by Tia LaBeau
“Would you prefer it if I were human?” he asks.
“No way!” I yell.
He grimaces as usual.
Suddenly, I remember the Edener that I’m promised to. I wonder if I should remind Bastian that I’m promised to another. Maybe that might be a bit uncouth at the moment, so I think I’ll keep my trap closed concerning that.
“I have to go make sure that we make it through the gate okay,” Bastian says. “You get some rest.”
I nod my head and relax on the bed. As Bastian walks out of the chamber, I wonder what it will be like on the other side of the gate in Protos.
12
Bastian
We approach the gate to Protos. It’s a natural gate, meaning that it just suddenly appeared on its own. The origins of how it appeared are still unknown. They call it an anomaly.
To think that our two systems have coexisted side by side all of this time. All it took was some sort of natural, random event to bridge the gap. I suppose the universe knew that we’d need a quicker way out of Protos.
It has been a while since I’ve been home to Protos and more specifically Havenu, but there has been so much business to attend to as of late. I’ve missed home. I will be sad to see it go.
I navigate my ship into the pre-gate check station which is parked just before the natural gate to and from Protos, or to and from Teros, depending how you look at it.
The station checks for identity, purpose of travel, and authorization to travel. Luckily for me, I have friends here at the check station. These friends are Haveners who ensure that I am able to cross through with my stolen ships.
Although, I’ve been warned that they are getting much trickier with inspections of the transport crossings through the gate. Particularly, they’re looking for stolen humans. Not even friends can ignore this directive.
My crew members and I maneuver the ships in front of the check point kiosk of Nerov. Nerov transmits a request for permission to board. I acquiesce.
Bingo jumps on my shoulder, and I meet Nerov at the north entrance. He smiles. He is about my height, but has a darker red tint to his skin, and he’s much older than I.
“Bastian, the Pirate King. Good to see you my friend,” he says, extending his arms out for me to grab.
I grab his arms as is customary. “And good to see you,” I say. We also rub our foreheads together as this is the Havener way of greeting.
“Bingo, always a pleasure,” Nerov says to Bingo.
Bingo sticks his tongue out at Nerov.
Nerov was selected by a special mandate to be the Havener representative for the gate. Each world on Protos has a representative at one of the kiosks. There is only one kiosk for Teros with no separate kiosks for the individual Teron worlds.
It is separated this way to ensure fair transport between Teros and Protos, and it has been this way for some time. There will be soldiers here someday protecting the gate, keeping anyone from passing to Protos.
“I see you bring gifts,” Nerov says with a large smile. All of his teeth are gold.
I tip my head in agreement. “Indeed I do.”
I know that Nerov is referring to the transport ship which I’m assuming he will allow passage through the gate. He knows that it was stolen to become an exodus ship. I plan to sell the ship when I am done with it and use the funds to help my people who enter Mars and have no place to go.
The Governor of Mars, Hiternum Furmi, was supposed to spend much credits building infrastructure for us. The Teron Collective gave him the funds to do so. The Governor was supposed to do his part to support the exodus of the Haveners to Teros, but he has failed to keep up his end.
So, that is what I have been doing during all my time spent in Teros, investigating his movements and planning for recourse. The Governor has many enemies. That I’m banking on, but I believe that his tyranny must be stopped.
“If you don’t mind, however, I just want to be sure that there are no illegal transports, as in persons,” Nerov says, interrupting my reverie.
I expected this. This has always been my play. I gambled when I suggested to Freda that she may leave on her own accord, but I figured it would be much more convincing if indeed she believed that she was going with me on her own accord. That way, when Nerov asks her if she is free, she will say yes. Indeed, she is actually not free.
“Check both ships,” I say.
Nerov dallies around a metal beam against the wall. He is dressed in human clothes. No doubt he is looking forward to his migration to Teros. “Where is Bellum? He owes me credits for a game?”
I’d begrudge Nerov for being so eager to move to Teros if it wasn’t for the fact that the exodus is absolutely necessary for the survival of my people. Also, he is assisting me with my project, thereby helping his kin. “Bellum is dead,” I say.
“Bellum, dead?” Nerov scoffs. “How?”
“War with Luce.”
Nerov smacks his head. “You war with Luce? Still?” He hangs his head. “If Luce comes to the gate, I’ll have to let him through you know. If I don’t he’ll make a large stink, and that will draw unwanted attention to your plan.”
“I understand,” I say.
“Good then. Let me look around.”
I follow Nerov. He peeks back at me from time to time. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Nerov is suspicious of me, but that’s Nerov’s general disposition, to be suspicious. And it makes sense. These are indeed suspicious times.
“May I?” he asks when we reach my chambers.
“Indeed.” I scan my teeth. The door to my chamber opens. Freda lies beautifully splayed over my bed with her legs spread, one dangling halfway off the bed. Her curly hair hangs too just off the side, over her face. Hair covering her face or not, Nerov can plainly see that she is human.
“Yours?” he asks.
“Mine, um, well, I suppose,” I say, scratching my head.
“Mind if I ask her? To be sure.”
“Go on then.”
Nerov walks over to her. He wipes his fingers across his gold teeth. Is he trying to make himself presentable for her? I have to suppress my amusement.
Nerov leans over and taps Freda on the shoulder. She snores in response. I cover my mouth with my hand. I can’t have Nerov thinking that I’m getting so soft that I’d dare to laugh.
Nerov taps her again. Then he shakes her.
Freda pops up and blows her lips. “What the…” She sits up. Her thin shirt shows her pert little nipples clear through. I point at her chest. She snatches the cloth from the bed to cover herself. She isn’t wearing pants either, only undergear. She brushes her hair out of her face. “Who are you? Is this Luce? Is he going to kill me? Because I really don’t feel like dying today.”
Nerov laughs. “So you know of Luce? Of course, you do. Who doesn’t? Are you his?”
“His, who? Luce’s?” Freda asks.
“No, Bastian’s,” Nerov says.
“Er, um, no,” she says.
“No?” Nerov asks, leaning in.
“I mean, have I fucked him? Sure. Willingly? Yes.”
“So you agree to your transport with him then?”
“I do,” Freda says.
“I’m satisfied then.” Nerov returns his attention to me. Where’d you find her?”
“On the transport ship I stole.”
“She came willingly?”
“Of course she did. Look at me.” I tip my head from side to side. Show my teeth and flex my muscles. Lastly, I grab my cock.
“You are a handsome one,” Nerov says laughing. He skitters over to me. He elbows me for effect.
“So we’re good then?”
“If there are no other potential hostages aboard, then yes.”
“Nope, she’s the only one.”
Nerov nods his head and waves goodbye to Freda. She smiles and waves goodbye to him.
When Nerov and I move out of the chambers, Nerov thumbs toward the closed door. “Wow, how’d you swing that one? H
uman women are usually afraid of our kind.”
“Not all of them,” I say. “The red skin has its advantages.”
“I’d say so. Never would have believed it. I have plans to get me a human wife when my work at the gate is finished, but I won’t be trying to bargain on my good looks. I’ve got an appointment with Moon Company Brides.”
“Is that so?” I ask raising an eyebrow.
“It is,” Nerov says. “They’ve got a sliding scale for income. They say I’ll qualify for a tier five at least. But looking through their digicatalog, I’d say you got yourself a tier one.”
“Is that so?”
“Lucky Bastian.”
“Hardly. I could die on this mission before me. With no life left to enjoy her, I wouldn’t count myself lucky.”
Nerov shrugs. “Havenu is lucky to have you. I’m sure you will do just fine.” He pats me on the back.
I escort Nerov to the exit hatch. He travels through the tunnel back to his station kiosk.
From the board screen, I get the transmission that he permits me to pass through the grate. The invisible installed barrier is removed for my entrance.
I pull my ship through the gate. I have to wait for Nerov to check the other ship, but soon I see it pass through as well.
13
Freda
I sit up and scratch my head. Who the funk was that? Who just came in here asking me so many questions? And to overhear him mention Moon Company Brides. Now isn’t that rich?
I get up, get dressed, and make my way to the deck again. I’m flabbergasted by what I see. It’s obvious that we’re headed towards the planet Havenu. It looks like it from the pictures I’ve seen. The planet gives off an almost red color as if it’s on fire.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“It is,” Bastian says.
There are a few other pirates on the deck. I go around and introduce myself to them. I figure if I’m going to be around for a while, I might as well know who I’m in it with.
I get their names. There’s Liop, Uki, Kaban, and Ruit. Some of the others who were around before have perished, and there are likely a few others on the stolen transport ship. I’ll meet those guys later.
I sit down next to Bastian. “So, who the hell was that back there?”
“Nerov. He works the gate. He wanted to make sure that you came with me willingly.”
“Ah, I see,” I say, frowning. “Well, you could have at least warned me that he was coming. He caught me in my unders.”
“You look nice in your unders. You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Bastian says with a smirk.
“Easy for you to say when it’s not your junk on display.”
Bingo jumps from Bastian’s shoulder onto the floor and scurries towards me. He’s so cute. “Can I pet you Bingo?” I ask.
“Do you pet a human or a Havener?” he asks me.
“No,” I say.
“Then that makes me special,” Bingo says. He waddles over to me and leans his head forward.
I reach out and run my hands through Bingo’s shiny, smooth fur. He trills. I guess that means he likes it.
“I will need you to stay close to me once we get on planet, Freda. Don’t talk to anyone. If someone tries to speak to you, tell them to direct their questions to me. We’re on the other side now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be kidnapped and sold into the undermarket slave trade.”
“Kidnapped in a short period again? No way,” I say.
“I am glad we kidnapped you,” Bingo says. I nuzzle him on the space of face where he might have had a nose if he was like a monkey, but he doesn’t have a nose at all from what I can tell.
“Then stay close to me,” Bastian says. He reaches over and rubs my shoulder. “I mean it, Freda. Stay close to me.”
“Yes, sir,” I say, saluting. I lean back in the chair and watch as we approach Havenu. I can’t believe I’m going to freaking Havenu.
I wish I could call Cleo and tell her. I think she’d be angry with me if I told her what I was doing here, so I think it’s best that I keep it to myself for now. Maybe once I’m settled in it all, I’ll call her back.
I can’t shake the feeling, though, that I had no business disobeying her order to stay at Moon Company Moon, to stay away for my safety, but hey that’s my family we’re talking about, and I wanted to see them. And I still intend to, when the timing is better.
I want to show Cleo that I can stand on my own two feet first and that she didn’t save me for naught. And also, I’d like to prove that I’m not a coward. What better way to do that than to risk being caught by the Governor by helping Bastian stick it to the Governor. And let’s not forget, shacking up with a rogue pirate king.
Bastian navigates the ship onto the planet. I can’t take my eyes off of what I’m seeing. The sky is so orange, pink, and red. Then we descend through a layer of film, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
“That’s the sphere which keeps us from burning up. Keeps you from burning up too. For now. When the suns collide, there will be nothing that can save this planet,” Bastian says.
I nod my head. There are vistas far and wide, with red sand, and reddish-brown mountains. And there’s red grass and black trees. The surface of Havenu is almost unimaginable compared to what I’m used to seeing in Teros. Although Terons have the ability to replicate just about any environment through terraforming, they choose to stick very closely to that which is closest to Earth.
I’m happy to be here, to see things I never thought I would ever see. Isn’t that adventure of life? To surprise yourself?
One can visit the virtual reality exhibit of Protos where one can sample the Protean planets, but it’s not like seeing and being on a planet in Protos for real. I want to get off ship and touch everything I can.
As we descend, we come closer to what looks like a metropolis. “Capitol City?” I ask Bastian.
“Yes, this is Capitol City. I live here.”
“You do? I wouldn’t have pegged you for a city guy.”
“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a lover,” he says with a grin.
I shrug. “I would have pegged you for a lover if it hadn’t been for your not-so-sunny disposition.”
Bastian shakes his head. He busies himself making selections from his control panel. The other pirates do the same. I wouldn’t mind learning how to fly a big ship like this. I only know how to navigate an on-planet vehicle.
Bastian’s ship descends and lands on a pad which is located behind a large building that looks more like an amalgamation between a cave and a building. I can see the landing of the transport ship as well.
To think that Protos has been around much longer than Teros. Protean civilizations cropped up much later in Protean history when compared to the time in which human life cropped up on earth. So the Haveners are a younger species. I’m not sure that matters.
I learned in upper school that the Proteans developed much faster than humans, but with it being 2462, I’d say humans have done pretty well for themselves, coming a long way from the toaster ovens and cars which only drove around on the ground. I think that both systems have much to share with each other, as Bastian shares his world with me now.
And soon Terons will share Teros with Proteans. I wonder what it will be called then. There must be a way to integrate Proteans into our societies in Teros in a way that doesn’t make them feel so foreign as if their visitors. I try to imagine what it must feel like for the Haveners. They’re basically like visitors in a new home that they can’t leave because there is no other alternative.
I wish I could bundle all of Havenu up in a bag and take it home with me to Teros. To preserve its specialness, but I can’t.
There had been some talk about displacements to further systems, to terraform further worlds for the Proteans, but such talk has died in the face of fiscal concerns.
I attempt to suck in all that I see so that I never forget it. Bingo seems giddy to be home as well. He claps his hands together and jumps
around. He wiggles his three eyes.
Bastian sighs. He stands up from his seat on the deck. “We’re stable,” Bastian says. “Off to my palace now.”
“Your palace, eh?” I ask. Then I smack my head. “Of course your palace. You’re a pirate king after all.”
“It doesn’t much matter that I have a palace, does it? I only refer to it as such because other Haveners insist on calling it that. Even though the pirates comprise a segment of Havener culture, the Havener culture highly reveres it.
“I suppose it is because of pirates that Haveners had access to salves and medicines of different kinds along with exposure to different foods and such. They were the only ones brave enough to venture off-world to encounter other cultures in the beginning. I actually won a different palace when I unseated Luce, but I didn’t want what he left behind, so I moved here.
“I know it’s ironic for a pirate not to want such things left by others, but in the case of a home, I procured this abode for myself. It once belonged to the High King of Havenu. It was not his main home of course. To the king of Havenu, this abode was only a small place for him to use when he wished to be closest to the Haveners. Take my hand. I’ll lead you inside and show you where you will be staying for the time being.”
I follow Bastian off of the ship. I can breathe Havenu air without assistance. It is the way the planet is composed. It’s hot here, though, like being on Earth just before the heat turn. Much time doesn’t pass before I begin to sweat.
Bingo waddles behind us until he catches up to me and tries to climb up my shoulder, but he’s heavy. I nearly collapse on my knees from the weight of him.
Bastian scolds him. Bingo makes a whimpering sound. I’m going to assume that it is his way of crying.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m sorry, Bingo. I don’t have as strong a back as Bastian.”
“It’s strong enough,” Bastian says with a wink.
When we enter Bastian’s home, I immediately agree that it reflects him. It’s almost simple, sparse, but decorated with nice things, and as usual there is lots of gold everywhere.
