2199 Extinction
Returning the Princess

After the morning’s revelation, I decide to wander through the palace, exploring my birthright. I walk through the winding halls, with no particular destination in mind. Of course, I’m aware of the weighty decision that lays before me. If I stay longer than a few months past my past self’s twenty-first birthday, everything will change. This version of myself will cease to exist. All memories of Talfar, my mother, and Amlican will disappear. When I think about it, sounds like an excellent idea.

No more heartbreak, no more pain. I think I will like it here. But wait. That can’t be true. Can it? Do I want it to be? I stop in front of a closed door; I turn the knob and replace myself standing in the biggest library I have ever seen. Shelf after shelf covers the walls, from floor to ceiling, from wall to wall, and a few bookcases also stand in the middle of the room, forming narrow aisles. Tables and chairs sit off to one side, a place to read. I walk to the nearest shelf and run my hand across the spine of a few books.

I pull a book out and read the title, Life and Times of Azoc. I walk to the next bookshelf and pull a book, Dumar the Conqueror. I pull another book and see a colorful childlike drawing with the name Gilya Gets a Pet. The Copaie seem to be well-read. I walk all around the library, taking note of a few titles that stick out. I’ll come back later to read those. I leave the library and walk in a direction I haven’t been before.

I come across a room with two guards outside of it. That’s strange, none of the other rooms were guarded. What could be in here?

“Am I allowed to go in?” I ask the nearest guard.

He studies my face a moment before answering, “Yes but make it fast.”

I look at him quizzically, for a moment, then reach for the knob and turn it. I push open the door, step inside and close it behind me. I am in a large room similar to my own. Yellow grass carpets the floor, trees grow randomly throughout the room, heavy vines are draped from the ceiling. My eyes search the room, trying to replace who or what stays here. I give up my search and call out, “Hello?!”

“What do you want?” a female voice calls out. A very familiar female voice.

I’m silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say that will put this individual at ease. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk.” I walk in the direction the voice came from.

“About what?” Am I mistaken or did the voice sound like it was above me?

“About why there are guards outside of this room. Who are you?”

Someone drops out of the tree, in front of me, and I realize why the voice sounds familiar. “I am Nova. Princess of Talfar.” She says, straightening up.

“Oh, it’s you,” I say, relieved. “I thought they were housing some kind of criminal.”

“Aren’t I? You took me against my will. Forced me onto a ship, onto a planet full of people who hate me, marched me into some kind of palace, and locked me in this room. All to negotiate for some crazy planets. Although from my perspective, I am not the criminal, you are.” She says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I understand you are angry. And technically it is my fault that you are here. But there is something you need to understand. I did it for your own good.” I say, trying to explain.

“My own good? You have got to be kidding me! How has any of this benefitted me? It seems as though you were the one to benefit. What did they offer you for capturing me? Fame? Wealth? Your very own planet?” she says, nearly spitting out every word.

“No. No. You are misunderstanding the situation.” I say, trying to calm her down.

“I am on a strange planet, locked in a room with guards outside of it. What part did I misunderstand?”

“Ugh!” I shout annoyed. “Malum wants to marry you, have a child with you, and then murder you!”

“And you were trying to save me out of the goodness of your heart?” she asks sarcastically.

I feel myself losing control and I punch the tree next to me. “No! I did it because Malum will not only murder you, but he will murder my entire race. The Copaie people will cease to exist!”

Her eyes widen with fear, and she backs up a few steps, before shouting, “There you go. Right there. The real reason for your so-called rescue. To save your own butt and that of your people!”

“Look,” I say, attempting to calm myself down. “Your people will be here for you, later today. Go home and marry Malum, if you want. As you lay dying, remember that I did warn you. I’ll just think of another way to save my people!” With that I turn around and storm out of the room, slamming the door behind me, and drawing a curious stare from both of the guards.

“She better not have been harmed!” one of the guards shouts after me.

“She’s perfectly stubborn and perfectly unharmed!” I shout back. I’m so angry that I don’t even know where I am going. I walk around and replace myself standing back in the library, again. It’s empty, so I vent my frustrations out loud, by screaming. This seems to calm me down, and I pull out a chair and sit down.

Okay, I get her anger. She is being held hostage so that makes sense. But why can’t she see that I am genuinely trying to help her? In her eyes, I’m technically the bad guy. In this timeline, she didn’t raise me and isn’t my mother. But still, she has to see how terrible Malum is. She has to understand that she needs to stay away from him. I mean, why would I make that up? Sure to save my people, but I’m not lying.

And the fear in her eyes, when I hit that tree. She was terrified of me, and still she found the courage to speak. I hate myself for causing that fear, but at the same time, I am proud of her. That determination to speak her mind, even though she was afraid. That was my mother. The one I knew. Courageous. My head spins with the frustration of the fruitless conversation and the excitement of seeing my true mother. I am pretty sure that she will ignore everything I said, but maybe, just maybe I’ve planted a seed of doubt about him.

A few hours go by, and I replace myself standing in the middle of a grassy field. We took a circular path, crisscrossing and backtracking to get here. When I asked Amancia about it, she said it was to make sure the princess wouldn’t be able to lead her people back to our city. My mother was also blindfolded as a precaution.

But now we stand, in the field, watching the Talfarian ship land. We are lined up in a half-circle, fifty of us, with the General and the princess in the center of the line. A few down from them stands Amancia and then me. We watch as a door appears and then disappears into the side, leaving a gaping hole. Soon, twenty Talfarians march down the ramp and onto the grass, stopping a few feet from their ship.

They form a straight line, and one of them, a female, steps forward to talk to us. “Hand over the Princess.” She says.

One of the Copaie guards grabs mother’s arm and takes off her blindfold. He then marches her forward. He lets go of her arm, a few feet away from the Talfarian line.

“You will replace that no harm has come to her.” The General calls out.

“Good.” The female Talfarian says. “And you will replace the requested galaxy has been emptied of Talfarian occupation.”

“If you return to the galaxy in question, you will have declared war on Saltu and all Copaie. We will retaliate by destroying several of your planets, including your home world.” He warns.

“There is no need for threats. We, Talfarians, are good for our word. You can fully trust what we are saying.” She says, emphasizing the word we.

The General grunts in response before continuing. “You will also replace that we are nowhere near the Copaie capital city. That your princess there will have no idea of how to replace it. We took every precaution. And, in case you were thinking of betraying us, nightfall on this planet is dangerous.”

He points to the setting sun. “Many a soldier has lost his life when the sun sets. I highly suggest you make a hasty retreat. But if you do not believe me, feel free to replace out for yourself. Just don’t expect that ship to offer you any protection. And don’t think I will come to rescue you; your people decided a long time ago that we were inferior to you.”

With that he turns around and marches off, the rest of the Copaie turning and following behind him. I stay a moment longer, studying the Talfarians, a few of the faces are familiar from my days on Talfar. They seem to ignore me, instead, forming a small circle and talking amongst themselves. Probably to see how much of the General’s words are true.

I turn and see the rest of the Copaie far behind me. I give the Talfarians one last look and chase after the group. No way am I being left behind on this strange planet. There’s a good chance the General was lying about how dangerous this planet is, but I have no reason to doubt him. And, I’ll admit, I don’t want to replace out for myself. I catch up to the group, easily, but I do replace myself winded.

Even on Talfar, I trained rigorously, causing my body to be in amazing shape. I may not have been good in school, but I would always join the Talfarian Guards during their training. I’ve never been winded before; I’ve always been able to control my breathing while running. I guess that’s a side effect of being pregnant. Pregnant. Hmph. There’s that word again. I’m still not fully sure if I believe that health check. After all, it was given by a mirror.

I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask Amancia to show me where the medical doctors are. Get a real checkup. I just don’t know if I’m ready for this all to be real. It’s one thing for a mirror to tell you, that you are pregnant: it’s a whole other thing for a doctor to tell you that you are. I can easily ignore the mirror, but not the doctor. I’m so engrossed in my line of thinking that I don’t even notice the group has stopped until I run into Amancia.

“Oops, sorry,” I say, backing away a few steps.

She turns around. “What are you doing?”

“I was lost in thought and not paying attention.” I look around to see where we are. I have to squint in the dying sunlight to see anything. We appear to be in the middle of the jungle; a rocky cavern stands off to our left. “Where are we? Why did we stop? I don’t remember that cavern, before.”

“We are stopping for the night, that rocky cave will provide us with a little shelter. We are still too far away from any city.” Amancia says.

“Don’t we have lights, so we can walk in the dark?” I ask.

“You heard what daddy told the Talfarians, about this place being dangerous at night. We wouldn’t survive the trip.”

“I thought the General was making that up so the Talfarians would leave.”

“No. He was genuinely trying to warn them. This is a dangerous planet, it’s the main reason we built all of our cities underground.” She explains.

“Oh. I thought they were built underground to keep anyone from attacking and destroying the cities.” I say.

“Well, that was just an extra benefit.”

“But you said…” I start.

“I know what I said.”

“If it’s as dangerous as you say, why did we wait until sunset to meet with the Talfarians?”

“To keep them from getting too curious about our planet. Now come over here, we will sleep in the middle of the camp. Me, you, and daddy will be side by side. I don’t want anything to happen to you or my grandchild.” She says.

“What? How did you know?” I ask, surprised.

“I’m not stupid. I was just pregnant, myself. I know the signs. The sickness, the tiredness, the uncontrollable emotions. Don’t worry, I think it’s exciting news. I’ll take you to the medical doctor as soon as we get back.” She says.

I wake up with a start, something woke me up. I sit up and strain my ears, listening for anything out of place. I hear the soft snoring sounds coming from many different Copaie males and nothing else. I squint in the dim light, looking around, everything appears to be normal. It was a tight squeeze, all of us, lying close together in this small cave. Amancia said it was to keep us from being attacked from above.

I look over and see her fast asleep beside me. I can feel the hot breath of a few different Copaie, breathing deeply in their sleep. I must have imagined the noise. Or maybe it was the last piece of a dream. I lay back down and close my eyes, when I hear it, again. This time I am fully awake, so the sound registers. It sounds like claws scratching on rock, followed by a quieter skittering noise. The little hairs on my arms stand up, and I feel fear flooding my veins.

“Amancia,” I say, gently shaking her arm. She moves a bit but doesn’t open her eyes. I hear the scratching and skittering again. “Amancia!” I say, a little louder. I shake her harder and am rewarded with a grunt. I shake her again, and this time her eyes open.

“What?” she asks, yawning and sitting up.

“Besides the fact that you are a heavy sleeper? I think there is something out there.” I whisper. “Listen.”

I quietly listen, my ears straining to hear any little sound. At first, I hear nothing except snoring, but then I hear the scratching and skittering noise. “That’s it. Did you hear it?” I ask looking at her.

Even in the dim light, I can see the fear in Amancia’s face.“We need to quickly wake everyone, or we won’t survive to see the sun rise.”