Bright Star (11 page)

Prince smiles. From the way he does, I understand he would gladly jump on the hateful man rather than smile, but for some reason he must keep smiling. I give up trying to understand the purebreds’ behavior. Far simpler to be a clone.

To my wonder, Prince ceases to hold up his pants and lets them fall to the floor. He also gets rid of his top, yanking it above his head with a gesture of defiance. His naked body, pale and thin, is heartbreakingly beautiful in the yellowish light of the senator’s fire that flows from the magic wall.

“These are my arguments,” Prince says, always with a smile that’s not a real smile on his face. “Do you like them, Rein?”

The man sinks more in the soft seat, looking slightly bored in front of a show that makes me want to scream and cry for its magnificence. He smirks. “Not bad. You need to put on a few pounds, but I appreciate the effrontery. I’ll send a rescue vessel. It’ll contact your junk in….”

The man fiddles with something bright on the low table in front of him. I understand it’s a keyboard made of transparent glass, or something like that. “In nine years, more or less.”

“
Nine
years
?” Prince exclaims, clenching his fists. “Is this the best you can do?”

The odious human raises his eyebrows. “My vessels are faster than your wreck, but they can’t exceed the speed of light, of course. This is the best I can do for you, terrestrial. It’ll take nine years to reach you and another nine to come back to Otherworld. You will be here more or less in eighteen years, just in time to brighten up my middle age with that skinny but interesting body of yours. Oh, I recommend you get back into the sarcophagus. Certainly you don’t want to waste your only exchange value.”

“W
HAT
AN
asshole son of a bitch,” I blurt out as soon as the senator closes the communication. I bend down to pick up my clothes with anger.

I’m in shock over what has happened to Earth. I still find it hard to believe. If Earth is destroyed, Otherworld is all that remains of the human race. I try to remember everything I know about Otherworld, which is shamefully little. An earthlike planet, colonized by a small group of scientists and volunteers. I hope they have done a good job in creating a strong community. However, this senator seems precisely like all the men I had to deal with on Earth.

Yeah, I have always been treated as an object, and apparently this is my destiny. The senator of the colony is willing to save me just because I’m a statue in his school. I’ll continue to be his prize for my whole life, probably.

“Prince?”

Phae approaches and puts his arms around me, massaging my back, and I’m grateful to have him at my side in a moment like this. He’s the only one able to give me all the affection I need, without asking anything back. I let my clothes fall and lean on him, resting my forehead on his chest.

“You okay, Prince?”

“Yes, yes, honey.” I touch his face. The comparison with the slimy senator makes him look even more precious. “Don’t worry. This senator is exactly like all the people I met. I can twist him around my fingers like nothing.”

“But when you arrive, he will… yes, he will do to you the things we did together, right? The talk was all about that, right?”

No, he’s not stupid. I bite my lower lip. Giving my ass to the senator is a price I have to pay, and it isn’t even the thing that scares me the most. But do I really have to inflict Phae, so innocent, with this shit?

I grin. “I don’t know if the senator will remain so interested in my body after nine years of hard life on this ship.”

Phae gasps, shocked. “
What?
”

I put my hands on his shoulders and look into his eyes. “Listen to me, Phae. The senator has no way of knowing if I actually go back in the sarcophagus or not. And when the rescue ship comes, they certainly won’t go home empty-handed, even if they discover I’m not frozen. Meaning I am not obliged to go back in there.”

Phae turns pale. I sincerely thought to make him happy with this statement. Instead he’s shocked. So I add, “In the rescue vessel, I am confident we’ll find a sarcophagus for both of us. It’s not very common for a clone to undergo suspended animation, but I think I’ll be able to persuade whoever is in charge to—”

“But you can’t spend nine years awake here in Ship! Nine broad cycles are more than three thousand cycles, Prince!”

He can’t read, but he certainly knows arithmetic. I caress his cheek. “I know, Phae. But we could be together. And I’m not that old. I’m twenty-two, and when the rescue vessel comes I’ll be thirty-one and the senator will still be a lot older than me.”

Phae is confused. “But you can’t even drink or eat Ship’s food!”

“I’ll get used to your food. If you can eat it, I can too, Phae.”

I don’t deny the prospect of spending nine years here, eating rotten food, fills me with dread. I regret the fact the aliens are gone. Maybe we could have gone with them. Learned to breathe liquid like fish and swim in their water planet, or something like that. The idea is almost more attractive than staying on this junk, eating rotten freeze-dried food for nine long years. But how can I abandon the only person who ever loved me?

We are two, but there’s only one sarcophagus. I can’t go back inside and leave him awake. It’s not fair. Perhaps one time I would have done it without flinching, but now I’m different. The bad experience has changed me, but especially Phae changed me with his love. I can’t pay him back by leaving him alone.

Phae trembles slightly. He hugs me tight, as if I am extremely valuable. This destroys my heart every time. He treats me as if I am the most precious thing in the universe.

I say, “We’ll be together, Phae. We could make love.”

“But you are a human purebred. You’re not a clone. You’re not born on Ship, unaware of what exists out there. This isn’t your only way of life. You aren’t a guardian angel, and this place is not for someone like you.”

He thinks he is, but he’s not stupid.

I stroke his cheek. His jaw is stiff and his Adam’s apple goes up and down. “Phae, I cannot leave you.”

I said the wrong thing. He winces. “You may not want to sacrifice yourself for me, Prince!”

Damn. “I want it for you and for myself. I want to stay with you, Phae. We have feelings for each other, right?”

He’s even more confused. “I… I can’t understand, Prince.”

I sigh. “Look into my eyes, Phae. Do you really think you are just an ordinary clone for me? I’m telling you the truth. Maybe when I woke up in this creepy place I just wanted to be comforted. I admit it.” I roll my eyes. “Being easy has always been my style on Earth. But you gave me a lesson and now I need you, because you make me a better person. Can you understand this, Phae?”

Phae puts his hand on mine, still resting on his cheek. “I understand. I don’t deserve your appreciation, and I thank you, but you have to think that all the love and devotion I feel for you won’t end if you go back in the sarcophagus. If you stay awake, instead, there will come a time when you’ll hate me for having allowed it.”

I sigh. I pass my hand over my face. He’s right, of course. I don’t think I could ever hate him, but what if it’s him starting to hate me? I’m not a frozen idol. If I start bitching and freaking out, maybe he would stop worshipping me so much.

Oh, shit.

“Okay,” I say, moving this annoying long hair out of my face. “We can do it this way. I’ll stay awake for a few cycles. If the food makes me sick, I can always return inside the sarcophagus.”

Phae frowns. “Prince, I find it hard to accept a situation where you can get sick, when my task—my only reason for life—is protecting you. So I beg you, let’s try the other way. You go back inside the sarcophagus and I’ll explore Ship once again. If I find edible food and drinkable water, I’ll wake you up before the arrival of the rescue ship.”

Stubborn as a mule.

“I don’t think I like being awakened continuously by that thing, Phae! Once has already been quite traumatic. In short, my body is almost killed and brought back to life. How many times do you think I can stand it?”

Phae holds my gaze. “Another good reason to return to the initial situation and keep it.”

I open my eyes wide. I can’t believe it. He wants me to go back in there for my own good, against his own interest. And he’s hard as a rock about it.

I get up on my toes and place a gentle kiss on his lips. “I won’t get sick, I promise you, Phae. Please, let me try. We could make love.”

Finally his jaw relaxes. He hugs me tightly and places a row of little kisses upon my neck. I melt in his arms, exulting inside because I won. I touch his cock, hard and promising, through the fabric of his pants. Mine is hard too.

Phae lifts me in his arms. He’s so tall, strong enough to make me feel like a twig. I glue my mouth to his, knowing he’s bringing me to his cot, where we can console each other.

Instead, to my total, utter amazement, he puts me down. I find myself seated on the padding of the damned sarcophagus.

I stare at him, outraged.

Phae holds my gaze with a remorseful look. “My task is to protect you. I can’t permit something bad to happen to you,” he explains.

Yeah. He’s the only person who really loves me, and is also the only person I can’t fool with flattery.

I clench my fists. “Phae, you are my servant. I order you to get the fuck out of the way!”

Phae winces, wounded, and I feel like shit.

“You can’t live here, Prince,” he starts. “You have to go back to sleep. I’ll always be here, and I’ll be here when you wake up, but that’s how it should go, because my task is to watch over you, and to let you live in hardship in this junk is not a good thing for you.”

If only he had been more selfish! Damn, everyone prefers the immediate, selfish pleasure. But not him!

Not him.

“Fuck!” I shout, beating my fist on the edge of this crappy coffin. “There must be another solution!”

Phae shakes his head, his eyes shining. “You can order me to leave you alone, and I won’t touch you anymore, Prince. I’m just a stupid clone, but I can tell you what will happen if you stay awake. You will hate me. You’ll hate me for leaving you to stay awake. Now you feel you owe me something, but you don’t need to. I have only done my task and I want to finish it. I have to take care of you and this is the only way. If you stay awake, probably you’ll get sick, or the resources won’t be enough and we will die. But if that’s what you want, I bend to your will. It’s true, I’m your servant. So you decide.”

My eyes fill. “Dammit!”

Phae says nothing and waits. He waits, motionless, even when I start to cry and tears flow down my cheeks.

Phae is right, of course. He thinks he’s an idiot, but he’s much wiser than me.

“At least promise that you’ll be there when I wake up!”

His determined expression falters and he sits on the edge of the sarcophagus. “No problem, Prince. I’ll be there.”

I throw my arms around his neck and sink my face in the crook of his shoulder. He buries his face in my hair. He’s crying, too.

I clean my face and grab his chin to look him in the eyes. “I don’t care if eighteen years will be spent, or a hundred. I want you there, Phae. When I wake up your task will be concluded, and you’ll stay with me. We’ll be free to live a life together.”

His eyes full of pain, he smiles at me. “Agree.”

“You promise to be there and I promise that you’ll stay with me in my new life on the colony. I’ll find a way. Even if I have to marry the senator, you’ll be with me and my mission will be to make you happy.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t deserve that much, Prince.”

I shut my eyes. I drag him toward me until our foreheads touch. “Tell me that you agree or I won’t return into this godforsaken interstellar fridge!”

“Okay. I will be there. You will find a way to take me with you.”

I nod against his brow. “Deal.”

“Deal.”

I open my eyes. He stares at me. Almost in slow motion, we exchange a deep kiss. The most beautiful and saddest kiss of my life.

Phae, my beloved guardian angel, pushes me down. I don’t resist. I lie on the sarcophagus padding, and he leans over me. Even though I try not to cry, my throat hurts and tears roll down my temples.

Phae stretches his mouth in a smile, cupping my cheek. “Don’t be sad for me, Prince. Your memory will help me to carry out my task.”

“Phae.” I swallow the lump in my throat and put my hand upon his. “Please. Forgive me for what I said. You are much more than a servant and I am willing to wake up a thousand times for you. Should it become too hard, just enter the fucking code and wake me up….”

He places a gentle kiss on my lips. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then he rises. His hand slips away from under mine, and Phae pushes down the lid.

So here I am again. At least I know it will be quick. But for him it won’t be quick at all. For him, this torture will last nine years, more than three thousand cycles, and then another three thousand to reach the colony. For me it will be short, but his heart will continue to break for six thousand cycles. I think it’s more than a human being can endure.

“Hold on. I’ll find a way!” I shout, as the lid closes with a huff.

All the lights inside the cover turn on. Even though I know I won’t feel pain, my breathing accelerates in fear and I hit the glass with my fists. “Hold on!”

Phae puts his hands over mine, through the glass, and nods. As the narcotic gas begins to fill the coffin, I look him in the eyes. My guardian angel, the bright star that will watch over me for another bunch of years. He says something. I read his lips.

I love you.

This is the last thing I see.

M
Y
HEART
breaks.

The gas catches him with his eyes open. Tears freeze on his face. A needle sticks in his neck, and the thing begins to suck his blood and replace it with refrigerant.