Chapter 9

The Princesses Elaine and Marla were on the Bridge. The crew was lining up their trajectory to match the orbit of the artificial moon, which now had the size and appearance of a shiny silver coin. Neither one of the princesses had lived on Earth during the technological period. Their understanding of ‘modern’ technology was whatever memories Béla had shared with them.

To Marla, this was pure magic. She had gotten used to the idea of living inside a metal world, first on Deimos in that horrid, unfeeling drone body, then in the great metal ship that currently contained her and all the others. The gargantuan mass of Jupiter, off to one side of the viewscreen, and the little metal world in front of her was almost too much to grasp. They were going to live inside the little jewel that spun around the great god ‘Jupiter’, whose enormous head of multicolored hair she had seen for the first time only a few days ago from the observation deck.

She and Elaine were mind-linked, sharing their thoughts on the monumental events happening around them. Elaine picked Béla’s mind every night, learning about Earth and science and the historical events which had occurred after she was taken by the Praetor, and had a much better understanding of what was occurring, now. Béla had still been living when the Great Eagle in the Sky had carried the strong-armed man to kneel on the giant step overlooking the moon’s tranquil sea. Elaine’s calm understanding helped Marla keep her hysteria under control.

By the end of their shift, the little metal moon had grown so that the view-screen could no longer encompass its entire width. It had magically grown so that it was now even larger than the great god, Jupiter, himself.

The bridge crew let the princesses know that their objective was that tiny little dark spot that the rest of the surface seemed to spin around. Princess Marla didn’t believe the ship would fit, and was certain they would all soon die for offending the gods in this manner. The bridge crew was respectfully amused by the Princess’ unusual viewpoint of events. She was more than a little grateful when their watch was over and they were permitted to leave the bridge.

Elaine went directly to her quarters, hoping to find Beth and Béla still together. As she entered, she could smell girl-sex and blood, but Beth had already left. Béla was lying on the bed table; naked, wet and unconscious. There was blood on the sheets and between her legs. In fact, her breasts and stomach were speckled with the dark, sticky stuff, and her throat was bruised purple.

Somewhat disappointed at missing her sisters’ performance, Elaine picked a pear out of the cooler and ate it as she stood and studied her remaining, but favorite sister. She realized that she owed Béla a lot – it was Béla, after all, who had rescued them all from the living death inside the Praetor. Béla was also her first lover in this new, exciting life, and Béla’s opinion of her was a deep part of how Elaine regarded herself and her own importance in this new world in which she found herself.

She wondered what Béla was dreaming about as she slept. Was she even dreaming at all?

‘What drives you, My Sister?’ Elaine thought as she crawled up on the bed and lay down beside her. ‘What makes you who you are, and why do you love me so much?’

She knew without a doubt that Béla loved her deeply. She saw it every time they mind-linked. But there was a sadness there, deep in her mind and usually well-hidden. Béla kept it shielded, even from herself, most of the time. But sometimes, Elaine could feel her sister’s discontent. Sometimes, a frustrated thought would escape before Béla could clamp down and reassert her self-control.

Snuggling up to her musky-scented, sexually sated sister, Elaine gently brushed her mind against Béla’s, seeking to mink-link with her while they slept. Béla’s mind was open and receptive, completely unshielded, and Elaine easily merged their minds together.

‘That was easy – she’s probably exhausted from all that sex, ‘ Elaine thought to herself as she closed her eyes.

Elaine withdrew, forcing herself awake, sorry that she’d interrupted them and even more sorry in the knowledge that her presence in her sister’s dream had ruined their astral lovemaking.

She sat up in the bed, feeling a little disoriented, then realized that she’d just made an astral jump of millions of miles through space. She looked around the room, thinking that somehow, something was different, yet suspecting that her mind was playing tricks on her. Then she spotted it. Someone had placed a pitcher next to the cooler.

Hoping that the cooler had also been restocked during her nap, Elaine climbed off the bed table. As she opened the cooler, Béla stretched and sat up. Elaine felt her sister’s mind brush lightly against hers, gently asking to come in.

“You want anything?” Elaine asked. ‘There’s fresh meat. And that raspberry tea you like. There’s a pitcher here ... it’s still cool.”

“Thanks,” Béla said, her voice sounding flat and unemotional. “I can get it.”

She climbed off the bed table and padded barefoot over to the cooler. The silence between them was almost visible.

“I’m ... I’m sorry,” Elaine said softly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt...”

“It’s alright,” Béla interrupted. “You didn’t know.” Then changing the subject, “When did you learn how to dreamwalk?”

“Well, I didn’t – not really,” Elaine replied. “I mean, I’ve seen images in your mind of times when you did it, but...” she sighed. “Well, I was never really interested in trying it, myself. There wasn’t anywhere I wanted to go. I didn’t know, when I mind-linked with you, that...”

“It’s okay,” Béla said again. “It’s done. He’s awake, now, and I can’t make him hear me.”

“He woke up?” Elaine asked, “So you can only link with him when he’s asleep, then?”

“Yes,” Béla replied. “But when you tried to leave and woke yourself up, Jake woke up, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Elaine said again. “I seem to...”

“Stop being so sorry!” Béla snapped at her. “I told you! It wasn’t your fault!”

“Please, Béla, don’t yell at me,” Elaine whispered. “I know I messed it up for you. I said I was s...”

“Stop!” Béla yelled. “Stop apologizing! God!”

They stood for a moment, not yelling, not apologizing, not looking at each other, each sister’s mind shielded against the other.

Béla heard a soft half-laugh that Elaine tried to suppress.

“What?” she asked, trying to keep her frustration out of her voice.

Elaine half-smiled at her sister. “For a telepathic race, we seem to have a lot of trouble communicating.”

“I’m sorry,” Béla apologized. “It’s just that...”

“Don’t you start!” Elaine interrupted. “No more apologies, okay? From either of us!”

“I promise,” Béla said softly. “And I promise not to take my frustrations out on you, or any of my other sisters.”

“Why would you be frustrated?” Elaine wanted to know, noticing a definite lightening of the mood between them. “Have you noticed that you’re covered with blood and you smell like a ... What’s that word you like? Oh, Skank? I’m the one who should be frustrated – I came in here hoping that you and Beth would still be going strong, and she was already gone! And you were just lying there in your own blood, like she always leaves you. And I missed it all.”

Béla laughed at that. “Poor little sister! I thought you said you didn’t like her lovemaking – that she was too rough, even for you. Did you want to watch her tear me apart?”

“Well, yeah,” Elaine admitted. “But you weren’t very bloody this time. Did you two have a quarrel? Did she get mad and leave you high and dry? Is that why you went to Earth to fuck that guy?”

Béla hugged Elaine and kissed her cheek. “No, to all of the above! We didn’t quarrel. Beth strangled me to death; that’s why there wasn’t much blood this time. I went to Earth because ... Well, I’ve been ignoring Jake for awhile, and I felt guilty, I guess...

“Since you and my other sisters have arrived,” Béla began, “I’ve been trying to forget about Earth, and Jake, and my friends there. When I was on Deimos, I went to Jake almost every night and visited him in his dreams. I tried to tell him things, but humans don’t seem to, well, ‘retain’ is the word, I guess. They don’t retain information they learn in their dreams.

“I thought it would be enough, you know?” she continued. “I could dream-walk – the Praetor calls it that; dreamwalking – I could dreamwalk to Jake and it would be enough until I could figure out how to get back to him. It would be really handy to be able to dreamwalk my body back to earth instead of just my mind.

“I asked the Praetor, and it told me that the next ship arriving – the only ship arriving – was going to Jupiter. It would be almost eight more years before it returned to Earth.

“So I ... made my peace with ... myself. I’ve been gone only a century – less than a hundred out of all those thousands of years I’ve lived. Eight more years won’t matter, will it? I mean, I’ve spent hundreds of years before, waiting for conditions to change for the better. I hardly remember that time passing at all!”

“We do live almost forever,” Elaine whispered, understanding now. “But, eight years can still be a long time. When you’re in love...”

“Love?” Béla asked. “Yes, I do love him. I cried for him, today, you know?”

“Okay,” Elaine replied quietly, not knowing what to say. Béla’s tears had embarrassed Elaine so much that she’d awakened Béla’s lifemate with her efforts to flee the scene.

“You don’t understand,” Béla explained. “The last time I cried was the night that I realized I loved him. And I was crying more for me, that time, than I was for him. Today, I cried because ... because it was supposed to happen to me! I was supposed to ... bear the burden. I was prepared. I was ... used to that happening to me.

“He wasn’t...” Béla started to tear up, again. “He wasn’t prepared for me to leave him like that ... And I hurt him! I really, really hurt him!”

Elaine pulled Béla into her arms and held her while Béla sobbed into Elaine’s shoulder. “I don’t believe anyone gets used to that happening,” she replied softly as she led her sister back to the bed. “I never got used to it. And I don’t think you did, either.”

Béla was on the bridge, again, mostly searching for a distraction from the problems in her life that she was having trouble solving right now. She was surprised at how calm she felt after spending an hour crying into Elaine’s shoulders. She smiled as she thought about how much Elaine loved her. Even though her blond sister had been aroused and frustrated, she hadn’t forced her needs onto Béla despite the fact that they often made love several times a day.

After arriving on the bridge and volunteering for an extra watch, Béla soon became fascinated by the events occurring around her and was glad she’d volunteered. She held on to the handrail at her station while the great ship shuddered and heaved as it slowed. They were making minor course corrections almost constantly as they aimed at the North Pole entrance of their new home.