The Ill-mannered Door (humorous sci-fi)

31.1: Time to Run

I hurried off to find the other two, and even the king was out the garden gate before I caught up with them. Derek was walking like a man with a purpose, carrying a duffle bag in each hand.

I matched his stride as best I could and asked, "Hello, what was all of that then?"

"All of what?" Derek said without so much as a glance in my direction.

"Don't think you're just going to brush all of that business under the carpet. There is something much deeper going on, and it's time I had some answers."

"Is it now?" He said, looking at me for a moment as he continued walking down the road that led back toward the town.

"Yes," I said.

"Thomas, this is all far beyond you."

"Yes, and that's the problem. So let's bring it closer, shall we? You can start with just who in the world you are, and don't tell me just some bloke from Canada."

Derek thought for a moment and said, "Let's just say that I'm an interested party."

"Really, how interesting. Fine, we can leave it at that for now. But who was that back there?"

"Oh, you mean the former empress, Muriel?" He said and chuckled.

"The empress? Empress of what? Don't you mean the former queen?"

"No, I meant Empress Muriel of the Galactic Empire," Derek said with a look of seriousness about him.

"The Galactic Empire?" I said and chuckled. "It doesn't have a name?"

"The Galactic Empire is its name. When it's the only one that exists, they can call it whatever they like."

I stopped for a moment in an effort to take in the ramifications of what I had just been told but then realized that Derek had continued walking and had left me behind. I realized that I was really behind when the king passed me, so I ran to catch up to Derek, which, I must admit, was quite awkward wearing nothing more than a pink dressing-gown that was a bit snug and only reached as far as my knees.

When I had caught up to Derek once more, I asked, "So that would make the queen's father..."

"The former emperor."

"But how in the world does one become the former emperor of some galactic empire and end up living in a little farmhouse on some backward planet?"

"Like I said, Thomas, this is all way beyond you, and I really don't have time to give you a lesson, sorry."

"But..."

Turning in place and continuing to walk down the road backward, Derek shouted back to the king, "Barry, get to the Bounty and have them stock whatever supplies are at hand and prepare to cast off. I have to retrieve something first, and then Thomas and I will meet you at the docks."

Barry stopped to breathe a bit, holding his side with one hand and waving for us to go on with the other.

Derek turned to me and said, "I assumed that you're coming with me, but if so, you're going to need to jog. We're running out of time."

He then took off at a jog, and I scrambled to keep up.