Tessa never quite fit in as a slave. Before she ran away from the bright lights of Aeos, she was a slave to clocks, clerks, compliance officers, computers, and many other things, some frightening others frustrating.

With each new master, Tessa always found a way to be inadequate. She failed not through her own will or intention, but simply because her mind would never fit into the various boxes the Company built to encapsulate it. Eventually, they gave up on putting her intelligence to practical use. Her last six months as an indentured citizen were spent in a Lumerite mine sorting rocks on a conveyor belt. Six months of purely thoughtless labor, with the worst citizens Solaris had to offer.

As her mind dulled from the mundane so did her spirit until the day she heard a group of miners whispering in dim light with quiet voices. They spoke of a place free from the Company. A place far out into the barrens but still within the boundary and thus safe from the toxic atmosphere. A place with liberty and peace for vagrants. A place for—as the Company would call them—heathens.

She took the unlikely tale as truth down to her very soul and it gave her hope. She nurtured that ember of hope through the years as she came to live in Heathen’s Rest. She protected the tiny ember until it grew into a bright flame, and that flame of hope gave her warmth in a world devoid of love. And like the flame of a candle snuffed out between finger and thumb, hope was extinguished in an instant as the sound of gunfire echoed down into the ancient caverns of Heathen’s Rest. Their place of peace had been discovered by the wicked and there was no way out.

Tessa ran for the library, terror flowing through her veins as sorrow spilled over from her eyes.

Ruin spoke to Dante’s mind.

Your sabbatical is over my friend. Our colleagues have arrived, and you have no choice but to become the captain you once were or die as a vagrant, the voice said.

Dante dug through the rust-covered chest in the small corner of Heathen’s Rest he called home. He would accomplish this final act of kindness before succumbing to the voice.

“I’ve realized something this time around Ruin. You need me. As far as I can tell, you cannot interact with this world in any meaningful way. You can make my mind a prison, but it is a prison we share,” Dante said.

You have no idea what I’m capable of. I could destroy your mind and eat your sanity until there’s nothing left but the murderer at your core. But I like you Dante, and as long as you cooperate, I would rather be as we once were. After all, you did raise the solar panels.

Dante’s heart held its own weight in shame at the thought, but it had been doing that for as long as he could remember. He dug out the leatherbound journal from his chest.

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“I will return to my duties as a captain of the compliance office, but you will allow me this final act. If you try to deny me this, I will blow my brains out and cut your one tie to this world.”

Ruin acquiesced in silence.

A tear fell onto a page of Practical Applications of Particle Manipulation as Tessa tried to find meaning in the ancient words for the last time. It wouldn’t take long for the compliance officers to make their way down this far. Most of the people that lived here would probably be sent back to work if they complied, but their work would be in the mines or refineries where life expectancy was short. After all, one wouldn’t murder a drill or hammer and that’s how the Company thought of people. They were merely tools. Contrary to the name, the people of Heathen’s Rest weren’t outright rebels. Some could still be of use.

Tessa thought of the endless conveyor belt of rocks and squeezed her eyes closed in frustration. She always thought she had the potential to be brilliant. If someone would just give her a chance to put her mind to something she was passionate about, she could change the world.

I had that chance here for two years and failed, she thought.

She had spent all that time in this musty library trying to make connections between the past and present. But there was no mention of Lumerite in these books. Not even a mention of any substance pulled from the ground that could be interpreted as Lumerite. Why was it so important to the Company? It was as if Lumerite didn’t even exist before the Company. The people that lived on Solaris before the great war had access to power beyond comprehension, she had learned that much. But she could never get past the paradox of Lumerite. The glowing stones had tremendous value, but why? The only application she was aware of was the boundary’s forcefield. The rest was taken off the planet on the Company’s ships.

The sound of footsteps signaled the end of her freedom as someone entered the library. She searched for that small ember of hope within and found only the cold darkness of resignation.

To her surprise, the man that approached her sanctuary between the bookshelves did not work for the Solar Trading Company.

Dante appeared with an air of resolute confidence. His trademark cigar was missing, and he stood up straight with clear eyes.

“Tessa, you need to listen and do exactly as I say.”

She didn’t know how to respond to this faint resemblance of Dante. What do you say to the village crazy when he comes to you at the end of the world with a plan?

“I’m sorry, but have you lost your mind?” Tessa asked.

Dante let out a sigh.

“The truth is, I lost my mind on purpose and it found me again despite my best efforts. But that’s a long story and there is no time. The Company is here, and you must leave right now.”

He held out a leatherbound book with no title. The leather was a faded dark brown with white stress marks from intimate use. The manuscript was no copy or reprint. It held a piece of someone’s soul and that soul called out to her.

“But we’re trapped. There’s nowhere to run and the compliance officers will watch this place for weeks looking for stragglers. Thousand Realms Dante, Ray will come back to a trap!”

Dante pressed the book to her chest and folded her arms over it.

“There is no time. In my quarters there is a small tunnel under my bunk. It will be tight but you’re small enough to fit. Crawl through the passage and you will find your way to the surface. The journal is my gift to you. I hope that it brings you more enlightenment than sorrow. Now go!”

She looked into his eyes and saw a well of pain deep enough to drown in, but behind the pain was something else entirely. Something very dark.

Tessa left her sanctuary for the last time, but as she went, she carried a very small ember of hope reignited from an unlikely source.