“I am not questioning you, Overlord,” said Willa as we landed, “but are you sure about this?”
I smiled. “Yes, I’m quite sure.”
“The area for ten miles is deserted,” said Cory, as he punched different buttons on a black panel in front of him.
I was released from my seat and I stepped forward to assess the outside from the view screen. I could see the trees, brown and green, with the grass, and a few flowers. It looked peaceful, but dead—so dead—without a single person inhabiting the land. A vision of a tumbleweed passed through my mind. I chuckled aloud.
“What’s funny?” asked Willa, standing behind me, straining to look out the window of the ship.
I stepped aside for her to see. “Do you know what tumbleweed is?”
“No, I don’t.”
I sighed. “Well, then, I can’t really explain.” I turned to Cory. He was standing up, ready to go. I halted him. “No, Cory, I need you to stay here, guard the vessel.”
“But I want to come with you.”
“I know, but if the rebels find this ship, they’ll raid it. I know they can’t harm you, but I don’t want to see you captured either.” I touched his cheek. “You’re very nice and compassionate and I don’t want them abusing you, okay?”
He caught my hand and kissed it. “I will do as you say, Overlord.”
Gently, I removed my hand. “Willa and I will be in contact. Advise us of any change, any change, understood?”
“Perhaps of these tumbleweeds you spoke of,” said Willa with a serious look.
I couldn’t help laughing. “No, those are okay, if you even knew what they were. I’m talking about people…anyone…doing anything.”
“I understand,” said Cory.
“And if this goes south, we’re going to need the ship ready, so when we flee, we’ll take off and head back to the Calumny.”
“Goes south?” repeated Cory and Willa in unison, confused.
I shook my head. “If things go badly, you need to be prepared.”
“How bad is bad?” asked Cory.
“Oh, if you see me and Willa, screaming, running faster than hell back to these coordinates.”
Cory nodded. “I will keep a lookout for screaming and hell running.”
I just smiled and patted him on the back. “Be safe, Cory.”
Willa and I left the ship, and I made sure Cory locked the door. Willa was uneasy about being out in the open, in the wild. I loved it. The sun on my face was soothing and warm. I turned to see Willa and saw her perspiring in her black, skin-tight outfit.
“I should have advised you to wear looser clothes.”
I remembered to do that, wearing my white shirt with “AVA” on it, and my green pants and white shoes Loren had given me. Sand and ocean water had been clung to it, but it was washed clean aboard the Calumny.
“I am the head of the royal guard. I can wear nothing else.”
“You’ll start to feel different after we’ve been out here an hour or so.”
“Is that how long it’ll take to find these humans?”
“Maybe longer; I don’t know. There’s nothing for ten miles, so either we wait here until someone comes, or we go to them.”
She looked in the distance, to the east, towards the clear dome. I looked too, but I couldn’t see the city, only the sunlight reflecting off the glass. I desired to go near it—to be close to Henrietta, John, Loren, and yes, Julius. But I dared not. I had to head west—to seek out the rebels. There would be no Stargazers around—the ones that had been scattered about the planet were transported to Calumny soon after I’d come aboard, but they hadn’t been able tell us much about the rebels, desiring to be apart from them. They’d only come in contact to fight over resources or when the rebels ambushed their small vessels. Before the Stargazers had boarded the mother ship, they’d set the self-destruct on their ships, leaving only charred wreckage for any rebel passerby.
Willa looked at the ship. “Can we fly overhead?”
“No, I don’t want to frighten the rebels. They don’t have ships, so we don’t arrive in ships—equal footing. I want to gain their trust.”
Willa furrowed her brow, not liking my plan, but then she nodded. “It is as you command, esteemed Overlord.”
“Just call me ‘Ava’ while we’re on land, okay?”
“But that is disrespectful.”
“The rebels don’t know what an Overlord is and they don’t care. We’re encroaching on their land and that’s it. Now, they know we’re Stargazers.” I twirled a lavender curl around my fingers. “But we’re going to show them that we come in peace—that we can be friends—that we’re better together than apart—and that together we can end Julius for good.”
Her cheeks blushed at the mention of Julius. But it wasn’t affection; it was anger. She removed a small knife from her belt. “I will carve out his black heart.”
I held up my hand. “No, you won’t.”
“But-but you said I’d have my vengeance.”
“There will be justice. He will stand trial for his crimes. And he will be imprisoned for the rest of his immortal life. Remember that? He can’t die.”
She shook her head. “If he wills it so, he can! If he practices Deliverance, he’ll depart, forever! And he won’t go to that starry realm! He won’t!”
She was talking rapidly in Stellar, upset, finding it hard to communicate her feelings in an alien language such as English.
I advanced and placed my hand on her shoulder. She was taller than me so I had to reach up high. The anger from her face had subsided. Now, she cried.
“You’re not the only one he’s hurt, Willa. Others demand justice as well. As Overlord, only I can administer his punishment.”
She nodded, agreeing, but I assumed, not liking. “Will you imprison him?”
“Honestly, I don’t know, Willa. Who will watch over him when we’re gone? Cody? Will he be Julius’ warden for the rest of his life?”
“Then how will you make him lose his immortality?”
I knew the answer, but I couldn’t say it, not to Willa, and especially not to Cody. I had been thinking about it for a while. Julius said that he would die when I died. It was simple. For there to be justice and Julius to depart, I had to depart as well. Would he join me in that starry realm or would he rot away in the ground?
“Let’s not speak of this right now,” I told her, changing the moody subject. “Let’s find help.”
“Will the humans help us?”
“All we can do is ask, Willa.”
“And if they don’t?”
“We’re on our own, but as long as we have purpose and fortitude, we will prevail. This is our time to make a difference. We can’t pass it up and move on to another planet. This is our home now, and we’re going to save it.”
Willa bowed. “I will follow you anywhere, esteemed Overlord.”
I smiled. “Ava.”
She nodded. “I will follow you anywhere, Ava.”
And she did follow me. She followed me for miles and miles, under crowded trees, through thick brush, past poisonous plants, and over gopher holes in the ground. The land around us was wild and I loved it. It wasn’t white and clean like Sanctuary or dark and cold like the Calumny. It was untamed and I didn’t know if we were going to be ambushed at any second. I was afraid for Willa. I didn’t want her to get hurt, although, I knew she could handle herself. She wielded those blades like they extended from her own arms and even without them, she was strong and quick—a valued warrior and trusted protector. I was strong too, but I didn’t want to fight, not when I wanted to win people to my side.
The forest cleared and we stood alongside a blue river, coursing from left to right, not knowing when it began or ended.
“Are you thirsty, Ava?”
I nodded. “Very; let’s drink.”
We sat on our knees and bent over, cupping our hands to scoop up the water. As we poured it in our mouths, it tasted warm, but refreshing. I went to take another sip, but Willa was on her feet, her blades zinging to life. I turned abruptly too and saw five men and two women—rebels—staring at us. Each one had a rifle, pointed in our direction.
“The alien’s got swords,” said one, a tall man with long brown hair in a ponytail.
His rifle was a bit lowered, like he didn’t really want to shoot or threaten us, but was still cautious. He stood beside a short man, stocky and bald, who seemed to be leader of the little ragtag group.
“Swords are no match for these,” said the bald man, smiling. “We’ll blow them swords to pieces.”
“But what if they’re stronger than regular swords?” asked a woman, average height with a deep scar running down the side of her face.
“Yeah, they’re aliens, after all,” agreed another man, hiding in the back of the group.
I held my hands up in a gesture of peace. “We’re not here to harm you.” I looked over at Willa, sneering, her swords poised to attack. She could have easily subdued all of them by now. I was glad she was stable. “Willa, put those away.”
“She speaks English,” said the man with the ponytail.
“They mimic,” retorted the bald man. He spit on the ground to show his dislike and held on tighter to his rifle. “That’s what they do—trick you.”
“We’re not tricking you. My name is Ava and I escaped from Sanctuary, from the Corporation.”
The group’s focus was on Willa, except for the man with the ponytail. His rifle was completely lowered, looking at me curiously. I wished he was the leader and not the bald man. I felt that at any moment he would shoot us. We weren’t immortal. We would die. We were strong and fast though, and perhaps, we’d survive just a little bit longer, enough for Cory to come and get us, and take us back to the ship where we would be quickly healed. But I’d told him to wait. That we’d come to him. I had a way to communicate with a button on my shirt. All I had to do was press it and I could talk to him, but not now—not yet. I thought I could still manage the situation without bloodshed—on both sides.
“No one escapes from that place,” disagreed the bald man. “You know what I think?” He cocked the hammer. “I think you two were let out…yeah, let out by that monster Pallas…sent here to kill us.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “If you wanted you dead, you’d be dead by now,” I said in a low, threatening voice.
Why couldn’t he see that we were harmless? I looked at Willa. Well, it wasn’t helping that she still had her swords out.
“Willa! Put those away!”
She would never disobey me, so she slowly lifted her arms and slid the swords into their scabbards against her back. But as a caution, casual-like, she gripped the handle of the small knife at her belt. In one swift, quick move, she could throw it at a curve, slicing the bald man’s neck, while puncturing the heart of the woman with the scar beside him.
Willa wouldn’t needlessly kill, but if she thought my life was in danger, she’d throw them like they were rag dolls, just like her sister did, but this time through the forest, right smack dab against the clear glass of the dome—for Julius to see and know that we were coming for him.
The man with the ponytail stepped forward, his gun hanging loosely by his side, unafraid. He was five feet away from me. Willa went to lunge forward, but I held up my hand, telling her to stay back. All the others kept their rifles pointed at us.
The man looked at my shirt. He smiled. “Ava?”
I smiled back. “That’s my name.”
“We heard some chatter about you.”
“Shut up!” barked the bald man.
“You were treated differently,” the ponytail man went on.
I nodded. “They didn’t know what to make of me. I looked like a Stargazer, but I acted like a human. I had no memory of who I was. But I was tortured and imprisoned in Quadrant Echo. I met two kids, privates, named Rainn and Sunny.” I swallowed, nervous. “I also met another one, Thaddeus Ridge.”
“I hate that SOB!” said the bald man. “He’s nothing but trouble!”
I smiled. “Well, would you be glad to know I broke every bone in his hand?”
“Why?” asked the ponytail man.
“He was threatening Sunny and Rainn.”
“You care about us humans?”
I nodded. “I do. I have friends in the dome: John Goode, Loren Valier, and Henrietta.” I paused and then said, “I had another one too—Victor Jamison.” I turned to Willa. She didn’t know that her own sister killed my friend. I turned back to the rebels. “I want your help.”
The bald man spat on the ground again. “You want our help?! You got a big ole ship just hovering out there in space and you need our help?”
“It’s advanced, but we can’t penetrate the dome. Pallas has strengthened the defenses.”
“He’s got Medusa working overtime,” said the ponytail man.
“Shut up!” barked the bald man again.
Willa growled at him. I didn’t like him either.
“They’re just trying to help,” defended the man.
“Aliens don’t help! They’ve never helped! The only good alien is a dead alien.”
And he made good on his word. He pointed the barrel of his rifle square at me and pulled the trigger. The bullet never even hit me. Willa, with lighting fast reflexes, drew her swords again, and in a cross motion, sliced the bullet in half. Shavings fell onto the ground. As an extra bonus, she slammed her sword down the middle of his rifle, and it fell in halves from his hands. The rest, despite having guns, backed way, nervous. The bald man started trembling. It was almost comical.
I turned to Willa. “All right, it’s over. Put them away now.”
She was growling but did as I asked.
The man with the ponytail chuckled. “It’s about time Marcus got put in his place.” He turned to me and smiled, extending his right hand. As I touched him, I noticed an absence of bonding and felt that the rebels didn’t have such abilities in their DNA. Julius had engineered that too. “Hi, I’m Selwyn and I’d be glad to form an alliance.”
***
I found out by talking with the scarred woman, named Gina, that everyone had wanted Marcus, the bald one out, and Selwyn as their leader.
“He’s more level-headed,” Gina had told me while we waited by the river.
Selwyn, with the rest of the humans, were gone, out looking for other rebels to bring them back to me, where we could collaborate and form a plan. It seemed to be working out. Selwyn was enthusiastic, but I didn’t know how the rest of the Resistance would feel. Gina didn’t like me, and she really didn’t like Willa, who kept a low growl all the time, but Gina didn’t run away from me, and we even shared a meal—a can of beans. Willa refused, saying she wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t hungry either, but I ate the beans, hoping that by sharing a meal, Gina would feel like humans and Stargazers could get along, and then she’d tell the other rebels of her experience. But it was Selwyn I relied on. Everyone liked him, but it wasn’t for his skill at using a rifle. He didn’t keep a tight grip on it, and when he went to kill a rabbit for us to eat, the bullet jammed, and Gina had to fix his gun.
“He’s a sweet boy,” said Gina, as she sat back against a large rock along the river.
Willa was standing guard, looking out as if we were about to be attacked. I sat with Gina, showing her that humans were acceptable to Stargazers and that I didn’t mind sharing the same space.
“Boy?” I asked.
Gina nodded. “Well, I guess he’s a boy to me. He’s nineteen, but I’m”—she smiled—“I’m older.”
“He looks older than nineteen.”
“It’s the rough life out here. It makes you grow up fast.”
“Do you know the Goode family? A boy named John?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, we know all about John or is it Doctor Goode?”
I nodded. “He’s a doctor—physiology. He examined me when I first arrived.”
She grimaced. “What was that like?”
“I don’t know. I was unconscious. I know that he stuck a Separator in my head.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s inserted in the ear, and apparently it tries to find out all your secrets.”
“What did they discover?”
“Nothing; it didn’t work on me.”
She raised her finger. “See? That’s why we rebels will do anything to take down the Corporation. They’re cruel. And if any of us are captured, we kill ourselves.”
Willa turned to Gina, interested. “How?” she asked.
Gina furrowed her brow at Willa, unsure of how to converse with the less-than-friendly alien.
“It’s all right,” I told Gina.
Gina nodded. “Well, you see that?” She opened her mouth. There was a blue square attached to the inside of her cheek. “That’s poison. Thaddeus Ridge and his boys raided a large Stargazer vessel about two years back. They had all this neat stuff…anyway one of the group, a man named York—I don’t think that was his real name—he was a sort of a scientist—well, he went through all the equipment and found these blue squares. He was able to translate enough of the Stellar to realize they were like cyanide.”
“Where’s he now?”
Gina’s face fell. “He died. It was poison, but when he went to attach it to the inside of his cheek, he had mistakenly translated something wrong, and ended up killing himself. You see, the square”—she showed me and Willa again—“is supposed to be attached to another protective clear square.”
“And he didn’t have this square?”
“He didn’t know that’s what it did. You see, if you just put the blue square in your mouth, well, you die because you’ve activated it with your saliva or any other sort of liquid. The clear square contains the poison on the blue square until you activate it.”
“How do you do that?”
“You remove it from your cheek and crack it with your teeth.”
Willa took a step forward. “If this knowledge is available, then someone died, experimenting, correct?”
Gina nodded, sad. “Another man—kind of a scientist—friend to York—named Cal—he figured it out, and knew that there was only one way to test his theory.” She shook her head. “That was a sad two days—burying two men like that—men who were smart—men who were needed.”
“Did they have any family?” I asked, sad too.
“If they did, we didn’t know. No one talks much of what they’ve lost—or who they’ve lost. It’s too sad to think about. We just try to survive, day by day, until…”
“Until?” Willa asked, cocking her head to one side, intrigued.
Gina sighed. “Until the day comes that we don’t have to survive anymore—the day when we’re either dead or everything is normal again, and we can live life in luxury.”
“Luxury?” asked Willa, confused. “Shouldn’t you be grateful to be free?”
“Yeah, that’s good too, but we all want to be wealthy.” She pointed in the direction of the dome. “We want grand homes and more food than we can eat. We want the good life. It’s been far too long, sitting on the hard ground, shivering in the freezing rain, your stomach growling, aching for just a bit of food. That’s a rough life. We all know we don’t deserve that—that we deserve a better one.” She shrugged. “Why not? Why can’t we have what they have?” she asked, nodding towards the dome.
“I don’t know what it’s like in Sanctuary,” I began, “but in the Corporation, you do have nice beds and food, but everything is watched…controlled…you’re spied upon.”
Gina shook her head. “We won’t tolerate that. We want to be free. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do or where to go. Even if that Pallas pardoned us, and let us into the dome, he’d still be a leader—or hell, another man or woman who was a leader—they’d have to impose order, right? They’d have to rule over a population. Well, we rebels don’t want any ruler. We want to rule ourselves—do what we want.”
Willa shook her head. Her purple Mohawk glistened under the sun. “A society must have a ruler.” She pointed to me. “She is our Overlord. Without her, we would be nothing.”
Gina turned to me. “Overlord?”
I blushed. “It’s like a ruler—a king. I was a princess back on my planet, but now, here, I’m the Overlord.”
“Who do you rule over?”
I looked up. “Well, just those aboard the ship.”
Gina casually stood up, but I could tell she was nervous about something. “So, uh, this plan you got for us rebels? What happens after we break through the dome? What happens if Pallas is killed? Are you going to declare yourself ruler?”
Willa held her head up, proud. “Princess Avalora is the only just ruler this planet can have.”
Gina clenched her rifle.
I stood up slowly, as not to seem threatening. “I’m not doing this to take over the planet,” I assured her. “I just want everyone to be free.”
“And for humans and aliens to live together in peace, right?”
That wasn’t Gina. I turned to see Selwyn in front of a wooded area with a group of twenty rebels—men, women, and some children—all armed—and all looking very suspicious of me and Willa.
But Selwyn had a smile on his face. “I have no problem with that,” he continued.
Marcus was nearby, but unarmed. He spat on the ground. “There’s no way we can live together. They’d kills us all—just like Pallas.”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” said Selwyn. “I’m the commander now.”
Marcus grunted. “Hmph! Being led by a kid!”
“My father was the commander before he died so that means I’m the commander.”
“This isn’t a blood succession,” said Marcus. “The commander is who is best to lead.”
I would rather have Selwyn as the leader. He was level-headed but experienced? I didn’t know anything about him.
“Selwyn?”
He turned to me and smiled. “Yes?”
I pointed down river. “Do you mind if we take a walk?”
He smiled wider. “Sure, okay.”
I turned to Willa. “Stay here.”
“But—”
I held my hand up. “That’s an order, Willa. I’ll be safe.” I waved at the group of unwary humans. “You can all talk, get to know each other.”
Willa furrowed her brow. “Know each other?”
Gina advanced. “Yeah, sure, why not?” She shrugged. “We’d love to hear some stories about your planet and we could tell you some stories about ours.”
I was surprised at her abrupt change in acceptance. Perhaps she felt more at ease with other armed rebels around.
Marcus grunted and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by another man in the group. “We got some food. We could share and sit around a camp fire and talk.”
I smiled. “Yeah, just like the old days.”
Everyone looked at me with confusion. “Never mind. C’mon Selwyn.”
I didn’t know if he was happy to leave the group or happy to come with me, but I welcomed his enthusiasm and lack of desire to kill me anyway.
We walked slowly along the river. I noticed my reflection in the blue water. He peered over to look too.
“You’re very beautiful. Willa is…well, she’s scary, if I’m being honest. But don’t tell her I said that. I don’t want her angry.”
I laughed. “Trust me. She’ll take being called ‘scary’ as a compliment.”
We were silent again, walking. I took the time to appraise his appearance. Now that I studied him, I noticed he was young, handsome, with freckles all his face from being out in the sun. His ponytail had come undone and now his dark brown hair fell loosely just above his shoulders.
He winked. “Are you checking me out?”
I blushed, embarrassed. “I guess I was.”
He chuckled. “Wow, I can’t believe it. The alien Overlord thinks I’m handsome.”
“I didn’t say handsome.”
He smiled. “Oh, I think I did hear that, along with rugged—yes, ruggedly handsome.”
I laughed. “Selwyn, I think you’re too sweet to be a commander.”
His smile faded. “I can shoot.”
I could see that I had upset him. “I’m not saying you can’t.” Even though I was sure Gina was a more proficient shot. “I was just making the comment that you’re very…”
“Sweet?”
“Yes, sweet.”
“I don’t have to be sweet. I can be mean, you know.”
“I don’t want you to be different than who you are.”
He stopped and looked out at the river, slowly moving. He sighed. “That’s just it. I’m not sweet. I was born mean. My dad always beat me for getting into trouble—for picking fights with people—for stealing. I just act sweet.”
“I don’t think that’s true. I’ve seen you—you’ve never been mean.”
He smiled. “You’ve only known me for two seconds, darling. Stick around a little longer, and you’ll see the monster come out.”
I shuddered, thinking of Julius, and wondering why Selwyn was acting this way, for yes, I believed he was acting mean. He didn’t want to seem weak. He wanted me to name him as my loyal rebel commander. He wanted to be in charge—lead. Gina had said that none of them wanted a leader; well, if Selwyn got his way, he’d be the very person they feared. The question was: would he act mean to secure order—or would he be himself—sweet—and risk losing order?
“All right,” I said. “Let’s see how mean you can be.”
He furrowed his brow at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Be mean to me.”
“But…”
“But what? Say something mean—do something mean. Show me who you truly are. Show me that you’re the right man for me—for my plan—to infiltrate the dome and bring down Pallas.”
He clenched his rifle.
“No guns. Just words and fists.”
He loosened the grip on his rifle. “You mean you want me to hit you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, hit me.”
I was confident he couldn’t hurt me, but I wanted to see just how far Selwyn would go—if he was indeed a monster as he claimed.
He backed away, shaking his head. “No, I can’t do it. I can’t hit a woman.”
“But I’m not a woman—I’m an alien. I’m the invader. I’m the reason you’ve been out here, living in the wild, while the rest of humanity gets to sleep in warm beds and eat cake.”
“They eat cake?”
I nodded. “Sure, they do!” I didn’t mention the caloric requirements. “They’re living the good life, oh, but not when they’re being tried for treason, and then their heads gets chopped off. Pallas would never be in power, would never do those things—if I, as an alien Stargazer had never come to this planet. What about your dad? What’d he die for? Did he die for you to stand there and fantasize about kissing an alien while your fellow humans live under a murderous regime?”
“Kiss you?”
I chuckled. “So, out of that grand speech, that’s the only part you remember?”
He blushed. “I didn’t know Stargazers could read minds.”
“We can’t. That’s the Corporation.”
“But how did you know I wanted to kiss you?”
“I didn’t. I was just guessing. Why do you want to kiss me?”
“You’re just so…beautiful.”
“Aren’t there beautiful humans you’d like to kiss?”
He thought for a few seconds and then said, “No. I look at those girls and women as my family. I don’t want to do anything with them.”
“And you don’t want to do anything with me, either. Trust me.”
“Why? Do you…bite?”
I laughed. “No, I’m not that rough.”
“But you’re strong.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m very strong. I could kill you in an instant, do you know that?”
“Then why do you need me to help you get past the dome? Can’t you just…break it down?”
“I’m not that strong…but maybe I could do something.”
“What?”
“Well, I am very powerful. When I get mad, I can basically self-destruct, and take this whole planet with me.”
He smiled. “Well it’s a good thing I wasn’t mean to you.”
“You were never going to be mean to me, Selwyn. Don’t act different because that’s what you feel others want you to be. Be