Starblood

Lord William Fitzgerald Shaxx, explorer and colonizer of the Miren Galaxy, stood looking out the window. Below him lay his most recent conquest. Skylar, soon to be renamed as Enquan.

“How long till we land, Torres?”

Torres’ title was Captain, but Lord Shaxx never bothered with extra words. In fact, Captain Torres was not even the pilot of the Areole, however, Lord Shaxx never bothered to learn the name of the pilot. Captain Torres didn’t know when they were going to land, and couldn’t ask the pilot, Corpal, since he was on the opposite side of the flying vehicle. He made up an answer, for anyone who ignored Lord Shaxx would be killed.

“An hour, sir.”

“Good.”

A collective sigh escaped the crew’s mouths when Lord Shaxx left the main room.

Lord Shaxx had once been a kind man. But decades of ruling had made him arrogant. His good looks, though, did not diminish through the years. In fact, his black cloak accented his honey golden skin. His blond hair was always neatly combed and parted down the middle. He was a tall man, with eyes that looked to be almost black, all of which made him intimidating to everyone except his wife, Christine.

Lady Christine Mary Shaxx, consort to Lord William Fitzgerald Shaxx, was holding her three-year-old daughter, Lyra, in her arms. Her to-be son was currently the cause for her swollen stomach. Lyra’s sleepy eyes looked up at her mother.

“I thought you had work to do, Mama.”

“I do, Lyra. Be a good girl, and go back to sleep.”

Lyra’s reverently touched her mom’s light auburn hair, that was currently pulled into a side braid. Lyra’s own blond hair was tied into twin ponytails. Lyra looked very much like her dad. Along with the blond hair, they had the same eye and lip shapes, but Lyra’s eyes were hazel, the same as Christine’s. And while William’s skin was a honey color, Christine’s was fair, and Lyra’s was an ivory shade.

Christine was working on an invention that could change all of the Miren Galaxy. She was naming it the Translock. Her ninth prototype, Areole, was flying them right now to Skylar-Enquan.

Once Lyra was asleep, Christine set her down under the covers of the cherry wood bed. Then she went into her study, a huge room with soundproofed stone walls and a small black cube, the size of Lyra’s hand, laced with neon blue light, placed in the center of the room.

Christine walked toward the Translock and picked it up. She tossed it up into the air, and it expanded in the air, encasing her body.

She was now in the Translock. Christine felt a sense of pride, for the entrance sequence had worked perfectly. She had spent weeks in frustration, because the Translock would appear too far to the left or right, if at all. Now it was time to work on the speed of the Translock.

The Translock looked like nothing but a piece of metal and a half-finished paint job. Frank, a painter, had started the job but had said that it was no use painting the metal if she was just going to get it all oily and dusty.

Speed was a problem. Christine had always wanted to teleport from one location to another location. This was what had inspired the Translock in the first place. William had been impatient and had wanted the Translock before the Translock was able to teleport correctly. Christine forgoed the speedy travel in the Areole. Since then, Christine had figured out how to make the Translock travel hundreds of miles in a couple of minutes, but nothing faster than that.

Christine opened the computer connected the metal wall of the Translock. It was a small computer specifically for programming. After inputting her password, a cylindrical vial opened up containing small silver glasses. Once Christine put them on, darkness enshrouded everything but the computer. These glasses were called Focus Lens. Focus Lens are a focus device that keeps one from getting distracted.

The tediousness of programming, combined with Christine’s underdeveloped programming skills, always made her frustrated. But she was the only one on Syther, her home planet, who could fulfill this dream. So she worked on creating the galaxies’ first teleporter.

William hated his daughter and his to-be son. He hated his crew and his council, his army and his spies. He hated them all. William didn’t want their pity, fear, or even their obedience. He wanted them to fight with him because they too envisioned the same future he did. Because they wanted to fight with him. They could do his every bidding except for the one.

Christine was the only one who came close to making him happy. If the future ruler of Miren could feel happy. He loved her. Or he thought he loved her. He often thought that his soul was tainted with so many deaths that it was impossible to love. She worked tirelessly on making his Translock. Even though she was almost nine months pregnant, her work on the Translock was unbelievable. She had said, yesterday, that she was almost done. William found this hard to believe, but Christine was the only one who knew anything about making new technology.

It was no surprise that William found Christine in the Translock. He jumped in, and his eyes were immediately drawn to her. She wore her Focus Lens. He found the glasses irritable, but Christine could not do her work without them. Her eyes were trained on the computer screen, and a small scrunch on her forehead illustrated her frustration. He walked over to Christine, his steps silent from years of training.

“We are landing soon, Christine.”

Christine jumped. She looked up, and seeing nothing but black, remembered he Focus Lens. She took them off and turned to her husband.

“William, how many time do you have to scare me like that to remember not to sneak up on me with my Focus Lens on?” Her words were reprimanding, but her tone was endearing.

William just smiled. He thought that apologizing was useless. It didn’t make anyone feel any better.

William watched as Christine saved her work, and logged out of the computer, before replacing her focus lens in the small retractable cylinder. She stood up, unconsciously placing a hand on her swollen belly. He walked up to her, taking her hand in his, and into his arms. William was never much good at a caring personality, but for Christine he would sometimes try.

With William’s arms surrounding her, Christine let the strain of the day fade away.

William Shaxx would not be seen as a lenient ruler in history. In fact, throughout his entire reign, the one lenient thing Lord Shaxx, explorer of the Miren Galaxy, and ruler of Enquan was that he let the mentally and physically fit children of Skylar live.