“... where is he? Where’s my boy?” Maggie thundered, shoving her way through the throng as they loaded the surviving prisoners. “Diggs! Diggs!” she shouted, before clambering on top of a vehicle for a better view of the crowd. She scanned the swarm of bodies, many of them bloody and disheveled, but she recognized none of them. Frantically she turned to Blye, who had somehow kept pace with her and was now latched onto the truck she’d just scaled. “I can’t see him!” she said in a panic.

“We’ll find him, Maggie, I promise,” the Knight answered, trying to keep the Tinker calm, while silently fearing the worst. The rescue mission was a disaster, and far too many of the former prisoners were crying out in agony from their wounds. Diggs could be among them, or worse, lying beside those who’d perished during the fight. She prayed he was safe, but lately, it seemed that Holy Mother Terra wasn’t listening to her pleas.

“... Maggie?”

She turned at the sound of her name, spotting a small group approaching their location, immediately recognizing Rúna at its head, toting a rifle. The Valkyrie did a double-take as she recognized Blye. “What are you two doing here?” she asked them.

Maggie hopped off the truck, cursing as she landed wrong, before making a beeline for the new arrivals. “Where’s Diggs?” she pressed her.

“We got separated,” Rúna said. “I told him to stick close to the Ambassador, but last I saw him he was fine.” Of course, that was prior to the assault. Her mind shied away from his potential fate, but it was impossible to banish completely.

“I gotta know if he’s okay,” Maggie whispered, almost in tears, grabbing her blouse tight and refusing to let go. “If he’s safe, or if he’s…” The Tinker froze, unable to finish the sentence, her wet eyes now wide in desperation.

“I promise, we’ll find him,” she vowed, glancing at her team and silently giving the order with a jerk of her head. The Valkyries immediately scattered, searching for the boy. “I need you to stay with Blye and keep her safe,” she continued, gently removing the Tinker’s hands from her tunic. “Just stay here, and don’t wander off. Okay?”

The Knight stepped forward, snaking her arm through Maggie’s and keeping her close. “Of course,” she answered for them both, “we’ll do as you ask.”

“Thank you,” Rúna said gratefully. “As soon as I find him, I’ll bring him to you.”

“Hurry,” Maggie urged her, her hands now in nervous motion.

Nodding to them both, she scurried off while Blye held on fast. “I’m scared,” the old Tinker whimpered. “What if he’s…”

“Now we’ll have no talk of that,” Blye admonished her. “Let’s not borrow trouble. If anyone can find him, it’s Rúna.” She startled as Maggie buried her face in her shoulder and sobbed, wrapping her arms around her and gently stroking her hair, offering what comfort she could. The Tinker was a strong woman, tough as nails when she needed to be, but fearing for her adopted son was the weak point in her armor, the one thing that could shatter her. The last time she thought she’d lost him she’d fallen into a deep depressive state, and only discovering he was still alive had pulled her free of it.

New Terra was supposed to be our home, Blye thought in despair. How did it all go so wrong?

The boy was growing heavy in his arms, but Genvass simply locked his wrists together and soldiered on as best he could. The Valkyrie captain, Inaba, was leading them to the camp’s entrance, where he could see a convoy of vehicles waiting. He spared a glance at Diggs, stumbling along beside him. There was no change, his expression was still a blank. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen the boy mute, but his current state was a far cry from whatever emotional trauma he’d been suffering from. Back then, he’d been borderline feral, and while he couldn’t talk, his expression and body language had spoken eloquently. There had been a fire in his eyes then, full of passion, not the bleak emptiness that he saw now.

“We’re almost there,” Inaba said, somewhat superfluously. Her way of reassuring them, he assumed. Remi and Taneka were still on high alert, scanning their surroundings, but he was too drained to do anything more than keep moving forward. Genvass struggled to make sense of what he’d witnessed this night, but the harder he tried, the more it seemed to skitter away. He was no stranger to violence, though he was unequipped to dole it out himself, but this was different. It was the Clan Wars all over again, only a thousand times worse.

I was supposed to stop this; he thought in disgust. Good job, Genvass. Full marks.

There had to be some way to salvage this. There had to be. He couldn’t accept that it had all been for nothing. If humanity were to have any future, they needed to end the fighting, and see that they brought those who had forced it upon them to justice. Inaba and the Valkyries who’d rescued them were a start, but weren’t enough by themselves. The people must make a stand, he realized, if humanity were to be anything other than a footnote in galactic history.

What are you going to do? a voice inside him asked. Are you going to let them break you? Or… are you going to be the leader they need you to be?

And there it was. It was that simple. And that complicated.

He was still considering his epiphany as they reached the main gate. Gazing around at the mass of bodies, both the Valkyries and the former prisoners, only to hear a muttered, “God damn it,” coming from Captain Hadad. He gave the Corsair a curious look, only for him to shake his head in resignation before nodding towards one of the nearby vehicles… where a pair of familiar faces could be seen.

Genvass took a deep breath, steeling himself, before wrapping a protective arm around young Tinker’s shoulders. “Diggs… it’s your mom,” he said, gently guiding him in her direction.

Nothing. No sign of recognition at all.

With a sigh, he led him forward, in time to see Maggie’s head snap up as she spotted them. “Diggs! Diggs!” she shouted, breaking free from Blye and rushing towards them. She didn’t pause to greet them, instead she all but leapt to fold her arms around her son, hugging him tight. “Thank Mother Terra,” she murmured, holding him close. “When I heard you was stuck in this place, I was so damn worried about you.” Tears of joy filled her eyes as she hugged him, only for a slowly dawning awareness to settle in when she realized he wasn’t hugging her back. His arms hung limply at his sides, unresponsive to her presence.

Maggie pulled back, her hands on his shoulders as she searched his face for some sign of recognition. “Diggs, it’s me,” she told him, “it’s your mom. Don’t you know me, boy?”

Still nothing. In desperation, she whirled to face Genvass. “What the hell happened to my son?” she demanded, her expression one now of growing anger.

“I’m not sure,” he answered, “but I think you need to go get Blye.”

Explanations were forced to wait until they could evacuate the camp. Rúna and her squad found them just prior to their departure, taking their stations as if the prison camp were nothing but a brief interruption of their mission. Once the convoy was loaded and heading towards what he hoped was safety under the Valkyries’ protective umbrella, Maggie wanted answers. “What the hell happened?” she said once again, as she and Blye waited for him to respond.

He glanced down at the young boy, now sleeping in his arms. They’d learned his name… Micah… but little else before he finally lost consciousness. Diggs was now seated between the two women, both fiercely protective of him.

“When fighting broke out, we got caught in the middle of it,” he explained. “We were already moving to somewhere safe when we found young Micah here.” The boy stirred briefly at the sound of his name, but soon settled back down. “He was beside the body of a young woman, his mother,” he continued, “and I asked Diggs to check on him while I tied a tourniquet on a wounded man’s leg.” Genvass shook his head. “When I looked back up again, he was like that. I don’t know what happened.”

“I found no signs of injury,” Blye interjected, “but could he have suffered a concussion or something similar?”

“I don’t think so,” he replied, “we weren’t anywhere near the fighting at that point. I think… it was something else.” He shot an uneasy look at the young Tinker.

“What do you think it was?” Blye pressed him.

In his mind’s eye he could still see it, Diggs standing there in shock, staring at the boy as he wept over his mother’s body. “When we found Micah, something… snapped,” he said quietly. “He was screaming, ‘Mama!’, over and over, and Diggs, he…” Genvass struggled to find the right words, only there were none. Not for this.

“Diggs just… went away,” he said at last, shrugging helplessly.

Maggie turned to the Knight. “What the hell does that mean?” she questioned her.

Blye pursed her lips. “Has he ever spoken of his birth parents?” she asked.

“Don’t remember ‘em,” the Tinker answered. “Don’t remember much about his childhood at all.”

“I suspect he remembers more than he realizes,” the Knight said gently. “The brain is complicated, with different sections performing different functions, and far too often those separate areas don’t communicate very well with one another. It’s an outgrowth of our evolution, with new bits being grafted on as we progressed from worms to fish to lizards to mammals, and then finally to primates. Each evolutionary leap came with added brain power, and for the most part, it works pretty well, but from an engineering standpoint?” She shook her head. “There are some gaps.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Maggie snarled. “I want to know what’s wrong with my boy!”

“I’m trying to explain,” Blye said patiently. “Memories are stored in the cerebral cortex, but with a traumatic event, those memories can be lost. The mind hides them away, in order to protect itself, especially if the trauma occurs early in life. It’s called ‘dissociative amnesia’. But sometimes, under the right circumstances… those memories can come back.”

Genvass looked down at Micah, and then over at Diggs. “You’re saying that seeing Micah crying over his mother triggered something, some traumatic event from his past,” he deduced.

“I am,” Blye agreed. “Now, this is only a guess, but I suspect Diggs lost his own mother in much the same way that Micah did, and seeing that, reliving that was simply too much for him. And to make it worse, you remember what he was like when you found him, don’t you?”

“Not likely to forget that,” she answered, a dark cloud crossing her eyes. “It was months before he finally started talkin’.”

The Knight nodded in agreement. “Assuming he was roughly the same age as Micah when he lost his birth parents, he must have spent years struggling to survive, forgetting bit by bit who he was and where he came from. He barely recalled his own name. That’s another form of dissociative amnesia, and spending years living under that cloud may have left him vulnerable to a relapse.”

“So, how do we help him?” Maggie said in desperation. “There’s gotta be somethin’!”

“It’s going to take time, Maggie,” Blye sighed. “In fact, I imagine his recovery will be much like how he found his voice again. There are forms of psychotherapy that can help, and I know several people who are skilled in that area. It’s also possible that he’ll recover on his own when he’s ready. But if you’re looking for some miracle cure, I’m afraid there is none. Right now, looking out for him and letting him know that he’s safe and that he’s loved is the best way you can help him through this.”

Maggie’s jaw tightened as she gave the Knight a curt nod. “Whatever it takes. Whatever he needs.” She spared a glance at Micah. “What about him?”

“The same,” Blye said. “In fact, he’ll likely bounce back faster, because of his age and that he’ll be getting help immediately after the traumatic event, instead of years later, like Diggs.”

The Tinker slowly nodded, considering that. “He got any kin?” she asked Genvass.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “If he does, it will take time to locate them.”

“Yeah… I reckon it will,” she said softly, her eyes going distant as she relived some private moment. “And now that you’re free, what are your plans?” Maggie asked him, though there was an edge to her tone he didn’t recognize.

“Find some way to end this,” he answered. “I don’t know why the Clan leaders have set us on this path, but they have to be stopped. I don’t care about their motives or their reasons, all I know is they’re finishing what the Yīqún started when they destroyed Earth.” Genvass met the Tinker’s gaze. “This is not who we were meant to be.”

Maggie regarded him for a moment and then held out her arms. “Give him here,” she told him. “I’ll look after him, least till we find his folks.”

A sharp intake of breath betrayed his surprise. “He might not have any family,” he said carefully, “and you already have your hands full with Diggs.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Boy needs lookin’ after,” she told him, “and I got experience. I was there for Diggs when he needed it, and I can do the same for Micah. ‘Sides, are you gonna take care of him?” she scoffed.

“Are you saying I couldn’t?” he fired back.

She sighed, her features softening somewhat. “Course you could,” she said charitably, “but you got a full plate your own self. We’re countin’ on you to find a way out of this fuckin’ mess.” Maggie turned and looked behind them, at the camp now receding in the distance. “With no more of that,” she said quietly.

The vehicle grew strangely silent, as he realized they were all staring at him, even Blye, with her sightless eyes. The expectant look on their faces were all alike, and with a start he finally recognized it for what it was.

Anguished, desperate hope. They were all praying for a miracle, and had latched onto him as their savior.

“I’m not sure I can,” he whispered, overwhelmed by their quiet outpouring of grief and need. “It’s too big. I’m not sure anyone could set things right.”

A snort of strangled laughter yanked him from his brooding, only to spot Rúna gazing back at him.

“Join the club,” she told him.