Chapter 63

Katherine paced the floor of the safe house.  Drex raked his hair and stretched as he eyed the surveillance monitors.

“Any word from Amnon?” Katherine muttered.

“No.”

Katherine continued to pace.  It had been a long day and she felt it in her in every bend of her joints.  Katherine’s mind retraced the moments of the day when they said goodbye to each other, sneaking into the termination center, falling into the torture chamber, wishing she could end it all, finding herself amid the burning chaos of the plaza, and zooming away as Amnon ran toward the prison complex.  Now, everything seemed still but not at rest.  Now, if everyone returned, there would be one less.  Keetha had given her last ounce of devotion to the cause.  That was the best case.  Worst case, she was alone with Drex in an alien dimension and facing being hunted by a vicious and cruel government.  Katherine felt the line of muscles between her neck and shoulder ache and throb.  She pressed the muscle with her fingertips, hoping some tension would ooze out.  She wanted a bath.  She wanted to return to the cocoon of her home in Athens.  She wanted to know if she should keep hoping or start hiding.

“Hold on,” Drex’s body sharpened into focus.  “Someone’s approaching.  Here.” Drex tapped the screen.

Katherine fixed her eyes on the approaching silhouette.  To her, the figure moved more like a zombie from a bad drive-in movie than anyone she knew.  Its shoulders were hunched, and its head was down.  The figure took lazy steps, seemingly unconcerned and unmotivated.  That the figure was male was all Katherine could guess with confidence from the shape the figure cut out of the screen.  He ambled toward the safe house with the setting star behind him, making the finer details impossible to make out.

The man stepped up to the front door.  Drex eyed Katherine and placed a finger to his lips.  With his other hand, he unholstered his sidearm.  The door opened easily with no attempt of forced or disguised entry.  Shuffling footsteps approached the main room, and a few seconds later, a road-weary Evan Gold showed his face.

Evan looked exactly the way she felt.  He was banged up with several cuts, scabs, and clots on his forehead and neck.  Grit had taken residence in the creases of his skin, and his stubble was almost a beard.  Katherine felt the ache in her shoulders return just from looking at him.  She didn’t know how his day had gone, but it couldn’t have been easier than hers.

An odd feeling swept over Katherine the moment she recognized her husband.  She was glad he was alive but was surprised it was him.  She didn’t know it until that moment, but she’d been hoping that if it was anyone, it was Amnon.  He had left her so abruptly in the plaza, and she’d made it to the safe house in time to watch Saw Yatha’s interrogation of Amnon.  She’d seen herself with him in the different images that had been broadcast, and she felt the most unsafe she had ever been.  The broadcast had ended so abruptly that it was unclear what had ended it.  Katherine hoped Amnon was alright and not as she feared.

She was shocked to find she’d forgotten about Evan in the aftermath of the torture chamber.  But it had always been like that.  Evan would leave her and, like a stray cat, be gone for an irregular amount of time before returning as if nothing had ever happened, as if he’d been there the whole time.  Katherine didn’t know she’d stopped worrying about him.  Could she still love a man she didn’t worry about?  She shook that thought from her head.  Evan was her husband.  She’d made a commitment to him.  Better and worse; this was certainly worse.  Sickness and health; this wasn’t exactly sickness but a long way from health.  Though she wondered how strong her wifely commitment was at that moment, she reminded herself that if she broke with Evan here, here she would likely remain forever.

Katherine smiled at him, walked over, and wrapped him in her arms.  He held her a long time.  He held her close.  He held her in a way that said he would not easily let her go, like she was giving him the energy to keep from collapsing.  They stayed like that for a long while.  The longer he held her, the more her body responded to him, and her heart began to reconnect with his.

After a while, Evan pulled back from Katherine, his weary eyes found hers.  “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”  And Katherine felt salty tears begin to form at the rims of her eyes.

“How did you make out?” Drex broke the moment.  “The plan fell apart pretty quick.”

Evan acknowledged Drex and ambled away from Katherine to a table.  He opened his fist and carefully set an oversized pearl on it.  Evan looked at Drex.  Drex nodded.  Then, suddenly, the pearl flashed a bright light, and after it lost power, the threesome saw the limp princess lying on the table.

“She’s had a rough time,” Evan said without humor.

“Who hasn’t?” said Drex, who carefully lifted her into his arms and laid her on a nearby couch.

“I can’t tell if she needs rest or is on her way out.”

Drex placed his palm on her forehead.  “I think I might have some medicine around here somewhere.  No fever, but clammy.”

Katherine turned from Lillian and took Evan’s hand.  “Can we go home now?”

Evan’s tired eyes gave her the answer she didn’t want to hear.  “I’m afraid we aren’t out of the woods just yet, sweetheart.”  Once again, tears bit at her eyes.

“But she’s been rescued, the government seems in shambles.  We’ve done what we came to do, haven’t we?”

“It’s not that simple,” Drex said, standing again and addressing the Golds.  “We don’t know what’s come of Amnon, that’s one thing.  The other thing, and you two would know this better than me, the Coellum have landed and will continue to land.”

“What does that have to do with the price of eggs?” Katherine snaped.

Drex exhaled.  “Let me see if I can put this in small pieces for you.  Lillian’s been rescued, that’s a plus.  Coellem ships are here, which means Evan and the princess were successful at the Processing Unit; that’s another win.  However, these are the things that make me nervous:  The transmission with Amnon is worrisome.  I don’t know what cut it off, but it didn’t look normal.  No one has seen Chieftain Dol in several days, which means he’s in hiding, has exiled himself, or, and this is what I suspect, he’s dead but no one has said so.  Saw has put himself in charge, but, let’s just assume the worst for the moment and the bright flash we saw in Amnon’s transmission was an explosion and Amnon and Saw have died, that would mean there is no leadership in Merlain.  It’s possible that there is no government.  The Coellum would have no idea that we have the princess or that we intend her no harm.  It going to take here a bit to recover from whatever ails her.  We go out there carrying a limp and possibly dying Coellum princess, we are going to look guilty of something to both sides.  So, I’m sorry to say miss, but our best bet is to lay low, let Lillian recover a bit of strength, let some of the chaos to settle out, and hope Amnon shows back up.  I’m sorry.  That’s the best news I can offer at the moment.”

The three of them stood in silence for a moment as the weight of reality rested on their spirits.  “So, I’m going to rummage through our medical supplies and see if there is anything that loks promising for Lillian here.”

Drex gave the Golds an apologetic smile before disappearing into another room.  Katherine took a step to Evan and spoke in a low whisper, “That can’t be the only answer.  I want out of here.  I want out of here and I want to start forgetting this day, this place, and this whole thing.”

“I’m with you, darling, but I don’t think that’s how this works.”  He pointed at Lillian, “She’s going to take some time to get better -”

“I don’t have time,” Katherine hissed.  “Evan.  I’m tired.  I’m scared.  I want to go home.  I know I’ve said that since the moment we got here, but I mean it now more than I ever have.  I want to go home.  You’re tough.  You’ve gotten used to all this living at the edge of dying for longer than I care to remember, but I haven’t.  I don’t want this to be my life.  I don’t want this to be how I finish my days.  Even if you think you need to stay, just send me home.”

“Kathy, you’re a lot stronger than you think you are.  You survived getting here and starting an alien revolution.  You can survive a little longer.  You have to survive a little longer.  If we all split up now, I’m with Drex, I don’t think we’ll last very long.  I don’t know if you know this but Keetha – “

“I saw,” Katherine’s eyes dropped.

“I don’t know what happened, but the plaza… the whole way here… I was almost picked up by soldiers several times, and several more times I had to get out of the way of looters and vandals.  Without a plan, and frankly, without a princess, I think our goose is cooked.”

In a panic, Katherine grabbed Evan’s right wrist, exposed her fetterseal mark and slapped his mark on hers.  Why hadn’t she tried this before?  She looked hard into Evan’s eyes waiting for the magic spell to launch them back to their backyard shed.  But nothing happened.  She remained in the safe house.  

Drex returned carrying a box of vials and cloth.  Katherine let her husband’s hand fall and she walked away.  “I think something in this will be worth trying,” he said setting the box down.  Katherine fingerd her way through the boxes contents.

“You go back to your screens,” Katherine said without emotion.  “I’m sure I can find something that will help.  It’s at least something I can do if the only thing to do is wait.”  She glanced up at Evan, who looked back at her with his sad eyes.  She couldn’t take it anymore, being trapped, but she do anything about it either.  She picked up a bottle and started to read the label.  

Evan shoved his hands in his pockets and began to take up a vigil at the window next to Drex’s screens.  The trip passed the night in silence.