“It’s all right.” He gets into the elevator and vanishes, as if suddenly in a hurry.
“Damn it,” I mutter. “Just when we were having a nice, private conversation with some depth, I have to bring up the deal and remind him of what’s going on.”
“Was that meant for me?”Vera asks carefully from my wrist. “I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping when you… well, you know. I just felt the movements.”
I find my suit and put it on. “I hope you enjoyed them. I have to practice my conversational skills, Vera. How many times do you think a prince like that has had a chance to just talk calmly about personal things like we just did? And then I make sure to remind him that I’m here for a price. Just like everyone else he’s ever known.”
“Okay.... Is it healthy to feel sorry for your abductor, Umbra? I don’t have access to Earth sources now, so I can’t check, but I feel like it’s something you should avoid.”
“I think you’re right,” I tell her as I smooth down my suit. “I’ll avoid it. When I can. I don’t know, Vera. He turns me on so much I practically forget my own name. Like, I can’t remember having felt this way ever. When he’s near, all I want is to jump him. Be honest: am I pathetic?”
“If seducing a dreamy and powerful Imperial prince,”Vera chirps, “and maybe securing complete safety for Earth from aliens in the span of sixty-one hours is pathetic, then it’s the kind of pathetic we should all aspire to be.”
I give the stars a last look. “Sometimes I think you’re just saying what you think I want to hear.”
“Perish the thought, Umbra.”
I glance down at the AI on my wrist. “You never do that?”
“Maybe sometimes.”
“Was this one of those times? Wait! Don’t answer that. I will simply thank you for the compliment and choose to think it was real.”
“You do that. Umbra, I have to report that my battery is at fifty percent charge.”
“I don’t have a charger, and I promise I’ll faint on the spot if anyone in this whole alien civilization has one that fits you. How long can you last, with max power saving?” I go to the elevator, and Vera asks it to take us to the cabin.
“I can go for a good few days yet. On standby mode, just listening and intervening if you’re in danger.”
I exit the elevator and walk down the hallway to the cabin. “How well do you understand their language now?”
“Reasonably well. I can usually guess the meaning of any new word they use. They have a second language they use when they don’t want me to understand. I have heard too little to learn it, but I will keep trying. That won’t use much power.”
- - -
After several hours, Caret’ax comes to get me. “We’re in orbit around the moon Grefve, Umbra. It’s a few hours before local midnight where we’ll land, so your wedding will be tomorrow. You can sleep all night. But His Highness thought you might want to see Grefve from the control room.”
I walk along with him to the control room. The planet looks like a small, dirty ball hanging over a much larger, much more colorful ball behind it.
“Is that a gas giant?” I ask as I sit down in one of the many seats.
15
- Umbra-
“It is indeed,” Mareliux says. “The gas giant Bru. It’s a ball of gas about two thousand times bigger than your Earth. Grefve is one of its moons. The Vyrpy sometimes refuel their ships at this gas giant, scooping its gas into their tanks in a breathtaking display of risk-taking and inefficiency. And there have been a good few battles in this solar system. There are even rumors of Phrexz being seen here. But not recently.”
“What’s Phrexz?” I ask.
“Bellatriz?” Mareliux prompts as he gets busy with the controls.
“The Phrexz are an alien species with no particular home planet, we think,”the AI says. “They use the Syntrix in the Forbidden ways, using it for evil and destruction. There aren’t that many of them, but they tend to be extremely aggressive wherever they attack someone. They can create enough chaos to take down entire societies. Nobody knows why, because they don’t seem to be empire builders or conquerors. It’s as if they simply enjoy destroying things. It’s said that the Phrexz cansometimes be felt through the Syntrix, like a sour note. Some of them are said to be shapeshifters that can inhabit the bodies of anyone, but that sounds like typical superstition to me. It’s the kind of thing where a mysterious enemy is assumed to have incredible powers and abilities. I’m sure you know about similar exaggerations from Earth.”
“So they’re witches?” I suggest.
“They are close to the Syntrix,” Mareliux adds. “The Forbidden Arts is their way of living. And it’s a nasty way. They can take over people’s bodies and change the thoughts and minds of anyone they choose.”
“With respect, Prince, none of those things have ever been proved,”Bellatriz says with a hint of a sigh. “They sound like old wives’ tales. Most accept that the Phrexz are simply dangerous aliens who we don’t quite understand. But it is probably true that they use the Syntrix. Almost every sentient species does. With varying degrees of skill.”
