Shabin- The Reluctant Prince of Rhime

by Andrew Heister

  “I didn’t bring a lot of clothes. Can we go down to Nephele?”

  “Sorry, we drop our shipment on the station, refuel, then we’re off to the next stop. Another company makes the planetary delivery. No time for detours.”

  “Are we making any trips down to a planet?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. Most times we drop off crates, pick up other crates, and move on. Rarely are we in dock for more than a day.” Inhaling deeply, she stared at him a moment. “You don’t need to stay with us. You could catch a shuttle downside and go live your life someplace else. Hell, you took enough money to live well.” Her breathing halted as she waited for him to answer.

  “You could go with me,” he offered.

  She gave him a smirk while slowly nodding her head. “Shabin Industries spent a fortune training me. I’m not disappearing my first trip out.”

  “I can—”

  She wouldn’t let him finish, and her voice grew firm. “Don’t say it. I signed the indenture contract. It’s my responsibility.”

  He didn’t understand her attitude, but something in her grim expression told him to drop the idea. “Then I’ll stay here for now. It’s not so bad.” He gestured to the frilly drapes. “It’s cheery in here.”

  “You’re gonna change your mind after a few runs. It gets boring flying around in a box.”

  “I like the company.”

  “You won’t after a month with Sparky and a few burrito nights.” It came out with a laugh. “Get some rest. We’ll find you some work to do later.”

  “We need to get on the same sleep cycle.”

  She gave him a smile that tingled his toes. “If we’re on the same sleep schedule, where would you sleep?” And with that, she left the cabin, grinning madly.

  Chapter Ten

  On day eight of the trip, they passed through another node and headed for Nephele II. It would take about another day to arrive at the station, but at least they were in communication’s range. Jason sat in the copilot's chair and marveled at the way Sparrow controlled the ship, wondering all the while what the difference was between normal space and node transport. Her view of the universe while using the tegan drive was very different than everyone else’s on board, but she only described it as a bizarre way of tasting sounds and seeing colors that didn’t exist.

  “Will you teach me how to pilot us in from here?”

  Sparrow removed her headset. “Nope. There isn’t much to do from this distance.”

  “We could do it manually.”

  She shook her head. “Sorry, any unscheduled manual maneuvers go into the log.”

  “I could probably override the system.” His hand hovered over a control panel.

  “Forget it.” She slapped his arm away. “I’m already gonna be in enough trouble having you on board.”

  With his usual disregard for his father’s rules, he said, “I’ll straighten everything out with the company. Show me how to send a message back home. I promised our glorious leader.”

  “Did you always hate your father or is this something new?”

  He slunk back in the chair and sighed. “It’s not hate.” He couldn’t feel hate with all the unanswered questions. Maybe pity if the man was losing his mind but even that emotion was squelched by Jason’s anger over Martin’s death. “He’s arrogant. He cares more about the company than the people. He has servants everywhere doing whatever he wants.” He was also acting unstable recently, but Jason bit his tongue on those words. Best not to let rumors of a rampaging cyborg gone crazy get out.

  “So he’s a boss that demands respect.”

  “He indentures his employees.” Jason scowled.

  “Yes, he does. And all the businesses on Rhime were doing that long before he was in charge. Although, I must admit the whole murder escapade is a bit disturbing.”

  He ignored the murder subject. “The entire planet is run as a business. Profits always come first with him.”

  Sparrow shook her head. “I’d rather not be the one defending your father, but if you saw what some people are living with on other planets, I don’t think you’d see it the same way. And Rhime certainly isn’t the only planet-for-profit out there.”

  “Like what?”

  “Hmm.” She looked to the ceiling for answers. “Well. There’s Werner. On that planet, a company dropped off about a hundred thousand people with equipment to start terraforming and then promptly went out of business. They’ve spent the past hundred or so years barely surviving.”

  “That doesn’t sound like anyone did something intentionally.”

  “There’re plenty of planets who allow true slave labor or are involved with internal wars. Nobody’s ever attacked Rhime and people don’t starve. Not to mention Serigala. They’re downright violent.”

  He grimaced at the mention of planet Serigala. It was the only planetary empire which had most of humanity enforcing an embargo on it. Of course his father, the great Emperor Earnings, didn’t include Rhime in that ban.

  Jason pointed at her. “You’re still indebted to the company.”

  She leaned her head on her palm. “Yes, I am. And I’m grateful for it. The company paid for my education and gave me an allowance growing up. My life would’ve been a lot harder without that. Mom made a lot more money than Dad, and the company never asked him to repay her debt. I have a job for life if I want it, or I can leave when my time is up.”

  “How long do you owe them?”

  The question produced a small narrowing of her lips. “Twenty years.”

  “Doesn’t that seem a bit excessive to you?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. At least I can be sure the company will always be there for me. Like I said, you don’t know what it’s like not even having the sort of opportunity I was given. There are billions out there who never have a choice.”

  She was right. He didn’t know what it was like to live without the perks of an inheritance. There’d been something about the way she spoke that twinged something in the back of his mind, but it eluded him. “He still may be the one behind this mess.”

  “I don’t know him personally, so I can’t judge. All I’m saying is that from my point of view, Shabin Industries has been fair to me.”

  “Okay.” He held up his hands. “I surrender. Maybe he isn’t the evil overlord I’ve always pictured. But if he’s behind this, I will find a way to get justice for Martin.”

  “Hmm…” Her eyes flicked away from him as she chose her words carefully. “There is one wrinkle in this mess that bothers me.”

  Jason raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

  “If your father is that dangerous, were you right in leaving a few million people to his whims? I can’t help but think you’re probably one of the few people around that could do anything about it.”

  Now it was Jason’s turn to avoid eye contact. “I… You may be right. I honestly don’t know.” He scratched his head while another wave of guilt and shame washed over him. “Give me some time to think about it.”

  “Meanwhile.” She tapped at one of the controls. “Send your daddy a letter.” She leaned over and squeezed his chin. “If you’re wrong about all this, I’m sure he’s worried about his little boy.”

  He swatted her hand away and immediately regretted it. There hadn’t been a lot of touching for the past week. “Funny. Very funny. What do I do with this thing?” He flipped through the onscreen menu.

  “Here.” She pulled up the connection to Nephele II. “You can talk to someone in Postal about sending a message home.” She stood to leave.

  “Thanks.”

  She hesitated for a moment, watching him. “If I leave you in here, you’re not gonna try anything stupid with the autopilot, right?”

  He grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “It will cost more than a few dinners if you break my ship.”

  “I’ll be good.” He straightened to attention and saluted. “Captain.”

  She bit her lip. “Ye
a. You better be.” Sparrow left him alone on the bridge.

  He ran a hand over the controls. “Now, what do I want to say to Dad?”

  He kept it to a simple greeting, telling him that he was alive, unharmed, and unwilling to come home for the time being. He mentioned knowing Martin was dead, even though at this point he knew no such thing, but he left out any mention of his suspicions. Assuming his father used the Mirre on him before they went through the node, Jason probably told him that already. The transmission would wait on the station until a ship going back toward Rhime included it in its pickup.

  When he finished the message home, he called another department for his next task. Hopefully, Sparrow would give him enough time alone on the bridge to do a few more things.

  The next day they docked at Nephele II. The planet below lacked a single central government, which seemed odd to Jason. From space, it didn’t look much different than any other human-inhabited world. Blue waters, green and brown landscape, and areas of civilization that lit up the portion having a night cycle.

  In a fury, Sparrow tripped over a box labeled pollinators and turned the stumble into a kick hard enough to leave a dent. “Damn.”

  Jason had been helping Sparky remove cargo from storage, so it would be close to the bay entrance. “Something wrong?”

  She shot him a look and spoke through gritted teeth. “Yes. We’re stuck for a few days.”

  Sparky leaned on a stack of boxes and spoke to Sparrow in his native tongue. Jason needed to ask the man where he was born. Her reply was also nonsense, but she looked infuriated, gesturing with her hands.

  “Can you fill me in on what’s going on?” Jason asked.

  She glared at him as if it was his fault. If only she knew. “One of the gibson conduits is throwing tritonic waves.”

  Jason scratched his head. “Yea. Can you fill me in on what’s going on?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Ship broke. Need part. Is that simple enough for you?”

  “Oh.” He shrugged. “Can they fix it here?”

  “They can do the repair here, but we need to wait for the part to come up from the planet. It’s going to screw up our schedule.” She tapped on her phone.

  “We’re not in any danger, are we?” Jason asked, knowing full well they weren’t.

  “No. It’s part of the refueling system.”

  Tina’s voice came through the device. “Yes?”

  “We’ve got a delay.” Sparrow walked away as she spoke.

  Sparky waited for her to get out of earshot. “Sparrow grumpy.”

  Jason smiled back at him. “How’s the shuttle on this tug?” He wanted to stretch his legs on the planet. Maybe take Sparrow someplace nice. What good was being a prince if he couldn’t indulge his chosen princess?

  Sparky eyed Jason’s size. “Cozy.” He pronounced it as if the word started with a rumbling K.

  “Can we take it down to Nephele?”

  A large finger pointed at Sparrow’s back. “Grumpy’s choice.”

  “Her choice. Right.” He built up his nerve to ask her while waiting for the conversation with Tina to end. When she finished and came back, he asked with a dry throat, “So, care to spend our few days down on Nephele with me while we wait?” His palms were sticky with sweat, and he rubbed them on his jumpsuit.

  “Can’t. The company won’t pay for the fuel.”

  “Let me worry about that.” He took one of her hands in his. “Let me take you on a date.” She didn’t look convinced. “I’d like to get some clothes and other supplies while we’re sitting around. That nest I’ve been holed up in isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.”

  He’d been sleeping inside of one of the cargo cages with a pile of the crew’s spare bedding. “I can get a cot or something.” That was a dumb thing to say. He wanted to be invited back into her cabin, not set up a suite for himself.

  Dark green eyes stared into his as she considered his request. He waited for the lip bite. Eventually, it came, if only briefly. “Nothing crazy.” She pulled him away from Sparky. “It might be good to let them have some time for themselves.” She double checked that they were far enough away. “He gets grouchy if they don’t have alone time.”

  He smiled down at her. “Okay.”

  “You pay for a separate room for each of us.”

  “Okay.” Jason nodded emphatically.

  “I want warm weather and a beach.”

  “Does this planet have beaches?”

  “Yes, and the ocean is freshwater.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “And drinks. I want drinks with umbrellas.”

  He wrapped his arm around her waist and waved his other in a grand gesture. “Whatever they have to offer is yours for the asking.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Planetary colonization required humans to overcome a variety of challenges over the thousands of years they’d been doing it. Terraforming and atmosphere adjustment used up massive quantities of resources and time. For planets with inhospitable levels of radiation, colonists built city-sized domes to live inside. For planets with hazardous flora and fauna, eradication was the preferred method, but in some cases, alteration of local DNA was enough to solve the problem. But gravity variances were one of the many issues that stuck out as still unsolvable. People didn’t survive long anyplace gravity was too far off from human normal. Ships and space stations used an artificial gravity field, but changing an entire planet’s was still out of reach for current technology.

  Humans on Rhime lived in an Earth-plus-two environment on the Eckert gravity scale. Gravity on Nephele was a negative one, which made swimming an interesting experience. Jason propelled himself underwater and broke through a wave with a jump that had him flipping a few meters in the air. He let out an enthusiastic shout before landing with a splash next to Sparrow.

  “Jerk,” she shouted. “You got water in my silvy-colada.” Leaning over her raft, she splashed him.

  “You gonna get back in the water?” Swimming closer, he grabbed the edge and held on.

  Dual moons made the surf on the other side of the artificial lagoon intense and provided a picturesque scene overhead. Nephele’s atmosphere was surprisingly human-friendly, and much of the planet looked like the pictures he’d seen of Earth.

  “I might,” she said while flicking water off a freshly manicured hand.

  He’d enjoyed indulging her with the resort amenities the first day and continued his wooing quest with exotic meals and daily massages in the spa.

  He pushed the edge of the raft out of the water, threatening to tip her over. “Better drink fast.”

  She let out a shriek. “No. Don’t you dare!” Glistening lips seductively sipped through the straw. “You want this?” She plucked the decorative fruit from the side of the glass and offered it with a grin.

  “What is it?”

  “I think it’s some kind of melon.” The piece of red fruit was perfectly round except for the cut along the side where it’d been hung on the drink.

  He leaned in and ate from her hand, sucking a finger along with it — sweet with a flavor he’d never tasted before. “Delicious,” he mumbled while chewing.

  “The fruit or my finger?” Her hand dropped into the water, rinsing the slobber off.

  “Maybe I need to check again for comparison.” He reached over and rested an arm across her waist, eagerly anticipating a return to her kisses.

  She didn’t disappoint him. Finally. An ecstatic excitement ran through his body. Her lips, still cold from the frozen concoction, pressed against his and transported him back to that first night together. It was their third afternoon here, and while from all appearances she forgave him, she also kept deflecting his advances. He struggled to keep his promise about taking a copy of her into the Mirre.

  When they broke, she lay back on the raft, drink still clutched in one hand. “You make it hard to behave.”

  Crushed shells and pebbles under his feet made a sharp contrast agains
t the softness of her belly. He ran his fingers across her navel and kissed her arm. “Why are you trying so hard to behave?”

  One side of her mouth quirked up. “Because you’re not real. You’re a fairytale prince, and I’m no Cindereza for you to save.”

  “Cinderella.” He chuckled. His hand went into the water and then dripped some over her stomach. He drew a line of moisture up to the top of her bikini.

  “Stop that.” She swatted his hand. “When you get your life fixed, you’ll go back home and find a worthy princess.”

  One of the resort’s robotic servers floated past, playing music to alert swimmers to its presence. Jason eyed her drink. “You ready for another?”

  “I will by the time it gets back here with it.” Her sensuous lips returned to the straw.

  Jason whistled to the kayak-sized device, which looked like a tiny replica of one of Earth’s ancient sailing vessels, although it wasn’t using the sails to maneuver.

  Reacting to Jason, it bobbed closer. “May I help you?”

  It didn’t seem to have any particular side to speak into, but he needed to get some of the water off his hand so the scanner would acknowledge him. “Another round.”

  “Yes, sir.” The hum of a small motor increased as it turned and sped back to the bar.

  “Fairytale life,” she teased and pressed the cold glass against his back, causing him to flinch.

  He dove under the water to get away and then resurfaced. “You could join me.”

  “No.” She shook her head and spoke flatly. “I’m not my mother.”

  So that’s what was bothering her. She didn’t want to run out on her contract. Letting out a sigh, he returned to caressing her leg. “It’s not the same. You wouldn’t be bailing on the company. I could clear your debt.”

  She continued shaking her head. “So you’d buy me?”

  That wasn’t what he meant. “No, don’t be silly.” Though, he could see the comparison. “I don’t need all this.” He gestured to the towering resort on the beach. “I can live the life of…” He couldn’t find a word that wouldn’t sound insulting. “I can be normal.”