by J. Naomi Ay
She walked all the way out to the end of the dock, whereupon she sat down, and stared at the stars, and at the spaceplanes and satellites drifting overhead. Somewhere off across the lake, an owl hooted, while a coyote sang. A rush of heavy wings took to the air.
“Senya?” Katie whispered hopefully, as someone appeared beside her.
“Sorry,” Arsan replied. “It’s only me. I hope you don’t mind. Do you want me to leave?”
“No.”
The boy sat down on the dock, his long legs dangling over the edge, his feet swinging around in circles, creating tiny ripples on the water. In the moonlight, Katie watched him, her feelings oddly conflicted, for she had recalled him from her dreams of somewhere else. She hadn’t liked him then, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual. However, as she gazed upon him now, she saw in him Shika’s boyhood face.
“You’re my grandson,” Katie murmured, her heart swelling a tiny bit. She studied the shape of his pale eyes, and the line of jaw, so reminiscent of both her sons.
“Well, yeah, I guess,” Arsan replied, switching the direction of his tidal circles. “But, I’m also…”
“Yeah, I know. It’s very confusing.”
“For a while there, it was for me, too, but then, I began to remember, and now, I’m pretty much up to speed on everything,” the boy added.
Katie nodded in the darkness, turning her gaze back to the stars, and a spaceplane which flew silently overhead.
“I don’t remember anything from before, from when you said I was a no-account, lesser…”
“Sorry, about that. Eventually, you’ll recall it all. Probably, when you pass over.”
Pass over. Someday, Katie would die, even though her biological clock had been reset by a trip to the Black Eye Galaxy. Still, this body would age again, or something drastic would kill her.
Then…then…what would she become? And, what would happen to Senya? Where would he be, and in what form? Would he leave her to venture onward by herself, or would he join her, and take her hand to guide her forward to whatever awaited them?
“Listen, Cassie,” Arsan interrupted her self-pitying and lonely thoughts of the only man she had ever loved, but was long missing. “I just want you to know, I’m really sorry about anything I may have said, or done to you in the past. You’re not so bad, and it’s obvious, Mika really needs you. He’s pretty much a wreck when you’re not there.”
“Okay,” Katie replied, thinking that she, too, was pretty much a wreck when he wasn’t with her.
“So, we need to work on this virus thing?” Arsan asked, pulling his feet from the water. “I’ll try to think about it, see if I can remember how we stopped it last time.”
“Last time?”
Arsan shrugged, “Nothing Luka does is ever new, but then again, when you’ve been around as long as we have, there’s not a whole lot of room for innovation. Although, those mail-order girls are pretty cool. They’re ninety percent organic, and the rest is some kind of machine. That’s the kind of innovation I really like.”
Katie watched the boy walk away, whistling a tune under his breath. She recognized it as a love song from an old Barlan Rando movie. Katie remembered watching that same film with best friend, Caroline, on the S/S Discovery, during a night when both women were off duty.
With a bowl of popcorn between the two of them, Katie recalled Caroline gushing every time Barlan appeared on the screen.
“I just adore that Barlan Rando,” her best friend had sighed. “I wish he’d come here and take me away to his cotton plantation on Algerius IV. I would just love to spend my days on the back porch of his mansion, sipping sweet tea, and listening to the cows in the pasture doing their mooing.”
“Not me,” Katie had responded. “I couldn’t think of anything worse.”
Of course, by then, Katie’s heart was already firmly locked in Senya’s grip. Even Barlan Rando, the Milky Way’s hottest star, didn’t hold a candle to the mysterious boy from her childhood dreams.
Katie turned her face back to the sky, to the moons and planets so far away. She held her breath, and prayed that Senya was out there waiting for her call.
“Help us,” she whispered softly. “We need you. Come here.”
Then, she closed her lips and listened to the silence surrounding that mountain lake, waiting for an answer that never arrived. The only voice was that of the owl. The only song was the coyote’s carried by the wind. The only way to stop the virus was to do it by themselves.
Chapter 14
Sara used nearly all of her birthday money to purchase a ticket on a spaceplane to Earth.
“My name is…uh…Sara…uh…Golden,” she told the kiosk droid. “I’m twenty-three years old.” It wasn't much of a lie, as twenty-three was only seven years beyond her true age.
The droid blinked non-judgmentally, and spat out her boarding pass.
“Thanks,” Sara breathed, feeling amazingly liberated, and for the first time in what seemed like years, incredibly hopeful. Maybe, when she arrived on Earth, she’d keep that name and age. “Sara Golden,” she repeated. “I’m a new person. I’ll have a new life.”
While the new Sara Golden waited in the terminal to board the United StarLines plane, she texted her friend Thunk from her cell.
“I’ll be there by tomorrow,” she informed him. “Where can I meet you? What city are you in?”
Thunk didn’t respond, but Sara wasn’t worried. She didn’t know what time it was wherever he was, or if he might be busy with his relatives and human friends.
“Text me when you get a chance,” she continued. “I’m anxious to hear from you. I can’t wait to see you as soon as I get there.”
Then, with the very last of her funds, Sara got a coffee at the kiosk, a Sudoku book from the gift shop, and a large bag of caramel corn to eat on the ride.
While waiting in line to use the ladies’ room, Sara could have sworn she saw the woman who had picked her up from school. Just in case, Sara hid her face behind the puzzle book.
Sara wasn’t scared of traveling by herself. No, Sara was brave, except when it came to zombies in her house. This trip across the stars would be a piece of cake. Just because most of her past interstellar travels were accompanied by explosions, crashes, and the dead bodies of her loved ones, it didn’t mean that this particular flight wouldn’t be perfectly fine.
In fact, when Sara finally boarded the plane, she was happy to see there were two children in the seats directly behind her. For some odd reason, she always felt safe around kids younger than herself. Surely, something bad wouldn’t happen to them. Little kids didn’t deserve to die so young. Karma wouldn’t be that cruel to take children on their way to vacation.
No, this flight would be awesome, Sara decided, buckling herself into her seat, and keeping her bag of caramel corn at the ready. She’d be on Earth tomorrow with Thunk, ready to begin a whole new life as Sara Golden, an adult, an orphan, and definitely not a princess.
Jullee’s feet were killing her. She had run for nearly a mile, and now, was barely walking in her high-heeled shoes. She was certain there were blisters covering both of her soles, and bleeding sores on her heels where the straps had rubbed off all the skin. Jullee’s knees were aching, and she was incredibly thirsty, too, but determined to get off of this planet if it took until her dying breath.
Fortunately, Takira-hahr was in sight just ahead. She could even see ships arriving and departing from the spaceport. If only a bus would come along, or another speeder, or even a donkey cart. Jullee was willing to hitchhike, but the road was amazingly empty of everyone, except for that old man.
“Get away from me,” she yelled, stopping to remove the shoes, and caress her aching, bleeding toes. She tried walking in her bare feet for a bit, but the loose pebbles and gravel made that even worse.
“I am not following you,” the old guy snapped, sounding even more irritable than Jullee. “We are merely en route to the same destination, whilst toiling at the same ponderous s
peed.”
“You might be a carrier,” Jullee cried, dragging her feet forward, lest the man close the distance between the two. “You’ll give me the disease if you breathe near me.”
“I assure you I am free of it, although I have plenty other defects, which I shall not name, and none of which I shall impart to you.”
Jullee hadn’t a clue what he meant by that, and she found his presence completely unnerving, but her feet were crying out, forcing her to fall to the ground in tears.
“I can’t walk anymore,” she wept, tossing her shoes into the roadside brush. “I’m going to die, if not by Robolo, than by starvation.”
“Come now,” the man said, sighing heavily and somewhat reluctantly offering his hand. “’Tis not much further, and you are young and strong.”
Jullee shook her head, and wailed dramatically, while giant tears streamed down her face.
“Kari-fa.” The old man sighed again, and briefly considered leaving the girl where she sat. But, that wouldn’t be very angelic, now would it?
Instead, he knelt down as best as he could, and ran his hand along her feet to assess the condition of her sores. Unbeknownst to Jullee, he was able to summon enough of his old healing powers to mend her skin, cure her cankers, and stop the pain. After which, he tore out a ribbon from the silk lining of his heavy cloak, and used it to bind her feet.
“Come now,” he repeated, and once again, offered his hand.
This time, Jullee accepted, and stood up. Surprisingly, her feet felt fine, and she could walk again, protected by the man’s silk bandage. Strangely, and even more oddly, the touch of his hand caused a warm sensation to swell throughout her body, filling her with hope and goodwill.
“Thank you!” she gasped, feeling amazingly charitable and tranquil.
“Ay yah,” he mumbled, trying to pull his hand away, even as Jullee noticed that he, too, walked with a limp.
“You’re hurt. Let me help you. Lean on me. We can walk there together.”
It took another painful hour, or so, before the pair finally arrived at the spaceport. During this time, Jullee had tried to engage her companion in conversation.
“I’m Jullee,” she said. “Who are you? What is your name?”
Senya remained silent, uncertain how to answer this most difficult question. If he said any one of his given names, she would discover who he was. On the other hand, it was not in his nature to tell a lie. He could say his name was Mika, which he had yet to admit to anyone in this life, especially since the Rules strictly prohibited announcing such a thing.
Jullee grew a bit nervous at the old man’s inability to answer her simple question. She considered he might be an escaped convict, or some other type of criminal. On the other hand, he could hardly walk. If it weren’t for his cane and her shoulder to prop him up, he might still be laying on the side of the road.
“Well, forget that,” she said, whilst he was still in deliberations, and clearly distressed about what to answer. “When you get to another planet, you can begin a whole new life. You can be anyone you want to be. You can pick a new name and a new history to go with it. I’m certainly going to do that. Do you think I can pass for a human?”
Senya’s name was just one problem which he faced upon arriving at the spaceport later that day, for he needed to declare it in order to procure a ticket.
“It says insert your paycard,” Jullee read, when she discovered him standing clueless before a kiosk. “You do have a paycard, don’t you? Everyone does."
Actually, he didn’t, and actually, it had been a number of years since he had flown on a commercial plane, so he wasn't entirely certain how to complete the ticketing process.
“You’ll need to tell it your name, and produce some photo ID,” Jullee said, waving her own ticket to Planet Earth. “Good luck with that, and thanks for helping me get here.”
Senya nodded beneath his hood, and tried to recall where he might have had some ID, and what name it might have borne upon it. Long ago, when he travelled about the Alliance, he was given a passport card from Rozari. It identified him as a citizen with a special indicator for a medical professional, so that in the event of an emergency, he could be called upon to assist.
Now, if he could only remember where that passport card was kept. He didn’t recall putting it in his special cupboard, which as of yet, remained in a mysterious quarter of time and space. It might still be in his home closet, the one in which he kept his clothes, in the bedroom on the third floor of the estate.
Senya hated that closet, and always had. Purposely, he avoided it whenever he could, for despite its size, when he went inside, he felt as if he might suffocate. It smelled of cedar, for it was lined with wood, which might have been nice, except that it reminded him of a coffin. In addition, it was stuffed with many layers of unnecessary clothing.
On the right side hung his vast array of woollen suits, sport coats, trousers, cotton shirts, and silken ties. Every one of them was prime quality and embossed with some designer’s name. His wife had purchased them all, sparing no expense when it came to his attire, as she had always liked to dress him in the best.
On the left side, and untouched for many years, were his wife’s collection of woollens, linens, silks, and fine cotton apparel. Somewhere stuffed in the back, was an old synthetic, spandex Spaceforce uniform or two, which she had kept around for old time’s sake. At the very rear of the closet was a bureau, half of which contained her lacy bits and things. The other half was filled with his defiled socks, boxers, unused pyjamas, and old t-shirts and jeans. On the very top was a small box holding his old wallet and a set of keys.
Senya suspected his passport was in that wallet, and the keys belonged to the bank lockboxes he had acquired throughout the galaxy. Therein, he had placed plenty of funds, many millions from which he might load a paycard. However, he was in the spaceport, and these items were back home, while his ability to move them from there to here was disabled.
“Kari-fa,” he swore, and nearly punched the kiosk machine. In fact, he brought his fist all the way to the front panel, and almost bashed it in. The only reason he didn’t destroy it, was the annoying interruption of his cell.
“What do you want?” he barked, thus sparing the machine.
“I could ask the same of you,” Kinar replied in an equally gruff tone. “I had vowed never to speak to you again, yet here I am at my old desk, and at your beck and call. Go ahead. Command away. Make my life yet more miserable than it already is.”
“I’m sorry, Kinar,” Senya muttered, collapsing on a nearby bench. “Is Taner with you?”
“Indeed. You have not killed him off yet either.”
“Taner, I’m sorry, too. Listen to me, there’s a virus.” Senya hastened to explain.
“Oh, I see. You’ve infected this old house with the Robolo virus. Thank you very much, Senya. We’d rather have rotted away in prison, than come back here to die.”
“No, no! Listen to me, Kinar, Taner, please!” Senya tried again. “You are safe there. You must trust me. I need your help. We need to stop it.”
When Senya hung up his call, he was pressured for time. The Empire-wide travel ban would begin within two hours. He needed to board a flight, and make certain it was in interstellar space, so that when the ground stop was enacted, they would be too far away from a spaceport to land.
To that end, Kinar was acquiring for him a ticket, and loading a virtual paycard on his cell, while Taner was conferencing in the best doctors at SdK.
“There is an antidote,” Senya informed them. “I just can’t remember what it is. Get to work on it, and as soon as I can, I’ll ring you back.”
With only minutes to spare, Senya crossed the terminal to a waiting United StarLines plane. His destination was Earth, and his seat was in the rear section.
“First Class was all sold out,” Kinar informed him with a sneer in his voice. “You were lucky to get this seat. I did my best to put you on the aisle near the lav.”
Kinar snickered, anticipating that after several hours of being locked in a coach seat too small for his six-foot four-inch frame, the once Great Emperor of All Rehnor would be significantly less than grateful.
“Oh yes, one more thing,” Kinar chuckled. “The name on your ticket…”
“Yes?”
“It’s Barlan Rando. If you're recognized, you might be asked to sing.”
“Barlan Rando is dead,” Senya replied.
"Nobody recalls that," Kinar chortled. "And, as far as anyone knows, Sehron de Kudisha might be dead too."
Sara had a window seat also in the rear. The two children behind her kept kicking her back, but that didn’t bother her. At least, not yet. Being next to the lav wasn’t very nice though, as everyone lined up in the aisle, and the doors kept squeaking open and shut, an odd smell drifting out each time they did so. And, this was all before the flight even departed.
Sara’s cell buzzed with a text from Thunk. Finally. She breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“How’s it going? Sorry it took me so long to respond. My lame brother hid my tablet under his pillow.”
“Awesome. I’m on my way,” Sara texted back. “Did you get my earlier messages? Where are you? I need to know where to go.”
The little bubble on the bottom of her screen blinked rapidly to indicate Thunk was busily typing a response.
“Please turn off all your devices,” a mechanical voice announced in the cabin, just as a woman sat down in the middle seat next to Sara.
“Hurry up, Thunk,” Sara whispered to her cell. “I gotta shut down until I get there.”
“Sara?” the woman cried, bending down to stow her handbag beneath the seat in front. “What are you doing here, Your Royal Highness?”
“Uh…” Sara turned to face the same woman who had picked her up from school, who she had thought was in the terminal prior to boarding.
“I’m Jullee. Remember?” She held out her hand. “Does anyone know you’re on this flight?”
