Chapter 35: Chaos

There was a certain amount of chaos as Carina took her husband’s hand and led him down the stairs. Captain Tony asked me to watch the bridge while he went to check on our prisoners. Isabella went to talk to her brother on the satellite phone. That left Monique with me.

“I must say, I have never met a more fascinating young man,” she told me. “You seem to have so many extraordinary things happening all around you, yet you remain perfectly calm. Tell me. Are you glad you spent some time with the young dancer before she left?”

“Yes ma’am. Your advice was very helpful, and I am glad we had the time that we did,” I told her. “Although my heart still hurts that she’s gone.”

“And Noèle? Do you have feeling for her as well?” she asked.

“I do not know her very well, but what little time I have spent with her has been nice.”

“You claim that her passions matches your own yet you call her only ‘nice’?” she asked, emphasizing the ‘nice’.

I thought for a few moments before I answered.

“You are correct as always, Madam. Obviously there is something there that goes beyond ‘nice’. Maybe it is because I had this thing with Jeanne hanging out there and had to get through it to be able to see clearly. Undoubtedly, I need to spend time getting to know her better. Especially if she is to play a role in my future,” I told Monique.

“When my husband returns, why don’t you go and spend some time with the young lady. I’m sure that the Rappeneaus will be busy for the rest of the evening,” she said.

When Captain Tony returned, Monique told him what she had suggested I do. “Of course, darling,” he replied. “We’ll see you in the morning, Alex.”

I found Noèle in the galley, as she was finishing cleaning up and asked her to join me at the big table in the salon. There I proceeded to catch her up on everything that had happened, up to the phone call from Reggie with Cynthiana’s instructions to keep her and Carina safe at all costs.

“Me? Why would she say to keep me safe? I don’t even know her,” Noèle said.

“This might be difficult to understand, but you remember when we were messing around with combining our passions the other night and we visited a pink island with the volcano and hearing them saying things?” I asked.

“Yeah, one announced you had arrived and the other said it was not possible. I remember,” she replied.

“Well, I also visited the planet with Carina and found out that they seem to be expecting me, but not this soon. It seems that when we combined our passions, that became the catalyst, just as you suggested at the time, for us to reach their world sooner than they expected. If you are up to it, I’d like to try combining our passions again and see just how far we can go.”

She sat back in her chair and just looked at me. Finally, she spoke.

“This sounds seriously like a you want to have a relationship with me. How are you feeling now that the dancer is gone?”

“I am glad we had the time we did, and I wish her only good things as the new queen. Honestly, my heart was heavy with the loss, until Cynthiana reminded me that I have my own path before me.”

“Are you saying that I might have a place beside you on this path?”

“It’s possible,” I told her. “I don’t want to make promises that might be impossible to fulfill, but as Monique just pointed out to me, that’s the way things are looking right now.”

“So you discussed me with Monique?” she asked.

“It was more like she discussed you with me, making me realize that I had someone who might be able to help me, right here on the boat, and I had done a poor job of recognizing it.”

“Well ... you have been busy,” she said. “What exactly do you want me to help you with?”

“I want us to go back to the pink planet and see if we can stay just a little longer,” I explained.

“So you really think we went somewhere? That it wasn’t just a figment of our imaginations?”

“I’m positive. Ever since I was struck by lightning, strange things have happened to my energy. My negative energy can be horribly destructive and my positive energy seems to be very powerful as well. It’s this positive energy I want to explore with you,” I told her.

“What are you calling positive energy?” she asked with a slightly different tone of voice.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“I mean ... is getting your jollies from fucking me what you call positive energy?”

“Whoa! Wait a minute! Where is that coming from?” I asked in honest surprise. Somehow, I had the feeling that I had just fucked up! Bigtime!

“You dance in here and tell me all about you and what you want and what your path is and all this bullshit about you, you, you! And you don’t say a word about how you feel about me and what I want or what I get from a relationship with you! Come back and talk to me when you grow up!” she said in a huff as she disappeared back to the galley.

“It looks like you’re 0-for-2, there buddy,” Isabella said from the other end of the big table.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I just got off the phone with Reggie. Looks like Roland and Carina are leaving tomorrow with the prisoners,” she said.

I just laid my head in my arms on the tabletop and began to cry. How had I fucked things up so bad! Jeanne left me to become a queen, Noèle had rejected me as too immature, and now my very complex relationship with a married woman had finally imploded on me. Through my sadness and tears, I failed to notice as the electronics on board began to go haywire, with lights flickering and panel alarms buzzing everywhere.

People were pouring into the salon from everywhere, but it was Carina who recognized what was happening and flew to my lap and started kissing me. But this time, it only made me feel more miserable.

“What did you say to him?” she asked Isabella harshly.

“Noèle called him immature, and then I told him that you and Roland were leaving,” she said defensively.

“You idiot!” she screamed at Isabella as my tears increased and the lights dimmed. Then turning to her husband she said, “I’m taking him to our cabin. When I come out, you, your sister, and that stupid steward better not be on this boat!”