Chapter 30

Helga

I've been through everything in Fox's living quarters. Our living quarters, I remind myself. And not surprisingly, I've married an interesting but simple man. I expected to find some Dutch Delft here and I did, including the mysterious tulip vase Anna suspected he owned. The most exciting things I found were some swords in the back of one of his cupboards and a box I couldn't open, but when I asked the computer what might be in the box, it said jewelry. I know Fox likes jewelry, it's part of his culture, so that just made me smile. Whoever thought I'd be married to a man who has a locked box of jewelry? Like a pirate.

Whoever thought I'd be married to an alien? Not me. But here I am and so far, mostly happy with my decision.

Now that there's nothing else to do here, I wonder where Fox is. I'm beginning to get frustrated. Yes, he dropped everything to speed across the galaxy to rescue me, but he could at least come by in person and make sure I'm okay. I try not to get cross that he wasn't there when I woke up in the medical center and then just threw me into the deep end with nothing to wear but my dirndl or a big black dress.

I ask the computer, "Where is Fox now?"

"Commander Fox is in the gymnasium."

"Still?"

"Commander Fox is in the gymnasium. Would you like to send him a message?"

"Yes."

"No message can be sent at this time."

"Geez, even technologically advanced computers can still be infuriating. Why did you ask me if I wanted to if I couldn't?"

The computer thankfully doesn't answer. I decide to leave our quarters and go find someone. I begin just walking without any idea where I'm headed, but then I realize that's stupid and make a decision to find Caroline. Maybe I can help her locate my things. Or better yet, maybe I can simply go get them myself. I haven't worked out when I'll be able to go back to Earth or any of those details with Fox yet, so this may be my only opportunity for a while.

I use the base's map to lead me back to the medical center. When I arrive, I see Caroline and she looks ashen.

"What is it?"

"You don't know," she says as a statement not a question. "Come with me."

I follow her into a small office and she closes the door. "Commander Fox is dueling with a professional assassin in the gymnasium. He's not expected to survive."

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry?" I mock her. "That's not good enough. How do we stop this?"

"There's no way to stop it. It's their culture. It's how justice is served."

"What law is Fox accused of breaking?"

"Scheming to hire those who would take over the base in a coup and marrying a witch."

"A witch?!" I yell. "I'll show these people a witch." I storm out of the medical center, Caroline chasing behind me.

"You can't interrupt the duel. It's their way."

"I don't care. It's not my way. I'm not a witch, and I'll be damned if I let Fox die for me because of his government's lack of a judicial system. Oh Gott! How can these people be so barbaric?" I'm so angry my hand shakes as I try to find my way to the gymnasium. "You could be a little helpful and take me there," I demand of Caroline.

"The doors will be locked."

"I will fucking break them down. Take me there now or get out of my way."

Caroline begins leading me to the gymnasium.

"Run!" I tell her. "We've no time to waste."

Caroline breaks into a run, and we pass a lot of surprised grey faces of officers as we quickly push past them. Then we stop in front of a set of doors. Caroline tries to override the lock and the computer tells us, "The gymnasium is locked for a duel."

"Who can override this?" I ask her.

"Only the commander."

Then a thought occurs to me. If this is a matriarchy, and I'm the Commander's wife, or whatever my new title is, then I should, in theory, be able to override this lock. But I can't think. "What's my new title?" I ask Caroline.

She looks at me blankly.

"When I entered the meeting with Officer Sem, the computer said I had a title. With that, no doubt, I have the status to open this door."

"Consort to the Commander," Sem supplies from behind me. "Try it."

"Computer open the doors to the gymnasium."

"Access denied."

"Computer, as Consort to the Commander, I order the doors to the gymnasium to be opened at once."

"Working."

"How can it be working and not just opening?!" I ask Caroline and Sem. Then looking at the door I yell, "Open damn you."

"It's validating your claim against records in the Empire," Sem says.

"But it referred to me as Consort a few hours ago."

"I manually put your new title in the system."

"Then manually open this door, Officer Sem. That's a direct order from the Consort to the Commander."

I look at the door that still in a flux, the red and green lights flickering back and forth, not locked but not open either. "Is it stuck?"

"Your records must be incomplete," Caroline says.

"Break it open. Where are weapons to do it?"

Sem takes out his gun and changes a setting. "I may harm people on the other side."

"Give them some warning by firing down or up or something first, then go for it. I take responsibility for whoever you hurt, just get in there so I can stop this."

Sem doesn't hesitate. He aims his gun high and yells something like "Hey ho," then fires. A second later, he's got a laser to the door, cutting through it like a dull knife on cardboard. I'm sure he's going as fast as he can, but it's taking too long.

What if Fox is already dead? What then? Will I have lost the love of my life? Will my memory be erased and everything I knew about him wiped clean?

I try to think positively. I'm going to bust through this door and stop this duel. I have no idea what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say something to end this. If worst comes to worst, I'll throw myself in front of Fox and die first. I don't want to live without him, and I don't want my memory erased to live a half-life, always feeling like I'm missing something but never being able to put my finger on what exactly has been taken from me. That's a recipe for an unhappy life at best and insanity at worst.

Sem kicks in the door, and I run in. Fox is on his knees, naked, and bloody. "No!" I scream and throw my body in front of his. I take him to the ground with me, and the other naked grey man, also bloody, nicks my face as he pulls back his sword just in time not to kill me. "You will stop this!" I demand from the floor, still holding Fox, who is barely alive.

The other man, out of breath, pants out, "Has the High Priestess forfeited?"

"No. I forbid it as Consort to the Commander and the highest-ranking woman on this base. You will stop." Then it occurs to me that I should invent a law; it will give me time to figure out how to save Fox. "All duels on Alliance Force must first be registered with me. Obviously, because I'm new here, Commander Fox forgot about the law. But the High Priestess knows it, and as a woman, I know she'll be angered that you didn't follow protocol." The tired man holding his sword considers my words.

He moves his sword away from us. "The goddesses do not want Commander Fox to die today." He bows to me. "Walk in the goddesses' light. I'll be in my guest quarters waiting to continue this when it's legal." Then he picks up his clothing and walks out of the gymnasium naked and bloody.

I hold Fox to me. I brush his black hair back from his face. "Fox? Fox?"

"Is that a real law or did you just make it up?"

I don't answer him. "You've got to see a doctor."

"Even if you stopped this now, he's still going to kill me. He's better," Fox says and then spits up some blood. "But I'm happy to see you again, Helga. And wearing the outfit I first fell in love with you in."

"He's not going to kill you. I'll figure out a way to ensure this never continues. These duels should be illegal."

"The High Priestess," he coughs a little, "wants me replaced. She says you're a witch. If I die, you'll be safe."

"Bullshit," I say. Then I allow Caroline and Sem to take Fox from me on an invisible stretcher. As they go toward the medical center, I ask Axl, "How do I contact the High Priestess? And do you have any advice?"

"Come with me," Axl says, taking me in the opposite direction of the medical center. "We'll use Commander Fox's ready room. I'll fill you in on the way."

Once we reach my husband's office, I'm able to unlock his computer thanks to Sem already putting my new rank in the Alliance Force's computer, but Axl says I can't speak to the High Priestess until I'm registered as Fox's wife in the Empire, something Fox didn't complete.

"Why didn't he do it?" I ask, suddenly worried he wants to renege on our marriage.

"Oh, I see. You need to register for a GC number."

"How long is that going to take?"

"A second. You just have to be awake to do it. You were asleep when we arrived. That's probably why he didn't complete it."

Momentary relief washes over me as Axl registers me with the GC, whatever that is. He leads me through the fingerprint, DNA, and eye scans. Then I set up a password.

"Now, how do we register our marriage with the Empire?"

"Technically, Fox is the only one who's supposed to be doing this, but in my former profession, I had many skills and pretending to be someone else was one of them. Do I have your permission?"

"Just do it already. You can relive your glory days when we're all alive later."

Axl begins entering the relevant information into the Empire's registry, and then we hear a successful gong sound. "What's that mean?"

"Congratulations. Your marriage has been registered with the Empire."

"Good. Now how do I contact…." I begin, but then there's an incoming call from the High Priestess herself. I take a deep breath and remember her calling me a witch. "Answer that so I can talk to her," I tell Axl.

He presses a button. "You're live. She can see you now," he says unnecessarily in a whisper.

"So my fears about a coup on Alliance Force were not overblown. There you are," she says from the other side of the screen. "Why are you registering your marriage to Commander Fox?"

"Why did you send a man to kill him?"

"Because you are staging a coup with other unwanted stateless humans. I doubt you have ever even lived on Earth. You and the other humans born in the galaxy staged this whole thing, including the pitiful sale on Gala to seduce and corrupt one of my best men. When I realized there was no hope left for him, I decided it was best to send him to the Afterlife in style, with a duel with one of the best swordsmen in the Empire."

"Without his wife's permission?" I ask, taking a gamble that in a matriarchy no one could kill my husband without my permission.

"You're not Alliance."

"The Alliance Base is a generational mission," I begin, remembering Fox's words as I make this up, hoping it will ring true with their laws whether they've been detailed or not. "Meaning that, in a few generations, we will all be both human and Alliance. Therefore, it doesn't matter that I wasn't born in the Empire. By marrying Fox and being accepted as a member of Alliance Force—and you will see I already have been registered here as Consort to the Commander—I am, for all intents and purposes, Alliance."

The High Priestess clears her throat. "Then you must consent to Fox participating in a duel to prove to me and the Empire that the goddesses believe in your purity and his clear mind."

"My purity? Are you calling me a witch?" I ask nastily. I hear Axl's intake of breath from behind me.

"Yes, I am suggesting it as a possibility. You must admit, everything that has happened since Commander Fox met you is very coincidental."

"When I hear it the way you tell it, it is, but that's no reason to kill him. Why not just kill me?"

"I couldn't challenge you to a duel. Alliance women don't leave our planets. And I wouldn't invite you to the Empire to challenge you."

I'm surprised she has some moral compass. "Surely someone as powerful as you…"

I've insulted her. "I would never break a divine law."

"Good, neither would I. So let's call this duel between Fox and your man a draw based on a misunderstanding. I was born on Earth. I've lived there my entire life until I was abducted because of men wanting retribution against Fox. I'd like to think it was my charming personality that led the stateless humans to hand me over to a decent trader on Gala. But nothing more. Fox almost died rescuing me from that horrid place, and if I was planning a coup it wouldn't have worked if he died before he could marry me, so you see, I think there has been a great misunderstanding."

She just looks at me through the screen. It's so quiet I wonder if the screen has frozen, but I don't want to say anything more in case she's considering my suggestion and decides against it if I speak out of turn. Suddenly she comes to life again and says, "The duel can be called a draw if you promise to send your firstborn daughter to me in the Empire to be a disciple of the goddess of home. Only then will I believe your heart for the goddesses and the Empire is pure."

"Only a daughter?" I ask, shocked.

"Yes."

I weigh this out. If we use IVF, we can be sure to only ever have sons. But I can't agree too quickly. "At what age will she leave us?"

"At fifteen years old, and she will never return to Alliance Force."

"Make it twenty, and you have a deal."

"Sixteen."

"Nineteen."

"Eighteen."

"Eighteen."

"I'm sending two documents to you now. The first is to announce the duel as a draw. You will be required to pay Jai of House Kva for his fee. The second is our arrangement for Commander Fox's life. This must be kept secret, even from him. If you tell him, I will believe you are a witch and stop at nothing to keep you and Commander Fox from sabotaging Alliance Force's mission."

"I'm waiting for the documents," I say, not allowing myself to be baited into any further conversation. I read through the first document about the duel. "You paid this guy over one thousand UCs? I think you were had."

"You're paying Jai of House Kva now, so it's you who has been had."

I mutter to myself about expensive men with swords and barbaric practices.

"Fox would be dead had I just used modern technology," the High Priestess says. "Be grateful I'm a traditional woman and use ritualistic means."

Next, I read through the contract about my future daughter. Axl is reading over my shoulder but out of sight of the High Priestess. He presses a hand to my knee and taps twice. I then look at the contract again. I check the second sentence. It looks fine, then the whole second paragraph. I see it now. "It says here, ‘If I die, Fox's life becomes forfeit and the contract null.' I'm not planning to die, but just in case I do, I want this removed. If I do die, then you lose this gamble."

"Give me something else in return."

"I'm already giving you a daughter. What else could I possibly give you?"

"If you die, I want your remaining eggs."

"To do what with?"

"Trust the goddesses."

"You can have two eggs upon my death ‘for the goddesses.'"

"Five."

I wave my hands. "Three. It's my final offer."

The High Priestess makes a hand gesture, and then I receive another contract. I read through this one. It's everything we've discussed. I look over at Axl and he nods. I put my fingerprint to it and my GC code. Then it's finished.

"We can all go on as we were before, but if you try again to assassinate my husband, I will retaliate. And finally, you should never underestimate a human woman."

"I never underestimated you, quite the opposite, which is why I responded with force and I am pleased you pushed back equally to sort out this unpleasant misunderstanding. Rest assured that now I truly believe you walk with the goddesses in purity and everything I summarized before was conjecture based on the unreliable words of men. Remain in the goddesses' light, Helga, and we will have no more issues between us. May they light your path."

"Bye," I say and then hit a lot of buttons, trying to figure out which one ends this transmission and failing.

Axl stealthily reaches his finger over to tap it off. Once the screen is blank, he says, "I can't believe you managed that. I don't think anyone has ever stopped a duel in modern history. I'm so impressed."

"It's amazing what a human woman can do, isn't it?" I say, my whole body still shaking from the encounter. "Is Fox really safe now? Is that guy going to try and kill him? Should we put him out an airlock?"

"Jai is hired. He has no personal issue with Fox, he will just want to be paid."

"Where are we going to find the money? Clearly we can't ask the High Priestess."

"Fox's mother will pay."

"Really?" I ask, surprised. "She didn't seem like a caring person given that she made me take an IQ test to make sure I wasn't as dumb as an animal."

"Call her. Show her the documents, and she'll send you the UCs."

I'm not sure whether or not to believe Axl, but what do I have to lose? This woman already thinks I'm an idiot. "Okay, make the connection. I have no idea how to work this computer."

Axl programs the computer, and after flashing a couple of strange symbols, which I assume represent the Empire or his home or something, an older Alliance woman appears on the other side of the screen. She looks like Fox, and it's strange for me to be talking to his mother.

"I assume you know who I am?" I ask.

"Helga Wagner, a human who has married my son on Alliance Force."

"Correct. I'll be short. The High Priestess got it into her head that I was part of a conspiracy of humans born in the galaxy called the unwanted or some such nonsense and was using witchcraft to stage a coup on Alliance Force. She sent a professional swordsman to kill Fox in a duel." The look on her face makes me think differently about this woman now. She looks stricken. "I broke up the duel before Fox was killed, and I negotiated with the High Priestess for the duel to be considered a draw. However, for this I have to cover the costs of the swordsman, and as you know, I have no UCs. So I'm asking you to give me the money in exchange for your son's life."

"That's all the High Priestess asked for?"

"No, but I can't share with you the other details of the deal. Let me assure you, they'll hurt me a lot more than a thousand UCs."

"A thousand UCs?"

"I know, right? I'm new to your currency, but that seems high for an assassin. I suspect the High Priestess is a fool when it comes to hiring people for services."

"No doubt," says Fox's mother, and I feel we have bonded over two things: the High Priestess being an idiot and saving Fox's life.

"You're not a human witch, are you?"

"No. Why would you ask me that?"

She points to my clothing through the screen. "What are you wearing?"

"Geez," I say. "I was taken from work, and I've not had time to put on anything else. And why would a witch wear this?"

"In the Empire, witches wear white underneath their clothing, just like that. You shouldn't wear it. That's probably where those rumors began."

I don't know what to say. She still hasn't agreed to transfer me the money, so I don't want to tell her her son loves this outfit. Instead, I say, "I'll take it into consideration. When can I expect the money?"

"Now. Tell my son to contact me when he's recovered. I'm also going to send you some proper clothing. Fox is no longer a part of this House, but you both still represent us, and I won't have you looking like that ." She points at the screen and moves her finger up and down over my dirndl.

"Thank you," I force myself to say.

"Good work in your new position. I was concerned when I heard you were a servant. But you've proved yourself more than worthy for your new role. I should have trusted my son and the goddesses."

I realize that's probably the closest thing to an apology I'm ever going to get from this woman so I bite my tongue not to say anything about the IQ test. Instead I reply, "I'm glad I could live up to your high standards."

"Walk in the goddesses' light."

I don't know what to say so I just reply, "You too," and then press the button to end the call. I look over at Axl. "That wasn't that bad. I lost some pride, but no more daughters or eggs to be sent away."

"You were a natural. It's like you were born for this."

My hands are still shaking, and I just acknowledge Axl's compliment with a small smile. "Now let's get to the medical center."