by Kyle Larson
KELVIN RAN AS fast as he could down the stairs. He didn’t know if he was looking for Riz or Holloway, but he knew he had to do something. It was the voice of his sister and she was in trouble. Any thought of his tradition of service to the Nine Kingdoms was gone. Kelvin intended to take the Monarch into the Antioch Belt and rescue his sister. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“Kelvin! Wait!” Amelia said, chasing him down the stairs, trying to keep up.
“My sister needs help! I have to help her!” Kelvin called back.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, Holloway came rushing out of one of the rooms, looking alarmed by the commotion.
“Kelvin? Amelia? What’s going on?”
Kelvin was out of breath, but he managed to tell Holloway what they had just heard. She promptly lead them into her study and brought her own computer online, activating the same app.
“You say it was the Antioch Belt? Closest to the Venusian rotation?” Holloway said, trying to keep her voice as calm as she could. Both she and Amelia could tell Kelvin was very worked up over everything.
Holloway searched all the frequencies of the Antioch Belt, but couldn’t find what Kelvin and Amelia just heard. The two teenagers looked at each other nervously, afraid the signal might be lost.
“That’s strange. My computer is synced with the one in the observatory, so I can see you received a transmission and I’m searching for the same frequency. I’m not finding the transmission. All I can detect is this,” Holloway said, playing another wind like sound that was closer to a whistle. It was quite beautiful.
“I swear it was there,” Kelvin said, prepared to defend himself.
“It was,” Amelia said, stepping closer to Kelvin. “I heard it too. It was clear as could be, once we found that frequency.”
“No, no…I believe you both,” Holloway said. “It would be easy for a frequency to disappear in all this noise. There is a possibility though that whatever distress call you heard may have been sent a long time ago.”
Amelia had already thought of that. She had heard of ghost signals, sent from centuries ago, still bouncing around the satellites and asteroids in the Nine Kingdoms. The signals were known for getting lost in space, especially in asteroid fields as dense as the Antioch Belt. Whatever it was, it solved the mystery of where Princess Aren went missing. Up until that message, no one had ever been sure exactly where her ship had vanished on it’s way to Mercury. This distress call made Kelvin and Amelia very nervous.
“Now we know where to send a search team to. I can pinpoint where that distress call may have been sent from. Earth can dispatch one as soon as I can get them coordinates. I’m forwarding this to Riz, right now,” Holloway continued.
As soon as she sent the coordinates, requesting a rescue operation go underway, her phone rang. Holloway answered it on speaker phone.
“Hello, sir,” Holloway said, trying to sound polite, though she was nervous.
“What is this all about, Holloway? What’s with this request?” Riz said, sounding confused.
“Sir, Lord Kelvin picked up a distress call from Princess Aren. I was able to locate the source. I figured Earth Navy would want to launch an investigation, as well as a potential rescue operation.”
“Princess Aren?” Riz said, startled.
“Yes, Riz,” Kelvin said over Holloway. “We don’t have time to wait for Earth Navy. We’re out here, the Monarch is the best ship in the fleet, and I say we carry out our own rescue mission.”
“With all due respect, my lord and Ms. Holloway,” Riz said, taking a deep breath. “Do you have any idea where that course would take us? The location you transmitted to me, just now, is the most dangerous part of the Antioch Belt. There is no possible way a ship could be in there. That’s a mess of space dust and ice, filled with lightning storms. No ship has ever gone in there, and if one had, it would not be coming back out. I’m sorry, my lord, but I can’t carry out that order. It would put everyone aboard the Monarch at risk. Earth Navy has much faster ships than this. They are trained to deal with this.”
Kelvin shook his head, not accepting Riz’s response.
“That’s my sister out there!” Kelvin shouted, immediately feeling foolish for losing his temper. There was no reason for him to be angry with Riz. He knew Riz was right. “I’m sorry, Riz. I’m sorry to yell, it’s just…”
“You don’t ever have to apologize to me for being upset about your sister, Kelvin. I appreciate your apology, but I understand this is disturbing. I will make sure the best ships in Earth Navy get out there right away. If your sister is out there, they will find her.”
“Thank you, Riz. Can you get in touch with my mom, please? Can you tell her instead of my dad? I don’t think it would be good for him to hear, get his hopes up, and then it turns out she’s not out there. That would crush him,” Kelvin pleaded.
“As you wish, my lord. We have officially departed the Kingdom of Earth and are now on our way to Mercury. We should arrive in three-months. I’ll know better once we get to cruising speed,” Riz said. “Riz out.”
The phone went quiet and Holloway tucked it back into her coat pocket.
“Don’t worry, Kelvin,” Holloway said, reassuringly. “Like Riz said, those soldiers are trained to find people. They’ll find your sister. In the meantime, let’s just try to focus on life aboard the Monarch and we’ll get updated about the search for your sister as it’s happening. Why don’t you go get settled in your room and I’ll call you and Amelia for dinner in a couple hours? Unless you’re hungry now?”
Kelvin and Amelia both shrugged and forced a smile. They were both tired and felt lightheaded from the space travel. Their bodies weren’t used to it. Food was the last thing on either of their minds, especially Kelvin’s. Hearing his sister’s voice brought back a flood of memories from when he was much younger. He could barely remember her for most of his life, but now the memory of her laughing with him or pushing him on a swing-set felt like it happened yesterday.
Without saying anything, Kelvin walked away. Holloway stood to try and follow him, but Amelia shook her head and went instead. Holloway was very nervous about her new job. She had been handpicked by Queen Eleyn, and it wasn’t everyday you find out you’re going to be responsible for the future king of Earth. She had just switched careers, going from a specialist on code breaking and encryption to teaching. Holloway intended to be an instructor at the Earth Naval Academy, but Queen Eleyn asked her to tutor Kelvin and Amelia as a favor. Holloway’s military experience and technical knowledge would serve the two young people well. Holloway didn’t like to brag, but her IQ was one of the highest in the Nine Kingdoms.
It was obvious that this could be a good career move for her, especially since Kelvin would one day be king and Amelia would most likely have a distinguished role in some capacity on Earth. It never hurt to get a head start on making a good impression to someone who could one day be your boss–not to mention, king. This job would definitely help her aspiring career as an instructor, but this incident with Kelvin showed her it wasn’t going to be easy. She could tell the prince had a complicated life and she only hoped she could be someone who would help him. Holloway could tell that Kelvin not only needed a teacher, but he needed her to be his friend.
For the time, Holloway stayed back and let Amelia follow after Kelvin.
Kelvin was up the first set of stairs when Amelia called after him.
“We should be happy, Kelvin,” Amelia said, well aware of how odd the words sounded in the current state of things.
Kelvin stopped and turned. There were tears in his eyes, but he wasn’t crying.
“Happy?” Kelvin said, astonished.
“Yes…happy! It’s been ten years since anyone heard from your sister and now we know she might be out there. They are going to conduct a rescue operation and she might come home after all these years,” Amelia said, ignoring anything else she might have been thinking. Kelvin didn’t need to hear anything
other than support.
“I can’t think about it. I can’t think about what it would do to my family if she’s not. What if they find her ship and she’s–”
“Don’t, Kelvin. Don’t think like that. Right now we don’t have any reason to believe that she’s not out there. Riz said her ship might be lost in a part of the asteroid field.”
“A place that no ship ever comes back from. What if they just find her ship in pieces?”
“Kelvin, this is out of our hands. We did all we could. Can you just try to focus on this ship? Try to focus that we’re here, on the Monarch, doing something you’ve always dreamed about. We’re going to see another planet. Another kingdom.”
Kelvin started to feel better as soon as Amelia said that. There were uncertainties to be worried about, but Amelia was right when she said it was out of their control. His mother always told him when he was younger not to get angry or sad about things he could not change. She always told him that the best way to react was to be a better person and maybe someday in his life he would have the chance to change something for the better. Kelvin started to think about his trip to Mercury and what it represented to the Nine Kingdoms of the Sun.
“Come on, Kelvin. Let’s go look around. I didn’t get the grand tour like you did.”
Amelia didn’t wait for him and started walking to the front door. She turned and motioned with her arm. Kelvin pushed any anxious feelings aside and followed her out the door.
The front of the Royal Cabin was a busy street, bustling with dozens of people, mostly cruising on float-cycles. From where he stood now, Kelvin could see the ceiling as lined with thousands of tiny lights that mimicked the sun. The Royal Cabin sat in a neighborhood, much like the ones on Earth, with several houses and yards on the borders of its lawn. For the first time, both Kelvin and Amelia felt normal, and it was a good feeling.
It was hard to live in a giant tower, tucked away on top of the world from the rest of the kids. They had friends in their school, but it was always such a hassle to try and arrange anytime to hang out. It had to be scheduled, since any trip to the top of the Royal Palace was an event. Most the time, when kids came to hang out with Kelvin, their entire family came along, all wanting a glimpse of the Royal Palace. It was never just hanging out and playing video games or watching tube. Suddenly, all that formality was replaced with what felt like a normal life.
There were no attendants following them around. Amelia walked out the front gate and Kelvin followed. No one stopped to look twice at them. They were anonymous. They both looked at each other and laughed, not really sure what to do.
“I wanna get one of those float-cycles,” Amelia said, as a boy their age zoomed by quickly.
“Me too,” Kelvin said. He noticed that further down the street there were a group of buildings that looked something like a city center. They were brick buildings and looked like they were from a small town somewhere on Earth. Kelvin noticed one of the signs read ‘ICE CREAM’. “Come on, Millie. I think I know something that might make me feel better.”
As they walked toward the ice cream shop, Riz watched from a distance, floating far above them in his moth. Having Kelvin onboard made him nervous. There were many secrets of the Monarch he didn’t want the prince to know about. There were many secrets of his own he was not yet ready to reveal to the Kelvin. They would be soon, though.
Riz picked up his phone and called a number, one he had been calling for the last ten years. The same voice picked up who had been for the last ten years. Riz was always amazed how different that voice was now from how it had been in the past. What was once scared and uncertain was now precise and confident. Their plan was in motion, but it wasn’t time to let Kelvin know what it was just yet. If he went looking for Princess Aren too soon, everything Riz had been planning for the last ten years would be over. He was sure what he was doing was the best thing for the people of the Nine Kingdoms, but it would be hard to make Kelvin understand at this point.
Riz needed time.
“This is Riz,” he whispered to the person on the other end. “We have a problem.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE LUNAR GUARDIANS looked down on their old home of Earth. It’s bright glow made them angry that they’d been forced out and were confined to the cold stone walls of Moon City. Moon City had once been a giant metropolis of people coming and going. It was almost a kingdom of its own and the Lunar Guardians once believed it should have been. Moon City was still under the rule of Earth, even though King Erelm had abandoned it.
There had almost been a war over it, not longer after King Erelm came into the throne. Earlos and Erelm had once been friends, as Queen Eleyn was Earlos’ sister, so they were even family for a short time. Earlos challenged Erelm and declared the moon it’s own kingdom. He expressed his desire to live outside the Nine Kingdoms, especially so he could promise his people – who had once been slaves – protection. When Earlos threatened to create a military of his own and go to war if it was necessary, Erelm banished him and the other two Lunar Guardians, Rewill and Raige, from Earth.
The Lunar Guardians was an order established to protect Earth from any potential invaders. The Lunar Guardians had helped liberate Earth from Jovian occupation over four-hundred years ago. Moon City had been its own planet then, but they sacrificed everything to save Earth. When Earth survived, it was stronger than Moon City, and they claimed Moon City as their own. For centuries, the Lunar Guardians resented Earth. When Eleyn married Erelm, it was hoped that she would bridge the trouble between her people and Earth. Instead, she became queen and sole royal head of Earth much faster than she expected.
Eleyn barely spoke to her brother anymore.
Earlos Monson, the Lunar Guardian that had interrupted the ceremony, stood in front of a large circular window in the highest of the abandoned towers of Moon City. The other two Lunar Guardians, Rewill and Raige, watched him as he paced. They were the last three of the great family line of Lunar Guardians. The title of ‘lord’ was meaningless, even though they all used it. Their own people didn’t think of them as lord, just the protectors of Moon City.
Their people were liberated from different factories around the Nine Kingdoms. They were artificially created, what most humans used to call ‘bots’, by a company called Alcon. They were living beings, but they were well aware they had been manufactured. There was a dark history of slavery by humans against artificial beings before the Nine Kingdoms. They were used as soldiers or laborers in the ancient wars that plagued humanity. When the Nine Kingdoms were formed, one of the first things that happened was to free artificial beings. They were granted the same rights as humans and were permitted to live in any kingdom, given all the privileges citizens had.
They were beings – though some people referred to them as ‘bots’, but it was considered ignorant and offensive. The beings just preferred being known as people, and often still felt like outsiders amongst the Nine Kingdoms. The place they truly found a home was on Earth’s moon, working with the Lunar Guardians. The Lunar Guardians welcomed them with open arms, and they have lived as family and friends for hundreds of years. Most of the artificial beings lived underground, constantly afraid that some day humans would change their minds and try to enslave them again.
The only humans they trusted were the Lunar Guardians.
“I can’t believe that fool Erelm sent his heir out there again,” Earlos hissed, with his back to Rewill and Raige. “Prince Kelvin is our last chance to get back to Earth. He could change Earth laws, give us pardon, and let us live amongst the people.”
Earlos was not a happy man, and hadn’t been for a very long time. It angered him that he was not allowed to return to Earth with the other Lunar Guardians. He didn’t want to grow old on a dead rock, looking down at the most vibrant planet in the Nine Kingdoms of the Sun the rest of his life. Anger had become bitterness, and all he could do now was hope Kelvin would reverse King Erelm’s decree that the Lunar Guardians were never to enter Earth�
�s atmosphere again.
Just the recent memory of fresh air he breathed when he disturbed Kelvin’s ceremony made him long to breathe it again. The air recyclers on the moon made everything taste like the dryness of paper. The Lunar Guardians had forgotten what the smell of a warm Earth day was. The small taste Earlos got made him even more eager to get down to the planet.
Kelvin was his only hope for return. And now, a foolish king and queen had let that hope go sailing off into the unknown. It would be unknown to them, but the Lunar Guardians knew what was out there. They knew what waited in the Antioch Belt. Sure, there were ships that passed by it everyday, taking precious goods to Mercury from one of the other kingdom planets. Earlos knew the Pirates of Mercury were not interested in cargo ships. They were interested in the one who would control Earth. If they could not have Aren, they would have Kelvin. It was only a matter of time.
“Lord Earlos,” a voice said from behind him. “The Royal Coach is on approach and requesting permission to land. It’s Queen Eleyn, my lord. She’s requested an audience.”
The other lords gasped in surprise. Earlos did not, this is exactly what he expected, and in a way had hoped for.
It had been decades since he’d had a conversation with his sister, Queen Eleyn.
“Grant her permission to land. Inform her I…and I alone,” Earlos gave a stern gaze to the eager Lunar Guardians who wanted nothing more than to tell the queen off, “will meet her in the hangar.”
“Very good, Lord Earlos,” the servant said and quickly left the room.
Earlos looked out at Earth and smiled. It gave him a sense of pride that his sister, whatever her intentions, would come calling to him. Perhaps she was there to scold him. Perhaps she was there to find out more about his concern. If Earlos still knew his sister, it was something in between.
“Should not all the Lunar Guardians receive the Queen of Earth?” Lord Raige said. “It is only proper.”
“I have a feeling the queen is not here on official business. She’s here to either shout at her older brother or find out what his crazy ramblings were about,” Earlos said, pointing back at himself. “My sister is above all things a mother. She’s a mother who lost a child and a mother who does not want to risk losing another. My guess is she’s here to find out what I’m on about, while at the same time cursing me for adding stress to her tired husband.”
