by Derek Baker
The Admiral, flabbergasted, looked back to his colleagues, who urged him on. “Why…I don’t know what to say under these…well…changed circumstances.”
“Do you accept the cease-fire or not? Because…if the battle were to continue as it were, my father had an extra fleet coming in to destroy yours from behind. No more harm will come to either side, and I will be willing to consider reparations when the time comes, but I would like both parties to retain their pride.”
The Admiral was at a loss for words.
“Yes! Yes, we accept the cease-fire, god damn it! And where’s Delvon, Chym?”
Half of the room raised an eyebrow, the other laughed silently at Alexander, doing what he did best: speaking when he was not supposed to.
Chapter 31 – October 2135
“Where’s Daddy? …Peekaboo!”
Violet giggled with delight. Claire came in from the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel wrapped around the tangled mess. I watched her take the towel off, tending to it with a polished, metallic, Martian brush. Her robe dropped, and she stood there in front of the mirror, the right angle so that I could see her freshly cleansed body both front and back. I looked away politely, not wanting to be aroused this early in the morning.
“Big day ahead of you,” she said, attention focused still on her hair.
“I assume you mean not in my pants,” I smirked, to which she gave a stern look, “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”
“Are you sure you don’t want your girlfriend and daughter to be with you when they announce the Peace Provisions?” She set the brush down, going to the drawer, picking out a pair of panties and sliding into them.
“Well, I’ve actually been thinking about that.”
“About us going to the conference?”
“No, about the whole girlfriend thing.”
She strapped on her bra and began putting on the Martian one-piece, pausing to give me another stern look. “What do you mean?”
“I guess…I was wondering…if maybe…”
“What? What is it?”
“Do you…wanna get married?”
She was visibly taken aback, a hand went to her forehead. “Delvon? Are you proposing to me?”
“Um, not officially, I suppose, I realize this is a lame way to ask…”
She hopped on my lap, kissing me on the lips. “Delvon, you know I’ll marry you. I just want to be sure of one thing…”
“Oh, no, it’s not because I feel obligated! If Violet was the deciding factor I would’ve asked as soon as I could have, babe!”
“No, no, no…” She stood, waving my ignorant statement away with a flick of her wrist. “I mean, are you sure this isn’t one of those hallucinations? You’re not just…imagining this, are you?”
I stood up too. “No, of course not! Claire, you and I both know I haven’t had a hallucination in weeks! They’re gone, I can tell. The whole episode, or whatever you wanna call it, it’s over. It’s out of my head now. No, listen, I know this is completely real. I definitely want to marry you, nothing would make me happier!”
She shrugged; a tear crept from the corner of her eye. “Then, I accept. Let’s get married!”
I rushed toward her, embracing and kissing her some more. “I’m telling you, babe, I’ll get you the most dazzling diamond the Martians can mine up!”
~~~~~
The weeks that followed the torture on Wendra were filled with haunting nightmares, hallucinations, and medications. I saw a Martian psychiatrist (I would have preferred a human but they wouldn’t be able to help with me a problem caused by alien technology) who told me there had only been a few incidents of this ever happening with trans-dimensional technology, all on planets that had been occupied by Wendrans.
I chose not to burden Claire by telling her what the tortures had consisted of; frankly I didn’t want to talk about it with anybody. I made up some bullshit about being in some dream world where Wendrans would tie me up and use various interrogation methods on me until I cracked.
When Beltrush had twisted his father’s neck around, the guards had immediately dragged the body off, not saying a word. A couple more minutes passed and they returned, asking their new Emperor what he wished them to do. He waved them away, saying he needed a moment to collect his thoughts. I wondered if the Wendrans had an official coronation ceremony.
He whispered in hushed tones with Chym for a couple minutes, before he strode over to my side. Suddenly I heard a coughing noise next to me. It was Quansor, back from the dead.
“Ah, good man, Quansor. I wish I could fake it for that long,” Beltrush said to him, before turning back to me, who was absolutely stupefied by the events that had just transpired.
“Well, human, best be on your way then. I’ll summon a shuttle for you and you can return to your fleet. Chym and I will have some matters to wrap up, but I think you for your part you played, however unintentional or not.”
I sighed, “You...just expect me to walk away and pretend nothing ever happened? I went through hell and back, uh…I suppose I’ll say your highness.”
He nodded solemnly. “First time I’ve been called that as the new Emperor. Sounds alright to me. But no, I don’t expect you to forget. Not now, or ever. In fact, I hope you never forget what has occurred here today, human. Maybe someday you can write a book about it.”
I frowned. “Maybe.”
~~~~~
I sat with Alexander and Chym at a banquet table towards the front of the assembly hall when Shri’Buk’Tai approached the podium. The entire hall fell into hushed silence as he cleared his throat. Emperor Beltrush the First stood close behind.
We were in the city of Tai, cluttered in the now busting downtown that flourished with new travelers from both Earth and Wendra. It seemed that Mars was on its way out of its long self-imposed isolation. Such was the same case for Earth.
“First of all, I would like to welcome our visitors from each and every planet that was involved in the recently concluded conflict,” The Prime Minister said in Martian, translated on a screen for each species’ language.
“I also welcome with highest regard the Emperor Beltrush the First of Wendra, who has been most cooperative in negotiating an end to this long and bloody affair.” There was a clap of hands, fluttering of wings, etc.
“I welcome too some special guests: Premier Tyulkch of the new Gemo Kayan alliance, Duke Gubalan Ka of the Hynapi’s, and Prime Minister Ashton Presley of the New Earth Coalition. As you all well know, we have gathered here today to reveal the provisions of the Peace Treaty which shall put to rest, once and for all, the aggression of Wendra and bring tranquility and stability to the galactic sector for the foreseeable future.” Another applause.
Shri’Buk’Tai cleared his throat once again, “The provisions are as follows: Number One, the planet Wendra shall abandon its imposed monopoly on all planets, colonies and settlements throughout the galactic sector that interfere with the trade flow, opening up trade with the hope of promoting free trade across the sector; Number Two, all involved militant parties shall reduce their respective militaries by half, and…oh, Emperor Beltrush? Yes, you may read the rest.”
The young Emperor that killed his father just weeks earlier with his bare hands before my eyes stepped forward. Though he was still an adolescent by Wendran standards, he was said to possess the intellect of his Empire’s finest minds all put together.
“Hm, yes. Thank you, Prime Minister and everyone else. Number three, Wendra shall pay reparations to the governments of all harmed worlds. I mean that, and give my word to swear by. Number four, we will create an interstellar entity called the Presley Cooperative, a confederate structure that will act as an international negotiation medium for resolving disputes and mis-happenings across cosmic borders. It is named after Prime Minister Ashton Presley, who based the idea off her own United Nations on Earth. Number Five…”
~~~~~
“I’m just saying Delvon, I thought it wasn’t that harsh on the Wendra
ns,” Alexander said, loading his plate with appetizers at the refreshment table once the speeches had concluded.
“And I’m just saying, man, Beltrush could have still won the war for the Wendrans if he had wanted to. If we had lost at Wendra we would have lost the whole war. If we had won, the war would have dragged on for years. He’s just not that kind of person like his father was.”
“How would you know? You never met Albalon.”
I held my tongue. Alexander hadn’t seen me when now-Emperor Beltrush and Chym had sent the transmission to the fleet asking for a cease-fire. Chym had begged me to stay silent about everything that had happened. How I had thought he was a traitor, he dragged me into the late Emperor’s chamber to be tortured, about how I had witnessed the conspiracy within a conspiracy. I reluctantly agreed, not really wanting the extra attention anyhow.
“So what do you have planned when you go back to Earth?” I asked Alexander.
“Well,” he smiled, “it looks like I’m going to fulfill my promise to you after all.”
“What do you mean?” I looked at him uncertainly.
“Don’t tell me you don’t remember, man. On the way up to see Halley’s Comet, you made me promise that I would go back to school. Well…I’m going to make that happen!”
I grinned ear to ear, “Well that’s great! Damn, seems like a lifetime ago when we said that. Wow. Yeah, I remember now. Well congrats to you! Where you going to attend then? Or have you decided?”
“Oh, I’ve decided. Ashton Presley put in a word for me…I’m gonna go to Harvard, man.”
My mouth made an O. “Holy shit, nice! That’s…that’s incredible. Good luck to you man!”
“What about you? What are you going to do?”
I grabbed him by the shoulder, snorting. “Oh boy, I’ve got some great news that I haven’t told anyone as of this morning…” We walked back to our table.
~~~~~
The next spring, in April of 2136, Claire and I had our wedding. Alexander was my best man. My parents watched from the front row as we exchanged our vows. Violet’s grandparents on her mother’s side held our daughter on the other side of the aisle. Claire’s parents were really nice people, and they found it hilarious when I told them I regretted not meeting them the first time I had a chance. The wedding was held in Baltimore, and our honeymoon was a trip to Florida of all places. Apparently we thought it’d be nice to keep a little bit of the old traditon even in the time of the new.
After that, I began formal training as a new pilot for the new official Earth Space Fleet. I gave up the telescopes for good, seeing as I could now actually go to the places I had peered at through a lens for all those years. The astronomer in me turned into an astronaut. After my torture and remembering the message of purpose it had given me, I decided that I had to go after my dreams.
My parents decided that enough had been enough, and chose to retire from their old factory jobs in light of recent occurrences and moved to Mars. As they explained it, the gravity was easier and the place was a lot quieter than the hectic cleanup and new construction going on all over Earth. I was surprised at first, almost protested their decision, but realized it was probably for the best.
Chym tried to keep a low profile, vacating his position as the Earth Ambassador and travelled abroad. He even declined an offer to be the Governor General for the new Earth Coalition, which would have been a second-in-command spot under Ashton Presley’s administration. I suppose he was too humble, or felt like he had done his duty and was ready to be finished. It was many years before I saw him again.
Alexander went off to study at Harvard University. He started fresh, and was apparently a very eager student and graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in only three years. There was no longer any distraction, say like a Havenist movement, to get in his way of graduating. He would take his Political Science degree far. He had found his purpose, his kick in life, as well.
As for mankind in general, there was still much to be done. We had achieved so much, overcoming the odds and managing to fend off an alien invasion (or allowed to, secretly) and attempting to come together as a species. It would still be long before we could totally extinguish our inner struggles and push forward as a singular species with a singular goal. Still, we immerged from the first interstellar war a far cry from where we were when Alexander and I were abducted that fateful night. Mankind had yet to see its violet skies and realize its purpose, but it would eventually figure it out in the wake of a new world order.
~~~~~
Before I conclude, I must say one more thing.
During the reception one of the Wendrans approached me cautiously, a look of intent in his eyes. He looked familiar: he was the Emperor’s advisor who had been nearly tortured to death alongside me at the Wendran Palace. His name was Quansor, if I recalled correctly. I couldn’t help but cringe at the sight of him, remembering all that had happened to me.
“Hello, Delvon, it is, yes?” he nodded in an almost guilty manner, like a dog who had gotten caught for doing something wrong.
“Yes, that’s me,” my eyes lowered in suspicion.
He pulled his hand out of his cloak, exposing to me a small metallic disc that he tried to hide from everyone else.
“What’s that?” My voice sounded surprisingly alarmed.
“I uh…” his voice wandered off, “I wasn’t sure who to give this to, but I figured you could share it around, spread the knowledge for historical purposes or something.”
“Yes, but what is it, exactly?”
He looked from side to side before explaining: “On this disc is an audio-visual recording of every conversation I had with the late Emperor Albalon IV from the past year. I want you to have it; I have no use for it.”
My eyes widened, taken aback. “Are…are you sure? I mean, there are many people who’d know better what to do with this than me, with all due respect.”
“Then give it to them. I just want any link I had with the bastard gone and erased, out of my mind. Give it to whomever.”
He clasped his hand in mine, interlocking his awkward fingers and thumbs with my own hand, as if shaking my hand, giving me the disc in the process. “Have a nice life, Delvon.”
I frowned, but said, “You too.”
I went home to my newly fabricated apartment that evening and watched many of the conversations that advisor Quansor had had with his former boss. I was flabbergasted, disgusted by the Emperor’s behavior, bewildered but not too shocked after the treatment he had bestowed unto me. I had no taste for it, so I gave it to Alexander, him being the history buff.
But Alexander liked what he saw.
Epilogue
I don’t know where I am. I don’t know how I’ve gotten here. I know it’s some place strange and dark. Out the window I see nothing recognizable, only a swirl of nebula clouds, multi-colored. I know I’m not in an alternate dimension; nothing would point to that conclusion. This is reality.
I was probably drugged and brought here by my captors. They’re not of a race I have encountered before. I feel like I’ve been travelling for a very long time and across light years upon light years, parsecs upon parsecs. I may not even be in the same galaxy anymore.
I decided to make good use of my time in captivity here. I have written the first volume of my autobiography. I have no idea if anyone will ever read it or know of its existence, but it’s time the truth came out from my perspective. If they ever find me and rescue me, all will be revealed, all my intentions and reasons for my actions finally made known. I may be dead when that ever happens.
Frankly, I don’t give a damn if anyone ever reads this. I don’t need to explain myself or why I did what I did. That all should be self-explanatory.
Claire, if you ever read this, then know that I love you from the bottom of my heart. I never meant for harm to come to our family, and for that, I’m truly sorry.
Violet, you’re the light of my life, my reason to go on, to keep fighting. You’re my purpose,
as I explained in this book.
Chym, wherever you are beyond this life, just know that history will remember you for your good deeds, and if I could do anything about it I would make sure the people realized you only did what was best for everyone. When you killed Alexander, it was the best thing that could have happened for Earth.
And Alexander, I hope you’re rotting in hell right now.
Anyway, if time permits, I will see to it that I can write further volumes about my life and what led to me being on some strange planet as a prisoner for who knows how long. Whoever discovers my accounts may find them interesting or useful in some way in the future. I guess I just wanted to get this all off my chest, read or unread.
Until then, my best regards:
Delvon Galihue