by Simon Archer
“Your eyes are incredible,” I laughed, “and yes, it is. There’s something you should know. My dad, he was a great hero once.” Glancing at Eric, I added, “The greatest, according to some.”
She noted with past tense with some confusion. “He... was?”
“He’s... a bit of a tyrant now,” I explained, struggling to figure out the right way to put it to an alien princess from some other part of the galaxy. Did she even know what tyrants were? Did they have such things, where she came from? “He... fell, I guess... after a personal tragedy. Decided that the only way to protect humanity was to control its every whim. He thinks himself a benevolent dictator. I haven’t really spoken to him since escaping the island years ago.”
Aylin’s expression dimmed somewhat, and she slowly nodded. “I... I understand, Starlight.”
It was strange, but I believed her. There was something in the line between her glowing eyes... more than just sympathy. We stared at each other for a long moment. Too long, long enough that Andie cleared her throat, and the other three looked awkward.
“So yeah, Nick’s dad is a dick, and everyone in the world knows who he is,” Andie said and then beamed at all of us. She clapped her hands once and nodded towards the clock. “We’re running out of time. We ready to go to class?”
A few minutes later, we found ourselves in Efraim’s power training class. It took place in the gym and was nearly started when we arrived. Everyone was whispering amongst themselves, and I caught several familiar words: spaceship, aliens, exchange student. Apparently, rumor had spread. When Aylin entered the room behind me, everyone in the class gawked at her. They knew immediately who she was, and where she’d come from.
In a world where people like Jack existed, it wasn’t her appearance that struck them, but more the knowledge that she was from an alien planet and had traveled across the galaxy to learn with them. Aylin grew uncomfortable with all the staring and hid behind me with a dark blush.
I sighed in irritation, but it was Efraim who spoke. His voice was low and gravelly from where he stood at the head of the class.
“Yes, she is an exchange student,” Efraim muttered. “Treat her with respect, or I’ll have each of your hides in detention for the next three years.”
Immediately, the class looked away from her, many staring down at the floor like scolded children. They overdid his order, avoiding any possible glance at her to avoid staring again. Andie snorted in distaste and snatched Aylin’s hand, who was extremely uncomfortable. She and the girls traveled to the very back, and Eric and I followed.
I sat on the floor between Kara and Andie when we settled in. Aylin stood next to Eric, who had brought a thick old book from his dorm. On the way to class, he kept flipping through the pages silently to show her various heroes in the past century. Aylin asked several curious questions about the finer details of human history, but even when it had nothing to do with hero history specifically, Eric somehow found a way to bring it back again.
At least she was entertained if nothing else. I resisted the urge to peel Eric back from his shiny new friend and leaned into Andie.
“We should take her out on the town tomorrow,” I suggested. “Maybe go to the beach, like we talked about?”
“Good plan,” Andie whispered back. “Any excuse to see you in a bathing suit.”
I chuckled and pecked her on the cheek. “Dork.”
“Even bigger dork,” she shot back and elbowed me.
Efraim cleared his throat and gave us both a sour look. The class started with a hush, and Eric awkwardly shut his history book as he shrank under Efraim’s withering stare. Efraim waited a good long moment before gesturing at a poster pinned up on the wall nearby. It was a shot of Triton when he was young, in eras long past. He was surrounded by a tremendous wave of water, hand outstretched towards some other target.
“Creativity,” Judgment began in a deathly serious tone. “It can be the difference between a weak hero and a devastating one. Your powers are not simply a weapon, they are an extension of you. It’s time you learned how to use them properly. All of you, find your groups and practice your abilities. I want to see what you can do.”
The five of us found a corner to work. Matt and his crew were on the opposite side of the room, giving us dirty looks. He immediately shifted form, and his claws and fangs made themselves apparent. His eyes took on a golden hue with the leer he gave me, and I rolled my eyes at him. If he wanted me to be intimidated, he was going to have to try a lot harder than that.
Andie started stretching herself into various forms: a barrel shape, a tall, thin line, even a coiled spring. I chuckled when she shaped herself into a heart and then pretended to pump it for my amusement. Kara took out the gadget she’d been working on and sat on the floor nearby to tinker with it. Inspired, Eric joined her and asked about trying to power one of her items with his electricity.
Elianna tried taking on the form of other gasses, tried being the operative word, and failed. Judgment cornered her with a chemistry book in his hands as he tried to explain advanced chemical compounds. Her blush had deepened even further with the direct attention, and I thought back to the vampire theory a few weeks back. If he was a vampire, he was doing a very poor job of it. Aside from being pale, there hadn’t been one mention of blood.
Aylin glanced around the classroom, looking a little lost. “I don’t understand,” she said as she wrung her pretty purple hands. “What should I do?”
“What can you do?” I asked honestly.
She looked me up and down, hesitating a moment before hovering in the air just a few inches above the floor.
“A flier!” I chuckled in absolute delight. “Amazing.”
She ducked her head, a dark blush coloring her cheeks again. “Oh, it’s not that impressive.”
“I beg to differ,” I said as I smiled at her again. “Can you do other things?”
“Our skin is resistant to basic damage,” she said. “Not... not invulnerability, as you say, but tougher than a human’s. I believe I am stronger as well as possessing better reflexes. If I concentrate, I can direct the power in me towards other things, but it takes a great deal of effort.”
“Sounds like we tread similar waters, Aylin,” I noted sagely.
“Oh?”
With a quiet sigh, I let my power take me again. The rush was more controlled this time, though I still felt it surge up and down my spine as it flowed into my body, enhancing every part of me. Aylin gasped as I did it, her glowing white eyes wide with wonder.
“Your glow is much brighter now!” she practically cheered.
“Is it?” I looked down at my hands, but there was nothing there as far as I could tell. “You definitely see my power. That’s incredible.”
“Beautiful,” she whispered as she squinted at some aura blind to all of us. She looked like she was staring at the sun. “I can’t see an end to it.”
“There isn’t one,” I said proudly as I planted my hands on my hips. I floated in the air across from Aylin and considered the statement again, and amended, “Well... as far as I know, anyway. It only lasts for ten minutes at a time, then I have to recharge. The possibilities while powered seem to be pretty much endless though.”
“Show me,” Aylin asked eagerly.
I did. I focused it through my eyes, and red hot vision focused into a beam that I stopped with my hand. “I can manipulate my breath as well. And once, in training, I pulled a whole row of parked tractor trailers.”
At her blank look, I explained, “Uh, that’s a lot of weight and friction. I’ve also taken a lot of beating to my skin in this form, and I’m not sure where the exact limits lie. I can redirect the power into raw force, too. It’s pretty explosive, so we shouldn’t test it in the classroom.”
“But it only lasts for ten minutes at a time?”
I nodded. “Yours is permanent?”
“Indeed, Starlight.”
There was concern in her tone, but I shrugged it off and smiled
at the attention. “Don’t worry, Aylin. I may be mortal most of the time, but I’ve trained hard to make up for it.”
“You burn hot, Nick Gateon.” Her feet finally touched the ground. She reached for my hands, and we held them as I landed down before her. “It is quite fascinating.”
I gave her a playful grin, entirely pleased that the violet princess enjoyed my company. “I’m fascinating, eh?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. It was so matter-of-fact that I blinked back at her. “I am quite taken with you.”
Andie slid up from behind us and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“I told you you’re cute,” she said. “The whole dorm agrees. It’s madness.”
“I can’t help it if I’m charming,” I said.
“Did I say I had a problem with it?” She pecked me on the cheek and then whispered in my ear. “I wonder what her tits look like.”
I snorted and playfully shoved Andie back. She laughed, kissed me on the cheek again, then addressed Aylin with a smile. “Would you like to join us for a walk into town tomorrow? You should see more of the city, get yourself orientated.”
“I would love this, Andrea Baker!” the alien princess practically shouted out.
“Back to using full names, I see.” Andie chuckled and jabbed a thumb back towards Kara and Eric. “I’ll go check on those two. You guys experiment in the air. I like the show.”
I took Aylin’s hands in mine, and we floated up towards the ceiling again. Holding eye-contact, I said, “I’ve never met an alien princess before.”
She chuckled and ducked her head. Black hair fell into her eyes. “I’ve never met a human man before.”
“Do I meet up to your standards?” I flashed her a grin.
“More than.” She smiled. “I am grateful to have such good friends upon landing here. Thank you for showing me your world and having such patience.”
I smiled back and shrugged off the attention with humility. “I do what I can. I know what it’s like to be displaced. No one should be alone when that happens.”
I don’t know what she saw in my eyes, but she agreed with them. Some body language was universal, it seemed. She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek just like Andie had done.
“I thank you, Nick Gateon,” she said softly. “I would very much like to not be alone.”
“Then you’ll have us,” I told her with confidence. “All of us. We’re friends, now.”
“‘Friends,’” she quoted as if she were testing out the word. “I like this. That is agreeable to me.”
Chapter 12 - Aylin
When I was very young and lived on a planet far, far away, my father brought me to our observatory and pointed up at the stars. They were infinite and spread from one horizon to the other. I loved them. They were gateways to other worlds, other dreams. Other people.
“All that you see will be yours someday,” he said.
He was a very loving man who wanted the best for his daughter, and on New Sahana, he had the power to grant it. I believed him when he said that the stars were mine. I thought he was the greatest being in the whole universe. I thought, as his daughter, it was my right.
When all was taken from me, I realized that I had been a privileged fool who knew no better. My perceived birthright was built on the broken backs of so many other people, and I no longer wanted it. Before I had come here to Alexandria, to greet the humans who now claimed friendship with me, I lived in squalor for years, trying to hide from the thing that had once defined me.
It was strange to be greeted with respect again. Stranger still to be referred to as a princess. Eric Meyers knew no better because I did not tell him. He did not need to know.
Bright and excitable like any other child, he dragged me to the roof to look up at all the stars.
“I want to know which one is yours,” he said as he bounced on his heels.
Starlight followed behind him like a quiet, comforting shadow. While Eric Meyers set up a telescope he’d found, Starlight spread a blanket out for the two of us. He patted the ground next to him, his smile soft and warm. I sat beside him after a moment of hesitation and tried not to sink into those entrancing brown eyes. Other men had looked upon me and begged for attention in the past, and I had granted none of them their desires... in as much as I ever could refuse.
Starlight was... very different. He had clearly noticed me but did not draw attention to his lust. He was... strangely respectful. I had witnessed his recent attention to the other girls and noted that his entire world revolved around them whenever they were alone. I believe the human word was ‘romantic.’ He granted them the attention they deserved and thought very little of his own needs in kind.
I had never met a man like him before, and my interest was piqued. My eyes drifted down to his lips, and I wondered, not for the first time, what they tasted like.
Starlight lifted a brow at me as he noticed my gaze. “Is something wrong?”
I blushed and looked away, glancing toward Eric instead.
“No,” I whispered. “Sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“It’s... it’s nothing,” I said, strangely embarrassed.
It was difficult to describe the glow that surrounded Nick Gateon. It did not light up the physical world, but I could see into its source, and it was an endless burning core that fueled him even as he struggled to keep it at bay. The others claimed that he could only ‘power up’ for ten minutes at a time, but I could see the truth of it by simply looking deep into his nature. If he wasn’t careful, it was going to burn him up someday.
“Aha! Got it!”
Eric Meyers bounced in excitement, and his whole body sparkled with little bolts of electricity. He accidentally jolted the telescope and then cursed softly, double checking for damage. He was a very kind soul who was obsessed with far too many amusements... not that I minded, of course. I understood the value of distraction.
Starlight lifted a brow, not so easily impressed. “What’s it looking at?”
“Mars!” Eric Meyers beamed. “My favorite.”
“I thought Pluto was your favorite,” Starlight shot back. They argued like brothers, and I smiled softly as I watched the two of them.
“Well, duh, but technically Pluto isn’t a planet.”
“It’s a dwarf planet,” Starlight insisted. “That still counts.”
“Does not.”
“Does too!”
“Jesus, Nick,” Eric Meyers said with a laugh. “It surprises me that you care this much.”
Starlight crossed his arms and tried to appear upset, but the curl of his lips gave him away. “Of course I care,” he insisted. “Pluto has feelings too, you know.”
“It’s a planet.” Eric Meyers laughed. “It’s not feeling anything.”
“How would you know?”
“Because it’s a rock, and rocks don’t have feelings!”
Starlight pretended to look hurt again. “Say that to Jack,” he scoffed, “I’m sure he’d disagree!”
Eric Meyers’s laughter grew more intense, and tears of mirth filled his eyes. “That’s your go-to? Jack doesn’t have much going on in his brain beyond point a to point b, and even that’s probably difficult for him.”
“And for a guy made out of bricks, he’s pretty protective of Matt’s crew! Trust me, I’ve had to dodge his swings more than once.”
“That’s because he’s a moron,” Eric Meyers pointed out.
“Alright,” Starlight admitted, after a moment of consideration. “That’s fair.”
I giggled, and they both turned to look at me. This made me falter and blush instead. “I have not yet interacted with this Jack creature, but there are sentient beings made of stone on my homeworld. They are ancient. We call them Tepeu.”
“They’re another sentient race?” Eric Meyers’s eyes were wide, fathomless pools. He had a lust for knowledge like no other I’d ever met. “Like yours?”
“And yours,” I nodded. “They have kept t
o themselves for a long time, but there are many legends about them.”
Just as Eric Meyers seemed eager to ask more, Starlight rose from the blanket and gestured up at the stars. “Do you know which one is yours?”
I studied the sky carefully. The constellations were unknown to me, and it was difficult to navigate them. I looked into the great splash of the Milky Way and gestured at it.
“We are located much deeper in the galaxy than you are.”
“Wow,” Starlight muttered. “I thought you’d come from somewhere nearby, like around the solar system. You can travel the galaxy that fast?”
“Not without dangers.” I shook my head. “Our space travel technology is based on yours. We did not have the means until Delacruz found our people and shared her knowledge with us. She used a method that captures wormholes. The nature of space is very... capricious, and sometimes ships are lost in the effort.”
Starlight’s brow lifted, and it was clear he was both concerned and impressed. “So it was a risk in more than one way to get you here?”
“When I left New Sahana, I knew that I was never coming back.”
“Don’t you...?” Starlight hesitated. “Don’t you miss it?”
“Sometimes,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he nodded back, “I think I understand.”
Eric Meyers frowned at that. He gestured upward towards the heavens. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to bring on bad memories. I should have—”
“Nonsense,” I interrupted. “I enjoy the company. It has been a very pleasant night.”
“Well, I can show you some of our constellations if you like,” Eric Meyers offered. “I know a few.”
“As do I,” Starlight smiled. He sat down on the blanket next to me again, and Eric Meyers joined on my other side.
“That would be lovely,” I whispered, enjoying their warmth.
They both took turns showing me the stars for hours. It was early into the next morning before any of us slept, and when I finally joined them, I had pleasant dreams.
Chapter 13
