Beyond the Rim

Stace put her statue in a corner of her room. She didn’t paint it, and it stood there, forgotten, draped with various items of clothing.

She asked forgiveness for destroying my sculpture, and I forgave her, but I was careful with her after that. I didn’t know what she’d do next. Otherwise, we went on as normal. We made paintings together and went skimming to town. She would kiss and hug me, but that’s as far as it went. She never went as far as before, and did not use the transponder. She seemed genuinely sorry for what she’d done, and I did feel a little sorry for her. But I could never, as she wanted, let her into my heart.

The senator asked me into his study some more times. I was happy to come. We would talk about art, about law, and I’d enjoy actually talking to someone as an equal. At least, that’s what it seemed like between us.

That all changed one day when I learned where he truly stood.

I was unaccustomed to seeing other slaves; they rarely showed themselves, and had the skill of disappearing down to an art. I occasionally saw the maid, Larin, and talked to her; I asked her about her punishment, and I was glad to hear it hadn’t been very severe.

But about a month after my arrival at Zodiak Prime, I was in my studio, painting. It was late at night, and Stace was in bed. I was painting a picture of an ancient wooden ship sailing through the oceans, guided by stars. I tried to squeeze out some black paint, and found the last of the black was gone. I’d assumed I had an inexhaustible supply. Maybe the senator knows where I can get some more, I thought. I could wait till morning to ask him. Then again, I could see if he’s still awake.

I called, but all I got was an automated message. Oh, well, I thought. I’ll paint the rest in the morning.

So I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes. But against my eyelids, the ship haunted me. It beckoned me to follow it into the unknown, into the darkness on the horizon.

I jumped up, adrenaline singing through my blood. I would go to the office and see if, on the outside chance, the senator was still there.

When I arrived in the main hall, a guard was talking to the senator beside a door that was always locked to me.

I took the opportunity to step forward. “Senator,” I said. “Could I ask you something?”

He stopped in his tracks and looked at me. “What is it?”

“I wonder if you have any more black paint.”

He laughed. “Can’t you wait till morning?”

“Um, well, I could. But—”

“You’re inspired? I see. You know, I think Kel here can—”

At that moment, someone emerged from the half-open door. A girl ran out, about eighteen or nineteen, and fled down the hall toward the great iron door, her thin white gown flowing behind her. She pounded on the door so hard I thought she’d break her fragile wrists. I ran toward her, and took her slight form into my arms. “Please, stop,” I said. She struggled, but it was easy for me to hold her; she was as light as a child.

I turned her toward me. Tears ran down her cheeks into the tangle of golden hair that fell over her face. Her enormous blue eyes gleamed with fear.

“Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me,” she said.

“Don’t let who?”

She shook her head, and buried her face in my shoulder. Hot wet tears leaked onto my chest.

Behind me, the senator cleared his throat. “It’s all right,” he said. He pried the girl’s hand from mine. Sobbing, she tried to resist, but she didn’t have the strength.

I asked, “Who is she? Is she okay?”

The senator draped his arm around her shoulder possessively. “Her name is Muriel, I believe. Isn’t that right?”

She looked up at him, but didn’t answer. Her lips trembled.

“What is she doing here?”

“That,” said the senator, “is none of your business.” He kissed the girl’s forehead.

A suspicion crept up on me, but it was too terrible to contemplate. The senator, who seemed so reasonable on the outside—

Zodiak’s lip twisted, half-amused, half-annoyed. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s not what you think—not that it matters what you think, as a slave yourself. She’s born and bred to feel everything more acutely than others do. It’s just one of her quirks that she gets afraid—a very charming one.” He kissed her temple. She writhed away from him. “She’ll get over it as soon as she starts working.

“She’s on lease from one of Ranior’s cells; very high demand. I’m paying for a standard months’ worth, then she’ll be gone again.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” I asked her.

She only looked at me in a state of almost mindless terror. The senator took her hand and headed toward the door. “Devlin, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell Stace about this. The last time I brought a woman here, she had fits for months.” His face was amiable enough when he said this, but there was an ominous tone to his voice.

The senator told me the guard would help me with any paint supplies I’d need, but I barely heard him. What had just happened horrified me. But I could do nothing. Nothing but paint: my own world, my own illusion of freedom.

I got my black paint, but by that time I was hardly in the mood to paint the picture. I sat on the couch, then I took up the brush and poured my anger onto the canvas, almost ruining it in the process, turning it into a black shapeless mass.

The girl haunted me all that week, but I didn’t see her once. I didn’t see the senator much either. Not until the day he asked me if I wanted to participate in the zodium trials. Stace was with me at the time. “Why don’t you?” she said. “It’ll probably give you special powers or something.”

“I don’t know….”

“It won’t hurt,” said Zodiak. “Just a little prick and it’s done. Of course, since you’re a slave, I could force you…” He smiled, as if he was kidding, but I wasn’t so sure.

Stace grabbed my arm. “Daddy, you can’t force him. He’s mine.”

“And you’re my daughter. Don’t forget, I could take him away at the snap of a finger.”

“Cut it out, Daddy! I’ve been good. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because he’s going to do it.”

And that was that.

Zodiak had banned us from the nightclub, but as long as we stayed away from slake, we could go to town. That was fine with me. Usually we went to visit people, especially Grimm, Summer and their daughter Sari. Today I met them at their house, and walked with them to a tall white domed building at the edge of the town. Stace, on her skimmer, wove in and out among us and did somersaults and spirals in the air. Zodiak wasn’t letting her have the drug until all the trials were over, “just to be safe”.

Inside, there was a chair where a medic administered the enhanced mineral/drug. Each person sat down in the chair, got a swift injection, then exited out of the back door. It was all very efficient.

When little Sari saw it, she flung her arms around her dad’s neck.

“It’s all right, sweetie. It’ll be all right.” He peeled her arms off his neck and set her on the ground in front of me, crouching next to her. “Remember last time? It was just a little prick and it was done. And remember how much better you felt?”

She nodded. “I used to be very sick.” Her warm brown eyes caught mine.

“Your daddy’s gonna get it too,” I said. “And your mommy.”

“Are you?”

“Yep. I’m not scared at all.”

She drew herself up, all four feet of her. “Me neither. I’m not scared, Daddy.” He picked her up again as the line moved forward, and, when her turn came, he set her in the chair. She sat up straight, and I cringed as the needle came toward her. She flinched, just a little, as it touched her arm. Then she grinned. Her mother and father got the treatment too, and then went out, side by side, swinging Sari in between them.

I sat down in the chair, and rolled up my sleeve for them, got the little prick, and it was over. I still wasn’t quite clear on the details of what it did.

Stace met me at the door, swooping down with her skimmer to hover beside me. “So how was it?”

“No big deal at all.”

“What do you feel like?”

“My arm just itches a bit.” I rubbed my arm.

She leaned closer to look. “Hm, I don’t know if that’s normal. Hope you’re not allergic or anything.” She kissed my arm, laughed, and flew away on her skimmer. I got on my skimmer at the edge of town, and we raced back to the villa.

That night, Stace decided to have a holoparty with her friend Kassia, and “invited” me. When I hesitated, she said, “It’ll be fun. You’ll get to meet Kas’s slave.” I wasn’t especially enthused about that, but I agreed to come.

We both sat on the bed, and Stace prepared our holograms. Kas appeared, brown hair bound up in braids, brown skin luminescent. “Hi, Stace,” she said. “I see you brought your slave. Here is my slave, Viam.” She gestured to the side, and a man appeared. He was tall, thin, and he stood stock still, eyes downcast. His hair was black, tipped with silver, and he wore a black suit that shimmered, and revealed almost as much as it concealed. And—his hand wasn’t normal. The fingers were extremely long, and jointed in more than five places. I’d seen genhancements like that, but I wondered, since he was a slave, whether it had been voluntary, or if his body had been mutilated without his consent.

“How do you like my new gen?” said Kassia.

“I don’t see one,” said Stace.

Kas rolled her eyes. “I didn’t get one. It’s Viam’s.” She gestured to the hand.

“It’s okay, I guess. What can it do?”

“All kinds of things. He’s getting really good with it. Want to see?” She whispered something to Viam, and he picked up something from the invisible floor. In a few quick motions, he had turned a piece of string into a delicate flower.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Stace.

“That’s nothing. He can do lots of other things too.” She smiled suggestively. “So when are you gonna gen yours?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to turn him into some alien.”

“He’s pretty basic, though, isn’t he? Don’t you want to genhance him a little?”

“I like him the way he is. But today he did get some—” She stopped herself. “I’m not supposed to tell that. Anyway the com would probably filter the word and Daddy would find out anyway.”

Kas’s eyebrow arched. “Now you have me intrigued.”

“You’ll find out sooner or later. Yours has nothing on my Dev already, and when this stuff starts working—well. You’ll see.”

“So, how does he perform?”

“Um…”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t tried him out yet!”

“I want him to love me, Kas. I can’t force that. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Oh, doesn’t it? Anyway, these are slaves. They’re not meant to love you. They’re meant to obey you, and give you the most pleasure you can get out of them.”

“We’re friends. I don’t want to spoil that.” It warmed my heart a little to hear Stace say that, even though I didn’t like the way they talked about me—us both—like we weren’t present.

Kas shrugged. “It’s your life. Hey, why don’t we try something.”

They had us stand side by side and compared us. It was humiliating, but by this time I’d learned to disconnect my mind and actions somewhat and I let my mind wander. For some reason, I thought about Vega, my sister. She must have the whole Corps out looking for me by now, knowing her. I recalled her prim, no-nonsense face, pretty, elegant, her short brown hair, the dimpled smile she reserved only for me. I longed for her to gather me in her arms and hold me, like she had when we were kids, and never let me go again. My heart ached so much I had to cut off that image and steer my mind back closer to home. Here, anyway, which was not, by any stretch of the imagination, home.

I wondered where Viam had come from. Whether he’d always been a slave, or whether he’d been captured, like me. We were light years away; he was on Center, me on a Rimworld, but I felt a sort of kinship with him. I wished I could rescue him, but then again, I couldn’t even rescue myself.

I didn’t even want to think of what he’d been put through. Maybe he’d disconnected himself so much he didn’t feel anything anymore. I was lucky in that I had a “good” master (if there was such a thing). Then again, maybe it would be more merciful not to feel…

I thought of that poor girl yesterday and her terror. I wanted to rescue her, or at least protect her, like my sister had protected me. I couldn’t do anything about Viam. Could I do something about her?

When I went to bed that night, after the party was finally over, I thought about that question, but came no closer to an answer.