by Karin Biggs
She was the one who embraced us and touched our cheeks when mothers were instructed not to show physical affection to their children. She was the one who sang to us in the creek and encouraged us to search for Mondarian artifacts when Father was away. And she was the one who told me I had a gift through my voice and to never stop using it.
My mother, the queen of Capalon, was defective, and I wished I could eliminate her from my mind as easily as Evelyn had. But it had taken me nearly three years to finally admit to myself that I would never move on until I knew for sure that my mother was dead.
The tears won their battle against my eyelids as I picked up my fifth rock. I hurled it at a tree branch, scaring a bird into a wild flight for safety. I blinked through my clouded eyes as I watched the bird land on a flat surface behind the tree. It puffed its vivid-red chest and ruffled its ink-black wings as it sent out an angry call. Normally my eyes would have been transfixed by the bird’s bright color, but they fell to its new resting place—one of the gates in our security wall.
Birds avoided the security wall and its scorching invisible forcefield that ran along the top, which meant—
The broken gate.
The boulders in the creek served as a crossing path as I bounded up the creek bank to get a closer look. After the bird flew away with a frantic call, I tossed a rock over the top of the gate to test my observation. A nervous jolt shot through me when it landed softly on the other side. The neurons in my brain jumped together to form a lightning-powered idea.
I could do it.
I could leave Capalon over the dead gate and search for my mother in Mondaria.
The idea scared me, sending me back into a tree. I picked at the bark with my fingertips as I processed the possibility and inhaled the scent of dry, autumn leaves. For years I had pestered Evelyn with my hypothesis that Mother was alive, only to be consistently turned away. I never considered the option to take the investigation into my own hands.
The security wall served the purpose of keeping our citizens inside the perimeter of our kingdom in addition to keeping our enemies out. Capalons were never permitted to leave the kingdom, aside from the queen and king and invited innovators. The world beyond our walls was too dangerous and filled with distractions, germs and evil people who wanted our innovative secrets. One kingdom even held a mandate for the right to kill Capalons if found on their land—that kingdom was the only place in The Lands where it snowed, the least technologically advanced, home to the king who could be holding my mother captive and most importantly, our one and only true enemy.
I removed the note from my pocket.
Your mother is alive and living inside the Mondarian king’s Mansion.
Maybe whoever left me the note knew I was the only one who would be willing to leave Capalon to search for her. I had Paris Marigold’s identification card and the dead gate. I just needed to make a few alterations to the card and scale the gate before it was fixed within the next twenty-four hours.
“Princess Piper, your sister will be visiting you in your bedroom in fifteen minutes. Would you like me to call you a hover pod to make it back to the Compound in time?”
I wiped my shirt sleeve across my cheeks. “Yes.”
Chip’s voice reminded me I would need to find a way to go offline if I didn’t want my every step traced by Patrol, landing me back in Capalon before I could even set one foot in Mondaria.
But how? The only way to operate offline was with voice permission from the king or queen to switch to manual-operation. And there was no way Evelyn would ever give me permission.
The hover pod returned me to the Compound in half the time it took me to run to the creek, so I examined Paris Marigold’s identification card, which sat on my bed with the other Mondarian artifacts. I would need to find a photo to replace her brown eyes, brown skin and brown spiral hair.
My metal bedroom door slid into the wall before I placed all the forbidden items back into the box. I sat rigid on the bed, blocking the items from view behind my back when Evelyn stepped into my room.
“Piper, about mother’s vial—”
“It’s okay,” I said with a forced cheerful tone. “I need to move on and eliminating the vial was the proper thing to do.”
She nodded and stepped deeper into my room. “I also wanted to confirm you’ve reviewed your match’s details before I leave the kingdom.”
“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t—”
“Haven’t what, Piper? Had the time? You’ve been too busy sneaking away to the creek to practice your forbidden singing?” She crossed her arms and leaned against my worktable. “Honestly, Piper, I don’t know how to get you to—”
“What I meant was…I haven’t received your formal permission.” My dry throat attempted to swallow as my thumb slid over the voice recorder behind my back.
“Formal permission?” Evelyn scoffed. “You don’t need my formal permission. I’ve been asking you to do this for days! But if that’s what it takes to get you to follow my request, then so be it. Permission granted by Queen Evelyn Elaine Parish of Capalon,” she said with punctuating movements of her hands. “Happy?”
“Yes. Thank you, sister. It’s just…I think that’s what Father would have done.”
Evelyn rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “Piper, I think it’s time to talk to the pharmaceutical lab again. Maybe they can give you something stronger.”
I nodded. “I’m willing to do what’s best for Capalon.”
Her eyes focused on mine and for a moment, I thought she might close the distance between us and offer me an embrace, but she pushed herself off my worktable and headed to the door. “I have to go. I’ll be back tomorrow night. Send me a memo when you’ve reviewed your match and I’ll set up a time for the three of us to meet.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Safe travels.”
The door closed behind her and I hit ‘stop,’ then ‘rewind’ on the recorder. Evelyn’s voice emitted from the small speaker. “Permission granted by Queen Evelyn Elaine Parish of Capalon.”
Maybe I was suffering from mental weakness. Maybe my sister was right that I needed a more powerful medication to avoid the temptation of singing and crying. And maybe I was crazy, most of all, for believing that what was best for Capalon and my relationship with my sister, was to risk death in the kingdom of our enemies to find my mother.
I set the voice recorder aside and moved to my worktable, opening every drawer to dig around for the proper tools to alter Paris Marigold’s identification card. Clearing my table of the last microscope I used, I donned a headband magnifier then commenced my project. After removing the plastic laminate on the card, I changed the eye color text from BROWN to GREEN, choosing to leave her birthday and height untouched. The bigger challenge was finding a photograph of myself to fill the small square since our kingdom didn’t support the use of videography or photography for personal use.
I swiped through a few images Chip found for me above my wrist and settled on a still taken at my parents’ End of Life ceremony. My right thumb and index finger zoomed in on my face to reveal I had unknowingly been staring directly at the camera’s lens. My face was completely drained of life as if I was the one being locked in a vault that day. I slid the photo to the right to see my sister wearing a similar expression. Only, she sat tall in her chair and her eyes focused on our father’s urn, as if she could bring my parents back to life with her mind.
Chip sent the photo to the printer down the hall in the auxiliary room. After retrieving the photo from the printer, I was about to pass the king’s room when one of my sister’s advisors emerged. His cheeks reddened when our eyes met, but he addressed me as if nothing were out of the ordinary before passing me in the hall.
I felt a connection to King Xavier ever since I caught on to his visits with other men. Though we never discussed it, I found comfort in knowing that we were both flawed, even though his need for intimacy was kept a secret while my emotionally unstable mind was well known.
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Capalons didn’t believe in romantic love, so something like sexual preference wouldn’t have swayed my sister’s decision when she accepted Xavier as her match—his intellectual genes were needed for the future king or queen of Capalon.
When I returned to my room, Chip informed me that my protein levels were low and I needed a nourishment break, but I ignored his warnings. Tension crept up through my neck and across my shoulders, but I worked through the pain until Chip interrupted my concentration once again.
“Princess, you have a call from King Xavier.”
I dropped the identification card. “Accept.”
“I’m pretty lonely in the dining room without you,” said Xavier with his sing-song voice he only used with me.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, I must have gotten carried away with…a new experiment I’ve been working on. I’ll be right there.” More time was needed to dry the new laminate, switch Chip to manual drive and pack a bag of supplies, but it would all have to wait until after dinner. I carefully placed the card inside a drawer of the worktable and headed to the dining room to meet Xavier.
Our conversation was lighter as if Evelyn’s absence lifted a weight off the dinner table. Xavier described the colors he had witnessed in the sunrise that morning and I told him about a time I witnessed a nursery droid having to remove a toddler girl from kissing a toddler boy. We didn’t talk about the latest Innovator Report or underperforming citizens in the labs as we normally did with my sister.
“So, what’s your secret experiment?” asked Xavier at the end of our meal of kale and barley cubes.
I choked on my water. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” He laughed. “I’m offended, Piper. You know I won’t steal your research, unless it relates to sustainable alternative jet fuels—then I would have Patrol raid your room for every shred of information.”
My brain failed to produce a believable lie as blood drained from my face.
“Piper, I was just—”
“Accept call from Patrol, King Xavier?” Gill asked through Xavier’s wrist.
“Sorry,” Xavier said. “I’ve been fighting a terrible headache all day, so I switched Gill to speaker mode.” Xavier rubbed his dark brow and commanded Gill to accept the call.
“The Technology Ward has informed us that the dead gate will be reactivated in thirty minutes,” said a deep voice from his wrist.
“That was fast. Thanks for the update, Patrol.”
The call ended with a twist of my stomach. I only had thirty minutes to get over the dead gate before the forcefield came back online.
Xavier stood up from his chair and his action required me to do the same. “Well, I’m headed to my lab. I’m experimenting with a new hover pod model. Oh, and Evelyn wanted me to remind you to review your match details. I’m sure she’s sent Chip a whole bunch of reminders, but I’m the human reminder for you.”
I tilted my head. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Xavier winked, which curled my lip up into a smile. Where Evelyn was hard and dismissive, Xavier was soft and patient. I even overheard him whistling from time to time in his office.
“Xavier?”
“Yes, Princess?”
I cleared my throat and spoke a little too loud. “After reviewing my match’s details, I plan to go to the Field to test the Technology Ward’s new micro-telescope. I’ll need to be away from the light of the Compound for conclusive results, so I’ll be out after dusk. I just…wanted to tell you, so you’re not alarmed by my absence.”
Xavier smiled as if he knew he was secretly offering me his blessing to partake in a forbidden activity. “Chip, keep an eye on the princess.”
Chip responded on speaker mode through my wrist. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing Xavier for the next few days or potentially weeks, I felt the urge to step around the table and pull him into a tight embrace. Instead, I offered the standard phrase for a Capalon heading to a lab session. “Innovation First, Xavier.”
“Innovation First.” Xavier tilted his head and exited the dining room.
As soon as the door closed behind him, I sprinted back to my room and pulled a backpack out of my closet. I filled it with the supplies from my emergency cabinet; packaged food, water, flashlight, knife, blanket and extra clothes.
Clothes.
What did Mondarian teenagers wear?
“Chip, lift query restrictions on the subject of Mondaria.”
“Restriction override requires permission from—”
“Permission granted by Queen Evelyn Elaine Parish of Capalon.”
I clutched the voice recorder and held my breath as I watched my wrist pulse with a blue glow. If Evelyn’s recording didn’t work on the query restriction, then it wouldn’t work on my offline request, which would mean my whole plan would have to be scrapped.
It had never taken so long for Chip to process anything.
It wasn’t going to work. I would have to move on with my match and take the medication that Evelyn—
“Restriction override approved.”
I dropped the recorder as my hands flew to my mouth. But I didn’t have time to revel in my success. “Chip, how do Mondarian teenagers dress?”
“In autumn, Mondarian teenagers often wear articles of clothing like blue jeans, sweaters, flannel shirts, and boots.”
I opened my closet to a monochromatic grey scale of clothing. Luckily, Capalons wore sweaters too, but I had never heard of blue jeans or flannel shirts. I swiped through the photo samples Chip provided until I found a picture I could match—a girl in tight pants with a loose sweater and boots. I tied my hair up into a hairband, unsure of exactly how to replicate the girl’s tight ball of hair on top of her head. I would need to purchase Mondarian clothing to blend in with the other citizens once I arrived in the kingdom.
“Chip, how do visitors pay for items in Mondaria?”
“Mondaria has exchange offices throughout the kingdom for visitors to trade in their own kingdom’s currency to make purchases.”
I tossed a box of Capalon coins into the bag, then pulled it over my shoulders. Paris Marigold’s identification card was still a bit tacky, but I was out of time so I shoved it into my pocket.
I picked up the voice recorder and took a deep breath. “Chip, switch me to manual-operation.”
“Switch to manual-operation requires—”
I played Evelyn’s voice one final time.
“Princess Piper, you are now on manual-operation.”
My finger held down the record button. “I meant it when I said I wanted to do what’s best for Capalon, Evie. I’ll be back with or without her in time for my match ceremony. Thank you for your permission.” I hit the stop button, then placed the recorder on my bed next to the anonymous note. After a final mental checklist, I left my room and headed to the skybridge.
I waited for Chip to tell me to calm my breathing and steady my heart rate, but he remained silent. A hover pod brought me to the Field and after it hummed back to the main thoroughfare near the Compound, I was left in complete darkness. I plunged my hand into my backpack and pulled out the flashlight. But even with the light, I winced as low tree branches poked against my face and shrieked when I slipped on a rock in the creek, sending my foot into ankle-deep cold water. I selected the gate I thought to be dead and was about to heave myself up with the help of a nearby boulder when I thought a test would benefit my life first. I tossed the flashlight over the gate, only to watch a burst of orange incinerate it into oblivion.
I panted in shock. I was at the wrong gate and I had just sacrificed my only flashlight, leaving my eyes to be guided by the dim light of the moon. I moved two gates to the left and felt for a rock on the ground. Tossing the rock over the top of the new gate, I was relieved to hear it come to a soft landing on the other side. I hoisted myself up with the support of a bent tree trunk, then flung my legs over the top, resting my bottom on the thin row of brick. A tree branch extended to the middl
e of the gate, so I shimmied my body toward it with the push of my palms and ankles. I reached for the tree branch when an overpowering heat pushed me forward, knocking me to the earth.
I was immobile against a mix of leaves, moss and dirt. Having fallen at least seven feet, I was sure something was broken. But as I slowly moved each limb, the only pain I felt was soreness. I tore my backpack off to find half of it burned, along with the majority of its contents. My food, blanket, and a pair of pants were destroyed. The knife must have been blasted out to the other side of the fence or was hidden under the leaves. But I had to exit the forest before a perimeter camera picked up my movement. I hugged my bag to my chest and pushed my way through the dark forest, not stopping until my feet hit asphalt.
Lifting my eyes off my muddy shoes, I took in my surroundings. Behind me was a black, dense forest that hid the only home I knew. The road I stood on had to be the Lands Vehicular Roadway or LVR. In front of me, sharp mountain peaks pierced a round, silver moon.
I shivered from exhaustion and a wet foot, but I craved water. I set my bag down on the edge of the LVR to take a drink. The heaviness of night settled around me like a thin jacket with the reality of my situation. Evelyn would be livid once she discovered my note the next day. Xavier would be concerned for my safety. But they would both be elated and dumbfounded when I returned with my mother, alive. Then and only then would life feel right again. Evelyn would be happy to not have to be queen anymore and I would be happy to no longer be seen as a disappointment to the kingdom and my sister. I had already managed to escape the most protected kingdom in The Lands, so entering the kingdom of our dull-minded enemies would have to be easy in comparison.
I took one final drink of water, then picked up my bag. “Chip, take me to Mondaria.”
Pain seared the soles of my feet as I walked along the LVR. Finally, to my relief, I approached a public auto-taxi rest stop. For the late hour of the night, I didn’t see any patrons inside the food and bathroom facilities but I chose to remain outside in the safety of dark shadows. A couple exited the building just as I neared the call-station, causing me to take a few steps back and nearly trip over a low shrub. The woman waived a card over the door handle of an antique four-wheeled vehicle, then slid into the back seat of the vehicle with her partner. After the car left the station, I mimicked the woman’s actions with Paris Marigold’s identification card on the door handle of the only remaining vehicle.