Division

Chapter One – Essence

Planet: Gaia

Diara: Women’s Division

The sound of high heels clicking against the freshly waxed tile floor alerts me that someone is on their way. I mentally begin snoring, believing it’s one of the maids, tidying up. They’ll hear me telepathically and turn around, continuing with their work for the night. The sound stops suddenly— mission accomplished. When it starts back up, I groan quietly. Madame must be doing her rounds, again. She’ll make me write sentences until my hand bleeds if she catches me up and not in bed.

I quickly rise from the floor and click off the flashlight, I stole from Madame’s private quarters. Another reason she’ll punish me for sure. I tuck it deep inside my bed and toss the book I was reading under the bed. It’s the very book we aren’t permitted to read due to the belittlement of women— Madame’s words, not mine. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what the word 'belittlement’ meant, but I dared not ask Madame. She’d only make me look it up and write an essay in response, both of which I hate to do.

Just before the doorknob turns, I dive under the covers, quickly re-tucking myself in. When the door squeaks open, I close my eyes shut, pretending to snore again, hoping like hell I’ll fool Madame this time around.

“Do see to it that the maids look at that door,” says a raspy voice belonging to not Madame but Grand Dame herself. A new panic overtakes me. Grand Dame is high on the scale of important people. She wasn’t Highness, but she was Highness’s right-hand woman. Her leaving the comfort of the palace to speak with us commoners, grade school girls to be exact, definitely meant bad news. I recall back to when Buffy, five classes ahead of me, was called to Madame’s office for an impromptu meeting with Grand Dame just over a year ago. We haven’t heard from her or seen her since. I keep my eyes shut and quiet my mind, pretending to snore again. Projecting thoughts I want others to hear is a skill that I’m still learning, I knew I wasn’t good at it.

“You aren’t,” Grand Dame says in annoyance, reading my mind. My eyes stay shut. “Buffy isn’t dead, Essence. We do not kill our own,” she reminds me. “Do stop the dramatics.” Still, I don’t move, and my eyes stay shut. “Please stop the façade. I’ve listened to you read for the past hour.” Dang it, I’ve been caught red-handed. “That you have,” Grand Dame says, still sounding annoyed

The lights flash on as I sit up. I look to Madame, who’s leaning up against the wall in her night attire, a basic matching pants and top set, with no makeup on. Her hair also appears to not have been combed. Even she didn’t know about this meeting.

I’m not privy to everything, Madame tells me mentally. Before I can question her about listening in on my thoughts, Grand Dame turns to Madame with a glare.

“Do I need to remind you, Yvonne, that communicating telepathically, with her in my presence is not only rude but against out commands,” Grand Dame warns her. Madame turns a bright shade of red before she nods her head once. We can all communicate telepathically, in addition to our reading thoughts and forcing each other to do things against one’s will. But when we directed our thoughts to a person, only that person can hear those thoughts. In Diara, it is considered offensive to communicate with another woman telepathically when other women are present in the room, especially if any of the greats, like Grand Dame or Highness, are around.

I glance at Grand Dame, who is now approaching me. She wasn’t dolled up, nor would she ever get dolled up as Madame or Highness would. Grand Dame is a warrior and she always carried herself as one. Today, her black dreads with grey and purple highlights are pulled into a high ponytail. She wore little make-up. She is dressed in a half-top with high-waisted joggers and very high heels, heels which she used in battle when planet Earth was attacked five centuries ago, according to the teachers here. I notice a small smile appear on her face at my mention of that.

I look back to Madame, who also has her eyes on Grand Dame. Why is she here, I wonder? When she reaches under the bed and pulls out the book I put under there, I suck in a breath, not knowing what she’ll do next. She looks at the cover and chuckles.

“I’ve been told you like reading books,” she turns the book around to show me, “specifically books where the males and females are friends.” I don’t know what to say or how to respond, so I don’t say anything. She takes the book with her as she walks to my study desk. She runs her fingers over the top of the chair and table before examining her finger closely.

Satisfied, she places the book on the table and takes a seat in the chair, gracefully, and faces me. We look at each other a long second before she speaks to me telepathically.

That was not a rhetorical question.

My apologies, Grand Dame, I respond back telepathically to which she clutches her forehead in pain.

“Speak out loud, Essence,” she tells me, still holding her forehead. Madame said my telepathic voice is loud. Fingernails on a chalkboard is how she described it. I still did not know what a chalkboard is and Madame offered no explanation. I thought Madame said it to make fun of me. I was not the most well-behaved girl. I now knew her words were true. “I’m still waiting,” Grand Dame says.

“My apologies, Grand Dame,” I repeat again, this time out loud. “No,” I reply just as I’ve been instructed to do from Madame herself and the teachers here.

“Try again with honesty,” Grand Dame says, reading my mind. “That is a command, or you’ll lose your head.”

“Yes, well . . . ” I clear my throat, knowing if I want to keep my head I had no choice but to be truthful. “They’re fun, that’s why I read them,” I admit honestly. I’ve never told an adult the reason behind my reading. Still fearful, I’m curious to see how she responds.

“You aren’t curious about the males?” Grand Dame questions. She says the word ‘males’ with disgust, which is the norm when referencing the opposite sex.

“No, ma’am,” I reply quickly.

“You’re what? Nine? Ten?” Grand Dame questions.

“Ten, ma’am,” I reply. She looks to Madame, who is still looking down at the ground. I know she said something to her telepathically because her head shoots up.

“Yes,” Madame replies after she clears her throat, now looking at Grand Dame. “The girls are curious, but I don’t believe they’re curious about sex at this age,” Madame replies, which makes Grand Dame turn her attention back to me.

“Are you curious about sex?” she asks me. I know a blush forms on my cheeks. I was no stranger to sex. I haven’t indulged in it myself, but I like to think of myself as an expert as a result of what I learned in class.

“You aren’t,” Grand Dame says before snorting, still reading my mind. “You have yet to answer my question, Essence,” she reminds me.

“No,” I reply.

“It’s quite okay if you are. We women do have needs, even though the men think otherwise,” she tells me. Again, I had no clue what she meant. What needs do we women have? When would I start to have these needs?

“I can see you aren’t interested in sex,” Grand Dame states now tilting her head. “I suppose you do only read them for fun,” she states, utterly shocked.

“Yes,” I reply. I didn’t understand why she didn’t believe me.

“People often say one thing but mean something different,” Grand Dame states, with a shrug of her shoulders, still reading my mind. “Essence, are you familiar with the women’s story, why we’re here on Gaia?” Grand Dame asks me as she looks to Madame. Madame shakes her head so hard, I’m surprised it doesn’t fall off her body. Madame hears that thought and glares at me before she turns her attention back to Grand Dame.

“Of course, Grand Dame, she knows the story,” Madame replies. “All the girls and young women attending Gaia School Number Three are properly educated according to the wishes of Highness.”

“Is this true, Essence?” Grand Dame asks me. “Are you being taught the history of Gaia? Is Madame following the teachings of Highness.”

“Yes,” I reply, not having to lie about it because she is.

“Very good,” Grand Dame says as she looks to Madame. “Highness will be elated to hear so. I will inform her immediately.” A smile appears on Madame’s face.

“Thank you, Grand Dame. It is my honor to please Highness,” Madame replies.

“As it should be,” Grand Dame says before turning her attention back to me. “Re-tell the history.” Madame opens her mouth but closes it when Grand Dame raises her hand.

“Not you.” Grand Dame looks to Madame before turning to me. “Essence.” Madame clears her throat.

“Essence is only ten, Grand Dame,” Madame replies. “Her comprehension isn’t there.”

“Hey!” I exclaim to Madame, knowing what she means by that. Our English teacher is always speaking of comprehension, especially when we read our History books.

Madame rolls her eyes at me before speaking. “Our history, who we are as women, what Gaia means to us, will hold no value to her until she gets later on in her years.” Grand Dame waves her off.

“I’m aware of the minds of our young girls,” Grand Dame says. “Still, I wish for Essence to tell it. Will you deny me this request?”

“No, Ma’am,” Madame replies quickly, stuttering over her words.

“Very well. Essence,” Grand Dame looks to me. I didn’t know how to start or even where to begin. “You begin at the beginning,” she tells me.

“In the year 2100, men and women . . . ” I begin, but Grand Dame interrupts.

“Women and men, I believe you meant to say. Remember, as the more intelligent sex, we always go first in the order.” I never understood that considering M came before W in the alphabet, but I continue.

“Women and men lived together on planet Earth. Women were finally getting the treatment we deserved, or so we thought.” I shrug my shoulders, not understanding what the ‘so we thought’ meant, either. “We were finally viewed equally in men’s eyes. Our fighting, protesting, it finally paid off,” I finish.

“Yes, it did,” Grand Dame says, shaking her head in agreement.

“No longer were we under them, and we weren’t expected to be submissive to them any longer,” I continue. I recall looking up the word ‘submissive’ and I didn’t like what it meant. Why did we, the girls, have to answer to the boys? What made them so special?

“It was a horrible time, Essence,” Grand Dame replies shaking her head, as if she was trying to shake the memory away. “Be happy you weren’t alive to experience it.” I nod my head at that. “Now go ahead and finish.”

“The men didn’t like the new us, and to teach us a lesson, they began messing with our birth control.” I never truly understood this part of the story. “They added extra ingredients to it in hopes of reverting us to our former selves, and we were forced to take them,” I recall slowly. I knew birth could control our menstrual cycle, which I have yet to receive, and decreased a lot of other symptoms that both women and men hated. But at my age, I didn’t understand how - well, why - the men were in charge of the women’s birth control. Better question, why would we women take birth control? Is the menstrual weak really that horrible?

“You have a lot to learn, Essence,” Grand Dame replies. “Being a woman does have its burdens.” I didn’t know what that word meant either. I was beginning to realize I didn’t know a lot. Grand Dame chuckles. “ You’re young Essence, that’s normal. In time, you’ll learn.” She tells me reading my mind. “Continue the story.”

“Whatever the men added to the birth control, it changed us, turned us into creatures . . “

“The Disturbed,” Grand Dame says. Yeah, I think back to a picture of the Disturbed. They appear to look like the women and men here on Jubilee, except they smelled like rotting eggs. The stench, according to my teachers, is so bad that if you caught a whiff of it, it causes you to pass out. She said the smell came from various open sores on their bodies, from the chest, downward. They had no open sores on their face. Although, their face, rather skin, appeared paler than ours, a sickly pale.

“Yes, and the Disturbed could infect you by way of those sores, through sexual intercourse, blood, even spit. Before long, the majority of Earth’s population was infected,” Grand Dame says.

“Highness saved us,” I reply.

“All hail Highness, may she live as long as the light in Gaia shines,” Madame and I chant as is customary when referring to the story and Highness out loud. Grand Dame coughs. I wait for her to say it as well, but she never does. Um . . .

“Continue,” Grand Dame instructs me, waving her hand impatiently in the air not acknowledging at all she didn’t say the chant. I clear my throat.

“Highness with a group of women, and Emperor with his men escaped in a shuttle. But due to them leaving so soon, they weren’t prepared for the trip. Somehow during that trip, we women received the power of telepathy, where we can read, control each other’s minds, and speak to each other mentally. In addition to immortality, we stop aging after the age of thirty.” The ending of this story never added up to me. How did our trip to Gaia give us the power of telepathy? I suppose it could happen. According to my teacher, crazier things have. Still, it didn’t add up.

“That’ll do,” Grand Dame says as she gets up. “Call a maid to gather her things.” My eyes widen in shock. No, no, I did not want to go with her. I turn to look at Madame, whose eyes were enlarged as well, surprise written all over her face.

Madame, please? I beg her mentally. Who knew what Grand Dame would do to me?

“Grand Dame,” Madame sputters as she approaches me

“Calm down the hysterics, the both of you,” Grand Dame says in a bored tone, stepping in Madame’s path, blocking her sight of me.“And stop arguing with me before you both lose your heads.”

“Yes, Grand Dame,” Madame and I reply simultaneously, both of us too afraid to argue with her. A woman dressed in black, with shorter dreds in a high ponytail, appears at the door.

“Serenity will take you to the car, where you are to wait for me,” Grand Dame instructs. I look to Madame, who has taken back her position up against the wall, now looking everywhere else but at me. There was nothing either of us could do.

“Now, Essence. You’re testing my patience.” I nod my head once as I get out of bed, wearing my matching long sleeve pajama set. I walk in Grand Dame’s direction but stop suddenly.

“My books,” I plead to Grand Dame with a pout.

“Car, now!” She screams in reply, to which I hold my head down and continue walking.

Bye Madame, I tell her telepathically. I’ve always thought of her as my mother. I spent more time in her office, a majority for punishment, than I did with my teachers or in my assigned bedroom.

Make me proud, she replies back. I don’t dare look behind me at her. I did not want Grand Dame to know we were communicating telepathically again. I’m going to miss her.

As I’m walking down the hall, I hear Grand Dame say, “Assemble everyone in this house, and I mean everyone, even the women who aren’t scheduled to work today. I want to have a chat with you all.”

I sit in the Towncar limousine, quietly looking at Serenity who’s reading the female magazine subscription for the women of Diara. When I try to ask her why Grand Dame took me, she turned away from me. When I asked her about my books, she stuffed tissue in her ears and continued reading her magazine. We sat in the car like this for two hours.

Grand Dame’s inner thoughts make me look up from the magazine I picked up myself just minutes ago.

They can’t remember her. This won’t work if they remember her, Grand Dame says. What, I question, not understanding what’s happening. I listen in mentally to the many voices inside of the house until I find Madame's distinctive mental voice.

Why doesn’t she want us to remember Essence? Madame questions in her mind before I hear the voices of many chanting, Forget, forget Essence. I scream, alerting Serenity, who drops her magazine suddenly. I reach for the doorknob, successfully opening it until Serenity grabs my hands, roughly pulling me to the floor.

“No!” I scream as Serenity wrestles me, now pinning me to the floor. “Don’t let them forget me.” I continue screaming. Don’t let them forget me, I scream, now mentally, to which Serenity shrieks.

“Stop it!” Serenity yells. “Do not make me command you to sleep,” she warns me as the door opens. We stop wrestling, noticing Grand Dame, who frowns at us both.

“Stop it, Essence, or I’ll go back in there and put them to sleep forever,” Grand Dame threatens, which instantly makes me push Serenity off of me. I move back to my seat.

“Why?” I ask Grand Dame, tears now falling down my eyes.

“We need you,” Grand Dame says.

“Need me for what?” I cry.

“You’ll see, Essence, you’ll see,” she tells me. She tosses my book bag onto the seat and hands me a book, the very same one I was reading before she ruined my life.

“Serenity, double-check to make sure they have no memory of her,” Grand Dame instructs her.

“If they do?” Serenity asks, now rising from her position on the floor.

“Come back and get me,” Grand Dame says as Serenity exits the limousine. Grand Dame places her hand on top of mine. I want to jerk away from her, but I’m afraid how she’ll react.

“We’re your family now, Essence,” she tells me. “We’re your family now,” she says again.

Chapter Two– Horatio

Planet: Gaia

Scipio: Men’s Division

A few minutes later . . .

The sound of snoring and crickets combined with the smell of damp earth and the cold ground guaranteed I wouldn’t get any sleep anytime soon. I loathe these camping trips. I preferred to sleep in one of the king-size cushion beds inside the palace, where there’s air condition and the sound of a roaring fire to put me to sleep. For the hundredth time that night, I wondered how these fools could even sleep in these conditions. I pitied them all.

The sound of my tent being unzipped makes me growl, wondering what it could possibly be now. Not even an hour ago, I was forced to find firewood for the fire that no one was utilizing since they were now inside their individual tents. I didn’t understand why I was being forced to participate in this nonsense.

I wasn’t like the others here. I was special, and everyone knew it. I pull the now damp sleeping bag up over my face, pretending to be in a deep sleep. I feel my body being kicked. I jump up, agitated and ready to punish whoever had the balls to kick me when I see Christopher, Emperor’s bodyguard. I knew there was nothing, I could say or do to get him in trouble, even with me being who I am. He’s been Emperor’s bodyguard for three centuries now.

“What?” I hiss as I wipe down my sleeping bag, wetting my hands in the process. Why is it so fucking wet out here? Did it rain?

“Emperor wants to speak with you,” he tells me and then exits the tent. I lay back down, not comfortable but not wanting to get up and walk either. I suppose I was content. “Did you hear me, boy?” Christopher's voice sounds outside the small tent.

“I’ll be there momentarily,” I reply, still laying down.

“Now!” Christopher roars. When I still don’t move, I feel the sleeping bag being picked up, me along with it, before it’s tossed back down. I jump up, untangling myself from the sleeping bag, getting in Christopher's face, to which he’s unfazed.

“Do you know who I am?” I yell at him. He says nothing. It’s a redundant question because he knew. I was like a son to Emperor.

“Emperor will have your hands for this!” I yell as I push against him, barely moving his solid body. Christopher's response is a chuckle before he turns around, walking in the direction of Emperor’s tent, I assume. “Laugh it up now, clown,” I tell him. “We’ll see what Emperor thinks of your treatment of me,” I follow behind him.

In the distance, I see the ballroom tent, large enough to accommodate all ten of the campers here. Christopher holds the tent flap open for me.

“That’s right, servant,” I tell him as I pass by him, “remember your place.” I approach Emperor, who has his back turned toward me, occupying himself with some paperwork.

“As you requested,” Christopher states, “Horatio is here.” I watch as he takes his position in the corner, standing at attention.

“He put his hands on me,” I tell Emperor, pointing at Christopher, who is glaring at me. Emperor continues looking through his paperwork.

“Will you deny it now in front of him?” I ask Christopher, to which he says nothing, making me angrier. “He raised his voice at me,” I tell Emperor. “To me!” I stress. Emperor raises his hand, letting me know to be silent. I hold my tongue as he drops the paper he was examining before turning around to look at me.

“Have you been stealing funds from the Heroes of Scipio?” Emperor questions.

“No, of course not,” I reply, confused, not understanding why he asked and fearful of where this is heading. Why would I need to steal from them? Emperor ranked the highest in Scipio, Knighthood, leader/founder of the Heroes is ranked number two, and I come in at number three. I didn’t want for anything. I would also like to add, the Heroes of Scipio had nothing I wanted or needed. Nor did I want to associate myself with the likes of them. I prefer the life of luxury to that of servitude.

“Don’t lie to me boy!” Emperor yells

“I’m not!” I yell back. Emperor turns around, picks up something, before turning back around, throwing this item in my face. I realize it’s my bandana, the very same one that was stolen from me months ago. I always wondered what happened to it.

“You left this behind,” Emperor tells me.

“Someone stole that from me,” I reply. “I told you about it, remember?” Emperor glares at me.

“No,” Emperor replies short. It should be no surprise to me that he doesn’t remember. Emperor, as great as he is, seems to forget a lot of things. I noticed it about a year ago, the symptoms resembling the beginning of Alzheimer’s, according to my research. I’ve never asked him about this nor did I think to ask anyone else because I didn’t want to embarrass him. I could only imagine, how the men of Scipio would perceive this piece of information. I turn to look at Christopher. “Can you please remind him that was stolen from me?” Christopher remains silent.

“You fucking asshole!” I scream at him.

“I found you on the street, boy . . . ” Emperor begins yelling, but I interrupt him.

“I didn’t do it!” I yell back.

“I gave you everything, free reign to do anything, and you fuck with the Heroes of Scipio . . . ”

“I did not,” I tell him, interrupting him again.

“Our only defense here in Scipio, on Gaia . . . ”

“It wasn’t me!”

“Our protectors against the Disturbed.”

“I would never!” I continue screaming. Silence follows my statement. Emperor looks at me long and hard before he shakes his head.

“I am done with you,” Emperor replies finally in disgust. He turns around, now walking out of the tent. “You mean nothing to me.” Emperor exits the tent. I wait for Christopher to follow. Instead, he stands there with a coy smile on his face.

  “I’ve been waiting for this moment, boy, ever since he found your fat ass on the street,” Christopher says as he walks towards me, rolling his neck.

“Now you’ve got the balls to fuck with me since I’m no longer under Emperor’s protection?” He shrugs his shoulders.

“Something like that,” he tells me. It then dawns on me that he set me up. It’s the only thing that made sense. I knew he didn’t like me, most of the men here at Scipio didn’t due to my position. I didn’t think he would try to do anything about it, though. He didn’t strike me as the plotting type.

I take a step back, fearful all of a sudden, not knowing how to fight nor defend myself. As Emperor's favorite - well, not anymore it appears - I had no reason to learn such things. No one dared pick on me. I suppose that protection is over, I wondered how many beatings I would receive, once the word was out. I couldn’t – well-wouldn’t - live like this, not in fear.

Christopher punches me in the gut, causing me to double over. I clutch at my now aching abdomen, fighting through the pain. I would do whatever it took to prove my innocence, I tell myself, and I’d make Christopher pay for this. I rise up, still in pain, hoping like hell that’s it. When he uppercuts me, causing me to fall back on my ass, my eyes widen in surprise, realizing I may not have a chance to prove my innocence.

“I would call you a bitch, but that’s an insult to the women of Diara. Even they know how to defend themselves.” He kicks me in the gut hard, causing even more pain there. “You’re more like a worm, spineless and weak.” He continues kicking me in my stomach, the taste of iron fills my mouth, blood. I turn on my stomach, knowing I can’t allow him to kick me there, not again. The pain was becoming too much. When his foot lands in the middle of my back, I cry in pain before I black out. Him kicking me there again brings me back. I switch positions and regret it when his foot connects with my nose. I hear a crunch, before I feel something hot, blood drip on my lip, now running down my neck.

When he picks me up by my shirt, I smile.

“Is that the worst you can do?” I ask him not recognizing my own voice, it sounded distorted. I suppose a brutal ass-kicking does that to it.

“I’m only getting started,” he replies with a smile of his own.

“Enough,” Knighthood’s voice sounds in the tent. I turn in his direction, where I find him standing by the entrance, looking bored. How long had he been there? His overwhelming six-foot-five height, dark nutmeg skin tone, bald shiny head, and full ginger beard makes him look intimidating, even more so than Emperor. I take notice of his Heroes entering the tents with long sheets of iron about five inches in length. They place them around the perimeter of the tent, forming a defensive circle of sorts. I recall the iron sheet use from the textbooks. Iron interfered with the women of Diara’s ability to read the men of Scipio’s minds. My Science teacher said the iron causes them intense migraines. I never understood why Knighthood used them in Scipio, considering there are no women residing here.

Christopher drops me as he heads toward Knighthood. I expect Chris to square up with Knighthood, but he doesn’t. He waits for the Heroes to exit the tent before he follows behind them, snorting under his breathe. I rise up, using my shirt to wipe my nose, wincing in pain, when I rub it too hard. I rub my back, to no avail, hoping that will cause the pain to go away, as I hold my stomach. Knighthood takes a seat on top of the piles of pillows laying on the floor of the tent. As he makes himself comfortable, one of his Heroes brings him his pipe and he begins smoking. I begin to leave but stop short, when I take another look at Knighthood. I was accused of stealing money from him. I could plead my case with him, tell him how Christopher set me up, and clear my name with Emperor and see to it personally Christopher got what is coming to him.

I turn around, step in from of Knighthood, respectfully keeping some distance between us. I bend down, ignoring the pain in my back. I get as low as I can, my nose touching the floor.

“Knighthood,” I call out to him, my voice still unrecognizable.

“Rise, Horatio. I can barely hear you,” he tells me. I immediately comply. “Off your knees,” he commands, making me stand. I do as I’m told, ignoring the pain.

“I’ve been set up,” I tell him getting straight to the point. “I would never endanger you or the Heroes. I know your importance to everyone here in Scipio.”

“I’m aware,” Knighthood replies, exhaling, smoke now filling the room. The putrid smell invades my nostrils and makes me mentally flinch. I don’t know how anyone could smoke or rather enjoy smoking that weed shit.

“Christopher did it,” I tell him getting straight to the point. “He has a hard-on for me or something, I don’t know, but he set me up.” Knighthood inhales, as he nods his head. “Could you please tell Emperor?” I ask him. After the past few years, I couldn’t imagine living off scraps again. No, I was used to this life. This life was meant for me.

“Stop with the pleading,” Knighthood says as he blows out the smoke. “You sound like the women when they're on their rag.” I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘rag’. “When they’re bleeding,” he clarifies for me noticing the look on my face. “Get me this, please. Get me that,” he says, his voice rising a few octaves to sound like a woman I suppose. I immediately take offense to being compared to the women, especially during their time of the month. How disgusting.

“How dare you?” I reply, becoming angry. “Do you know who I am?”

“Who you were, you mean?” Knighthood replies. “No longer are you the orphan son of Emperor. You’re just like the rest of us men.” I say nothing. “If I would have known this is all it took to have Emperor disown you, I would have done it when he found you four years ago.”

“What?” I question him, not understanding what he means, what he’s insinuating. “You set me up?” I stutter.

“That I did,” Knighthood replies, still smoking. He moves his hand and a pillow flies toward me before falling to the floor in front of me. “Sit.”

“Fuck you!” I tell him, now walking toward the exist. He must have breathed in too much of the Disturbed’s rotting scent when he went on his monthly missions to Earth if he thought I would take a seat with him after his betrayal. I open the tent flap to leave, but it closes shut immediately.

“I said sit, Horatio,” he tells me again.

“You’re stupid if you think . . . ” I breathe in and out, trying to contain my anger. “I’m telling Emperor about this, all of this,” I inform him now glaring at him.

“It’s you that’s stupid if you think you're leaving and telling him anything,” Knighthood replies as he raises his hand, lifting me up without actually touching me. He brings his hand toward his chest and I go flying toward the pillow he placed in front of me. “I said sit,” he tells me again, releasing me to the floor where I fall face-forward on the pillow. I suck in a breathe, as pain radiates in my back and stomach. I sit up quickly, knowing if he wants he could force me to do so, and that would cause me even more pain. My body couldn’t handle anymore.

“I’ve done nothing to you, Knighthood,” I reply to him upset. “I’ve always stayed out of your way.” He breathes in the smoke and releases it, making small circles with his mouth.

“This is bigger than you, bigger than us both,” he replies. What in the hell did that mean?

“What?” I ask him now annoyed.

“What do you know about the history of Gaia? About Scipio, specifically?” he asks me. I roll my eyes in response.

“You can’t be serious right now?” I question him, annoyance riding my tone. Knighthood raises his hand and balls his fist. I feel a tightness in my chest and I know he’s messing with my body, my heart more specifically. I clutch at my chest as I drop my head, trying to breathe.

“Fine,” I manage to get out. “Fine.”

“Enlighten me. Let’s see how much you’ve retained from the teachings at the Palace,” he says sarcastically. He spoke as if he didn’t stay in the same palace as I did. Granted, he was never there, but still, it’s his home.

“Before this, we lived on Earth and men and women were equal, much to the men’s objections and the traditional teachings. But as usual, women weren’t satisfied . . . ”

“They’re never satisfied,” Knighthood grumbles, interrupting me. I give him a look.

“I’m not going to tell the story if you’ll interrupt me,” I tell him, meaning it.

“I can’t wait to train that annoying better than thou attitude out of you,” Knighthood says, making me cringe at the word ‘train’.

“What do you mean ‘train’?” I ask him.

“Continue with the story,” he tells me. I open my mouth to ask him again, but he raises his hand and slowly begins to close it, indicating he’s going to attack my body again as he did before.

“The women wanted to be us,” I continue with the story. “They wanted to wear the pants.” Whatever the hell that meant. I’ve heard this expression a lot from the older men around here. “To make us inferior to them, they invented a new form of birth control, an IUD, which

eliminated what made them a woman.” An IUD was a small T-shaped device that the women inserted into the very tip of their uterus. It did the following: stopped their monthly cycles completely, helped them maintain their weight, and gave them the option to have more sex. This particular part of our story didn’t make sense because the women in Diara were still using this IUD.

“Continue,” Knighthood tells me, exhaling.

“They didn’t test the IUD well enough and it turned them into the Disturbed. Through sex, they began to infect us, men.” It was a nasty cycle of infection. “Before long, seventy-five percent of Earth’s population was infected.” I look to Knighthood as he inhales smoke. “Emperor and a few men, along with Highness and a few women, escaped Earth but ran into some trouble with a meteorite shower, where we, men, were given the powers of telekinesis, we can manipulate objects and each other's bodies and we stop aging after thirty,” I finally finish.

“And here I thought you weren’t learning shit,” Knighthood replies. I rise up.

“Am I free to live what’s expected to be the rest of my horrible life, thanks to you?” I ask him now getting up.

“What if I told you none of that really happened?” Knighthood asks.

“What?” I question, not knowing where he’s going with this.

“What if I told you the story you were told isn’t real? That all of it was made up?”

“You do know by saying this, you’re speaking blasphemy against the teachings of Emperor?” I warn him.

“I’m aware,” he replies.

“You could be killed if any of this got back to Emperor,” I inform him.

“Again, I’m aware, but you didn’t answer my question.” I scratch my head, not really knowing how to answer that.

“Why would Emperor make that up?” I ask Knighthood. Knighthood doesn’t say anything.

“Is there even a planet Earth?” I ask him, now unsure about anything I’ve learned so far.

“Yes, I’ve visited it hundreds of times. The Disturbed are real as well.”

“So what’s false?” I question.

“The story about how the Disturbed became the Disturbed.” I scratch my head again, confused. He’s playing with me— he has to be. I mean, he was on the shuttle with Emperor, Highness, and the others when they landed on Gaia. If the story was being told incorrectly, wouldn’t Emperor and Highness correct everyone?

“Why haven’t you said anything?” I question, now sitting back down. “Why haven’t you corrected the scholars? Why let us think that?”

“What if we were forced to think that?” Knighthood asks. His eyes were red and glazed over.

“You’re high and you’re fucking with me,” I tell him. Hell I might be high too, contact high was no joke.

“I’m definitely high, but I’m not fucking with you.” Maybe I’m the only one high then because what hes saying, couldn’t be factual.

“You're saying the women erased all of you guys' memories,” I state, now clarifying, not believing that for a second. We men, prideful as we are, wouldn’t let that shit happen.

“What if the women's memories were erased, too?” Knighthood ask.

“If the men and women's memories were erased . . . ” I trail off, putting the pieces together in my mind. “It means someone . . . someone on that shuttle did it purposely.”

“Exactly,” Knighthood replies, now looking at the tent ceiling.

“But why?” I question. “No, better question, who?”

“Yes, who, indeed,” he says as he falls on his back, still looking at the ceiling. “As you can see, we have no time to waste.”

“What?” I ask him, even more confused.

“I set you up for a reason, Horatio,” he confesses. “Your life of lazy luxury is over. I need you. Your planet of Gaia and the men of Scipio need you.”

“I’m guessing I don’t have a choice in any of this?” I question on a sigh.

“Nope,” he replies.

Chapter Three– Essence

Planet: Gaia

Diara: Women’s Division

11 years later . . .

I grab hold of my seat belt, taking calming breaths as the turbulence in the air shook us once more, scaring me to no end. For two years now, I’ve been a part of these monthly Earth recon missions, and still, I despise flying. Regardless of what the women of Diara thought, women are not meant to fly.

“Sorry, Essence,” Cher, the pilot and today’s HBIC - head babe in charge - apologizes. If it were any of the other girls who are part of Grand Dame’s She-Heroes team, a name she bestowed upon the twelve girls she hand-selected, were the pilot, they would see to my discomfort. It goes without saying, none of them liked me. I suppose I wouldn’t like me, either, if I appeared in the middle of the night out of thin air. The girls knew something was amiss and the extra training and alone time with Grand Dame also didn’t help matters either.

A sneer from Amelia makes me roll my eyes. Here she goes in three, two, one.

“We’re so sorry, Princess Essence, that the shuttle ride is not to your liking,” she teases, making the others seated next to her chuckle. I ignore her, not wanting to drop-kick her ass, again. Grand Dame hates when we purposely injured each other, practices excluded, saying something along the lines of needing all her babies well and able to defend, if ever the time came, even though the time hadn’t come in our five hundred years of being on Gaia. I take a few more calming breaths before I open my mouth.

“We can’t survive in space,” I tell Amelia before swallowing, feeling the need to throw up. “As soon as your skin touches the darkness out there, it freezes you to the core within seconds.”

“Okay, and your point is?” Amelia questions, looking every bit confused.

“I’d think twice about fucking with me when you aren’t suited and the exit door is directly next to you.” Amelia crosses her arms over her non-existent chest. She gives me the finger before turning to the others and resuming her conversation.

The turbulence rattles us again, causing me to nervously clutch at my seat belt, this time unbuckling it. I rise on shaky knees, making my way to the front where Cher is. Lucy is in the passenger seat next to her, reading one of her textbooks for class.

“Back!” I bark at Lucy, louder than necessary while quickly covering my mouth, afraid this time the vomit may actually appear. She rolls her eyes before she gets up, grabbing her book, and sack pack, purposely bumping into me as she makes her way to the others.

“Threatening to throw Amelia out into space, taking Lucy’s seat, and you wonder why they don’t like you,” Cher says sympathetically as she reaches to her left, handing me my trusty brown paper bag. The scent of lavender immediately calms me as I begin breathing in and out of it.

My mind seems to always go back to that night when Grand Dame took me from Madame and the others. To this day, I can’t bring myself to visit Madame or my school friends. My prescence could somehow remind them of those memories which is dangerous to their mental health. AND if I attempted to try to make them remember those erased memories, it could yielded inreversiable results, like a coma. I’ve always wondered why she didn’t make me forget them, as well. Of course, I never asked her, never had the balls to do so. If she would have erased my memories of them as well, it would have made my transition into my new life, a whole lot easier. My body jerked abruptly, signaling that the plane has finally landed. I cry out in joy. Fucking finally!

“Listen up, you guys,” Cher calls out, as the six of us meet at the back of the plane. She’s holding what appears to be glasses. I marvel at them, never having seen a pair personally, only reading about them in class. Due to our twenty/twenty eyesight, the women of Diara didn’t have a need for correctional lenses, or the plastic devices one can stick in their eyes. I take note of the small square device stuck on the right lens. I can’t recall ever reading about that device being attached to the glasses. “You’ve got two hours,” she holds up her watch, we all follow suit. “Two hours and five minutes, set it now.” We synch our watches.

“Make sure you bring along your sack packs. Can’t have you out here dying from dehydration.” Cher clears her throat. “If you aren’t back before the two hours and now,” she looks at her stopwatch, “Four minutes, we will not send a rescue party for you, we will leave your ass.” She looks at Green, who is looking everywhere but at her.

Green stumbled into some trouble three trips ago where a cluster of the Disturbed cornered her alone. None of us knew how they were able to marginalize considering they lost all common sense and intelligence once they became what they are now. But they did. Since it was my mission, I couldn’t - well, wouldn’t - leave her behind. Breaking protocol, I went and found her. Surprisingly, she had not one mark on her body. We didn’t understand it and Grand Dame didn’t offer any insight into the matter. Instead, she punished all six of us on the trip. But she punished me most severely— I ran suicides for an hour every day until the next mission.

“I will be available to talk with you all through the two-way earpieces. Dial into the station that you were assigned to last night for us to chat.” We all nod our heads simultaneously. “Also, we’re trying something new. As you know, the two-way earpieces cannot record visual representation of what you see out there. That’s why you have these.” She hands us each our very own pair of glasses. Mine are pink cheetah print, stylish. “Off you go,” she tells us. Cher pushes the button which opens the shuttle door and pushes out the stairs.

“Highness has a separate assignment for you,” Cher says to me, stopping me in my tracks.

“Princess!” Amelia teases as she and the girls step off the shuttle, giggling. Cher goes to the front and comes back holding a folder.

“Here, read it as you head there. Apparently, there’s no time to waste.” She points to the scarf worn fashionably around my head. It’s infused with iron, preventing others from reading my mind or controlling it. When I started out, Grand Dame used to force me to wear it because I had very little to almost no control over my telepathic abilities then. Now I suppose wearing it was second nature. I never left my room in the Palace without it. “Leave that here. I can’t read your mind with it on, and I need to be able to read your mind. You’re solo on this, Essence. I can’t and won’t lose my best friend.” She playfully shoulder bumps me. “Get going,” she calls out to me. I place the dust mask over my nose before heading out, the scent of lavender filling my nostrils

“You better hope I make it back or you’ll be stuck with Amelia,” I tease my voice coming out muffled due to the mask.

“I’d kiss Serenity’s ass before I’d even think of befriending Amelia,” Cher replies as she gestures for me to leave.

It always amazed me how Earth in the year 2600 did not resemble Earth from 2100, at least not according to photos in my History book. I recall the glossy pictures of tall glass buildings called skyscrapers, apartments, and even houses, some one-, two-, and three-stories, some as big as the Palace in Diara, all different shapes, sizes, colors, some old, others new. Oh, and streets, busy crosswalks - I believe that’s what they’re called - filled with so many people, women, men, and children all at one time. Animals, dogs, cats, birds - pets is what they’re referred to in the books also roamed Earth back then.

- Now, the tall glass buildings were obsolete or destroyed, the glass shattered, littering the ground. The apartments, houses, all destroyed, burned to the ground, the colors they once were washed away, leaving behind the greys, browns, and blacks from the fires set in attempts to destroy the Disturbed, all of which failed. The streets and crosswalks are now full of weeds and grass. The animals are gone, all of them, infected by the stench of the Disturbed. The people, women, men, and children, also gone, replaced with creatures who never showed any emotion. The Disturbed truly did destroy Earth.

I continue walking, ignoring the scenery or lack thereof, listening to the mindless rambling of the Disturbed. Their minds always recall those olden days. I was puzzled and amazed at the specific things they remembered. Some thought about their loved ones, others about beautiful scenery. I wondered if these were the same Disturbed from the year 2100. Once they became Disturbed, did they too stop aging as the women and men did in Gaia? And though it’s weird and probably not possible, are they reproducing? I posed the question to Grand Dame once and even she didn’t know, which is surprising because she knows everything. I suppose I, well we, would never know.

Not seeing or mentally hearing any of the Disturbed in close proximity to me, I decide to open the folder Cher gave me. Inside is a single piece of copy paper. I read it quickly, something about a shipment at a warehouse holding a product labeled V. I pull out my map and look for the warehouse, which is ten miles from my current location, that’s if I’m reading this right. I’m terrible with direction.

Cher? I call out to her telepathically.

Yes, my love? she replies instantly.

What’s my location?

Latitude: 120 . . . she begins and trails off, now laughing, knowing damn well that means nothing to me. Where are you trying to go? she questions as I stop walking, looking back at the copy paper.

Warehouse 9X I tell her.

Fifteen miles, straight ahead. If you run into any body of water, you’ve gone the wrong way.

Gotcha, I reply.

Click the square shape on the glasses to begin the recording, she reminds me.

The two-story warehouse is dimly lit, due to the windows on the second floor appearing to be covered halfway by some type of paper or material, maybe even feces or blood. I wasn’t sure nor was I going to find out. I notice a set of stairs that appear to be rusty, no longer the orange or red color they once were. Boxes littered the ground along with metal rails and a small-size tractor. In the far corner stood something covered in a tarp. I guess that would be the V.

I walk toward it and undo the rope with a knife from my sack, keeping the tarp on top of it. Dozens of boxes sit underneath it, no label but a code, TEST 235.

Are you getting this? I ask Cher mentally.

I won’t be able to see any visuals until we download it to the servers on Gaia, Cher replies back. Well, that sucks. I turn my attention back to the boxes. Who even knew what this stuff is? It could be dangerous. I quickly stick the knife into one of the boxes, waiting for goo or something to spill out of it, when a crystal-like substance falls out instead. I step back hesitantly. I look to the floor, wary of it combusting or something. When nothing happens, I cut the box open and see several small plastic translucent size bags, containing more of this crystal stuff.

What is it? Cher asks me.

Something crystal-like, I reply to her. You think I should take some back with me? I ask her, now holding the plastic bag.

No! she screams. The paper said to write down the test number, not bring a sample back. I sigh.

I should have known you read it, I tell her.

I couldn’t help myself, she replies. Go ahead and write it down and come back. I’m bored out my mind. I look at it once more, not knowing what to do. Leave it there, Essence, she tells me again. I’m careful to not think anything, already knowing what I want to do as I stuff the package into my sack pack. It’s a lot harder than it sounds to not think considering you always think about stuff before doing it, but with practice, I’ve learned to do it

On my way back, I tell Cher mentally. She cheers in response.

“What are you doing here, woman?” A male voice startles me. I jump, turning around, trying to identify where the voice came from. A tall male lays on the dirty ground, his hands tucked behind his hand, looking up at the ceiling. Freaking psycho. I notice the Scipio sigil, the custom shield with a spear. We women of Diara think it resembles a circle with a confused arrow. The sigil is also located in the middle of the bandana around his head, something the men wear to avoid having their minds read by us women.

“Did I startle you?” his gruff voice questions. I can’t recall there ever being a time when the men and women of Gaia have ever ran into each other during our recon missions on Earth. I couldn’t help but think that they were somehow ear hustling us on Gaia. I suppose the teachings in Diara are right, that the men thought they could lead but really all they did was follow.

“You must have followed me here,” I state as I approach him. “You men definitely don’t possess the skills or talents to do anything on your own.” He scoffs in response.

“How insulting,” he says as he gets up, now approaching me. He appeared taller as he stood up, and that’s saying a lot because I’m the tallest of the women at five-feet-ten. He had to be at least six-feet-four, and he wasn’t lanky and petite like me. No, he’s thick, solid, built like a mountain. I read that expression in a book once before, though I’ve never used it until now. His butterscotch coloring made him appear a darker shade of brown in the shadows but lighter when the sun reflected off his face. I’m surprised he isn’t bald like the majority of Knighthood’s Heroes, a name Knighthood stole from Grand Dame, by the way. Instead, the hair on his head is short, he has a goatee that’s cut low, and his jawline is cleanly shaven. You could tell he took pride in his looks.

“I suppose you would have thought of something more original if you weren’t checking me out,” he teases. He crosses his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge. “You like what you see?” His voice deepens.

From the way you described him, he sounds delicious, Cher says to me mentally.

You’re just horny.

No, seriously, geesh, she’s literally begging for some action as we speak, Cher replies.

Eww. I did not care to know how certain parts of her body were feeling.

“It’s rude to ignore me, woman,” he says, surprising me by reaching for the glasses on my face. I swat his hands away. His eyes go wide, surprised by my action. When he reaches for them again, I ready myself. Are men really that stupid? I swat his hand away again, but his other hand wraps around my waist, startling me. He pulls me toward him, forcing out a noise I don’t think I’ve ever made before. When I collide with his hard body, he smiles and takes the glasses off my face, putting them on his face.

Did you just whimper? Cher asks me mentally as she laughs. I ignore her as I try to get the glasses back. He turns around quickly, evading my hands, before turning back around with no glasses. Shit!

“Give them back!” I tell him as I pat his body, trying to feel for them.

“Stop,” he fakes laughter, “your baby hands are tickling me.” I gasp. The audacity of this man.

I stop to look at my hands as I exclaim, “I do not have baby hands!”

“You gotta admit, they’re pretty damn small.” Oh, my gosh, I’ve never been so insulted in my life. The mental sound of mindless babbling makes me turn my head in the direction of the Disturbed, whose now walking into the warehouse. There must be a dozen of them. “Took them long enough,” the man says, making me gasp again. He set me up. He must have ran into them on his way here, got their attention, to which they followed him. One thing about the Disturbed, they moved really slow, snail-pace slow. I always wondered how at there pace, they could infect the others, back then.

I can’t believe he just set me up like that. He then rips my sack pack from my back, tearing the straps as he pushes me to the ground. I lay there, utterly shocked again that he would snoop so low. That bastard! I snap out of it quickly, knowing now isn’t the time to get distracted.

I run after him, getting ready to take him down when I realize that my weight won’t move him alone. Compared to him, I’m merely winded. He continues walking, oblivious to me advancing toward him. I change tactic, instead of pushing him, even though he deserves that. I go to kick him in the back of his knee, hoping to bring him down that way. He turns around suddenly, almost like he knew I was going to do that and holds up his hand. My body raises in the air.

“For you women claiming to be smarter than us men, that was definitely dumb,” he states, as I’m still suspended mid-air. I smile, letting him think he bested me.

If he only knew, Cher says mentally. Yeah, if only. I raise my hand as I look to the bandana around his head. I bring it toward my body and the bandana quickly unravels itself and flies toward me. I catch it with my other hand, now waving it in the air, mocking him. His eyes widen for the second time.

I later found out this was the reason Grand Dame took me that day. Apparently, it was unheard of for any woman to have the power of telepathy and telekinesis, and yet I did. I realized years later that my ability is the reason why she erased everyone’s memory that night. If the women of Diara were only meant to have one power and I had two, wouldn’t that make me a target, as well as anyone who knew? I recall back to a few years ago when I asked Grand Dame this question. Her reply was simple— no loose ends mean no targets. Since then, I’ve kept my mouth closed about it. I eventually told Cher, but I had to, she’s my best friend.

That’s right, Cher replies, letting me know she is reading my mind. Now deal with that clown and come back.

Put me down, I command him. He blinks, like he has a tick, as he lowers his hand until my body is safely on the ground. I turn around, knowing I’ve won this battle, but I stop when he speaks to me telepathically.

I wouldn’t say you’ve won yet. We’ve just begun. I turn back around, ignoring the Disturbed who are still slowly advancing toward us, he now has a big smile on his face. Oh my God.

What? What? Cher questions. Again, I don’t think. Instead, I gawk at him, not knowing what else to do or say. He extends his hand as he keeps his attention on me before bringing that hand toward his body. I suddenly fly toward him. He holds out his hand to stop my body from colliding into his. We’re close now, only millimeters apart.

Seems like I’m not the only one who can do both, he says. I nod my head in agreement without thinking. Too bad you won’t remember knowing I can do it.

“You wouldn’t dare,” I reply out loud now coming back to my senses. He opens his mouth and I knew the words he was going to say because Grand Dame had said them once before. I should stop him, or the very least attempt to stop him.

Stop what? Cher questions, but I continue to ignore her. I don’t want to be responsible for his secret, too. What secret? I look to him, waiting for the words to leave his lips. Instead, the mental screeching begins. The sound resembles that of a fly.

Ahhh! Cher cries out, hearing in through our telepathic link.

I grab hold of my aching head, eyes now rolling to the back of my head as my body drops to the floor. I ignore the pain from the fall, as goosebumps appear on my arms and the urge to vomit appears suddenly. Now clutching my achine head, and keeping my mouth shut, I realize the man no longer has control of me by way of his telekinesis since he, too, is on the ground clutching his head.

I remember then the bandana I took from the man which I’m still holding in my hand. I fight through the pain to wrap it around my forehead. The screeching stops. I take several deep breaths, letting the lavender calm me down, making the nauseous feeling and the goosebumps go away. I turn my attention to the man still laying on the ground writhing in pain. I smile at the sight. I don’t turn arount to check to see if the Disturbed are still advancing toward me, knowing I can’t pass up this opportunity.

I walk in the man’s direction with a smile on my face.

You look pathetic. I tell him mentally knowing he can hear my voice through the screeching. Even with both his hand grabbing ahold of his head, and his body curled into a ball. He still gives me the finger. I suppose a man is going to be a man, this is why we women separated ourselves from them. I kick him for good measure, which he either doesn’t feel or ignores. Loser! I think. Wait until the women in Diara hear about this. I head in the opposite direction of the warehouse, not wanting to run into the Disturbed, when my body is picked up and flung to the side of the room, slamming into the group of Disturbed. I cry out.

My child, my child.

The puppy I always wanted.

Summer days.

The testing,

What happened to me?

I ignore the mental ramblings of the Disturbed as I push their grabbing hands, off of me, hoping like hell none of them will infect me.

My child, my child.

The puppy I always wanted.

Summer days.

The testing,

What happened to me?

When I am unable to rid myself of their diseased fingers, I reach out to them mentally.

Sleep, I tell them.

My child, my child.

The puppy I always . . .

The mental ramblings stop suddenly followed by light snoring, letting me know they’re sleeping. I push a few of thier bodies off of me, regretting now forcing them to fall asleep, as I lay vulnerable and open to infection on the floor. I’m careful, not wanting their shirts to rise, preventing their open sores to infect me. Once I clear their bodies from on top of mine, I get up and access for damages. I notice no blood, spit or anything that would let me know I was infected. That was super close.

It dawns on me then that the mental screeching, my body flying toward the Disturbed, had to come from someone. Could the man from Scipio have done this? I look to him then, still on the floor in the fetal position, holding onto his head. Naw, dummy couldn’t have done it, not in his current position.

I look around the room then, wondering if someone else is in here with us. I’m startled to see not one but three people, one female and two males in white scientific coats, to be exact. I recall seeing the same coat on my Science instructors. I take note that they do not resemble the Disturbed at all. Also, I didn’t - or maybe couldn’t - hear any of their thoughts, which I contribute to their headbands without the Diara or Scipio sigil. Who are these people? Why did it appear that they were living here with the Disturbed?

One of the men take notice of me, now alerting the others, I use my telekinesis ability to rip the bandanas off their heads. I know you can hear me now, I tell them each individually. I take note of their shock, somewhat frightened faces. Why are they afraid of me? The Disturbed were far more dangerous. What's up with them?

Sleep, I tell them each and they fall to the ground. I look to the man, who was now catching his breath, no longer laying in the fetal position or holding his head.

“Leave me alone,” he begs weakly, sounding like the big baby that all men are. “We are not babies!” he retorts. I walk toward him, wanting to mess with him up close. “Leave me alone, woman,” he warns again.

“Aren’t you cranky,” I tease back. “You know what would solve that?” I ask him.

“You under me,” he replies cheeky. I shake my head, annoyed that even in his position, he could make jokes. Just like a man.

I was thinking of something much better. I tell him mentally as I blow a kiss at him. He smiles but begins to frown, catching on, I suppose.

“Don’t you do it,” he warns, knowing where I’m heading with this.

Sleep, I tell him mentally.

“You skinny . . . ” his voice trails off as he succumbs to my command, now snoring loudly.

Chapter Four – Horatio

My child, my child.

The puppy I always wanted.

Summer days.

The testing.

What happened to me?

The mental murmurs awaken me from my forced slumber. I loathe this God-forsaken telepathy ability. I didn’t care to know what others were thinking, even if their thoughts are about me. Feelings and emotions should be kept private.

My child, my child.

The puppy I always wanted.

Summer days.

The testing.

What happened to me?

Quiet! I reply back mentally and they stop. Eyes still closed, I rub my head, hoping like hell the touch will undo this migraine I feel approaching fast. Damn that woman and her forcing me to sleep. I’d never admit this out loud, but I couldn’t control this damn telepathy power. I think there’s a specific reason why the women could read minds while us men could move objects— men didn’t have the same mental compacity that women did. The men would say otherwise, but I knew without a doubt it was the truth. I realized long ago that men and women are not built the same.

My child, my child.

The puppy I always wanted.

Summer days.

The testing.

What happened to me?

The Disturbed mentally start back up, ignoring my command, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. Sometimes the command worked, sometimes it didn’t. I regret now not trying to hone my telepathy skills when Knighthood urged me to. I open my eyes, taken aback as I observe the Disturbed. A dozen or so of them have formed a circle around my body, almost protectively, staring down at me unblinking. Not wanting to alarm them, I quickly look over my body and assess for damages. When I see none, I look back up at them. What’s up, I wonder. They had the opportunity to infect me and they chose not to.

“Horatio! Horatio!” Anders panics, screaming my name through my two-way earpiece. I flinch at the screams and curse, my head throbbing from the now full-blown migraine. I press the button to silence him as I turn my attention back to the Disturbed. What if they aren’t as far gone as we believe them to be? Knighthood had posed this question to me several times before, and as always, I ignored him. I had a problem believing anything that came out his mouth, which was his doing. He was aware of course.

I roll my eyes, the memory of him setting me up, surfacing in my mind. I didn’t mind the setup, coming to accept it as a gift as I got older. I realized about five years ago that if I continued to be Emperor’s son - or whatever the hell he referred to me as - I would have remained an entitled, cowardly, sissy boy piece of shit, which wouldn’t have helped me when Emperor eventually kicked my ass to the curb.

You see, Emperor had a nasty habit of picking up boys, homeless boys, mostly, and giving them a place to live, acclimating them to the life of a royal before tossing them. I didn’t know who he was looking for back then, I didn’t figure it out until later, five years ago. But the whole time it was me since I’m the only male who possessed both the telekinetic and telepathic abilities. I had still to figure out what purpose he had with me.

When I went to tell Knighthood about my discovery, he didn’t seem surprised by the revelation or gift, he later told me, he knew, which is why I was wary of Knighthood, I thought him to be honest, so him lying about his knowledge of my ability angered me. Although, more recently, I keep reminding myself, I’ve moved past my anger in regards to Knighthood, deciding I needed him in my corner, whenever Emperor did discover what I could do because he would eventually.

The bigger question which I couldn’t figure out is how did Emperor not know yet? I’ve always been under the impression that Emperor and Knighthood worked together. Yet, it didn’t seem that way, especially since Emperor was looking for me and Knighthood found me but Knighthood didn’t share that with him.

Emperor,

Emperor,

Emperor,

Emperor,

The Disturbed call out his name, surprising me again. They never had the same thoughts before. Their thoughts are always separate.

Do you know Emperor? I ask them, ignoring the throbbing of my migraine, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

We . . .

Gunshots sound in the room. I don’t have time to question it nor look where it came from. The Disturbed’s eyes roll to the back of their heads as blood stains the front of their shirts before they collapse to the ground.

“No!” I scream. I hear footsteps followed by my name being called and I sit up, now ignoring my headache while fighting the urge to use my gift to throw Noah against the wall repeatedly.

“You okay?” he questions as he catches his breath. I suppose it serves me right for ignoring Anders, the tech support on our recon mission.

“Yes,” I reply, looking at the Disturbed who lay still on the floor, now dead. I suppose it makes no sense to dwell on them being dead now because we men don’t do that. Instead, I accept it for what it is. The Disturbed may not have given me much, but they did give me another clue, another piece of information to add to my file bank. I turn my attention back to Noah, who’s no longer catching his breath but laughing and snorting.

“What?” I ask, not knowing what he’s laughing at.

“What the fuck is on your forehead?” he asks as his laughter turns into coughing. I touch it but don’t feel anything.

“What is it?” I ask as I bend over, reaching for my bag but realizing it’s not there. What the fuck? I pat myself for the glasses I stole and my pocketknife, coming up empty. Realization dawns on me, that damn woman. 

“It says ‘Dickwad’,” Noah says as he continues laughing.

“The woman, she did that,” I tell Noah angrily.

“A woman from Gaia?” Noah questions. I nod my head in response. “That’s surprising. Knighthood makes sure to never plan these trips when the women plan their’s.” I didn’t know that.

“Well, someone made a mistake,” I tell him. Noah looks behind me and then at my forehead again.

“Where are your bandana and backpack?” he asks.

“She took them,” I whisper.

“What?” Noah questions with a grin, letting me know he heard me before he falls over laughing again. “Is she the reason you were unresponsive for over an hour?” I say nothing and he starts laughing again.

“Shut it,” I tell him, turning around and heading toward the door.

“I have to meet her,” he says behind me.

The men and women on the planet of Gaia did not dwell together. The women lived on one side of the planet, Diara, and the men lived on the other side, Scipio. It’s always been like this, according to both Emperor and Knighthood, ever since we - well, they - left Earth in 2100. Three hours of land, one hundred eighty minutes, separated us from each other— that’s it. We weren't supposed to cross into each other’s lands. The last time a man crossed into the women’s land, Highness cut off his dick and hung it on the outskirts of Diara— that’s the rumor anyway. The last time a woman was caught in Scipio, she was used and abused, and when she returned back to her land, Highness cut off her head..

However, we men, even knowing the consequences, still snuck onto the women’s land for the sole purpose of sex. The women desired it as well, even though they would never admit it to any of us. To stop the men from entering into Diara, Emperor and Highness created a city that sat in the middle of Gaia, an hour and thirty minutes away from both Diara and Scipio. Lust, as the city is called, is the only place on Gaia where the men and women came together for the sole purpose of pleasing.

If you wanted to fuck, you would go there and seek out whatever woman or men caught your fancy. Noah, like a few other men on Scipio, didn’t care for Lust. They didn’t like having sex with the same women, referring to them as ‘used women’. Instead he goes into Diara, seducing the women there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did run into her there since he frequented the place so often.

“She’s nothing to meet,” I reply. I wait for Noah’s retort, and when he doesn’t reply, I turn around to find his attention elsewhere. There, on the second-floor perimeter around the warehouse, one woman and two men lay in white coats. I knew the screeching was coming from somewhere, but I never got the chance to identify it. I take note of the three of them, faces not pale.

I use my telekinesis power to raise the woman’s lab coat, taking note of her bare legs and seeing no sores there. She isn’t one of the Disturbed.

“What are you doing?” Noah asks before raising his hand.

“Making sure they aren’t The Disturbed,” I tell him. He nods as he begins walking in her direction.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“About to shake the woman awake,” he tells me.

“No, she has the telepathic power like the women from Diara do.” He nods his head but stops, turning to look at me, with a questioning look.

“What?” Noah questions. “But how . . . ” He clears his throat. “We were told everyone down here is The Disturbed.” My thoughts exactly.

“Maybe they can shed some light on it,” I tell him. “Be careful, they . . . ”

“Have our ability,” Noah finishes. “I’m catching up.” I follow behind and begin shaking the other guy. I could have mentally woken them, but my head was now throbbing, using it would only cause me more pain. My guy finally stirs. He slowly opens his eyes, groggy and takes one look at us. His eyes travel down my body, taking in my shirt, stopping at the sigil there. He turns to Noah and does the same thing, before shutting them close, now whimpering.

“Are you worried at all that he knows who we are?” Noah questions sounding concerned.

“You sound like a conspiracy theorist,” I reply mocking him. He said this exact thing to me, two years ago, when I was trying to convince him The Disturbed aren’t really contagious.

“You still do, but this,” he looks to the guy who still has his eyes close. “Doesn’t make sense.” He did have a point. I grip my guy by the shirt, shaking him roughly, forcing him to awake or reawake, since he’s pretending to be asleep.

“How do you know about us?” Noah question, not beating around the bush.

“I don’t,” he replies, looking down.

Why did I have to run into them? Why didn’t he leave, like the girl from Diara left? I read his mind.

Diara huh? I speak to him telepathically ignoring the pouding from my head. But you don’t know anything. He looks at me long and hard, before fear takes over his features causing Noah to ask.

“Why are you looking at him like that?”

You're like them. He swallows. Like him, Emperor and Highness. I keep my face nonchalant, not wanting Noah to know something was up. He didn’t know I was telepathic and I preferred to keep it that way.

Start from the beginning, out loud! I stress.

“How can you be here and not be one of the Disturbed?” Noah says as he opens his mouth, another question that needed to be answered.

“We were told the Disturbed was, well, are contagious,” I add.

“They are, or were,” he says as he looks to both Noah and me.

“What?” Noah and I both say together.

“At first, for about three hundred years, they were . . . like it was really bad. We couldn’t tolerate their smell, but with a few experiments . . . ”

“Wait, they don’t smell anymore?” Noah asks, cutting him off.

“You’ve been experimenting on them?” I question, shocked. I suppose it made sense, especially if they ever wanted to get their planet back.

“Yes,” the male finally answers, looking at us both. Noah reaches for the mask on his nose, but I stop him before he takes it off. 

“We don’t know if this fucker is lying,” I tell him, the males nods his head ‘no’ quickly.

“I wouldn’t,” the male replies. I ignore him.

“He has no mask on, Horatio,” Noah points out and I have to admit I hadn’t noticed.

“Because we do not need it,” the male says again. I hold my hand up, indicating for him to be silent.

“Either the experiments are working or he’s a new and improved type of Disturbed,” Noah says as he unstraps the Velcro from his mask.

“You really want to test that out?” I ask him as he takes the mask off his mouth completely. Now breathing in the air, Noah clutches at his throat. “I told you . . . ” I begin but trail off when he starts laughing. Asshole.

“I suppose the tests did work because I don’t smell them,” Noah says as he looks down at the deceased Disturbed laying on the ground. Would they smell if they were dead? He takes a couple of deep breaths before be begins to lift the mask back to his face, strapping the Velcro back together.

“Suddenly afraid?” I ask him.

“Don’t want to overdo it,” Noah says with a shrug of his shoulders.

“What else did these experiments entail?” I ask.

“They aren’t contagious anymore,” the man replies. Noah and I look at each other in shock. “Well, not completely anymore, only through the sharing of their blood.”

“So not through their spit?” Noah questions.

“No,” he replies as he shakes his head. I wonder if they were also responsible for them being mentally conscious as well. I mentally direct that question to him and his reply is ‘no’. I suppose they were and always would be aware.

“What’s that crystal-like substance over there?” I point at the stuff on the floor.

“It’s what started all of this,” he replies, staring at us both dumbly. Now we get into the story, the beginning I should say.

“What?” Noah and I questions simultaneously.

“That stuff is what created the Disturbed,” he says slowly.

“He said a crystal-like substance when IUDs started this, not crystals.” Noah turns to me, confirming what we knew or were taught. I nod my head.

“What?” the male scrunches up his face in confusion.

“On Gaia . . . ” Noah begins, but the male interrupts him.

“So that’s the name of the planet they escaped to?” the male shakes his head.

You didn’t know the name of the planet? I ask him mentally.

They were looking at several different planets, we didn’t know which one they choose.

“Yes, the men were told that the IUD created the Disturbed,” Noah tells the male. He looks at us a long second before bursting out with laughter. When he notices we weren’t laughing, he stops.

“Emperor and Highness really told y’all that an IUD, a contraceptive, is what created the Disturbed?” I nod my head in response.

“You know Emperor and Highness, too?” Noah question.

“Wow,” the male says as he looks between us both. “You both don’t know anything, do you?”

“What do we not know?” I ask him. Get to it. I’m tired of the back and forth. You’re starting to sound like the women.

“The Disturbed were created from that crap, that Emperor and Highness created together to enhance the male and female bodies.”

“Enhance what?” I wonder, my curiosity getting the best of me.

“For the women, their butts, breast, and lips, and for the men, their penis, abs, and arms.”

“And Emperor and Highness created that shit?” I ask just to verify.

“Yes,” he replies, annoyance riding his voice.

“Everyone on Earth took it, right?” Noah questions.

“Everyone,” he stresses. “It turned some people into the Disturbed. It gave special powers to others, the gift of telepathy to some women and the gift of telekinesis to some men.”

“Why did they leave? Why not help turn them back since they created the crap in the first place?” Noah questions.

“Others would say they aren’t sure. ”

“What do you think?” I ask him.

“Earth was on the verge of becoming extinct, overpopulation, pollution, lack of food and resources. Both Highness and Emperor were aware of this and instead of doing something to stop it, they took the cream of the crop, Highness words not mines, found a new planet and created a new civilization, a better one, so I’d imagine.”

“But you didn’t go,” I say.

“I wasn’t invited,” he replies. I then realize that stuff, that crystal stuff, affects each person differently.

Yes, is his single reply. I realize now what he meant by your like them. Highness and Emperor could do the same thing I could do. Yes. He replies again.

Chapter Five - Essence

Planet: Earth

An hour later

Back to the shuttle . . .

Where are you? Cher questions me mentally. Turn your earpiece back on. It’s hard talking to you mentally. I continue running, hauling ass across Earth, trying to follow the map to the best of my ability.

“I’m on my way back,” I tell her as I turn the earpiece in my ear back on. Finally, I make out the shuttle in the distance. Green is standing on the top stair, surveying the lands for me, I assume.

“I see her,” Green calls out to the others. I watch them all, even Cher, who is supposed to be in the cockpit navigating. They join Green, who is now waiving at me, hurrying me. I quicken my pace, feeling beyond exhausted. I’ve been running for the past thirty minutes, which wouldn’t have been necessary if I didn’t get lost. Damn me and my lack of navigating abilities.

“You didn’t leave me,” Green tells me as I get close, now extending a hand to help me up the stairs. “I wouldn’t dare let them leave you.” That makes me smile. I suppose they didn’t hate me after all.

“If it was up to me, we would have left your ass,” Amelia says. Well, not all of them anyway.

“Amelia,” I look in her direction as she turns to me with a sneer. Sleep, I tell her mentally. She collapses to the ground and begins snoring quietly. We weren’t supposed to do this to each other, so says Grand Dame. I knew once Amelia told her, I’ll be punished, in addition to the punishment I’ll receive for making us all late.

“You know the drill,” Cher says, stopping me in my tracks. “Strip and dispose of your clothes in the toxic bin. Time for the desanitizing.” I instantly start to undress, knowing that my objections wouldn’t be heard nor cared about.

“Is that the man’s sack pack?” Green questions and I smile. The girls ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ from a distance, knowing if they touch it, they’ll have to desanitize again.

Now sitting in the sanitization room in my comfortable bra and panties, I groan loudly when another stream of sanitizing spray hits my already wet body. It’s been doing this every ten minutes for the past two hours. Usually, when we desanitize, we undress, step into a stream of sanitizing spray, and a green light indicates all’s well. New clothes are issued and I’d be able to continue on with my day. This time, my light flashed red. Red indicates you’re infected. The infected remain inside the desantizing room, locked by way of Tara.

Tara is the automation program built by the women scientists in Diara. Her sole purpose is to take care of the shuttle, the passengers on the shuttle, and prevent/destroy anything that could infect Diara and its people. Another stream of sanitizing spray hits my body before the room finally flashes green. I breathe a sigh of relief, no longer worried that I was infected.

Tara speaks, “Your release will be in one hour.” I groan in response. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

“Can I have a towel or blanket while I wait?” I ask Tara.

“Access denied. In order to ensure that you are truly uninfected, you will remain bare-skinned.” Bare-skinned and cold, I suppose. I roll over onto my back and make myself comfortable, knowing I have another hour of this.

You’ve been in there a while, Cher speaks to me telepathically.

I’m on hold, I tell her.

Please tell me you’ve looked through his bag, Cher questions.

Not yet,” I tell her. “It’s kind of hard with the sanitizing spray hitting me every ten minutes.

You’re on hold now, do it . . . ” she trails off. I’m receiving a transmission from Diara. Give me a second. I wait a minute before Cher speaks to me again. Grand Dame wants to speak to you, Cher says.

About what? I ask her as I walk to the wall where a small tablet is attached. I unhook it and touch the screen before walking back to the floor, making myself comfortable again.

She wouldn’t say, but it didn’t sound good, Essence.

I’ll let you know.

“Connect the call, Tara.”

“Connecting call,” Tara replies. The line beeps, not connecting immediately, which doesn’t surprise me. The connection is always spotty, especially with the shuttle being so far away from Gaia. Currently, we were twenty-two hours away from our planet. The closer we got, the sooner the line would connect.

Thirty minutes go by and the line is still beeping. I found myself going through the bag I confiscated from the man back on Earth.

Why aren’t you worried about whatever Grand Dame is about to tell you? Cher questions.

Because it’s not important. It never is.

Truer words have never been spoken, Cher replies. Now, what’s in the bag? I look at the stuff I pulled from the bag and laid out on the ground in a neat row.

Water, five bottles, which explains why the bag was so heavy. There’s a pocket-size blue translucent case that holds their earpiece.

Why am I imagining our pink translucent case? Cher wonders.

Because it looks exactly like ours with the exception of the color.

Copycats, Cher comments. What else is in there?

A spiral, I tell her and begin looking through it, amazed at the sketches, some of which I assume are of Scipio, and others of women who live in Lust, the city between Diara and Scipio. The sketches of the women are surprisingly tasteful. The majority are various headshots, others full body where the women are clothed as well as unclothed, as the women of Lust usually are.

From the way you describe him, I did not get an artistic vibe.

Neither did I, I confess. Who knew the men in Scipio possessed such talents?

Although it doesn’t surprise me that you like a guy like that.

Yeah, well . . . I stop talking, replaying what she said in my mind. I don’t like him.

Yet.

There is no yet. I don’t like him.

You find him attractive, Cher states.

I’m a woman, he’s a man, that’s normal.

It always starts like this in those books you like to read so much.

You actually read something, I laugh.

Oh, shut up, I was bored. I stop laughing when I notice the line is no longer beeping.

“Essence, Essence . . . ” Grand Dame’s voice comes out muffled and staticky. “Can you hear me?”

“Barely,” I reply back to the speaker.

“Give me a minute. I need to pull over,” she tells me.

I gotta go, Cher.

Okay, see you in a few minutes, she replies.

“Essence? Essence, can you hear me?” Grand Dame questions again, her voice sounding crystal clear.

“Yes, Grand Dame,” I reply on a sigh. “You do know that this call is draining the shuttle’s fuel reserves,” I inform her.

“She knows,” Grand Dame says in a panicky voice, instantly making me sit up, knowing this call is more serious than I expected.

I know the ‘she’ being referred to is Highness. A few years ago, I stumbled upon some information after accidentally reading her personal guard’s mind.

Every now and then, I get these intense migraines, where I’m able to tap into the subconscious part of the women’s mind, the memories they themselves somehow have seemed to forget over the past century, this particular guard has killed over two hundred toddler girls who her Highness believed had the ability of both telekinesis and telepathy.

I took the information back to Grand Dame, finally understanding why she did what she did all those years ago. She told me things, like how Highness and Emperor have both abilities. How their both responsible for the Disturbed and how they erased Grand Dame’s mind and others on that shuttle the day they escaped, making them believe different things. The women believe that the men were responsible for creating the Distured and visa versa for the men.

When Highness realizes Grand Dame is remembering, as she does every century, regaining her memory, Highness will erase her memory again. That cycle of memory rape has been happening to not only Highness but a few of the other higher-ranking women in Diara for five centuries now.

“How did she find out?” I ask, preparing myself for the worst. “Tara, how much time do I have left?”

“Fifteen minutes,” She replies. Great, I grab the guys sack pack, and begin putting the water back into it, along with a second pair of clothes. I search for food but stop knowing the food will be around the waiting ring, where the girls are seating at. I’ll grab that on my way to the pod. I wouldn’t stay on Gaia and go through whatever Highness had in store for me. I’d rather take my chances on Earth.

Take your chances on Earth? Cher questions, reading my mind. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” I ignore her.

“Don’t do anything drastic,” Grand Dame’s voice calls from the device that’s still sitting on the floor.

“I’m leaving for Earth,” I tell her.

“No, Essence, you wouldn’t survive. You wouldn’t . . . ”

“I’ll take my chances!” I yell back to her. If I die, then I go out my own way.

“Emperor wants you,” Grand Dame informs me, making me pause my stuffing the blanket inside my sack pack.

“Wants me for what?” I question.

“Emperor wants to change Scipio for the better,” Grand Dame snorts, letting me know she does not believe him. “He wants the men and women to live amongst each other as they did on Earth.”

“Why the sudden change? Weren’t he and Highness the ones who started the separation?” I ask her, already knowing the answer to it.

“He thinks by doing this he’ll cut down on the men sneaking into Diara for woman companionship. He also believes it will be more convenient for his men.” Just like a man. We weren’t telling those men to sneak to Diara— they did it of their own free will. Why would we women care about there convenience or lack thereof?

“So what am I to be, the whore woman who starts this little change? Will he use me and then pass me around to the other men?”

“No, Essence, you misunderstood,” Grand Dame says.

“Time!” I yell at Tara.

“Ten minutes,” she replies. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I did not want to experience another migraine. I couldn’t afford it now. I take a seat, knowing I can’t do anything until the doors unlock.

“What don’t I understand?” I ask.

“Emperor knows as well, he wants you as his Queen. He knows how rare you are and he’ll be a fool to let any of his men touch you. He knows how disastrous that would be.” I didn’t have to ask what she meant by Queen. I knew the meaning of the word from the books I’ve read that spoke about it.

A Queen in those stories is the King’s mate. In the majority of the stories, the Queen had very little power, if any at all. In most cases, they were charged with keeping the palace and the staff that lived there in order. The few books I did read where the Queen had more power, the King was either dead or mentally unable to rule. I had a feeling I would be the first example since Emperor wasn’t dead and had all of his wits about him.

“Let’s see, my options are stay here on Earth or become Emperor’s obedient bitch. I’ll take my chances here on Earth,” I tell her.

“Essence, you have a chance to do something we eight have been trying to do since we boarded the shuttle and Highness erased our memories. We could take Highness down!”

“And what would we do about Emperor?” I question.

“If you get Emperor in your corner, you can mold him and shape him to where he’ll side with you, ultimately siding with the women of Diara.”

“You expect me, a twenty-one-year-old, to mold and shape a man who’s over five hundred years old?”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Essence. You have something that he wants.” I catch on to what she’s saying.

“You expect me to sleep with him, too!” I exclaim in disbelief.

“Oh, grow up, Essence. Did you not anticipate that? You would be his Queen.”

“So what I have between my legs is supposed to make this man not only fall for me but persuade him to consider my views?” I ask.

“Yes. If there’s anything a male loves more than sex, it’s sex from a young woman, a woman who’s like a virgin because she’s only done it once.” Here she goes bringing up the past. “You will earn his favor. It’s a skill we women have.”

“And when he tires of me?” I ask because in the books, it usually always happens.

“If he gets in our way, we’ll kill him,” she responds. I open my mouth but close it quickly, not expecting her to say that.

“We’ve been programmed to be independent. I don’t know how to be anything but that.”

“We have twenty hours to deprogram you, Essence,” Grand Dame says. “I’m not going to force this on you, but you won’t survive on Earth, not by yourself anyway.” I think back to Earth’s landscape, the lack of people there. Could I truly survive down there by myself? Or would I go mad from lack of interaction, food, and supplies?

“Someone has to teach me how to fuck. I won’t convince him if I can’t fuck,” I state quietly, embarrassed I’m admitting that out loud.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. We women are born knowing how to please a man, but if you want more pointers, I’m sure Cher wouldn’t mind sharing.” I sigh still not wanting to do it but knowing I’m too much of a coward for the alternative. ‘Let’s turn you into a submissive woman,” Grand Dame says, to which I roll my eyes, I still didn’t like what that word meant.

Chapter Six– Horatio

Planet: Gaia

Scipio: Men’s Division

Twenty-Six Hours Later

Finally, after twenty-six excruciating hours of being in the air, we finally make it back to Scipio on Gaia. When the pilot gives us the signal, we rise from our seats, stretching. Sitting in one place for that long makes one stiff.

“Report!” I call out to Avery.

“On it,” he replies before a male robotic voice sounds in the shuttle, making me snicker. Knighthood told us the women named the voice in their shuttle and that has to be the silliest shit I ever heard.

“Fuel percentage at thirty percent. It is recommended you fill up before traveling again,” the robotic voice says. “There are no damages. Replenish sanitation pods. Warning, air filters need to be changed and cleaned, thirty days late.” I groan at that.

“What do you want us to do?” Noah questions after hearing that. I look around at their tired faces. If Knighthood were here, he would see to it that we addressed all the needs of our shuttle before retiring. It was three in the afternoon and it would take another two-to-three hours, if we were lucky, and they would half-ass it because they’re tired, which meant we would have to do it again. I despise doing shit, especially the same shit, multiple times.

“Return the earpieces and your findings to their appropriate places,” I instruct the men. They nod their heads waiting for my next set of instructions. “Get some rest, we’ll meet back here at eight p.m. to take care of the needs of the shuttle.” Thankful sighs are heard from them all, including Noah. As they begin to file out, I stop them.

“I said to get some rest, not go to Lust or to Diara,” I tell them.

“That is restful,” Noah jokes and they all smile in ecstasy. They were right, I could go for some, followed by a nice back rub.

“Just be back here at eight,” I tell them and begin walking, but I stop in my tracks when I take notice of Christopher at the entry door. After all these years, my hatred for him has yet to fade.

“Emperor has requested your presence.” I start walking, already knowing where Emperor will be at this time of day. I take notice of the halls and briefly stop to marvel at them. Gone were the bare walls we men were used to. Instead, pink streamers were taped to the wall, horribly I might add. A few were straight, others were crooked, bent and distorted at weird angles. Whoever the fuck hung these either didn’t care or simply didn’t know what the fuck they were doing. I stop again and backtrack, looking down the other halls and seeing more streamers in different girly colors. What the hell is Emperor up to now?

A floor-length poster of Emperor and what looks like that woman I ran into on planet Earth captures my attention. I walk toward it, inspecting the picture, which seemed to have been taken when she wasn’t paying attention.

Her chocolate skin looks mesmerizing, her long black dreads are pulled up into a neat bun, her edges are styled perfectly around her forehead, and her eyebrows are thick but arched. Her lips are big, the bottom bigger than the top, and burgundy-colored and wet. I take in her long, slender neck that reveals her breasts, which are pushed up and spilling over her tiny top. She looked sexy as sin. I continue marveling at the picture, taking in the font at the bottom that reads ‘Mrs. Emperor’. Wait a minute. Emperor did not . . . I trail off, realizing what this truly is. Shit! Emperor knew.

“Horatio,” Christopher calls my name in an annoyed tone, waiting at Emperor’s office door. I head in that direction, telling myself to keep my mind blank. I did not want Emperor reading my thoughts. Blank, I tell myself. Blank, I repeat one last time as Christopher opens the door.

“Horatio!” Emperor exclaims as he takes notice of me, putting down whatever paper he was looking at mere seconds ago. I nod my head once, addressing him.

“Sit, sit,” he tells me as he gets up, walking toward his mini liquor cabinet, then pouring two goblets of scotch. I take note of Christopher making himself comfortable in the corner. Emperor hands me the goblet, and what I’ve learned about how to drink scotch instantly floors my mind. I swirl it around in the glass as he does before smelling it then taking just a sip from it. I exhale at the taste.

“That’s good,” I tell him.

“It’s from Earth, from the year 1985,” he tells me as he takes another sip. The older it is, the better it tastes, I recall. Emperor clears his throat. “Christopher, would you leave us?” I look to Christopher, who opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something but instead he nods his head once and leaves.

“What do you think of the decorations?” he asks me. I shrug my shoulders, not knowing how to respond to that. I wasn’t nor will I ever be a woman. “I ask because she’s close to your age. Do you think she’ll like it?”

“I suppose if any of those colors are her favorite color and if they’re hung better, she would.” Emperor nods his head. He opens his mouth to say something else, but I stop him, not in the mood to do this back and forth, especially not after being in the air for a day.

“You know,” I state rather than question.

“Are you surprised?” he questions as I take another sip from the goblet.

“It did take you a while,” I tell him with another shrug of my shoulders.

“For her, yes, although that’s not to be blamed on me. For you, I realized it after a year of you working with Knighthood.” I dared myself to not think about Knighthood, not wanting Emperor to retaliate against him, as I knew he would. “Don’t worry yourself about Knighthood,” Emperor tells me, reading my mind. “I’ll handle him as I usually do.” I wanted to question what he meant by that, but I didn’t, well couldn’t, coward.

“Why are you and Highness the only ones able to do both?”

“It’s our DNA. Some of the men are stronger when it comes to our telekinetic gift and can lift this whole palace. Others wouldn’t be able to lift the canter full of scotch over there.”

“The women are affected the same way, I assume.”

“Yes, about the same, the stronger ones can erase your memory.”

“What’s the endgame of all of this?” I ask him. “Why are you bringing that woman over to Scipio? To marry her?”

“The same reason why I searched so desperately for you,” Emperor confesses. “Unlike Highness, I see no competition. You see I’m older and stronger than you and the girl.” Emperor smiles at that. “But I’m no dummy, either. I wouldn’t dare send you both away because you would come back with vengeance. Nor would I put any of you to death because that would be a waste. Instead, I want to mold You in my image.” I replay the word you in my mind to which he laughs. “You caught that huh?”

“Yes,” is my only reply.

“I suppose your old enough to grasp this concept,” he tells me as he takes another sip.

“Men and women regardless of our genitals being made to fit each other, are different. We’re stronger, more level headed, while the women are weak, sensitive, emotional. I wouldn’t dare mess up this natural order.” I understood what he was saying but still . . .

“I agree with you, we are superior,” I really did, I didn’t have to bullshit my response. “But Highness can do both just as you can,” I state. “If the natural order wanted to ensure, we men stay on top, she wouldn’t have been given both abilities too.” Emperor waves my thought away.

“The natural order has its flaws, as you are aware, letting two slip-ups happen.” I knew he was referring to Highness and his new Queen. “But what it fucks up, we’ll fix.” Now I was lost.

“Just to clarify, you want to train me in your image.” He nods his head. “Take the woman as your Queen, and . . . it sounds like you have a bigger goal.” I ask him as I finish the scotch. “Care to share?

“Yes, I have nothing to hide. We’ll be working together from now on.” I nod my head at that. “You see, Gaia is dying.” I stop sipping to give him a look, one he notices but doesn’t comment on nor elaborate what he means. “We’ll need to wipe out the women before they get the chance to wipe us out.” What the fuck?

“With you on my side, you ensure that we will win this battle against the women and save Gaia, creating a new world.” I couldn’t help myself.

“And what is that woman’s role in all of this?”

“She’ll help us re-populate Gaia once we kill all the women.” He couldn’t mean what I think he means. “I do,” Emperor says, letting me know he’s read my mind again. “She’ll ensure the future generation of men, will be born the correct way, as you and I were.” Emperor finishes.

“And if she’ll create other women who can do what she can?”

“We’ll fix it.”