Beyond the Rim

The next morning, five days (if that was right) after we’d been captured, they came for me. Two guards hauled me to the center chamber on the top floor, and stood before Ranior’s empty throne. A moment later, she entered, walking briskly to the center aisle between the fish ponds.

“Good morning, Devlin,” she said. “I hope you slept well. You’re looking great—just a little under the weather, but we’ll fix that.”

She took a step closer to me. “I have good news. You have buyers! They have just finalized the payment this morning.”

I felt little at her announcement, just a tingle of fear when she’d said “they”. What did multiple buyers mean?

“They would like to meet you. But first, we have to give you a little something.”

She gave a swift nod.

The guards wrested me to my knees, forced my arm up my back. They slid my sleeve up, and a jolt of fire bolted into my veins. Then they relaxed their hold on my arm, and pulled me back to my feet.

“There. That wasn’t so bad, was it? It is a transponder, which is imprinted with the identity of your owners. You no longer belong to us. Nothing can trace you back here. In fact, if you say anything about the Blue M Group, or how you got here, it will punish you severely. And once you reach your destination, it can be programmed to punish you if you stray from a specific area. I hope this is clear to you.” Her violet eyes pierced mine.

“And now, I’d like you to meet your new owners.”

She pressed a button on the arm of her chair.

A hologram appeared, two faces floating about four feet away from me, five feet above the floor.

One was a man, thin, with silver hair and a dignified face. He twirled a pencil in his left hand, and regarded me critically, half-amused.

The other was a girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen. She had red hair that was sticking out in all angles, and a silver choker with a purple heart in the middle. Her eyelashes were tipped with purple as well. Beneath those lashes curiosity flickered.

Ranior turned toward them, one arm spread toward me. “Good morning, Senator Zodiak. Miss Anastasia. Here is your slave.”

The senator nodded. “He looks satisfactory. You’ve been known to exaggerate, Ranior.” He gave a small, wry smile. “But this one—he looks like what I’ve paid for.”

“I’m glad he meets with your approval, Senator. He has just been administered the transponder, imprinted with your signal, so he is ready to be shipped, unless there is anything else you would like.”

“What do you think, Stace?” said the senator, turning to the girl.

“Oh, he’s perfect! Is his hair really naturally red?”

“Yes, it is,” said Ranior. “If it isn’t, you can have your money back.”

“I believe you,” said the senator. “Can you have him delivered to my villa by noon on the twenty-ninth?”

“Of course.”

“Excellent.” He moved as if to turn the transmission off.

“Wait!” said Stace. “Can’t I just look at him a little more? He’s going to be mine after all.”

“You’ll see him all you want when he gets here, my dear. Transmission off.”

The hologram blinked into oblivion.

“They paid three hundred creds for you. You should feel quite privileged to have such prestigious buyers,” said Ranior. “But it is too bad that you won’t be able to stay here longer. We could have gotten to know each other better.” She gave me a fleeting kiss next to my lips, and then disappeared.

Later that day, they washed me again, dressed me in a tight blue faux-leather uniform, and then brought me outside.

On the way out, I saw Rock. He hung over Seethe’s shoulder as if unconscious. In his deep blue eyes there was no sign of recognition; they were empty, as if his mind had been destroyed.

Pain of a kind I’d never known struck my heart. I did not see the trees as we headed down a path. I did not smell the pines, or hear the roar of the waterfall.

I did not feel the ship, as they strapped me in, or the brief pressure of gravity, as it rose from the planet.

I only felt the emptiness. The emptiness of space.