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a tear to my eyes. “What did I look like?”
    “Happy.”
    The word hovers between us like a cloud. This is what every human being longs for. I am unable to say anything.
    “After that I started to talk to Zoe. I wanted to understand you, because you were one of them. I needed to know why you joined the outcasts.”
    “They kidnapped me,” I reply sheepishly.
    “You stayed with them voluntarily. You fought at their side,” replied Clyde. He’s right. I was a rebel, if only briefly.
    I do not say anything and he continues: “Zoe told me about her life. Her parents, her brother, the food, the animals, the plants, and her favorite place, the garden. I never heard someone speak before with such a passion. Her words were like a melody. I cannot get it out of my head. I long to see all of the things she described with my own eyes. I want to taste cakes and feel the wind in my hair. Is it really as beautiful as Zoe says?”
    I can feel my hands start to shake. He has already seen the world outside the safety zone as a fighter, yet after meeting Zoe he longs for a different kind of life. Her words awakened a yearning for freedom. A longing that will always remain a dream.
    I reach for his hand; it’s as cold as mine. I do not think about the cameras I know that are watching us. I ignore the people around us. To them, we are invisible. They do not care about us. It does not matter what we do.
    “It’s beautiful, but the price that freedom costs is too high.”
    Irritated, he looks at me. “What kind of money?”
    “The outcasts are not interested in people like us. We are a means to an end for them. They do not see us as human beings. To them, we are robots without the ability to feel.”
    Clyde shakes his head in disbelief. “But then why were you one of them?”
    “Because I did not know the truth. They killed three of the other people who were abducted with me, just because they could not adapt. The outcasts are ruthless.”
    Shocked, he looks up to me and withdraws his hand. “Zoe is different.”
    “As long as she is here, but if given the choice between us and her family, she would not hesitate for one second. She would stop at nothing to gain her freedom.”
    Clyde looks shaken. “Why are you talking like this? What did the Legion commander tell you?”
    “She opened my eyes.”
    Urgently I look at him. “Forget what Zoe told you. Forget what you saw in my eyes out there. It was a lie.”
    Clyde shakes his head vigorously. “No! You know that’s not true. Eyes cannot lie.”
    With that, he leaves me standing there and leaves. Now I’m really alone. The atrium has emptied. The other residents are already in their rooms. I’m sure several cameras are looking right at me. I look at one defiantly. Are you satisfied now? Was that what you wanted? I belong to you. My will is broken and all hope has died.
    My eyes feel heavy as I stare at the screen in front of me. A hearty yawn escapes and I place a scared hand over my mouth. What’s wrong with me? I used to not get bored like this at work, though at that time Zoe sat next to me.
    Bored, I look around at the other workers but no one returns my gaze. Everyone is absorbed in the monitor in front of them. Nobody yawns or stretches. Instead, they all sit with an upright posture as if there was something interesting to see or read on the monitor.
    Restless, I drum my fingers on the table. I change the rhythm and try to play a song I heard Jep and Pep play. I realize too late that I’m drawing attention to myself. I look upwards, only to see the supervisor look down on me disapprovingly.
    “What are you doing?” He looks at me blankly. In his eyes I can clearly read what he thinks about me: Crazy!
    “Music,” I reply simply and knock a few more times on the table.
    “I’m going to report you,” he threatens. What should I care? It does not matter if they keep me here or lock me up in the sickbay. The time when the rebels took me destroyed me completely. I