by J. Naomi Ay
"You want to hold the rope?" Adrienne asked me.
"No way, not her," Mary Beth scolded Adrienne. "She's not cool even if she has a cast."
“Shut up, Mary Beth,” I said, distractedly scanning the playground for Senya. Maybe he stayed in the classroom. I started to worry about what kind of trouble he might have gotten in to.
"You shut up, Katie," Mary Beth replied. "Nobody likes you anymore."
“Shut up, Mary Beth!” I practically shrieked. “Or I'll…”
“You'll what?” she said still jumping and doing a double deluxe skip with two ropes. “You gonna chase me with your broken leg?”
“I'll…” I was about to say when all of a sudden Mary Beth caught her foot between the ropes and tripped, landing flat on her face. She let out a wail as blood gushed from her nose.
“Mary Beth!” My former friends, Adrienne and Leslie cried. “Duty! Duty! Help!”
Mary Beth was screaming and crying and her face was covered in blood as the Duty came running up. They all carried Mary Beth off to the nurse's office. Adrienne stuck out her tongue as she passed me. My nose hurt, and I didn't even fall on it. I turned to go back to the classroom and spied Senya leaning against the building wall that was used for bouncing balls by yourself.
“You did it!” I realized and then quickly looked around in case anyone heard me.
“She was unkind to you,” he shrugged.
“Come on.” I grabbed his arm. I pulled him over to the fence line where I could look at the trees in the woods and pretend I was talking to a bird or a squirrel or something. “You hurt Mary Beth and Peter. How could you do that, Senya?”
He shrugged again.
“Senya?” I cried. “That's so cruel. That's…that's like evil.”
His eyes flashed.
“I don't want anyone to be mean to you.”
“Well, you don't have to hurt them! I don't like them either, but I wouldn't do things that would make them have to go see the nurse."
“I will kill anyone who hurts you,” he said, and his eyes flashed scarily.
“Then you are a really bad person, Senya," I declared. “Only really, really bad people kill other people."
He didn’t respond, just looked at me with his weird eyes.
“Please don't hurt anybody anymore, even if they are mean to me. Will you promise me that?”
He shook his head.
“Then you had better go home now,” I said.
“Alright.” He looked very sad. His shoulders slumped, and he frowned.
I frowned too. "And I don't mean home to my house. I mean home to your own house on your own planet."
"I know," he mumbled.
"You can come again sometime if you promise not to hurt or kill anybody."
He smiled a little. "I'll try," he said.
I wanted to hug him, but that would look really weird if anybody happened to glance over this way just now, so I didn’t. Instead, I held up my hand in a wave. He placed his palm against it. For a moment we stood like that hand to hand and even though I knew he was not really there, I could feel a strange current running between us. It warmed my hand and my whole body on the inside. I closed my eyes because the silver light was getting very bright and I felt like the sun was shining right on me. It was a nice feeling. I liked Senya, I really liked him. I decided to marry him when I grew up as long as he promised not to hurt or kill anybody else. I opened my eyes to tell him this.
“Senya?” He was gone.
About six months later, the doorbell rang.
“Katie Anne, will you get that?” my mother yelled. She was in the kitchen with her hands in a chicken she was cleaning for soup.
“Okay,” I called back and putting down my math book, I went to look out the glass panel next to the door. There was a strange man standing there. He was looking around the front porch. He looked nervous to me. I opened the door even though I wasn’t supposed to in case he planned to kidnap me.
“Hello?” I said.
He looked at me sizing me up and down and again I realized it was probably pretty stupid to have opened the door.
“Are you Katie Golden?” he asked. He had a thick accent from somewhere else.
“Yes. Who are you?”
“I'm Taner,” he replied almost hesitantly. “I have something for you.” He reached into the pocket of his overcoat and pulled out something. It was a chess piece, a black king. I took it from him and studied it while he reached into his other pocket and then handed me a white queen, as well.
“Wow,” I gasped turning the pieces over in my hands. They were made of something heavy and had gold on them and were really pretty.
“Do you know who they are from?” he asked curiously as if he didn't know.
“I think so,” I replied. “They're from my friend.”
“Your friend?”
“Is he okay now?”
Taner's skin went pale. He scratched at his cheek. “Who are you Katie Golden?” he asked. “Are you a princess?”
I laughed. “A princess?”
“How old are you?”
“Ten.”
“How do you know him?”
“What's going on here?” my mother said, coming up behind me, her hands in a dish towel. I showed her the chess pieces.
“These are from my friend,” I explained.
“What do you want?” my mother demanded of the man.
“Nothing,” he apologized. “I was only to deliver these.” He bowed, sort of. “I beg your pardon. I'll be going now.” He practically ran down the drive way to his speeder.
My mother took the chess pieces from me. “I want your father to see this,” she said even though I started to whine that they were mine. My father looked them over that evening and satisfied that they did not contain drugs and were not going to blow up, he let me put them on my bedroom shelf next to my Breyer horses, next to Midnight, my favorite black one.
One night when I was thirteen years old, I was lying in bed wide awake and unable to sleep. Senya was a distant memory, and if it weren't for the chess pieces, I might not even have believed he was real. Frankly, the chess pieces weren't proof either and as time went on I became more convinced like my mother that he was a figment of trauma, stress and Vicodan. I was staring out the window at the stars and spaceplanes that dotted the night sky above me. I wanted to go to space. Already I had decided that my future lie with the Spaceforce. I read everything I could about them. I prepped myself already by reading up on Astro-engineering and Astro-navigation in my spare time. My mother loudly hoped that I would change my mind and choose a normal career like an accountant or lawyer. I had my heart set on the stars, though, and would dream of wearing a Spaceforce uniform with strips cascading up my arm. Other than that I was a typical teenager. My walls were plastered with pinups of rock stars, my nights were spent chatting with girlfriends about boyfriends and occasionally studying and my days were spent hanging next to my locker in school, showing off my latest fashion accessory.
On this particular night though, I was pondering my future in the stars when all of a sudden it was as if a door opened, a light lit up my room, and Senya stepped through.
“Senya, you're back!” I cried, wondering again if I was asleep and didn't realize it.
“I am,” he said into my mind just as he had done before. His eyes shone bright as I stared at him.
“What are you doing here? You're not sick again are you?”
“No,” he shook his head and crossed the room to my bed. He was about sixteen and his hair was long and wavy and tied loosely into two braids with black ribbons. He was very tall now and had filled out considerably. His arms and legs were hard and muscular as if he played sports all the time and he now had a huge tattoo running down his left arm. His skin was pale but healthy looking. He was wearing what looked like leather leggings and tunic that had sparkly things sewn on as decorations.
“OMG!” I gasped aloud. “You grew up!” He was so hot! He was beyond hot!
That bratty boy had turned into the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen. All the rock stars on my walls were nothing compared to Senya. “OMG! OMG! Wait! What are you doing?”
He took off his tunic and unlaced and slipped off his leggings and climbed into bed with me just as he had done before. I stared at his penis, which stood tall and throbbing.
“Uh…Senya?”
He slipped his hands under my nightgown and pulled it off over my head.
“You grew up too, Katie,” he said running his hand across my face.
“Are you here or are you not really here again?” I whispered, my heart beating strangely as his fingers stroked my breasts.
“It's complicated,” he replied, and he kissed me. It felt like he was here. “You belong to me, you understand?” He waved his hand and all the pinups fluttered off my walls and onto the floor.
“Ok,” I said. “Sure.” And then he kissed me again with tongue and pressed himself against me. I thought I should be scared. I thought I should probably push him off and loudly say “No” like I had been taught in school, but I didn't want to. I wanted him to do this, and I wanted to do it back. I reached for him and I stroked him marvelling at this amazing boy's body. He moaned and then pushed himself into me, and I nearly cried. I felt as if we had done this a thousand times before. I felt as if all this time I was missing a part of me and never knew it and now this part was back, and I was finally complete. It didn't hurt. It didn't feel anything like Mary Beth said it would when we sat behind the bleachers and discussed these things after band practice last fall. Like the teenagers that we were, Senya and I coupled over and over that night and even in between lay stuck together like one body.
“I love you, Senya,” I said about a million times that night. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, Milaka MaKani,” he said. “I love you in this lifetime and all the lifetimes before and after.”
I didn't see him leave. When the morning came, I was alone. My nightgown and all the rock stars were on the floor. The chess pieces had been moved to my bedside table and placed on top of my tablet. My virginity was entirely intact. I knew he wasn't a hallucination. I never could have imagined that. No book, no vid, nothing could have prepared me for the feelings that raced through my body during that night. Who Senya was and how he came to me twice now perplexed me, and there was no one who could help me figure this out. I googled “Senya” but nothing came up. I was determined to find him though. It would take a few years. I would join Spaceforce and fly around the galaxy, but eventually, I would find him.
18
Mariya
When I was sixteen years old and still living in the dorms, I bought a new pin-up of the MaKennah. It had just come out and it was the best ever. He had been living in Karupatani for several years, and there had been no pics since he was twelve and now there was a new one of him at sixteen. I queued up at the store with my roommates, and we each bought one. The pic was snapped in Karupatani. He was astride a big black horse that was rearing on his hind legs, and the horse's head was pulled back, and its teeth were bared. My cousin, the MaKennah, was wearing Karupta clothes, leather leggings and tunic adorned with silver and his hair was very long and curly and pure black. He held the horse's reins in one hand and a light sword in the other. His eyes were bright silver, and his expression was curious as if he didn't know who was snapping his pic but was on his way to find out.
“Oh he is so dreamy,” my roommates moaned. We had all four pin-ups on the walls of our room.
“He is,” I agreed and secretly dreamed that my mother's wiles might work, and I would again be granted an audience with him. I would charm him with my wit and enchant him with my beauty, and I would take him in my bed, and I would become the MaKani and someday Queen.
Around that same time, the Palace announced that the MaKennah would be returning to Mishnah to begin studies at the University of New Mishnah in the fall. This prompted another round of ecstatic moans from my roommates and me. UNM was within walking distance of our own campus. I bought myself new dresses in preparations for the Palace parties I would surely be invited to.
Then, before we knew it, Prince Akan was on the vid announcing that the MaKennah was dead, killed by the Karuptas. Prince Akan was pale and somber as he made this announcement and he promised that revenge had already taken place. The King's village in Karupatani had been massacred. Only women and children and the old king remained. We saw pics of burned out homes and dead men and horses in the streets. We saw women on their knees keening and pulling their hair before their dead husbands and sons. We saw the old king with tears running down his face clutching a young boy.
I wore one of my new dresses intended for a party, to the memorial service. Prince Akan sat on the dais and wiped at his eyes a few times, but King Yokaa was devastated. He sat hunched down in his throne and wept. He ended up leaving the service early, and it was announced shortly after that, Prince Akan would begin to assume some of his duties.
I finished school and rented a flat with a girlfriend in New Mishnah. I didn't have a job nor did I have any intention to get one as I was born in the privileged class and had sufficient income from my father to see to all my needs. I paid little attention to politics or economics are any of those things that consumed the working people yet after a few years even I began to notice that Mishnah had begun to change. Many people were out of work. Even in New Mishnah, the shining city on the hill, office buildings and homes lay empty and unused. It took many more Mishnese dollars to purchase the things I needed. The rent on my flat went way up. My flatmate, who was not as wealthy as I, could no longer pay her half of the rent. Three other girls moved in and shared her bedroom and our one bath. Panhandlers and hobos lined the streets begging for coins in front of every building. There were food shortages and many restaurants closed.
When I was twenty-five and could no longer tolerate living with four other girls in a dying city, I moved back to the Child Moon until I could decide what to do with myself. My mother had intended for me to make a good marriage, but many of the elite and privileged had also lost their wealth when the stock market crashed, and the economy plunged. There was simply nobody out there worthy of marriage to me save Prince Akan himself who was not inclined to appreciate a woman. My father, Lord Governor of the Prison Colony stayed surprisingly wealthy. He was loyal to Prince Akan and rewarded handsomely for that. His colony grew across the tiny moon as more and more prisoners arrived and he was given a large percentage of the value of the ores that were mined. Our home there was as opulent as the Palace of Mishnah despite living within an air bubble. It was adjacent to the prisons and quarries, but rarely did we see any prisoners beyond those that worked in our house. I kept busy doing needlework and playing piano and occasionally sketching or drawing but for the most part my life was exceedingly boring.
About a year or so after I returned to the moon, my girlfriend Leesa came to stay for a while. Leesa's family had been well to do owning one of the largest speeder manufacturers in the country. She was very pretty and great fun when we were in school together, and I loved her dearly. This last year, her father had lost his business when the government had taken it over. He embarrassed everyone after that by committing suicide. Leesa blamed Prince Akan and railed upon him constantly, and it grew quite tiresome. She had come to visit to cheer up, but I grew bored with her depression. I would rather do my needlework in silence than listen to her rant about the government.
“It wasn't like this when King Yokaa was still in charge,” she said scornfully. “I wish the MaKennah was still alive. At least we would have some hope for the future.”
“Well I wish he was still alive too,” I agreed. “But my father has done well under Prince Akan. Just because your father didn’t, doesn't mean…”
She interrupted me and went off on a rant about unemployment and taxes or some such thing.
“Oh come on,” I said so as not listen to this. “Let's go take a walk around the estate.”
&
nbsp; “Where?” she demanded. “It's not like you have gardens or anything.”
“We do,” I insisted and I showed her the gardens and greenhouses where we grow all the food for ourselves and the colonies. They were maintained by prisoners who had earned relief from the quarries for good work. The gardens were immense, and parts of them even grew large trees, up to one hundred feet tall before they bumped into the roof. These trees generated much of our oxygen, and the forest there was quite dense as our oxygen requirements were enormous.
“Oh, it's gorgeous,” Leesa cried, and her mood picked up considerably. “It's almost like being back on the planet.”
“We even have a lake and a waterfall,” I bragged, smelling the beautiful roses that my mother grew.
“Can we go see?”
“Of course.” We walked through the path in the forest towards the lake.
“Is it warm enough to swim?” Leesa asked.
“Yes, but we didn't bring swimsuits with us.”
“Oh Mariya,” Leesa laughed, and I remembered how much fun she was back then. “We don't need swimsuits. Who will see us?”
“Prisoners.”
“Well, if there are none by the lake, I'm going to go swimming,” Leesa declared, and she began to run along the path.
The lake was beautiful. There was a waterfall that churned the water and poured it into the lake which streamed out into the reservoirs that the colony used. There was a meadow that surrounded it all, filled with wildflowers and grass and a prisoner was there pushing a mower about.
“Oh darn a prisoner,” Leesa said and then she moved closer to get a better look at him. “Mariya, is he a Karut?”
“Looks like it,” I replied. “How odd is that? We don't usually have Karuts here. They take care of their own.”
“Maybe he killed some Mishnese or something,” she mused. “He's awfully good looking, isn't he? He has beautiful hair just like the MaKennah did.”
“He does,” I agreed. “But the MaKennah had wavy hair like Princess Lydia's. Besides, this one is much too old, and his skin is too dark.”
