As soon as the command was given for us to retire back to the cells, it became a war. The slaves shoved each other out of the way, running to secure a spot.
Just like yesterday, me, the Devaronian, and Koji were not running.
The Zeltron was still lying sprawled against the wall where the Devaronian had placed him.
The Devaronian's reasons were plain. He knew he would simply hurl whoever he found in his spot out of the way.
As for me, I knew now my fate was condemned to hard concrete. If I had any tiny hope of exploring the dream state, then I had to stay away from the rest of the slaves.
I hurried toward Koji, who was struggling to get up.
The overseer had to bite back the words he had been prepared to hurl at me. After all, he had been about to yell for me to carry the guy.
"Up you get," I said as I swung one of his arms around my shoulder.
He yelped in pain.
Stretching his arm apparently also stretched the scars on his back.
I tried to be as gentle as I could, but really, with the way we were being rushed, it was all I could do not to drag him toward the cell.
Sure enough, when we got inside, the huge slave was in his usual spot, reclined against the wall and spreading his legs enough to occupy even more space. He looked at the rest of the slaves as if daring one of them to challenge him. Obviously, no one did.
I eased Koji into our corner before the door slammed shut behind us. Then I lowered myself onto what I had now come to think of as my usual spot.
For about thirty minutes, there was chattering and bickering as people tried to readjust themselves or catch up on the day's events.
Today, people had become a bit more sociable compared to the previous day when we had arrived.
Some were discussing the girls. Some were discussing the lethal punishment Koji had been subjected to. Some were discussing the food. Others were discussing the crates.
Koji was glaring at me as if I was about to die.
"Will you stop staring at me?" I murmured.
He looked away for a second before turning back to me. It was like he was bound by a spell to keep staring.
"You should get some sleep," I said. Most people had grown tired of the chitchat, and silence has begun to fall.
" Even with your wounds, you can be sure they will not excuse you from work tomorrow."
"They will have to kill me," he said with feigned determination. "I am not carrying a single crate."
I looked at him pitifully. "If that is so, you can bet they will kill you."
In my head, however, I knew that was just feigned determination. As soon as he saw the face of the overseer in the morning, all that resolve would burn away.
I, on the other hand, was feeling restless.
I knew I wanted to enter the dream state once again, but the thought that I had been sleep talking scared me more.
I must have been talking the previous night. That was the only way Koji could have heard that much, especially about the Force.
Jedis were the most feared among the smugglers, even more than the Republic. One Jedi was considered a disaster to an entire operation. It was not unknown for massive bounties to be placed on them and
That brought bounty hunters to their necks constantly.
To be associated with them was another death sentence.
If I kept mentioning the Force and I would if I dived deeper into the dream state and someone else heard me, they might trade my secrets for comfort. Slaves always craved favors from the overseers.
It was funny, really. I had never thought of myself as a sleep talker.
Maybe it was because I had completely given up on myself in this dimension to be present in the other.
Perhaps this was what the system meant by being aware of my environment and trying to balance both sides.
Lucky for me, determined as Koji was, he could not overrule his body's exhaustion.
Almost an hour after we had been locked in, he drifted to sleep.
I tried to follow, but I could not. There were too many worries in my head.
It led me to wonder... Did I actually have to fall asleep, or was there another way to trigger the system and enter the dream state?
With that thought, I tried to relax and close my eyes. I pushed away the thoughts in my head.
It was a kind of meditation, only I was lying down.
After a while, I began to feel that hazy fog, as if I were lifting out of my own body. In no time, I was standing back in the square.
I had done it.
The slaves were gathering as they had the previous morning to receive instructions.
I took the chance to see whether I could connect with my body back in the cell.
I could not say for certain, but I could sense my breathing. I heard someone snoring and Koji groaning beside me.
That was a good start.
Thank God, because I really wanted it to be a good day.
It was my second day inside the dream state, and it would have been a disappointment to leave without learning anything. It seemed to me that environmental awareness had to be achieved first before the system allowed me to progress further.
Soon enough, I was moving crates again.
Even knowing the events that would unfold shortly, I tried to push those worries out of my head.
They were noise inside me, and I had to silence them. If I did not, I would achieve nothing.
The constant balancing was draining my focus.
as I quieted the thoughts the same way I had when accessing the system, I began to feel at peace.
Even with fear surrounding me, I felt sure of my steps.
Trip by trip, I relaxed.
Through repetition, I began to understand which slave would be where based on how fast they delivered their load.
It was hard to overtake anyone ahead of you because everyone kept a steady pace.
I could tell who was in front of me and who was behind me without looking.
Koji was always behind me.
Through sheer repetition, I counted the other slaves we had found here earlier. There were twenty five. Added to the eleven of us, that made thirty six.
Today, there were nine enforcers, not counting the overseer.
Six were positioned toward the older slaves. The other three moved around.
No one tried to trip anyone today.
The crates seemed valuable and bulky. Falling would not benefit the enforcers. It would particularly enrage Hato, who they knew was around.
I had an inkling to confirm what was inside the crates, but they were sealed, and I did not wish to risk it.
As time passed, I mapped out the entire square.
I observed the droids. They did not move all day and did not seem to mind us. Their eyes were fixed on the enforcers.
It occurred to me that the enforcers had not been afraid of the holo cams. They had been afraid of the droids.
I replayed the previous day's incidents in my head.
By the time someone was being tripped, the rotating guards had moved to stand in front of the droids' line of vision.
Even if the holo cams saw them pick up the spices, the droids did not.
They feared the droids more than the cams. That meant whoever was behind the cams was on board with the project, and the droids answered only to Hato.
It explained a lot.
When the Twi lek woman returned with the girls and I knew the events that led to Koji's injuries were about to repeat, I had to stop myself from holding him back.
It would have meant dropping my crates and interfering with the flow of real events.
So again, with pain, I watched as the boy received his lashes.
The good thing was that the dream state only affected me.
By the time we were called for meals, I had become so entwined with my surroundings that I felt like I had been there for years.
I could tell which guard would move based on habit.
I could tell which guard was about to strike by how they held their rods or shifted their boots.
I could even tell when the overseer was about to bark a command, all without looking.
I hoped this was what the system meant by see without looking.
I had even begun to understand the humming of the machines.
I could identify the air purifiers by their soft hum, even without seeing them. I could distinguish them from the heavy machinery lifting crates from the cargo bay.
Those machines had a heavier groan. A screech of straining parts.
It was only when I took my food that I stopped.
I noticed something I had not earlier.
As we were given our rations, the huge door I had seen before, the one guarded by many droids, swung open at the same time.
Five or six crates of bread and water were pushed inside. Five security droids stepped in behind the enforcers before the door shut again.
It made me wonder who was on the other side.
They had to be slaves too, but ones that needed heavier guarding.
If enforcers required security droids to escort them, it meant that side demanded even more control.
I opened my bottle of water and stopped.
Koji. The flow of events.
It would be normal to give him his share. Even though I hated repeating that day's argument, it was at that moment, when we were supposed to argue about what he had heard, that the system appeared.
Lesson successfully completed.
I read the holographic display.
Congratulations. You have now unlocked your first Force session . The lesson will commence during tomorrow's dream state session.
Excitement rushed through me.
It was not much, but it was something.
Tomorrow, I would get my first taste of the Force.
How it would be tailored to smuggling, I still did not know. But at least I had achieved something.
When we were asked to retire back, Koji had still not finished his ration. That was a disadvantage. I had established yesterday that if I ate in the dream state, I woke up in the other feeling energized.
I did not know if the same applied to Koji. He was not part of the dream state. He was only part of its events.
I could not ask him. That would interfere with the flow.
Then a thought occurred to me.
Would I be able to carry something from the dream state into the real flow of events?
What if.
I looked around.
I could not carry the water bottle. Where would I hide the empty can? If the guards found it in the morning, or if a slave snitched, I would receive a brutal beating.
Still, I could test my theory.
Quickly, I nicked a piece of my bread and shoved it into my pocket.
Then I pulled Koji's arm over my shoulder, heard him groan, and dragged him toward the cell.
Let it be in my pocket when I wake up, please, I mumbled to myself.