worm retracted into the hole before it closed in on itself. Jack could feel and hear wind gush by at incredible rates, but it hardly felt as if they moved as the brilliant light engulfed them for about ten seconds before the creature reared its head out of another hole – this time in a courtyard of a crystal palace.
They got off the creature and it reversed back into the hole as it closed without leaving behind any sign that there ever was a hole.
“The worm holes don’t leave any damage if it is opened over soil or water.” Petrav said, “Follow me. I’ll take you to our Sovereign.”
Jack followed him across the courtyard, past the diamond encrusted doors and into the throne room where a woman with white hair reaching down to her knees stood at the balcony door with her back to them.
“My lady…” Petrav said with a bow.
The woman dressed in white satin turned around and to Jack’s astonishment it was Alicia. He wanted to run up to her and embrace her after all these months, but though she seemed happy to see him she seemed to restrain herself.
“Jack.” She said with a smile.
“Alicia.” He said and stepped closer.
“You may leave us now, Petrav.”
Petrav bowed his head and left the throne room.
“You’re their leader?” Jack was flabbergasted.
“We have much to talk about.”
“Your hair is different as well.” Jack said as he scrutinized her beautiful appearance.
“Please, join me out on the balcony.” She said and they both went outside.
The balcony had a breath-taking view of Lagoon City with its tall buildings, hover cars and the snow-top mountains in the distance. The once desolate town of Pretor was now a booming metropolis that spanned right into the lake and the green fields beyond it.
“We’ve been looking for you for a long time.” She said, “I set up search teams to look for you and any survivors they could find and bring them back to Lagoon City. They told me you’d be long dead by now, but I never gave up hope of finding you.”
“Dead? Why would I be dead?”
“Jack,” She hesitated breaking the news to him, “It’s been nearly three hundred years.”
He stared at her in disbelief; what she said made no sense.
“I don’t understand.” He said.
“Think of your astronaut lecture.” She said, “It’s basically the same principal where you made your home. You built your town in a ravine so massive that it had its own gravitational pull – a gravitational pull so massive that it slowed down time. Only a few months passed inside the ravine for you, but outside three hundred years passed like normal. I know it’s a lot to take in.”
“How are you still alive?”
She smiled, but there was sadness in her eyes, “I made a pact with the devil. Eljav, their former leader, promised that if I mothered the future generation of his people he’d help me find you and Timmy, but it was a lie. When he died about two months after we had intercourse, I released what remained of our people from the concentration camps.”
“You made love to one of these creatures?” Jack asked in disgust.
“I had no other choice.” She insisted, “I truly believed that he’d let me see you and Timmy again. You have to believe me.”
Jack took a deep breath and leaned against the balustrade as he looked out at the futuristic city that lay beyond the castle. He had a hard time wrapping his brain around the fact that they were transported to an alien planet… he had an ever harder time accepting that he might never find Alicia, but how could he accept the fact that she mothered an alien race?
“Things have changed.” She said and laid a hand on his shoulder, “It’s been centuries since you broke free from the concentration camp. Our people and theirs live in peace now.”
He removed her hand from his shoulder and kept staring out at the magnificent city. He didn’t know what to think or how to feel except that his wife cheated on him. It might be that three hundred years have passed for her – time in which she could come to terms with what she did to him, but to him it’s only been a few months since he last saw her.
36
“Please.” She pleaded, “Say something.”
“What do you want me to say?” Jack asked as he turned to face her.
“Say you forgive me.”
“How can I forgive you when I don’t know who you are anymore?”
“It’s still me.” Alicia said in a sweet whisper.
She reached out to touch his face, but he pulled back before her fingertips could touch him and she lowered her hand. She wished she could make him understand why she did what she did. It wasn’t easy for her to forsake her vows and forget about finding Jack and Timmy, but as the years passed they became distant memories and it became harder and harder to trace his face in the air.
“How’s Timmy?” She asked.
“He’s fine. He just misses you.”
A tear ran down her face as she tried to suppress her sorrow. It’s been too long. Though her motherly instincts made her remember her son in every small detail, time made her forget who he was and what he meant to her. She still longed to see him, but it wasn’t the same aching longing she had centuries ago.
“I’ve missed him too.” She wiped the tear away.
“I could bring him to see you… and then we could see where things go from there.”
He didn’t want to look her in the eyes, but the love he felt for her was too powerful and compelled him to turn to her. Their eyes met and after such a long time he felt home in her eyes.
“I’d like that.” She smiled.
“You look good for your age.” He joked, “Three hundred and forty years old.”
She chuckled and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, “I have fifty percent of their DNA which means I’ll live half as long as they do.”
“Oh.” Was all he could get out.
“I want you to come live here.” She said, “With me; you and Timmy. The people of your town are more than welcome to make Lagoon City their new home.”
It still felt like a dream – a surreal reality where time moved on and left him behind. How could he expect the others back home to accept that three centuries have passed in less than six months?
“Indoor plumbing would be nice.” He chuckled.
As he stood on the balcony staring out at the glorious city before him, he knew that life would never be the same again. It would take them months if not years to reconcile their marriage, but she was worth the effort.
He noticed a human boy and a native girl walking on a sidewalk in the distant city as they both ate an ice-cream and Jack was relieved, if just a little, that the disappearances back on earth wasn’t the end of the age of men, but rather the start of a bright new future. In the cosmic battle for survival of the fittest, mankind would always survive despite incredible odds. It’s in our nature – in our DNA to fight to stay alive… to fight for our spot in the sun whether it’s back on earth or on an alien planet. We will survive no matter what. The age of men is far from over.
“We should grab a coffee sometime.” She suggested, “Try and sort things out.”
He flashed her half a smile and said, “That would be nice...”
He meant it this time. He wanted his wife back and was willing to try and work out their differences. When he married her, he vowed to stand by her side through sickness and in health; for richer or for poorer. Though his vows didn’t say anything about aliens, he was pretty sure there was something in there pertaining to such an event.
“If you’re not busy...” She shrugged her shoulders as if applying he could take some time out off his busy day for a quick coffee.
He chuckled and wanted to lay a kiss on her inviting lips, but time stood between them. Though he wanted to embrace his wife, she might find it a little bit more difficult to do that as time treated her differently.
“Coffee would be great.” He accepted.
Her smile glistened alm
ost just as much as the walls of the throne room and crushed any doubts he had about loving her. In that moment – that one gesture – he was reminded of what they had; every kiss, every embrace and every romantic night they ever shared came flooding back to his mind like a tidal wave.
A spherical carriage made of green amber flew up to and hovered next to the balcony. Jack studied it and was perplexed as to what kept it afloat seeing that it appeared to have no engine, propellers or motor.
She pushed open a small gate in the balustrade as a viaduct slid out from underneath the carriage and connected to the balcony. Though it seemed sturdy enough, Jack was sceptical. It was a long drop to the garden below should the viaduct give way beneath him.
“It’s quite safe.” She assured him as she stepped onto it.
He hesitated for a moment and then took her hand to steady himself as he stepped onto it like a house of cards about to collapse. She chuckled as they both climbed into the carriage. The green velvet seats felt like soft clouds beneath his buttocks – it was softer than anything back home that he could remember.
“Wow.” He said and ran his hands over the seat.
“I know, right?” She agreed, “It’s made from the finest Lemar skins – the best money can buy; one of the perks of being a monarch of a planet.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but clearly it was something impressive that only a ruler could afford to possess. There were still many things in this new world of hers that he had to learn about and come to like or dislike.
The carriage rattled a bit as it took flight and it almost felt the same as when an