As they collectively made their way through the corridor, Zoe picked up bits of their conversations, trying to put the pieces together into a cohesive narrative. Most didn’t know what was happening. Some speculated after the Queen and King’s health while others grumbled their disdain for having to come back earlier than planned. She heard one woman’s voice say Eva’s name, followed by Evander’s. No one seemed to look twice at Zoe.
A great hall opened up before them as they stepped from the corridor. Lines of people dressed in the form fitting clothes were queued up to board what Zoe presumed was a line of trains, each one stretching out into even longer glass corridors.
“This is the Transport Station,” Eva whispered in Zoe’s ear. “Usually only those who work for the Crown, or residents who are traveling by way of the gates, come through here. It looks like everyone is being sent back to their private residences.” There was a thread of worry in Eva’s voice. As they walked briskly through the enormous building she noticed uniformed security - the military perhaps - guarding every entrance and exit. A group of young women in long purple dresses with elaborate hair designs walked among the crowd, their chins held up high and backs razor-straight as they moved.
Many seemed to recognize Eva as she escorted Zoe through the room, most of them then turning to whisper to the person standing next to them. Few looked directly at Zoe.
Another corridor brought them into a yet larger hall, two walls of glass on either side displaying panoramic views of a lush tropical forest. Miles of dark green trees spread out around them, vines languishing between the great branches.
“This is our Government Center,” Eva continued in a whisper. “Everyone who works for the Crown is based here, except for the Crown Soldiers. They like to make it look peaceful here, hence the trees,” Eva nodded to the glass windows.
“They aren’t real?” Zoe asked.
“Pretty convincing, isn’t it? All of the glass is programmable, so you can create any view you like. Evan’s room always looks like whatever universe he’s just come from.”
Zoe felt her face pick up at the mention of Evan. She swallowed and tried to abate the butterflies forming in her stomach.
“I don’t know if he’s there right now,” Eva remarked, as though answering Zoe’s unspoken thoughts.
“Of course. I wasn’t...” Zoe’s head shook. “He doesn’t even know I’m here, right?”
Eva gave a side-glance to her, a bit of a smile on her lips. “Come on. We’re almost there.”
They walked to two large and imposing doors, each one sleek with oversized ornate glass handles. A line of Soldiers stood beside each door, the first two on either side eyeing both Eva and Zoe. They opened the doors without question, revealing a third large room, the smallest of the three but the most impressive. One glass wall looked out into a dark abyss of space, stars and galaxies stretching out infinitely into the distance. The celestial bodies themselves seemed to ebb with light, a subtle twinkling that made Zoe feel slightly ill from the perceived height and depth. “What is this room?” she asked, not daring to raise her voice higher than a reverent whisper.
Eva’s pace slowed significantly, her head leaning in close to Zoe’s hear. “This is the Throne Room. See those doors up ahead?” Zoe’s gaze followed were Eva discreetly pointed, to two more large doors guarded with fewer Soldiers. “That’s our residence.”
Zoe’s eyes moved to her right where another set of doors, far more commanding and imposing than any of the previous, stood ensconced in a great wall of steel.
“And there?”
Eva nodded to the soldiers standing outside the doors to her residence, thanking them as they opened the doors. “That’s the Straton Residence. Where the Queen and King live,” she whispered.
Chapter 14: The Two Nero’s
Evan poked at his food in silence, moving the contents of the plate around aimlessly. His mind was back on Earth, in Santa Barbara, with Zoe Thanatos. He tried to imagine how it was possible that she had gone to Earth without knowing it. Did someone send or bring her there? And when?
In his memories he could just barely make out the original family, often playing with their children when he was just a boy. He couldn’t see their faces, didn’t know if they were boys or girls.
Thea said she didn’t know whether her children were dead or alive, so who was Zoe in the Thanatos original family? If she was her daughter wouldn’t she have said something?
“What’s that phrase you told me they say in Gaia? ‘Your thoughts cost a penny’?”