I could see the other prisoners moving in their cells, but I could not hear them. "Hello, brothers!" I yelled as loudly as I could. No one seemed to hear me. I tried it again, with the same effect.

As I looked around for possible allies and escape routes, I became aware that there seemed to be captives from two different countries in this prison. Then I remembered that I owed no allegiance to the clothes I was wearing. I doubted anyone else here did either. But then, I could never tell in these situations. Logic here might not always be rewarded with truth.

I noticed a soldier, who was riding a meticulously outfitted black stallion, start to move. The horseman broke through to an adjoining cell as if there were no barrier. I made a note of this, and had mentally started to map the soldier's movements, when he turned and headed toward me. It was then that I saw that he was wearing a uniform that didn't match my own.

I backed up in my cell and prepared for an attack. I searched the uniform I was wearing for some sort of weapon, but found none. I searched my opponent, and saw that he was equally unarmed. I watched anxiously as he broke through two more cells, heading closer and closer to my position.

I was preparing to knock the soldier off of his horse when they came to a stop in a cell that shared a corner with mine. I held my coiled-to-jump position for a minute, then relaxed. The horseman never even looked in my direction.

While the force field was invisible, the cells, even in the dim light, were plainly differentiated by opposing colors of inlaid stone. I could see that the barriers were thinner than I had previously imagined. I looked over the magnificent beast in the adjoining cell, and wondered at its ability to break through the prison walls.

I revised my test of the force field. I noticed that a short exposure was virtually painless, but the longer my hand violated the forbidden zone, the more intense the pain would become. The horseman in the next cell stared ahead, paying no mind to my calculations. If I could just get control of that horse, I knew I could break out of this prison.

I took the chance.

I dove through the corner and landed with a thud in the horseman's cell. There was a quick tingling as I passed through, but there was no lingering pain. I quickly pulled my feet underneath me and sprang at the horseman. The horse started just as I jumped, and I bounced harmlessly off of its side. The horseman spun around and looked at me in surprise and fright. I heard a muffled scream as man and horse suddenly bolted through an invisible cell wall and vanished in a fiery flash of light.

I sat on the floor and looked into the cell where the horseman had disappeared. I noticed the other prisoners looking in my direction; apparently they had also seen the flash. I waved to them, and called out. A few, from both sides, waved back.

I began to notice prisoner transfers happening around me. One at a time, at varying intervals, prisoners would move from one cell to another. Sometimes they would simply enter an adjoining cell, other times they would trek through several cells to get to their destination. I remembered the path the horseman had taken to this cell. I wondered if it was a passageway to the outside. I gathered my strength and jumped into the cell from which the soldier had come.

As soon as I hit the floor, my body was racked with pain of incredible intensity that did not subside. It was like I had landed in a pool of molten lava into which someone had tossed a live power line. I curled into a ball to try to shut out the pain, but it would not go away. I was vaguely aware of being in shadow, while the cell I had just departed was reflecting light from an indistinguishable source. Though my muscles quivered in agony, I managed, with great effort, to roll back into the lighted cell. The pain ceased immediately, save for a dull ache which persisted for some time in my head. I lay on the floor for a while, regaining my energy. The ache left slowly, but it left, and after several minutes I felt no remnants of it.

I began to notice a gradual darkening of my cell. Slight at first, it became quickly obvious that a shadow was falling over me. At the same time, light was intensifying in the cell directly in front of me. I started to feel the tingling sensation, then the pain. I jumped into the newly lighted cell, and the pain stopped.

I sat and watched as more prisoners made these strange migrations. I could make no sense of this. No new prisoners were being brought in, and the vacated cells, for the most part, remained empty. Once more I was forced to move ahead a cell in this bizarrely choreographed dance. This time I jumped as soon as I first started to feel the tingling.

A foot soldier, who was wearing the same uniform as I, moved into a new cell. Behind him, a light illuminated a figure I had not seen before. A breathtakingly beautiful woman, dressed in flowing robes and a glistening tiara, looked toward the intruder. A goddess, I thought, as she glided forward to the cell the soldier now occupied. She cocked her head as if she were listening to instructions from a loudspeaker. Then she produced a jeweled sword from a fold in her robe, and swung it apprehensively at the soldier. The blow was hardly powerful, but on contact the soldier faded away in a ghostly fire.

I wondered if this was supposed to make me want to fight for the team upon which I had been arbitrarily placed. Instead, I found myself numbingly attracted to the conquering goddess. She stood there so victorious, but so alone, and her expression betrayed the fact that she did not think much of this business of war. Her raven hair framed a porcelain face pinched with fear; her bowed head and drooping eyelids hid the sparkle of emeralds. I looked at her for a long while, but then was distracted by movement nearby.

An opposing foot soldier started running in my direction. I tensed for the attack. He ran completely through one cell and came to a breathless stop in a cell directly beside mine.

As I surveyed his change of position, a wave of déjà vu flooded over me. I knew I had been in this situation before, as impossible as it seemed. But when? And what could I do?

And then it came to me.

En passant!

I dove into the cell that the soldier had run through. There was a slight tingling, but no pain. In a brilliant instant, the soldier disappeared.

So that was it. I was a pawn in their game of chess. I thought back to when my uncle had taught me to play, but that was long ago, before the Experimenters came. I hoped I could remember enough to keep myself alive.

The king, I knew, was the key. I must either kill him, or force him to surrender. I looked around, and found the crowned coward crouching in the shadow of a tower. He was two squares away on a diagonal line.

I had to find a way to get at this measly monarch. A stern-faced knight now held the space directly in front of me. As I was a mere pawn in this game, that was the only place I could have moved.

This was, of course, unless one of the king's soldiers took the space between the king and myself. In that case I would have the angle to attack, and could eliminate the soldier and move next to the king. However, it would then be the king's turn, the king's advantage. I would need protection.

I was turning the possibilities over in my mind when a warm glow pushed away the darkness of my cell. I looked up and saw that the space that was the subject of my calculations was now occupied by the goddess.

No…the queen!

Had I been playing with my uncle, I would have wasted no time in slaying the queen with this lowly pawn. But now it seemed as if I were playing with my life. I faced certain retribution from the king on the next move if I were to eradicate his most powerful piece.

And that wasn't the hardest part. How could I kill such a beautiful woman? I cursed my weakness for her, but I could not summon the resolve to do her harm.

I looked toward the king, and saw that he was in a spirited consultation with one of his bishops. Apparently he had communicative abilities which I was not afforded. His queen tried to attract his attention, but he had no time for her. He pulled an instrument from his tunic on which he pushed a sequence of buttons. Immediately the bishop ran four spaces and vanquished a knight of my color.

I looked back to find my own king. When I finally found him, I saw that he was wielding an identical device and seemed to be deciding what his next move would be. I knew then that, though the kings were in the game, they were not prisoners.

They were Experimenters.

Yet, I was not totally controlled by them. Twice I had been moved from square to square, but on two other occasions I had successfully completed independent moves. The first was my attack on the knight, the second, the en passant. The one move in which I had been unsuccessful, the one that had caused me such indescribable pain, had been a lateral move - a move that is illegal for a pawn to make.

Still, none of this helped me. Even if I rushed in to murder the queen, giving my side a sizeable advantage, the king, on his next move, would certainly crush me.

Then I had an idea.

I looked again for the dark king. He was gazing across the board, his attention directed toward a huddling of power players my king had assembled. While his focus was otherwise engaged, I unobtrusively slipped through the corner into the queen's cell. She heard my footsteps and spun around with a look of horror, then, quickly, acceptance.

"I have the advantage," I said.

"I know," the queen replied. She bowed her head.

"Perhaps," I continued, "we can make a deal."

When the king finally turned around to acknowledge his queen, he saw instead an enemy foot soldier. I could suddenly hear his voice as he let loose a tirade of obscenities that would surely have offended me had I been able to understand his language. When he lunged through the corner, I pulled the jeweled sword out from behind me and swung it heartily at him. My blow froze solid in midair before reaching its mark, and the king was gone. There was no flash this time, and no sound; he simply vanished.

I turned around. The queen stood up and walked over to me. As she put her arms around me, the dim light in the room began glowing more brightly. I became aware of a growing din; I could now hear the movements of the other captives. At that moment one of them discovered that the force fields had ceased. He uttered a startled "hey," and was surprised when everyone turned to look at him.

"Th- the walls are gone!" he stammered loudly, and it echoed around the room for everyone to hear. After a second of contemplation, the other prisoners sounded a cheer and started gathering in a celebratory circle around us.

A door opened. It was familiar, predictable, anti-climactic. It always ended this way: a false sense of freedom, followed by sleepless, start-filled nights until my ultimate recapture.

And yet, now things would be different.

Now I had found my queen.