The Prince and the Cyborg: A Space Age Fairy Tale (Star-Crossed Tales)

by J. M. Page

  They walked around the perimeter of the wall and Bora whined at the roar of dust beyond. Ben squinted up, his eyes straining to see the top of the wall, but all he saw in his mind were those eyes. The vibrant green that arrested his heart and plagued his thoughts.

  Was she even real?

  “You’re crazy!” someone said.

  “Not possible.”

  “I’m telling you! Look!”

  Five or more voices melded together in a heated discussion down the wall. The men in their khaki suits huddled together, arguing over something.

  “There’s no way. Turn it off.”

  “We can’t just—”

  “I said turn it off.” The stern command made Ben narrow his eyes. There was something else lurking under that authoritative tone: uncertainty. He’d heard it countless times, men giving orders they didn’t agree with or weren’t sure of.

  He tried to appear nonchalant as he practically jogged over to them.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” the stern one said.

  “Your Highness!” Someone recognized him, of course. Someone always did. So much for being incognito, though he figured running up to a group of Royal Guardsmen probably abolished any hope of being subtle, anyway.

  “There’s a woman at the wall,” one said.

  “Claims to have crashed,” said another.

  “Should we let her in?”

  Ben frowned, trying to process all the information at once.

  “A woman?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir.” One of the guards offered a tablet attached to the surveillance camera perched on the wall. He’d forgotten about those cameras when he’d gone on his little joy ride.

  It was difficult to tell if it was indeed a woman. She was wrapped in loose flowing fabric, only giving the barest hint of her feminine curves. Her head was tilted down so that the only thing Ben saw was a curtain of shiny black hair.

  “Says she crashed?” he asked, feeling like a recording, repeating everything they’d already said.

  But how was that possible? All flights in and out were grounded. That didn’t stop Ben from going out and crashing in the Wastelands, but he was the Prince. It was a little different. If his stunt prompted civilians to try the same, he’d never hear the end of it from his father.

  And then there was the more pressing question. If she crashed, how the hell had she survived the Wastelands?

  “Are you hurt?” he asked. Regardless of who she was or how she’d gotten there, if she needed medical attention they were honor-bound to give it to her.

  The woman lifted her head and looked directly into the camera. Electricity struck his heart, in that moment, freezing time. Those eyes. Seeing them again took his breath away.

  Ben looked around at the other men, hoping none of them noticed his sudden and bizarre change of behavior.

  She shook her head. “I am uninjured,” she said, “but tired. I’ve traveled quite far.”

  There was more murmuring from the Guardsmen, but Ben passed the screen off and brushed his hands together.

  “Let her in.”

  One of the guards looked like he wanted to argue, but took one look at Ben’s stony expression and thought better of it.

  “You heard the Prince. Mills, go fetch her and bring her back here,” the guard said.

  Ben and Bora followed the group to the break in the wall and waited. His blood oscillated between boiling and ice. He didn’t know what to think about this. He’d planned on finding her, but had she found him first?

  After what seemed like a wait that would never end, Bora barked, jumping in excitement. Some of the Royal Guard backed away from the dog, eyeing her with suspicion.

  Mills got out of the hoverspeeder first and then helped the young woman out after him.

  Ben’s heart thumped an erratic rhythm and he stepped toward her, his mouth drier than when he’d first woken up. The Royal Guard stood at his back and Mills broke away from the girl to join their ranks. Ben looked her up and down, admiring the elfish shape of her face, the slight slant to her exotic eyes. And then he looked at her arms, covered in fabric.

  “What is your name and where are you from?” the highest-ranking Guardsmen present said.

  “My name is Celine,” she said, her voice soft and familiar to Ben. She faltered on the other half of the question and Ben stepped in to her rescue.

  “You’ve been in the Wastelands. I know you say you’re uninjured, but our medics should look you over. Exposure can be deadly if untreated.”

  He thought she laughed, but then she was coughing and he couldn’t see if that twinkle in her eyes was real or a figment of his imagination.

  “Yes, of course. I appreciate it,” she said.

  “Er… Your Highness?” one of the Guards said, looking at Celine with uncertainty. “Would you like an escort?”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “No, go back to whatever it was you were doing before she appeared. I can handle this from here.” He turned to Celine, a smile teasing his lips. “You’re not going to assassinate me or my father, are you?”

  Her eyes went wide, her mouth forming a shocked oval as she shook her head, silky hair flowing around her shoulders. “No!”

  “Didn’t think so, let’s go.” He and Bora set the pace, not wasting any time in getting away from the guards. When he looked to his side, Celine fell into step beside him, fidgeting with her fingers.

  “So, how about the truth now?” he asked, hoping his suspicions were right.

  She stopped, tripping over her feet with the suddenness. “The truth?”

  Bora sniffed all around Celine’s feet, her tail whacking Ben in the knees. Celine didn’t seem frightened of the dog like most Terrans. In fact, she reached down and gave Bora’s shaggy head a hearty scratch.

  “You couldn’t have crashed. There are no flights on or off the planet right now,” he said.

  Her eyes widened again and Ben thought for sure he’d caught her in a lie.

  “There are no flights? I can’t leave?”

  He frowned. “None of us can until the government sorts itself out. So I’ll ask again, where did you come from?”

  Celine looked down, not meeting his gaze, focused instead on Bora who’d taken to licking her palm. “I must have veered off-course,” she said simply.

  Bora licked one of Celine’s hands, but Ben noticed how the other hung at her side awkwardly.

  “Are you sure you’re not hurt?” he asked, reaching for her forgotten hand, expecting it to be made of metal. Hoping, more than expecting.

  But when his fingers closed around her wrist and brought her hand up, it was as fleshy and human as any other part of her. He frowned.

  “No, I’m alright,” she insisted, pulling her hand back.

  “You’re not her,” he said under his breath, more a disappointed sigh to himself.

  “Who?”

  Ben shook his head. “No one. Let’s get you to the palace.”

  She followed along in silence and Ben tried to reconcile the things he thought he knew with the evidence before him. Was it all a dream? A coincidence? Something bigger he couldn’t explain?

  And what about the spell her eyes cast upon him? The undeniable tug he felt to be near her even though he didn’t know the first thing about her? Or the fact that Bora seemed to have made a new best friend.

  There was something more at play. He couldn’t put his finger on it, couldn’t identify just what was off, but he wouldn’t rest until he could. He’d find out who this woman was and what, if any, connection she had to his rescuer.

  Chapter Seven

  Celine

  “Here you are,” he said, gesturing to the open door he’d just thrown open.

  Celine looked from Ben — the Prince, she reminded herself — to the room open before her, a little uncertain.

  “A-are you sure?” She took a tentative step inwards, keeping an eye on the man behind her, half-expecting him to lock her away. When the do
or remained open and unlocked, Celine let out an exhale, relaxed her tense shoulders, and took another step in.

  “Of course, you have to stay somewhere, right? It’s late, everyone’s already asleep and you said you were tired. Rest your head and tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do with you.”

  While he spoke, Celine drifted toward the far wall, made up of windows. The bedroom was bigger than their entire workshop back home, with towering ceilings and magnificent views of the city below. She’d never seen anything like it — the buildings all stacked on top of each other, reaching toward the sky, a neat grid of streets, spreading out from the palace like rays. She craned her neck upwards, hoping to see through the break of clouds in the force field, but even with the city’s protection, the sky was hazy and orange. Not a star in sight.

  It wasn’t until Ben’s final words that Celine felt the familiar creep of anxiety prickle her skin.

  “What to do with me?” she asked, turning to face him. She was sure her expression wasn’t as placid as she hoped, but her heart suddenly hammered and there was only so much she could do to mask it. Were they going to throw her in jail? Or worse?

  Ben took a step forward, closing the distance between them and making Celine’s head feel fuzzy. He nodded. “You do want to get back to where you came from, don’t you?”

  Where she came from…

  Celine swallowed, her tongue darting out to lick her parched lips. She had no desire to go back where she came from, but how could she tell him that? How could she explain without outing herself?

  It was a puzzle too difficult for her exhausted brain. Celine nodded. “Right, of course.”

  Ben shrugged. “I don’t know what they’ll do, with the Grounding and all, but nothing’s going to happen tonight.”

  She nodded, her eyes drifting toward the expansive plush bed adorned with so many soft-looking pillows and blankets. Part of her just wanted to dive right in.

  “Thank you,” she said, not sure what else to say.

  Ben hesitated for a moment, something seemingly on the tip of his tongue, but he shook his head and walked toward the door.

  “If you need anything…” He motioned to a painting on the wall, one that depicted a kind of landscape Celine had never seen — green and vibrant. He tapped one corner of the painting and the image disappeared, leaving in its place a menu. “Food here, if you need something for the room, here, umm…” He scrolled through the options on the touch screen and looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes lingering long enough to make her feel like a specimen on display. “You might want new clothes, that’s here.”

  Celine nodded. She didn’t catch everything he said, but figured she could manage to work the simple interface, even without her special arm.

  “Okay,” he said, tapping the screen again so that the green picture was back. “I guess that’s everything. I’ll… see you tomorrow?”

  She nodded again as he made his way toward the door. She didn’t trust herself to say anything more. Not with the way he made her tongue feel tied in knots and turned her brain into mush. Non-verbal communication was probably best until she could get her head screwed on right.

  “Pleasant dreams,” he said, with one foot out of the door. He closed it after her answering nod and Celine let out a heavy breath, collapsing on the bed behind her.

  The relaxing silence was short-lived because Rufus wasted no time extracting himself from her outwear. He perched on the windowsill and glared at her, eyes flashing red.

  “You’ve gone and done it now, haven’t you?” he said. “Are you happy now? You’re in their city,” he hissed, rocking back and forth. “Don’t you know how dangerous this is? If they found out what you are… Where you’re from…”

  Celine threw her arms out over the silky bedcovers, making a blanket angel with her sweeping movements. She tried to tune Rufus out and enjoy the luxury around her.

  “Yeah, it definitely seems really dangerous here,” Celine teased, burying her head in a fluffy pillow.

  Rufus shuddered, vibrating in anger and frustration as he let out a string of angry beeps.

  “I’m serious! We don’t know anything about them. Your father is probably worried sick about you!”

  At mention of her father, Celine rolled her eyes. “Let him worry.” She nuzzled into the mountain of pillows, inhaling the fresh laundered scent of them. Not at all musty and forgotten like the Wastelands.

  They didn’t have anything this nice in the tunnels. How could a society with such plush beds be evil?

  “You’re courting danger,” Rufus said with another shudder, this time without the anger. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Who would perform my routine maintenance?”

  Celine sighed and propped herself up on her elbow to look at the little robot. “I’m going to be alright, Ru. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay? Just have a little faith.”

  Rufus whined. “But it’s dangerous,” he said again.

  Celine snorted a laugh. “Yeah, you’ve said that once or a dozen times.”

  Rufus’s angry vibration picked up again and he made his way to the bed, getting nose-to-nose with Celine. She blinked, but didn’t move back.

  “Well it bears repeating. You’re not nearly as concerned about it as you should be! This isn’t just fun and games. They could…”

  Celine frowned and scooped Rufus in toward her, giving him a reassuring pat. “I know you’re worried. It’s sweet, but I promise I’ll be okay. If things start to look dicey, I’ll make a break for it, okay?”

  Rufus shuddered, but seemed to accept her proposal.

  “Now, I need to recharge my batteries and you shouldn’t stay up all night draining yours, right?”

  Rufus gave her one last pitiful look before he settled on the table by her bed and powered down for a rest.

  Seeming to sense her desire to do the same, the lights in the room dimmed, leaving only the twinkling lights of the city beyond her window. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to manage it with the buzzing excitement zipping through her veins, but eventually, she found a way to sleep.

  The next morning, it was Celine’s grumbling stomach that roused her from her sleep. She yawned and stretched, her eyes struggling to adjust to the bright light streaming in through the window.

  In the Wastelands, ambient light carried through the clouds, giving no real difference between day and night. The city was different. Everything was brighter than she remembered. Still hazy and orange if she looked toward the sky, but the force field seemed to let in way more light than the clouds did.

  She padded over to the painting on the wall, briefly considering bathing before she remembered Ben’s suggestion about new clothes and was put off the whole idea. She tapped the corner, trying to remember where the food menu was, when a message popped up, taking over the screen.

  Pending Order. Confirm?

  Celine frowned. Pending order? Of what? Her finger hovered over the button for a moment until another message popped up on the screen.

  Hope you don’t mind, I ordered breakfast and the whole treatment for you. Whenever you wake up, just hit confirm. — B

  Celine’s stomach grumbled again and her hand moved to cover it, silently trying to calm her gnawing hunger. She cleared away Ben’s message and hit confirm, bolstered by the promise of breakfast.

  Then she thought through his message again. What was ‘the whole treatment’?

  While she was busy pondering that, there was a knock on the door. Her eyebrows narrowed and Celine tip-toed over, wondering who was on the other side. And if they could be trusted.

  She pulled the door open and was nearly run over by an entire entourage.

  “Breakfast, ma’am,” a man in all black said, as three carts laden with platters of food rolled in behind him.

  Celine gaped. “For… how many people?”

  The man in black cocked a brow. “For, you, ma’am. Per your order.”

  The trio of men that wheeled in the food were bus
y unveiling one aromatic dish after another, but Celine didn’t have a chance to focus on that, because another group bustled into her room. This time a group of older women, all with crisp navy and red dresses.

  “Wardrobe,” the one that seemed to be in charge said, waving forward the others. Each of the navy dress women had a rack of clothing to offer in a wide array of styles and colors.

  With a line of servers on one side of her room, offering a buffet of food, and a line of seamstresses on the other, offering enough clothes for half the city, Celine didn’t know where to look. She was completely overwhelmed by it all. How had they all gotten there so quickly? It wasn’t even a minute since she pressed the confirm button. Had they just been waiting in the hallway for her to wake up?

  And just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, another person appeared in the doorway, short and thin, almost childlike in size, though her face was that of an adult woman, maybe a little older than Celine herself. The newcomer gave a curt nod to the men who’d brought food and then to the ladies that brought clothes.

  “That’ll be all,” she said, dismissing them all.

  Celine gaped after the army of people as they filtered out one-by-one. The tiny woman gave her a thin smile.

  “He means well, you know.”

  Celine stammered. “I’m sorry?”

  “Prince Bennett? He means well. I’m sure he just wanted you to have anything you could dream of, but this is all…”

  Celine let free a sigh she didn’t know was locked in her chest. “Too much.”

  The woman nodded. “I’m Aris. Think of me as your personal assistant. If you need anything during your stay, just let me know.”

  “Celine,” she said, introducing herself, still with one eye on the food. “But I’m not sure I’ll be here very long, I—”

  Aris’s happy expression faded. “Yes, the Prince told me you’d likely be headed home soon. This Grounding is tricky business though, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. Nonetheless, I’m at your disposal until you do leave.”

  Celine wandered over to one of the food carts and started tasting the foreign dishes with her fingertip. There was a citrusy spicy dish that smelled incredible that she decided she wanted a full helping of later. She kept tasting.