by J. Naomi Ay
"What do you think, Madame?" Luci asked hopefully. "Do you think HIM will agree to this?"
"Maybe." Visiting the hospitals and clinics was a worthy reason for us to go and while we were there, perhaps I could find out more about the Corganian situation. Now, I would just need to find a way to convince Senya to let me do it.
"What do you think about that?" I asked him the next morning. We were lying in bed and I was watching the sun rise over the ocean, my head pillowed against his shoulder. It was just after seven and his first appointment was at eight but he was in no hurry to get there.
"I think you are bound and determined to come up with a reason to get yourself on that ship and if I say no to this one, you will continue to think of additional justifications as to why you must go."
"I think you're absolutely right about that," I agreed.
"And you are demanding this of me when I am at my weakest and most vulnerable position."
"You are never weak and vulnerable, Senya."
"Ach, perhaps not but I am certainly at your mercy."
"If that were true, you would let me go visit Shika without arguing about it. I'll be able to check out Cyganus, garner some good PR and see our only and most cherished son all at the same time. It's a win-win-win situation."
"Katie," he sighed. "Shika is an officer in the SpaceNavy. He's an adult. He doesn't need mummy to come check on him any more than you needed your mummy or daddy to come check on you."
"I wouldn't have minded if my dad came to space to visit me," I insisted. "My mom on the other hand, maybe not. Come on, Senya, you know we had family visitations in Spaceforce."
"Unlike Spaceforce, our ships are battle-ships, not cruise-ships. There is a reason why we control the galaxy now and no longer the Alliance."
"I'm not saying every spaceman's mother should come aboard, just Luci and me. Please?"
"Stop that," he protested mildly and pushed my hand away. "I've got to get down to my office. Regardless, Shika needs to find his own path. You need to stop worrying about him. You should worry about me instead."
"Worry about you?" I scoffed as he laboriously tossed his legs onto the floor and sat up. "Why should I worry about you? You're all powerful."
"Yes, that's true but everything still hurts," he said and summoned his cane. "My leg, my back, my head. I am always aching somewhere."
"Senya, my love," I sat up too and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You are over fifty. If you woke up in the morning and nothing hurt that would mean you were dead. You've been dead so many times already, you ought to know what it feels like."
"My finger hurts," he frowned and sucked on it for a moment.
"What's wrong with your finger?"
"It burns."
"Oh stop that!" I slapped him. "Are you going to let me go?"
"Yes, go," he sighed and pulled himself to his feet. "But don't be gone long."
"I'm not planning to," I called after him as he headed toward the shower. "I wasn't planning to be gone more than a week last time either. Can you give me a hint? Will I be able to come home as scheduled or will I be detoured for another decade?"
He shook his head, his black and silver hair dancing across his shoulders. "If you disappear for another decade, you shall return to find me confined to a wheelchair which you must push around. I shall also require pharmaceutical assistance to satisfy your morning demands."
"I'll be back in four days!"
"Yes, you will," he smiled over his shoulder, "and I was just kidding about all that. I may be over fifty but after all, I am still me."
"Yes, you are. And you still light up my sky even though you're an old guy."
"You have no idea how ancient I really am."
"Don’t start that again," I sighed.
"Or how old you really are."
"I'm warning you," I threatened.
He laughed as the door to the bath slammed shut.
Chapter 9
Steven
"Katie is coming aboard," Xorex said as I sat down at my console and proceeded to recheck the stations I had been monitoring. None of them showed any violations or intrusions which was bad. It meant the worm I had created had failed.
"Kari-fa!" I swore and cancelled the process.
"Why?" Xorex asked peering over the cubical barrier at me. "Don't you want her to come aboard?"
"Who?" I let the code scroll on my main screen while watching the execution on another. "Kari-fa!" I swore again. It was too simple. A fricking missed digit in an embedded subroutine had caused the whole thing to fail to execute. I quickly fixed it and compiled it again, then tested it out on Xorex's station.
"Not bad," he giggled in a voice that was way too high for his beefy body. I glanced over the cube wall and saw the dancing tomato light up all four of his screens. It was dressed in a tail coat and top hat and sang a song called 'Ketchup meets Fries' that Sam and I had composed one night. Xorex hit a bunch of keys and did everything he could to kill the program but his system was mine until all the fries were eaten.
"Not bad, not bad," Xorex continued and then leaned back in his chair as the tomato went into the third refrain.
"So listen, bro," he said crossing his arms over his massive chest. "I just read a top secret internal mail that said Katie is coming aboard. Kind of cool, huh?"
"Katie who?" The tomato was going into the final verse where the last four French fries jumped up from the plate and attacked the ketchup bottle in a bloody free for all. I had written it so the ending changed each time. Sometimes the fries won but fell limply across their plate in exhaustion. Other times the ketchup bottle erupted into flames of burning hot red lava and smothered the remaining fries. My favorite rendition was when the tomato in a tuxedo was attacked by both the fries and the bottle and ended up splattered across the screens, seeds and pulp oozing out everywhere. It was kind of a parody on that old joke, "what's black and white and red all over, a squashed tomato wearing a tuxedo." Only Sam thought that was funny though.
"Katie Katie, the Empress lady dude." Xorex squinted his eyes as tomato guts dripped down all of his displays. "That's really effective, bro. If you want, send me the code and I can tweak it a little to make it super awesome."
"Does it need tweaking?" I asked running the worm one more time. I just loved that ending. I had to see it again. I had a mind to send it upstairs to Navigation and launch it on Lenny's screen. I'd get Xorex to reposition the cameras so we could watch Lenny's reaction too. "Wait. What did you say? Who is coming aboard?"
"Katie. The Katie. Her Royal Imperialness Katie. I saw a top secret memo sent to the Captain. She wants to come aboard while we are in the Cyganian sector."
My heart just about died in my chest. "You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled taking my hands off the keyboard and collapsing in my chair. "When? For how long? Why?"
"Next week and for just two days. You got a problem with that, bro?"
Fortunately, it was really dark in here and Xorex couldn't see my face. Sure I had a problem with that. I had a big time problem. I was the only officer on this ship whose mother had to come visit before we were sent out on patrol. That's not what I said though. Instead, I breathed steadily and swallowed the bile that had backed up in my throat. She'd be all over me for not doing my flight training. She was already. Every other day not only did I get my usual 'Are you alive' text, I also got one saying 'How is flight training going?' I was working on it, I swear, just very slowly. Alright, really, really slowly but who said I needed to be a pilot anyway? Why couldn't I just be a hacker?
"You're awfully quiet there, dude," Xorex called.
"Just debugging my program," I called back.
"I can't hear you typing."
"I'm debugging in my head!" I suspected he suspected something but I wasn't about to give in so early. I was sure Xorex had hacked into my personnel file but I knew there was nothing in there because I had hacked in and looked at it too.
"You don't have to get mad."
"I'm not mad at you, bro," I said as nonchalantly as I could. "I'm just frustrated with the worm. It's turning. Any idea why she's coming aboard?"
"She wants to see how we handle the Red Corganian refugee ships She wants to make sure we aren't going to blow them out of the sky."
"Cool." I tried to put my hands back on the keyboard but they were shaking too much.
"It'll be a real bitch while she's here because we'll all have to be neat and tidy all the time just in case she pops in on us. I guess I'll have to get a haircut." Xorex ran his hands through his greasy hair.
"You think she'll come all the way down to the Lair?" I asked grasping at a thin thread of hope. If I hid down here and didn't leave for two days, I might be able to avoid her. That wouldn't be so unusual. Xorex sometimes spent weeks at a time down here, never even leaving his chair. Of course, that's probably why this place had a pervasive locker room smell to it.
"That'd be totally cool if she came down here," he replied. "I'll tell her all about how I got her to level 24 in Imperial Quest. I think she'll be impressed. Well, I've got work to do, Sheik," he sat back up and giggled. "You've earned the name, dude. The Sheik is a sneak."
"Thanks bro." I stared at the tomato now frozen on my screen waiting for further instructions. "Bite me," I told it and made it go splat.
At muster the next morning it was announced to everyone that The Katie was coming aboard. Korelesk glared at each and every one of us and said he pound us into a wall with his fist if anyone screwed up and embarrassed him in the slightest.
"My mother, Countess Korelesk is coming too, Gold-en," he growled grasping my neck with his paw and breathing his onion bagel breath right into my face. "This squad better be the best squad on this ship or you are dead meat." He turned on Sam who shouted "Yes Sir" though his voice cracked and he was visibly trembling. Then he sized up Lenny and Kiman who stood at perfect attention, not even a strand of hair a micrometer out of place. "At least you two guys will pass," he hissed. "I may have to lock Gold-en and Sam in quarters until after she leaves."
"Yes!" I thought and nodded slightly. Korelesk narrowed his eyes at me.
"You're asking for it, Gold-en," he spat and then turned on heel and left without dismissing us. We stood and waited, wondering if he was coming back. After about ten minutes, Sam scratched his head. Lenny and Kiman looked at each other and finally, we all relaxed and headed to our stations.
"This will be so cool!" Sam gasped excitedly, walking with me down the hall to the lifts. "Do you think I'll get a chance to talk to her at all? I want to tell her my Uncle Zem says hello."
"I don't know," I shrugged, "I hope not."
"Aw Stevie," Sam cried. "She's supposed to be really nice. Don't be shy or embarrassed just because you're trailer park trash. Do you think I need a haircut?" He brushed his hand through his spiky red crew cut.
"Yeah, Sam," I replied. "You're getting a bit bushy and overgrown there. Better go get another millimeter shaved down."
"Aw Stevie," he said again and punched me in the arm. "You, for sure need one, dude. You ought to go get some artificial sun on your face too. You're spending so much time down in the Lair, you're starting to look like Xorex."
Chapter 10
Elana
"Come on," I begged Lilibet. "I really want to do this." She put away the hairbrush and threw my clothes in the hamper. "Please?" I called after her as I climbed up in my four poster bed. "How about tomorrow night?"
Lilibet shook her head and started to walk away. "You're taking a huge risk," she said turning back from the door. "What if someone sees you and recognizes you? You could get yourself hurt or even killed."
"I'll wear a disguise," I insisted. "I'll color my hair. I'll do anything, Lili. Please, just let me come with you."
Lilibet frowned and then crossed the room back over to me. "Against my better judgment, I'll take you," she said. "But, you need to realize what you are getting into. There won't be a giant canopied bed for you to sleep in. You'll sleep on the floor without even a mat. You'll share a single toilet with a dozens of other people and if you want to shower, you'll have to go down to the beach. You get one set of clothes unless you want to wear more and you'll have one set of shoes unless you want to carry extras in your purse. You'll have only the three dollars that I give you and you'll have to make it last a whole week. The Red Aliens from Corganus don't speak our language so you'll have to make do with hand signs and waving. Are you still up for it, Princess?"
"Yes," I nodded emphatically. "I'll do it, I promise."
Lili scrunched her lips and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"I promise," I said again. "I'll tell Mother and Father I'm going to visit your family and Rupert, my guard, will be happy for the time off."
"Okay," Lili nodded slowly. "Tomorrow, I'll bring you some clothes. We'll dye your head black and paint your skin red. In the evening, we'll go down to the Red Alien Refugee Camp. I'll come back in a week and tell them I'm hiring you as my maid."
"Okay," I nodded happily and bid her good night, satisfied that my plan was about to take place. Before the Rehnorian Starship came, I wanted to see what it was like for the Red Aliens. Before, I let them turn the Corganian ships back; I needed to know why they were coming in the first place.
The next evening, I found myself walking with Lilibet on the streets outside the palace. No one had objected to me leaving. In fact, Father thought it would be a good experience for me to mingle with Lilibet's commoner family. I had been out on these streets before but always in a car and never without a guard. I felt strangely naked with just Lili there beside me and at the same time, it felt amazingly liberating.
"Come on, Elana," Lili urged clutching my arm. "You can sightsee later."
"What's that guy doing?" I stopped and pointed at a man wearing a large red hat shaped like some kind of a sausage. He wore a wooden sign on his front and his back and danced around on the street corner singing to everyone who stood waiting to let the cars pass.
"He's advertising his hot dog stand." Lili pulled me into the street. "Come on let's cross before the light changes again."
"Light?" I glanced around at the sky searching for this changing light that she spoke of.
"Sheesh, girl," Lili sighed now pulling me down a dark staircase where thousands of other people rushed as well. "You need to get out more often."
The staircase seemed to go on forever, taking us lower and lower into what was undoubtedly the center of the planet. It smelled musty and dirty down here. There was another horrible smell which I couldn't even name. I pinched the nostrils of my nose together as a man brushed past me, nearly toppling me over.
"Halt!" I cried. "How dare you bump me like that?"
"Shut up, Elana," Lili hissed and pulled my arm harder. "Keep walking and don't call attention to yourself."
"But he pushed me," I protested and was about to say more when a tremendous noise sounded and a great rush of foul smelling warm air blew upon us. "What is that?"
"Hurry up!" Lilibet yanked my arm so I nearly stumbled and fell the remaining stairs. I stepped on something that stuck to my shoe, her shoe actually, and stopped for a moment to try to clean it off. Lilibet swore another few times and then let go of me altogether. "Forget it, Elana," she said shaking her head and crossing her arms. "I've had enough of this game. You are obviously not ready. You can't even manage to follow me into the train station. How in the hell are you going to stay alive for a week in a refugee camp?"
"Please Lili," I begged. "Please give me another chance. I promise I'll do anything you ask from here on out." I put down my foot with the dirty shoe and held up my hands and implored her.
Lili shook her head. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this again," she mumbled and taking my arm, she lurched toward the train which was making a hissing sound and the doors were already closing.
"Can't we catch the next one?" I cried breathlessly as we just barely managed to squeeze ourselves inside.
"The next
one isn't for another forty-five minutes and it's not safe to wait down there in the bay, especially with you." She shoved two guys aside and then held up her hand to grasp a strap of sorts that was hanging from the ceiling. "Grab on," she snapped and I did as quickly as I could while the train pummeled forward taking us with it.
I wasn't holding tight enough I guess because I fell into a guy who fell into a woman who was holding a satchel that ended up spilling potatoes all over the floor. She yelled at him and he yelled at me and Lili grabbed my hand and pulled me all the way to the rear of the train. We squeezed into a tight corner practically cheek to cheek and stood like that for a least thirty minutes while the train crossed beneath the city.
"Now listen to me," Lili said hissing into my ear. "You don't talk to anyone when we get out on the street. You keep your mouth shut until we get to the camp and whatever you do, don't take out your money."
"Okay," I nodded though I had no clue why.
The train stopped and it became a maddening rush to get off, even worse than the maddening rush it had been to get on. We hurried upstairs now for what seemed like an eternity and finally emerged onto a street.
This place looked different from the street we had come down from. It was almost as if we had emerged on an entirely different planet. It was dark and the few street lamps here were lit and fireflies were buzzing around them. The street smelled better than the train but not by much. I couldn't identify these smells as never in my life had I ever experienced something so foul.
Lili pulled me along pushing our way past people, who milled about, refusing to speak to them though several of the men called out to us and held out their hands. Some whistled and made noises that could have been considered rude.
"Ignore them," she snapped, "and keep your head down."
"What do they want?"
"Money, sex, anything you want to give them." She hurried along until a man stepped right in front and stopped us.
