Queen of Their Colony (Kindred Tales)

They cleared the steps and approached the enormous opening in the side of the building which passed for a doorway, though it was big enough for five large trucks to drive through side by side, Terra thought.

Standing at intervals in this vast space were what appeared to be guards. They were still wearing the white jumpsuits, but the suits were trimmed in gray at the cuffs and collar—something Terra hadn’t seen on any of the ordinary citizens passing by them on the street.

“We’re coming to the entrance,” Rive murmured from her side. “Moan, Terra—play your part.”

“Oh…ohhh!” Terra gasped, clutching at her abdomen.

“Halt! What is this?” she heard a guard demanding. “Why are the four of you wearing colors? And why is this female in distress?”

“We had a shuttle crash and she was injured! We need to get her in for medical help at once!” Rive exclaimed.

“Medical help can be had at the Temple of Healing, five blocks in that direction.” The guard pointed. “This is not the correct place.”

“Do you know who this is? She’s Princess Terrina and she’s come here as an envoy from Toolah Six on a diplomatic mission,” V’rone growled at the man. “We’re bringing her here under orders of The Watcher itself! So stand aside if you don’t want to be sent to a Re-education center!”

His words seemed to have a definite effect on the guard. He stepped back and waved them through at once, much to Terra’s relief.

The inside of the building was as massive as the outside and it was also a blinding white. Since her head was thrown back, she could see the ceiling which appeared to be hundreds of stories above. Most of the interior of the Temple of the Eye was hollow. Presumably the offices—if there were offices—were all located on the perimeters of the massive structure.

“Look, the path leads towards the back of the building,” she heard V’rone say. “Let’s go!”

The four of them rushed forward with Tem still carrying Terra. Unlike the streets outside, she saw heads turning to watch their progress but, to her relief, no one tried to stop them.

“It goes through those doors, there,” she heard Rive say. “Hurry—they’re opening now!”

They ran through the doors, which closed automatically behind them, and found themselves in a small, enclosed room. There was no one else inside, so Terra dared to stop groaning and raise her head to look around.

“Where are we? What is this place?” she asked. “Why are we in this little room?”

What worried her the most was the fact that she didn’t see a way out of the room—there was no exit door in sight. Then she turned her head and saw five long rows of buttons. Her heart dropped.

“Wait a minute,” Rive said, frowning. “This small room is no room—it’s a vertical lift for traveling between floors!”

“An elevator,” Terra said.

“But how do we know where the path wants us to go from here? What floor are we headed to?” Tem asked.

“Yeah, how do we fucking know?” V’rone growled, tugging at his horns.

“I think the best course of action is to press every button and stop at every floor,” Rive remarked. “We’ll get off on the floor where we see the path.”

“But that’s going to draw so much more attention,” Tem groaned.

“Tem’s right—we’ll be alerting everyone in the entire fucking building that we’re here,” V’rone said, scowling.

Rive shrugged.

“It can’t be helped. Unless anyone can come up with a better plan?”

No one could, so V’rone pressed every button for every floor and they began the long climb upwards.

TWENTY-ONE

It was decided, after the surprised looks that greeted them when the doors opened on the first few floors, that the Monstrum should stay in the corners of the elevator car and Terra should stand by the control panel.

Rive thought it was best—this way anyone who was waiting for the elevator wouldn’t see anything more shocking than their Queen’s flower gown which, while colorful, wasn’t nearly as surprising as seeing three huge Monstrum warriors staring back at them.

V’rone didn’t like it, of course—the Brawn of the colony wanted to keep their Queen completely surrounded, seeing that they were in hostile territory. But Terra vetoed that idea firmly. She pointed out that no one had actually tried to hurt them yet and said she could take care of herself.

Rive doubted this, but he admired her just the same for her courage. It was good to have a strong Queen at the center of the colony.

V’rone settled for being in the corner closest to Terra and Rive and Tem took the far corners. They rode up one floor at a time and every time the doors of the lift opened and there was no golden path, Terra quickly pressed the “doors closed” button and they moved on.

This went on for a very long time—the Temple of The Watcher was enormous with many, many floors. Some of them seemed completely deserted, while others had crowds of silent people waiting for the lift. It was a good thing Terra was quick, Rive thought—otherwise they would have been in trouble. But the moment the doors started to open and they saw there was no path, she would say, “Sorry!” and jam the button to close the doors and start the lift moving upwards again.