The Voyage Home

by D. J. Holmes

  “Can I help you?” he said in a friendly tone. Though the way he was eying their weapons suggested he was nervous.

  “I hope so,” Sarah said. “I am looking to purchase some slaves.”

  “Is that so?” the alien said slowly. “You are a human are you not? I have never seen a free human before. Never mind five of them. What are you up to? You haven’t brought nearly enough firepower to break out the human slaves I own.”

  “We are not thieves,” Sarah said. “I have been free all my life. Not all of my species are slaves. I am a trader. Others do whatever they want. Slaves are not my preferred commodity, but a profit is a profit. Like I said, I am here to purchase slaves. I hear you have the best around and I was curious to see what kind of human slaves you have. You may have some that can work for me.”

  “Well in that case, let me introduce myself, my name is Harkin,” the alien said. “What exactly are you looking for? When I have slaves to sell, I usually send them to one of the markets in Kashal.”

  “I’m Sarah,” Sarah said. “We were at one of the auctions earlier today. We saw one of the slaves you had for sale. A human like me. I was impressed. I wanted to come and examine your stock of humans.”

  “Of course, of course. Though you may find my prices a little steep,” Harkin said. “As I explained, most of my stock isn’t for sale at the moment. It would take an attractive offer to part any of them from me. What exactly are you looking for, a male to mate with perhaps?”

  “No,” Sarah said as she almost chocked. “Not that. I just want to survey your stock. My crew is in need of a human with a certain set of skills, I’ll let you know if you have what I’m looking for. Don’t worry, I have come prepared to make you an attractive offer.”

  “Excellent,” Harkin said as he spread out his arms in another gesture of welcome. “Come along then, let me give you a tour. Put those away,” he said as he turned to his guards. “These are guests.”

  The guards quickly obeyed and parted as Harkin walked back through them. “Come along, come along,” he called back to Sarah and those with her.

  After waving to the aircar pilot to let her know she could leave, Sarah turned and moved to catch up with Harkin. As she entered the compound, she saw that her guess was right. Almost all the buildings had been constructed from the same material as the slave market in Berius. It seemed like Harkin really was a premier slave breeder.

  “Is it human slaves you are interested in?” Harkin asked as Sarah fell in step beside him.

  “Yes,” Sarah answered.

  “Are you looking for someone?” he followed up.

  “I told you, I will let you know if I see what I am after,” Sarah responded. She knew Harkin was fishing for details. Anything that he could use to get a better price, he would.

  “Well most of my humans will be eating their evening meal now,” Harkin said. “We can go and call in on them.”

  “That would be ideal,” Sarah replied.

  As they stepped into one of the large circular buildings on the outer edge of the compound, Sarah was shocked. There were more than fifty humans sitting around a long table that ran almost from one edge of the building to the other. On one side of the table there were more humans working in a large food preparation area. On the other side, there were living quarters that spanned three stories. Sarah barely noticed either of them. Her attention was on the people eating. There were older humans, younger ones, taller and shorter ones. What really struck her was the diversity of facial features, skin and hair colors. Sarah had never dreamed her race could look so different. Yet as she walked forward looking at each face, she saw they were also alike in many ways.

  “Shall I get them to assemble into an inspection line?” Harkin asked.

  “No,” Sarah said, mesmerized. “Leave them as they are.”

  As she continued, she got more and more excited. Surely there was someone from Earth among all the humans Harkin had. They would be able to tell her far more about her homeworld than Rebecca and her two friends had been able too.

  “Rex?” a voice called from the throng of eating humans. “Is that you?”

  Sarah paused and looked back at Rex. He was hanging back out of sight, but obviously someone had spotted him. A wooden chair scrapping on the floor drew Sarah’s attention back to the large table. An older woman had jumped to her feet and was making her way towards Sarah and her group.

  “Rex, it is you!” the older woman said as she accelerated and opened her arms. “What are you doing back here?”

  Stepping aside, Sarah allowed the woman to pass her. When the woman almost got to within arm’s reach, Rex stepped back. Sarah thought he looked a little embarrassed. “Calm down mother,” he said.

  “Don’t be stupid,” the woman said back as she pulled him into a hug. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.”

  “Rex?” Harkin said in a suspicious tone as he stepped closer to the hugging pair. “I sent him to Kashal to be sold today.” Spinning, he turned to look at Sarah. “What is he doing here?”

  Before Sarah could explain, Harkin’s eyes widened in alarm. “He’s not wearing his slave collar,” he said as he pointed at Rex. The two guards that had accompanied them into the building raised their weapons.

  Rex’s mother broke away from her hug and held up her arms, shielding Rex from the guard’s weapons. “Hold your fire,” she said. “Don’t shoot him Harkin.”

  “I bought him earlier today,” Sarah said, stepping in between Rex and the guards. “He is mine. He is not yours to harm.” At the same time Divar, Rebecca and the other two miners raised their weapons.

  “You bought him?” Harkin said, eying Divar. “Where is his slave collar?”

  “He doesn’t need one,” Sarah said. “I trust him.”

  “Ha,” Harkin said. “He may be one of your species. But you should never trust a slave.”

  “Well that is my mistake to make,” Sarah said. “Now, shall we get back to business? I’d rather be looking to make a purchase than staring down the barrel of a laser rifle.”

  “Yes, of course,” Harkin said after pausing for a moment. He waved at his guards to lower their weapons. “All the same, you won’t mind if I get my security to keep an eye on Rex while he is here?”

  “As long as you don’t hurt him,” Sarah said.

  “It can’t be,” a strangely familiar voice said from behind Sarah. A moment later she felt a hand brush her cheek. Instinctively, Sarah flicked it away and spun around to look at her assailant.

  It was the old woman. She was standing between her and Rex. Her hand was still raised towards Sarah’s face. “It is. You look older, but it is you... Sarah?” the old woman asked.

  Sarah froze. As she stared into the old woman’s eyes, her mind was transported into a nightmare. Closing her eyes, she could see her mother standing on the wooden platform. The evil man was raising his weapon towards her head. Frantically, Sarah cried out for her mother. A shooing noise came from the woman holding her. Looking up, Sarah saw the same eyes that were now staring at her in real life. Opening her eyes again, she examined the old woman’s face and was sure. Her appearance was different, where once her hair had been a vibrant brown, now it was thinner with streaks of grey. Her face was no longer smooth, but was instead dotted with wrinkles. Her body was slightly plumper, but the eyes, the eyes were the same.

  “You,” Sarah said. She was about to launch into a string of questions, but Harkin stepped in between Sarah and the old woman.

  “Does this woman interest you?” he said. The excited look in his eyes made Sarah swallow her questions.

  “Perhaps,” she said as she gave the woman a quick glance, hoping she would stay quiet.

  “Well I’m afraid she is not for sale,” Harkin said. “She is the matriarch of my human population. She oversees all the humans I have, keeps them in line and makes sure their needs are met. She is irreplaceable.”

  Sarah knew what that meant, the old woman would cost an arm and a
leg. Whilst she was prepared to pay whatever it took. Sarah tried a different approach. “Maybe we could come to another type of deal,” she said as she tried as best she could to keep the excitement from her face. “I believe this woman has information I need. I would like to purchase one hour alone with her. That surely wouldn’t cost too much?”

  “Ah, well, I guess not. Not as much as buying her would,” Harkin said, clearly taken aback. “But it would still be costly.”

  “Nonsense,” Sarah said. “Taking her away from her duties for just one hour couldn’t hurt your breeding operation too much. And if you are worried about making a profit, don’t be. I will still be looking to purchase a slave when I am done talking with this one. What shall we say, five thousand credits?” Sarah knew that was steep given how much she had bought Rebecca’s two friend for, yet she didn’t want to put off Harkin.

  “I suppose we could make such a deal,” Harkin said with a smile at the mention of so many credits for something so trivial. “Though only if you commit to purchasing at least one slave today as well.”

  “Then we have a deal,” Sarah said as she took out a credit chip and handed it to Harkin. “You can take your five thousand now and then I will survey your slaves after they have eaten. Is there somewhere private where I can chat with this woman?”

  “We can talk in my quarters if that is ok?” the older woman said.

  “That works for me,” Sarah replied. “Harkin?”

  “Your friends won’t all fit in,” Harkin replied.

  “That is ok,” Sarah said. “They can continue to look around until we are done.”

  “Very well,” Harkin said. “I will leave my guards with you. If you finish early, you can let them know and I can return to discuss your purchase. I have other matters I should attend to anyway.”

  “Excellent,” Sarah said. She guessed Harkin wanted to go and check with the slave market where she had bought Rex. There was no doubt he was suspicious of her and her friends. Yet there wasn’t much he could do when she had made such a reasonable offer. Hopefully they would have what they needed by the time he came back. “You are a very good host,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Harkin replied as he turned to leave. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  “I will,” Sarah said. “Care to lead me to your quarters?” Sarah asked as she spun to look the old woman in the eye. Again, Sarah almost lost herself in her nightmare. The woman was older, yet her eyes seemed just as sharp.

  “Of course Sarah,” the woman whispered with a wink as she turned and walked slowly towards one of the rooms off to the side of the building.

  “Stay here,” Sarah said to Divar before she made to follow her. “Keep an eye on things. Don’t talk to anyone though. We don’t want them getting any ideas.” She was afraid that if they realized Rex didn’t have a slave collar they might get agitated. Whether they got scared or excited, either way, it would make it harder to do any business with Harkin.

  As she started forward, Sarah realized the woman had used her name. It sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn’t remember the woman’s name. It didn’t matter though. Her presence meant one thing. Her dream was real. It hurt her deeply to finally accept her mother was dead. Yet, at the same time, it was a relief. She finally knew. Alexandra had believed her dream to be a real memory. Even so, Sarah had always been reluctant to fully embrace such an idea. Embracing her dream meant her mother really was dead. Now she couldn’t avoid the truth. As she blindly followed the older woman, a new emotion swelled up from Sarah’s gut. The Elders killed my mother, she thought. They enslaved my people and they killed my mother. They will pay.

  Chapter 31

  Sarah’s train of thought was broken as she stepped into the old woman’s room. No lights were on and it was dark. Just as Sarah looked up to see where the old woman had gone, she was pulled into a tight hug. Alarm shot through Sarah. Her body tensed and she prepared to throw the woman off.

  “It’s alright,” the woman said just in time to make Sarah pause. “It’s alright Sarah. You don’t have to fear me.”

  Despite herself, Sarah relaxed into the hug. The woman’s voice was strangely soothing and her body naturally obeyed its commands.

  “You looked after me that day,” Sarah said. “When my mum was killed. You were the woman who was looking after me, weren’t you?”

  “You remember?” the old woman asked.

  “Yes,” Sarah answered. “I dream about it almost every night.”

  “Oh my dear, I am so sorry,” the woman said, pulling her into a tighter hug. “It was such an awful day. I had hoped you were too young to remember. Instead you have carried it with you all these years.”

  “Who are you?” Sarah asked as all her questions began to spill out of her. “Why were you with me? What happened to my mother? Why was she killed? How did we end up on Kashal? Why did you let me be sold into slavery?”

  “I’m so sorry,” the old woman said as she began to sob into Sarah’s shoulder. “I failed your mother, I failed you. I have let you down so badly.”

  “You did,” Sarah said. As her brain began to take over, she hardened her emotions. Gently, she prized the woman away from her. You may have been with me that day, she thought, but I don’t really know you. You could have been the one who sold me into slavery. “You can start making it up to me by answering my questions,” she continued as she stared intently into the woman’s eyes. Just because they were familiar it didn’t mean she was going to trust them. No matter how much her instincts wanted to.

  “Right,” the old woman said as she wiped her eyes. “Where do you want me to start? What do you remember?”

  “Start with your name. Then tell me everything about how we came to be here,” Sarah said. She felt on a knife edge. She was about to get answers to her deepest questions. Yet she feared the woman would lie or betray her.

  “My name is Melissa Walters,” the old woman said. “I have been on Berius for eighteen years. We were brought here by pirates when you were three. I was your mother’s friend. She hired me to help her look after her house when you were born. I still remember holding you as a baby. Do you remember me?”

  “Only in my dreams,” Sarah said.

  “What do you dream about?” Melissa asked.

  “About my mother, the night she was killed,” Sarah answered.

  “I’m so sorry,” Melissa said as tears formed in her eyes again. “I remember that night so clearly. I had already finished my work for the day and was on my way home when your mother called me back. She needed me to come to the house right away. She sounded very strange, almost scared. Yet I went back anyway. I loved your mother. I would have done anything for her.”

  “What was wrong, why did she call you back?” Sarah demanded.

  “They found out,” Melissa said. “I don’t know how, but when I got there, she told me they were coming for her. She handed you to me and told me to run.”

  “Who found out? Who was after her?” Sarah said.

  “The Elders, and the Blackshirts,” Melissa answered.

  Sarah was about to ask who the Blackshirts were, but another image from her dream returned to her. The soldiers in black armor who had stopped her and Melissa near her house. “They are humans who work with the Elders aren’t they?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes,” Melissa answered. “They must have come and taken your mother just after we left. I tried to run away, but they rounded us up. They took us to the announcement square along with hundreds of others. It’s what they do when they want to make a statement. I knew what they were going to do, yet I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t get you away. I couldn’t even stop you from hearing and seeing what was happening. When they killed your mother I barely managed to keep you quiet long enough for us to leave without drawing attention.”

  Sarah looked to the floor. She didn’t want Melissa to see the tears that were forming. “Why did they kill her. What did she do?”

  “We wer
e both members of the Resistance,” Melissa answered.

  “The Resistance,” Sarah repeated as she filled with pride. At least her mother had died for something.

  “Yes, we were working with other humans to overthrow the Elders,” Melissa explained, taking Sarah’s words as a question. “We didn’t know that the Elders ruled so much of the galaxy. They told us almost nothing about themselves. They just keep Earth in a perpetual state of slavery. We cannot exceed a certain population level. Most of our cities have to be small. We can’t advance our technology. In fact, the technological level of Earth is far below where it was when the Elders invaded. When I found all that out, I joined the Resistance. Your mother was already in it. That is how we became friends. I don’t know how the Elders found out about her though.”