“Ava,” she said.
I smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s my name…I think. What’s your name?”
She stared at me, longer this time, scanning every feature of my face. Then her eyes went wide and she shook her head.
“No, Ava.”
“No what?”
She reached her hand out towards me. I was nervous. What did she want? She flexed her fingers back and forth, motioning for me to accept her hand. I hesitated, but then decided that if she wanted to harm me, she would have already done so. Her hand was covered in a black glove that she removed before taking my hand. As we touched, I almost pulled my hand back; hers was ice cold. She furrowed her brow at mine in a similar reaction, noting how warm my hand was.
I recollected all the bonding I had done, especially the hand-holding with Henrietta and Victor. Did this Stargazer want to do something similar? I stood there, waiting, my heart racing, wondering what was going to happen, as she pressed her palm against mine. We held our hands up in the air, as if we were signaling a halt to each other.
It took some time, but eventually my warm hand became ice cold like hers. I began to shiver, but held onto her, our fingers interlaced, desperate for answers, in whatever form they came. Her head tilted around as if she were listening for something, and then her eyes closed. I watched her in awe, until suddenly she clasped my hand in a tight grip. I thought my bones were going to break, but if she was exerting all her strength, it was too little to harm me. She let go of me and then fell to one knee, as if bowing before me.
“What are you doing?”
She looked up at me and said something in Stellar, quiet and calm. I shook my head at her, frustrated that we couldn’t communicate, frustrated that if I was a Stargazer, why didn’t I know how to speak Stellar. Why couldn’t someone tell me who I was?
The door opened and several guards with their weapons pointed at us began to advance. I went to protect the unknown Stargazer but surprisingly, she sprang up and interjected herself between me and the guns. The Red Woman followed behind the guards in her trademark red dress, click-clacking her red heels across the white tiled floor. She didn’t seem scared but more nervous, uneasy. It didn’t seem like she was in control at all, lacking in confidence; her steps were a little wobbly.
The Stargazer held her ground in front of me, protecting me. I didn’t understand why. One of the guards was in the front. He pulled the trigger and I grabbed the Stargazer, trying to pull her down to the ground, hoping to save her from suffering the horrible pain and disorientation, but she lunged forward after the man with lightning fast speed; she grabbed his gun, crumpled it in her hand as if it were a ball of paper, and then slammed both her hands into his chest, sending him flying back across the room, and through the wall. She took out three more guards in this fashion before she was subdued by several blasts from their weapons. It took a lot to bring her down, but she eventually fell, her eyes wide, red blood running from her nose, as her brain had exploded from within her skull. I tried to reach out to her, to hold her, but the rest of the guards blocked me with their weapons targeting my head.
I didn’t know if I could be as fast as the Stargazer. I didn’t know if I could incapacitate even one guard before another shot me twice, ending my life for good.
“Stop!” yelled the Red Woman. She approached, nervously, and stood several feet from me. “Calm down,” she said softly.
“Calm down!” I looked at her with absolute disbelief. “They murdered her!”
“She was a threat.”
“You’re the threat! She was trying to protect me from you!”
She took another step forward, a bit more confident. “And just who are you?”
I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Medusa was able to translate some interesting words from the Stargazer. Yes, we know a little bit more about you.”
“What? What’d she say?”
“You’re—”
“Madam Secretary?” Medusa appeared on screen.
The Red Woman turned to her. “Yes?” she asked, annoyed that she was interrupted.
“President Pallas wants to see Ava, immediately.”
I gasped and so did the Red Woman. I was finally going to meet the great Julius Pallas. What was the meaning of this? Why now? What had the Stargazer said to elicit such an unexpected meeting?
“Is that…wise?” asked the Red Woman.
“President Pallas wants you to escort her to Quadrant Delta with two armed guards.”
I remembered Quadrant Delta was a place of mystery—a place the Red Woman had been to. But it wasn’t the president’s quarters. So what was there and why was I being summoned to that location?
The Red Woman was in a state of shock. “Only two guards? Why can’t she be restrained or sedated?”
“It is President Pallas’s wish that she be conscious and mobile. He said if you disagreed with his order, you were to be terminated—immediately.”
In an abrupt change of scenery, most of the guards, except for two, who still had their weapons on me, turned theirs towards the Red Woman. Her eyes went wide with disbelief.
“I-I understand. I will comply.”
“Thank you, Madam Secretary.” Medusa turned to me. “Hello, Ava.”
“Hi, Medusa,” I greeted back, shocked.
“President Pallas is most anxious to see you.”
“Why?”
“You will soon find out. Goodbye.”
Medusa disappeared and the room was eerily silent, except for a low humming noise. That silence was broken by the arrival of doctors in white lab coats, two of them being John and Loren. A table was brought in and the dead Stargazer was securely restrained to it, even though she could no longer be a threat—dead.
John and Loren wanted to walk to me, but were prevented by the guards. Despite being angry with them, I wanted to go to them too. I found myself desiring to forgive them, and I didn’t know why I felt that way. I should be clenching my fists, threatening them, watching their eyes go wide and their mouths stretching in pain as I crushed their bones.
Victor said that forgiveness was a human trait, but often forgotten. Did the Stargazers possess forgiveness? Was it more acute in their physiology or was I the exception? Is that why I was the anomaly? If I was such a freak, the Stargazer would have shunned me, or worse, destroyed me. Why did she bow? Why did she try to protect me? And what did the Red Woman know? What did Medusa hear? And why was Pallas, after all this time, so eager to meet me in the mysterious Quadrant Delta of all places?
The doctors exited the room with the dead Stargazer, but John and Loren remained. They looked at me warily, as if I would turn violent like the woman before me. Yet they loved me enough to stay out of concern for my well-being. I wanted to go to them; I wanted them both to hold me; I wanted to believe I was human and I wanted them to believe that as well.
The guards were between us, but it seemed there was always going to be something or someone between us. I wasn’t part of their world. My appearance was too distracting. I could change my hair and my eyes, but I couldn’t change who I was: a Stargazer, a human, an anomaly, a lost girl--a lost, scared little girl, who despite having more freedoms than other prisoners, still felt like a caged bird, never being allowed to fully spread her lavender wings.
“Ava,” Loren whispered, his hand reaching out for me.
I shook my head.
“Ava has an appointment with the president,” stated the Red Woman, approaching them, click-clacking with a resounding echo. “Go see to the deceased Stargazer. I’m sure you’ll discover something unique about her.” She turned to me with a wicked smile. “I already have.”
John and Loren stood their ground, not wanting to leave, but the Red Woman snapped her fingers and two guards roughly pushed them towards the door, and out of the room. More guards left until there were only two, as President Pallas had ordered.
“Well,” began the Red Woman, brushing the blonde curls fro
m her face, “you’re finally going to meet the Beneficial One. Be on your best behavior. He doesn’t tolerate insolence.”
I smiled at her. “If he’s been monitoring, he knows I’m not exactly the most modest prisoner.”
“Oh, he’s been monitoring your every move since you arrived. I’ve never seen him take such an interest in an alien before. I admit it vexes me.”
“Is it because all his attention has been on me and not you?”
She scoffed loudly. “As if an alien—a freak alien at that could possibly consume his thoughts.”
“Well, we’re going to Quadrant Delta. What’s in there? And why do I get to see it when you were so…blessed earlier?”
She looked around at the guards. “That place is very…unique. It’s not for anyone to gaze upon.”
I smiled. “Well, I guess I’m not just anyone, now am I?”
Her lazy eye quivered, as if she were going to explode in anger. “I agree. You are definitely someone. The question is: what will Pallas do with you now?”
“Am I a threat to him?”
“You’ve been a threat to him since you first arrived.”
“Is that why you hate me?”
“I hate you because you’re the enemy.”
“What have I ever done to you?”
“You existed! Now, no more discussion—we can’t keep our Dear Leader waiting. And I’m most anxious to see what he’ll do with you now.”
She turned quickly, click-clacking across the floor. One of the guards motioned for me to proceed, which I did—glad to be out of that room that brought back such painful memories, and eager to meet Pallas. I felt in this moment, everything would be revealed. I was ready. Even if I were to die after learning the truth, I had to know before I took my last breath.
Chapter 12
We traveled in an elevator to Quadrant Delta. It took some time and I figured Echo and Delta were very far apart. Whatever Delta was, Pallas didn’t want it near anyone. When the doors opened, it wasn’t out into a hallway as I had imagined. There was a narrow passageway, barely wide enough for one person. The Red Woman went first, then me, and finally the two guards. Another guard, faceless with a black visor over his features, was standing in front of a white door at the end.
“Well, what are you standing there for?” she asked him. “Let us pass.”
“Only the anomaly is allowed inside,” he replied in a mechanical voice.
The Red Woman gasped. “No, he wouldn’t allow himself to be alone with her…without me.”
The faceless guard nodded to the two behind me.
“Madam Secretary,” said one. “Come with us.”
She turned around, staring not at them, but at me. Her face was as red as her dress. “This is outrageous!”
I was glad to be rid of her, but nervous as to being alone with Pallas. She protested, cursing, as the two guards grabbed her and hauled her away. I was alone with the faceless and mechanical guard. He turned and pushed a button on the wall and the white door slid open.
“You may proceed,” he said.
As I walked past him, I noticed that he was actually a machine—an android. I was fascinated by him, desiring to know more, but he shut the door in my face, and I was forced to turn around and examine the room I was in, finally discovering Quadrant Delta.
Everything was black. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear water rushing, and birds chirping.
“Hello?”
My voice echoed. The room seemed very large. I waited and waited, but nothing happened. I decided to take a few more steps until I was no longer in the dark, but greeted with blinding light. I thought I was in another Examining Room, but it wasn’t a light bulb that shined down upon me. It was the sun. I was standing on a sandy shore with a wide blue ocean before me. White fluffy clouds spread across the blue sky. And the sun, a big, orange sphere, greeted me. I saw something in the distance. I took my hands and cupped them around my eyes, blocking out the sun. Beyond was trees—a vast forest—an explosion of green everywhere.
Firm, but gentle hands rested on my shoulders. “Does this look familiar?” asked a deep voice.
I panicked, scared, and went to flee from his embrace, but he held me rooted to the sandy shore. He was so strong.
“Are you Pallas?”
“I am for the people of Sanctuary. But that’s not my real name—as ‘Ava’ is not your real name…princess.”
“Why did you call me that?”
As we communicated, I felt like I knew him, knew his voice, but I wasn’t sure of who he was.
“Remember,” he said softly. He placed his warm hand over my eyes and then removed it.
The sun moved its position in the sky. It was heading west, falling towards the horizon. Two people were swimming out in the vast ocean. They were far away, but I could see them as if they were right in front of me. It was me with my long lavender hair, smiling, laughing, and having fun, as I swam in the water, playfully being chased by a man with shoulder-length black hair. He finally caught me or I let him catch me, I didn’t know, and as we held each other, twirling around in the blue water, I saw his face. He was no longer the shadow of my mind who I had been plagued with seeing ever since my arrival and awakening in the Corporation. He was the man I loved.
I watched us swim, reaching the other side of the shore, and then I took off running, daring him to catch me, as we coursed through the thick, green forest, laughing as we went. We disappeared and only the waves crashing in the ocean could be heard and the birds twittering in the forest.
“I’ve missed you, my love.”
His grip on me loosened and I turned quickly to see the man behind me. It was him—the black-haired man from my vision—the shadow of my mind. All reason vanished as I pulled him to me, embracing him with all my superior strength. He gently grabbed my face and planted his soft lips against mine, kissing me long and deep. It was like I was on fire, burning, melting away my cold interior. Any questions I had vanished as we melted with each other. It took him to pull away for me to catch my breath.
We stared at each other, savoring one another. I saw his eyes—pitch black, just like his hair. He wore black pants and a black long-sleeved shirt with a few buttons loosened, exposing a patch of black chest hair. He was barefoot; his toes barely visible beneath the sand. But who was he? And who was I?
“I don’t remember being here,” I said, looking out at the ocean.
He brushed his knuckles against my cheek. “It was a long time ago. We arrived here in the year 2013. Of course, it wasn’t here exactly, but in an actual ocean and an actual forest on Earth.” He swept his hand at the ocean. “This isn’t real. I built it to remember you.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “I could never let you go.”
I grabbed his hand, holding it to my chest, over my rapidly beating heart. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“You’re a Stargazer. I’m not. We are both from the same planet, but of different races. I am immortal—a slave to the Stargazers. You, on the other hand, are royalty—a princess. We fell in love. It was greeted with absolute horror by your father, the Overlord. So, we escaped—stole a ship—and traveled in space—trying to find a suitable place to live. We came upon here, Earth, and settled. We were accepted. No one tried to imprison us or study us. They thought we were just like them—human. We learned their language very quickly and integrated into society.” He smiled at me affectionately. “We were very happy, just the two of us, with no one to denounce our love.”
“What happened?” I asked, in total shock of everything he was telling me, but at the same time, relieved to know the truth.
He held me close as if I was going to run away. “We were found by a member of the royal guard. I tried to lead him away from you, but I failed, and when I came back, you were gone. I assumed you were already in space, heading back to our planet. I spent the next 500 years as a hermit, depressed, cursing my fate as an immortal. I wanted to die if I couldn’t be with yo
u.”
“But I was found, here, on this planet.”
“Five hundred years ago, the Stargazers began their attack of planet Earth. They were led by a new Overlord who sought to colonize and extract the planet’s resources. Their home world was no longer capable of supporting life; their sun was slowly dying. I stayed away, knowing they would be looking for me, thinking I had kidnapped you to this planet instead of you willingly joining me because you loved me. Even as an immortal, they could still find ways to punish me. But when I happened across a Stargazer patrol, they knew nothing of me and what I had done. They thought I was a lost slave, having disembarked from the arrival ship, still orbiting Earth. I was admitted into the service of the Overlord, who quickly subdued Earth. I bided my time, waiting, and then with the help of humans, I crushed as many Stargazers as I could. I was…ruthless in my vengeance—my desire to inflict harm upon the ones who didn’t want us to be together. I built Sanctuary—the dome—and the Corporation. I invited all the humans to be a part of this society, but there were many who resisted me. I’ve been dealing with them and the Stargazers ever since.”
I pulled away from him. “Look at what you’ve done! This place is a dictatorship!”
He furrowed his brow at me, shocked. “I had to restore order.”
“Not at the expense of people’s freedoms—of their lives.”
Unexpectedly, he chuckled, wagging his finger at me. “You know, you were like this all those years ago. You became too human, living beside them, even for that short time.”
“What happened to me? Where did I go? It’s been a 1,000 years.”
“The guard who found you—he took you back to his ship—orbiting Earth—and placed you in containment—you were essentially asleep for 1,000 years. I found this out recently, with the Stargazer who died before you.”
“Who was she? How did she recognize me?”
“She is born and bred to serve royal blood. She knew you were special. She’s a member of the royal guard—that’s why I’m concerned—she’s guard to the Overlord.”
“You’re afraid of him.”
Stargazer Page 14