One
The king will be inside me soon.
My body will stretch for him.
My flesh will envelop him.
I will be his.
I wait in a robe of gold and silver, knowing that what is to come has to be destiny in one way or another. I tried to escape, but escape was never truly an option. It was an illusion. An arrogant assumption that the world was free and therefore I could be free in it.
But the world is not free. It is a series of grooves and channels, and we move through it like smooth balls, mistaking that which is new for choice. Soon the king will use my channel. He will take what was innocent and he will spread it open. I reach down between my thighs and let my fingers drift over that soft and familiar part of me, knowing that soon it will no longer be mine. It will be his again. It will be a royal possession, just like the rest of me.
I feel the soft down over my lips. It is there to guard me, but it cannot protect me from the great golden scimitar of flesh which the king intends to plunge inside me. He has no reason to be gentle with me. I am the sacrifice that will make those I love free. I understand that, and I accept it.
* * *
A few days ago…
Everything is coming to an end. I find comfort in that. It has been a long haul and I have been alone too long, separated from those I love. I watch on a bank of reclaimed screens hooked up and running off a hacked power hitch as a spectacular scene of escape unfolds.
Our leader, Lyric, is being punished for killing the previous korabi king. Except she’s not having it. Not even a little bit. There is nobody more rebellious than her. If they’d known her a little better, they would have known better than to give her a public platform. Every scum class human in Megaris is growing bolder and braver for seeing her stand up to our alien overlords.
I wish I was half as brave as she is. I would never be able to stand before the korabi king and declare boldly that I killed his father, and that I do not regret it for a moment.
I watch on a multitude of screens as a spectacular scene unfolds. Fireballs and cave ins, followed by darkness. My cameras are destroyed in the general conflagration, but the silence and absence which follows makes a smile spread across my face. This means the last of my family has escaped Megaris and the tyranny of King Krush, as well as all the korabi systems which oppress us.
It means it is my turn to escape.
I used to think that the world was Megaris, but now I know that there is somewhere outside where humans and korabi can live together equally. I don’t have to be scum anymore, and I don’t have to be alone anymore either. In a matter of hours, I’ll be out of here.
I’m taking the river out of Megaris. The river flows into the city and is diverted through it, a series of tubes transporting it everywhere water is needed. But it comes from a powerful flow traveling from distant mountains, and it is my passage out of the city. I have engineered a device which will run against the current and drag me through the waters to the world outside. From there, I have directions to an encampment of rebels, family and friends.
This should be the easy part. The entirety of the korabi army is focused on the absolute outrage which just unfolded. They’re not patrolling Megaris. They’re rushing to the palace to try to protect the king just in case they lose another one inside a year. There is no heir currently. Krush has not taken a bride. They really can’t afford to have the royal line die out.
My research indicates that losing a royal line causes unprecedented chaos among the korabi. The current king’s line stretches back ninety-nine generations, over five thousand years. His father met an unceremonious but deserved end.
I creep down the streets. Only the standard security protocols are in place, sweeping drones and static cameras. My augs are able to detect their field of vision, which makes it possible for me to avoid them. I have been doing this for years. This is easy for me. I’ll walk out of this city without any resistance.
“Stop right there, scum.”
I am caught before I even see my captors. The barrel of a deatomizer is ground into my temple, hard enough to give me an instant headache. I can get myself out of almost any tight spot. There is no way out of this.
They’ve ambushed me.
I don’t know how or why, though I swear I can feel the stench of betrayal on this entire effort. There is no reason for them to be here. But who knew I would be here? Nothing that is happening is technically possible, and yet it is happening.