To Take My Thrown As Queen Not King

“It’s cold outside,” I simply said, adding Your Highness as a second thought. Roger grinned and looked down at my feet.

“I would think so,” he said. “It was snowing.” He smiled brightly. I couldn’t help but join in and laugh a little. He grinned. “Don’t give me that bull-shit Tony. Before you knew who I was you didn’t call me Your Highness, or stand in front of me shivering from my radiance or whatever. You just kept pulling those dumb practical jokes on me. Lighten up, Man. You aren’t part of my planet and I’m not King yet.”

I relaxed a little. “Oh, in that case, it’s fucking freezing out there. Move over and let me sit on the couch, Man.”

“Back to the old Tony. I don’t mean for you to be that familiar though. I am royalty. You need to respect me.”

“Yes, I’ve always called you a royal one.” He grinned.

“Yeah. Get something hot to drink and take off your boots and coat. You’re dropping snow all over the place. What’s wrong with you?” He stood up. “Give me your coat and go in there and get some hot chocolate. I left some on the stove.” I began to realize why he was so bossy. I stood and removed my coat. He snatched it. “Yeah, that’s right!” He said. “I can almost read your mind.” He turned and headed toward the coat closet next to the front door. “One day I will be King and dare you to…”

“Yeah one day, as for now…well, thanks for the chocolate. That’s very nice.” I walked into the kitchen as he shouted.

“I’m a very nice guy.”

“I’m sure.” I picked up the pan of hot chocolate and poured it into my hungrily awaiting cup. I moved over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and sat it down. From there I went to the refrigerator, of course, hoping to receive some kind of sweet. Nothing. What happened to all of those sweets? Roger stood there in the doorway patting his stomach. “I don’t believe you. You ate all of those sweets.”

“Sweets, for the sweet,” he said, walking past me and taking one of the stools on the opposite side of the island.

“I don’t mind you having some Roger,” I closed the door, “But don’t you know all that sugar isn’t good for you?” I walked over. “You’re going to get sugar disease or something. You ate it all. Just let me know and I’ll buy you more.” He just looked at me and smiled. “What?” I asked. “You still hungry?” No answer. “I’ll pick up some more later today, OK?” Silence. “What is going on with you? Are you sick or something? Are you crazy?” I said playfully.” He began to giggle. I looked at him hard.

“I am going through a metamorphosis. Do you know what that is?” He asked.

“Yes, but I don’t know what it has to do with you.”

“I’m an extraterrestrial, don’t you know that?”

“Look human to me.”

“Yeah, but I’m not. I’m preparing myself to take the throne, Tony. Don’t you know what that means?”

“Yeah. You’ll be king on some far off planet.”

“A female dominant planet. Do you know what that is?”

“A planet with buff, horney females?”

He laughed and shook his head. “That and a little more. It means that we all end up being female in the end.”

“Well I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, unless all dead people are female.”

“No. All adults become female on my planet.” I laughed. He looked at me and tilted his head slightly to the side. “Look at me, haven’t you noticed anything?” I looked at him. Same old guy. Looked a little thinner maybe in some places. I shook my head. “Not very observant, are you?” Look at my face.” I looked closer.

“Yeah. It’s still there on the front of your head.” He shook his head. “Looks like the same old mean face.”

“I haven’t shaved in about a month.” I walked over and looked closer. No stubble, nothing. Was he serious?

“You have to be joking, again.”

“By the end of the week I’ll be a woman. I'll be an a crystalis and become a woman.” I pursed my lips. “Can’t you tell, look at my body. Look at my hips.”

“No. I don’t want to do that. I've seen them before.” He got up and began to leave the kitchen passing close enough by me to whisper in my ear. “By next week I won’t be able to keep your little eyes off of me, and then it will be time for me to go.”

“Where the hell you going?” I asked, ignoring the foolishness.

“To take my throne as Queen, of course, not King. I’m not lying, you know.” He stood there with his hands on his hips. He did look kind of feminine or was that just my imagination? His body looked a little more curvy. I looked at him hard.

“Feast your eyes,” he said. He turned and headed for his bedroom. He stopped and turned. “I’ll be back next week. Don’t you go in my room.”

“Back from where?”

“I told you months ago that I was going to the Rockies before I went home. Come on.”

“I’m sorry. I forgot. That was a long time ago.”

“Well…don’t be doing anything in my room anyway? I know you’re a trickster and I don’t want you messing my room up.”

“Really. I thought you might have some porn magazines in there or something?” He ignored me and kept going. I followed him and leaned on the door jam. “I’m sorry. I totally forgot. I knew it was around now, but it seems so soon. And I didn’t know anything about this change. It must be pretty scary. Maybe I just…I don’t know. I’m gonna miss you, man, I guess. I know you’re leaving right after. I guess I’m just in denial and didn’t want to get mushy.”

“Oh, how sweet,” he said mockingly. He hit me in the head with a pillow. “Get out of here. Don’t try to make me like you now pinhead.” I laughed out loud.

“Not even King yet and already showing your true colors, eh?”

“That’s Queen, Tony! And I was just joking with you. What you said was…kind, and sweet. Thank you. You know…you could come with me.”

“To another planet? I don’t know about that?”

“Why not? You can come back if you don’t like it. Just rent this place out. I know a few people who would be interested for a couple of months. You might like living on a female dominant planet, but you would have to be careful. Some of them act as bad as the men do down here.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Why? Your job sucks, your life sucks, you have nothing to live for here.”

“Hey!”

“I know you. We’ve talked about it. You scared?”

“No.”

“Well, think about it. Let me know when I get back.” He began to pack a small suitcase. I stood there. Was he serious? Was he fooling with me?” He looked over his shoulder.

“What?”

“I don't know.” I walked out of his room and sat on the couch. He closed the door and continued packing. He was right. My job sucked. The planet was always either freezing or boiling, depending on where you decided to live. I chose freezing rather than boiling, but it wasn’t pleasant. Mid range areas with bearable temperatures had all been grabbed by the super rich. The only way you could live there was by being a servant or some other nonsense. I sat there thinking about it. Maybe I would go off into space with my alien roommate who thought he would become a woman.

Yet again, it was all together possible. He looked totally human, but many extraterrestrials did who weren’t really. Who knows what could happen. I read once that there were fish that changed gender, why not ETs. I put my feet up on the couch, linked my fingers behind my head and fell asleep thinking about the cold and my job scouting in the woods for lost vacationers who would freeze to death if I didn’t find them.

***

I don’t believe how fast sleep came upon me. I was only awakened when Roger came out carrying his suitcase. I looked up at him and stretched. “Time for you to go already?” I asked. He looked down at his watch.

“About 5 minutes.”

I stood up. “You take care, man. I’ll see you when you get back. Don’t get into trouble.” I gave him a hug. “How are you? Are you nervous?”

“No.” He laughed. A little. "Wouldn’t you be?”

“Damn sure I would be.”

“I’ll have to leave soon after. I just got news. We’re at war.”

“Your planet?”

“No. This whole sector. Your planet, my planet, hundreds of planets in our sector. We’re just at the cutting edge.”

“Really. I hadn’t heard anything.”

“You won’t for a while. But you will soon.” There was a knock on the door. “That’s my ride.” He headed for the door and paused. “By the way, you considering my invitation?”

“I can’t believe it, but yeah. I think I’d like to go and try to get a new start. Being around those strange women though, I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll fit in well. I always thought of you as a woman, an Earth woman that is.” He gave me a wink. I pursed my lips. He laughed. He picked up his suitcase and walked toward the door. I followed.

He opened the door. Two big women in uniforms I didn't recognize and a man in a US Space Program Uniform stood at the door. They said something I didn’t understand. The man took his bags and the four of them headed to the car together. I walked over to the door and looked out. It wasn’t even a car. It looked like some type of spaceship or something. I had never seen one of those. This guy was something. I waved and watched as they taxied down the snow covered road and then silently lifted onto a cushion of air. Roger was gone. He was the best roommate I ever had. He wasn’t crazy or anything, like most of the nuts I knew.

Now I would have to pay all of the rent myself. That made me sad. I had been bankrolling a fortune with him paying half of the rent. What was I thinking? He was coming back. No he was leaving and so was I. I guessed that I had to rent the place out…sublease until I got back. What a mess. I figured I could sublet it furnished.

I went to the refrigerator and pulled out some cold chicken. That is what I thought it was anyway. I hoped it wasn’t some of that veggie chicken they had started making look like the real thing. I bit into it. It was real meat. I sat on the sofa and turned on the vid screen. Flipping through the channels, the same old BS. A light in the corner of the TV started blinking. It was a call. I hit the answer button on the remote. A woman’s face showed on the lower half.

"Is Prince Roger Castor present?" I shook my head.

"Sorry, Roger had an appointment he had to keep. He’ll be away for some time."

"Thank you. I just wanted to make sure he was on the way." The picture faded. I began to flip through the channels again.

***

Several days passed. I filled my time, as usual, mostly at work skiing and looking for stranded tourists, checking trails, and helping to cut new ones. I passed my time off at the pubs most of the time talking and laughing with old friends. I had lived here most of my life. I knew just about everyone. While sitting in my usual seat a few service men approached. “May I sit down?” One asked. That was a surprise. I wondered if something was wrong with Roger.

“Sure. Have a seat.” One caught the eye of the waiter and ordered two beers. I sat watching.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t a death sentence, though it is official business, the Colonel said. He looked at the Sergeant. The Sergeant spoke.

“We have good news for you, Mr. Anthony Wynford. You’ve been drafted.” I laughed.

“Is that good news?” They were silent. “This is a joke, right?”

“No joke. A friend has contacted the president and has requested your presence on planet Xavier. Have you ever heard of it?”

“Of course. Everyone has.”

“They're our allies. They have really pitched in to help us survive and have probably saved the lives of everyone on this planet,” the Colonel said, “meaning, what Xavier wants, Xavier gets. You will serve there in an advisory capacity.”

“But I don’t want to be in the Space Force.” The Sergeant laughed.

“Neither do we, but…” The Colonel cleared his throat loudly. He corrected himself. “We are at war as you know…the Foundation of Planets. We are allies with Xavier and we have to send enough men to the front to make our presence known and felt. Some will be participants and some advisors. Just thank your lucky stars you've been choses as an advisor to the royal family instead of a foot soldier, Mr. Wynford.”

“I think I’ll skip that, thank you,” I said.

“Do it for your country,” the Colonel said. “You could be a Marine if you would like instead. A Space Force Marine. Would you prefer that. Your draft number has come up, but there is some flexibility possible.”

“You know I don’t want to do that.”

He stuck out his hand. “Then on behalf of the Space Force, I welcome you.” I shook his hand. I felt like I was shaking hands with the devil. We'll be seeing you Saturday for the physical and I think we can have you on the road by, say, Tuesday.”

“Don’t do me no favors,” I said. The Sergeant grinned.

***

I rented the house easily and moved my furniture to a storage bin. Roger hadn’t come back. I guess he went straight to the war front. I didn’t think I would be back by the end of the sublease, and probably not at all. I wasn’t worried about the stuff that much. I would probably pick up more here and there. I went for my exam and passed with flying colors. I had been skiing 7 or 8 hours a day, how could I be in anything but the best of shape. Before I knew it I found myself on a launch pad lifting off into space. I never wanted to go into space. The only time I did before was on a class trip and I hated it then. The rocket cut smoothly through the atmosphere until we arrived into space.

I looked down and saw the smooth, round planet. It was bright green and blue covered by thick white clouds. Since the Xaviers and other planets had been helping us to get rid of a lot of pollution and terraform most of the planet, it was beautiful and carbon neutral. The place was wonderful. Why would I want to leave to join the service? Yet again, a couple of weeks ago I had complained about the planet.

I wanted to leave with a friend though, not be under the heel of some space force. I looked down at the silly uniform I was wearing. We swung past the very large station where other soldiers often did their basic training. I was a special case. We would do most of the training en route. Even jumping from point to point it would take about a month. So here I was with a bunch of gunhoe soldiers not even wanting to look at them. Later I found that no one was a gunhoe soldier. They had all been drafted.

People with rich parents and politically connected relatives had been drafted to the less dangerous positions and shipped off to various planets that would be safer than Earth. Earth was a great distance from the fighting, but I guess the rich folk didn’t want to take any chances. Here I was floating through space with the kind of people I often saved in the wilds of upstate Pennsylvania.

We learned more about manners than anything else, and strange customs that we had to respond to in the correct way so as to not cause serious problems. We learned about how to talk to the dignitaries and represent the world that we came from in an acceptable way. Depending on where we were going we studied customs, tried to get at least a little bit of knowledge about culture and language, and tried to sleep at night over the swooshing sound of the ship. I was happy to set foot on Xavier. I was, in fact, the only one going there because it was in the hot zone. I guess the rich folks kids didn’t want that, so they continued on. I was dropped at the space port.

I walked into the building through a long hallway until I saw a sign saying pick-up/drop-off point in Xavier and several other languages including Earth. I made my way out, picked up my bag at the claim area, and continued out the door past many people standing and waiting for their loved ones. A tall woman in a dark suit stood there holding a placard with my name. I walked up to her.

“Mr. Anthony Wynford?”

“Yes. That’s me. You can just call me Tony.” I sat my bag down. She lifted it easily and we headed for a large car that resembled a black limousine. She opened the trunk and put the bag down into it gently and pressed it down a bit so it wouldn’t move. She walked around to the right side of the car and opened the back door. I climbed in and she closed it, gently. She walked around the front of the car and opened the door on the right hand side. After pulling it closed and checking her seat belt she looked in the mirror at me.

“We’ll be there soon, Tony. You may use the seatbelt if you would like. We do have a dampening field in the back so you really don’t have to worry about any accidents, sir.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“My name is Tracy, Sir, and it’s my pleasure.” We pulled off slowly and merged with the traffic flowing slowly, but steadily out of the space port. We made a slow winding turn that took us on a six lane highway. We quickly picked up speed. As we moved the windows began to become darker until they were almost opaque. I laid my head back for a moment to rest my eyes. She turned on soothing music and soon I was sleeping. I didn’t awaken until we pulled up in front of a large gate. She leaned out the windows and keyed in a code. The door opened. We drove down a long highway to the front of a very large house. I had never seen one like it. It wasn’t square or made of stone.

It seemed to be round, like a dome, with many smaller domes attached. The building looked as though it were made of some type of stone, or crystals. The windows were barely visible from the outside. One had to almost look at them directly to see inside. I guessed they liked their privacy. As we pulled around to the front door Stacey pulled up, stepped out of the car, and walked around to open my door. Someone else opened the trunk. I could see them running an explosive detector over my suitcase before taking it in. I said my goodbyes and headed in.

It was a large vaulted ceiling that seemed to me made of translucent gold colored glass. Far up, all the way at the top, was a small, circular skylight with the sun shining in, sparkling like a diamond. Winding stairs at the left flowed all the way up to a second floor balcony from which many hallways departed. We made our way up the steps to the second hallway and entered.

I passed several guards along the way, mostly women, very large, as well as men who were about my size. We came to a door. The doorman turned to me. “Sir. This will be your quarters for now. The Queen and her representatives will be here to see you soon. He half bowed, looked down and brushed the white streak from his trousers the best that he could. He frowned and looked at the suitcase. One side was covered with a white chalk-like substance.

He shook his head, sat it down, and was on his way. I twisted the knob. The place was unreasonably big for one person. I began to wonder if I would have a roommate, since I was in the service. I shook my head. I guessed I was more like an ambassador or something. I chose the bedroom on the left, walked in, and started unpacking my things making sure not to get the white powder on everything. I had no idea where it came from. I figured it was in the trunk of the limo.

Between the amount of drawers and the closet space, my small things didn’t even make a dent. As I moved around I noticed that the gravity was a little stronger. The planet must have been slightly bigger. I figured that I would get used to it eventually. After unpacking, however, I was more tired than I would have been on Earth and took a seat. I looked across the room.

There was a bar there with several beverages. I thought one had to be some type of alcohol and poured myself a drink. I sat down and began to relax. Just when I was beginning to feel at ease, a knock at the door. I walked over to the door and opened it. There were three massive women standing there…two in uniforms and one in what looked like an evening gown. It looked very comfortable, but had an air of distinction to it. I looked closer.

The woman looked much bigger than Roger had been, but she looked like Roger. I looked closer and grinned. “You old devil you. I know it’s you.” She stepped forward and we held each other tight.

“I never thought you'd make it,” she said.

“We took a slow ship. Almost took a month.” I frowned. “Unfortunately, they made me join the Space Force. They drafted me.”

“Oh those bastards,” she said, with a lack of sincerity.

“It’s not funny, Your Highness. You know my feelings about the Space Force.”

“A necessary evil.”

“Come on in,” I said. “I’m sorry. I was so excited to see you.”

“Knowing you, you were,” She said, pushing by. “I remember you as a joker, Tony.” She spun around and looked at me. “When you go through the process I went through you remember a lot. I remember you waiting for me to get in the shower and then turning the cold water down real low so I would lower the hot water and then twisting it up real fast so that the ice cold water would douse me. Do you remember that?”

“That was a long time ago,” I said. “In the dorms. I wasn’t the one who did that.”

“No. You just laughed, didn’t you.”

“A little.”

“Yes. So hard that soda came out of your nose.” As I remembered I burst out laughing. I looked at her. She wasn’t laughing.

“As a warrior queen now I don’t find it funny. Do you still find it funny?” I straightened up.

“No, Your Highness.”

“I even remembered when you ate the last piece of my birthday cake.”

“I thought you didn’t want it.”

“You didn’t ask, did you?”

“No,” I said weakly. “I thought you’d say you wanted it.” I cleared my throat.

“Yes. I thought so. We have some things to clear up. Some things you may want to make up to me.”

“I would be glad to,” I said nervously.

“Good. These women will give you a bath and I’ll be back in about 20 minutes and we can go out to dinner.”

“Give me a bath?” I asked. “You mean lead me to the tub.”

She walked toward the door and suddenly turned back pointing both fingers at me. “Do you remember when you couldn’t make the rent and we almost got evicted? We had to eat beans and rice for a month, and I had to use my whole pay check for rent. Do you remember that?”

“You remember a lot, don’t you, Your Highness? No hard feelings are there? She didn’t answer.

“I meant give you a bath, not take you to a tub." She turned to them. “Bathe him. He won’t mind.” She turned to me and winked. One of them opened the door while the other one grinned. “This way Sir,” she said, guiding me to the bathroom.

“You have to be kidding,” I said.

“No Sir. Queen Rogeria gets what she wants, always. A little shame is nothing worth losing your head over is it? I’m not losing mine.”

“I won’t lose mine either, '' the other woman said, rolling up her sleeves. “Do you want to start with the back of the front?'' she said, looking for a sponge. The other woman turned on the water and started to adjust the temperature. They were some big women, but they were women. Under other circumstances this may have been fun, but this was too weird. “What’s wrong, don’t you have customs where you come from that you need to do before visiting leaders.”

“Yes, but being bathed by someone of the opposite sex…or anyone, is not part of it.”

“We were men before, so don’t worry, unless you are small or something. We might laugh at you then.”

“Stop Dena, he might believe you,” said the woman testing the water. She looked at me. “We won’t laugh at you. We know it’s cold in here.” She grinned and laughed to herself.

“That’s worse than what I said, Keri.” She shrugged.

“A little.”

“You getting undressed?” Dena asked.

“Yes. Can I have some privacy?”

“We’re bathing you. Why do you need privacy to get undressed?”

“Because I do.”

“You’re a soldier, make your planet proud,” Keri said, getting up and heading toward the door. They both exited and closed the door behind them. This was really crazy.

It could have been a turn on, but they were…it wasn’t right. They said they had been men. Weird…especially their jokes about my manhood. I began to remove my clothing and then reached over, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me. That was as far as I was willing to go. They’d just have to work through it. There was a rap on the door. “Come in,” I said. Keri entered.

“You’re not undressed. You’re wearing a towel. How can we work through that?”

“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself." Queen Rogeria came stepping into the room laughing.

“You look so silly,'' she said, almost doubled over with laughter. “You believe anything don’t you? You thought they were going to bathe you? I bet you were looking forward to that.” I looked at her angrily. “Oh come give me a little hug, Tony.” I looked down at the towel.

“You stinker,” I said. She laughed and the others joined in.

“Welcome to Xavier,” Dena said.

“We are known for our senses of humor, Tony. Didn’t you know that? Welcome home you practical joker. Now get dressed and we’ll go have some dinner.”

They walked out. I stood there for a few moments wondering what had just happened. They had told me during training that there were some irritating behaviors on this planet that could become dangerous if you didn’t respond correctly, but practical jokes? Jesus. Well the old Queen was going to get hers sooner or later. I lifted one corner of my mouth. This was going to be heaven for me. They had met their match.

The End

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