by Juno Wells
She glances away. “Too many.”
“Will you not trust me with a number, my queen?”
“We left behind twenty-three, all female but three. They span in age from newly born to around forty-five.”
“With your approval, I will begin preparations to rescue them immediately. Can you take the bridge?”
She nods, seeming to emotional to speak. I turn to the young warriors. “Come and assist me with preparations. Leave the queens in charge of the bridge.”
Timric shot out of his seat like a bolt of lightning. Phan followed him, stopping to rub his face along that of his queen. Though I don’t feel we have time for sappy kissing, I wait patiently. I do this because queens require affection, and now that my brother is chosen, he is required to ensure his queen feels valued. I’m certain he wishes he could just stroll away to work with us, but he is doing is duty, and that is more important.
10 EARTH
KEARNEY
IT SEEMS that all our plotting, planning, and scheming has come to fruition. Our ship is in Earth’s orbit, and we’re loading two shuttles for descent to the surface. Since I’m human, we don’t have to check in with Earth Gov first.
What seemed like such a coincidence with the Strovian vessel offering us space in their bubble when they folded space-time has turned out to be rather routine. We monitored them contacting countless other ships in orbit around Earth with similar offers when they jump back to their planet. We even discovered that for a premium price they will fall out of hyper-space at particular stops along the way, in essence allowing ships to get off at other planets. They’re on a monthly run from Earth to their home planet, so if we stay a full month we can utilize their service to get most of the way back to our home world. It will cut months off our journey.
Anyways, I’ve tried to make contact with my family using the communication device they have but I’m not getting a reply. It could be the equipment failed, they couldn’t keep it charged, or something more nefarious. I pray nothing bad happened to them. My father didn’t make it to the mountain. He fell ill a while we were living in one of the bio domes. Even though we did everything we could to save him, he didn’t make it. My mother was still pregnant with the twins, and that’s when we decided to move to the mountains. The area of the bio dome reserved for indigent folks was filthy. There was no way my mother could have given birth there.
Living in a cave sounds awful, but it was lots cleaner than the bio dome. God, we scrubbed on that cave for days. We cleaned everything thoroughly before bringing it into the living space. I roll over everything we did to make the space habitable and feel certain we did the best we could. My big worries are that the water purification system failed or the cold weather wore them down.
I’m deep in thought until Tabor alerts me that the shuttle is packed. I’m back in a uniform for this venture. Dropping down across from Kendra, I realize how bonded she has become to Phan. They’re actually pretty cute together. Timric is tense and gazing out the window. Somehow, I don’t think this whole idea of picking out a guy for Kara is going to go down like Kendra thinks. She was sixteen when we left and I’m fairly certain Kara was just uncomfortable and making a joke about her sister bringing her back a mate.
Tabor is staring at me again. This time I have nothing to hide, so I smile back. His eyes get big for a second, and then he looks away. I’m getting real tired of us thinking we can tell what the other person is thinking by facial expressions and body language. I’ve decided to that once my family is safe, I’m going to try to get to know him better. Maybe he won’t want anything to do with me but I’m going to try.
Suddenly, he bolts from his seat and grabs the control stick. We all grab onto our safety harnesses when the ship careens left. Kendra’s creature roars his disapproval and jumps in front of her. His tail whips around angrily until she reaches out a shaking hand and smooths the top of his head. “Down, Roxie.” I realize for the first time that the animal is a female. Somehow she doesn’t look female with the razor-sharp teeth and scruffy appearance.
I’m blasted back from my straying thoughts by another round of weapons fire, and just like that, our shuttle is blown from the sky. That shuttle had four of our fellow crew members inside, including Scarn.
“We’re being fired upon from the ground.” Tabor’s voice is calm and controlled.
I can’t keep the agitation from my voice. “Who the hell would do that?”
Darg speaks from the navigational console. “It appears to be a group of mostly males. One has a huge weapon on his shoulder. Our other shuttle didn’t explode. It crashed.”
I unhook my safety harness and claw my way to the console. “We need to find them before whoever in the hell fired at us finds them.”
“Agreed. We were nearing the targeted landing site when the shots were fired.”
“The foothills of the mountain belong to our family, and I can virtually guarantee none of them would be firing at our shuttle.”
Kendra’s angry voice sounds off from her seat. “Why don’t we work on this little idea I’ve been working on called shooting back?”
I know what Commander Tabor is going to say before he opens his mouth. The group of mostly males also has women. Draconians won’t fire on queens, no matter the situation.
“I advise restraint, my young queen. We know nothing of the situation below except that we are being fired upon. We have no understanding of why the queens below are directing their warriors to fire upon our shuttle. We may be violating their airspace, perhaps they fear our advanced technology or they fear our motivation for coming is not pure.”
Unsnapping her safety harness, Kendra bolts forward. “Good Lord, Kearney. Explain to him that women don’t run things on Earth.”
Tabor’s head whips around and he asks a question that might be hysterically funny under different circumstances. “If the queens do not rule, how do the warriors get anything done?”
Darg deftly dodges another volley of shots from the ground, by gliding off to the left. That’s when I see they are using laser rifles. Though I don’t know how they got ahold of alien tech, I’m relieved that they ran out of rocket launchers. Thank God for small favors. I mumble to my sister, “Shielding was one of the things we apparently didn’t focus much effort on since we thought Earth was a safe zone.”
“It looks like things have changed over the last two years. Can you scan for our crew?”
Tabor is already doing that, and seeing his bulky frame leaning over the view screen is making it impossible for anyone else to see what’s going on. “I am reading heat signatures on three survivors. We must have lost a warrior in the crash. The remaining warriors appear to be unloading their cargo onto hover boards. They will likely take flight and head for the cave with the provisions.”
“Let’s do another pass over my hostile counterparts. Stay out of range of their weapons this time. I want to zoom in and see if I recognize any of them.”
“It will be as you say, my queen.”
I sigh, cause I’m getting real tired of hearing that particular response. I need to think of a good title for myself. When we come back around, we still can’t get a good look, so Tabor drops a small drone. It gets close enough to capture footage before it gets shot down. When he brings the images up on his screen, I know what the problem is.
Kendra’s angry voice explains before I can manage it. “It’s the Grayson clan, still as welcoming as ever. They own the property that butts up against ours and we’ve had nothing but a lifetime of problems from them. They fight about everything but nothing more viciously than property rights.”
“Since he owns the valley below our mountain it makes sense that he’s standing on our property shooting at us. His land is practically uninhabitable now.”
Kendra huffs out an exasperated breath. “Not that ours is much better, but I get your point. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”
“They don’t know it’s us. They might be inclined to ha
ve a conversation if we can figure out a way to communicate.”
Phan walks the back of shuttle and opens a crate. When he pulls out a carton of food bars, my wheels start turning. I’ve seen the Draconian equivalent of chalk in what I think of as their junk drawer. They use it to mark areas of the ship that need repairs. I grab it and mark on the outside of the box.
Since when does the Grayson clan shoot at their neighbors? Signal if you want to talk.
I sign it with my first and last name, and we attach a drone to the top. All cartons containing shelf stable edible items have a graphic of the particular food item in bold face on the bottom. It’s done specifically so that people will recognize it as food when it’s dropped from above.
We drop the carton, wait ten minutes and release another drone. I see one of them waving a dingy white shirt. “Take us down.”
Tabor’s mouth presses into a firm line, but he executes my order without comment. We careen into a slow downward spiral, landing on the relatively flat land leading up our mountain. It’s technically our property but the Grayson clan are crawling all over it. When the shuttle doors open, we exit with me and Kendra in the lead, our warriors at our back and her newly acquired animal jumping for joy at being out of the shuttle. I’m worried that we’re going to make a pretty unusual presentation until I see our neighbors. They’re filthy, their clothing is rags, and they look exhausted.
I recognize old man Grayson and shout out to him. “Howdy, neighbor. Hope your wife is well, Virgil.”
He steps forward, even though one of the women claws at his arms to stay back. We can’t possibly look that dangerous. “Is that you, Keary girl?”
He’s always shortened my name, only now I don’t mind so much. “It’s me, and you’ve got nothing to fear from us. We’ve brought medical supplies and fresh water, in addition to food bars.”
“I’ll be damned. Your ma’s been saying for two damn years that you’d be back, and here you are. I see you got a whole parcel of aliens with some mighty big weapons. Why don’t you tell them to leave their guns in the shuttle?”
“How’s about I don’t. Did you just shoot one of my shuttles out of the air, or did I imagine it?”
The old man pulls on his long grey beard. “Now I reckon we did. There ain’t no debating that fact.”
“You killed one of our crew.”
“Now, we didn’t know it was you come home to roost. The aliens that visit our world make trips out to isolated places like our mountain to rescue women. They claim they’ve been left out in the cold. The thing is, they don’t always ask if she wants rescued. Sometimes they just take them. We’ve got a right to protect our womenfolk.”
“I understand that, but I don’t want any more trouble out of your clan while I’m here. We’ll leave some supplies for you, but I want you off our land for now.”
“Well the thing is, this ain’t your land anymore, Keary. Your ma got hard up and traded it to us.”
I’m growing ever more suspicious of his accounting of the facts. “Traded it for what exactly?”
“Protection.”
Suddenly, I’m livid. He’s probably been bleeding them dry all this time. My family of women and boys would have hard time standing up to him and his sons. “Where’s my family, old man?”
Jerking his chin up, he responds casually. “There’re still up there in their cave. Everything else belongs to us, from the ground to the sky, though.” He stops, hesitating and licks his lips. “If you want to keep traveling over our land and through our sky, you’ll have to pay a toll.”
I’m starting to hate on this man, or rather picking up on my hating on him from before I left. It’s hard to remember exactly why I ever felt guilty about hating on him. He’s always been kind of a bastard, but times are tough. I get that, I really do. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that poverty can make people small, selfish and mean. Still, I refuse to implode what little good will is flowing between us until I speak with my mother.
“What exactly is your price, Virgil?”
“Ten cases of food bars, a medical kit with antibiotics and a water purifier to start with. Then we negotiate something new every single day you stay on our land.” He stops talking, probably because I’m having a hard time keeping the anger off my face. “Don’t go lookin’ at me like that, Keary girl. You know I got a lot of folks in my clan that needs food and water to survive.”
“You’ve always taken more than your share, Virgil. We both know that.”
He flings his arms wide. “Look around girlie, ain’t none of us lasting long on this world. Another generation or two and there ain’t gonna be nothing left of my clan.”
Damn it all to hell. He’s right. “I’ll pay your toll, Virgil. Come on over and let our medic check you out and we’ll gather up your supplies.”
“You wouldn’t be trickin’ me, would you, girl?”
“Hell no. It ain’t for lack of wanting to. It’s because you’re right. Our life’s gone to hell. There ain’t no reason for us to be at each other’s throats. I gotta warn you that if I find out you’re directly responsible for hurting my family, that will change.”
“I ain’t done nothin’ to warrant retaliation. You can ask her yourself.”
“Come on over then. I want to get this transaction over with so I can check on our family.”
They move forward cautiously, but my crew is ready. Several warriors creep out slowly, wrapping blankets around their women. Tabor unloads the exact things he asked for, only we don’t have a water purification unit.
I sit on the damp ground while Phan examines Virgil. “We don’t have a water purification unit with us. We leave you ten gallons of drinking water and see about getting you a filter down here tomorrow.”
“That would be mighty fine, Keary. Just don’t get with your family and forget about us. We got newborns to think about and we need that filter.”
“I promise, we won’t forget. Do you know how my family’s doing?”
“That ma of yours is stubborn as ever. We tried to get them to come down and join our clan, but they refused. She kept saying you were coming back with help.” Eyeing Phan and his equipment, he added. “I guess she knew what she was talking about all along.”
Kendra’s animal trots over and sits scratching his neck with one meaty paw.
“What the hell do you call that?”
“She’s just some animal that Kendra took a liking to on an alien planet we visited. I suppose she’s the alien version of a junkyard dog. The planet was a gigantic salvage yard.”
“You know I used to own a salvage yard, don’t ya?”
Offering him a hydration pouch from a box Timric is passing around, I nod. “Sure, I remember. People used to come from miles around to look for parts. Folks say you drove a pretty hard bargain back in the day.”
The old man smiles and reaches out to pet Roxie on the head. He doesn’t sip his drink, he sucks it down. I offer him the one I haven’t even opened because his eyes are hollowed out and he honestly looks dehydrated. When he accepts it with a gruff thanks, a thought pops into my mind.
“Have you ever thought of leaving Earth?”
He eyes me suspiciously. “Where in the hell would we go? The only ships offering free transport off this rock and sanctuary on their planets are ones looking for women. I ain’t about to give my kin up to aliens who want to make them baby factories.”
“Well, you know it’s not like that. There has been so few men, women are dying to find alien husbands.”
“I ain’t got nothing against alien men. I know there are good ones and bad ones, just like with humans. The thing is, when our womenfolk are millions of miles away on some alien planet we ain’t got no way to tell if they’re being mistreated, now do we?”
“I suppose not. What if you could have your own ship and go wherever you wanted?”
“Forget that, Keary girl. If you got your shuttles at an alien junk yard, you got scammed. We blasted right through one of them. I do
n’t know how you fly them in space.”
“Shuttles are like cars that fly. We use them to get from our ship to Earth and back again. Our ship has shields. We were still working on the shuttles and didn’t think we needed shields on Earth.”
“Who owns the ship you got up there, girl? You or your alien friends.”
“Kendra and I own the ship. These men are our crew members.”
He squeezes the last bit out of his hydration pack and sucks it down before responding. “Shit, I don’t know nothing about spaceships.”
“We didn’t either. We learned. Your sons and daughters can learn just like we did. You hire people to run the ship, just like a corporation hires employees to work for them.”
“If I find myself a gold mine, I’ll be sure to think about buying a ship.”
Glancing around at all his kin, I lean over and whisper. “You’ve got something better than gold.”
He shakes his head, “I already told you I’m not trading my kin.”
I run my hands through my hair a couple of times. “The aliens who run the junkyard, trade in more than just junk. I got a third off my ship because we donated hair.”
Phan chimes in, “Some species use it in their cloning technology. They don’t make exact replicas of people. They use it to grow more diverse clones and for organ regeneration.”
We continue to talk about space and our new home world with Virgil. The old man can’t seem to keep his hands off Roxie. It makes me sad that the only animals left on Earth are protected species in zoos. Having a pet is a small luxury the old man probably enjoyed at one time.
11 KNEE DEEP IN QUEENS
TABOR
AS WE USHER the queens back onto the ship, I am in awe of my queen. She possesses the diplomatic skills of an ambassador. I watched her turn a mortal enemy into an ally in a few microns. The older man started off gruff and disrespectful, but Queen Kearney had him practically eating out of her hand by the time our transaction was completed.