Chapter 45: The Shepherd Prince

While Carina was taking care of Samantha, Lily and I walked over to a small canteen next door to the clinic. The owner, who was very good friends with Carina, led us to an enclosed patio in the rear of the establishment, brought us some great French coffee, and left us alone.

“What did you do to her?” Lily asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Wait a minute,” I told her. “You promised to explain about this ... what did you call it?”

“It’s called Astatinium. It’s a bidimensional element so powerful that one drop of Astatinium can power half our planet for 100 of your years. Our home world relies on it to power almost everything.

“About four thousand years ago, one of our ships carrying a cargo of Astatinium bound for my home world crashed on your planet. As our supply of Astatinium dwindled, our leaders decided to try and recover the Astatinium from the crashed spaceship, so about five hundred years ago, my parents were sent to oversee the recovery effort.

“But because the state of your technology at that time did not allow them to conveniently travel and search for it, my parents were patient and did the best they could. My brothers and I were all born on this world as they waited.”

“Wait! How old are you,” I asked.

“I was born in 1811 in Sante Fe, in what was then called the Kingdom of New Mexico. Later my family migrated to the Oregon Territory. We were always having to move about every ten years because people eventually became scared when we didn’t age. Later, we moved to Calgary and then many other places. My parents were always looking for the downed spacecraft.”

“Shit!” I exclaimed. “You’re over 200 years old? I swear, you don’t look a day over 25. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s just that we age differently than you do,” she offered.

“Sorry to interrupt, please continue,” I told her.

“We finally discovered the crash site in the Bahamas some sixty years ago and began excavating. But we were slowed by the lack of proper tools and equipment. We also suffered from frequent interruptions by nosy natives, the local authorities, and tourists. Then, my parents decided to return to our world to get more supplies and the proper tools, leaving me and my brothers to protect the site.

“They were finally able to send back the equipment and supplies, but were unable to make the jump themselves. So as we filled each chest, I would send it back with one of my brothers. I was just about finished with the last chest when those bloody Posani bastards appeared!”

“Posani?”

“The Posani are our mortal enemies. Our nations have been at war for longer than your world has existed,” she explained.

“So what happened?” I asked.

“I suppose that when those first chests of Astatinium reappeared on our world, the Posani got word of it and sent a team to this world to take it. I should have known that could happen and been better prepared!” she said in disgust.

“Hey. You can’t always think of everything,” I told her with a smile.

“That’s true. But then, like an avenging angel, you appeared!” she said, her voice edged with excitement and a gleam in her eye. “In all of our time on this world, I have never seen anything like it!”

“So tell me, how did you do what you did with the Astatinium?” she asked.

“I don’t know. What I did was based on instinct,” I told her. Then I told her my story.

“The pink planet?” she asked. “Why do you call it that?”

“Because every time I have visited it, it seemed to have a pink cast to the sky,” I replied. “Why? Do you know of such a planet?”

Lily hesitated for a long time and then answered.

“I haven’t had the chance to travel like my parents have. I’ll have to ask them the next time we communicate.” I could tell she was not telling me everything.

“How do you communicate with them?” I asked.

“We use a crystal harmonic,” she replied.

“A crystal what?” I asked.

“It’s like a smartphone for calling really long distances. It takes a lot of power, so we don’t do it often,” she explained as she pulled something that resembled a large tube of lipstick from her pocket. “Unfortunately, what I need to power it is in that chest you took from me.” Then she offered me the small tube to look at.

The moment I touched it, it crackled loudly with static. Moments later, a voice could be heard, speaking a language I did not recognize.

“What did you DO?” Lily cried as she grabbed for the tube.

“Lily? Is that you?” the voice asked in English.

“Mother?”

“Do you have the final chest? Are you ready to come home?” the voice asked.

“No, I do not have the chest and no, I am not ready to come home,” Lily replied.

“Then what’s going on,” her mother asked, as her voice faded. “It sounds like your energy cell is fading.”

“I don’t have an energy cell,” Lily told her mother while looking at me appraisingly.

“What do you mean...” her mother started as Lily suddenly reached over and touched the lipstick device to the back of my hand.

“ ... you don’t have an energy cell? How are you making this call?” her mother asked, confused.

“I ... I ... ran into some complications. Three Posani jumped our claim and stole the Astatinium.”

There were several questions that she could have asked, based on the importance of the Astatinium, but my respect for her mother soared when she asked her next question.

“Are you alright, my daughter?” she asked compassionately.

“I’ll be fine, Mother,” she replied. “Fortunately, I was rescued by a Shepherd Prince.”

“A Shepherd Prince?” her mother asked in disbelief. “Are you certain? A real Shepherd Prince? On Earth?”

“I believe it to be so,” Lily told her Mother. “However, it is confusing. He captured the three Posani without killing them, took the Astatinium, rescued me and transported me from the Bahamas to France in the blink of an eye, then he saved his friend from Astatinium poisoning.”

So when can you return to our home?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know. I no longer have the last chest,” she said sadly.

There was a long pause, then her mother asked, “If we can obtain another container, do you think there is enough Astatinium left at the crash site to fill it? And could you do so safely?”

“I fear not. The Posani were literally raking through the scrum and pulling out almost nothing,” she told her. “I would doubt there is enough left to fill a spoon.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I told Lily. “The last chest is yours when you’re ready for it.”

“Really?” she squealed as she dove across the small table at me, wrapping me in a bearhug.

Of course, when she did, she dropped her communicator and lost contact with her mother. It took her another few moments to gather herself while I picked up the chairs and the cups that had fallen. The owner came out to check on us, then went back inside when he saw we had it handled.

Finally, Lily calmed down and we re-established contact with her mother. There was obviously some celebrating on their end as well, and I came to realize just how important this Astatinium was to their world.

After many thanks, we finally disconnected, but before we did, Lily’s mother warned her of the consequences of giving in to her feelings, but in the end, told her to follow her heart. I’m sure there was a lot more to that exchange, but I guessed I would talk about it with her later. We needed to get back to the clinic.