by Roxie Ray
“Why does this elevator have black doors?” she asked as we stepped inside.
“These elevators lead up to the captain’s quarters,” I explained. “It’s to ensure my privacy.”
Her eyes fluttered to mine. “So, I’ll be sleeping in your quarters?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes,” I replied, without beating around the bush.
She fell silent as we stepped into the carpeted pathway that led to the black, studded door of my chambers. It was a large door that stood at twelve feet tall, and I realized it must have been an intimidating thing for Rosa.
“After you,” I said, holding the door open for her.
She stepped inside gingerly as though she were worried something was going to jump out at her. The chamber resembled more of a self-contained living space than anything else. There was a hearth and fireplace on one side of the room, a massive weapons display case that stood next to it, and a table that was equipped with eight antique chairs, all hand-crafted by the most skilled carpenters in Svante.
A small partition separated the bed from the rest of the space, and the bedding area contained its own display window. I had spent many nights lying there alone, staring at the grand infinity of space. It was strange to think I would no longer be the only occupant of this chamber.
“This is really nice,” Rosa said, setting her bag down on the soft carpet.
She was staring at the mantle that framed the fireplace. It had been crafted from fine jade marble from the shores of the Neptune Sea in Quilzard.
I felt the purr of the engine as the Destroyer started to move out of the hangar. Within minutes we would be ready to lift off. It was a seamless transition for a Svantian, but I wasn’t sure how Rosa would find it.
She turned to me, having sensed the tremor that ran through the ground. “Is it starting?” she asked, before darting toward the windows.
I joined her just in time for lift off.
“Should we be sitting down?” Rosa asked.
I smiled. “Perhaps you should.”
Rosa gripped the ledge of the window, but she remained on her feet. I could sense a certain amount of excitement wafting off her, and I took that as a good sign. The purr of the Destroyer’s engines turned into a whirling scream, and I saw Rosa’s skin erupt in goose bumps.
As we started our ascent, Rosa watched the Earth as we travelled higher and higher into its atmosphere, and I, in turn, watched her. We passed a flurry of clouds, and once we had cleared them, our speed ratcheted up. As darkness started to take over, the Destroyer burst into sonic speed, and Rosa gasped as we were plunged into light speed.
I saw her feet lift a few inches off the ground, and I grabbed her instinctively, pulling her into the protective sphere of my body. Ten seconds later, it was over, and the dreamy starlight of space had engulfed us completely. Earth was now just a speck in the distance, and our journey had just begun.
I looked down and found Rosa’s eyes staring at our entwined arms. She jerked away from me suddenly, as though she had just realized it and turned her attention to the view. Her cheeks were flushed with color, and she looked uncertain and nervous once more.
“You will get used to it,” I told her, trying to gloss over the uncomfortable moment.
I could only see a slim profile of her face. She nodded once, and her hair fell over her ear, obscuring her features from view.
“Do you need anything?” I asked, trying to make her feel more at ease.
“I… no, no, thank you.”
“I hope you will be comfortable here,” I said.
She looked at me curiously, and I saw conflict in her large blue eyes. “Can I ask you something?” she wondered, out loud.
“Anything.”
“If I had refused to come with you, would you have left me on earth?”
She was watching me intently; I could not falter on this question. I sensed how important it was to her.
“Yes, I would have,” I lied smoothly.
I had worked so hard to avoid becoming my father, and yet I was aware that I was treading a thin rope. The guilt that crept up on me was uncomfortable, but the smile she favored me with made the lie worth it.
5
Rosa
I would have thought that the vast obsidian of space would have been daunting, but I as I stared out into it, somehow I felt — free. There was a prick of sadness at the thought that I was leaving Earth behind, but mostly, I felt relieved.
I could feel his eyes on me; those hypnotic, ice blue eyes that made me feel vulnerable and unsteady all in the same beat. Instead of meeting his gaze, I turned toward the room and walked to the display case on the opposite wall next to the fireplace.
The wood was stained a dark brown that was almost black, and the glass was so clear that I didn’t realize it was glass until I was a few inches away from its surface.
“Are these weapons from your planet?” I asked, turning back to Quatix.
“Some of them.” Quatix nodded as he walked over to join me. “The rest were forged on different planets by different species.”
A massive long sword caught my eye. It looked like it belonged on the set of some high budget medieval movie about knights and kings. The hilt was jeweled in black and silver stones that shone at every angle, and the blade itself gleamed dangerously. If I moved a little closer, I could see my reflection.
“Are you a collector?” I asked.
He smiled. “I’m a warrior,” he replied. “These weapons are not just for show.”
I suppressed a shiver at the knowledge that I had entered into a lifetime commitment with someone who was not only a complete stranger, but whose life was completely different to the reality I was accustomed to.
“So, you’ve fought in battles?” I asked.
“I have.”
“But you’re a king,” I said. “Can’t you just sit them out?”
His smile deepened, but I could sense that he was curious about my question. “That is the very reason I need to lead the battle — how can I expect my people to fight for me if I do not fight for them?”
I smiled. “The wars in my world used to be like that, too.”
“But not anymore?” Quatix asked.
“We unmade kings and made governments and democracies instead,” I explained. “Men in power suits make decisions about war, and then the rest of us have to fight their battles for them.”
Quatix frowned. “And your people just accept that?”
“Not always,” I said. “When the people are unhappy with their leaders, they can always vote them out. But oftentimes the men who replace them are worse.”
“Your system sounds broken,” Quatix pointed out.
I nodded. “It has been for a long time, ever since the decline.”
“The decline?”
“Earth was hit with a series of natural disasters a few decades ago. We lost people in the thousands. Since then, we’ve really started to feel the effects of global warming, and that led to the creation of the sectors.”
“The division of the rich from the poor,” Quatix said.
“Yes.” I nodded, remembering the rundown apartment building I had grown up in. It had been a one-bedroom apartment, and the kitchen was shoved into one corner next to the living room as though it had been an afterthought. The fold-out couch in the living room had been my bedroom for thirteen years before Maggie came along. She had slept with my parents until she was two, and then she used to slip onto the couch next to me at night.
Her hand would fall over me like a whisper, and I would pull her close and fall asleep with her downy hair just underneath my nose…
No. I would not languish in the old memories. They were in my past now.
“Are you all right?” Quatix asked, and I realized that my preoccupation had not escaped his notice.
His hand rose slightly as though he wanted to touch me, but at the last second it dropped to his side. I could tell he didn’t want to startle me, and I appreciated the eff
ort he was taking to make me feel comfortable.
“Tell me about your people,” I said, trying to gloss over the emotional moment I had almost had. “What are they like?”
“We seem a fearsome race to many,” Quatix said, “but we are peace lovers. We do not fight unless we have to. We never start battles, but we will mostly definitely finish them.”
“I believe you,” I said.
He looked like a creature that was born to battle. His very physicality was war-like and intimidating; he personified strength.
“Is it rare for babies to be born among your kind?” I asked.
“A few decades back it was very rare,” Quatix admitted. “We were marrying within our race and that made things harder. Female Svantians are so rare, and in many instances, competitions were held to determine which male Svantian won the bride.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”
“They were lavish affairs,” Quatix nodded. “Some competitions would go on for days with as many as a hundred competitors taking part. My father was King at this time, and he finally decreed that we needed to look outside our kind if we wanted to further our species.”
“That was a wise decision,” I said.
Quatix’s expression hardened slightly. “Yes, he had moments of wisdom,” he nodded. “But not enough to earn the love or respect of his people.”
I could sense the complexity of Quatix’s relationship with his father burn in his eyes. I wanted to ask him more, but if I ventured into territory that was too personal, I knew I would be opening myself up to the same line of questioning. There were parts of my life that I wanted to forget, and part of my decision to leave Earth had been a desperate attempt to outrun those guilt-ridden memories.
“Is Svante very different from earth?” I asked, veering the conversation toward safer topics.
He looked relieved by the change in subject, as well, as he answered my question. “It is one of the smallest planets in the galaxy,” he revealed. “But one of the most beautiful. You will have no need for those oppressive layers of clothing I saw you wearing on Earth.”
I smiled. “It’s warm on Svante?”
“Comfortably warm,” Quatix nodded. “We have six weeks of harsh winter during a single year, and that is the only time Svante experiences any kind of cold. The jungles are covered in snow but our fauna withstands it all.”
“Only six weeks of winter,” I said with a laugh. “I think I’ll like Svante.”
His eyes warmed at my words, and I realized I was actually enjoying the conversation. It was surprisingly easy to talk to him.
“I hope you will,” Quatix nodded. “It will be your home.”
Home. The word itself was comforting, but I couldn’t relate. Had I ever really had a true home, the kind that made you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside? For me, home had always been a rundown apartment in the lower sectors, home had been two stoned parents and a living room littered with smoked joints, home had been sadness and pain and a mistake that had almost made me take my own life.
“But in the meantime, I suppose this is your home. Would you like to see the rest of the ship?” Quatix asked.
“I would,” I nodded.
We left the privacy of his quarters and travelled back down the elevator to the main body of the ship. The ship was practically empty of other Svantians, and I was secretly glad about that. I didn’t want to feel like I was being put on display. I wondered what it would be like to stand before his people with the knowledge that I would be their queen.
“Quatix?” I blurted out.
“Yes?”
“Um, I was just wondering…”
“Yes?” he asked, looking curious.
“Will your people be accepting of a queen that’s not Svantian?” I asked.
Quatix smiled. “Of course,” he nodded. “I come from a society that values females of any race.”
The moment he finished his sentence, his eyes clouded over with sudden memory, and the smile dissolved from his face.
“Quatix?” I said carefully.
His eyes found mine, and he tried his best to wipe the sour expression from his face. “Come, I want to show you our control room where we fly the ship.”
“Do you know how to fly this ship?” I asked, as Quatix led me to a spiral staircase that looked oddly out of place in the state of the art surroundings that made up the impressive vessel.
“Of course.” Quatix nodded. “Most Svantians are trained in space control. I chose this ship because it can be flown with a small crew, even solo if ever the need arises.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “I suddenly feel very inadequate.”
His eyes softened, and his hand twitched by his side, almost as though he wanted to reach out and touch me again.
A part of me almost wished he would.
“Don’t,” Quatix said, in a tone that bordered on tender. “You are far more than simply adequate.”
The staircase led to one of the narrower passageways I’d seen in the ship so far. On one side was a series of doors, and the other side was framed by a white steel banister that looked down at the central common area of the ship, and which sat directly underneath the glass dome from which I could see the starry blackness that flickered with occasional bouts of light.
I followed Quatix silently, taking in the ship’s strange design with its circular rooms and its winding pathways.
“How long will it be before we reach Svante?” I wanted to know.
“Two weeks,” Quatix replied. “Give or take a few days.”
“How far away is Svante from earth?” I asked curiously.
“I believe it’s about a hundred and three light years away.”
“A hundred and three years?” I gasped, trying to wrap my head around that massive length of time.
“Our spaceships are built to travel at light speed as well as to withstand space jumps,” Quatix assured me. “Which is why we can travel around the galaxy and explore it in a way that was impossible a thousand years before.”
Listening to Quatix talk, I felt myself shrink, and the galaxy seemed to grow exponentially. It seemed ludicrous to me now that there were still people on Earth who had a hard time believing in aliens. It seemed the height of pride to assume that humanity was the only form of intelligent life in the galaxy. But then again, perhaps it had nothing to do with pride and more to do with denial.
Quatix came to a stop outside a large circular entrance whose door seemed to be formed by a series of tight spirals. There was a small pad on the side of the door, and I watched as Quatix placed his palm face down on the pad. A second later, the spirals started to part in quick succession, allowing us entry.
Quatix gestured me inside first, and then I felt him walk in behind me. The control room was much larger than I had anticipated, but it too boasted a brilliant and expansive view of space.
“This is unreal,” I said under my breath, as I walked closer to the windows.
There were three Svantians present, and one of them happened to be Terrox. The other two looked to be a little younger; the first of them had white hair and hazel eyes that clashed fiercely. When he stood, I realized he was at least one head shorter than all the other Svantians present. He must have been six-five at least, but compared with the other three towering aliens, the white haired Svantian looked short and much less intimidating.
The second alien was almost as tall as Terrox, with dark eyes, brown hair and scales of simmering gold. All three of them rose to their feet the moment Quatix entered.
“This is Brailin,” Quatix told me, gesturing towards the shortest alien among them. “And this is Comadin. You’ve already met Terrox.”
Each of them bowed their head down in a mark of respect, and it took me a moment to realize that the gesture was aimed at me.
I looked towards Quatix, who was wearing an amused smile. “It is their way of respecting your new position,” he explained to me.
“I am not a queen yet,” I pointed out,
feeling claws of nerves wrap around my neck.
“But you will be,” Quatix told me. “The mating ritual is necessary for ceremonial purposes, but your position was cemented the moment I chose you, not the moment you will be crowned.”
“I’ll be crowned?” I gasped, glancing towards the three large aliens standing in front of me. It was next to impossible to read their expressions.
“Of course,” Quatix nodded. “You will be crowned after the mating ritual is complete.”
Hearing Quatix say those words made it all very real. I saw myself on a strange new planet, a foreign queen with a checkered past, and fear gripped my throat like a vice.
Quatix opened his mouth to say something else — but just at that moment, one of the screens behind Terrox flashed, and there was a small beeping noise that sounded through the control center. It didn’t sound urgent by any means, more like a warning of some sort. The beeping stopped after about twenty seconds, but when I turned to Quatix, I saw that his brows were furrowed with worry.
“What was that?” he asked, glancing at Terrox.
“We were going to tell you,” Terrox said quickly. “We have a Sives ship tailing.”
“Sives,” Quatix said, glancing at the monitor.
“We noticed them when we cleared the Earth's atmosphere,” Brailin said.
“They might have just been in the vicinity,” Quatix suggested.
“That’s what we thought at first,” Terrox agreed. “But we’ve been monitoring their route, and it seems they are following us. We wanted to be sure before we informed you.”
Quatix moved closer to the monitor and stared at the tiny bright speck emblazoned there. Instinctively, I moved forward, too, wondering why the atmosphere in the room had changed.
“What’s happening?” I asked, unable to keep the question to myself any longer. “What are… fives?”
“Sives,” Quatix corrected, turning back to me. “They are no more than thieves; a group of outlaws from different races who have banded together to form a convenient coalition.”