Encircled

by Laurie Lucking

  After finishing breakfast, I change into my reeking suit, grab my helmet, and take the lift to the upper levels to find Milos.

  He stands in the hangar bay directing a flurry of round drones swarming around the pod.

  I wave. “Morning.”

  “Morning.” His voice resonates in my helmet. Whatever else may be broken down about the station, the tech is far superior to anything I’ve seen. “How long have you been awake?”

  “Long enough to have breakfast. Thank you. How long have you been working?”

  “Since you went to your room last night.”

  “Wow. Really? Aren’t you…tired?”

  He shakes his helmeted head. “Nah. I actually feel like I’m waking up after sleeping forever.” As I try to puzzle out what he means, a drone the size of my fist zooms up to me.

  Milos motions to it. “We need to get inside the pod. There’s a broken connection between the thrusters and the auto-pilot.”

  “Sure.” I walk up the pod ramp and lean toward the sensor. The retinal scanner travels across my eye, and the iris door swirls open. The drone buzzes over my shoulder and busies itself at the control panel. Footsteps creak on the ramp. I turn to find Milos standing a meter behind me, his helmet the same height as mine. “Your moon base seems to be well-stocked. How long have you been here?”

  “For a while.”

  “Where were you before?”

  “My home planet, Drestin.”

  Are his answers vague on purpose? “But now you’re on your own.”

  “Yeah. Drestin’s atmosphere was poisoned. Everyone was…wiped out. I’m the only survivor.”

  The bleakness in his tone crushes me. No wonder he doesn’t want to talk. I was overcome when I thought my family was dead. What would it be like knowing you’re all that’s left from an entire planet of people?

  “I’m sorry.” I step forward and brush his arm with my gloved hand. “Really. That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

  He shrugs but his voice cracks. “I’ve done my grieving, though being so close doesn’t help.” He points toward the planet looming above us.

  I shudder. “We’re orbiting Drestin? How long ago did this happen?”

  “A long time ago. I was very young. Even though the moon base had been abandoned, I took refuge here and only maintained the lower level.”

  Milos’s statements leave me speechless. They ring true, but an undercurrent tugs at me. I’m not getting the whole story. I’m used to reading body language and facial expressions. Seeing Milos’s face would put this niggling doubt at rest.

  “And the spaceburn? How’d you get that?” Dumb thing to ask. He tells me about the annihilation of his people, and I want him to explain his injury.

  “I was replacing some exterior shielding a few cycles before you got here. My helmet’s seal wasn’t working properly. I got back inside before it completely shattered, but not before the skin on my face was affected.”

  Is his explanation too detailed?

  We spend the next few hours with the drones doing repairs. Milos tells me more about his routine on Zephyr Moon Base. Sounds like he’s done a lot of reading. And he likes to work in his hydroponic garden. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him more about Drestin, but I don’t want to rake up painful memories.

  He’s quiet as I eat dinner—another excellent stew and some flatbread flavored with an unfamiliar herb. Like caraway seed, but sweeter.

  I tear off a chunk of flatbread and dip it in the broth. “Do you ever think about leaving?”

  “Leave the moon base?”

  “Yeah.” The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. “You could come with me…us…when my family gets here. We could take you wherever you wanted. Anywhere in the galaxy. It’s the least we could do after you saved me. Repaired the pod.” I gesture to my meal. “Fed me.”

  Milos looks down, resting both hands on the table. “No. I couldn’t.”

  “Why not? I don’t like the idea of you here, all by yourself, forever.”

  He jerks his head up. “Do you mean that?”

  “Yes.” I nod slowly. “I do.” We’re both quiet for a moment.

  And then Milos sighs. “I’ll think about it.” He doesn’t sound convinced. More like he’s pacifying me. Why doesn’t he tell me what’s bothering him?

  “Are you all right?”

  “Just…tired all of a sudden.”

  Again, I experience a head rush as if I’m balancing at the top of an enormous precipice. Goosebumps travel down my arm. We’ve had this conversation before. This has all happened before.

  I shake off the sensation, my laughter weak. “I can understand that. You’ve been awake for—what—two cycles? But promise me you’ll really consider it. Nobody should be stuck on a moon base. Alone.”

  “I said I’d think about it.” He pushes back his chair and stalks to his room.

  I chew on my lip. I offended him. Did he think I was throwing his hospitality back in his face or insulting his home? That must be it. After everything he’s done for me, how could I be so insensitive? Again?

  Groaning, I glance at the remains of the congealed stew, and my stomach turns. I put all the dishes in the sanitary hatch and wipe down the table. Glenda hovers at her charging dock, so I tidy the cushions on the sofas and wander through the reception room.

  A white display cabinet houses several curious artifacts. A rusted dagger. A stone carving so dusty, I can’t even make out what it is. And an ancient padlock that looks like it could crumble into dust at any moment. Milos’s door is still closed. Should I try to make things right? No. I’ll probably only disturb him.

  In my room, I summon Tegan. “Tell me about the planet below us.” He starts rattling off statistics, but I interrupt him. “No. I want to hear about the people who used to live there.” If I could learn something about them, I could apologize to Milos.

  “There’s no indication that DS 9897 ever supported humanoid life. Though a sentient reptilian species inhabited it until its recent atmosphere change.”

  “What?” My exclamation wakes Spark, curled up on my dirty suit on the floor. She lifts her head, growling softly. “Shhh. It’s all right.” I lean over and scratch between her ears, murmuring to her until she settles back to sleep.

  But it’s not. Milos. Reptilian.

  I shiver. “You did say you couldn’t get confirmation of his species. What if he wears the helmet not to heal spaceburn but to hide who he really is? Pity there’s no way to find out.”

  “Isn’t there?” Tegan asks. “If he sleeps under the stasis shield, he’d have to take his helmet off. Go in his room—”

  “Don’t you mean sneak in his room?”

  “—and look at him.”

  “That’s an invasion of his privacy.” I nibble on my thumbnail.

  “But then you’d know.”

  “That could also be the reason he doesn’t want to come with me.”

  “You need to think about your safety. Not a single reptilian species integrated well into the Coalition. They’re far too violent.”

  With Tegan’s reminder echoing in my ears, I tiptoe into the reception room and glance at Glenda’s charging dock. She doesn’t respond. My heart pounding, I glide across the floor and wave my hand in front Milos’s door. It slides open. The darkened room is quiet, with only the gentle hum of the stasis shield that doesn’t drown out my internal monologue.

  I shouldn’t be doing this.

  But I have to.

  It’s a betrayal.

  But what if Milos is lying to me?

  If only I could look into his eyes.

  From the faint glow of my wristband, I can see the outlines of his sleeping cubicle, the shield down. His helmet rests on a stand to the right.

  I creep closer and closer. One tiny peek. That’s all I need. To reassure myself. He’s not a pirate. Not some kind of reptilian alien. Not a monster.

  I stand in front of him. I can barely breathe.

  I lift
my hand. “More light.” My wristband blazes out, illuminating the room.

  And I gaze down into the face of…a god.

  Smooth, copper skin. High cheekbones. Full lips. Dark, wavy hair swept back from his forehead and down to his shoulders.

  He’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.

  And—my cheeks flush—shirtless, the smooth muscles of his chest and abdomen rising and falling with each breath.

  I watch the pulse beat in his neck, and my heart slows to match it.

  Who—what—is he?

  Hesitantly, I touch the stasis screen with my fingertips.

  Milos’s eyes fly open. Golden brown fringed with dark lashes.

  “Astrid,” he croaks. “What have you done?”

  The Curse

  ASTRID STUMBLES BACK. “I’m sorry.”

  But she’s too late.

  The stasis shield flies up as pain sears through my body, carving its way through my heart and lungs. I double over then roll off the sleeping cubicle to the floor on my hands and knees.

  “I didn’t mean to.” She kneels beside me. “What can I do? Tegan!” She puts a cool hand on my bare back. “What’s wrong with him?”

  Her AI’s holograph flickers on. “Nothing I can perceive.”

  Another wave rolls over me, a spasm so intense I can’t breathe.

  “Help him!”

  I grunt. “He can’t do anything.” When the pain recedes, I sit up, gasping, and lean my shoulder against the wall.

  Astrid’s face is waxen. “Are you all right?”

  “For the moment. But before it gets worse, you have to promise me something.” I never should’ve dragged her into this. Literally. How could I have thought to pit Astrid against her? At least the pod’s repaired.

  Astrid searches my face. “Anything.”

  “Leave.”

  “What?!”

  “I’m serious. Get in your pod and meet your family far, far from here.”

  Tegan eyes me. Can an AI be suspicious? “Perhaps we should do what he says.”

  Astrid sets her mouth in a grim line. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what in all the stars is going on. And I mean it this time. Most of what you’ve said seems to be the truth, but other things don’t make sense. Your helmet. The planet. Tegan told me only a sentient reptilian species ever lived on Drestin.” She gulps. “That’s why I snuck in. I panicked and thought you were hiding who you were. Obviously, I was wrong. I’m so sorry. I never should’ve done it.”

  I take her hand, marveling at her skin against mine. How long has it been since I’ve had any kind of contact? “It’s my fault. I should’ve been more honest.” My grip tightens as the familiar ache begins again. Astrid still has time to escape. But she has to go. Now. “But I…can’t…involve”—Pain engulfs me, and I squeeze my eyes shut—“you.”

  “Too late for that. What’s happening to you?”

  Where to even start? “Almost five hundred years ago, a visitor from another planet—a woman—landed her spacecraft in Fairlin, Drestin’s capital city. She claimed she was fleeing from space pirates and begged for refuge. My father, the king, granted her request.”

  “Your father? But that means you’re…”

  “A prince? Yes.”

  “No.” Astrid’s eyes widen. “Old.”

  “I’m only eighteen.”

  “How—”

  I hold up a hand. “I’ll explain.” I picture Shimmera’s long, auburn hair and dark eyes. Beauty hiding such treachery. “The woman, Shimmera, was striking. Intelligent. Well-spoken. And, like my people, powerful in the ways of magic.”

  Astrid opens her mouth then closes it quickly.

  “Despite this,” I continue. “I was always uncomfortable with her. There was some…cruelty within her, though everyone else was blinded by her charms. Father especially. My mother died at my birth, and Father seemed enchanted by Shimmera. It wasn’t long before they announced their engagement. I tried to share my unease with him, but he wouldn’t listen. Neither would my three older brothers. After the wedding ceremony, Shimmera claimed Father had a fatal stroke, and she seized control of the council. Demanded she be crowned queen.”

  “Oh no,” Astrid whispers. “What happened?” She still clings to my hand as I shift to a more comfortable position. Any minute now, Shimmera will waken. Who knows what she’ll do when she finds Astrid here.

  “One by one, my brothers disappeared. Then Shimmera proposed I marry her and we rule Drestin together. I refused, and she lost her temper, revealing her true nature.” The memory of Shimmera’s wrath hasn’t faded in all this time. I swallow. “Before my eyes, she transformed into a serpent and cursed me. Banished me to Zephyr Moon Base for five hundred years to consider her offer. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except she poisoned Drestin’s atmosphere, killing everyone, before going into an enchanted sleep.”

  Astrid gasps. “You said your people had magical abilities, too. Couldn’t any of you have stopped her?”

  “On Drestin, each strata in society carries different magical levels. Father, as king, possessed the most, and my brothers and I had the next highest. If we had worked together, perhaps we could’ve defeated her. But marrying Shimmera made Father vulnerable. He didn’t die of a stroke; she killed him to absorb his magic and became more powerful than any of us.”

  Astrid scowls. “And what about you?”

  “I’ve lived here, almost in a type of suspended animation, waiting for someone”—I glance at her out of the corner of my eye—“to break the curse. Waiting for you, in fact.”

  She pulls her hand away from mine. “Me?”

  “Yes. There were limitations to Shimmera’s curse. Because of my own magic, I knew her curse could be broken by a young woman who accepted me for who I was without seeing me. Who cared for me, not my magic. When your heart responded to mine, I woke from the enchantment and realized you were the one. That’s why I hid my face from you.” Is now the time to mention that her face has haunted my dreams for centuries?

  She blushes. “My heart definitely…what did you call it? Responded? And I’ll do whatever it takes to set you free.”

  “You don’t understand. You’ve already seen me—” A low rumble sounds, and a tremor rocks the room.

  Shimmera.

  The stasis shield cracks. Shards rain down on my sleeping cubicle.

  “Come on.” I stand, hauling Astrid to her feet. “I’ve got to get you out of here.” The sorceress is awake and will soon figure out her curse is in jeopardy. Astrid needs to be gone before then.

  The shaking grows more violent. Together, we run into the reception room. The floor buckles. Ceiling panels drop. I push her in front of me, toward the lift. The doors slide open.

  She hesitates. “Is it safe?”

  “Enough. It’s also the only way out of here unless we climb up the utility ladders.”

  “Wait! Spark!”

  Before I can respond, she dashes to her door and waves her hand. As soon as the door opens, Spark leaps into her arms. Above them, the lintel beam splits in two and falls. It’s going to crush them both. I fling out my arm.

  Astrid freezes, looking up at the beam hovering a few centimeters above her. I push the pieces to the side, and they clatter to the ground.

  Her green eyes are wide. “H-how did you…”

  “Magic, remember? Now, hurry.” She and Spark join me in the lift. The doors close.

  She stares at me as we begin our ascent. “That was quick thinking. Thank you.”

  I nod, biting the inside of my cheek as another painful paroxysm grips me. “You’re welcome.”

  “Did you communicate with me the first time with magic?”

  “As soon as you got near, I could feel you.”

  “I could feel you, too.” She hides her face in Spark’s coarse fur. “And the tractor beam?”

  “Yes.” My face warms. “My powers brought you inside the moon base. I’m sorry.”

  Her laugh is shaky. �
��I was almost out of oxygen. Another hour and I would’ve died anyway.”

  “I should’ve asked, but I was so happy when you heard my heart. I’ve been waiting for you a long time.” My words tumble out. “I hoped that once you got to know me, I could convince you to break the curse. But I always planned to help you repair your pod regardless.”

  She bites her lip. Will she believe me? Not that it matters. She’s leaving.

  “You made all of this, didn’t you? The fresh food, the clothing.” She fingers her tunic collar. “I wondered why everything was the right size.”

  “The base was already here. I only…improved it. Well. Most of it.”

  The lift door opens, revealing the hangar bay. On fire. Smoke pours inside the lift.

  Astrid covers her mouth, choking. “I left my helmet and my suit in my room.”

  I conjure an energy field around us. “Come on; it’s safe.” We all bolt through the flames—the field pulsing as it repels the heat and smoke—and up the ramp to her escape pod.

  I push her into her seat.

  “But there’s no room for you.”

  “I’m not going.”

  “What?” She struggles against me, but I buckle her in. Spark jumps onto her lap.

  “Shimmera’s awake.” Already, my powers are weakening. “You’re leaving. I’m staying. That’s all there is to say.”

  Her eyes are wild and beseeching. “We could figure out something. You could...I don’t know…squeeze in somehow.”

  I take a deep breath, flames licking at the ramp behind me. The heat is unbearable, the fire raging. The dome’s panels glow red and orange. The moon base will succumb at any moment. “I’m never going to forget you.” I step back before this goodbye gets her killed.

  Astrid grabs my hand. “Wait.” She pulls me toward her and places a gentle kiss on my cheek, her breath warm and sweet against my skin. “Don’t do this—”

  Her body wavers—and vanishes.

  The Queen

  ONE MOMENT I’M holding Milos’s hand, mesmerized by his golden eyes, begging him to come with me. The next moment, he’s gone. The pod. The fiery hangar. Everything blinks out.