by Brenda Hiatt
“And they—these, ah, people of yours—only recently discovered you survived?”
“Shim suspected it sooner but it wasn’t until the Stuarts moved here that anyone knew for sure I was the missing Princess. Believe me, Aunt Theresa, I was just as shocked as you when they told me! It took me a while to believe it, too.”
She stared at me for several seconds, like she was trying to see anything remotely “royal” about me—and mostly failing. “I almost wish I still didn’t know. I’m not at all comfortable lying to people. Especially in church.”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Theresa. But you get why, right? There’s no way most Earth people—especially in a little town like Jewel—are ready to know about all this. They might want to…to round us all up and put us in a concentration camp or something.”
“I suppose. But what will that new company really be doing? Anything dangerous?”
“No, not at all,” I quickly assured her. “NuAgra really will be doing agricultural research, just like the paper said—though their research will probably be a little more, um, high tech than they let on.”
My aunt looked slightly relieved—but only slightly. “How many…Martians are there on Earth? Total?”
Bracing myself for her reaction, I answered, “About fifteen thousand now, counting the ones that just came here over the summer. It was only about ten thousand before that.”
“Only—” she repeated faintly, her earlier tension spiking into alarm. “How big is that colony on Mars?”
“There are still almost a quarter of a million people in Nuath. They’re starting to run out of power, though, so we’re trying to convince as many as possible to move to Earth over the next few decades. Not to take over or anything. They’re nothing to be scared of, I promise. They’re just…people. You’ve known Mrs. O’Gara for nearly a year now and you like her, right?”
Grudgingly, she nodded. “Yes. I never would have guessed Lili could be—” She broke off, shaking her head. “And the Stuarts? How many others have been living in Jewel with no one suspecting?”
“Until now, only a few. I don’t think you’ve met any others—except maybe Mr. Cormac.”
She blinked. “Jewel High’s new vice principal?”
“Yeah. He’s also my, er, Bodyguard. It’s why he’s renting that room over Mrs. Crabtree’s garage, across the street.”
“Bodyguard? Does that mean you’re still in danger? Is that dictator still trying to have you…killed?” Her earlier tension surged back.
“No, no! It’s just protocol for the Sovereign to have a Bodyguard, like the President has the Secret Service. Faxon was completely overthrown last December and has been in a super secure prison—on Mars—ever since.”
She was still frowning. “But before that? What did he do when he found out you were alive?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to scare her, but I also didn’t want to lie to her any more.
“Uh, do you remember how we almost got in an accident on the way home from last year’s Homecoming game? One of Faxon’s people rigged Uncle Louie’s car so it wouldn’t stop.”
“They tampered with our car?” she gasped.
“Yes, but they caught him that same night! Okay, a few more bad guys did come after me the next day, but Rigel’s family and some others fought them and we, um…won. Nobody’s trying to hurt me now.” As far as I knew, anyway.
“But…the, er, President said something about you risking your life Friday night?”
“Well, yeah, but that had nothing to do with Faxon.”
“No, that woman who came here with the President said something about…another kind of alien? Different from you, I mean.”
“I’m not an alien, Aunt Theresa. Kyna and Mrs. O’Gara both explained to you how we’re all human, descended from a colony those other, different aliens planted on Mars centuries ago. We—”
“Yes, yes, I remember.” Now she sounded a bit testy, more like herself, which oddly made me feel a little better. “So what, exactly, did you do to deserve that medal?”
“It’s…kind of complicated. Those other aliens came here planning to wipe out all technology on Earth with a massive electromagnetic pulse. We told the media it was sunspots so people wouldn’t freak out about an alien attack. Because it would have been like a huge solar storm, only way worse. At the last minute, Rigel and I managed to create a, uh, power surge that sort of turned their EMP back on itself so it never reached Earth.”
“But it sounded as though you could have been killed?”
I shrugged, trying to play it down. “That’s what the Scientists said. We did get knocked out for a few seconds—the feedback blew up a piece of Martian equipment right near us—but we’re both fine now. And those aliens left our solar system the very next day. Really, Aunt Theresa, there’s nothing to be afraid of now.”
For a long moment she just sat there, trying to make sense of it all. “I don’t suppose…was that the explosion everyone was talking about on Sunday?”
“Um…yeah. The cornfield by the school seemed like a safe place to set up the equipment, since it needed to be secret and we didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt.”
Though she slowly shook her head, her eyes never leaving my face, I was glad to sense her fear finally receding as curiosity crept back in.
“Lili said you traveled to Mars last spring instead of to Ireland, difficult as that is to believe. Is that where you were involved in the auto accident I was told about?”
“I actually did go to Ireland first, then left for Mars from there. But once I got there some people, ah, didn’t want me to leave again. They started a rumor back here that I’d died in a car wreck so you wouldn’t ask too many questions. I wasn’t really in an accident. And I finally managed to convince them I could do my job from here.”
I was leaving out a whole lot but she didn’t need to hear any more scary details—especially involving people she’d trusted.
“But you’re only sixteen. Surely you’re not really expected to…to lead all of those people?”
“Well, I do have a Regent back on Mars, Rigel’s grandfather. He’s taking care of all the government stuff there. And the Echtran Council was already handling that sort of thing on Earth, before they found out I was alive.”
That they obviously wanted to keep doing so was an issue I still needed to tackle.
“And how does school fit into all of this? What does your being a…a Sovereign entail, exactly?”
“It has sometimes been tricky juggling school and all my other commitments without making you suspicious,” I admitted. “It’ll be easier now I don’t have to pretend I’m building Homecoming floats when I’m really dealing with Echtran Scientists or have sleepovers at Molly’s every time it looks like a Council meeting will go late.”
My aunt abruptly pushed away from the table and stood. “I believe that will do for now. Thank you, Marsha. Or…may I still call you Marsha?”
“Sure. It’s what everyone still calls me at school—that and M. I’m still the same person I’ve always been, Aunt Theresa. Nothing needs to change here at home. Not much, anyway.” I did hope she might cut me a break on my chores, a little.
“Hmph. Well. In that case, you should probably go upstairs and do your homework. Your, ah, people mustn’t have a poorly educated Sovereign.”
“Right. Good point.”
Heading up to my room, I grinned to myself, heartened that she’d been able to almost joke about it. It looked like she’d be okay with everything after all. Eventually, anyway.
6
Cloudiness
BEFORE getting out my homework, I sent a quick message to Kyna. Just like last time, she called back almost immediately.
“Excellency, I agree that a meeting such as you suggest is in order. Earlier today I spoke with Lili O’Gara, who also has a few concerns. The Council feels she and her husband may be useful as liaisons going forward, so I will ask them to attend, as well.”
“It does
make sense to have people already familiar with Jewel from the Echtran side do whatever they can to help the newcomers adjust. Maybe the Stuarts should come, too?”
“Certainly,” she replied. “Van Stuart is already setting up NuAgra’s online systems and Ariel Stuart has offered to mentor the new Healer attached to NuAgra as well. If you’d like, I can suggest all Echtrans currently residing in Jewel attend.”
“That would be awesome. How soon can we make this happen? And where?”
“The most obvious location is the NuAgra facility itself, Excellency,” Kyna replied. “I’ll schedule the meeting for tomorrow night, if you can arrange to be there. You don’t yet have a driver’s license, as I recall?”
“No, I got back to Jewel too late to get into Driver’s Ed this semester so I have to wait till spring. The O’Garas can probably drive me, though.”
“Very well. I’ll message you as soon as a time is set.”
Relieved, I flicked off my omni and got started on my homework, confident now that we’d be able to head off any potential problems before they had a chance to spiral out of control.
* * *
When Uncle Louie got home a couple of hours later, I was doubly glad I’d requested that meeting.
“Four more sales today,” he crowed the moment he walked in the kitchen door. “That’s nine so far this week and it’s only Wednesday!”
He set the two packages he was carrying on the kitchen table and then, amazingly, went over to Aunt Theresa and kissed her on the cheek—something I couldn’t remember ever witnessing before.
“Louie!” she admonished him, looking embarrassed—kind of hilarious considering they’d been married for something like thirty years. “That’s…very good news, dear,” she added when he backed off, still grinning.
“I still can’t get over how friendly all these new folks are. A couple of Monday’s buyers stopped back in and invited us all to dinner next week—and then the couple I was drawing up papers for did the same thing!”
I could feel Aunt Theresa’s surge of alarm. “You didn’t accept, did you?”
He stared at her. “Of course I did! I want them to send more customers my way, don’t I? The second couple mentioned having two daughters who’ll be attending Jewel High with Marsha.”
Though my aunt looked slightly reassured, I had no illusions about why these new Echtrans were buttering up my uncle.
“I figure we can invite them to our house sometime, too,” he continued. “You know, show some Hoosier hospitality. Oh, and one of yesterday’s buyers stopped by to drop off a big box of fudge and another couple brought me this, for my family, they said.”
Picking up the smaller of the two packages he’d brought in, he handed it to Aunt Theresa. She opened it cautiously, as though she expected it to explode.
“I tried to explain to them that here in Indiana it’s the locals who give housewarming gifts to new neighbors, not the other way around, but they insisted.”
“Oh, my,” Aunt Theresa exclaimed, lifting a beautiful crystal statuette from the box. “This is lovely.” But the look she sent me was definitely worried.
I was even more concerned than Aunt Theresa, but tried not to show it. I’d seen that statuette at Glitterby’s last week and happened to know it cost a couple hundred dollars. Definitely not okay. Something else to address at tomorrow night’s meeting, to nip this sort of thing in the bud.
Meanwhile, Uncle Louie absolutely needed to be clued in so he wouldn’t accept any more gifts—bribes?—or invitations.
I said as much to Aunt Theresa when he went upstairs to change out of his work clothes while we got dinner on the table. “We need to tell him,” I whispered. “Tonight. Before this kind of thing gets out of hand.”
Her brows drew together doubtfully. “Do you really think that’s wise? He may be my husband, but I’m by no means blind to his weaknesses. In fact, I know them all too well. He—”
Uncle Louie bounced back into the kitchen then, so she broke off.
“I’ve got a funny story to tell you over dinner.” He sat down, grinning at us across his plate of spaghetti. “You know my buddy Greg, our mechanic at the lot? He says when he was leaving Saturday afternoon those black SUVs from the FBI were behind him for a ways, I guess after they left here. And get this—he swears when he looked in his rear view mirror, he recognized the President—of the United States!—leaning forward from the back seat. Isn’t that a hoot?”
Shaking his head, he picked up his fork. “Like the President could visit little Jewel, Indiana without it being all over the news? He felt pretty foolish when I told him why those cars were really here. Gave me a good laugh, especially since Greg always accuses me of exaggerating. I’m gonna be able to hold this one over his head for a long time.”
Still chuckling, he took a big bite of spaghetti, so didn’t notice the panicked look Aunt Theresa shot me across the table. For a moment I wondered if it might be possible to keep Uncle Louie in the dark indefinitely, he was so incredibly clueless. But it was too risky.
Before he could launch into another story, I cleared my throat. “Um, Uncle Louie, there’s something you ought to know.”
“Uh-oh. You’re not gonna tell me you really are in trouble with the FBI, are you?” he joked.
“Marsha,” Aunt Theresa said urgently. “Are you sure—?”
“Whoa.” Uncle Louie looked from her to me and back, his smile fading. “What did you do?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m not in any trouble. But you could stir some up by accident if I don’t tell you what’s really going on.”
“Huh?”
Aunt Theresa surprised me by speaking up first. “Louie, those black cars that were here on Saturday weren’t from the FBI. Your friend Greg was right, I’m afraid. The President of the United States was here—in our house. The other cars were his Secret Service detail.”
“Huh?” Uncle Louie repeated, looking even more confused.
I took over. “He came to thank me for, um, something I did. His visit is why Aunt Theresa had to finally be told the truth about me. And now, with so many of these newcomers trying to get chummy, you need to know, too.”
Uncle Louie kept looking back and forth between us. “The President? Really? Here? Uh…what truth?”
I took a deep breath before launching into what I hoped would be a coherent explanation. “About a year ago, I learned about a secret human colony under the surface of the planet Mars. I also learned that’s where my parents—my birth parents—came from. In fact, I was born there myself but brought to Earth as a baby before my parents were killed.”
I went on to tell him about the monarchy there, how I was heir to the Martian throne, then all the events of the last year, including how I’d gone to Mars and why more and more Martians would be coming to Earth—and Jewel. Uncle Louie didn’t say a word the whole time I was talking but his eyes kept getting bigger and bigger.
“Anyway,” I concluded, “this new company, NuAgra, is mostly a cover so a bunch of new Echtrans—that’s what expatriate Martians are called—can move to Jewel without people getting too suspicious.”
For nearly a full minute he just sat there, blinking, his eyes again darting back and forth between me and Aunt Theresa, who was watching him with a worried frown. Then, suddenly, he laughed.
“Wow, that was a good one, Marsha! You really had me going for a while there. I remember you always did have a good imagination. You should write novels or something. I bet if you sent that story to a magazine, they’d pay you for it.”
Aunt Theresa let out a huff. “I told Marsha you wouldn’t believe us, but it’s true, Louie. All of it.”
His grin faded and he looked at her almost pityingly. “Oh, come on, Theresa, you don’t mean she actually managed to convince you of all that stuff? I thought you had more sense than that. Shoot, more sense than me, even.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said at the start? The President of the United States came here, to our hous
e. I met him myself, at our own front door. After he left, Lili O’Gara and a woman who’d come here with him sat me down in our living room and told me everything that Marsha just told you. I didn’t want to believe it either, but I had no choice.”
“But…but…how—?”
“I know it’s a lot, Uncle Louie,” I said gently. “It took Aunt Theresa a few days before it really sank in. If it’ll help, I can prove it.”
He looked at me, slightly dazed. “Prove it? How?”
“Just a sec.”
I ran upstairs and grabbed my omni off my nightstand, then hurried back down to the kitchen.
“This is probably the easiest way. They call this an omni.” I held up the little device, no bigger than a flash drive or a pack of gum. “It’s Martian technology, kind of like a smartphone on steroids. Watch.” I touched the tiny button on the end.
When the holographic control panel appeared, Uncle Louie’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Aunt Theresa also gasped, since she hadn’t seen it before.
“How—? What—?” Uncle Louie stammered.
“It does all kinds of stuff—way more than I’ve had time to learn, yet. But here.”
I pulled up the communication screen and replayed Kyna’s message from Saturday. Her face appeared in midair and my aunt and uncle both started back.
“Excellency, I must warn you that you will shortly have an extremely important visitor—the President of the United States. He should arrive at your home at approximately five o’clock this evening. You may wish to prepare your relatives in some way beforehand.” Kyna’s face disappeared and the little screen went dark.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t think to check my messages until about a minute before the President got here, or I could have given Aunt Theresa some warning. Look, here’s something else it can do.”