Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 3rd June 2022

Krel woke to pain. His head ached, his mouth was dry, and his arms were wrenched uncomfortably behind his back. Plus his neck was killing him.

Opening his eyes, he winced at the brightness, shutting them again almost immediately. Trying again, he opened them slowly, letting the light filter through his close-spaced eyelashes.

(...Mary had once said his eyelashes were wasted on a boy. As Akiridions did not have eyelashes, Krel still did not understand what she had meant by that, but he had gotten the impression it was meant as a compliment, so he had merely accepted it with a polite thank you.)

He was in a dark place. There was a bright light shining from above him, and another right before him, pointed at him, blinding.

Krel shifted his arms, his shoulders.

All right. He was sitting in a hard chair, with his arms bound behind his back. It was not the usual way such things went in the wider galaxy, but he supposed Earth was still a primitive backwater, so allowances had to be made.

"You know," he said aloud, for the benefit of anyone who might be listening, "I am pretty sure I have seen movies with this setup."

A low chuckle. "Why mess with the classics?" someone asked from beyond the light.

Krel tried not to tense. He knew that voice. Colonel Kubritz!

Memories were welling up now, coming fast. He and Aja had been summoned to the principal's office and had gone, expecting only the Birdie woman. They'd known what to expect from her: endless paperwork, and a later ambush at the Mothership.

Why had Kubritz been there? She hadn't been supposed to show up in Arcadia for weeks yet!

Krel swallowed. He didn't know what the colonel and the bounty hunter knew. He didn't know how they knew it. And without knowing anything, he had no way of knowing how much danger he and his sister were in.

He needed information. He needed it fast.

"Where am I?" he asked. "Who are you?"

The light swiveled away from his eyes. Blinking, he saw a figure seated in another chair, her legs crossed.

The Birdie lady.

Looking around, trying to get his bearings, he still couldn't see anything else. Not even Kubritz, though he knew she must be nearby.

His core sank. He could be anywhere.

And so could Aja.

"Well, Mister Tarron," said Birdie, "it would seem you're in quite the dilemma, aren't you?"

"I do not know what you mean," Krel said, fronting as bravely as possible, even as his mind raced. His friends would definitely come to rescue him and Aja when they realized they were gone.

They had told their friends not to expect them back in class for the day.

Who would realize they were gone? And how soon? How long had he been out?

Hold on for rescue, he told himself.

"Really?" Birdie tilted her head to one side. "Oh, very well, let's play this game. You are Prince Krel of the recently overthrown House of Tarron, of Akiridion-5. I am willing to offer you a deal: your parents' cores for your and your sister's lives." Her smile was a shade too sharp to be genuine. "You can both live out the rest of your days quietly on this isolated world, forgotten by the galaxy."

"I would ask how much General Morando is paying," Krel said, "but I saw that information inside the Zeron Brotherhood's ship." He let his own smile be a sharp slash. "Right before we killed Zeron Alpha and took Zeron Omega's tail."

Birdie paused, her eyes widening. Apparently she had not known that. And given the Zerons' reputations...

"Well done," she said, recovering. "However, please note that you had several advantages then. Most chiefly, your freedom. You have none of that now."

"True," Krel admitted.

"You can have that freedom back," Birdie continued. "All you have to do is give up your parents' location, and you and your sister go free."

Krel laughed, low and dark. "Give you the location of the rightful King and Queen of Akiridion-5?" he asked. "So you can take them to General Morando and he can destroy them, and the will of our people?" Krel shook his head. "There is a word for people who do things like that. 'Traitor'."

"You'll find the people on this planet are quite keen on overthrowing 'rightful' governments," Birdie said mildly.

"Maybe," Krel said. "But I will never betray my parents."

Something shifted in her face. "Not even to save your sister?" She raised a small box in her hand, pressing a button on it.

Aja's screams and shrieks filled the room, echoing off the walls. Krel winced, listening his sister scream for him, begging for help. What were they doing to her, to elicit those sounds?

But...

He swallowed. "That is not my sister," he said lowly, praying to Seklos and Gaylen that his ears were true.

Because there was something off about the recording. He couldn't put a name to it, but something sounded just ever so slightly wrong in his sister's voice.

That was not Aja.

They were trying to fake him out.

Birdie's eyes narrowed. She switched off the device.

"Does Kubritz know you are not from this planet?" Krel wondered. "Have you made a deal with her? One where, say, she gets us, and you get our parents?"

Birdie stilled, her hands curling into talons.

"Because she is not trustworthy. She will lock you up as soon as she is done with you. It's what she does."

An amused chuckle from the darkness. Kubritz stepped out to where Krel could see her. "A good attempt to drive a wedge between your enemies," she complimented Krel. "But I already knew what Birdie was. We have our own arrangement that you're no part of, little boy."

Krel looked at her flat, feeling like he ought to be more impressed and worried than he was at the moment. Maybe that all would come later. "I've seen you make deals with people just to betray them. For all that you love your planet, you are not a good person."

"I never claimed to be," Kubritz said. "And to quote from one of our great poets... 'good night, sweet prince'."

There was another sudden pain in his neck. As the world faded into black, Krel had the passing thought that this was already getting old.

At lunch, Jim checked his phone. No response from Aja and Krel.

He was probably just being stupid. And paranoid. Right?

"Why the long face, Jimbo?"

"I texted Aja and Krel about the ambulance," Jim said. "They haven't texted back."

"They're probably busy with all that paperwork they mentioned," Claire said. "Or... doing whatever it was they were going to do with Stuart. You know how Aja gets sometimes."

"Yeah." Aja tended to laser-focus on things. So did Krel, but he was more hard-wired to multitask. "Actually, Krel and Varvatos do that too. Is it maybe an Akiridion thing?"

"Huh." Toby held his sandwich in both hands, staring out into blank space over it. "Maybe? Akiridion hyper-focus. It's like a stealth superpower!"

"If you're that worried," Darci put in, "call them."

"Yeah," said Jim. "Yeah, I guess."

The calls went to voicemail.

"Ugh." Aja woke groggily. Something in her mouth tasted bad. And her head hurt. She was not enjoying this day.

"I see you're waking up, little princess."

That voice jerked Aja into full consciousness, her head shooting up.

Like a bad dream, Colonel Kubritz stood before her.

Aja bared her teeth in a snarl and lunged, only to discover that she was restrained. Her gaze flickered left and right. Both arms flexed, assessing.

She was tied to a chair. No escape.

Not yet, anyway.

"Where is my brother?" she demanded. "And what did you do to Principal Levit?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about them, princess." Kubritz stalked closer. Though, frustratingly, out of the range of anything Aja could do. "All you need to do is tell me what you've got planned. And where your parents are hiding, hmm?"

Aja stared disbelievingly at the woman. Then - she couldn't help it - she laughed.

By the look on Kubritz's face, that was not what she had been expecting.

"Plan?" Aja asked. "The plan was for our parents to recover, then for us all to return to our home world." Not that that was precisely the plan anymore, but... nuance, as Toby had once put it. "Then you throw a 'monkey wrench,' whatever that is, by allying yourself with an intergalactic bounty hunter."

"Oh, don't think I didn't know that, princess." Kubritz's smirk was superior. Irritating. "I knew what she was before you two ever walked in that door."

Aja snorted. "How like you."

Kubritz paused in her back-and-forth walk. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Aja looked her right in the eyes, "you will ally yourself with whoever you think will give you power to defend this world. Against threats that only exist in your imagination. Then you will betray and imprison them. Birdie is a fool to trust you, Kubritz. But the greater fool is you. For when General Morando comes, and he will, you will try to ally with him as well. And he will crush you beneath his heel. I have seen it."

The colonel's eyes were wider than they had started. But, "You're lying," was all she said.

"Think that if you want," Aja sing-songed. "It remains true none the less. A cat cannot change its spots."

Kubritz's expression morphed into a frown, and she stalked closer. Almost close enough for Aja to bite her nose off. "You will tell me where your parents are hiding," she threatened lowly, face to face, "or your brother will pay the price."

"If you so much as touch Krel," Aja promised ferally, "I will cut off your hands. And then your feet. I will gouge out your eyes, your tongue, and truncate your nose. You will live, as your people put it, to the pain."

Varvatos had quite liked The Princess Bride. Aja had only wished the princess had been more like the exciting pirate.

"You can try, princess." Kubritz straightened. "Let's try a few days without food, or water. Or light," she added spitefully. We'll see if that sweetens your tune."

"To the pain," Aja sang out at her retreating back. Once the door closed behind Kubritz, she relaxed back into the chair she was tied to.

The lights went out, plunging her into darkness.

No matter. Without her serrator in hand, recharging her transduction, her human appearance would wear off. Then she would have the light of her own natural bioluminescence. As well as a second pair of hands with which to untie herself.

Humming, Aja settled in to wait.

By the end of the school day, Jim still hadn't heard back from either of the Tarrons.

"Okay," he said at the bike racks, after checking his phone yet again, "I need you guys to tell me if I'm being stupid."

(As soon as he said it, he winced; fortunately Steve was already headed toward basketball practice, but Jim knew he'd just left a verbal opening a mile wide for the jock to take him down.)

"Stupid about what?" Claire asked, which was so much kinder than what Steve would have said.

"Neither Aja or Krel have texted me back," Jim said. "It's been hours. And when I tried to call them earlier, it went straight to voicemail."

"Maybe they're somewhere without reception?" Darci asked. But her tone was dubious.

"Like where?" asked Toby. "Trollmarket has reception. The arena has reception."

"Their house has reception," Eli put in. "Even in the engine room."

"Plus," Jim added, "someone in the office got taken away to the hospital, which didn't happen the first time around."

"Well, Principal Levit was already dead by now, the first time around," Claire said. She paled. "Wait, do you think it was Levit going to the hospital this time?"

"Omigosh!" Toby's eyes went huge. "His death is a fixed point in time!"

"Draal hasn't lost an arm," Jim reminds his best friend. "And Vendel's still alive. We'd probably have to check with Douxie to be sure, but I'm kind of doubting anything's engraved in stone here."

"Look," Mary cut in with an exasperated tone, "if you're so worried about them, where were they going to be?"

Claire exchanged looks with Jim and Toby. "They were going to ask Stuart for some help with things, and then Varvatos, I think."

"So call them," Mary said. "Ask if they've seen Aja and Krel."

"That... is a good idea," Jim said, and did so, thumbing through to Varvatos' contact information.

The phone rang twice, then was picked up. "Hello?" Varvatos asked, sounding suspicious. In the background, Jim could hear the sound of a game show.

"Hey, Varvatos, it's Jim. I just need to ask real quick - have you seen Aja and Krel this afternoon?"

"No." The television was muted, or shut off or something. "The Queen-in-Waiting was planning to watch her paramour's athletic exercise after school. And the King-in-Waiting should be with you, exiting the school grounds."

Jim did not like the sinking feeling of dread in his stomach. "They got called to the office during history class. They thought it was some bounty hunter they called 'Birdie.' They didn't seem worried about it."

"WHAT?!"

"We're going to check with Stuart if he's seen them," Jim hurried to say.

He could hear Varvatos growling. "You do that, Lake Boy. I will make use of the Mothership's scanning devices."

"Great. I'll call you back as soon as we know anything." Jim hung up, feeling grim. His expression, he saw, was mirrored on the faces of his friends.

"Stuart's truck is usually on the other side of the town square at this time of day," Toby offered. His hands were tight on his bike's handles.

Jim nodded. "Great. Let's go ask some questions, and see what we come up with."

Stuart knew nothing.

"What do you mean, they've disappeared?!" he demanded through the taco truck's window.

"Pretty much just that," Toby told him. "They got called into the office this morning, then, poof!" He jazz-handed to illustrate his words. "No one knows where they went."

"People don't just disappear!" Stuart told him. "Not even royals on the run. Ooh, that's a good alliteration, got to remember that one..."

"Stuart, focus," said Jim.

"Right, right." Stuart shook his head. "Sorry to say, no, I haven't seen Aja and Krel since this morning, when their highnesses got breakfast burritos on their way in to school."

"So we know nothing," Darci said.

"Thanks, Stuart," Toby told the Durian. "We'll keep you in the loop," he promised, wheeling his bike around and walking it with the rest of his friends.

"What we know is not nothing," Jim said. "We know they went to the office. And we know someone from the office got taken to the hospital."

"But it wasn't them," Claire added, frowning. "It was only one person. There's dots here that we need to connect."

"Mary," Jim said, turning to her. "You hacked into 911 this morning. Do you think you can hack into the school security cameras?"

"Uhh... sure?" She sounded surprised to be asked. "Let me sit down somewhere, I can't do it while walking my bike."

The six of them ended up sitting on the bandstand steps, waiting and worrying quietly while Mary poked at her phone, brows furrowed in concentration. She growled. Poked at it some more, her fingers and the screen of the phone glowing deep blue. "Oh no you don't," she muttered. "Get out of my way." The screen flared white, briefly, before she cackled. "I'm in," she reported, like she was a hacker from a movie. Which Toby guessed she kind of was.

"Oh crap," he realized aloud. "I should totally be filming this!" Which earned him looks, and not the good kind, either. "What?"

"This is a little bit too serious for that, Toby," said Claire.

Darci patted his arm. "You can film the next disaster, TP," she promised.

"All right, I've got today's footage," Mary said, hunched over her phone. "When am I looking for?"

"Try around 9:30," said Claire, leaning in to look. "That's when they went to the office."

"Gotcha." The footage flickered, zooming back several hours. And stopped, showing Aja and Krel talking to Miss Grace. The school secretary pushed a button, spoke briefly into the intercom, then sent them into the principal's office.

"Okay, so they went in," Eli said. "When do they come out?"

Mary fast-forwarded again.

"Wait!" Jim pointed at the screen. "Go over that bit again."

The footage was now of several burly men hustling past Miss Grace, heading for the same place Aja and Krel had gone.

"Those look like military uniforms," Darci said.

Toby swallowed. "Hit play," he told Mary.

A few minutes later, the men came back out, carrying two human-shaped bundles.

They were followed by two women. The first one, Toby didn't recognize.

The second, he did.

"Stop," he told Mary.

"Tobes?" Jim asked.

Toby felt sick. "That's Colonel Kubritz," he said, nodding at the still image on Mary's screen. He looked up, met Jim's eyes. "She's got Aja and Krel. They're in Area 49-B."

"WHAT?!" Varvatos demanded for the second time that day. "We need to mount a rescue mission, immediately!"

"Agreed," the Lake boy said over the phone. "But we need to be smart about it. If we just barge in there, we're likely to all get captured and dissected."

"Hmm. You may be right," Varvatos allowed. "We will need Stuart's information. He has been imprisoned there before. And the hooman witch Zoe has been there even more recently."

"Right, she did that retrieval for you guys." Jim paused for a second. "All right, we'll grab Stuart, head over to the Mothership-"

"No," Varvatos overrode him. "We will need to go to Stuart's electronic junk shop. He has a model there, however out of date it is. You will need to know better what obstacles we will be facing, when we rescue the Queen-in-Waiting and King-in-Waiting."

"All right." The Lake boy deferred to Varvatos' greater tactical knowledge. "We'll meet you there."

"Good." Hanging up, Varvatos turned to the two blanks. "Ricky. Lucy. You will come with Varvatos. Your vapid appearances may be of some use on this rescue mission. Mother-"

"Yes, Commander?"

"You will guard the King and Queen's life cores. Do not allow entry to anyone who has not previously been identified as an ally."

"Of course, Commander Vex."

"Good. Varvatos is now on his way."

"Holy crud." Darci blinked as wall of the janky electronics shop folded back and away after Stuart-using a rotary dial phone of all things-triggered some kind of circuit or something.

The hidden room revealed behind the wall of drawers was one part sci-fi spaceship, and one part bar lounge.

"On one hand, I'm kind of impressed," Jim said, looking around. "On the other hand..."

"Dude, is this where you live?" Toby asked Stuart. "I like it!"

"Why, thank you," Stuart preened. "Good to have guests over, it almost never happens to me."

"It's... retro," Mary said, letting her distaste show in her voice.

Eli was leaning over a diorama built atop a small table. "What's this?"

"This, my bespectacled friend," Stuart said with a dramatic flourish, "is Area 49-B!"

Varvatos snorted, entering the hidden room, the two robots behind him. "The battle model is roughly correct in specifications, but not in modern layout," he informed Stuart.

"I beg your pardon?"

Varvatos jabbed his cane at Stuart. "It has been over twenty years since you have been to 49-B!" he declared. "They have added new buildings."

"They have? Oh, dear." Stuart looked down at his model in dismay. "I suppose my information's not of much use, then."

"Stuart." Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell us what you do know. We'll go from there."

"All right." Stuart took a deep breath. "The perimeter wall is cement, ten feet thick. Completely lined with pressure-sensitive explosives."

"Pressure sensitive?" asked Toby. "So, uh, what happens when a pigeon lands on it?"

Stuart gave him a flat look. "They need a new wall. And a new pigeon."

"Seriously?" asked Eli. "One potato cannon shot, and they need to rebuild the whole base perimeter?"

"Hey, I didn't build it," Stuart said. "I just escaped it. Now these," he said, tapping at the gate, "are blast doors. The control pad has 20,000 volt electric flooring underneath, making it completely unhackable."

"Unhackable for you, maybe," Mary said, waving her phone.

"Or, you know," said Darci, elbowing her other bestie, "Miss Magic Portals here could just slide us right inside without worrying about the walls and doors." Claire smiled.

"That... would be an easier way to get in, yes," Stuart admitted. "But once you're inside... there are cameras everywhere, and roving guards armed with neurometers."

"Question!" Eli raised his hand. "Neurometers?"

"Thermo-radiant pulse weapons," Stuart informed him. "The humans recovered them from an Antidum ship in the '40s. Trust me, they will ensure you humans have the very last bad day of your lives."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Toby ventured.

"Oh, it is," Stuart assured him, "because it will also be the last day ever of your lives."

Toby cringed.

"And then," Varvatos said, looking narrow-eyed at the apparently inadequate model, "we will need to locate where they are holding the royals."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Claire raised a hand that glimmered briefly with purple-black magic. "Mary can hack the cameras while I can lock on to Aja and Krel. We portal in to them, grab them, get back out."

Stuart's eyebrows were up near his hairline. "You really think your magic will make it that easy? A simple in-and-out?"

Claire nodded, smirking.

"Well." Stuart crossed his arms. "I am prepared to be impressed, then."

"Well." Amanda Kubritz crossed her arms, looking through the one-way window into the room where the alien princess sat. Through the wonders of alien spectrometry, though the room she was in was pitch-black, they could see her as clear as day. "It seems the threat of injury to each other isn't a sufficient incentive."

"Indeed." Standing beside her, Birdie's expression was a sour slash. "We may have to increase their level of concern."

Amanda side-eyed the now-confirmed alien bounty hunter. "What are you thinking?"

"Actual injury, of course. Though we'll need to let them witness it. Tell me, which do you think is more likely to break?"

"Hard to say." Amanda returned to her contemplation of the captive subject.

"We'll simply have to try them both."

"You want their parents that badly, huh?"

Seemingly human eyes flared wide with avarice. "The bounty is immense," Birdie declared. She looked sidelong at Amanda. "Though I find it interesting the prince and princess both seemed to know who you were."

"Yes, I find that interesting, too." Someone, or something, had betrayed the security of Area 49-B. And Amanda was going to find out who, or what, that had been.

Given the magic-laced theft of the Durian spacecraft only a week and a half ago, she had suspicions.

"They also seem quite insistent that we are going to betray one another," Birdie observed.

"Aren't we?"

"So long as we're on the same page."

Nodding, Amanda returned to her contemplation of the captive, her mind unfolding with plans.