Beyond the Rim

In the morning, Stace got ready for the day without looking at me at all. She started her lessons, and I didn’t move except to use the bathroom, then I came back and stood in the same place, a form of nonviolent protest.

I assumed Stace was furious with me and braced for the next onslaught. In the middle of her violin practice, she threw her violin and bow onto the bed and walked over to me. She raised her left hand, but instead of using the transponder, she took off the Stim ring and threw it onto the floor, where it clinked into a corner.

“There,” she said. “I’ll have the transponder removed later today. You’ll be free.”

Despite her actions, doubt gripped my heart. “Free?”

“Well, you will have to stay on Zodiak Prime. I haven’t decided whether to let you go or not. But I …love you too much to have this—” she raised her transponder hand—“hanging over you all the time. I don’t want you to hate me, and I don’t want you to be a groveling slave. Some people might want that in a man, but I don’t.”

“But I can’t leave this planet?”

“I told you, I haven’t decided. I can’t let you go just like that. But would you stay here, if I gave you the choice?”

I thought for a moment, though I didn’t really have to. “Probably not.”

“There you go. If you left, I’d never see you again. Freedom to do whatever you want on this planet is enough for now, don’t you think?”

“I’ll take it.” I smiled at her. Though I wondered if it was just a temporary decision. You never knew with Stace; she could take it back at any moment.

But she was true to her word. Against her father’s wishes, she had the transponder removed, from both my arm and from her own hand.

I did feel much freer without it. I was still a slave, but the threat of immediate punishment disappeared— a step in the right direction. Toward real freedom? I hardly dared hope.

Muriel’s freedom, however, was running out. To give her a little more time, despite the risks, I decided to take her to town. Stace insisted on coming along.

“You know,” said Stace, skimming up next to me, “I actually like this way better. I didn’t think I would, but I do.” She blew me a kiss and spiraled into the air, embracing the wind.

We stopped our skimmers, and walked up to the house. “I forgot to bring the bubbles back last time,” said Muriel, holding up the pink bottle. “Sari will be happy to see them.”

We stopped at the door. A black band ran across the door. It said, “Warning! Quarantine.”

I stood there, in shock for a few moments. “What could have happened?”

“You said Sari had a fever?” said Stace. “Maybe it was that.”

“But where could she have gotten it? No one comes here from other worlds.”

“No one but you two.”

“Could it have been one of us?” I said.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Before I could stop her, she waved her hand over the door, and it slid open. “I’m a Zodiak,” she whispered, as we stepped inside. “I can go most places Daddy can.”

It was dark except for a slash of sunlight across the empty table. The floor creaked beneath my feet as I looked around the room. “There’s no one here. We should probably get out before we catch whatever it is—”

The door to Sari’s room opened. Muriel jumped and grasped my hand.

Grimm emerged. His handsome face was haggard, like a ghostly version of his former self. His brow furrowed. “What are you doing here?”

Stace stepped forward. “We wondered how you were doing. How’s Sari?”

A pained look crossed his face. “She’s…not good. She’s in there.” He pointed to her room. “Do you…want to see her?”

A lump rose in my throat. Grimm’s unspoken words told me she didn’t have long.

We filed into the room. I’d never been inside it, but Sari had showed me some of her stuffed animals. They tumbled over her bed in a fluffy disarray. Summer knelt beside her bed, stroking her forehead.

Sari’s eyes were unnaturally bright. Her skin looked yellowish in the low light. She moaned and tossed onto her back.

“Shh, Saraya,” said Summer. “It’ll be all right.”

“How is she?” I said. Muriel’s fingernails dug into my palm.

Summer shook her head. She didn’t look up at us. A tear rolled down her cheek.

We stood there for several minutes, my heart aching. Little Sari, so full of life….

“Is there anything I can do?” I said.

Summer shook her head again, looking up at us. Her eyes were swollen, face tearstained.

“Maybe we should just go.”

Summer nodded. I turned to leave.

Muriel let go of my hand, and knelt beside Sari’s bed. Blond hair tumbling across the covers, she kissed Sari on the cheek. Then, she tucked the bottle of strawberry bubbles into the covers beside Sari and fled the room, sobbing. I went after her, took her into my arms. I kissed her cheek, wet with tears, and we stood there, holding each other.

Grimm came up to us. “You don’t have to be worried about getting it, you know. It’s not a real disease.”

“What do you mean, not a real disease?” I held Muriel’s arm tucked beneath mine.

“It’s the zodium. She had a reaction to the second trial.”

“How do you know?”

Grimm leaned closer, as if sharing a deep secret. “Because it’s not the disease she had before. They’re saying it is, but it’s not. The symptoms aren’t the same. Besides, kosten isn’t contagious, and there’d be no need to quarantine us. I thought it was just a fever, until I found out others around town were getting it.”

“Others had the fever?”

“But they weren’t quarantined. I was the only one. You know why? Because I kept talking to people, telling them to resist the next treatment.”

“That’s why they quarantined you? That would mean—”

Grimm nodded. “The senator. He doesn’t want anything messing up his precious trials. Even if some people get…hurt along the way. We came to Zodiak Prime with such hope. But now I know we’re only subjects to him.”

Like me, I thought. “Maybe we could get you out of here. Maybe we could escape—together.”

“You would help us?”

“Yes, we would,” said Stace. “You know what? This just might work. I mean, why don’t we just get out of here? Go to the hangar, steal a pod—it’ll be a piece of cake. I can get anywhere with my ID, and it wouldn’t even be stealing, because I own everything.”

A spark of hope lit Grimm’s eyes. “As long as we leave soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zodiak already knew.”

“Well, I’m authorized to open the quarantine seal, so at least there’s no alarm.”

“It’s worth a shot, anyway.” He ran into Sari’s room. “Summer. Come on. We’re going to try to get out of here. Sari might have a chance if we can get her treatment.”

Summer emerged a moment later, carrying Sari, looking dazed. “Here, I’ll take her,” I said, gathering her into my arms.

We walked down the street, which was, thankfully, empty at the moment, and reached our skimmers. “This’ll be tricky,” said Stace. “But I think they can hold all of us.”

We crammed onto the skimmers, two to each one. I held Sari. As we flew the mile-long path to the hangar, fear surged through my veins. Could it be possible that I was leaving this planet, forever?

A pod stood in the hangar, a black, streamlined thing marked with a silver Z. Stace, our ticket out, waved her hand over the entrance and we climbed in. I laid Sari gently on the carpeted floor, and went to look for a blanket in the stash in the back. Stace waved her hand over the console, and the pod thrummed to life.

My heart flipped with the sound. Could we really be leaving? Rock’s face splashed across my mind. Maybe I could actually rescue him.

I wrapped Sari in a blanket. I kissed her forehead; it was dry, the sign of a deep fever. I hoped we weren’t too late.

Grimm sat in the seat beside Stace; I sat behind him, Muriel next to me. Stace insisted on piloting. “I’ve flown these things before.” She punched a few buttons, then asked where we wanted to go.

“Anywhere away from here,” I said.

“Somewhere with medical facilities,” said Grimm. “But it should be a Rimworld. It’ll be harder to find us there.”

Stace nodded. “All right. I know just the place.”

“Where is it?” I asked.

“Rimworld 1248. I broke my arm there once when I was eleven, so I know they have good doctors.”

“Good enough for me,” said Grimm.

Stace punched a few more buttons, then grasped the controls. We taxied out of the hangar, onto the runway, then the pod lifted into the air.

Gravity pressed down on me as we rose almost vertically, pushed through the clouds, then through the thin skin of blue sky to meet the stars.