The following night, DEN003 was allowed the honour of serving once more, as they could find no reason any problems with his oxygen. He was sent back up to the surface, to start at the Boundary – which he couldn’t cross – and to work his way back down, cleaning his assigned alleys. He was determined to do an extra thorough job to make up for missing the night before. His Pendraken and his City deserved his very best.

  Then he spotted Chimma, and he found the strength to disobey. He drove up to her. Denzin was very, very grateful for Chimma.

  She released his mask, and he took several gulps of fresh air and shook his head, feeling his thoughts gradually clearing.

  Chimma asked him why he wasn’t there the night before. And because she’d asked, he could reply.

  “I need to wear that mask more tonight,” he told her. “Kept me in, my hand stuck around a yassing pole in the middle of the Arena all night, while everyone else went out. I cried – can you believe it? I actually cried that I was left behind and couldn’t serve with them! Until Senda spoke to me again.”

  “Wait, Senda spoke to you?” Chimma whispered, dropping his left hand, which hit the ground with a thud. “Senda, the real Senda! He speaks?”

  Denzin strained and strained, but he couldn’t shift his hand even the tiniest bit on his own.

  Chimma lifted it off the ground easily, placing it where his lap should be. Then she released his right hand and set it next to his left.

  “Yes! He’s the only thing keeping me sane in there. When I was first taken, while they were putting me in this thing, I was unconscious, sort of, although I could still hear everything. Then I heard a Voice, and he told me he was Senda. He told me that he would be with me, and never to forget that. Whatever happened, I was never to forget that he would be with me. With the drugs they give me, and the messages they put in my head, I do forget. But then something catches my attention, or they take my mask off because it’s feeding time at the fish farm and I can hear what he told me even as my brain recites my gratefulness mantras. And every once in a while, he speaks to me again.

  “But I’m serious, Chim, I need to put that mask back on again. I can’t risk going back without the oxygen being used.”

  “Why don’t I wear it for a while?” Chimma suggested. “You’ve got a lot of talking that needs doing. Keep telling me what you can remember, every detail, and I’ll try to free you.”

  “I supposed that would work. Make sure you know how to open it before you do that, though, because I won’t be able to use my hands to do it. Put it back on me, and then close your eyes to take it off. The switch will end up behind your head, remember, so you won’t be able to see where it is.”

  After a couple tries opening it with her eyes shut, Chimma inserted the mouthpiece between her lips and over her nose. As she did, Denzin watched fear contort her face.

  “Just relax – it takes a few seconds, then the air comes. That’s right, there it is. Just breathe slowly. You got it. Feel the tingle? That’s what glues your lips to it, I think. Electricity of some kind.”

  Chimma nodded.

  “Now, try to figure out how to get me out of this thing.” He described the little he remembered the night he was podded, as Chimma searched for a way to help him escape.

  She searched and searched and searched, becoming more frantic as she did.

  Finally, Denz said, “Let’s take a break.” But she kept going. “Chimma, stop. You need to rest.”

  She stopped. Her eyes crinkled like they did when she smiled, although the mask wouldn’t allow her lips to follow suit. Then she knelt down next to him and closed her eyes, resting on his shoulder.

  “Chimma, wake up.” She opened her eyes, sitting up again.

  “Chimma, fold your hands together.” She obeyed instantly.

  “Chimma, turn around and face me.” She did. This was getting interesting. He needed to see how this yassing gas worked. “Now put your left hand on top of my pod.” She did. “Your left hand is now glued to my pod and there is no way you can remove it. Remember this: your left hand is permanently stuck to my pod, and you are grateful it is stuck there. There’s no place else you’d ever want your hand to be but right there.” Her eyes smiled again as her hand pressed tightly against the pod. “Now I want you to stand up.”

  She tried. Oh, how she tried to stand up. But her hand was firmly stuck to his pod. Her eyes smiled gratefully as she tugged and tugged. Pain flashed through his legs as she fell over the front of his pod in her attempt to stand.

  “Ow! Chimma, stop. Sit back down. Chimma, remove the mask from your face.”

  With her left hand still firmly attached to his pod, she sat down again. Her right hand fumbled behind her head for a moment until she found the right spot on the strap, and then mask dropped from her mouth.

  She didn’t say anything, so he asked her, “Chimma, tell me about what just happened.” When she still didn’t answer, his heart started racing. “Chimma, what happened?”

  “That was scary, Denz,” she told him. “I couldn’t answer until your question. Just like you! When you told me to get you out of there, and I couldn’t make myself stop until you told me to. And when you said, ‘Remember this’ and that my hand was stuck, those words kept playing again and again in my head, telling me my hand was stuck there permanently. I remember it felt so incredibly good that it was there. I couldn’t think of any reason on earth I would ever want to move it, even if I could. I nearly tore my arm off trying to stand up, you know.”

  “Do you realise your hand is still on my pod?”

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. He watched her tug her arm. Her hand didn’t budge. “Denz,” she whispered. “I can’t! Oh no, what have I done!”

  “Take some deep breaths.”

  She obeyed, breathing so deeply she started to hyperventilate.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Slow your breathing down Chimma,” Denz commanded her. “Breathe slowly for a while, and relax. There. That’s better. Now take your left hand away.”

  She hesitated briefly, and tried again, but it wouldn’t move. At last, she grabbed it with her right hand and with a yelp pulled it away.

  They both sat there silently for a few minutes, breathing in the night air.

  Finally, she whispered, her voice trembling, “That was frightening. So very frightening. Even when I took the mask off, I knew that there was no reason my hand should really be stuck there, but still, it was! Even with the mask off! I just kept hearing you tell me to remember how grateful I am that it was there. And I remember this, word for word – and I still want my hand to be stuck there forever, even now. My hand has no other place it should ever be but right there.”

  “I have to admit that I remember liking it being there, too. More than liking it. I’ve felt so alone, and I remember this feeling, being so connected with you when your hand was there. I know it sounds strange, but I can actually feel it. It’s like you’re touching my lap, not my pod.” He gave her a smirk. “And anyway, with your hand stuck there, I’d finally have someone next to me to listen to me when I talk forever! You couldn’t run away if you tried! Could be fun!”

  Her tears halted his monologue. How he wished he could wipe the tears from her cheeks as she had from his. If only he could move his own yassing hands.

  “I’m sorry I made you do that, Chimma. I really am. I’m so sorry!” When she nodded, Denzin continued. “You understand what I’m facing, then. I’ve told you everything I can think of. I’d better wear the mask again, while you have another go. But only if you’re thinking clearly again. You don’t have to obey me!” he added.

  “No, I think my thoughts are my own again,” she told him. But they both looked down. Her left hand was on his pod again, in exactly the same place. She tugged, but it wouldn’t shift until she pulled it way with her right hand again.

  “This could get interesting,” was all she said for a moment. “Oh, Denz, I don’t want to put this back on you again. I see what it does to you.”

  Her hand was back on the pod. She had to pull it away again.

  “Put the mask back on for just a minute, Chim. Let me try something.”

  She obeyed him – far too easily. Before the air even began to flow once more, her hand was back on his pod. And it felt so good – so intimate. He so wanted to leave it there. But he forced himself to do it anyway.

  “Chimma, I want you to take your hand away from the pod.” She strained and struggled, but it may as well have been welded in place. “Chimma, stop! Okay, let’s try this. Chimma, you are free to take your hand away from the pod whenever you want to.” He paused, but her hand stayed right there. Then an idea came to him. All the messages in his ear started with the same two words.

  “Remember this: you are free to take your hand away from the pod whenever you want to.”

  Her left hand jerked away, and she tucked it under her armpit.

  “Chimma, take the mask off now.”

  Immediately, she obeyed.

  “Take some deep breaths and shake your head – that helps me clear my thoughts again.”

  She immediately obeyed. After a moment, her face relaxed, and then the rest of her. His mouth twisted into a half smile.

  “I could have just left you there forever, you know. It feels so good when your hand’s there! It’s interesting, though. Using those two words – I don’t want to use them again in case the gas is still in your system, but you know, the one that starts with R and the one that comes after it – that seems to do something to the commands, making them stronger. They use them at the start of everything they tell me, you know. Over and over.

  “Now put the mask back on me, and try telling me to do something. Something simple, that is easy to tell me to stop. And don’t use those words. I want to know if I can resist normal commands without those words. Sometimes I can shake my thoughts free. But if what you tell me to do involves moving, you’d better put my hands back on the handles so I don’t run over them. And make sure you tell me when to stop.”

  With the mask back on his face, they spent the next little while with Chimma giving him commands. Some he found easier to resist than others. Like driving from place to place. But when it came to being able to move his arms or his hands, they may as well have soldered wherever she placed them.

  When she’d removed the mask again, he told her, “Try putting the mask back on me and saying those special words, and then tell me that I can move my hands and lift my arms whenever I want too, like I did for you.”

  She obeyed. At first, it had no effect, until she repeated it. And again. Then, his arm began to raise up from his pod! He moved both arms, flexing his fingers before his face in amazement that they were back under his control again,

  The whole ‘remember’ thing could be useful, after all. They just needed to be really, really careful with how they used it.

  And her left hand was back on his pod again. This was going to be an issue if he couldn't find a way to fix it.

  They carried on experimenting, taking turns with the mouthpiece. When Chimma was wearing the mask, and even after she’d taken it off, she would immediately do exactly what he told her, and wouldn’t stop until he said to stop. Denzin, however, was able to fight what she told him, unless she used those words on him two or three times. Except … for some reason, even after Denzin had taken a few deep breaths from the mask, he could not put his hands behind his back. He fought and fought to obey her, but it was as impossible as it was to make himself fly. Every part of his hands and arms could not go past his shoulders even when she commanded them to.

  But he yassing had to obey her, because she’d commanded it with those yassing words! He was sure he’d be pulling his yassing hair out if he could have stopped trying to obey her!

  “Denz, stop!” she shouted. “Stop! Oh, no, please don’t cry, Denz! I’m sorry!”

  At her command, his tears stopped. She removed his mask, commanding him to breathe deeply, and the clean, gas-free air cleansed his lungs and his thoughts.

  “Chim, they kept saying the ‘R’ word when they gave me important things they want me to believe. I hear it several times a day – maybe more, it’s hard to r… I don’t want to say the word, now!” he laughed grimly. “Dangerous word, that.”

  “We’d better undo all the commands we’ve given one another, you know. Just in case,” she told him.

  With the mask back on his face, he couldn’t tell her that as soon as her hand had nothing else to do, it was back in his lap again, as if it had a mind of its own.

  Seemingly unaware of where her hand lay, Chimma said, “Remember this: everything I have commanded you tonight was just an experiment and you must forget every one. But remember this: you can indeed move your arms and hands and lift them whenever you choose to.”

  When his mask was removed, as long as they remained in his sight, he was indeed able to move his hands and arms.

  Not that she appeared to be very good at that. For even once she’d transferred the mask to herself, her hand was right back where it started.

  Even after he gave her the same commands, erasing what he’d said, and reiterating that she was free to move her hand when she wanted to, and she lifted it away, it immediately landed in that exact spot. And he wished it could stay there forever.

  A gentle tremor – the first electric shock. Chimma locked his hands and put them back on the handles. But she held the mask in her hands.

  “I’m going to give you something important to remember once this thing is back on, okay? Trust me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I have something I don’t want you to ever forget.”

  An instant later, his mouth contorted around his mask once more. And her left hand resumed its new favourite position. She pulled it away again, only for it to return there as her eyes turned towards his.

  “Denzin, your name is Denzin. No matter what they tell you, remember this: your real name is Denzin. And remember this: I am here trying to help you get free. Remember that you have hope. Remember to listen to Senda and hear his Voice. Remember that you are not just what they say you are.”

  He could do nothing about where her hand was until the next shock came, and he unwilling turned his pod to leave, dragging her hand free. Leaving an emptiness in its place.

  As the loving reminders escorted him back to his captors at just the right speed, DEN003 was incredibly grateful for his pod and his braces and his mask and his Helpers.

  He was even more grateful that Chimma was helping him to get free. He listened for Senda's voice. For he was not just who his captors said he was.

  He was DEN003. But his name was Denzin.