Space Cadets

If I jumped out that window I wonder if anyone would notice. It would probably liven this dinner party up.

Eliza was staring into her bowl of soup as the queen’s nephew prattled on in a nasally voice about the crop yields on Hox, the planet that produced most of the galaxy’s vegetables. Eliza had been accused of being a walking encyclopedia of things no one wanted to hear about a few times in her life, but even she was bored to tears listening to this. Instead of being in charge of agriculture, they should’ve put this guy in charge of criminal interrogations. This was absolute torture.

Finally Queen Korinne cleared her throat and politely said, “Tobert, my dear, I’m very glad to hear that the irrigation methods are working so well but perhaps our guests would like to discuss other things?”

Eliza could’ve flung herself over the table and kissed the queen in thanks.

“I do hope that the events today won’t ruin your entire trip or make you think badly of our little planet,” Korinne said. “I assure you we’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“We’re very happy to be here,” Gabriella assured her. “It was very gracious of you to invite us along, and volunteering to assign members of your own guard! We’ve heard that Zenian guardsmen are expertly trained. It’s quite generous of you.”

“It’s the least I could do under the circumstances.”

Eliza sensed that under the obligatory pleasantries, the queen really was deeply troubled by the attack. All the gathered members of the royal family seemed upset, aside from Veggie Man; who just kept muttering to himself about carrots. With the queen’s celebration coming up, along with the annual spring festival to honor the patron goddess of the Zenix Galaxy, there were more and more people coming into the capital every day and even the most extended of the royal family members had been trickling in too. Besides the queen and king, their four children, and the boring nephew, there was the queen’s young cousin sitting at the opposite end of the table from where Eliza was; staring moodily into his plate. It wasn’t surprising that everyone would feel a little on edge after the explosion, even if it hadn’t even come close to harming any actual royalty.

The Rothchild family seemed to be the intended target, which made little sense to Eliza. And now, thanks to the idiot who had staged the attack, she had to be tailed around by some annoying Zenian guard. She managed to make it through dinner without jumping out any windows and retired to her room. They were meeting their assigned guards in the morning, since the queen had insisted on granting them her own security. Her father’s usual team of security would be assisting the palace guards not on Rothchild Duty with patrols and safeguarding the palace during the festivities.

In the morning Eliza dragged herself out of bed and threw on a blouse over a pair of leggings and comfortable boots. Bombs or no bombs she wasn’t wasting all her time on Zenia holed up in the palace. Her father came to collect her and her sisters from their rooms and they all made their way to one of the fancy tea rooms, where the Zenian guards were waiting. Bianca and Jocelyn entered the room first and Eliza rolled her eyes with intense force at the way everyone assembled in the room straightened up and gawked at them. Her sisters smiled and murmured polite greetings, pretending they didn’t notice the attention. Always on their best behavior when Mom and Dad were present. Eliza trailed in on her parents’ heels, her mood dark.

Some general gave them a fine spiel about how it was such an honor to serve them, and they’d do everything in their power to protect them. Then he gestured to the other assembled guards; there was one for each member of the Rothchild family. He gave her parents their guards first, and her sisters giggled slightly behind their hands when they were assigned two young men, and the men looked thrilled.

“There was a third daughter, wasn’t there?” the general asked, realizing one guard remained. Temper flaring, Eliza eased away from the door where she’d been standing.

“I’m right here,” she said, loudly and peevishly. Her father shot her a look so she refrained from saying anything else.

“Oh, of course. My apologies. Eliza, isn’t it? Colin, you’re with Eliza.”

The man stepped forward, giving the general a quick salute and walking over to stand near Eliza.

“You are to remain with your designated Rothchild, particularly outside the palace walls. Be on the lookout always, and if you see anything suspicious report it immediately to myself or one of the other generals of the guard. Remain professional, and do not do anything to embarrass this uniform. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Sir,” the guards replied automatically. The general nodded and left, closely followed by Eliza’s parents. Bianca and Jocelyn immediately began acting coy with their guards. Eliza spun in her heel and marched out of the room. Colin easily kept up with her.

“So, uh, Eliza, right? It’s nice to meet you.”

“Uh huh.” Eliza made her way back to her room, grabbing her satchel bag full of snacks, money, her comm-screen, and some books.

“I thought we could do a tour of the palace, to learn the layout and where everything is, so that-“

“No.” Eliza adjusted the strap on her bag and pushed past him. “I’m going out.”

“Are you sure that’s really the best idea, I mean the attack just happened yesterday-“

“Listen, Pretty Boy, I’m going to make this really simple. I don’t wanna be here, you don’t wanna be here. An average girl is easy to lose in a crowd of people. Why don’t you go find something better to do and leave to my own devices, hmm? I can assure you no one is going out of their way to murder me.”

He looked startled and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well, the thing is, this assignment is pretty important. The general would probably skin me alive for shirking my duties. So wherever you go, I’m going too.”

Eliza gave him a withering glare. “So you’re gonna play this the hard way. Okay.”

She resumed her walk out of the palace and Colin diligently followed her. Eliza walked out of the palace gates and out into the city. She drew more attention than she normally would have; people recognized the Zenian guard uniform and a gaggle of teenage girls batted their lashes at Colin as they walked by. Eliza turned left and headed into the very busy, very crowded marketplace. She stopped and pretended to admire a crate of citrus fruits. She “accidentally” dropped one and Colin swooped to catch it before it rolled away.

Eliza ducked under the fruit seller’s stall while his back was turned and crawled like her life depended on it. She actually got away with it for a while, scurrying along under the tables like a stray cat, but then she scared a woman who was haggling over a bracelet.

“I think a rat just touched my foot!” she shrieked, flailing away from the table. The vendor leaned down and looked shocked to find Eliza there. She waved.

“Um, hi. I’m just trying to hide from someone, so if you could-“

“Really?” Colin appeared next to the vendor, his expression an almost comical combination of exasperation and befuddlement. Eliza huffed and climbed out from under the table, brushing off the knees of her pants. The woman who had so rudely accused her of being a rat was giving her a dirty look. Eliza ignored her and continued through the market. Colin stuck to her like glue.

“You know it’s my job to keep an eye on you and make sure you’re safe, right? You’re not just going to sneak away by crawling under tables.”

“I am safe,” Eliza griped. “The only reason we’re even drawing any attention here is because you’re here. If I was alone, no one would notice me at all. I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“Well, I do my job, so you’ve got one. And for the record we’re drawing attention because you were crawling under tables.”

“Which I wouldn’t have had to do if I wasn’t here with you.”

“You really didn’t have to do it at all.”

“It was worth a shot,” she muttered. Escape plan foiled, she decided to get on with her plans for the day. Maybe if she wore him ragged enough, her new shadow would beg for a different assignment and she could spend her vacation alone after all.