Best of Both Worlds

This story was written for a science fiction challenge, the topic chosen was that of a kidnapped king - 2980 words

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I was rudely dredged from the depths of sleep by the shrill repetitive wail of an alarm. The acrid tang of smoke seeped through the cracked canopy of my bio-bed as I tried to bring my groggy mind to bear on an obviously acute situation. There was a shuddering thump and the screech of tortured metal ... the floor abruptly tilted to a 45 degree angle, sending my bio-bed over on its side. I scrambled out, tearing away the tubes connecting me to it. The room in which I crouched, naked and trembling, was dim and filled with overturned medical equipment. A viewing port graced one wall and I laboriously made my way to it, still weak from my confinement. What I saw from that port rendered me speechless. I was in an orbiting object ... likely, a space station ... which was screaming down towards a huge ocean planet at terminal velocity.

The crump of a muffled explosion threw me to the floor and the hatch of the room was blown in, hurtling through the air to crash only inches from my position. Shaken but determined to survive, I ran from the room and into a hallway. The smoke was thicker here, the alarm louder, and the red-tinged lighting blinked off and on, creating a disconcerting strobe-like affect. I forced myself onward, knowing my only chance lay in finding an escape pod. I discovered the first of many corpses moments later. The shock of seeing that alien body ... Ennedi ... was like a slap in the face, instantaneously restoring my memory.

What I remembered only spurred me on in my search for a way off this death trap. As I tripped over bodies and peered into hatchways, I thought of Jenna, my wife, my Queen. How long since my capture, how long had I been missing ... days, weeks? My chest tightened painfully as I considered what she must be going through. Her love was true but perhaps even she had given up on me by now, thinking me dead by Ennedi treachery. I passed a transparent wall panel and noticed movement from the corner of my eye. Snapping my head around, I glimpsed a monster. Too terrified to run, I stared at the apparition, only slowly coming to realized that what I beheld was my own reflection.

I began to laugh. Days or weeks? No, it seemed I'd been missing for much longer. And apparently, the Ennedi scientists had made serious use of that time, for what looked back at me was no longer human in even the most flexible use of the term. My gales of laughter became sobs and I watched as human tears rolled down from eyes now an alien color ... watched those tears paint a face as pale as any Ennedi's ... watched them flow past the new gills at my neckline. I gathered my courage and glanced down at the naked body I'd not thought to scrutinize before. Nausea took me and I crawled away to retch in a corner.

I'm not sure how long I lay there, despairing. I finally beat back the hopelessness and self-loathing with one thought ... Harrath. I didn't know what the Ennedi's purpose had been in forcing this dreadful metamorphosis upon me, but I was still human enough to want to go home ... if only just to die. And Jenna ... she deserved to know the truth before I ended the vile experiment the Ennedi had begun. With renewed purpose, I eventually found the space station's docking bay. With only moment's to spare, I launched a shuttle and watched as the station began to burn in the Ennedi home world's atmosphere.

* * * * *

I sat in the info-tech's office on Harrath, impatiently awaiting his presence. Pulling close the hood of my robe to obscure my features, I thanked the paranoid impulse that had inspired me years ago to place money, a blaster and an alternate ID in a public locker at the spaceport. Without that precaution, I'd never have been able to afford the information I needed but had been unable to procure on my own.

"May I help you?"

I looked up to see the info-tech taking a seat across the table from me. He was elderly, but had an erect bearing and an air of competence. Placing his com-interface on the table, he awaited my response.

"I need information on the Queen ... her location, her political standing and anything you might have on her personal life."

He raised a gray brow. "I assume you're an off-worlder, as some of this is common knowledge. Will this information be used to harm anyone?"

I suppressed a sigh of relief. The laws regarding info-techs seemed not to have changed in the twenty years of my absence. For the right amount of money, one could find out almost anything about anyone. The only restriction lay in the buyer's intent ... they must mean no harm. And the info-tech would know, for they were not only learned in information retrieval but also empathic. "It's not my intent to harm any with this information," I replied.

The other closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, seeming both surprised and sad. "Very well."

After fifteen minutes of intensive comp time, he had the answers I desired. "The Queen is naught but a figurehead since the disappearance of King Garron, twenty years ago. The country is truly ruled by Minister Jossa, whose time is mostly spent in defusing civil unrest. The Queen now resides in his custody in the castle of Elsinore on the northern continent. As to her personal life ... are you sure you want that information?"

I nodded.

"Her life has been shrouded in mystery since her husband vanished. Some say Minister Jossa wishes to wed her and that she chastely refuses, but all is conjecture."

I put aside my heartache at these words and concentrated on the concrete. "The castle is guarded by the Minister's men?"

"Assuredly."

"Then I need all the information you have on Elsinore Castle ... I must find an undetectable way inside."

The old man's eyes rested on me for a moment, as if weighing a decision. Finally, he spoke. "I believe I have just what you need."

* * * * *

I stood on a precipice overlooking the northern sea and Elsinore Castle. Rain spattered against my alien face and dark clouds obscured the moon, making it difficult to see. The castle itself stood upon a chunk of rock some thirty feet out into the sea and savage waves crashed against its foundations, creating a phosphorescent display. There was no room within the castle walls for a shuttle to land and the only means of egress was a bridge that connected the castle to the mainland. Guard posts stood at both ends of the bridge to ensure no unauthorized visitation. With a last lingering look, I turned away and began to carefully descend the side of the cliff.

As I slid and stumbled down a steep rain-drenched path barely wide enough for a goat, I went over what I knew of the castle's history. It had been the dwelling of the first monarch of Harrath a thousand years ago, though now it was rarely used due to its remoteness and primitive accouterments. Before that, legend says, it had been the home of a mythical race of beings that came out of the sea. Our primordial ancestors had worshipped these water-beings as gods in that dark time before the advent of reason. According to the info-tech, there existed a series of caves created by these ancient beings which connected the mainland to the foundations of the castle. It was through these caves that I hoped to gain access to Jenna.

After moments of silent searching, painfully aware of the guard post 100 feet above my head, I found the vegetation-covered cave mouth at the base of the cliff. I made my way within, the drop in temperature and the darkness daunting. After several minutes of tentative walking, I felt it safe to snap on a small light stick. What I saw nearly took my breath away ... the tunnel in which I stood opened up a few feet ahead into a huge area the size of a cathedral. From ceiling and floor, hundreds of varicolored stalactites and stalagmites reached toward each other with frozen fingers of stone. My path led me through this petrified wonderland and into a damp narrow tunnel whose inclination was downward ... with some trepidation, I realized that I was beginning to cross under the sea.

I followed this tunnel for some time, as the dampness increased and rivulets of sea water began to sluice down the walls from above. Soon I was wading in water ankle deep, then knee deep, and a distant roar from ahead hinted at worse. Before I could decide whether to continue, a sudden rush of water from behind swept me off my feet and down the tunnel at a dizzying speed. Barely keeping my head above the torrent, I saw that the tunnel widened before me, concluding in a whirlpool that sucked the sea water down through a large hole in the floor. Spinning out of control like a dead leaf in a storm, I circled the chamber in a rush of foam, then was pulled under into darkness.

Panic surged through me as I struggled in the blackness, my light stick lost. I knew not which way was up, was unable to keep myself from being pulled ever faster, ever deeper. Lungs burning, I held my breath until stars danced in the void before me ... then, to my horror, my body broke my will and sucked cold sea water with a passion. And I didn't drown. Stunned, I felt my Ennedi gills swell and shrink, separating oxygen and hydrogen. I was suddenly spit up to the water's surface and came to rest at the edge of a pool. I pulled myself exhausted from the water and it dawned on me that my vision was improving ... my Ennedi eyes, I supposed ... the darkness had paled to a shadowy dimness. This cave was different from the others ... crude paintings lined the walls and though primitive in technique, the story they told amazed me.

* * * * *

I paced in the hallway outside Jenna's chamber, my heart thumping, my stomach doing a queasy roll. It hadn't taken long to make my way from the cave of paintings to the bowels of the castle. All the guards seemed to be without the castle walls and I'd found only a young chambermaid outside Jenna's door. When the girl had seen me coming in my dripping robe, my face once more hidden within its cowl, she'd passed into Jenna's chamber to announce me. As I paced, I glanced at my chronometer, thankfully waterproof ... what was taking Jenna so long?

After my meeting with the info-tech, I'd had another reason to get to Jenna besides merely letting her know what had become of me ... it seemed obvious that both she and Harrath itself needed rescuing from Jossa. But as I strode back and forth outside her door, I acknowledged that I really had only one purpose for being here ... to discover whether the one I loved still loved me. A bitter smile touched my lips. How foolish. For me it seemed mere weeks since I'd last been with my wife ... she, on the other hand, must have come to terms with my death many years ago. It would be selfish to let her know I still lived, especially in my present form. Best to find another way to help her and Harrath through a third party, keeping my existence a secret. I turned to go, chagrined to feel the warmth of tears on my face. But after I'd taken only a few steps, Jenna's door opened.

"Sir, you wished to see me?"

I didn't turn, kept walking. "Sorry. A mistake."

I heard light footfalls and then a hand gripped my shoulder, causing me to halt. She walked around to stand before me and my eyes drank in her presence. She hadn't changed much at all ... still lovely. And even had her appearance altered, I doubt I would have noticed, for her spirit still shone, bright and true. Sadly, the same could not be said of me. I pulled the hood closer over my face and side-stepped her. "I must go. Excuse me, Lady."

Wide eyes widened further and she whispered, "Garron?"

My voice ... why hadn't I sought to disguise it? I ran from her down the hall but she caught up to me, pulling the robe's cowl from my head. I cringed, barely able to meet her gaze. But when I did, it wasn't fear or disgust I saw in her eyes but a wondering love. I'm not sure how long we lingered there, caught in an embrace, for time did seem to stand still. Eventually, though, we spoke, sharing what had transpired with each of us since our parting. Finally Jenna took my hand and pulled me toward her chamber saying there was someone within I needed to meet ... one of the mythical sea-folk of ancient Harrath.

* * * * *

As I crested the last rugged stretch of rocky outcropping, I could see the ruined temple glowing in the pink-gold rays of the rising sun. Beyond the sheer side of the peak I'd just climbed, the ocean lay 200 feet below, twinkling in the sunlight. And there sat Jossa, nonchalantly dangling his feet over the edge.

"You asked to meet ... I'm here," he said, not looking at me but staring out at the ocean.

"When I said you could pick the spot for the meeting, I didn't expect this. How long has it been?"

"We last were here together the day you were made king. As I recall, we fought." Still he wouldn't meet my gaze.

Climbing the steps of the ancient temple, one that had been built to the sea people so long ago, I ran a hand idly over the smooth marble of a broken pillar. "We fought about a lot of things in our youth ... it didn't keep us from being the best of friends. Until I was chosen by our father to rule after him. Then, you turned your face from me ... why?"

Finally, Jossa got to his feet and turned towards me. And he stared. All that I had feared to find in Jenna's eyes welled up now in my brother's. With what seemed like a mighty effort, he tore his gaze away,shaken. He seemed to have forgotten my question, caught up as he was by the change in my appearance.

"So it's true ... the Ennedi have made you one of their own. Is it also true that you've turned traitor and wish to offer Harrath to the enemy as a way of buying back your power here?"

I came down from the temple steps and stood as close to Jossa as he would permit. "No. You don't understand, of course, and that's why I asked to meet. The truth is stranger than you could imagine."

"Or believe?" he murmured.

"Just listen. In the far distant past, an alien race seeded the planets of a number of systems with genetic material. Only two planets proved fertile enough to nurture this material ... Ennedi and Harrath. The beings that evolved were of the sea and, as Ennedi is an ocean world, they changed little on that planet. Here, however, most of them evolved, adapting to life on land. We and the Ennedi have a common ancestor and ..."

"Enough!" Jossa pulled his dirk from its sheath. "I'm not interested in a history lesson, brother. I guess if you want something done right, you really do have to do it yourself."

I stared at him uncomprehendingly and then saw the truth in his eyes. "You ... you set up my capture by the Ennedi all those years ago. Why?"

He advanced on me with his dagger held before him, herding me towards the cliff's edge and the sheer drop to the ocean. "It's simple ... I wanted what you had ... the kingship, of course, and Jenna." He laughed bitterly. "Who knew that the Ennedi wouldn't kill you but would surgically alter you, brainwash you, and send you back here as their minion."

Slowly I gave ground, backing towards the cliff's edge, pulling out my own dagger. "You don't understand. I wasn't altered. Strangely, being in their presence reawakened in me some latent genetic material. I somehow de-evolved over that twenty year period of my captivity. When they realized what was happening, they consulted their gods, the aliens who first gave us all life, and those aliens commanded that a peace be made between our peoples. If a rebel Ennedi faction hadn't attacked the space station on which I ..."

"I said, I've heard enough! I don't know who, what, you are anymore but you're mad if you expect me to believe this fantasy. Come closer, brother ... give me the chance to end this farce."

Jossa leapt at me, his dirk nearly disemboweling me as I scrambled backwards. I regained my feet and we circled each other, stiff-legged, mere inches from the crumbling edge of a drop to certain death. His anger made him incautious and as he lunged again, I caught his wrist, twisting it and disarming him. Before he could retrieve his weapon, I kicked it over the cliff's edge. We stood, panting, staring at each other.

"Jossa, what I'm asking of you, of Harrath, is the best alternative for all ... an end to the war with the Ennedi ... peace."

He seemed to slump and the anger drained from his face. "If all you've said is indeed true, the world you propose is not one in which I'm fitted to live."

Before I could formulate a reply, Jossa turned and calmly stepped off the edge of the cliff. Feeling no pleasure in my triumph, I threw down my dagger and wept.


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