Quill assigns Charlie and the others to detention for showing up late after school. She points out that he could avenge both their peoples, and isn't impressed when he refuses to respond to genocide with genocide. She locks him in with the others and says that she has things to do, and she' locking Charlie in so he won't come to any harm. Charlie starts to panic until April shows him that Quill left her with a key. As she opens the door, a bit of asteroid comes through the rift and the doorway and hits the wall, exploding.
As the group recovers, April points out that the windows are black. Charlie points out the door... which now leads into deep space. Ram blames Quill, figuring that she found a loophole in her mental commands. Charlie isn't convinced, and Tanya figures that they're not dead. There's no cell phone signal, and Ram sarcastically says that Charlie has no one to call anyway. Tanya thinks that she heard a rift opening just before the meteorite came through, while Matteusz checks the asteroid piece embedded in the wall. Charlie suggests that it came through a rift, and Ram snaps at Tanya when she insults him. April snaps at Ram, and then wonders if they're suffering from radiation poisoning. They all move away from the asteroid, and Charlie starts to panic. His friends stop him from going out the door, and April says that it feels like nothing while the Shadow at least have an existence.
Matteusz finally pulls the rock out of the wall and starts to throw it out the door. However, he stops and says that he's in Poland a year ago, visiting his babcia on her birthday. Charlie tries to pull the rock out of his hand, and Matteusz says that he's afraid of him because he's an alien. April knocks the glowing red rock out of Matteusz's hand with a book, and it hits the doorway and bounces back. She checks Matteusz's hand confirms that it's not burned, and he says that it didn't feel hot. He says that he experienced the moment with his grandmother when she told him to tell her that he was gay. To Matteusz, the truth became clear and had to be said, and he couldn't stop. He says that it was only the smallest and angriest part of the truth.
Ram suggests that they got knocked out of space and time by a rift, and then complains when April and Tanya stare at him in surprise. Meanwhile, Matteusz tells Charlie that he's not really afraid of him, but points out that they're different. Charlie thought that they were finding a way and walks off.
As ram kicks a desk in frustration, the lights flicker. April asks if his prosthetic leg hurts, and Ram irritably says that it does everything a normal leg does. He says that he can't be an athlete and normal, and they start arguing. After a moment, Ram admits that he doesn't know why he's being a dick and says that he feels weirdly angry. Tanya, who is working out equations on the board, says that she feels the same way. She picks up the rock with a pair of rulers and puts it on a desk. They examine it and figure that an alien attached itself to the rock, Tanya points out that they're all feeling angry when they should be feeling scared, and then picks it up in the hopes that it will talk through her.
Tanya describes how she's having a memory of her mother catching her stealing some sweets and telling her to tell her the truth. The girl then says that the others only tolerate her but don't consider her their friend. April tries to get her to put down the rock, but Tanya refuses and tells them to ask her a question about the rock. When April asks if the rock is dangerous, Tanya says that if someone holds it too long, it fries their brain. She then tells them that the entity is a prisoner on the asteroid.
Ram knocks the rock out of Tanya's hand up into the lights, which flicker. Everyone takes cover, and Ram tells Tanya that she was stupid to put herself at risk. April figures that the prisoner must have been extremely bad to be put in a prison in space, and Ram goes over and figures that if the prisoner escaped then they should find him. Meanwhile, Charlie tells Matteusz that everyone thinks that he's stupid. Matteusz talks about reading about Susan in Narnia, and how she hears a friend talking about her and the friends says not nice things, and it ruins their friendship forever. He asks if Charlie ever complains about his friends in the privacy of his head, and Charlie says that he doesn't.
Charlie goes over to Ram and Tanya, who are discussing whether she should pick up the rock again. Tanya suggests one of them do it for a few seconds, and Charlie says that he'll try to escape. He sticks his hand out the door… and it comes back in a foot away. He pulls his hand back and they realize that the prisoner brought his prison with him. Tanya figures that the prisoner knows about his prison, and says that they just need to ask him the right questions. April warns that it's too dangerous, but Ram points out that they'll starve to death if they don't escape. Tanya figures that the prisoner will kill her or Matteusz if they try again, so they have three more chances. April figures that Quill will rescue Charlie eventually, but Ram points out that she might not see anything when she opens the door. Charlie figures that if he doesn't exist in the world, Quill won't be motivated to save them.
Ram agrees to take the stone. When he picks it up, he describes the moment when he told Varun about his prosthetic leg. He then tells April that he loves her more than she loves him, and wonders if she'll ever be able to love him. Tanya asks the prisoner for his identity, and Ram collapses, dropping the rock. They wake him up and says that each prisoner had their consciousness placed in an asteroid in the asteroid field. One asteroid got knocked through the rift into the world, and the prisoner took lives over and over. Ram knows it because the prisoner told him, and the prisoner was forced to confess. The truth is all that he has left, which is why he forces them to face the truth. He tried to kill Ram because of the strength of Ram's confession, and the prison stirs up the prisoners so that they're angry enough to kill.
Tanya wonders what they can give the prisoner since he can't kill them until he has what he wants. April isn't convinced, and Tanya dismisses her as "white people" who always have things work out for them. After a moment, Tanya apologizes for her remark and says that she doesn't have many friends at Coal Hill. She complains that she's been a kid sister her entire life and tells April not to pretend she knows how she feels. Tanya than says that April or Charlie have to pick up the rocks. When the others object to her taking command, Tanya insults them and they start arguing again. Charlie finally says that it isn't them and they can work together.
Charlie has a panic attack and Matteusz manages to calm him down. April says that she'll take the rock before they kill each other or Charlie has a heart attack. The prisoner forces her to confess, and April describes how she testified against Huw after he drove them off the road. She then says that she doesn't love Ram as much as he loves her because she doesn't trust that his feelings will last. Ram assures her that they will, but April says that she worries she'll never feel as strongly for him as he does for her.
Once the prisoner has his confession, Tanya asks where they are. The prisoner says that they are in no-time and no-space, and they will not escape. She knocks the rock out of April's hands and April collapses. April tells them that the prisoner wasn't expecting the Kin blood in her veins, and says that they've been taken out of time. They won't age or need to eat but will be there forever, and the pain they feel from the confessions makes them angrier and angrier... and the prisoners killed each other with their anger. The only way the prisoner knows to escape is for them to kill each other until only one is left.
Charlie says that he doesn't feel angry, and suggests that because he's different the prisoner might not be able to feed off of his confessions. Matteusz asks Charlie not to pick up the stone, and Charlie admits that Ram was right. He's never had any friends, on Earth or on Rhodia. Tanya tells him that they all feel like the one who was left out, and honestly apologizes to him. Meanwhile, April goes over to Ram and he says that he knew what she was thinking. April says that her feelings are complicated, and he says that now he can play the field now that she's hurt him. Charlie says that he'll pick up the rock, and Ram asks if he's doing it to be the hero. He complains that his life turned to crap after he started hanging out with them, and they argue among themselves again. Ram and Matteusz start fighting until the others pull them apart, and Charlie warns that the room will just make them angrier and angrier. He says that he'll give them confessions and tells them that he wants to murder the Kin, even though he'd lose all hope. The only thing that stops him is Matteusz, and sometimes he hates him for it.
With that, Charlie picks up the rock and tells the prisoner to force the truth out of him when he has already confessed. The prisoner is powerless against him, and Charlie demands to know what the prisoner is hiding and how they can escape. He staggers, his nose bleeding, and the others run to support him. After a moment, Charlie tells Matteusz that he loves him... and will lose him. The rock splits and Charlie demands the prisoner's confession. The prisoner finally says that Charlie is his murderer, and Charlie agrees.
The rock explodes and the room returns to normal space-time. Charlie says that the prisoner wanted someone to kill him and end his sufferer, and for Rhodians wishing is doing. He tells Matteusz that they have some things to talk about, and Matteusz agrees. As Ram tries to walk out, tendrils of energy emerge from the rock shards and grab Charlie's leg. Charlie says that the prison still needs a prison and he's the guiltiest. The tendril starts pulling him in, and the others grab him. Quill arrives, a new scar over her left eye, and shoots the shards apart, and Ram walks out. Tanya tells April to go after him, and April tells her that she'll understand when she has a boyfriend. Angry, Tanya storms out as well. After April leaves, Charlie wonders what happened to Quill that she can now fire a gun. Quill says that she's had quite a day even though they were only gone for 45 minutes, and tells Charlie that saving him was her last favor to him. She tosses him the ahn in a plastic bag and says that she's no longer Charlie's slave, and things are going to change.
Written by Gadfly on Jan 15, 2017