a blank. We’d had some good times together, but we’d also gone our separate ways a lot. What would give him a metaphorical punch in the head?

What had gotten me out of Navarre’s? Stace had, but what had made me come back from the darkness? I had given in. The shame of it had made me want to give in more, because I couldn’t live with myself after the humiliation. I’d wanted to disappear, avoid pain as much as possible.

Perhaps something like this had happened to Rock. But since he’d been here for months, it had sunken in deeper.

The trouble was, Rock thought he was free. Perhaps he needed to be locked somewhere, shown how much of a captive he still was, then taken out again so he’d remember what freedom was really like. That was out of the realm of possibility at the moment, though. I considered trying to fight him again, but I couldn’t do it with the handcuffs on.

A memory. One he’d told me never to mention again.

When he was little, his father had abused his mother, and occasionally beaten him. Once, his father had locked him in a dark closet for hours. He’d screamed to be let out, and he only remembered coming to his senses days later. Being trapped in a small space was one of his worst fears.

I’d teased him about his claustrophobia before I knew the source, but now all I felt was regret for what I had to do.

“Remember your father?” I said, turning to look back at him. “Remember the time you tried to stop him from hurting your mom, and he locked you in the closet? In the dark. You screamed. You screamed for hours.” He grabbed my shoulders, but in his eyes, something sparked. Something like—anger. And memory…I had no idea if I had gotten through or not.

We neared a shiny black pod sitting in a clearing. The pod that Stace and I had landed in.

Beside it, three people stood, waiting for us. One was a guard. The other two were Ranior and my old friend, the Educator.