• “We’ve done it,” Marie said. “We’ve escaped. But the question is: now where do we go?”
    Lliahm was quick to speak up. “Where can we go? Ayarth was the last safe place, and now we’re leaving it behind.”
    “We can’t go to Ryeao,” Yjeyd agreed. “There are too many dangers there, and most of the foreigners would die quickly. Even if we were to survive, robots can be designed specifically for Ryeao and won’t need time to acclimate.”
    “But can neither of you think of any options?” Marie asked.
    The two grand admirals looked at each other, confused. Suddenly they both realized that Marie was one step ahead of them.
    “I had hoped you would’ve thought of it as well. Do you really think I would bring us out here without a plan?”
    Lliahm decided to guess. “We’re going to hide in space.”
    “Now you’re thinking. But listen closely—you’ve all heard of how Taqua turned against us under the authority of Voisloid Goft. But what you probably haven’t heard is all of the people trying to reach me with communications. There are some who shared Voisloid’s vigor for revenge against us, but an overwhelming majority wants to go back to the IGM. It is rumored that even the president tried to stop Voisloid’s actions. The former grand admiral was acting by his own authority alone, and now, he is dead.”
    The last three words drew visible reactions from both of the generals. They were clearly surprised. But Lliahm was finally beginning to understand. “We’re going to go back and save Taqua.” His voice held a new hope. Marie knew that he now considered her bound to someday saving Ayarth.
    “There is one thing you need to understand. Taqua already saved itself from Nithril’s clutch. Yjeyd, you know what that means, don’t you?”
    “When he returns, he’ll come back with twice the power.”
    “At least. So we have to be prepared to fight.”
    “But I don’t understand,” Lliahm said. “If we fled last time, why should we fight now that there’s twice as much of a threat?”
    “Because that time, Nithril’s goal was to get to us. Next time, his goal will be to take the planet. His goal is a lot bigger this time, which makes it a lot harder. If it’s harder for our enemy, then it’s easier for us. And we also have another advantage—Nithril doesn’t know we escaped.”
    * * *
    The commandos agreed to meet back on the ship they had come in, which they had learned was called the Empire’s Fist. “Dociluas,” Mark said, “go ahead and debrief us.”
    “As you’ve all noticed, many of the robots allied themselves with us when we started the attack. Kriqua has already searched their minds to find out why.”
    “It turns out,” Kriqua took over, “that the IGM captured these robots and reprogrammed them to act normal until they received orders to turn on their companions. They also managed to do the same to two thinking robots, which sent the orders as soon as they saw that there was an attack.”
    “So our leaders turned out to be one step ahead of us. Unfortunately, our numbers have dropped yet again. The ship Peyb had boarded was destroyed by an explosion from inside. I believe this was caused by a trick Ryan Lionhart had taught each member of his group. Peyb is now considered MIA. However, we must continue. Our current situation is that we have control over the scattered remnant of Nithril’s fleet. We also discovered that Nithril’s ship is now in the ocean, scanning for the IGM. Apparently, the IGM hacked into the cameras to convince Nithril that they were shot down by the blockade. But he discovered that they actually went into the ocean. Whether or not he has found anything is unknown, but we have an exact pin on his location.”
    “Do you all remember our orders?” Mark questioned.
    “We are to hunt down Nithril,” Thyu replied instantly.
    “Exactly. And now we have him in our grasp.”
    “How do we go about this?” Juyrl asked. “We can’t just charge in without a plan.”
    “We set up a trap,” Mark said. “The thinking robots will remain in charge of this small fleet on the condition that they track Nithril’s ship and don’t allow it to leave. We will take the ships we used during that brief battle and go in after Nithril. If he surrenders, then our job is easy. If he fights, he’ll be dead. If he flees, he’ll be stopped by his own fleet.”
    “Wait a minute,” Kriqua said. “Think about what we’re risking. If we start a battle in the ocean, we could—”
    “You will follow your orders, Kriqua. Without questioning them. It’s a lesser risk to us than fighting in space. We’ve gone through too much to lose Nithril now.”
    * * *
    Triidxuq wanted to scream. He wanted to warn them. But there was nothing he could do. If Mark wouldn’t listen to a member of his own group, then Triidxuq wouldn’t be able to change anything.
    Kriqua was right. An undersea battle with ships as large as the Reckless Wanderer would cause unspeakable damage on the coastal settlements of Owstahl, most notably Yapine. The IGM had avoided any permanent damage—even after their latest escape, timed explosions collapsed unused parts of the tunnel-system, preventing the ocean from leaking into the underground colonies. However, more explosions in the area could cause the current debris to collapse, and there was no telling whether or not the people could evacuate in time.
    Also, they were underestimating Nithril’s ship and capabilities. Standard UNO ships were not made for water, and their weapons could malfunction. The Reckless Wanderer, however, was designed to handle any situation, no matter how absurd. Nithril had planned for every possible outcome when he had engineered it.
    As if all of that wasn’t enough, if they failed, they would doom the entire IGM. No, the entire universe. If the IGM fell, who else would stand up to UNO? Currently, Nithril believed that the IGM leaders were still on Ayarth. If Mark insisted on charging in without restricting his weapon use, the deception would fail altogether. Nithril would be on the move once again.
    This… it isn’t like Mark. He’s supposed to make his decisions calmly and logically. He’s instead letting his emotions get in the way. But why? Does he have a personal grudge against Nithril?
    * * *
    It was only a hologram communication, but Melanie Moreno imagined that she really was standing before the president. But it didn’t bring her a sense of awe or fear, like it did for others. Melanie had no fear. All she felt was the desire to have the throne herself.
    “I’m in the Taqua system now,” she explained. “I’m lying in wait on an uninhabitable planet nearby until my spies can verify that the commandos are here.”
    “And why are you so intent on pursuing these commandos?” the president asked.
    “Because,” she said slowly, “if they were able to destroy two of my body guard robots that your engineers said were practically invincible, then they must be the best of the IGM. And they’re after Nithril.”
    “If they’re really so good, and if they’re really after Nithril, then they’re not on Taqua. They’re in the Ayarth system, and you’ve failed your self-appointed mission.”
    “Failed? Failure would be if I attacked Taqua before finding out they’re not here. Does it appear that I have neglected caution?”
    “Just what do you intend to do?”
    “That depends. When was the last time you heard back from Nithril?”
    “You had better stay out of Nithril’s business, Moreno.”
    “Your answer tells me everything. I know Nithril can be rash sometimes, letting his head get too big. He just rushes into challenges, purposely taking fewer robots and ships than he needs to, just so that he’s forced to stretch his imagination… but please, you mustn’t think too harshly of him. He has good intentions.”
    “Don’t be a deceiver, Moreno. You’re after something.”
    “I’m after those commandos. You and I both know that they will overcome Nithril simply because of his own foolishness. But I’ve survived an encounter with them. I even took care of one of their leaders.”
    “One is hardly something to brag about when they destroyed two of your body guards.”
    “And one of them is allied with me.”
    The president paused. “What?”
    Melanie pressed a button to open the door behind her, and within a few seconds, Juxa walked through. “Meet Juxa Zivango, the former technician and pilot of the commando Team Alpha. And,” she added slowly, “she’s a Taquan.”
    “And why would a Taquan fight for our cause?”
    “There are plenty of Taquans who would fight for you if you would simply invite them to. Think about the advantage she could bring—the Taquans have always been the biggest threat to our robots. But if we have a Taquan supporting our robots, what can the rebellion do to stop us?”
    “Enough with your smooth talking, Moreno. Juxa, speak for yourself.”
    “All I want is revenge against that slime-ball traitor Kriqua. The rebellion convinced Taqua to allow her to get her implant at an early age, and now she has turned against Taqua completely in favor of the rebellion. She has been granted an unusual privilege and has abused it, along with deceiving me to allow her escape. For that and for keeping me alive, she will pay, and she will not escape from me again.”
    The president was smiling at the bluntness Juxa showed. “And that, Grand Admiral Moreno, is how you get what you want. You ask for it. Juxa Zivango, what is your former rank in the rebellion?”
    “Commandos in the IGM’s service don’t have official ranks, because we’re not deployed as regular soldiers. Our level of authority was based on who gave us commands.”
    “I see. Then you have no need of a rank here, either, and you will report directly to Grand Admiral Moreno. You will have your revenge, and that in itself will be all I require from you. We have a common enemy, so we fight side by side. And for each of the other commandos you help bring down, I will reward you.”
    “What, so she’s a bounty hunter now?” Melanie exclaimed.
    “I’ll be whatever he wants as long as I get what I want,” Juxa said.
    “We need more people like that in our chain of command,” the president said. “We rely so heavily on robots because people like that are hard to find. I’m glad you found one, Moreno. Now work together to bring the commandos to me, dead or alive. Whichever you think is more suitable punishment.”
    The transmission ended. Juxa looked at Melanie. “You’ll have to wait your turn.”
    “What?”
    “You want the throne. You want Nithril and the emperor out of the way so you can rule. That’s not likely to happen any time soon.”
    “And why shouldn’t it?” Melanie demanded.
    “Because you’re not willing to just say what you want, like the emperor said.”
    “I can’t exactly ask politely that the president would die, now can I?”
    “No, but you can take a step.”
    Melanie’s interest sparked, though what sparked it, she wasn’t exactly sure. “You know how to do both. You can be direct with the ruler of the universe, but you also beat around the bush with me. That’s bold.”
    “You have to learn to deal with people in their own way, not your own. Your way, as you’ve made painfully obvious, is deceiving words that don’t really say anything. The emperor’s way is to be blunt. And what do you suppose Nithril’s way is?”
    Melanie tried to stay angry, but her carefully trained logic took over. Since Juxa was obviously one step ahead, it would be wise to catch up. “Nithril’s way… is to challenge himself more than he needs to and to toy with his opponents.”
    “Then that’s the way we’ll get to him.”
    Melanie blinked. “Excuse me?”
    “We happen to be hunting those who are hunting Nithril. Wouldn’t it be so simple to blame the middle link for what happens?”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Nithril’s going to toy with the commandos, as you well know. But he won’t kill them at his first opportunity. He’ll keep them alive for a while. So what if we help him learn not to play with fire?”
    “Wait—you want to use the commandos to kill Nithril?”
    “No, but you do.”
    “But that contradicts your mission. To kill the commandos.”
    “Is that my mission?” Juxa smiled. “Didn’t I just give you a lesson in dealing with people in their own way?”
    Realization finally dawned on Melanie. “You want to leave Kriqua humiliated and stranded. You want her to live.”
    “At first. I’ll finish the job after she thinks she’s escaped my trap.”
    Juxa started to walk away, but Melanie stopped her. “So you lied to the president. You said you wouldn’t let her escape.”
    Juxa turned to face Melanie. “Lesson two: tell people what they want to hear.”
    * * *
    Nithril was surprised and somewhat amused when his communication unit came on with the message “surrender.” He immediately responded with “Don’t you know I have a fleet in space?”
    “Not much of one anymore,” the reply came.
    Nithril frowned. What could’ve happened without the thinking robots warning me? He opened his scanners to find the point the communications were coming from. What he found was five ships surrounding his. UNO ID numbers? No wonder my computer didn’t alert me. They’re using ships marked as friendly.
    The ships were large—but his life-reader only detected one person within each of them. Unless they were using their own robots, they were sorely overestimating their abilities. So it’s them. “What do you want?”
    “We want your surrender.” Nithril located the one the communications were coming from, and found that it was directly in front of him. Strange, he thought. That voice sounds so familiar…
    “And what makes you think you can have that?”
    “We outnumber you.”
    Familiar… from a long time ago… “That’s what you want me to think. I know exactly where each of your ships are, and I know there’s only one of you on each ship. With my army of robots, that’s hardly outnumbering.”
    “You don’t seem to fully understand the situation—”
    “Neither do you. If there’s a battle here, we will cause earthquakes, tidal waves, and overall destruction over all of the shores. And, as you may not know, Earthling, several Ayarthan countries have actually built underwater cities. Think about the devastation you could unfold with the pulling of a trigger.”
    There was a pause before the voice returned. “We don’t care. Our objective is to get to you.”
    Familiarity flooded into Nithril’s mind. Why could he not put a name to the voice? I’ve heard this voice hundreds of times. Who is he? “I know a lie when I hear one. Just the words coming out of your mouth are enough to haunt you. You couldn’t live with yourself after doing something like that. You just want to scare me, but you’re scaring yourself more.”
    “And you? What will you do?”
    I knew him personally, didn’t I? What happened? “I’m evil. I’m on the bad side.” He allowed sarcasm into his voice. He was reflecting their own thoughts of him.
    Another pause. “You wouldn’t hurt them either. I, too, can detect the intention behind words. Besides, you would’ve shot already if you really didn’t care.”
    I knew him, but he still knows me. But he’s angry. Is it just the complication of his mission, or is it something more? “If you truly believe that, then our situation is complicated.”
    “No, it isn’t.”
    Just then, the computer beeped rapidly to get his attention. The motors were shut down, and the ship slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean, with the other five ships following. Well done, Taquan. I believe her name was Kriqua, wasn’t it?
    He locked the controls of his computer and turned to prepare to face his visitors. But his mind was somewhere else. I remember everything since that day… why can’t I remember him?
    * * *
    Mark and Juyrl left their ships to board Nithril’s. The rest stayed behind on their own ships, but Mark was in communication with Kriqua through a small headset. It was easy for the two commandos to break through the initial robot barrier. All it took was Juyrl charging through the middle and Mark shooting the ones he missed while their attention was on the Ryeaoan.
    They continued through the ship, picking off any robots they came across as they worked up to the bridge. But when they had almost reached it, Mark heard an unfamiliar voice come through his headset. “He’s not in the bridge. Turn right.”
    “Kriqua, are you there?” Mark responded. But there was no answer.
    Mark paused a moment, and Juyrl waited for his instructions. Then Mark motioned with a nod, and they turned right. They opened a door and found the room empty. When they stepped in, the door closed behind them. A green mist started filling the room. Juyrl ran to the far side of the room to tear the door open, but when he tried, a jolt of electricity threw him backward. For a second his mind flashed back to his recent fight with the thinking robot. He rolled to his feet and tried another door to the side, with the same result. As he ran around to the other doors, he heard Mark speaking over the comm., trying to reach Kriqua. The more gas filled the room, the more Mark started coughing.
    By the time Juyrl had tried every door, each time getting electrocuted, Mark was unable to stand. He was on the ground, coughing, and Juyrl was feeling weak from the electricity. Suddenly a realization struck him—the gas wasn’t affecting him. It must contain a chemical that he had built up a resistance to on Ryeao. He grabbed the communication unit from Mark and shouted into it. “Who’s there?”
    “…sorry. I didn’t know there was—you, Ryeaoan! You’re immune to the gas, aren’t you? Grab your friend and crawl through the pipes. Once you get to a certain point in them, there’s an energy field that blocks the gas particles, so the Earthling will be able to breathe again. Go quickly!”
    Juyrl’s instinct screamed against trusting a voice he didn’t know, but he had no other choice. He was desperate. He needed to save Mark. He grabbed his companion and opened up one of the pipes, like the voice told him. Sure enough, the tube was large enough for both of them to fit. He crawled through the space for what seemed like hours before he finally reached the point that he had been promised was there. The air was clear again. By this point Mark had stopped breathing, but he started coughing again when Juyrl pushed his chest.
    “Do you see any cameras?” Mark gasped.
    Juyrl looked around. “No, there aren’t any inside the pipes.”
    “Good.” Mark’s voice came strongly. Juyrl was too surprised to respond. “Thank you for the urgency, Juyrl, but I have a filter implant in my lungs, remember? I just wanted them to think they were winning. I noticed you left the communication unit back in the gas room. That’s good. I don’t particularly want to hear any more of that advice.”
    Juyrl set aside the emotions caused by the surprise and continued crawling forward, with Mark following him. Every now and then, there was a grate, showing them what was outside of the air vent. They stopped when they reached an opening where the grate was already pulled out. “Well?” a voice said. “Come on out. You can’t stay hiding in there. Both of you.”
    Juyrl glanced at Mark, then responded “My companion died. He couldn’t handle that gas.”
    “Oh, that’s very funny. That gas doesn’t kill, nor does it cause that coughing that he was faking. If it had really affected him, he would’ve been temporarily paralyzed. Now do I really have to send my robots in after you? I would prefer a non-violent solution to all of this.”
    “Really?” Mark said loudly. “You of all people would prefer a non-violent solution?”
    The response that came was delayed. Mark wondered if it was because he had said you of all people. Nithril apparently didn’t recognize him yet. “Excuse me? Oh, I’m with UNO. I’m so horrid. So terrible. I just love killing people.” Then his tone changed from sarcastic to accusing. “You are the ones who came here threatening violence against me, then shut down my engines and left me sitting here so you can barge onto my ship, wreck everything, and quite probably kill me. Who’s the bad guy again?”
    Juyrl looked back at Mark to see his reaction. There was a mask of anger, but he had learned to see beyond that and know that Mark was deeply hurt. He wouldn’t take such offense to something a stranger said—Juyrl realized that Mark had a personal history with Nithril. Suddenly Mark lunged forward toward the hole, but Juyrl grabbed his armor and slammed him back down. Then Mark pulled the pin off of a grenade and threw it into the room below. In response, it was thrown right back up. Juyrl grabbed Mark and threw him down into the room, then jumped in after him. When Juyrl landed, Mark had already shot down the only two robots in the room. Everyone ignored the explosion above them.
    After all this time, they were face to face with Nithril. And he appeared to have no defenses. Could it really be so simple? In a corner behind Nithril, there was a young man who had the look of someone who was forced to take the side of his enemy. His face was a mixture of resentment, pain, anger, desperation, and longing, but there was a twinge of hope as he looked shyly at the two commandos. He wanted to escape from Nithril.
    Juyrl wondered silently if Mark even noticed the boy. He was so intently glaring at Nithril, with his gun carefully aimed. Mark was furious. Juyrl had never seen Mark with such a flow of emotions before. Mark had always been controlled. Why was he losing that control now?
    “Well?” Nithril asked. “What do you want? You have me now. Do whatever you’d like. Shoot me, if that’s your desire.”
    Something’s wrong with his voice, Juyrl thought. It doesn’t sound natural… Like it would sound over a communication device. But what’s distorting it?
    “After all this time,” Mark was saying, “I finally have you.”
    Nithril cocked an eyebrow. “And?”
    Mark finally seemed to notice the nonchalant manner that Nithril was talking with. He lowered his gun and just stared at Nithril for a moment. “You’re coming with us.”
    Nithril gave a small, sarcastic smile and raised his arms in surrender. “As I’ve stated, you have me now.”
    “Someone like you wouldn’t take defeat so easily,” Mark said.
    “Well, here we are. Your point is…?”
    “I’m going to take you as a prisoner… but you should know that I want to kill you.”
    “I guessed as much. A lot of people want to kill me. Yet I have no desire to kill. It seems to me that the IGM is a lot more violent than I am. Yet you all call me evil.”
    He was fed up with those lies. After all Nithril had done, there was no way he could honestly say that he had no desire to kill. It was his selfish desires that had brought him so far. Mark ran forward to punch Nithril, but ran straight into an invisible barrier and fell backward with blood dripping from his nose. Juyrl instantly reacted by swinging his fist at the invisible barrier, and he saw cracks appear in front of him. “Glass?”
    “Bullet-proof glass. It has wonderful uses for meetings such as this.”
    “But how—?”
    “So what if you can punch through the cheap, mass-produced, over-expanded sheet metal that some people call walls? Anything thick enough can stop you.” Juyrl started punching repeatedly, widening the cracks, but only on the surface. None of the cracks reached the other side. “Goodbye, commandos. It was nice meeting with you.” With that, Nithril opened a door and walked away.
    The boy waited a moment, then walked close enough to press himself to the glass and whispered “There’s a hole here. That’s what he was using to talk.”
    “Triidxuq, did you fall asleep?” Came Nithril’s voice. “Follow me.”
    Triidxuq? Juyrl thought. That was the same voice that led us into the gas chamber. But he genuinely was leading us to Nithril… so he’s a Taquan.
    He only had to search for a moment to find the hole that Triidxuq told him about. It was the width of his thumb. He turned around and put his right arm forward, with his left hand grabbing his right wrist. Then he slammed his elbow backwards as hard as he could, striking the hole directly. The hole widened, and this time, the cracks did reach the other side. Juyrl then spun around and lifted one leg. The powerful kick made the hole almost large enough to crawl through. With a series of kicks and punches, Juyrl was eventually able to break the glass enough to walk through to the other side. His arms hurt, but he ignored it. Mark was eagerly pushing onward, trying to catch up to Nithril. He bolted through the door and moved toward the bridge. Juyrl was amazed by his speed. But when he picked up a new smell, he sprinted for a second and grabbed Mark, forcing him to a stop. Then an electrical blast struck the Ryeaoan and knocked him to the floor.
    Mark whirled and saw Nithril pointing a pistol at him. “If this gun can take down a Ryeaoan, you don’t want to know what it can do to you. Now it’s your turn to play the prisoner.”
    Mark raised his rifle, but a bolt of electricity shot from Nithril’s gun to hit Mark’s, and the shock went up through the gun to hit Mark’s hands, causing him to drop it. He clenched his hands together in pain.
    “I’m warning you: don’t try anything else. I’ve had it with this game. No longer am I going to pretend you’re in control. I am the one in—”
    That was as far as he got before Mark charged. Nithril was only five feet away. But Mark didn’t even get one foot before the electricity hit him. The pain coursed through him like it was part of his blood. He couldn’t stand it. But his body responded to the pain how he had trained it to—he took a step forward.
    Mark stood gasping for a moment from the pain and the shock. Nithril’s eyes were wide with amazement. “You have strong willpower. Your Ryeaoan friend has had enough of the electricity. You should not be standing.”
    Mark charged again. The electricity struck again. But this time, it was a constant flow. He took a step forward against the pain. That was his body’s natural reaction. But then he did something that even his body wanted to refuse—he took a second step. The first one was training, but the second was determination. Then he took a third step. He just kept moving forward. He saw Nithril in front of him, eyes wide with amazement. Then he took one final step and grabbed Nithril’s arms.
    Then the electricity stopped. Mark felt his heart stop. His whole body burned, and his legs gave out from beneath him. He saw that Nithril had hit the ground too. What happened? Mark’s last thought was that he wasn’t conscious enough to understand what was happening.
    * * *
    Nithril ran. His arms burned where Mark had grabbed him. Even though Nithril had shut off the flow of electricity a second earlier, there was still enough running through Mark’s body to shock Nithril as well. But what he had been concerned about was Juyrl coming up behind Mark. As soon as Mark started to fall, Juyrl jumped. Nithril had hit the floor to avoid death, and shot the Ryeaoan again to knock him down.
    But he knew that he wouldn’t stay down for long. He had to move…
    But his mind was telling him to go back. He knew that person, Mark. He was sure of it. So why couldn’t he remember? His head was throbbing. His mind felt as if he was going to have another flashback… Only nothing came. Only pressing blackness. He pushed it aside as he continued to make his way through his ship, but he couldn’t shake the feeling.
    * * *
    “We need to get you guys to an escape pod.”
    Juyrl stared hard at the boy. “We’ve finally reached our target and you want us to retreat?”
    “Listen, Ryeaoan, your friend is unconscious, and you’re getting to that point yourself. What you’ve done so far is incredible, but that won’t do you any good if you die now. You will get a new chance.”
    Without another word, Juyrl grabbed Triidxuq and threw him over his shoulder, then went to pick up Mark, all the while Triidxuq protesting. “Nithril will kill me if I leave!” he kept shouting. Juyrl ignored him, and just ran. At one point he felt the ship lurch. The engines were once again active. Juyrl didn’t slow down for anything. He was able to make it to an escape pod without incident, and he threw Mark and Triidxuq inside, then closed it and launched it with the computer panel next to it.
    Juyrl was determined to stay and face Nithril. But when he turned around, he saw a small group of robots. Before he could react, one of them launched a missile, which struck the door behind him. The explosion heated his back, but then the water cooled him as it flooded into the room. Within seconds, they were completely underwater. The robots began shooting at him, but he didn’t fight back. While they were underwater, the robots could move faster than him. Of course Juyrl knew how to swim, but he hadn’t had much practice. Safe water is one of the things that wasn’t on Ryeao. So he knew his only option was to flee.
    He pushed out of the ship, clinging onto the outside as it went higher. He refused to let go until it reached the surface, and then he dropped and watched from the water as the ship rose higher. He knew that it would go into space and be destroyed by the other ships. However, something unexpected happened. The ship didn’t go into space. Once it reached a certain altitude, it flew horizontally instead.
    So their plans were foiled. They would have to track down Nithril all over again. And this time, they would need a new plan.
    * * *
    Nithril was finally safe from outside danger, but it was the inside danger he was worried about. The blackness pressed in harder and harder, trying to draw him into another flashback, but no memories would come. He wanted to scream in pain—his head was hurting so badly. But he had to press onward.