22. Georgiana

“I don’t think anyone has ever run from the High Priestess.”

“Well, I’m not from here…” I say and then look toward the door. I hear a commotion coming from outside. Both Lia and Axl’s mother stand so I do too. The next thing I know, men in imposing uniforms and modern armor are walking quickly into the dining room. They announce themselves as imperial guards from the palace. They surround me and then grab my arms, forcing me to walk with them.

“By the light of the gods, Madame Georgiana Smith from Earth, you have been invited to the Imperial Palace by the Empress.”

“Wait,” Lia says. “She has the right to formally decline.”

“Are you going to formally decline on her behalf as the Head of House Zu, Representative Lia?” the head guard asks.

This must be serious because Lia says nothing.

The officers are forcing me out of the house. It seems as if all of House Zu is there to witness this. I’m trying not to let my emotions take over, but I’m scared. What’s going to happen to me?

“What have I done? The High Priestess said we were free to leave the temple.”

“This is not about what happened at the Grand City Temple,” Axl’s mother tells me, while she’s trying to convince the officers to leave me with her. I look at the grey faces of the House Zu inhabitants and they all look shocked. Am I going to die?

Once inside the transport I’m strapped in by my waist, wrists, and ankles like a criminal. “If this is an invitation, why am I being treated like a prisoner?” I ask, but I’m ignored. I wonder if I have any rights on this alien planet. Lia said something about my right to decline, but apparently that wasn’t particularly useful. I wonder if the Empress rules by divine rights? I try to remember everything that was said about the Lost People at the temple earlier. Perhaps their religion will be the key to my freedom.

It’s not a long ride to the Imperial Palace, which under different circumstances, I might have even described the palace as majestic. But as I’m roughly escorted inside, all I can think about is how high these stone walls are and how I’ll never be able to escape. I’ll have to be set free.

As I’m hauled into an amazing, but completely alien throne room, I’m sure I don’t have the creativity to make this kind of science fiction fantasy up so there is no way this is a nightmare. There are banners hanging from the walls with the imperial symbol on them and a large statue of the same goddess I had seen that morning in the Grand City Temple. Her shoulder-length hair framing a perfect face a green jeweled eyes. I look up at her as I’m pulled towards the feet of the statue and the throne. Then I’m forced to the ground.

“The god’s shine their light on you Madame Georgiana Smith from Earth. Thank you for accepting my invitation and coming to the palace on such short notice.”

“My pleasure,” I say looking at the floor’s stone tiles next to my face and the officers’ boots. “What can I do for you, Empress?” I assume I’m talking to the Empress and if she has this much control to simple pluck me from Axl’s home, then she probably has the control to kill me without any consequences.

“I would like you to be our guest here at the palace until you return to Earth.”

“I’m not worthy,” I say. I try not to smile when I think about the movie I just quoted, but quickly rein myself in. It’s not the same. I really don’t want to be here.

“Oh, but of course you are worthy. You are one of the Lost People and you have no one in the Empire except for me.”

“I have Axl.”

I hear a sharp intake of breath from those standing near me and I realize I should not have said that.

“You dare use his name so intimately? Take her to her quarters,” the Empress orders and the guards roughly escort me out of the throne room. I only catch a glimpse of the Empress who is dressed regally in a long black dress and covered in silver jewels including silver trinkets in her long black hair as I’m roughly taken away.

I’m brought to a stone room with no windows, just a small bed and a tiny bathroom. It doesn’t necessarily feel like a prison, but it doesn’t feel like one of the palace’s finest guest rooms either. I call out for a room’s computer like on the Hio or in House Zu, but my requests are met only by silence.

I sit on the small bed and try to go over everything that happened. There are so many things that I don’t understand. I could have done any number of things wrong.

There is no window here, so I only know that it’s the evening because food is brought to me by a guard. He watches me eat it. I’m hungry so eat quickly. Then he takes the tray from me.

I sleep in my clothing hoping that I’ll be woken up and told this was all a mistake. That I’ll be returned to House Zu.

But I wake to the same guard bringing me breakfast. I try to ask him, “Will I be able to leave soon?”

He doesn’t answer me.

“May I see Imperial Fleet Reserve Commander Axl of House Zu.”

No answer.

“May I see Representative Lia of House Zu.”

This request gives me a fleeting look of a different kind. But, still the guard doesn’t say anything and leaves as usual.

At the midday meal a different guard brings me my lunch. He also watches me eat and doesn’t answer any of my questions, but I ask to see Lia again. She may despise humans or not like me because I came here with her brother, but one thing I do know about her is that if she were to come here, she would tell me directly what is happening.

When yet another guard comes for the evening meal, I continue to ask to see Lia. I don’t ask for Axl or to return to Earth.

Again I’m met with silence.

I sleep in my clothing again, hoping that I might be released. That all of this may be only a misunderstanding.

The next morning, I’m awakened by a guard. He brings in breakfast and a woman in green is behind him. She has a long dress in her arms and hangs it up in the small wardrobe.

After breakfast, the guard leaves, but the woman remains. “Madame Georgiana, you have a guest. You must wash and change into this dress.”

Excited that this may be Axl, I go into the bathroom and shower, then I come out and put on the fresh dress and stockings. It feels good to be clean. The woman then combs my hair and braids it in a style I would have never chosen for myself. “Why did you choose to braid my hair like this?”

“It gives the appearance of being humble. Now I’ll show you the way.”

I follow the woman out of the small room through the large stone palace. I notice that the guards outside my room follow us. I don’t say anything. I use all of my concentration to memorize the way, just in case I ever get a chance to escape, I might have a chance of navigating my way out. But after the fifth turn and every hallway looking the same I give up.

After walking for about ten minutes, we arrive at our destination and I’m shown into a stone walled sitting room with a small table and chairs. The table is too small for dining. No one else is here but me.

“Who am I meeting?” I ask the woman or the guards who followed us, but no one answers me, they just close the door and lock it.

I sit down in one of the chairs and wait. I have nothing to do but stare at the furniture in the room, but at least this is different scenery than the room I’ve been trapped in. I check if there’s a computer in this room and there is, but it’s locked and I don’t know the palace code.

After an hour at least suddenly the door loudly unlocks and another woman enters. I stand. It’s Lia.

“Gods’ be blessed,” she says as she enters.

“Lia, thank you for coming.”

When the door closes and locks she sits down and I sit across from her. Now looking at Axl’s sister across this table from me, I realize how awkward this is. I try to push that feeling down.

“Thank you for coming. Do you know why I’m here?”

“You’re a guest of the Empress,” Lia says, but oddly takes my hand in hers. She writes something in my palm. I’ve never been good at those kinds of games of guess-what-I’ve-written. So I just look at her blankly. She adds, “A lot of people are talking… and listening… to the news about Earth.”

I understand now. We are, of course, being monitored, maybe even by the Empress herself.

“What’s happened on Earth?”

“Alliance Force was unable to save a ship full of humans. Now no one knows where they are. Maybe they are headed here, maybe not.”

“Awful news,” I say not knowing if this is true or if she just made this up to mean something else. How terrible am I at this game without Axl? “When I return to Earth will I have to pass through the Alliance Force again? Is that something I should make an appointment for?”

I see confusion in her green eyes, her eyes are just like Axl’s. She thinks I’m also speaking in code when in fact, I just want to know if I’m going to be released. After a few seconds she says, “I shouldn’t think so. You’re scheduled to leave on the Hio. I believe it’s the same ship you came here on.”

“Yes. The Hio.”

“Will I be able to say ‘goodbye’ to Axl?”

“No need. Your memory will be erased. If you remember any of this, it’ll only be in a dream.”

I can’t breathe. I put my hands up to my chest because I don’t know what to do. “What do you mean?”

“Alliance Doctors will erase your memory. You won’t remember Axl, the Alliance Force, or the Empire. It’s for the best. Then you can continue your life on Earth as if none of this ever happened.”

“Is this what Axl wants?”

Lia looks away. “I don’t know what Axl wants. He’s a man. Men are the emotional sex and can’t be trusted to make good decisions about such tricky situations.”

“I want to at least say goodbye to Axl.”

“He lied to you for his own benefit. Why would you want to see him again? I wouldn’t ever want to see him again if I were you.”

“That’s the truth twisted. Axl always told me it wasn’t a game. I lied to myself because it was incomprehensible to me that aliens existed. But because of your brother, this has turned out to be one of the most wonderful adventures of my life. Even if I don’t remember it, I’d like to know in my subconscious that I thanked Axl and reassured him that he shouldn’t ever feel guilty about what happened. And that if things were different, if he were human, that maybe we would have spent the rest of our lives together and had our seven children.”

“Seven children?”

“Yes, when we talked about our plans as a married couple…” I say, but then emotion takes over and the thought that I won’t ever see him again or even remember him overwhelms me with sadness. “Will he remember me?”

After a long minute of silence Lia says, “It will be his choice whether or not he wants to erase you from his memory. I would suspect that he would, otherwise it would be difficult for him to marry another. There is nothing more I can do for you. Stay calm and you will be returned to Alliance Force soon. There you will be asked to sign a contract that you understand all of this.”

“And if I don’t sign it?”

“Then you won’t be able to return to Earth and you will remain in legal limbo in the galaxy. Humans have no other citizenships in the galaxy.”

“What if I would rather die than forget your brother?”

“What kind of sane woman would die for the love of a man?”

“A human woman.”

Lia shakes her head. “Walk in the gods’ light. Live your life, Georgiana. Don’t throw it away over hormones and a life in the galaxy that was never a possibility for you.”

“Goodbye,” I say as she leaves the room. As painful as it was to listen to her, at least she gave me all the information I needed. A few seconds later, the guards come in and motion me out. They lead me back to my room, one in front of me and one behind me. Lia’s words ring in my ears and I weigh out my life. Am I really going to be returned to Earth? It seems like a great expense for nothing.

But if the Empress is going to kill me, now would be the time. Lia has seen me and knows I’m set to return. I don’t think she or anyone else is really going to check to see if I’ve really left. The Alliance Force didn’t seem like they had the personnel to keep up to date on every human leaving the planet and would they even be looking for me? For all they know, I’m here living with Axl as his wife. And who knows if the Hio even knows they are supposed to be picking me up.

As we round the next corner, I make a bold move. I bolt. Just like I did at the Grand City Temple. I sprint as fast as I can. I don’t want to die here. I won’t walk calmly to my execution. I think in my rage I must be running the right way because I see more and more people, not guards, but normal looking people who are surprised to see a human running through the palace. I want to yell, “I’m a prisoner here!” But I don’t want to slow down. I just want out. I run and run until finally I see what looks like an area leading outside. I run through it. It’s outside. It’s raining. I run faster. I realize I must be in a garden. There are rows of manicured hedges. Its a maze. I still run. I hear guards chasing me. But I’m lost in a maze of well-groomed bushes and I can’t see above them. I run, but I don’t know where I’m going or how to get out. I hear the guards in pursuit of me.

It begins to rain harder and I slip a few times in the wet mud. I hear the guards getting closer. They are yelling for me to stop.

“Madame Georgiana, please stop. There’s no way out. You’re in a garden.”

My heart is beating so fast and I’m out of breath. It’s not long before guards surround me and take me back into the palace. I hear them mumbling about not wanting to tell the Empress about what happened. I figure that’s good for all of us. Them for not doing their job well and me for trying to escape.

I’m led back into my room and left in a wet and muddy puddle. As soon as the door locks, I fall to the stone floor and begin to weep. What am I going to do?