©2025 SammyC

“He’s alive! This boy’s still breathing—”

We all turned away from the cowering figure of Lydia as she reached out her pleading hands to Alvin, who was pointing his red-light weapon squarely at her chest. One of Alvin’s comrades was calling to us from the wagon where Prince Kelvin’s body had been placed.

“She ran a sword through the boy!” Amos exclaimed to Alvin.

“Can you do something for him?” asked Alvin, still pointing his weapon at Lydia.

“We can give him a shot of adrenaline. If we hook him up to a drip in the med car—”

“Do it! Can he hold out for the four-hour trip back to The City?”

“It’ll be a close call…” Two of Alvin’s men put Kelvin on a stretcher, carried it to their truck and drove away into the train entrance, down to the train below.

“Now, what do we do with her?” Alvin turned our attention back to Lydia.

“Just leave her out here. Maybe she can walk back to the Western Kingdom. It’s 50/50 she doesn’t make it,” Malcolm sneered.

“She doesn’t deserve a chance to survive this,” Merlyn declared. “She’s the mastermind behind this evil scheme. She was going to have us sacrificed to The Gods. The wedding was just a ploy…”

“What say you, Princess Rani? I believe it’s your call.” Alvin betrayed his own opinion by resuming dead aim at Lydia’s chest.

I looked at Lydia’s pitiful, cowering stance, her face etched with fear and a thought based in a belief in the possibility of an evolved human society on this planet of abandoned souls struck me. Yes, justice must be served but we must progress beyond an eye for an eye and blood revenge.

“No, let us take her back to your city and allow the wheels of justice to turn with deliberate and dispassionate reason. I do not know this for a fact, but your people seem to be far more evolved, technologically and morally.”

Lydia stood up and threw her hands up in surrender, nodding toward me. “Princess Rani speaks eloquently and with righteousness. Yes, I will throw myself on the mercy of the court. On the mercy of The Mayor, your esteemed mother Georgia—”

“How do you know my mother’s name?” asked Alvin, astonished that this strange woman seemed so familiar with his city and his mother.

“Put the blaster down, Alvin. I will go peacefully. I know of your mother and the glories of The City because I am originally from The City. Circumstances came up that made it impossible for me to continue living there. After a period of wandering in the wilderness, I was mercifully taken in by The Western Kingdom.

She gestured, perhaps toward the City. “In return for their kindness, I provided them with the benefit of my superior knowledge and skills. I was only doing the bidding of the Royal Couple and their son, Prince Kelvin. I will explain all of this to your mother—”

“Don’t believe a word she says, Alvin. I’d keep a watch on her all the way back to The City,” warned Malcolm.

“Malcolm, you’re aware that you have been banned from our city,” Alvin reminded him.

“Perhaps your mother…Georgia is her name?” I interjected. “Perhaps Georgia can persuade the authorities of your fair city to rescind Malcolm’s sentence. Whatever he’s accused of, I’m sure he was no party to. It was the work of his sister, Senshi.”

“Rani, don’t you remember anything from your time in The City? Alvin’s mother Georgia was the magistrate who sentenced me to banishment,” Malcolm explained.

“When you all return to The City, I’ll ask that your memories be restored,” Alvin said. “I don’t see why my mother would object. You won’t be a security threat to us after we explain our situation to you.”

He nodded, firmly. “Alright, this is how we’ll proceed. Once the truck returns, we’ll drive into the terminal and board the train. I’ll have Lydia here placed in a separate car and two of my men will stand guard over her. Just to be on the safe side.”

I spoke up. “Alvin, we’d like to take our animals with us. As I recall, they were transported with us when we arrived here on the train. I would hate to leave Emma out here in the wild, all alone. She wouldn’t survive.”

“Of course, as you wish, Princess.” The truck reappeared and one of Alvin’s men took Lydia away by the arm. We mounted our Rumperdons and Malcolm vaulted onto his Hobnob. The opening to the train terminal slowly grew in our field of vision and I heard Merlyn breathe a mighty sigh of relief.

“I can’t believe all of that happened and I don’t remember a single thing.”

I looked at Alvin, disbelief showing in my expression. We were sitting in the same hammock-like seats we woke up in the morning before. This time, Alvin was sitting with us, having recapitulated the events that transpired from the moment we entered the dome of The City, a destination we had been told was the home of the Underground People.

Malcolm had led us to believe that the denizens of this underground citadel were cannibals who traded goods to his tribe for human victims. Apparently, he was wrong. His sister Senshi had fed him a convenient myth that served the uses of both parties. That explains the miraculous healing of Amos’ arms. And the mystery of what happened to Luna was solved. If what Alvin is telling us is really true.

“You’ll recall everything when we restore your memories. Especially of the things I said to you about the way I feel toward you.” He bowed his head, embarrassed by what he had just let slip in front of all of us.

“That’s very sweet of you, Alvin, but I am still betrothed to Prince Kelvin…should he survive.”

“You are so literal-minded, child,” Merlyn chided. “Nothing about this whole misadventure was legitimate. We will return home and forget all about this. Now that we know the Dagger of Heaven was just a made-up ruse—”

Alvin cleared his throat. “The meteor is still headed toward us, Merlyn. Dr. Princeton says tonight is its closest approach—"

“I spoke too soon!” exclaimed Merlyn.

“Closest approach,” Alvin reiterated. “It’s going to miss us by thousands of kilometers.”

“Does anybody mind if I smoke?” Malcolm began to take his right boot off. He turned it upside down and a small leather pouch fell out into his hand. Placing the pouch on his lap, he reached into one of the pockets of his breeches and took out his fire-starter kit. From the pouch he pulled a stick of dreamweed and began to light it.

“So you lied about being down to your last stick of dreamweed,” Amos scolded.

“This time I am down to the last stick. The one still in the pouch has your name on it, if you want it.” Malcolm took a puff of the stick in his mouth and held the pouch out to Amos.

“Don’t, Amos. It’s a terrible habit,” Merlyn declared in a maternal tone.

“No, thanks. You had that in your boot, packed against your dirty, smelly foot!”

“It’s time for breakfast anyway,” Alvin remarked. “The robot kitchen on the train is preparing it as we sit right now. Give it another five minutes. I hope you’ll all like Rumperdon strips and Blinkbird eggs with a hot cup of fermented bean decoction to wash it down with—”

“Why do you all like eating Rumperdons? They’re such wonderful pets and fun to ride,” I complained.

“I had a pet Rumperdon when I was a boy. I loved that animal. Rode it everyday through the hills and valleys around our tribal grounds. Then, one day, Father decided to roast it for a holiday feast.” Malcolm took one last long drag on his dreamweed stick. “But, damn, it was delicious.”

I rolled my eyes at that and found Alvin staring at me.

“What?”

“I was just thinking. Tonight, when the meteor passes by us, it’ll make for a spectacular display in the sky. It’ll reflect the sun like our moons but more intensely. It very well may seem like a burning dagger in heaven. But we’ll be safe. We’ll just stare in wonder at the fireworks in the firmament.”

“If Dr. Princeton is correct in his calculations…” I cautioned.

“There’s a platform near the top of our dome that would be the perfect place to watch the spectacle. I will bring you up there tonight and we can take it all in, just the two of us.”

“You’re silly, Alvin. Won’t everyone in the city be there as well? We’ll be two spectators among hundreds.”

“I doubt it. The sky show will be broadcast live on our TV network. Everyone will enjoy it in the comfort of their own homes on their wall screens. Except you and me.”

“I’ve always enjoyed fireworks displays. But I can’t enjoy this alone. Let’s invite Merlyn, Amos, Malcolm, Daisy, and Edward. The whole gang! And maybe Luna too…”

Alvin’s lips formed a tight smile as he slowly nodded his head in defeat.

We stepped out of the train into a dreamworld. A vast underground room enclosed by gently curving walls that radiated warm, glowing light. Standing in front of a line of men bearing blasters was Alvin’s mother Georgia, tall, raven-haired, and still beautiful in middle-age. Contrary to the stern looks on the faces of the armed men, Georgia’s expression displayed the relief felt by a concerned mother upon the safe return of her only child.

“Alvin! I was worried to an inch of my life when I was informed you had gone out in the dead of night on this rescue mission. Thank heavens, you have all returned safe and sound. Our guests from The Eastern Kingdom are always welcome in The City. Though you don’t remember me, Rani, I do you. Very pleasantly, I add—”

“Mother, did you bring the ambulance I asked for? Prince Kelvin of The Western Kingdom has been seriously wounded. He needs to be tended to in our medical center as soon as possible.”

Before Alvin finished asking, two women in coveralls moved Kelvin from his stretcher to a gurney and pushed it toward an ambulance some meters away, carrying the IV stand alongside it.

Georgia rushed forward to hug Alvin and then hug each of us in turn. She stopped when she came to Malcolm.

“You! You are not allowed in The City! Alvin, why did you bring him back with you?”

“Georgia, please reconsider Malcolm’s banishment,” I pleaded. “He’s done nothing but try to protect me since his sister abducted us. Do not punish him for the evil crimes of Senshi—”

Georgia softened her demeanor and took my hand. “Alright, Rani. We’ll think about it. Perhaps we need to investigate his culpability more fully. I make no promises. For the time being, he’s welcome to stay with us.”

“It doesn’t make any difference to me, lady. I don’t expect to get any merit badges from you,” Malcolm said defiantly.

Everyone turned around to see Lydia being brought out of the car she was detained in for the duration of the four-and-a-half-hour trip. She was being held with her hands tied behind her by one of Alvin’s men, his blaster slung over his shoulder. Georgia’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open as Merlyn tried to identify her.

“That’s the witch who tried to have us all killed. The one who invented this Dagger of Heaven scam. She ran a sword through Prince Kelvin. The poor boy better make it, or it’ll be a dead bang case of cold-blooded murder.”

“Miranda!!! I thought I’d seen the last of you 17 years ago!” Georgia screamed.

“Miranda? Her name is Lydia,” I stated, confused by Georgia’s reaction.

“Hello, big sister. Long time no see, huh?”

“Mother, I didn’t know you had a sister,” Alvin uttered in surprise.

“The thot plickens,” Merlyn muttered.

“Commander, take this woman to detention. Place her under 24-hour guard. We’ll deal with her long list of crimes at a hearing tomorrow morning. 10AM sharp!”

The commander signaled to two of his men to take Miranda into custody. As they escorted her out, Miranda turned to her sister.

“I look forward to the hearing, Georgia. You know I have a long, sordid story to tell. A story that’ll put you in the worst light, not me. Be careful who you accuse of cold-blooded murder!” She cackled, her laughter dying away as they loaded her into a tube conveyor, headed toward jail.

“Mother, what is she talking about?” asked Alvin.

“She’s insane. Don’t believe a word she says. I hope she doesn’t think I will be showing her any mercy tomorrow. Come, let’s go back to my house. Luna and Eric will be so happy to see you again, safe and sound.”

When we were seated in the next tube conveyor that arrived, Merlyn sighed and turned to me, her hand holding an imaginary item next to her mouth. She chomped down on that something imaginary.

“Just a cotton-picking minute,” she said in a funny accent. “I should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”

After we reunited with Luna and her father Eric (wasn’t he supposed to be dead?), Georgia sent us to Dr. Princeton’s laboratory to have our memories restored. Malcolm, who decided not to go back with us to Georgia’s house since Eric believed him to have taken part in the atrocities committed by The Two Moons Tribe, was shown his temporary quarters where he proceeded to take an afternoon nap.

The memory restoration process involved sitting in a comfortable chair and having a helmet placed on your head. Dr. Princeton tried to explain that our memories had not been erased but merely removed to a different part of our brain where it could be hidden from our consciousness. The helmet somehow returned those hidden memories to their original place. By the time he had finished explaining the process to us, our memories had been recovered. In a flash, I remembered everything.

When Alvin asked me if the memory restoration was successful, I nodded and smiled. What I remembered most starkly was what Georgia had told me before I lost consciousness on her couch that evening after Eric’s delicious dinner of Blinkbird Fricassee. That she knew I was a boy and that I had no hope of a future with Alvin.

“Something wrong?” Alvin asked when I followed the smile with an unconscious frown.

“No, everything’s fine.”

“Don’t forget the fireworks display after dinner tonight. Dr. Princeton says the meteor will flash across the sky around 10PM. It looks like it’s going to be a clear night too. Two moons and a flaming meteor should be some show!”

True to his word, Alvin and I found ourselves alone on the terrace near the top of the Dome of the underground city at 10PM that evening. In the clear sky above us, a blanket of twinkling stars and two moons, one larger than the other smaller, metallic-seeming one, filled our eyes with awesome beauty. The air was chilly and I shivered in my pink coveralls, my breath coming out as misty water vapor.

Alvin wrapped his arms around me and looked down into my eyes. He pressed his lips against mine. I felt weak at the knees. Luckily, his strong arms held me up as he continued to kiss me. I greedily kissed him back.

I was the first to disengage, holding Alvin at arm’s length.

“You told everyone to decline my invitation, didn’t you,” I chided Alvin.

“They understood. I had to bribe Malcolm though. I traded him our fastest Hobnob for his nag. But it was worth it to be alone with you.”

“You know there’s no future for us, Alvin. I have my role to play in my kingdom. You will probably be elected Mayor when your mother’s term ends.”

“Stay with me, Rani. We can unite your kingdom with my city. We can bring peace and prosperity to our planet if we combine our skills and knowledge.”

“Let’s not argue, Alvin. Is there any word on Prince Kelvin’s condition?”

“They operated on him right after he arrived in the medical center. Now he’s in a medical coma while the nanobots do their thing. That might take a couple of days, but the doctors tell me he’ll completely recover.”

“Oh, that’s so good to hear, although I have no idea what nanobots are. I suppose now that Lydia…I mean Miranda…is out of the way, I wonder if the wedding is off.”

“Rani, you are a riot. Of course it’s off. The bad feelings between the two kingdoms are now worse by a factor of ten!”

A glowing object approached from the East, high up in the sky but below our moons.

“Look! Alvin! There it is! The Dagger!” I cried, jumping up and down, excited yet frightened at the same time.

We held each other tightly and craned our necks to watch the stately progress of the burning, gleaming cylindrical object as it moved from east to west.

“I still can’t see it clearly. It’s like it’s surrounded by an aura,” observed Alvin.

“It’s not like any meteor shower I’ve ever seen. It’s moving much slower across the sky,” I noted.

“You know, I never had as much respect for Dr. Princeton as I have now. He predicted everything to a T. It is going to miss hitting us. Look, it’s just sweeping across the sky from east to west. There’s not going to be an impact,” Alvin exhaled.

After another few minutes, the meteor disappeared over the horizon in the west. Alvin turned back to me, still holding me in his arms.

“Marry me, Rani.”

“I can’t. Look, like your mother told me, you’d find out sooner or later. I’m not a girl. I’m a boy.” I waited for his disgusted reaction, but it didn’t come. He just smiled.

“I know. Mother broke down and told me when I found out she’d spiked your wine and put you all on the train. She didn’t think I’d ever see you again. The joke’s on her. But you didn’t answer me. Will you marry me, Rani?”

“You like boys?”

“No. I’m in love with the girl in my arms.”