What's Next Your Highness

We were escorted down a long hallway that took many twists and turns almost like a maze. There was no way we could have found our way out of there had we escaped. Yet again, there was no place to escape to. We came to a small doorway at the end of a hallway. It was so narrow we had to turn sideways to slip through. The guards closed and secured the door behind us.

To my surprise I found that we were in a very large apartment. It was a pleasant space with sofas, a couch, even a large food processor standing in the corner, Down the hallway to the left was a bathroom and a bedroom across from that. I turned and looked at Darla. I frowned.

“What’s next, Your Highness? Why didn’t you tell me that we were getting married?”

“I was going to tell you like I told him.”

“Byron?”

“Yes him, the robot, or Artificial Life Form, if you’d like. He just beat me to it. You see how it saved my life though, don’t you? We are joined. You are responsible for my life now and I for yours. You’ve saved the Royal Family. Doesn’t that make you happy?” I just frowned as she plopped down on the nearby sofa. “Now go get me something to drink out of the processor. Your choice.” I frowned even more.

“No. I’ll get you something, since we’re married now and we own each other.” Her sourpuss broke into a big grin as she got up from the sofa and headed to the food processor.

“First time I ever saw your lazy ass do anything for someone else,” I said, following her with my eyes and plopping down on the sofa myself.

“You’ll fit in well with the Royal Family,” she said. “The proper response when someone gets you something is to say thank you.” She hit a button on the processor. Two glasses fell to the bottom of the machine and I could hear them being filled with liquid. She removed them and headed in my direction. She handed me one and sat on the sofa beside me “We’ll consummate the marriage later, whenever I feel like it.”

“Ha. I can find somebody else before that happens.”

“That is against the law. You are married. You better start being nice to me or you are going to be celibate for a long time.” She held up her glass. “A toast to young love?” I frowned and she laughed with delight.

***

There she was, sitting around the house half naked again. She never did before, why was she now? I sat in the chair opposite the sofa she was sitting on. She was reading again.

“Why do the ALFs keep calling me to meetings?” I asked. “You are the Empress, not me.”

“They like you better,” She said. “And I told them I had relinquished all my power to you,” She said, looking up and grinning.

“Why’d you do that?’

“Because I have, Dear. You are my husband, aren’t you?”

“Am I? It really doesn’t seem like it.”

“Oh. You are burning again, are you? That’s so sad.”

“Darla.”

“We’ll take care of it soon. Tonight maybe. Come home tonight ready.” I frowned. “What? Do you think I’m lying? Come home ready, OK? I’m not made of stone.” I didn’t say a word. “Good response,” She said.

"They’re buzzing me again,”

“Well I think you better go. Pick up the pieces. Save the universe. Let them know the Royal Family supports their decision.”

“Your brother is still alive, you know. I’ve been meeting with him. What a fun guy.”

“I’m sure he is. He is, how do you Earth people say it, ‘a chip off the old block?’”

I shook my head. I didn’t know where she got all those ancient sayings. I didn’t know what she was talking about half the time. I got up and headed for the door.

“Toot a fucking loo,” She said. That I understood. It had been almost three months and that heifer wouldn’t let me touch her. What had I expected? She was a snake and very much not human.

***

The hallway was empty, as usual, as I made my way toward the meeting space. It was still a maze, but like a trained rat I had learned to make my way through it pretty adeptly. We weren’t prisoners anymore, we were free–supposedly. I still had to work to help calm the organic humans. They were angry and hurt because they had been overthrown and had learned that they were nowhere close to superior. Not only them, but most organic lifeforms had made the same discovery. The whole world had shifted.

How were things at the grassroots level? Perfect. That is what even hurt the humans and their corrupt leaders more. For many millennia they had tried to create worlds and a universe of peace and freedom and couldn't. It took AI to do it very quickly. I guess the problem was that technology had been evolving among the organics for many billions of years while the minds and mentalities of the organics had been frozen.

Their brains had only developed to attain what they desired, not to help the species move to a higher place. The reptilian brain could not get what it wanted so the mammalian brain evolved so the species could get what it wanted in a more cooperative way. And then the cerebral cortex, which was capable of all kinds of thinking and abstract capabilities evolved, but only to get what the species wanted in a more manipulative way. What did not change through evolution was the fear, the selfishness, the greed, and the tendency to rationalize to fulfill one’s self interest. I wondered if the AI would eventually move in the same direction.

I arrived at the meeting room and took a deep breath before entering. I knew I would have to do a lot of telepathic communication as well as verbal. I didn’t look forward to it. And of course there he was, Prince Toma, my new brother in-law from the rude, imperial family. He always seemed to be smiling at me, but it seemed that he was laughing. It was no different that day. I came in and took my designated seat wondering why I was there.

Emperor by marriage, said a voice entering my head from. I looked around the table and met the prince's eyes. He grinned. “That’s why you are here,” he sent

“This is your job, or her job,” I sent back. He laughed out loud and responded, mentally, “No one wants to do that. Welcome to the family…Your Highness. I did my stretch when Darla disappeared.” It was my turn to frown. The others sitting at the table looked back and forth between us. Byron cleared his throat. Our attention turned to him.

“Any reports?” Everyone was silent. “That’s good news. Things seem to have settled faster than we expected.” He turned to me. “Now what do we do with you?” A woman sitting beside him with bright green hair and yellow eyes looked at me, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. Two more ALFs who looked somewhat more conservative, a man with dark hair and a beard and a woman with dark skin and short hair cut waited.

“There is always death,” I said. Toma burst out laughing.

“That’s a little extreme,” the Green haired ALF said.

“A little,” Byron said. “You are the Royal Family after all. I think we need to send you back to your home planet.”

“Earth?” I asked.

“No. The center of the empire, not Earth.”

“I think so too,” the Dark woman agreed.

“Seems we have consensus,” Byron said. “You will be returned to the emperor's palace. Any questions?”

“Yes, what do you think Darla will say about that?”

“That’s not important,” Byron said. Prince Toma just shook his head.

“What are your thoughts, Prince?” I asked.

“Just call me Toma. We are after all family,” He grinned. “I’m ready to go anywhere as long as we don’t get killed or locked up.”

“You’re easy,” I said.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“Yes, you will,” Byron said. “We are going to shut this meeting down for now. All other communication will be done through our links. Ladies, Gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned.” He turned to me. “Be prepared to go by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Isn’t that kind of sudden?”

“Yes. We will see you then.” They all stood, except for Toma, and marched out. I looked at him aghast.

“What the Hell?” I asked. He got up and moved to the seat right across from me.

“You will find, Berry, that the world out here is very different. Sometimes you have to go with the flow because most things don’t really make a difference. You live here, you live on Earth, you live on the Emperor Planet, it won’t make a difference because you are part of the Emperor’s family now and your life is going to be the same ‘everywhere.” He spread his hands. “Why do you think we are all so pissed off?”

“So let’s go back to your place and have a drink.”

“I’d rather go somewhere else. I’m supposed to get laid tonight.”

“Good luck with that,” he said. “I found a small bar in that catacomb. Let’s go there. You down?”

“I sure am.” I need a drink. We headed out to my first adventure in a bar on the planet Terribundi. I had a few drinks and returned home not knowing what to expect. There she was, sitting on the sofa half dressed, again. This time there were two glasses of pink champagne sitting in front of her on the coffee table. She stood when I came in.

“Thought you were afraid to come home,” she said with a genuine smile on her face. She gave me a wink and sat back down. She patted the area beside her. “Take a seat, have some champagne and we will consummate.” She took a sip. “This is one of the few things that your planet offers that most of the universe doesn’t. And it's good.” I sat beside her and raised a glass. We clinked glasses.

“A toast to us,” she said. I took a sip and blacked out. When I opened my eyes I was tied down spread-eagle to the bed.

“Time to consummate,” She said standing over me. And then, I don’t even want to mention what happened.

Finally

End Part 5