28 August 2030

01:46 QCT

Nicolette Binet relaxes her heart-shaped face in her hand. Her exuberant, golden hair intertwines with her fingers and she sighs. "And so, that was the last time we ever spoke to them. A bunch of rats they are. We aren't even in the same industry as them and they want to treat us like shit."

I take a great swig of my drink and place it on the small table beside my sofa. "Lieutenant Hill's brother is married to one of the daughters. I think it's Lucia."

"Lucia, that tramp!" She shouts. "Kibre Hill is a creation from God, hand-crafted and everything. But he has horrible taste in women, that's for sure!"

I don't know how much time has passed since Nicolette Binet and I have escaped to Lord Cameron's bedroom. The last instance in which I read the grandfather clock near the wide, double set doors, it was about one-fifteen. But surely the moments have gone by since then.

Cameron Hyka, as unorderly as his personality is, he keeps his chambers tidy and neat. A wall-length pane of glass gives view out to a small balcony with only a single, orange light. Beyond that is the endless eastern ocean. The wallpaper, with its vined, floral design, is viridescent with a deep brown wooden trim toward the floor. Nicolette and I are seated at a small group of linen, egg-colored sofas, and chairs along the right wall. Beside me is a vintage record player, reminiscing of my younger years. The Lord's queen-sized bed, with the pillows against the enormous window, is smoothed out by flawless, white sheets. Untainted.

Though I detest the elitist nature of Nicolette and her family, I am actually enjoying myself. We have interchanged stories of our youth; though her tales are certainly happier than mine. I refrained from sharing the more personal stories, such as those inflicted by the Imperial Guard in my earlier years.

More specifically, I mentioned my journey from Ciella to Queen's City after living as a refugee for twelve long years. I was raised in a tent with my mother and brother, Robert before another man entered our lives. Soon, I had a half-sister, too. Our tent transformed into a sturdy, two-story house, but by then, we had collected enough money to move back into the big city. We left Ciella in the winter of 1995 and never turned back.

To my surprise, Nicolette found my story fascinating. I expected her to not care, but she proved me wrong. She is far different from the woman I first met out on the terrace with a poor attitude. She is engaging and had a plethora of amazing tales to disclose. She admits to not hiding behind her money like the rest of her family does, which I can respect.

My brain is starting to pound against my skull, especially after that third drink. I've had the wine from the patio and three glasses of whatever the hell I picked up on the bar on the way here. It's got to be some kind of liquor; nothing like I have ever tasted in my entire life. I took one bottle from the bartender at the end of the hall, and I've drunk every last drop of it. Nicolette has watched me indulge in it all, which is callow of me. Then again, she never once stopped me or asked me to pour some into her empty tumbler on the coffee table between us.

The fact is, I'm not exactly a lightweight. When I was poorly handling the vindictive situations of my early years, I would find solace at the bottom of a glass. Then two glasses. Then five. My record was eight before my wife, Abby, intimidated me into stopping as we were expecting Celestine in the next few months. So I came clean. I was sober for about seven years until my whole life fell apart again. And I was back to square one.

It shows just how fast everything you have ever known can evanesce.

Nicolette, the more abstinent of the both of us, inspects her fingernails, blotted a dark red to match her satin dress. "Where in the Empire have you been, Captain? You do a lot of traveling, right?"

"No, not necessarily. I probably explored all of Ciella when I was younger, and all my work in Queen's has allowed me to see every corner of the city. I've been to Glanz in the Meadowlands once, but that was for my job, too." I fold my leg and let my foot rest on my knee. "I'm going to guess you've seen the whole Empire and more, then."

"I've only been to the cities. I would travel with my father to his business meetings when he was still alive. I've seen all the cities at least ten times each." Her hands fall into her lap and she exhales. "Captain Manchester, you don't know what it feels like to have the world at your fingertips but you don't know what to do with it. As the owner of Binet Steel, I am the richest woman in the Empire. But that's money. I am not wealthy in the sense of life experience. I still have much to learn and see in Oltima."

"You and me, both, Miss Binet. I would toast to that, but I have drunk all of... whatever that was." I rise to my feet, maintaining stability to not increase speculation. "Excuse me while I fetch some more."

"By all means, Captain." She shoos me from the group of couches. "I will not be partaking, but I will not stop you."

I exit Cameron's chambers and pace down the corridor to a clearing. I don't seem to be stumbling over myself, which is a good sign. The bartender will tell partygoers that they cannot be served more booze in the event in which they are inebriated. The angry rich people become furious, threaten to ransack his bar, and turn violent. The man behind the counter will then call Keira, Levi, James, or I to subdue them from further damage. Long story short, if I want to acquire another bottle of that old shit I just drank, I need to keep a sober complexion.

I enter an outcove of the hallway, making a bar and lounge out of a little, open room. The bar counter is perched along the wall closest to the hallway, where the seasoned bartender wipes the inside of a glass with a grubby towel. The crimson walls that line these corridors shrink the room and give it an enticing quality. Perfect for the essence of these rooms in this wing of the Castle.

At one of the chairs along the opposite wall, a man sits with a woman on his lap, thrusting their faces against each other. His hands run down her back, covered by a black dress, as she has her fingers nestled in his hair. They don't have to do that out in the open. There are four bedrooms in this hallway alone; they could rent one out for a few hours. I pivot toward the bartender in disgust.

"Captain Manchester, hello." He places the sparkling glass below the counter. "What do you need?"

I lean over one of the stools, but my arm collapses heavier than I intend. "You got another bottle of that stuff you gave me earlier, whatever it is?"

He bends down and returns with a replica of the same booze. "I knew you'd come crawling back for more." He hands it to me, and I hold it with an ailing grip. "You enjoy yourself, now."

I tread back to Cameron's bedroom, trying to read the label on the bottle in the dim light so many feet above and on the wall beside me. My vision is whirling, though I manage to keep a steady balance. This is not ideal. If Nicolette sees me in this awful state, she'll start thinking I'm a ruse and leave without ever meeting with His Lordship. God only knows what the Hykas will do to me then.

"Wow, you are really something." A voice muses through a crack in a door to my left. Through my mellow state, I blunder toward the door, sloshing the boorish alcohol against the sides of the bottle. I hold my hand along the door frame and close one eye to peer in through the aperture made so carelessly by the occupants.

I catch the moment a woman's dress slips down her waist and to the carpet. She raises her arms to let her tied, brown hair loose and descends to the middle of her back. She approaches a young man, seated in a leather chair without a top on, either. Her hands caress his body from his broad shoulders to his hips, and he pulls her close to him.

"Him," being His Lordship, Cameron Hyka.

I retract from the doorway and start for my destination. I am in utter astonishment. The Emperor's son convinces me to chase down the woman he desires only to scope out another. I have known from the start that Cameron was a deceiver, but I never thought he would stoop so low to do this. If he still plans on meeting with Nicolette, he has about five minutes to finish with this other woman. Two o'clock is swiftly approaching.

What am I going to tell Nicolette? She has been anticipating his arrival since midnight, and now she'll be informed that all that waiting was for nothing. It may devastate her. Her annual practice of participating in the "culture" will have to be canceled this year.

Even though I resent this idea of sleeping with whoever you pick up at parties like these, I do feel a sense of pity for her. I am partially responsible for this, leading her on to believe that they were going to encounter each other at some point in the night. I thought that Cameron was telling the truth about wanting to see her, but it appears that I was wrong. That is the last time that I trust anything that boy says.

I falter into his chambers, occupied by a lone, blonde woman. She fiddles with her hair, gazing out the tremendous window to the dark world. One of her legs is crossed over the other while her right arm rests on the arm of the sofa. I approach our congregation and place the bottle on the table between us.

"You got it?" She smiles, bringing her attention to me as I slump into my spot across from her. "Are you going to drink that now?"

My hand streaks through strands of my hair. I can sense my forehead burning up and my face flush. "Not right this moment."

"You know, Captain, I was thinking about something while you were gone." She uncrosses her legs and leans into the side of the couch. "What is on the other end of the world? If I took a boat off the east coast and kept going, would I reach another empire like ours? Or would I just come to the west coast?"

"The thing is, Miss Binet,  that we never really know. The world is so vast that we haven't even begun to discover what else is out there. If there is another life, they could be very well looking for us, too. We just have to find each other."

"Do you think there is another kind of life out there? I mean humans, like us, but different?"

Different?

"Get up." A stiff blow to my stomach folds my body. "I said get up!"

I open my upper eye and peek up at my attacker. I can feel tears falling over the bridge of my nose and splattering on to concrete. I have no power to move. I haven't eaten in a day. "Please stop, I can't get up."

His arm lights up by that notorious letter under his elbow. That sea green is the only color I have seen in what seems like weeks. Then again, I have no means of determining the passage of time.

He thrusts me upright to the point where I'm levitating. My head is closer to the stone ceiling of my cell than my feet are from where I just suffered. A blast of air sends me flying away from him, and my back crashes against the far wall. I collapse to the floor again.

"Brian?"

I blink several times before seeing Nicolette Binet again. She stares at me intently. "Are you all right? You appeared to be in a trance."

I sigh, stroking my hands down my face. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Did you hear my question?"

"I did." I lean back in the sofa and rest my arms by my side. "There are certainly different things out there. But I don't think they're human."

The grandfather clock bellows throughout the quarters, bouncing off the walls and glass panel. Nicolette and I are the only ones in here. Besides the various photographs scattered throughout the space, there is no sign of Cameron Hyka. He is probably still absorbed with that other noblewoman in the separate room. Meanwhile, Miss Binet is still passionately awaiting his entrance. It won't come.

She tilts her head at me. "Where is that man? It's two a.m and he isn't here yet. Do you think he's on his way, Captain?"

I glare at the door, sealed shut. That jackass. "I'm sorry, Miss Binet. He isn't coming."

"What do you mean?" Nicolette gazes at me, bewildered. "Did you lie to me?"

"No, I'm telling the truth. Lord Cameron asked for your presence initially. When I walked out to the bar just now, I saw him settling down with another woman." I can't bear to look her in the eyes as I confess. This is my fault. "I'm sorry. I never expected this to happen."

"So I waited all this time for nothing?"

I breathe out, my headache dwindling. "Yes, I guess you did."

She straightens herself from the couch, adjusting the straps on her shoulders. She clenches her jaw with her lips pursed. Her intense, dark eyes are sparked by a flame as she walks toward me. I tense my muscles, awaiting an acute strike for wasting her precious time.

Instead of implementing ferocity, she tinkers with the record player besides me. Her vision is guided at all the discs housed along the side of the instrument, investigating each piece. Her fine fingers separate each record as she decides on one to enjoy for however much longer she plans on staying in this room.

"What are you looking for?" I peer into the container holding all the discs. There have to be over one hundred records in here. Whatever her taste is, she's bound to find it. It'll take some time, though.

She reaches for my face, touching my cheek with her free hand. Her fingers are gentle and smooth against my weathered skin. Her hand strokes down to my neck before she releases me.

The corner of her cherry lips rise. She meets her alluring gaze with mine. "Something we can enjoy for a while."