Charlotte

I didn’t have words to really describe how it had made me feel. The intense pain and agony, had simply folded over and been washed away by a wave of bliss and pleasure. I have to admit at this point, at least to myself, that the emotional rollercoaster I’m on could stop here and I would be happy. The guilt of letting so many die while being powerless to help, the sadness that loneliness could only ever amplify. Then the anger that bred rage, turning itself over to the joy and happiness of finding someone that wasn’t such a monster.

At least she didn’t seem like a monster at this point. I sniffed at her scent, let my eyes roam freely over her. I even stained to listen until I could hear the unsteady rhythm her heart was playing.

“Thank you….uhm, I’m sorry I don’t know who you are.” I felt it necessary to ask her name. She had helped me so much and I could do nothing for her except be thankful.

“You may call me Charlotte.” The women said with a small bow. Even as she lowered her head slightly, her eyes never left mine. She must not trust me, and since I broke the chains so easily I bet she’s wondering if I’ll break her too.

“Where are we?” I asked to help alleviate some of the tension.

“On Master J’s ship.”

“I know that much, but, where? I never even knew that space travel was possible. And you all are doing it so casually. How far did we travel from my home?” Maybe if I kept up a curious and sedated act she would help fill in some information.

“Oh, well he doesn’t want me to tell you where exactly we are or where we are going. He’s afraid that you might some how leak that information to an enemy. I can tell you that it’s been roughly three standard weekly cycles by the count of the galactic federation calendar. On your world that would be about, a month, I think. It’s hard to remember planetary rotational cycles sometimes.”

The information floored me. I had been thinking several days, maybe one week. Not four. If a full month had already passed by, then I was eighteen now.

Wow. What a birthday.

“What else can you tell me?” I had to know as much as possible.

“I really can’t tell you anything. But, I have not been forbidden from answering questions. While there is certain information Alpha J has ordered me to keep quiet about, I’m sure I can still answer you in some small way.”

So she could only be as helpful if I asked questions that didn’t require her to give me the full details of what ever it was J didn’t want me to know.

“Well shit.” I wasn’t nearly smart enough to ask questions that would get me any real information then.

“Charlotte, can you tell me about yourself then?”

She seemed quite surprised at this.

“What would you like to know?”

“Where do you come from?”

“A small world, many, many years distant even with the fastest ships. Master J found me when I was still very young. My parents had been friends of his before he took an alpha role. And so they saw no harm in me going away with him to help with the rebellion. My skills as a healer were paramount to the survival of another world he had told them. And he was right. Had I not gone, many hundreds of thousands would’ve perished. It was until years after that I learned they were all in danger only because Alpha J had lured out a galactic commander.” She paused for a moment, her slender arm tensing up. I could smell her scent change from fear to hate.

“He told them that there was a terrible monster. That it was hiding within the ranks of one of the nobles that ruled the planet. Convinced him that the only way to deal with it was with overwhelming force.”

“So he used not only you, a planet, and all its people, but even a commander who oversees a galaxy? How?”

“Because he very cunning and will go to any lengths to achieve his goal. He used the same commander again to destroy my planet shortly after he had taken me away.”

She had a look of extreme sorrow now. Maybe I had asked to much, but the information confirmed what I had suspected. J was truly a monster, and Charlotte was nothing more than a pawn he had scooped up in his deceit. And she was only serving in order to survive. I still didn’t know what they sought freedom from.

“Why would he destroy your planet? Did anyone survive?” I asked out of curiosity more than sympathy. Although I could feel some empathy for her since I had watched my town burn around me barely a month ago now.

“No one made it out. I would be the last of that bloodline now. And he never told me why. I’m fact I’m sure to this day he believes that I have no idea my home world is gone. I’ve never brought it up around anyone before.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say or ask. My body had relaxed back into its human form. My senses dulling slightly. I could still hear the now steady, slow beat of Charlotte’s heart.

“You must be tired, please feel free to stay here and rest, or if you’d feel more comfortable in my room I will allow you to stay with me in there. I’m sure I can convince Alpha J that I need to supervise you for the time being.”

Staying in somebody else’s room? I had never done that before. I’m fact I had rarely ever had my own actual room.

I looked around the drab gray walls. Taking in everything much clearer now that I had recovered. It was almost identical to the room the doctor had given me that injection in. But this room still had the door hinged to the wall. I wonder just how big this ship is. The corridor I had run down was probably more than a hundred feet. And that was just in the one direction from the door I busted. Plus the big room that was at the end of that hall, and whatever was the other direction. And then there’s the whole landing ship bay. That had to be more than a few football fields long.

“How big is this ship anyway?” I finally voiced the question that had been bouncing around my head.

“Well it’s large enough that it can only land on planets designed with a massive space port. Most times it is forced to stay in self contained orbit well away from the planet. Kind of like a small moon I suppose.”

Wow, that’s huge I guess. The moon I always looked up at always looked so big in the sky. I wonder what other planets are like.

“What does J want with me…?” I was out of other question. But my voice started to grow hoarse as I asked. Like my body knew how hard that question would be and recoiled from it.

“You don’t really want to know.”

“I need to.”

“If I tell you the truth, you’d beg me to lie.”