Bethany’s screams echoed through the room, and someone else screamed too. Lights suddenly came on, and Bethany saw a tray tumbling out of Snia’s hands. Lizzy burst in the door.

“What’s going on? Is everything all right?”

Snia put a hand to her heart. “It’s fine, Bethany just scared me, that’s all.”

Bethany tried to get her panicked breathing under control. There wasn’t anyone coming to attack her. It was just Snia.

Snia glanced down at the tray of what looked like breakfast, but was now face down on the floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were awake.”

“It’s – it’s ok. I just got a fright.”

Lizzy leaned down to clean up the mess. “It’s all right. How are you feeling?”

“Ok, I think. Just shaken.”

“Of course you are. The doctors say you need care and rest. I’ll go and get some more food.”

Bethany moved so that she was sitting up against the headboard. “How long have I been asleep?”

Lizzy looked at the clock. “About a day. The doctors will be relieved. I think they worried Klowix would strangle them if you didn’t wake up soon.”

Bethany grinned. That sounded like Klowix. “Where is he?”

“He’s at work. As you can imagine, you wouldn’t want to be one of the protesters right now. He’s not exactly happy with them.”

“It wasn’t all of them. I mean, there were the violent ones that broke in here and kidnapped me, but there are also some that are just expressing their opinion without hurting anyone.”

“And do you think Klowix is going to see that distinction?”

Bethany remembered him bursting in and raining death on everyone who had dared touch her. “I guess not. Still, won’t he get into trouble?”

“He’s the commander of the army, he can do what he wants.”

Bethany tried to hide her disappointment that Klowix wasn’t there.

Lizzy reassured her. “He’ll be back in no time. He’ll be mad he wasn’t here when you woke up. You should have heard him trying to get an exact answer out of the doctors for when you would wake. They didn’t want to tell him that they couldn’t know for sure. You know how he gets.”

Snia came back with a tray bearing a modest breakfast. Bethany dug in at once, but soon found that she was full, and let Snia and Lizzy take the rest.

“Where’s everyone else? They’re ok, right?”

“They’re all fine. You’re just not supposed to be overwhelmed by too many visitors at once.”

“That’s stupid. I want to see everyone.”

“It’s not your head Klowix will have if we disobey his orders.”

Bethany gave in. “Fine, then can you bring Culip? I need to thank her.”

“Of course.” Snia stood up. “She was amazing, while the rest of us were acting like maniacs, she was the one who actually did something that helped you.”

Culip cautiously came in, moving slowly, as though worried about frightening Bethany. She guessed everyone had heard the scream and crash, and would be more careful for a while.

“Culip!” Bethany pulled her into a hug. “You saved me. Thank you.”

Culip shrugged. “It was more Klowix than me. Remember, he was the one who had those chips installed all over the house. He really thinks of everything.”

“Still, if you hadn’t kept a clear head and gotten it to me, I might still be in the hands of those monsters.”

Culip shuddered. “You’re safe now. That’s all that matters. You should get some rest.”

Bethany didn’t want to rest, she wanted to assure herself that her friends were all right. She could already feel her eyelids drooping, though. She guessed being kidnapped took a lot more energy than she’d realized. She could hear Culip and Lizzy talking in the background, but couldn’t make out their words as she let herself drift off.

Bethany awoke with a start when she heard the door opening. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but she recognized Klowix’s voice. He must be back from work.

She got up, a bit unsteady on her feet, and made her way to the bedroom door. Klowix intercepted her before she could get out.

“You should be in bed.” He smoothly picked her up, carried her to the bed, and pulled his chair close so that he was right by her side.

“I’ve upgraded security. No one intending harm will get inside here again. You have my word on that.”

Bethany nodded. She wasn’t that concerned with security at the moment. “How are you, though? It sounds like things have been pretty stressful for you recently.”

Klowix’s voice rose a little in anger. “Some people should not be given an equal say. They are still protesting – still! After what those monsters did, they should be cowering in shame, but they have the nerve to try to bring the case before the king. They want him to do something about the humans on Telion.”

“Do something about them? What does that mean?”

“It’s not going to mean anything, because I’m going to stop such foolishness before it has a chance to get any further than it already has. To be safe, though, I’m going to send the human girls home.”

“Oh.” Bethany felt a pang of sadness for her friends. She’d miss them.

Klowix shook his head. “I don’t need anyone else. It’s pretty obvious at this point that my choice is you.”

Bethany smiled. That was what she wanted to hear. “The Evions are staying, though?”

“Yes, if they wish to. I know that you are all happy here. Once the trouble here has passed, the humans will be welcome to come back. I’m thinking of offering Culip a position in the army; we could use someone with her intelligence.”

“She is amazing. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t slipped me that chip.”

Klowix was confident. “I would have found you, but even at that, it may have taken longer, which could have spelled disaster. She did well.”

Klowix brushed a hand over her neck, and Bethany’s eyes slipped closed as she felt the pull of her essence moving towards him. It was brief and sweet, and as relieved as she was when he stopped, she ached for more.

“I want to do something special with them, to say goodbye.”

“How about some shopping?”

Though Klowix didn’t smile, Bethany thought she saw a twinkle in his eyes.

“Culip would like that – but no, not shopping. She’ll be able to do as much shopping as she wants when she leaves. I don’t know, I’ll talk to them, see what they want to do.”

Bethany smiled at him.

Klowix went on. “You may do whatever you wish, as long as it doesn’t compromise your safety. We need to be careful. Decide on your goodbye; I want to have the other humans off planet as soon as possible.”

“Have you told them yet?”

“Not yet. I will do so tonight at dinner.”

Bethany nodded. She and Klowix sat in silence for a while. She wondered if she dared ask him what he did to the remaining protesters. Deciding she didn’t dare, she remained quiet.

* * *

“Ugh. Is it morning already?”

Ruth was pale and her eyes were puffy. The rest of them looked no better. “Perhaps we overdid it a little.”

Snia looked even worse than Ruth. “A little? The next time you want to educate me on how humans celebrate, remind me to run for the hills.”

Trili moaned. “Why is that stuff even legal on earth? And how did Klowix even get it through customs? I can’t see them letting in poison.”

Lizzy protested. “Alcohol isn’t poison. Well, not exactly.”

Beoli disagreed. “It’s poison. I can’t believe you let us drink that stuff.”

“She has a point.” Anna sat holding her head in her hands.

Culip clearly remembered it differently. “Come on, it was fun last night. I’ve never enjoyed dancing that much.”

“So not worth it.” Everyone nodded limply. Bethany was half wishing Klowix hadn’t decided she was well enough to go and celebrate her last night with her friends. Sure, it had been amazing, but now she felt like her head would explode.

Everyone winced when the doorbell rang. Trili staggered off to get it and came back with Dr. Yie, who muttered disapprovingly.

“Humans. I can’t believe Klowix allowed this; he usually has more sense. Nothing to be done now, though. Come on, everyone over here.”

“What?” Bethany was sure that if she moved, she was going to throw up.

Dr. Yie shot them all an incredulous look. “Surely, you didn’t think that Klowix would allow you to ingest poison without having the antidote ready?”

“There’s an antidote to hangovers?”

“Of course. Alcohol is a rather simple poison. The antidote really isn’t that difficult.”

Lizzy spoke right up. “If you ever want to make your fortune, go sell that on earth. I promise, you’ll be the richest man on the planet.”

Dr. Yie just shook his head and poured a thick, smooth liquid from his flask into eight different glasses. Everyone took a glass and drank silently.

The liquid was cold, almost painfully so, but the moment she swallowed it, every pain in Bethany’s body seemed to disappear at once. It was incredible.

“Everyone feeling better? No side effects?”

They all shook their heads. “Well, I hope you’ve learned your lesson about poisons for recreational use.”

Though she knew that only seconds ago, she had been feeling like she wanted to die, Bethany couldn’t recall the feeling. Now she felt amazing.

Lizzy, Anna, and Ruth had their bags packed and sitting by the door. Though she’d known them for less than a year, Bethany felt like she was losing a part of her family.

She turned to Ruth and held back tears. “You’ll stay in touch?”

“Every day. You as well. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Or perhaps we can arrange to meet somewhere else, maybe on one of the tourist planets.”

Bethany loved the idea. “That would be amazing. I’d love to see more of the universe.”

Klowix had gone to bed long before they got back from their party, but he appeared now to see them off. “Thank you for coming. It has been an honor getting to know you.”

Anna nodded. “You as well, Commander. I hope you find someone to give you massages.”

“Perhaps I will wait for you to return.”

Anna seemed to like that. “Perhaps.”

Klowix shook hands with all three of them, and Bethany and her friends hugged one last time before what was likely to be a long separation.

“Wait, before we go.” Trili pushed some buttons on a T-screen, which started a little motor and hovered in midair. “Smile!”

There was a flash as they all beamed into the screen. Bethany beckoned Klowix and he ducked in with all of them for another photo. There was a whirring sound, and eighteen square pieces of paper flew out of a small slit on the screen’s side. Everyone took their copies. Bethany held hers to her chest. When would she be with all of them again?

There were more tears and hugs until finally, it was time to go. Klowix went with them, intending to personally escort them to the planet’s edge, where they would be safe.

Bethany, Trili, Snia, Beoli, and Culip all sat around in the lounge, feeling a bit dejected. Bethany wished Klowix would get back.

Trili eventually spoke up. “We shouldn’t be sad. It’s not like we won’t see them again, and besides, this is what we all wanted eventually. With the compensation they’re getting from Klowix, they can do whatever they want.”

Culip sounded hopeful. “I wonder what they’ll do.”

Bethany teased her. “Yeah, because none of us knows what you’ll do.”

Culip’s eyes brightened. “Have you ever heard of Yentri?”

“No, what’s that?”

“It’s a shopping planet. Literally every inch of it is devoted to commerce. You could spend years there, and you’d never even see a sampling of everything they have to offer.”

“So I guess when we don’t hear from you for five years, we should send a rescue mission there – thanks for the heads-up.”

“We’ll probably find her being courted by every store owner on the planet.”

“Oh, I will be. They will grow to love me.”

The morning passed in an amicable fashion as they chatted, then had lunch. After lunch, Bethany wandered off to do her own thing. She spent some time reading, and took a while looking up Yentri. It seemed like everything Culip said it was.

When night began to fall, Bethany eagerly waited at the door for Klowix. Like a clockwork, he always arrived home at exactly the same time.

The time came and went. Klowix didn’t come in.

Bethany sent him a message on his T-screen, but got no response. It didn’t even show as read.

“Has this ever happened before?”

“No, never. At least, not without him telling us he’ll be late. I’m sure he’ll be home soon, though.”

Bethany tried to focus on other things, but she couldn’t help her eyes moving to the door every few minutes. Where was he? What if the protesters had attacked him? Klowix was a formidable warrior, but if hundreds of them jumped him at once…

“He’ll be fine.” Beoli sounded sure, but her brow was furrowed in worry.

“What if something has happened to him? Is there anyone we can call to find out?”

Trili shook her head. “He never gave us emergency contacts for him. We’ve got lines for hospital or law enforcement, that kind of thing, but he never told us what to do if he might be in trouble.”

That night, Bethany barely slept. She was listening for the sound of a door opening. It never came.

The next morning, when Klowix still hadn’t arrived, Bethany really started to panic. The only reason she didn’t go out searching for him was because Snia hid the keys to the hover car, telling her it was way too dangerous to go out with so much unrest still about.

Bethany called Klowix on his T-screen again and again, but there was never any answer. She knew she shouldn’t be this upset, that Klowix could take care of himself, but she couldn’t help it. She was afraid for him.