Chapter 22 – Going Home on Condition
"We were asked to go see the activities of the Androidian goddess Artemis, much like this," the Colonel began while lying on the bed in their jail cell. "Things didn't go as planned, and we needed to stay off-ship on that planet for a week more than planned. We were almost caught by the Androidians many times, but right when our luck at outrunning them seemed to be taking a turn for the better, I slipped down the face of a steep cliff into a shallow ravine with a river flowing through it. It swept me along with the currents and I cracked my head on a rock somewhere. Dagón found me later."
"Aye that I did," Dagón said. "He be so wounded from the fall, I needed ta carry him to th' Spacegate—some couple hundred of yer feet away. He be bleeding profusely from hi' head and leg…I went as fast as me legs could carry me. We made it in time so he di'n't need any special care from the doc."
"Not that I would've minded that…" the Colonel interjected, and then realized he said it. He sat up suddenly with an alarmed face, but Daniel only smiled. Dagón looked confused.
"Your secret, however apparent it is to both Alex and I, is safe with us," Daniel assured John.
"Who—how—wha…what? How did you—?" the Colonel sputtered. "How?" Daniel's smile broadened.
"It shows, sir," the linguist explained. "And now, by the way you both look at the other when it's only the team and you two in a room, I'd say that she's began to return the feelings…"
John's face just fell into astonishment and Daniel began laughing. Dagón still had a clueless expression on his face.
"I don't understan' ye," the alien said while shaking his head, and the two men started laughing harder.
"Nothing to worry about Dagón…just petty human emotions, that's all. It wouldn't interest you."
Dagón smiled. "Aye…that it won't."
They then began to talk of other things, namely where Alex was and how she was doing. They hoped she would get them out of this predicament soon.
Solaris reluctantly broke the kiss, much to Alex's relief. He knew now in the bottom of his soul that this woman was the one for him.
"Will you stay with me?" he asked her, expecting her to leap for joy and accept. His fantasy, however, quickly ended with her reply.
"Solaris, my planet needs me, my friends need me. I cannot stay here. We are at war with the Androidians, and we need to go back home. Please…I ask you to let them go." Solaris didn't seem swayed, so she added reluctantly, "If you do, I promise to stay here and get to know you for as long as I can." That seemed to get his attention.
"If I let your friends go and allow them to use the Spacegate to get home, you'll stay with me?" Alex nodded. "All right. Your friends are as free as the birds are in the sky. You may go to them if you wish. Guard! Take her to the prisoners' cell!"
"Yes, milord," one of the guards called and he took her to see her friends.
"Alex!" Daniel called from the secluded small cell they were in.
"Hey, Major. You sure look as if you're holding up," the Colonel said. "How's our escape coming?"
"Well sir," she said, trying to hide the low neckline of her dress, "you're all free to go."
"Yes!" John cried and the guard opened the door. "All right. Let's get the king to let us go back home!"
"Uh, sir? There have been a lot of things that have happened over the past day. The king is dead, leaving Solaris to be the new one…and I've made a promise. The only way I could get you out was to agree that I'd stay and live here for a while to get to know the king. He seems to think that I'm his destiny or something remotely along those lines, and so wouldn't have agreed to let you all go without me staying here."
"But you can't—!" Daniel protested, his heart sinking at the prospect, but the Colonel just sighed, cutting him off.
"Do what you have to do, Major. We'll come back for you in a week, if that's enough time. Just be careful! You don't know him that well!"
Alex nodded. "Yes, sir. Follow the guard. He'll take us back to the surface."
The Colonel nodded and they commenced to walk in two lines upwards. Alex hung towards the back with Daniel.
"Can you sense something wrong with Solaris?" she asked him as they walked. She could see he was eyeing her dress with the slightest laugh on his face. After her question, however, that grin dropped.
"Yes," he said, a hint of care in his eyes. "I've felt it since we got here. If I were you, I'd stay very cautious when around him. There's something wrong about him, but I'm not sure what it is."
Alex sighed, and they reached the surface.
From the castle, they began to walk to the location of the Spacegate when all of a sudden Damian's frantic screeches made them stop. He was being pursued by a huge-looking guard with a spear and looked to be absolutely terrified of the other man. All of a sudden, the man gained on Damian and skewered him through his stomach with a sword, twirled him around over his head, and then tossed him to the ground like a rag doll.
"Ouch," the Colonel said while making a face as the guard walked over to where they were.
"What was the meaning of that, Korpa?" Solaris asked.
The big man bowed to the king before replying, "We were off-duty and playing cards when he came. He wanted to play…said he had lots of credits and a girl we might be interested in, so we gave him some cards and let him play with us. Well, after a while, he won everything we had…but then he began to lose. In fact, he lost so badly he was over a million credits into debt. By that time, he started to run, and so I chased after him. The penalty for being in debt so much and not being able to pay it is death, and so I have doled it out rightfully."
The king nodded. "That is all right, Korpas. Go back to your station now."
"Yes, milord," the guard replied and left.
The five began to move again and they reached the Spacegate a few minutes later.
"Dial home, Daniel," the Colonel ordered once they were by the 'Gate, and walked over to the king. "Your hospitality is the best we've ever encountered," he said sarcastically. "I mean, guards hitting you over the head, locking you up without the slightest clue as to what you did wrong…I mean the list goes on and on. You should really think about going into the hotel business…" Solaris gave the Colonel a dirty look.
The Spacegate established a connection, and the aqua shield formed.
"G'bye milady," Dagón called to Alex and disappeared through the shield.
"Stay safe," Daniel said with a slight nod and smile, and he, too, left.
"No horseplay," her CO said, a slight devilish grin on his face. He then turned to talk to Solaris. "We'll pick her up sometime next week. We want her in one piece, please, and not harmed in anyway…Take care!" he said and started to walk through, when he turned around again. "Oh, and by the way…thanks so much for killing Damian. He was a very big nuisance to us all…" and with that, he was gone.
The Spacegate's connection cut off, and Alex was alone on a world she didn't want to be, with a man she didn't want to be with. It would be a most grueling week for her.
"Where're Major Croft and Lieutenant Woods?" Hoffman asked as Daniel, Dagón, and John walked down the ramp of the Spacegate on the Karma.
"Well, you know how things go, General, sir. Woods' dead," O'Brien said as he took his hat off, "Dagón had to endure some human emotion, Daniel learned a very big secret, I was knocked unconscious, and Croft had to promise to stay on the planet with King Solaris in order to get us out of a prison—you know…the usual."
"You didn't leave her with a mode of communications so she can call us if something goes wrong?" The General looked confused.
"Um, no. That somewhat slipped my mind. Our things were mostly taken, however, when we went to prison, so I wouldn't have had one to give her anyway, sir. We said that we'd come back to get her in a week."
The General nodded. "Go get cleaned up. We debrief in an hour."
"Yes, sir," the three said and gratefully went to their rooms.
Alex turned back towards Solaris. He was grinning at her with an expression she knew she didn't like.
"What?" she asked.
"Now I have you here with me alone," he said simply. "Do you want to come and see my bedroom?"
Alex looked at him, shocked and disgusted with his behavior, and what he was hinting at they do. "Excuse me? No, not really."
"Ah, then you might want to see outside. Come! I shall show you around the palace!"
Solaris led her outside to the same woods GC-1 had encountered the man in.
"Isn't it wonderful?" he asked her, while pointing to a trunk of what looked to be an oak. "We call these trees. Have you ever seen anything like them?"
Alexandra looked at him. The sudden change in mood brought her to her senses. Not thinking, though, she said, "I have. That is what we also call them, trees. They are beautiful, though." The woman reached out a hand and touched a trunk. "It's been a very long time since I've seen one, let alone touched one before."
"And why is that?" Solaris asked, standing very close behind her, breathing softly on her neck.
"I'm usually in a ship," she said, careful at what she said. She knew the SS Karma was still a secret from the Androidians, and if she told anyone, even someone she thought she could trust, the secret might leak out and the Androidians would be informed.
"And what is the name of this ship?" he asked, putting a hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"The Androidian Slayer," she made up, and could see and feel him recoil from her. "I am sorry," she said. "Have I offended you?"
But Solaris smiled. "No, no. It's just that your ship's name isn't very nice. I've accepted that the Androidians aren't cruel monsters that others are led to believe. I think that they're superior beings to most races, and have graced those races with their presence and knowledge. Can't you see? The Androidians are helping those other races…not hurting them!"
Alex just shook her head. "I understand you think that way, but I've fought with many Machiá in my life and have seen one Androidian goddess—Artemis—die to know that they are not helping the other races…at least not from my viewpoint. They're infesting race after race and they do not care whether the Machiá or other hosts survive a fight—just so long as the Androidian gods are still alive and well and in power."
They began walking again. Solaris had become silent…too silent for Alex's comfort. At last, he spoke again.
"My, how the sunset is lovely," he whispered as they crested a hill, coming to the edge of a cliff. Down below them and across a body of water, the sun sank blood red, orange, magenta, and gold beneath the horizon. Alex couldn't help but smile at it.
"Yes, it is. I haven't seen a sunset in the longest time, either. I've forgotten how each one is different, though all are beautiful. You truly are lucky to be living on a planet."
He took her hand and began to lead her home. "I've always wanted to travel amongst the stars," he said. "I've heard that all the other planets are different, yet all beautiful—just like sunsets. I've also heard of these gigantic clouds out there, with all the colors of the rainbow…is that true?"
Alex nodded. "Yes. They're called nebulae. They really are pretty, but I see enough of them to not be as fascinated with them that often. I think sunsets and sunrises are prettier because you don't have to leave your planet in order to see one."
Solaris smiled as they walked into the palace. It had been an interesting evening, and he was now going to show her to her room.
"I bid thee goodnight, fair Alexandra," he said while kissing her hand. "I await to converse with you more on these matters tomorrow. Sweet dreams."
He closed the door, and Alex was left alone in a strange world to fall into troubled slumber.