The Slave Planet

by Seven Steps

“Prepare to leave at once,” Chief Byron called. “All who wish to see my daughter off on her journey to the gods must come quickly!”

  The villagers mobilized, gathering food, water, and weapons. In minutes, they were gathered at the edge of the village, awaiting Lex’s orders.

  Byron caught Pennick standing off to the side, eyes on the ground. He walked over, and stood in front of him.

  “Pennick, son of Erick.”

  Pennick bowed his head. “Chief Byron.”

  “The man who took my daughter away,” Byron said. “The man who has stolen my own child from under my nose.”

  Seven rushed to stand between them. “Father, please.”

  Byron gently moved her to the side, returning his icy gaze to Pennick.

  “Yes, Chief Byron,” Pennick said. “I have done all these things.”

  “And more,” Byron said.

  “Yes, Chief,” Pennick said. “And more.”

  Byron’s penetrating gaze made Pennick squirm.

  “I will not waste precious time with my child battling with you. Do you love my child?”

  “I do,” Pennick said. “More than life itself.”

  Byron grunted, removed a bracelet from his arm, examined it, looked at Pennick, and handed it to him.

  Pennick let out a breath and accepted the showing of favor.

  “You will watch over her and guarantee her safety,” Byron said. “If anything should happen to my child, her blood will fall on your hands.”

  Pennick nodded, “Yes, Chief.”

  Byron grunted again wrapped his arm around his daughter’s shoulder, kissing her head.

  Seven smiled and leaned into her father.

  Lex turned toward the jungle as the sun dropped low in the sky.

  The processional arrived at the ship as the sun touched the horizon.

  “This is where we must part,” Seven said, turning toward her father.

  Chief Byron hugged his child tightly.

  The villagers fell on Seven with wails and tears.

  After a few minutes of anxiously watching the sunset, Lex intervened.

  “We have to go.”

  Kiln nodded to Chief Byron and thanked him before boarding the ship. He still held the unconscious Nadira in his arms.

  Arees faced Chief Byron.

  “So you are the fallen one,” Byron said, his gaze raking over her.

  Arees nodded. “So it would seem. But now I must rise.” She turned and boarded the ship.

  Lex stood in front of Byron. “Your hospitality will never be forgotten.”

  “We will always honor you,” Byron nodded. They embraced then parted.

  Bryon turned to Pennick and held his hand out to him. “Take care of my daughter.”

  Pennick grasped Byron’s hand. “With my life, Chief Byron.”

  Byron grunted, released Pennick, and turned to his only daughter. He tried in vain to keep the tears from his eyes as he reflected on her short life with him.

  I held her in my arms only seconds after she was born.

  Tears rolled down his cheeks as he realized that this parting would be his last memory of her.

  I fed her from my own palm when she was a baby.

  Standing in front of him was a woman about to go off to the gods.

  I taught her to hunt and fish and climb trees.

  He took in every inch of her face, her high cheek bones, her sun-kissed skin, the way her hair curled, her dark brown eyes, her beautiful smile. He didn’t want to forget an inch.

  “Remember me when you look at the stars, Father,” she said, her voice choking with emotion. “For I will be among them.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “I love you, daughter.”

  They sobbed together. Byron took care to burn into his memory the feel of his daughter’s arms around him.

  He wished that time would stand still. But, alas, time stands still for no one. His only daughter held on for just a moment longer, before taking Pennick’s hand and heading to the ship.

  Leaving his life for good.

  “Is this your ship?” Seven asked, touching the side of the shiny white vehicle.

  “Yes,” Lex said. “This is what will take us back to Zenith.”

  “And what then?” Seven asked. “What will happen to me when we get there?”

  “I don’t know. That is something only the Magistrate can answer.”

  The Magistrate. Just the thought of seeing her sent burst of confusing emotions through Lex’s chest. Yes, Lex had successfully fulfilled his mission in spite of overwhelming odds. But, they had lost Eva. Would the Magistrate view this mission as a success, or failure?

  “How long will it take us to get there?” Pennick asked.

  “Not long,” Kiln replied.

  “And then we will be with the stars,” Seven said. She sat in a chair, Pennick beside her. They clasped hands, readying themselves for the next chapter of their journey.

  Once everyone was safely strapped into the ship, Lex and Kiln sat in the pilot’s chair. Moments later they were in the air, lifting off once again to see the Magistrate.

  Seven gazed out of the window as they lifted higher and higher in the sky until she could no longer see her father’s warm face filled with tears.

  CHAPTER 54

  Eva stepped off the enforcer’s ship and looked about her.

  This was not the Venus that she remembered.

  Enforcers were everywhere, cleaning the Square, rebuilding the Slave Market, fixing homes in the Residential.

  A few non-enforcers lingered. The women reminded Eva of lost children waiting for their mothers to find them. Their eyes were dead, their mouths pressed into anxious, fearful lines.

  “Empress?” The pilot urged.

  Eva shook off the feeling of foreboding that sat heavy on her shoulders and looked at the pilot.

  “Take me to the Countess,” Eva commanded.

  The pilot nodded, and Eva followed the small group of large, black clad women into High Council Hall.

  They found the Countess Jun-Su in an office on the top floor. In front of her were stacks of papers. A fireplace sat on her right. Leaning against it was a painting of Jun-Su filled with holes and scratches.

  “Countess,” Eva said as she breezed into the room. “I’ve arrived as discussed.”

  Jun-Su looked up from her papers. She had no welcome on her face.

  “Indeed you have.” Jun-Su turned her attention back to her papers.

  Eva stood awkwardly in front of her. “Have you seen it, Jun-Su?”

  Jun-Su sighed, leaned back in her chair, and folded her hands over her chest. “Indeed I have.”

  Eva frowned. “And your thoughts?”

  Jun-Su stood. She walked around to the front of her desk and sat on the edge, her purple cape swinging around her. “When you asked me to watch your friends die, I was intrigued, especially since you were all so close during our last meeting. But after seeing their extraordinary powers, I understand why you would want me to be made aware of them.”

  “I knew you would,” Eva said.

  “You are aware that your friends are not dead.”

  Eva nodded. “I didn’t think they would be.”

  “Does that sadden you?”

  “The point of this was not to kill them, rather to demonstrate the power that they possess,” Eva said. “If put in the wrong hands—”

  “And whose hands might those be?” Jun-Su interrupted.

  “Theirs of course.”

  “At whose discretion?” Jun-Su asked.

  “The Magistrates. Embrya and Heedon have given them this power to extract the Czarina.”

  “And they have.” Countess Jun-Su examined Eva. She shifted on her desk. “Eva, when my enforcers sent word that one of the Rogues wanted to turn against her friends, I didn’t understand. Quite honestly, I still don’t understand. What do you want from me?”

  “I need your help, and you need mine.”

  Countess Jun-Su raised her eyebrow
s. “Oh?”

  “You are the sole politician left on this planet,” Eva said. “Judging by that stack of papers, I am sure that many things have fallen onto your shoulders.”

  “Go on.”

  “It occurred to me that you may need some assistance from a Councilwoman like myself,” Eva said.

  Jun-Su smiled tightly. “I’d be more than happy to accept your assistance. At the moment, I am up to my eyebrows in requisitions for supplies, slaves, and everything else. You cannot imagine.”

  “Make me your second in command,” Eva said.

  “And why would I do that?”

  “You said that you needed help and, presently, I am the only one who can give it,” Eva said. “Besides, who better than me to help you rebuild? And take revenge?”

  “Revenge?”

  “Yes,” Eva said. “Revenge on Magistrate Embrya for not acting in Venus’s behalf sooner.”

  “How do you suspect that we get revenge on anyone? We barely have enough enforcers to rebuild. Our women are scattered to the wind.”

  Eva looked at her nails. “We enlist some assistance. I’m sure you have heard of a little planet called Mungogia?”

  Jun-Su set her mouth in a hard line.

  Eva watched as Jun-Su walked back around her desk and sat. The Countess picked up a pen and looked down at her stack of papers. She signed one in long, fluid strokes. “Chisa!” she called.

  An enforcer walked forward.

  “Prepare a room for Empress Eva,” Countess Jun-Su said. “Provide her with clothes and food. Then set up a desk for her here. It seems that Eva and I will be working very closely together.”

  Eva could barely contain her excitement as the enforcer bowed and gestured for Eva to follow her.

  Her plan was coming together, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

  CHAPTER 55

  They flew past the broken moon and set a course for Zenith.

  Seven and Pennick clung to each other’s hands as they stared out of the window, eyes wide in wonderment.

  Seven smiled. “The stars are even more beautiful up close.”

  “That’s where we’re from.” Nadira lifted a weak hand and pointed out of the window as they passed Venus.

  Once onboard, Kiln had spent most of the time treating Nadira in the small sick bay. After several injections, she’d awakened, although she was in a lot of pain.

  “Do you think we’ll ever see Eva again?” Seven asked.

  Nadira shrugged, a small, pained smile on her face. “I don’t know.” She looked down at the floor of the ship. Eva was her best friend. Her sister. She couldn’t believe that she had tried to have them killed.

  What was Eva thinking? What did we do to her that was so wrong? We were just following orders. Follow Lex. Get Arees. Those were our orders. Why couldn’t she just do as she was told? Why did she have to be so stubborn?

  Nadira shook her head and sighed, feeling the loss of her friend like the loss of a limb. She and Eva had been inseparable. Now more than the expanse of space stood between them. It seemed hatred separated them as well.

  Kiln crouched next to her, his eyes filled with undeniable love. “We have a few more treatments, and then you should rest.”

  “Haven’t I slept enough already?” Nadira teased.

  “Not enough for my taste.” Kiln smiled, lifted Nadira, and took her back to the sick bay.

  Pennick turned to Seven, a smile playing on his lips. “Is it selfish of me to hope that we never make it to the Lady?”

  “What?” Seven asked.

  He grinned, pulling her close. “I want to look at the stars forever.”

  She kissed him and settled back in her chair. “I feel like I’ve carved every one of these stars.”

  “Maybe you have.”

  “Is this what we’re to be now? Star travelers?”

  Pennick shrugged. “I have a feeling that we are to be more than that, though I can’t imagine anything better than this.” He looked out of the window as they soared past Saturn. “It’s so beautiful.”

  Seven sighed. “My father would have loved to see the stars.”

  “Do you miss him already?” Pennick asked.

  She nodded. “It’s one thing to be separated by jungle. I could walk to the village and see him whenever I wanted, even if he didn’t know it. But to be separated by the stars ... Pennick, we will never see our home again.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m not ungrateful, but we’ll never walk through the jungle, or climb a tree, or eat a fruit.”

  Pennick put an arm around her shoulder. “You don’t know that.”

  “But I feel it. Don’t you miss home, Pennick?”

  “Of course I do. I miss my brothers and sisters and my mother and my friends. I miss hunting and I miss eating around the fire. But look at what we have now, Seven.” He gestured out of the window.

  The blackness of space rolled on before them, decorated by billions of stars. Blue, yellow, white, purple, green and gold bodies twinkled and sparkled as they passed. The stars massed together like a blanket sewn with shimmering, colorful patchwork by a masterful hand. Patchwork cut, not in squares, but into spheres, waves, and swirls. The shapes glided past them, each one a beautiful part of the luminescent fabric.

  “We get to see things that our people could never dream of,” Pennick said. “And who knows what the lady has in store for us? We may go back home sooner than we think.”

  Seven smiled warmly. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without you. Thank you for coming with me.”

  “I’d follow you anywhere.” He squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Seven. From the moment I saw you, I loved you.”

  She turned her body to him, wrapping him in her arms. “I love you, too. I always have, and I always will.”

  CHAPTER 56

  Arees stared unseeing out of the window of the ship.

  She listened halfheartedly as Seven and Pennick oohed and ahhed over the stars and planets outside, unable to share in their enthusiasm. One fat tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of her loss.

  Everything that I’ve ever had is gone. My home. My people. My memories. And now I’m going to see the Magistrate who will punish me for things that I don’t even remember doing. I might as well escape this ship and meet my fate in my own way.

  She felt Lex wrap one warm hand around hers. With Nadira asleep, and Kiln piloting the ship, he had come to keep a vigil by her side.

  Arees focused on the warmth of his hand and felt herself calming. Lex. The one person they haven’t taken away from me. The one person I have left to anchor me to this life.

  Lex wiped the tears from her face with the flat of his thumb. “It’s okay,” he whispered.

  “Everything is gone,” Arees said. “Everything that I had is gone.”

  Lex shook his head. “I’m still here.”

  But why?

  “What do you want with me, Lex?”

  Lex’s gaze settled more intently on her. He allowed his guard to drop, letting her read his emotions openly.

  Arees gasped, reading his message as if he had written it on the stars themselves. It was in the way his brows furrowed. The way he licked his full lips. The way his gaze sometimes wandered to her mouth. The way he scanned her face, taking in every feature.

  Could it be that he wants me?

  Lex squeezed her hand, as if validating her thoughts.

  They sat in heavy silence for a few moments, him allowing her to see his desire plainly, her trying to understand what it all meant.

  Arees could not remember any other man but Lex. She had only recently met Kiln, Pennick and the Unders, but the thought still lingered in her mind: what did it mean to be wanted?

  She knew that she wanted Lex close, knew that she felt peaceful when he was around.

  Is this what wanting is?

  Lex’s raspy voice broke into her thoughts. “When we get back to the Magistrate, I’m going to tell her about all of the great thing
s you’ve done. About all the lives you’ve saved.”

  “But I couldn’t save them,” Arees said. “Not when it mattered.”

  “You brought joy into their lives. You gave them something invaluable—hope. Faith. They were so proud of you.”

  “I was happy to know them.”

  “And they were happy to know you.”

  Arees exhaled a sharp breath, trying and failing to keep the tears from her eyes. “Will this pain ever stop? This emptiness that I feel in my heart for my people, will it ever go away?”

  Lex shook his head. “Time will lessen the hurt, but you will always remember them. We never forget people who are special to us. They’ll always be in your heart. And who knows, maybe one day you will find room for new memories, happy ones.”

  Arees smiled up at him. “Thank you, Lex. Thank you for being my friend. Right now, you’re the only one I have.”

  She opened her arms and embraced him.

  He tensed for a moment before squeezing her close. Her senses luxuriated in the feel of his hard, warm body against her own, in the scent of Earth that hung on him. Feeling a bit more at peace, she allowed her head to lie on his shoulder.

  She said that he was her friend and she meant it.

  But still she wondered ...could they ever be more?

  CHAPTER 57

  The purple speckled planet came into view before them.

  As they flew closer, the view screen fuzzed before it came into focus.

  Embrya, her porcelain skin luminescent, her red hair curling about her face, looked back at them.

  She smiled, her deep blue eyes tilting joyfully. “You have returned.”

  Lex stood and walked from Arees’ side to the view screen. “We have, Magistrate. We have returned with Seven, Pennick, and Arees as requested.”

  Embrya looked around the ship, searching it from the screen. “And what of Eva?”

  Lex cleared his throat and squared his shoulders a bit more as he thought of his lost master. “She has returned to Venus, Magistrate. She tried to have us killed.”

  Embrya’s smile waned but returned. “I am sorry to hear that. I will have Dell Una meet you at the spaceport and escort you to my palace. Once you get cleaned up and refreshed, we will meet and you can tell me of your mission.”