The Slave Planet

by Seven Steps

  “Welcome to Zenith!” they called, happy smiles on their faces.

  Lex nodded a response.

  Dell Una turned to them again. “This is where you will be staying until the ball.”

  “A ball?” Eva said.

  Lex watched Eva excitedly bounce from one foot to the other.

  If there’s one thing that Eva loves, it’s a party.

  “Someone will help you to your rooms,” Dell Una said. “We will send up your clothes.”

  “Will the Magistrate be in attendance?” Nadira asked.

  “Yes,” Dell Una said. “As will Heedon. Someone will come to escort you when it’s time.”

  “When will we have a chance to talk with her in private?” Nadira asked. “There are women and children who desperately need her attention and time is running short.”

  “When the suns meet in the sky, she will speak with you,” Dell Una said. “Until then, please feel free to enjoy your rooms and explore the marketplace.”

  Nadira smiled warmly at Dell Una. “Thank you for helping us.”

  “Your mother was a good friend,” Dell Una said. “I am happy to help you. I wish you well.”

  “Will we see you at the ball?” Nadira asked.

  “As your official escort, it would be remiss of me to not be there.” And with that, Dell Una fluttered back toward the cloud and out of sight.

  CHAPTER 9

  Nadira and Kiln’s room had been decorated in the classic Venian style. From the chandeliers, to the overstuffed sofas and chairs, right down to the fluffy white carpet. Everything screamed of opulence. Even the walls had the trademark gaudy navy blue and gold, fleur-de-lis wallpaper.

  “Do you think that everyone has a room like this?” Nadira asked, jumping a bit to sit on the high bed. The frame was made of cherry-wood, and smelled as if it had been freshly cut. She adjusted her white towel around her body, pulling the knot taunt around her breast.

  Dell Una had assured them that clothes would be arriving soon.

  Kiln rubbed a towel over his dripping head. After their shower, he’d used a straight edged razor to shave his golden locks down to mere stubble.

  “Doubtful,” he said, tightening his towel around his waist and joining her on the bed. It sagged beneath his weight. “Can you imagine those alien things we saw out there needing all this?” He gestured around him. “I mean, what would two balls of light need with a chandelier?”

  “That’s true, I guess.” Nadira smiled, and smoothed down her towel.

  “It’s hot though,” Kiln said. “Like, Venus hot.”

  “She wants us to feel at home.” She couldn’t help but grin up at him. He was so near. “I like your hair,” she said.

  He raised an eyebrow, then bowed his head before her.

  She ran her fingertips over the shortened locks, their roughness strangely enticing. With his massive height and build, his longer hair gave him softness, a sense of vulnerability. Now, with it gone, he seemed harder, more brutal. She remembered him killing the man who tried to break into their home during the slave riots. Is that when his brutishness began? Would this man still be gentle with her?

  He raised his head a bit, and caught her staring at him.

  They exchanged glances, speaking to each other’s hearts without words.

  His eyes softened, and he placed the gentlest of kisses upon her lips. He kissed the bridge of her nose, between her furrowed brows, her eye lids, her cheeks, and the corner of her lips before capturing her mouth again. His kisses were a testimony, a promise.

  I’m the same old Kiln, they said. And I would never hurt you.

  The thought steeled her soul. She felt safe, and truly loved.

  When she was too drunk from his kisses to do anything but smile in absolute happiness, he pulled away, crooked a finger, and ran it over the deep bronze skin on her arm. A trail of goose bumps followed his touch. She saw the pride well in his eyes as he watched her reaction to him.

  They sat in companionable silence for a while, enjoying each other’s presence and each other’s touch. It had been nearly a week since they could enjoy moments like this. Between Kiln’s arrest and their escape from their home planet there had been no smiles, no touches, no silences.

  Nadira wondered how they’d survived without them.

  “These last few days have been a nightmare,” he said, “How are you holding up?”

  She dropped her eyes from him, and looked down at her hands. “Okay.”

  Please don’t ruin this moment, she thought. We were having such a nice, quiet moment.

  “Naddie, don’t lie.”

  “No, really,” she forced a smile to her lips, tried to look more at peace then her raging insides suddenly felt.

  Just let it go, Kiln.

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  He moved closer, bringing his lips to her ear. One hand sat on her bare knee, making small circles. Her already mushy brain melted.

  She wondered how he became so skilled at turning her body against her.

  “You can tell me what’s wrong,” he said. “You can fall apart if you need to. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to be strong for me.” He moved to face her, bringing his forehead down to touch hers. “Let me be strong enough for both of us. Tell me what’s wrong, Naddie.”

  She shook her head against the sadness that swooped back in, threatening to devour her. She’d been carrying such a burden, trying to hold onto hope in the face of every danger: the death of Empress Drell, Kiln’s arrest, Empress Baleen’s death, the death of her mother and Maxwell. If she fell apart now, she wasn’t sure if she would ever get back together again.

  “Naddie,” Kiln took both of her hands in his, and kissed her forehead gently. “Talk to me. Let me be strong for you.”

  Her head dropped. The mask that she wore melted under his heated touch. She felt the tears burn her eyes, but, for some reason, she didn’t want him to see her cry. He’d been through so much, and she didn’t want to add to his grief.

  “Are you okay?” He asked again. “Are you holding on?”

  “Barely.” Nadira began to gently rock on the bed. “Sometimes I think not at all.” Her lower lip trembled, and Kiln pulled her into his arms. She felt her resolve crack and her tears began to flow. “Everything has changed. My mother. My home. It’s all gone. Everything that I knew is gone.”

  “I miss your mother too,” Kiln said. He placed a kiss into her thick hair. “When she came to see me in jail I saw something in her eyes. She knew she was going to die. That’s why she made me promise to protect you. But she didn’t seem angry, or scared or sad. She was peaceful. She knew that regardless of what happened to her, you would be alright. She knew that you would be protected.”

  “I miss her so much.”

  He soaked up all of her fears, and her pain, without a word. As her heart shattered, restored, and shattered again, he simply held onto her so that not a piece was lost.

  He kissed her hair.

  She screamed her mother’s name.

  He held her close.

  She cursed the fact that Arees was ever born.

  He whispered that he loved her.

  She wished that Bragnia had died in the hover craft race instead of Kiera.

  He told her that she was not alone.

  She knew that she was not alone.

  Finally, when her tears had nearly run out, she raised her head to look at him.

  “What will we do?” She asked.

  “Survive,” Kiln replied. He gently kissed her temple. “It’s what we always do.”

  “But without my mother? Without Venus?” Her eyes searched his. “We’re just as alien as those ambassadors out there. We’re wanderers without a home.”

  “Then we’ll be each other’s home. You can take shelter in me, and I’ll take shelter in you.” He placed her hand over his heart. “As long as we have each other, we’ll always be home.”

  His kindness was a light to her soul.
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br />   She ran her fingers along his nearly smooth head, tracing the words, I love you in a delicate pattern. She wondered how a man could both set her body on fire and be such a balm to her spirit. She thanked the Mother Goddess Venus for him, even though she knew it was blasphemy.

  He kept his sharp, blue eyes trained on her brown ones.

  She didn’t know when his lips captured hers. It seemed as if his lips had always been there, searching, loving, gentle. His affections rained down on her, making peaceful flowers grow. That’s what she felt with Kiln. Peace.

  She was his flower. His to protect, care for, and cherish.

  His love was making her grow.

  CHAPTER 10

  The Omni

  Emon counted the rations for a third time. The brown packets of freeze dried vegetables and beans were stacked waist high. At the outset of their journey, they’d risen nearly to her shoulders. However, their trip had been sudden, and they were grossly unprepared. Jun-Su thought she’d only be in space for a matter of hours. Her hope was that her Martian lover would immediately come and rescue her. But he had yet to come, and they were running out of food.

  Helena told her that there was enough food for five days. By her count, there was only enough for three.

  She couldn’t blame the woman for her error, though. These were hard times. They were all losing their nerve, even Emon. But, no excuses could hide the fact that the food would run out soon. After that, the life support systems would fail. Most of the women would be in hyper sleep. Their last thoughts would be whatever vivid, peaceful dreams visited them in their comas. Perhaps it would be of their families, their friends and neighbors. Maybe they would dream of the Mother Goddess.

  Emon could not wish such things for herself. As the captain of the ship, she would not be allowed such a sweet death as hyper sleep. She had to keep watch until the end. If she didn’t starve to death, she would either run out of air or freeze. Emon didn’t know which death she wished upon herself. She considered blowing the ship to pieces so her death would be quick and painless, but she quelled the selfish thought. Her crew deserved a fighting chance, and if that chance came at the cost of her life, so be it.

  She brushed a tear away from her cheek, and leaned against the table in the storage room.

  I’m glad that the Countess wasn’t here to see this, she thought. No woman should have their heart so broken.

  With no more to be done about the rations, she ran a hand over her short, spiky hair and slowly walked towards the flight deck. The hole in the door still smoked from the battle.

  Most of the crew was on bended knee, heads down, mouths moving in prayer.

  Helena, kneeling with the rest of the crew, looked up at Emon as she entered the room.

  Although the two women had only known each other for a short while, they already understood each other, read each other’s eyes.

  Helena knew that Emon came bearing bad news.

  Emon saw in Helena’s eyes that this wasn’t the time to share it.

  Helena reached a hand out to Emon, urging her to join them in prayer.

  What will prayer do? Emon wondered. Will the Mother Goddess save us? Where was she when Jun-Su and the children were captured? Where was she when Arees murdered most of the women on the planet?

  Keeping her thoughts to herself, Emon knelt next to Helena. Her co-captain was right. This wasn’t the time for questions. This was the time for prayer.

  And who knows? Maybe the Mother Goddess will listen after all.

  Emon kept her prayer brief, and allowed her gaze to fall onto each of the eighteen women around her. They each had family and friends back home. She knew of them only through the personnel files she’d read when they joined her crew. She’d even talked to a few of them, but she didn’t know any of them on a more personal level. Were their mother’s alive? Were they mothers themselves? Did they have close friends? Where did they live? Did they miss the people they’d left behind?

  She suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

  How can I decide these women’s deaths, but not know them in life? She wondered.

  Returning her gaze to the floor, she made a vow to herself.

  I will learn something about each woman. Something special. Then, when they go into hyper sleep, I will write it on their capsules. They will not die a personnel file in a nameless tube. They will die with a memory.

  The woman next to Emon took her hand, and squeezed it tightly. Emon glanced at her. The woman had not opened her eyes, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was trying to find strength, and Emon was the closest resource. Slightly embarrassed by the show of emotion, Emon squeezed the woman’s hand back, hoping that it wasn’t awkward.

  Generally, Emon didn’t participate in displays of emotion. She found it to be weak and trivial. But, today, when they all stared death in the face, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing. In their final days, these women were holding on to the only thing they had left, each other. For the first time in her life, Emon felt like she was part of something greater then herself. If she was going to die, she was grateful that it was with these women.

  She reached out to squeeze the hand of Helena to her right. If she was going to be called upon in her final hours to give strength, then she would give all she could.

  Helena opened her eyes and nodded in her direction. She mouthed the words, thank you to her.

  Emon nodded back, a small smile on her face. She closed her eyes, and felt the energy of the women around. It passed over her, flowed through her.

  That’s when her tears began to fall. She finally admitted the truth. She was afraid of death. She was going to die in a few days, and she was terrified. Fear and anger swept through her, hard and fast.

  She found herself praying again, her thoughts full of hurt and betrayal as she sent them to the Mother Goddess.

  How could you let this happen? I was a good servant, a loyal and true worshipper. You were supposed to be there, to protect me and my family. How could you let this happen to me? How could you let this happen to my planet?

  It was the first time she’d prayed about anything substantial in a long time. Sure, she prayed for blessings or at temple. But to honestly pray from her heart was not something that Emon had done since she was a child.

  The threat of death drove her to it now.

  She poured all of her rage and fear into that prayer. She begged for the life of her crew and for the life of her daughter. She asked for mercy and guidance, and a miracle. And, when she was done, she asked for hope.

  When her prayer ended, she felt like she’d just run a marathon. Her body slumped, and her tears had begun to dry on her face. There was nothing left to say, no more supplications to make. As the prayers continued around her, she sat back on her heels, staring the truth in the face. She was going to die, as were all these women around her.

  Then, like rain in the desert, it washed over her. Peace. Warm, comforting peace. A peace like she’d never felt before. Peace in the face of death. And with that peace, came hope.

  Maybe there was one more miracle left in the world.

  Wiping her nose on her sleeve, Emon stood, releasing the hands of the women who continued in reverent prayer, and walked back to her office.

  Perhaps the Mother Goddess was listening after all.

  CHAPTER 11

  Zenith

  The crystal walls of the Magistrate’s Grand Ballroom were polished to invisibility. Shimmering lights decorated the ceiling. Dozens of tables stretched around a large dance floor, filled with meats, drinks, and all manner of vegetation. Dignitaries, all dressed in the colorful, shimmering frocks of their home planets, danced, laughed, and sauntered around the room.

  Kiln escorted Nadira into the ballroom, in awe of what lay before him.

  Look at them all, he thought. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people. And the men, they’re joking and laughing as if there wasn’t a woman in the room.

  “Look, they’re dancing,” Nadira whis
pered. “I want to dance too.”

  Kiln bristled. Only women danced on Venus, and even those dances were only them swaying from one side to the other with the occasional clap.

  “I don’t know how to dance,” he said.

  “Will you try, for me?” Nadira placed a gentle hand on his cheek and smiled up at him.

  Kiln nodded. I’m not going to enjoy this.

  “For you.” He leaned in to collect the kiss that was upon her lips.

  “Praxis!”

  Kiln turned from the kiss and was immediately crowded by a tall, bearded, muscular older man. The man slapped him hard on the back as if he’d known him for lifetimes.

  “Prax, what do you think you’re doing here? This is a place for royal ambassadors, not the crowned Prince of Mars!” He slapped his hand on Kiln’s back again, this time throwing Kiln off balance.

  Kiln smelled sweetness on the man’s breath. Probably something alcoholic. He frowned.

  “I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not that man. My name is Kiln of Venus.”

  “Venus? A slave?”

  Kiln narrowed his eyes, “Free.”

  The man squinted, his face close to Kiln’s. “It can’t be. The resemblance is fantastic.”

  “Resemblance?”

  “To the Martian crown prince. You look just like him!”

  “Yes, well, I’m sorry. I am not that man.” Kiln smiled tightly, hoping that the man would take the hint and go away.

  The man squinted at Kiln again then ambled off, whispering again about a fantastic resemblance.

  Old fool. Imagine me, a prince!

  Kiln turned to finish collecting Nadira’s kiss only to find another ambassador from somewhere or other holding Nadira’s attention. He was saying something about being a king while devouring Nadira with his eyes.

  Kiln sized up the man. He was a large man, bigger than Kiln, with only a banner across his chest and a loose piece of fabric that covered him from waist to knees. Jealousy pulsed in Kiln’s chest. As he started to step between the two, a woman stepped into his path.

  Tall, leggy, and curved like an hour glass, Kiln watched her swish her dark waist-length hair. She focused her gaze on him.