Star Kissed (14 page)

It’s not you. It’s me. And my career.

She almost laughed. She had no career anymore.

“This is just weird,” Cesar mumbled again. “This can’t be LA.”

“It’s a huge city. You get used to it after awhile,” she said without looking away from her note.

“Do they always send armed guards to greet the plane?”

“Armed what?” she asked, uncertain she heard him with the talking passengers in the aisle next to her.

“Guards. As in, there’s like an entire platoon circling the plane.”

Puzzled by his explanation, Mandy locked her smart phone and put it in her purse. She unsnapped her seatbelt and shifted into the middle seat to see what Cesar was talking about.

“Oh, weird,” she said. Just as he described, there was a line of men in black uniforms with what looked like oxygen masks and strange gear. She didn’t see guns, but they carried some kind of weapons.

“I’ve never seen riot gear like that,” Cesar said.

Mandy leaned forward, crowding him, frowning as she tried to recall ever seeing such a scene before when she traveled to LA. One of the men tossed something onto the wing. It was small and black, like a hockey puck. It touched the plane and turned into a white-blue blaze too bright to look at. She shaded her eyes, trying to see what it did.

When the light faded, she lowered her hand.

“The wing’s gone,” Cesar whispered.

She stared. He was right. The strange puck had disintegrated half the wing. Nothing remained. Not even dust.

“Did we just really see that?” she asked.

“Oh, shit,” Cesar breathed.

The same man approached the side of the plane, another puck in hand.

“C’mon. We need to get the fuck out of here,” Cesar said.

He rose fast enough to smash his head against the low overhead luggage bins and to smack her chin. Mandy stared, unable to believe this was anything other than a dream.

The man outside the plane tossed the puck a few rows behind her.

“If you don’t want to be fried, you better move.” Cesar snatched her arm and yanked her up. “Everyone,
move
!” he shouted. “Back of the plane. Now!”

Those around them quieted, gazing at him curiously. Mandy didn’t wait. She went over the seat behind her, mentally calculating where the puck was. Cesar pushed her to help, barking orders at the other passengers.

Blinding white-blue light filled her vision.

“Helen summons you.”

Mandy snapped awake. She was breathing hard and scrambled out of bed, at first seeing nothing but rows of plane seats. The dream cleared, and she relaxed, almost crying in relief.

She was beginning to remember what happened when they landed, and it wasn’t good. Had Cesar survived? What happened after the light? Would there be more dreams?

“Helen summons you,” the guard repeated.

Even knowing no one was behind her, she still caught herself looking. She rose unhappily, distressed by the nightmare. A small box of space food was on a nearby table. Fixing her hair hastily with shaking hands, she then took the box with her to the hallway, starving.

One of the ten-foot guards awaited her. Mandy wolfed down three space Twinkies, mind racing with the thought of trying to recall more about what happened when she landed.

Whatever it was, it was bad. The heavy dread in her gut almost made her forget to follow the guard through a panel.

Hichele was with Helen when Mandy walked in. She set the cube on a bench and waited for someone to tell her what her awful tasks were for the day. Hichele still carried a switch. Mandy rubbed her arms, looking down when she didn’t feel any welts.

They were completely gone. She twisted her arms to see them from every direction, confused. She went to sleep with them and woke up with none.

For a moment, she had the sense that this world wasn’t quite real again. That she was asleep on the plane just waiting for the familiar bump of landing to wake up.

“Are you well?” the queen asked.

Mandy looked up, focusing. “Yes, thanks.”

“You look …”

Mandy touched her hair.

“Your hair is fine. You’re glowing,” the middle aged woman said with the slightest smile. “Or scared. I can’t tell.”

“Weird day,” Mandy said. “I think I’m happy to be alive, but I’m not sure.”

“My queen, we should teach her how to address those at our stations,” Hichele proclaimed.

“I’d be delighted to learn.”

Mandy’s words drew the amused look of the queen and a spiteful look from Hichele.

“You are beautiful,” Helen said. “I imagine even among your own kind?”

“I was a model,” Mandy said. “Not a popular one or anything though.”

Hichele was glaring at her. “My queen, I hope to have an heir in my womb already,” she said.

“You will do your duty well,” Helen said, turning to her. “I look forward to the birth of your child.”

Placated, Hichele smiled. Mandy slung on her cloak and yanked up her hood to hide the faces she wanted to make. She was sick of the woman already.

She trailed the two around the station for half the day, lost in her thoughts about her dream and her bizarre interaction with Akkadi. She could definitely work that angle. Now calm and no longer feeling as spurned, she was able to see he had been more than interested in her. Whatever it was that pulled him away, it couldn’t be her. At least, she told herself this, unable to consider the idea that she’d fail and he’d never open the star gate.

What happened if she couldn’t convince him?

Panic made her tug the hood of her robe forward to make sure no one else could see her turmoil. She struggled to pay attention to the two she followed, caught up in her emotions instead.

Her distraction earned her several more snide comments from Hichele and the switch whenever Helen left them alone. There were more meetings with strangers to introduce Hichele as the newest member of the family, a tour of the deck where the queen lived with the other older members of the Naki family, and a long discussion in the queen’s quarters between the two women. The events passed in a blur.

Unable to hear anything anyway, Mandy moved from her position to the windows while the two spoke, still unable to digest what happened to her world. It was irreparable. She’d rather be dead ten thousand years than live to see what became of her home.

She always felt guilty about not recycling enough. Staring at the dead planet, she doubted it would’ve made much of a difference anyway.

Melancholy replaced her boredom. Mandy leaned against the window, aching to be home again. Even if that meant going back to her boyfriend, the one she was in the middle of breaking up with when ripped away from her world. Seeing him again and being unemployed suddenly didn’t seem so bad when faced with the monumental task of trying to convince someone like Akkadi to open a star gate to send her back. Which was worse? Her miserable life or being a bored slave in this one?

“You are deep in thought.”

Mandy turned. Helen stood a few feet away. Hichele was nowhere to be seen, meaning Mandy hadn’t bowed to acknowledge her farewell. She knew without a doubt this meant the switch the first time she saw Hichele again.

“I miss my world,” Mandy said, frustrated. “My family, my life. Everything, I guess.”

“Understandable. The servants said you didn’t return last night to their quarters,” Helen clasped her hands behind her back as her son did and moved to the window. “May I ask, which of the princelings took you as his consort?”

Mandy flushed. “Akkadi. Sort of.”

“Akkadi? He’s never touched a human before, according to the servants.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think he’s happy about it. He agreed then spent the night elsewhere.”

“A man that disciplined wouldn’t have made an exception if there was not some persuasive reason.” Helen smiled and looked out the window. “My son fears the side of him that’s human. You likely touched something he’s trying hard to deny, and he’s figuring out what to do.”

“What a mess this place is.” Mandy sighed then studied the smaller woman. “You are a human?”

“I am,” came the reply. “It is one of the secrets of our family. The Naki kings all wed purebred humans. It’s how their bloodline remains safe from the disease.”

Mandy stared at her.

“It’s the only reason Nakis open the star gate. In the hopes of finding stray humans to take home with them.” The queen was amused. “The Naki rulers are more human than Naki after so many generations of breeding with our kind.”

“You came through a star gate, too?”

“I did.”

“When are you from?” Mandy asked, intrigued.

“1962. From the Bronx of all places,” the Naki-queen said. “I was on a plane to the West Coast during spring break when a weird storm overtook us.”

“That’s what happened to me! Didn’t you try to go back?”

“Of course, at first.” Helen’s pensive pause made Mandy antsy. “There’s no guarantee, though, where the wormhole will open in time. Akkadi’s grandmother was from the 1500s. My husband opened the star gate thrice for me, nearly bankrupting him in the process. It always opened in the wrong time. But, by the third try, I’d fallen in love with him. Even if it was the right time, I wouldn’t have gone back.”

“Akkadi won’t even consider opening it for me!” Mandy snapped, even angrier with him.

“We cannot afford to open it and fight a war now, though that might change, if Akkadi can shift the battles to his advantage. The amount of energy it requires is incredible, and Akkadi’s father has focused much of his resources on finding a cure to the disease,” Helen explained. “The currency here is energy. Shards. Everything is traded in energy increments. So to pay that much to open a star gate to send you home is not in the interest of the empire as a whole.”

It made too much sense, but Mandy wasn’t able to accept the idea of spending her lifetime in such a time and place.

“Hichele’s energy marbles could do it,” she insisted.

“Allegedly,” Helen said. “They are being tested. Her family is known for its ability to manipulate its way to power. I don’t trust that they’ll work the way her father claims they will.”

“You don’t approve of her marrying into the family,” Mandy guessed, assessing the cool note in the woman’s tone.

“I respect the choices of my family. The Naki way is not to find happiness in marriage but someone you can tolerate long enough to produce an heir,” Helen replied. “But no, I don’t. I think inviting her into the family is a mistake.”

“I don’t think I’d trust that woman with your secret of being human,” Mandy said. “It’s not my place, but she’s really off.”

“The slaves say the same.” Helen’s mood dimmed. “After the ceremony, she’ll begin to learn all our secrets.”

“That will not bode well for me, if I can’t get home,” Mandy snorted.

“Oh? How so?”

“Something about sending me to the earth mines in a few months and she keeps whacking me with the switch.” Mandy glanced down at her arms. She didn’t see the woman’s surprise. “Akkadi doesn’t seem to want me around either. I think I could go back to earth. Urik would probably protect me.”

“Urik is the best of men,” Helen said warmly.

“You’re American. How can you tolerate slavery anyway?” Mandy asked suddenly. “I mean, I was
sold
at an auction. The guy beside me didn’t get bought and was dropped into space.”

The queen nodded, gaze returning to the planet. For a long moment, Mandy didn’t think she would answer.

“You can’t change a culture and society overnight,” Helen said finally. “I’ve done a great deal. Had my husband outlaw the poor treatment of any of the servants, at least, among the imperial stations and personnel. We can’t control the planets. They’re much like the states in the US – still allowed to determine their own internal laws.” She shook her head. “I raised my kids right. In some ways, the Naki are more advanced with women’s rights among the aristocracy. I negotiate all the treaties for my husband and am his official stand-in. I can’t approve laws, but you can be damned sure I have a hand in drafting them. My daughter will be the next Naki ruler. She will further the human rights cause.”

Mandy smiled at the firm words. “You ever miss home?”

“Of course. I had a fiancé and four sisters. Every once in awhile, I think about them and wonder what happened. But, I have my own family here.”

“How can you stand the Naki men?” Mandy complained.

The Naki queen laughed. “They are humans pretending to be Naki. You just have to crack their shell.”

“Akkadi has no shell. He’s just an ass. Even when we …” Mandy cleared her throat.

“Go ahead. I’m well aware of what happens when one takes a consort,” was the entertained response.

“That’s the problem. Nothing happened. He just walked out.”

“Know that he is honorable but that he has been brainwashed in the way of the Naki. He’d rather deny the part of him that’s human. He simply doesn’t realize he can’t,” Helen said. “I think you can teach him that.”

“I don’t think I want to. I want to go home.” Mandy met the woman’s gaze again.

Helen appeared sympathetic but amused in a way that made Mandy wish she knew the woman better. The look made her uncomfortable, and she reminded herself that Helen had given up any hope of ever getting home long ago and appeared to accept the Naki tradition of
breeding
with humans. Helen didn’t understand what Mandy felt when she saw Akkadi: a one-way trip home. She didn’t intend to stick around long enough to teach Akkadi anything.