Red Sky: Chapter 33
“25891.” Hades called out Max’s number. I was half undressed preparing for the nightly shower.
Another stay in the box would kill Max. I was sure of it. But there was nothing I could do. I watched in terror as two guards retrieved Max from his cell. Why was he being thrown in the box again?
Hades stood in the middle of the prison block, hands on hips, impatiently waiting for Max to reach him. I banged on my transparent shield, trying to draw attention. Maybe there was some way I could stall them or get thrown into the box instead.
Max appeared calm. It was so difficult to tell with him by then. He had been so open when I first arrived, his moods and feelings on the surface. But his emotions had been subsumed by the box, by the years on the moon.
“Show respect.” Hades told Max. Zero and Noseless pushed his shoulders forcing him to kneel. They were only a few paces away from the whipping post. Hades wasn’t holding his whip. I scanned the block trying to locate that whip. Hades spoke again, his drill sergeant tone surprisingly subdued.
“Congratulations, 25891. You have won the lottery. My boss, your God, the warden here, has decided to let you go home a year early. He has commuted your five-year sentence to four years.”
Hades looked up to our cells to register the response. This had never happened before. There weren’t even stories of it happening before. I thought I might be in the middle of a dream. I dug my fingernail into my palm until it bled. I didn’t wake up. Hades kept talking.
My head was against the shield, pressing for a better view, trying to see the details of Max’s face that would reveal his thoughts.
“When you arrived, we told you that we are merciful. We told you that if you abide by the rules, you will be rewarded. I offer proof of that reward.” Hades looked up once again. Rows of prisoners looked down on him.
I had to give Goodwell credit. He was clever. There could be no doubt about that. By giving Max an early reprieve he could mollify the agitating inmates while punishing me for killing the Lion. Everyone would see they had a chance to go home early if they followed his rules. Who was going to stand up to Hades and Goodwell now? The opportunity to be released after four years was too much of an incentive, better than any concubine or day off from hauling duty. Better than any other gift Goodwell could possibly offer.
*
“Don’t let them take me,” Max begged the next day as soon as we were alone in the mine.
He got down on his knees, clasped hands thrown in the air begging for my help.
“I know what they’re going to do to me. The rebellion has told me what they do. There’s no return to Earth, no military recruitment. They terminate us. The end of the five years means the end of us. Don’t you see? Your dreams, remember your dreams, and how you couldn’t remember.”
“I remember now.”
“They’re implanted. They’re not real. This is real. Our time here is real. And now that it’s done and I’m old, broken, that’s the end. For all of us. They got what they wanted from me and now it’s the end.” Max bowed his head.
He looked up at me again. There was wild desperation in his voice. “Why would they send us back to Earth? Why would they bother to bring us all the way out here and then back again? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Putting my hands underneath his arms, I lifted Max off the ground and back to his feet without saying anything. He steadied himself against me by putting his hand on my shoulder. I was reminded of the time he steadied me by putting that same hand on my shoulder after I returned from the cave-in.
“Wherever they take you, it’s going to be better than here.” I tried to reassure him. “You’ve served your time. There are no conspiracies. You’re leaving now. It’s a good thing.”
Max didn’t hear me. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the noise in his head.
“All of the other inmates want to be in your place,” I continued.
“Then let them!” Max shouted. “Let them take my place. I want to live.”
“You’re going to live, Max. You’re going to live on Earth.” He turned away from me. I kept after him.
“The ocean, remember how you used to pretend you could see the ocean from your cell. That’s going to be true now. You’re going to see the ocean again, feel the fresh air of home. There are no conspiracies, Max. There’s no need for conspiracies. I’ve done horrible things on Earth, you may not have, but I have and this is my punishment. You’re going home. That’s a good thing. Be happy about it.”
He still wouldn’t face me. I didn’t know what to say to him. Because Goodwell wanted to get at me Max was going home. But he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to stay locked in the zoo for the rest of his life.
I started walking down the tunnel. Max only followed when I reached the end of the tether. When we finally reached a spot and began mining I tried to explain what I had experienced in the box. That I could remember everything now. “Why would they need to create convicts?” I asked.
“What’s more likely, that I killed the woman I loved in an accident and tried to block out that memory, or that the Federation needs to create convicts because they can’t find any on Earth? You might be innocent, I don’t know, I’m sure innocent people are convicted every day, but I am not. I am guilty. I know that now.” I was sick of the rationalizations I'd heard ever since I stepped on the red moon. I wanted to accept reality and I wanted Max to accept it too.
“I wasn’t a bad person for most of my life, but I was a weak one at times. And all it takes is one action in a moment of weakness to make you a criminal. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I did. I take responsibility for it now. I killed the Lion without hesitation when I had the chance. I barely remember that, too. It all happened so fast. But I did it and I’m not going to run from it.”
“You’re going home. Maybe you will be released. It’s a new life for you. A second chance. That’s what we all want here. Be happy. For us. For the rest of us stuck here in this hell.”
Max looked at me with his haggard face. He didn’t say anything, picked up his shovel and went to work digging at the base of the wall. I started in next to him with the pickaxe. After a minute, I heard him say ever so softly, “you’re right.” Then a few seconds later, “you’re right,” one more time. That was the last time we talked about escape or any of his conspiracy theories.
I regretted my tone with Max on that day many times. I could never bring myself to apologize. What was there to apologize for exactly? There was no way to escape. There were no other options. He was leaving the red moon, that had been decided and we were powerless to change it.
Is it better to encourage crazy dreams or tell the truth? For years we joked about Max’s theories and beliefs. He even convinced me at times, but I could only fool myself for so long. Max wanted me to say that all of the inmates on the red moon were innocent. I knew what some of them were capable of. We weren’t evil, but we were capable of evil acts. Just because we were capable of showing virtue on one day didn’t mean we were incapable of showing vice on another. We are not consistent beings. Com understood this, I think, and it was only when he understood this that he could change who he was.
I wanted to change who I was and that’s why I couldn’t listen to Max’s lies and excuses any longer.
Perhaps, I had lost Max, but I had gained knowledge of myself. Not by believing in some higher power like Com, but by facing the reality of my past. Besides, Max was the lucky one. He was leaving. Anywhere was better than the red moon.