Within the Universe

ONE - CALLIE

Callie Price had been locked in a jail cell on the moon for nearly a month now. She hadn’t been allowed to bathe, she wasn’t given a change of clothes, and at this point, she was sure she had new strains of bacteria growing on her. She was certain she was going to rot in that damn cell. She had no family, no friends, and most importantly, no one that would be willing to pay her very hefty bail. Who knew treason was such a punishable offense.
“Price!” She jumped, it was her guard. The same one who hit her in the abdomen with a large club earlier in the week. She was not fond of him. He opened her door and said, “Stand up idiot, your bail is paid. You’re out.”
“This isn’t right… I don’t have anyone that wo-” he raised his club at her and she winced.
“Now! Get moving!” Who in the hell had come to free her? The guard shoved her, nearly knocking her over as she walked to the front of the jail.Standing there was one of the most beautiful girls Callie had ever seen. She was short, yet regal, with long, black curly hair spilling over her shoulders, caramel colored skin, warm eyes, and glowing gold dots making a trail from her hairline, starting above where her eyebrows began, and ending under her eyes.
“We’re all set?” The girl asked. Her eyes seemed to challenge the guard, demand respect from him. She had a small entourage of equally beautiful people around her, two women and a young man, all with similar markings,
“Take the bitch and go.” The guard said, shoving her forward and causing Callie to fall to her knees. The other girl looked angry, but said nothing. She offered a hand to Callie, helping her to her feet.
“Let’s go. It’s not safe to talk here.” She whispered.
“Can I at least know your names?” Callie asked. She was processing a lot right then.
“I am Camila, the woman on the right is Helena,” she said, gesturing to a woman in her late twenties, with her dark hair pulled into a tight bun and three glowing, gold dots on each of her cheek bones. “The woman on the left is Caroline,”she nodded at a second woman, her dark hair creating a halo effect and cutting off at her collar bones. One glowing gold dot shined in the outer corners of her eyes against her caramel skin. “And his name is Michael.” His hiair was short and loosely curly, his markings matching Caroline’s.
They walked away from the jail in an awkward silence. Michael walked in the front of the group, leading them to a worn down motel. Lunar Inn flashed in bright letters above the front door. After finding their room on the second floor, Callie finally broke.
“Soooo… why did you pay my bail and bring me to a shady motel? Not that I don’t appreciate it, I totally do, but I’m just a little confused.” It was like word vomit out if Callie’s mouth, but the group got the point.
“We hear you were arrested for treason against the Sovereign Union of Jupiter” Camila said, sitting on one of three unmade beds.
“I guess technically,” Callie shrugged, “I was providing transport to a rebel, we got caught, she got killed, I got jail.”
“Jolene Maxwell.” Helena said matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I was bringing her to Mercury and-” Callie cut off suddenly, eyes widening. “Are you Camila as in princess Camila? Of Mercury? Like rebel-planet-bad-ass-Jupiter-hating princess Camila of Mercury?”
“I guess you could call me that.” Camila smirked.
“Okay… okay what do you need with me then?”
“We need a pilot. We usually only use self flying ships, but they’ve become less and less reliable. We believe Jupiter is interfering with our autopilot signals. That’s when we heard of you flying Jolene from Pluto to us. You help the rebels all the time according to our sources.” The other girl replied.
“Yeah, they treat me well… I make the flight from Pluto to Mercury all the time. This was my first major slip up. My co-pilot, she gave me up.” Callie pursed her lips, holding back tears. “So, where do you need me to take you?”
“Pluto, to meet with their royal family. They’re the last rebel planet base, apart from Mercury.” Michael said. His voice scared Callie, she’d never heard him speak.
“Are you aware of my flight path and all the stops I make?”
“Of course,” Camila said, “We stop at Ceres after the first day for rest and fuel, then Saturn the next day, and then Neptune after that. On the fourth day we fly the rest of the way to Pluto.”
“And you have a ship?” Callie asked.
“The best Mercury can offer.” Caroline responded. Callie noticed that she and Michael held hands, and seemed to be sharing one of the three beds.
“Last thing, do you have any new clothes I can wear?”
“Of course,” Camila laughed. “We were able to get your clothes from your ship when Nessa wasn’t on board.” Callie flinched at the name of her former co-pilot. She’d given her up to Jupiter after working together for years.
“Fantastic. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow. You need rest. In a real bed. Sleeping on the floor is no good for the spine.” Camila said. “We can share a bed. Helena kicks in her sleep.”
“Wow. I never thought I’d share a bed with a princess.”
“Life is full of surprises.” Camila smirked.
Helena gave Callie a bag full of her old clothes. She picked out a comfortable pair of black pants a dark blue short sleeved tunic shirt and changed in the bathroom. She relished the way the clean, soft fabric felt in comparison to her old dirty clothes. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her face looked thinner, and her collar bones seemed to protrude from her skin. Her auburn hair looked dull. Her glowing silver tattoos that stretched across her chest, back, and arms made look more gaunt with their glow. She looked nearly dead.
“Where did those tattoos come from?” Callie jumped. Camila had walked into the bathroom.
“Nowhere important.” Callie smiled. Camila touched Callie’s arm, tracing one of the winding lines to her wrist. It made Callie shiver.
“They’re beautiful.”
“They’re garish.”
“There’s obviously a history behind them that I don’t know.” Camila raised an eyebrow.
“In good time, love, in good time.” Callie offered a hollow smile. Her past was a book she preferred to keep closed. “I’m exhausted now, so I’ll shower in the morning. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. You’ve been through hell. You deserve sleep.”
“Do you ever think we’re too young to be going through this insanity?” Callie asked solemnly. “I mean, I’m only eighteen. You look young. This is a lot to handle, right?”
“I’m nineteen. And I’m used to it, I guess. My life has always been insanity, I’m technically royalty. That’s what my tattoos mean.”
“It’s funny you’re older than me. You’re so short.” It was true. Camila was about 5’0, and Callie was about 5’8.
“Small and mighty. I could kick your ass.”
“Right now, anyone could kick my ass. A soft breeze could kick my ass. I am exhausted.”
“Then let's go to bed. We’ve a long trip ahead of us.”
They settled into bed for the night, but Callie could hardly sleep. She was sharing a bed with a gorgeous princess. It shouldn’t be extremely distracting, but it was. Princesses didn’t like girls anyway, right?