The Return

Chapter 9

Mary looked out the of the glass that surrounded the ship and watched and they swiftly moved from galaxy to galaxy. Her eyes fluttered over to Zuke. He seemed to effortlessly work the controls that propelled them forward. That was when Simone began to fidget.

"Can you stop moving around? It hurts like hell," Jordam hissed to the girl. Mary had to hide the smirk that worked its way over her features.

"Sorry, but I'm getting quite uncomfortable." Just as she said this, a planet came into view. It was quite large compared to Earth and was a deep purple color. Zuke cleared his throat and pressed a button that was on the controller and a crackling sound filled the pod. It was the communicator that enabled them to converse with Ann and Griffin's ship. That was when Zuke spoke into a small communicator device that rested in his palm.

"We will be entering into Fetler's atmosphere soon, but we may have a rough landing. We will head to Brethion's capital, Grazër. King Markai knows that we are on the way." That was all he said. Mary didn't know it, but Jordan studied the two of them carefully. Zuke slipped the device into one of his coat pockets, then he gently wrapped his arms around Mary's waist while still holding the pod controller. The girl turned around and cast a loving smile at him. They really must have missed each other.

"We are about to enter into the atmosphere. Hold on tight." As if on cue with Zuke's words, the pod began to rock and shutter violently. Simone intertwined her fingers into Jordan's and squeezed his hand tightly. If the group wouldn't have been belted in, they would have flown from their seats and slammed into the glass that separated them from space.

After what seemed like forever, the ship finally steadied itself and a smooth ride surfaced. They were gracefully flying through the air at top speeds. Jordan watched as Zuke would purposely slow the ship down so the lost princesses could look out the window and take in all the scenery. "It's beautiful," Mary breathed, entranced. Zuke chuckled.

"Yeah. It's been a while since I've been here; it's really a sight for sore eyes," Zuke mused. The pod began to cross over a wide expanse of trees. The soaring trunks and branches covered the flat, well-inhabited forest. One thing in particular caught Mary's eye.

"The trees! They're not- they're- huh?" Mary questioned. Jordan strode over to the holographic control panel of the flight deck, squeezing through a single row of seats and apologizing to Zuke and Mary as he pushed past. Simone took the opportunity and quickly took his seat for herself. He pulled up an image of the trees and zoomed in.

"This," he started, "is one of the native trees of Brethion. We just call them the 'floating trees,' which isn't too hard to remember. The reason they're not rooted to the ground is because of an ethereal substance named 'Ascensious.' It is found in all the soil here, but only effects a certain substance found in trees and some bushes."

"Weird," said an awestruck Mary.

Zuke cut into their conversation with news of his own. "Now that we have had our fill of sights, we need to speed up to catch up with Ann and Griffin. King Markai will be expecting us soon so everyone get strapped in and let's go. The pod sped up and they were off again. As the ship raced through the country of Brethion, different villages and farms spread out before them. No matter who the group looked at, all of the inhabitants were...well...different. This was just to put it simply. Most of the people were cyborgs. Some had more cyborg attachments than others- half a face, and eye, an arm, most of their body- but they were all cyborgs, even the animals. It was scary and strange and interesting all rolled into one.

The villages soon gave way to towns, which then gave way to cities. The villages usually consisted of one main street with 2 - 3 buildings made of brick , small cabin-like houses, and wagons running down the dirt roads. The brick buildings usually had about 2 stories. The rest of the village was open fields and farmland. The towns and cities had many paved streets with brick and metal buildings scattered about and transports rolling along the busy roads. The transports were dark, bulky, floating cubes that moved at a mild pace. Some of the cities were quite large, but all of them knew that none could compare Brethion's capital city, Grazër.

***

The two pods stopped at the city limits of Grazër and pulled up to the royal hanger. It was outside of the city so the ruling family could make diverse entrances into Grazër when returning home to the capital city. After Zuke's pod was parked next to a large cargo ship, they were all free to get out and stretch their legs before entering into the city. The ramp to the cargo ship dropped and Mary couldn't help but gasp at the sight. Ann sided up besides her sister just in time for the spectacle. Women, expectant mothers, elderly folks, and children no older than thirteen were exiting the ship. Their clothes were in tatters and many of them were wounded and dirty. At the bottom of the exit ramp was the king himself greeting the people. After shaking hands with the king, the crowd wad directed to large cargo transports that were bound for refugee camps outside of the city. After all of the people had been drained from the ship, the king- who had a chest of metal- made his way over to them with a sad smile on his face.

"Those people that you see are refugees that we managed to save from the differnt places that Wilhelm has conquered. Most of the children are orphans. I'm so sorry that you had to see that."
Ann stiffened and spoke up. "I feel terrible about all that my uncle has done. All the death and suffering. It's just unreal. "
"There is no need to be sorry about your uncle's actions, your Highness," the king replied. "Let us head into the city."
Mary felt as if she should say something to this man who was taking them in.
"Thank you, your Hingness," said Mary awkwardly. All the king did was nod at her with a small smile. While the king led Ann, Griffin, Mary, Zuke, and Simone to the royal transport, Jordan stayed behind to talk to the king's guards. Mary made out a few words such as "prison, heavy guard, and dead" as Jordan slipped something into one of the guards hands with a jerky nod. Mary didn't even have to look to know what the article was and quickly turned away from the sight. The thing that the guard slipped into his brest pocket was the crystal that held Vosk.