The cognate Empress

Chapter 6. An imperfect empress

Laid on the cold marble like floor, with her black ebony hair hazardously sprawled all around her, the alien beauty had lost her solemn and powerful appearance. A thread like web was intertwined through the messy strands of hair and around her whole body, entangling with all of her members, which were contorted in unnatural positions, as Nova was wriggling in pain.

Seeing her helpless state before him, Aleph's heart squeezed at her agony. Why would the empress who appeared so solemn and strong several moments before, looking as healthy as if she hadn't just emerged from her pupa, suffer like she currently was... Moments earlier he had sighed relieved seeing the rushed calling had not affected her body's integrity, it couldn't be...

"Your majesty!" Aleph called worriedly and hurriedly came near her, lowering himself to her level. The words he prepared to convince her with and all other worries vanished from his mind without a trace.

"Orion!" He quickly yelled for the AI, as several moments passed but the empress did not answer. At the same time his hands were lifted towards the empress, but he was not sure of how to help stop her pain. Her body was too distorted and seemed to be heavily tortured, so he did not dare touch her rashly.

"Yes, prince Aleph!" The latter immediately acknowledged, as her hologram swiftly materialized.

"Quickly, call the doctor to her majesty's room. Why didn't you already contact him?" He shouted annoyed, worried for the being who was wheezing in pain, who was hurting so much that she did not even feel his presence in her room.

"The doctor's intervention is useless. Her majesty has no use for the doctor!" Orion expressly replied to the prince who was kneeled near the empress, but still did not dare touch her, for fear of hurting her more. Her twisted arms felt like they would break if he had tried to move her to the bed.

"How can he not help her?" Aleph shouted with a harsher tone, as Nova had her face littered with tears, teardrops that had fallen from hazy unfocused eyes. She was gasping more and more for air, through weeping sounds, as her hands moved from their twisted positions into normal ones.

Once more cracking of bones similar to the ones she had felt in the pupa, were accompanying the movements of repositioning her hands and previously clenched fingers. The pain was truly unbearable, so intolerable that her weeping sounds transformed into screams, as the web started to cover her body more and more.

"Orion, call the doctor, now!" At this point Aleph had his hands a bit hovering over her, to try and touch and comfort Nova, but she had started to claw so fast at the skin from her abdomen and face with her sharp nails, that he could not even manage to catch them and restrain them from damaging the tender skin more.

"The doctor's intervention..." Orion started to say the same words as before, informing him of the uselessness of the presence of a doctor.

"I need him urgently, call him for me!" Aleph reasoned hurriedly. He did not understand why the Ai was not listening to his words. He was not trying to block access to the empress now, so Orion should have listened and obeyed.

But there was no time to think of her reasons and the interdictions the code had over her, so this was the only solution Orion would surely follow. As long as he did not mention the empress to her, the AI would not have restrictions regarding him.

"I understand. The doctor has been informed. His arrival is expected in five minutes."

Five minutes, it was still too long, by then Nova's skin would be entirely damaged. Gritting his teeth, Aleph steadied his heart and hovered above her, pressing her with his body. Like this her hands would be trapped between both of them, so she could not continue cutting it.