Dreams Of Fame
1.26 - Sixam Life
Liberty watched from some alien bushes as Beatrice scurried around the area, trying to figure out where they were.
She’d landed the spaceship about 15 minutes before, then she and Beatrice jumped out and hit the ground running. Beatrice had talked a lot the whole flight about how they’d survive Sixam, one of the first things she’d emphasized was that once she landed her ship, Sixamese scouts would be on their way and if they found Beatrice, it wouldn’t be good for either of them.
So, they abandoned her space ship. Beatrice promised her that she’d be able to locate it again with her powers, and Liberty sure hoped that was true because she already missed Clara and Jacob.
“Liberty!” Beatrice hissed. “I know where we are, there’s a place we can hide about a half hours walk from here!”
“A half hour? Beatrice, I want to help you, but I also want to get home to my kids! I thought I’d be dropping you off and then I’d be back with them by tomorrow morning.”
“I wanted that for you too, Liberty, but we’re too close to the palace. We will both be caught if we don’t move. And I don’t know when, if ever, you’d get back to your kids if that happened. So come along!”
“Ugh, fine Beatrice. Just please don’t loose track of my ship in your mind, or however it is your powers work. I don’t want to be separated from Clara and Jacob any longer than I have to.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. Quickly now!”
Liberty sighed, and started running with Beatrice at her side.
Back at the house, Summer stumbled into the kitchen, a wine glass in hand. Travis had taken the kids and Giovanna out to the park, and Zoe regularly disappeared to roam the neighborhood and smell the flowers. So, she was home alone, and no one was there to stop her from drinking. She definitely needed a drink. Or two.
She’d just poured herself another glass when Giovanna emerged from the bathroom, babbling to herself.
“Yes, Zoe, this outfit does look great on me, thank you.”
“G-Giovannaa?” Summer said, slurring her words. “I thought you were… going to the park or something.”
Giovanna stopped babbling and took a good minute to focus on Summer. “I didn’t want to,” she said simply.
Summer nodded slowly. “Great.”
Wasn’t like Giovanna, of all people, was going to stop her from drinking.
Summer looked Giovanna in the eyes as she took a long sip of her drink. Giovanna, unsurprisingly, did nothing. Summer rolled her eyes and started on her way back to her bedroom. She was stopped by a sudden knock on the door.
“Giovanna? You wanna get that?” Summer asked.
Giovanna was staring out the window absentmindedly, and completely ignored Summer.
“Ugh!” Summer snarled. She finished her drink in one gulp, slammed the glass on the nearest table, then stomped over to the door. It was going to be José, she just knew it. And she didn’t want to see him, not after the way he’d stomped on her heart. And he’d be disappointed that she was this level of drunk. She flung the door open and was greeted by someone she never thought she’d see again.
“Hi, Summer, was it? I’m Zoe Patel, but I’m sure you already know that. May I come in?”
“No,” Summer snorted.
“Really?” Zoe said, craning her neck, trying to see over Summer’s shoulder into the house. “I just want to see Zoe, you know, the other, inferior Zoe who isn’t working for the government like me?”
Summer gave Zoe a vicious little smile and shut the door behind her.
“Now listen here you dumb b-“
“Oh my,” Zoe interrupted, covering her mouth. “You reek. And you’re most definitely drunk. Weren’t you thrown out of the court room all those years ago for the same reason?”
Summer didn’t even have a response to that.
“Well. Anyway, seeing that Ms. Presley isn’t here, I have something to say to you instead Summer! I’m sure you remember José, right? The man who exposed your little alien friend to the world, and also the man who… broke your heart?”
“Get off my porch,” Summer snarled, pointing.
“Oooo! I guessed that right, you know, I really am smarter than everyone gives me credit for. Anyway! Before this José starts having any second thoughts, I think I’m going to take him from you. You guys take my money, I’m going to take the man who might have married into… well, whatever sort of family situation you have going on here. It’s only fair, don’t you think?”
Zoe gave a little wave, got into her car, and sped down the street, leaving Summer fuming on the porch. As she watched the car disappear, she slowly sank to her knees and began to sob. Wine glass in hand, Summer slowly climbed to her feet, walked down the stairs to the sidewalk, and began to walk. She wasn’t going anywhere in particular, she just needed to go anywhere else.
“This is it,” Beatrice said, pointing. “I think we’ll be safe here.”
Liberty looked at the structure, which was an odd agglomeration of metal and some giant alien plant life. “What is it?”
“A group of human researchers came here around 20 years ago, and built this as a place to research and live. They did that for five or so years, I believe, before I came out here on a mission with the Queen and put an end to it.
“What happened to them?”
“Prison, most likely. I never served as a judge during my time on the royal court, but I knew the royal siblings pretty well. I doubt they would have executed anyone for just doing research.”
“You need to explain all of this to me, Beatrice, you’ve got me intrigued,” Liberty laughed.
“Let’s get inside first,” Beatrice said.
Liberty nodded, and followed Beatrice as she unlocked both the front gate and the front door to the facility with her powers. They entered a room filled to the brim with odd gadgets and machines.
“Weird,” Liberty muttered, looking around.
“I thought the same thing when I first came here,” Beatrice said. “But now that I’ve spent so much time living with humans, it comes as no surprise. You guys have a lot of movies about mad scientists, and the researchers were definitely inspired.”
Beatrice opened up the door to the next area, and they walked up a set of stairs to the second level. Spotting a table, Liberty sat down and gestured to the seat across from her.
“Please tell me more,” she begged.
Beatrice let out a deep sigh and sat down across from her. “I… I don’t feel comfortable talking about the royal family yet, because I still admire them and see one member specifically as a close friend. But I will tell you about why I had to flee and seek passage in your spaceship.”
“Oh Beatrice, I’ve been waiting to hear this story for a long time. Please, go ahead.”
“I was… an ambassador to the human race. I worked under a member of the royal family. After around… 400 years of the job, I was very high ranking. Respected. I was the person who’d be sent to speak to the new presidents.”
“Then, one day, it all went wrong. I was visiting the last president, Mitch Laurent, for the second time, and that was when I realized… I’d fallen in love. The two of us had a romantic few months, times that will stick with me, always. But, under the current Queen’s reign, the love between a Sixam native and a human is strictly forbidden.”
“I was found out, and the both of us were brought to Sixam and were put on trial before the Queen’s throne. Trials are only held in the throne room in the case of the most serious offenses. I begged the Queen for leniency on Mitch, and she was kind enough to grant it. She scrubbed his mind of any memory of me, and sent him back home. I, however, was sentenced to death.”
“With the help of a… friend, I escaped the day before my execution. I was lucky enough to spot your ship landing as I ran from the palace, and you know the rest of the story."
“Why do they have such a stupid rule in the first place? I don’t know all the biology, but I don’t see anything wrong in that sort of love,” Liberty said.
Beatrice sighed. “The Queen has her reasons, but it isn’t fair to the rest of us.”
“And what reasons are those?”
“Later, Liberty. I’ll tell you later. Despite everything, I still feel like I owe allegiance to Sixam and it’s royal family. I’m not ready to betray all the information I have on them just yet.”
Liberty nodded carefully.
Summer wandered into a beautiful garden, the glass she’d been holding having long since fallen from her hand. As she started to look around, the alcohol rushed to her head, and Summer collapsed. She was out cold.
Back at home, Summer’s phone rang, left on the dresser. The caller? José.