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"It's Been a Long, Long Time" - Louis Armstrong The thought of Rahlee had been nagging at me since the time Star and I first talked. My memories of my only palace playmate and friend had come back crystal clear. She was a couple of years older than I, but that didn't mean anything. Star's and my so-called uncle, Relias, was pushing six hundred years, measured in Earth time, near the projected end of his long life. By that reckoning, I was barely out of childhood. Rahlee would be grown-up now, like me, but not old. My seventy-fourth birthday came around. I had always celebrated on New Year's Day, since that was when Christopher found me on the road to Black's farm. There was, of course, a big New Year's Eve party at the Affair, all the vampires and their friends decked out in tuxedos or glittery dresses. The band played tons of old and new dance favorites, and I sang some of them, but about 3 a.m. when the party was slowing down a little, the band members brought in a cake, just for me, and Star came to wish me happy birthday. I was touched, of course, but it was just another pointless year for me. I had no goals and no accomplishments. It didn't snow in winter Los Angeles, but the rains came soon after New Years, and the skies were gray and dreary. I was restless, and I figured it might be time for a trip. * * * Getting to Lecurela was no problem. Jumping isn't like piloting a spaceship, with all sorts of instruments to tune and calculations in math that would curdle your brain, and it neatly ignores Einstein's limitation on travel at the speed of light. Matter of fact, it really isn't traveling at all. Teleportation is, first, just knowing where you are now, second, deciding exactly where you want to be, and then exerting that tiny amount of effort needed to make the transition, one place to the other. Thanks to Star's coaching, I was again able to do that. Visiting my former home was a little trickier because I doubted the welcome mat was out, even after this many years, and I had no desire to try my defenses against soldiers. There would be no fatted-calf barbecue if the rulers of Lecurela found out I'd come back. That meant I couldn't walk in through the front door. But this was meant to be a private visit anyway; I only wanted to see Rahlee. Easier than I can tell you, I was there, standing in an empty room in the sterile white stone structure that was the palace. Lecurela is densely inhabited-home to a fixed population of twenty-seven billion people. Only slightly larger in diameter than Earth, every bit of available land on the planet has been tamed to provide living space. There are no deserts, no swamps, no trackless wastelands. Even the oceans are fitted with underwater housing. Hell, the whole damn planet is civilized within an inch of its life. After living for so long on untidy, wild, weed-infested, beautiful Earth, the feel of the place made me downright claustrophobic. Setting that aside, I stalked noiselessly down the white-carpeted corridors, looking for Rahlee. I found her, alone and doing something incomprehensibly crafty, in a sunny room just down the hall. Rahlee was alive. I let out a mental sigh. Rahlee started when I popped into her view, and leaped to her feet while all sorts of stuff and things rained down from her lap. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Smiling, I said, "Hello, Rahlee," and then we just stared at each other. She is maybe a head shorter than me, and her hair is black like mine. Her skin is a little darker though, and her eyes are almost black. It was warm inside the room, her feet were bare, and she was wearing a short draped white gown whose style could have come from ancient Rome. She looked wonderful. "Univa," she breathed at last. (Unlike the aliens on Star Trek, Lecurelans don't speak English, but, if it's all right with you, I'll translate.) I shook my head. "I'm Evan, now." She looked puzzled. "It's what I call myself… my name." A confused moment passed, and then she was in my arms. Sixty-five years melted away, and it was like we had never been apart. "You shouldn't be here! They think you're dead! Oh, my dear, they will kill you!" I smiled at her. "No, they won't." I wasn't a child anymore. "I wanted to see you, Rahlee." I held her a little away from me. "You look even more beautiful than I remember. How is it with you, my sister?" She was crying. I suppose we both were. The palace itself, the way the air smelled, the very rays of the star that was Lecurela's sun - it all brought back that last frightening day. I did my best to hold onto the me that was now and not to slip back into the memories of a frightened child. "I am well," she said, touching me lightly here and there, arm, shoulder, face - to figure out if I was real, I suppose. "I thought never to see you again." I smiled and hugged her gently. While I did, I looked around at the huge open room. There was no screen or glass in the windows, only air between us and the vista of many roofs trailing away into the distance and thousands of tiny figures in white, all going about their everyday lives. On Lecurela, there wasn't much difference between indoors and outdoors - it was all climate-controlled. Days were uniformly sunny, rain fell at night when needed, and no storm ever disturbed the planet's peaceful, boring existence. I had a disturbing vision of H. G. Wells' Time Machine. These gentle citizens could be his beautiful, innocent Eloi; where were the dark and dangerous Morlocks? I shivered. A door opened and I turned, wary, but Rahlee beamed. "Vahlee, come see! This is the one I told you about. He is not dead, but lives!" Vahlee belonged to Star in the way Rahlee was mine. You could see it in her, how her lovely form was his perfect complement, the same platinum hair and toast-brown skin. She blinked at me, then took Rahlee's hand. "Is my brother well?" It translates badly, but I knew she meant Star. "He's called Star now, and I'm called Evan." I held out my hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Vahlee. Star and I have been worrying about you two." If not for their coloring, they could have been twins. They fluttered together, graceful sun and shadow birds, touching each other lightly for reassurance. "We are both well… Evan. We are not alone, because we are allowed to have each other's company. Please, sit and tell us of your life… and his." They sat me on pillows and brought cups and plates of foods and drink, the taste of which I'd all but forgotten. Without saying which planet, which star system, I talked about my life and Star's until they ran out of questions. I smiled, but my heart was heavy. I could picture these two on Earth, marveling at the freedom to do as they liked, unbound by anything but their own desires. I could do many things, but how could I unlock the restrictions coded directly into their DNA? I had no idea. It was small comfort that Star didn't, either. "I should go," I said, finally. I didn't add the rest of what I was thinking: I wish you both could go with me. "I'll come back again… soon," I promised. I stood, holding one brown hand and one that was pale like mine, looking into lovely faces whose expressions were almost identical, too focused on them to pay the attention I should have… and he walked in. Fuck! I had forgotten. The girls' innocent minds projected only wonder, but suddenly waves of loathing hit me like a physical force. I felt his attention rest on me, sharp as a blade, and I clamped mental shields in place, only hoping he had not slipped inside my mind before I noticed. His body was beautiful, six feet, six inches at least, with the muscles of an athlete. His hair was short and dark blonde, his eyes almost golden, his skin, covered only by a scrap of white around his loins, a café au lait brown. His face should have been handsome, but the customary arrogance I remembered so well rode there, and he looked at the three of us as though he had found a pile of excrement on his bed. "You!" he said, and my stomach turned over. There were three main people, "scientists" they claimed, who controlled the Lecurelan government, and none had a name, only a number. I hated them all, but this one was special… he was Number One. "Me," I said, belatedly remembering to stand straight and look him in the eye. I was not a child now, I reminded myself again, I was a man and he could no longer frighten me. Rahlee and her sister-twin stood slowly and came up beside me. I could see the tension in their bodies, but their faces were blank masks. "We did not summon you," Vahlee said defiantly. I shook my head to hush her. If they couldn't leave Lecurela, then they needed to get along with this… this… creature who controlled their fates. Anger at that burned inside me, but there was nothing I could do to change it. "I walk where I will," the big man said, "and with whom I will. Guards!" He raised his voice on the last word, and I turned to the ladies as I heard the call echo down the corridor. "I'll be back," I said, and jumped. It was the seventies then, years before the Terminator. I guess Arnold must have been quoting me, all these years. * * * Needless to say, I was shaken by my little jaunt down memory lane. I wanted to run directly to Star and share it all with him and perhaps gain a hug or two for comfort, but I waited a day and then just tried to emphasize the fact that our friends were still alive and well. Of course, he knew there was more, and I finally let him see all of it. There was no mistaking his shudder when Number One arrived on the scene. All three numbered scientists had been a large presence in my childhood, and I was sure the same was true for Star. Like Suria, they were big on "tests," and few of those tests were pleasant. Their "scientific" concern was great for making a person feel more like a lab rat than a human being. Knowing that we shared such experiences, it was hard to understand how Star put up with Suria's invasions. I knew I'd have to go back again, even if it was just to spit in Number One's eye, but I hoped I could think up some kind of plan to help Rahlee and Vahlee before that. Something else had been bothering me, and I figured now was as good a time as any to bring it up. "Star, can I ask you something?" "Anything." "Why didn't Vaira want to marry you?" He pursed his lips. "It is not my story to tell, but I don't suppose Vaira would confide in you. I am afraid that you and she have not hit it off well." That was an understatement. "Vaira is a very strong person. Her life, up until the time I met her, had been very hard. Her people are of the ruling class on her home planet, Krina, but they were forced underground by attacks of the Uslegi, a large band of nomad warriors who targeted Krina in hopes of usurping the world and making its people into slaves. The attacks began when she was but a child, and Vaira's whole life had been lived in hiding, always fighting, always struggling to survive. She saw friends killed and was herself injured many times, almost to the point of death. I fell in love with that courage, that fighting spirit." He sighed. "She was so beautiful, and I had never felt so strongly about anyone before. "She was very grateful when I pledged to help her people. When the fighting was over and the invaders sent on their way, I told her that I loved her. Her reaction was disbelief. She didn't think herself good enough to marry me, or anyone. She tried to tell me of all the desperate things she had done just to survive. I told her that none of it mattered to me, but she continued to refuse. "When Suria saw how distressed I was, she went to Vaira to plead my case. The next day, Vaira agreed to marry me." He shook his head. "I hope she is happy with our life together, but sometimes I worry that she married me only out of gratitude." We both sat quiet then, me trying to reconcile Star's story with my own impressions. I guessed I could understand a little better why he put up with Suria, since she helped him attain his heart's desire. Was there more to Vaira than I could see? With all the skimpy clothes she wore, I had never seen a scar, but maybe Star had helped her with those. Still, I knew that the worst scars could be inside, and I resolved to do my best not to provoke her. We talked about my promise to return to Lecurela. I could feel that Star wanted to see Vahlee for himself, but I also knew he feared that, once back, they might never let him leave again. With his kind of power, that puzzled me, to say the least. * * * The babies arrived, twin boys, and Vaira named them Ulan Roca and Ulan Racho[1], which she said meant something in Krinan[2], her native language, but I forget what. They were the spitting image of Star and absolutely adorable, of course. Not identical - first-born Roca was bigger and heavier built - but both had Star's dark skin and platinum hair. If I hadn't known better, I might have thought they were his clones… that Vaira had nothing at all to do with them. Star was ecstatic, and he took to being a father like he'd invented it. Vaira did a fair job of mothering, I have to admit, and she treated me almost like a friend when I came to visit. I hadn't been around infants in a long time, but I enjoyed dandling the little miracles as much as any other quasi-uncle. The boys were maybe two months old when I first saw Suria leaving Star's house with a refrigerated case and a smug expression. Little Roca was still wailing angrily and Racho wore a wounded expression. "What the hell!" I asked the room at large. Vaira was hushing the babes, and I hurried to pick up Roca as Vaira put Racho to her breast. Roca reached one baby hand up to touch my face, and subsided with a sniffle. "What happened?" I demanded again. Star looked blank, and for once Vaira and I shared a meaningful glance. "Suria took blood samples from the babies," she said, looking almost on the verge of real, honest-to-goodness tears. I turned back to Star. He spread his hands, obviously unable to understand what the big deal was. "Yes, Suria took blood samples. She has to test the children to see if they are healthy." I looked back at Vaira to see if it made any sense to her. I could tell from her shell-shocked expression that it didn't. Sure, human doctors tested human infants and inoculated them against disease, and all the babies, predictably, hated it. But Star's sons were perfectly healthy, even I could see that. I opened my mouth, ready to tell Star what I thought of Suria and her tests… and then I remembered. This was Star, future ruler of the Federated Planets. What was I thinking, intending to challenge his judgment? I looked down at Roca, asleep now in my arms. They were his kids, weren't they? He had the right to let Suria do whatever she wanted with them, didn't he? Shit. I handed Roca to Vaira and stalked out past a puzzled Star. One very long walk on the beach later, I'd made an uneasy sort of peace with the situation. I knew in my soul that I was flawed and Star was perfect. I'd just have to fight my instincts and trust his care of his own flesh and blood. It wasn't my place to question him in this or in anything. On the other hand, I hated Suria with a passion and Star believed in her. How could our judgments be so different? It hadn't taken her long to request samples of my blood and tissue, and I'd emphatically refused, which made Suria all but pout. Star had asked why I didn't agree to her "reasonable" requests, but surely I had the right to decide what happened to my own body? I loved Star, so I'd just have to grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut where she was concerned. My guts twisted into a hard knot. I kept remembering little Roca, trustingly asleep in my arms, and I couldn't get the picture out of my head. So, from then on when I saw Suria's car in front of Star's house, I always turned and left. Some part of me knew I wouldn't like what I'd see and hear if I stayed. I heartily wished the bitch would find herself another hobby.
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