We had been in the chopper for about an hour. The prince had said nothing. His features were lit in the glow of the e-paper he was reading, his large legs folded. The splatter of red marked his pristine white outfit. His eyes only lifted to the window briefly as we began to descend.

Mother's House was set amid fields of yellow crops way out in section ten. The wall that surrounded it rode out into these crops like a tide of green water hitting a beach, as beyond it was undulating land, with manicured grass.

I had learnt about Mother's House growing up and as we viewed it now, it was more impressive than any photo I had seen. A true palace, white in color, with great white columns, hundreds of windows and the most distinctive feature; a gigantic golden glass solarium, like a diamond set in the center of two sweeping wings. The diamond reflected the crops beyond as it sparkled in the sun.

The edges of the palace looked almost crumbly from here, but I knew it was because of the carvings. Space dragons decorated Mother's House. As if in answer to my thoughts of these space-faring monsters, two AstralCannons were installed either side of the palace, aiming up to the stars. Surrounding the AstralCannons and the whole palace itself was a ring of dark green. As we got closer, and the details materialized I realized the lawn was filled with a daunting hedge maze.

To make it harder to get in... or impossible to escape?

I was surrounded by the blank, angular faces of the girls. I tried not to think of what it must be like to be one of these Amys, coming to your senses and trying to escape through the maze with a psychopathic prince on your heels.

"Poisoned," the prince said, looking up from his e-paper and noticing my gaze. "The maze if made from a special prickled plant I designed myself. Lethal of course – just a scratch will kill you."

But it could not harm our prince – he had unbreakable skin.

I realized at that point, as I sat with Gary in the vibrating chair of the chopper that we were getting a very special view of our rulers. I had seen the real prince. Not the noble gracious galaxy-faring superhero painted in the press, but for the monster he really was.

I had real proof. Something concrete.

And the smallest voice in the back of my mind spoke to me.

Perhaps there is some way I can use this?

I was shocked by the way the thought whispered. I shut it out. No. We would survive this encounter. I will go home and then we would put this whole thing behind us and live my life as far away from Mother as I could get.

***

I sipped my tea. The prince was sat opposite me and held an identical version of the teacup I was holding but the size of a soup bowl. Gary was to my right. Face pale and teacup untouched on its saucer in his hands. Behind Gary, the diamond ball of the solarium stretched out, the angled glass walls surrounding us as the windows letting in a fading light.

When we had come in, the ceilings of the conjoining halls were painted, filled with planets, moons and in the center the scene of a battle, with a space dragon wrapped around a spaceship, its tail wrapped around the length of the ship and claws tearing through the hull.

Along the far wall, where the glass on the diamond met the palace, were servant doors and an over-sized fireplace, with a roaring fire already going. The thing was huge and almost industrial in its design.

You could roast a hog on that thing... or a person.

"Well this is nice." The prince said and took another sip of his tea. "Look – I should of course apologize for taking my club to that poor woman, blah-blah-blah." His spare hand made some lazy circular movements as if unwinding a long apology.

Gary seemed very focused on the cup in his lap.

I need to up my game. We need be seen as non-threatening to get out of here.

"I understand," I said.

"Oh you do?" The prince said, his interest aroused.

"You have a planet to manage your highness, it can't be easy."

The prince shifted to face me. "You are inferring I made a mistake."

I swallowed but remained silent. I tried to take another sip if my tea, but now my hand trembled.

I am going to die.

A small smile was on the Prince's lips. "Your highness," he said wrinkling his nose. "It's a bit silly isn't it. I've always wondered how that one got going you know. I mean, we all call my mother 'Mother', yet I am a prince. Does that even make sense to you? Doesn't that mean my Mother should be, you know, a Queen?"

I followed the Prince's eyes out from the angular windows across the gold fields where we could see a single statue of Mother in the distance.

What the skuff does it matter to us?

The prince shook his big head. "Just words, Kal. Just words. What makes a prince? Nothing. You could call me a dictator, an invader, a space-colonial. The point in words is their power. I am your prince and attached to that relationship are certain notions that, over several of your people's lifetimes go from being hated to actively desirable. The main notion, or at least the one I am most attached to is that here at least, I am able to do anything I want.

"Take this Amy. Amy please dance for us."

The girl whose sister had been killed by the prince just an hour ago began swirling seductively in front of us.

"See? Isn't that nice. Let's get some drinks in. It's after five."

Behind him the far door to the drawing room opened. Two more models wheeled in a drinks trolley.

"Oh, no thank you–" I began.

"Nonsense, man." The prince said, then turned to them. "They will have the same as me. Larry you old queen, you haven't touched your tea. Perhaps a little 570 year-old scotch will cheer you up."

Mine and Gary's tea was removed. They poured the prince what must have been nearly a full-pint of scotch in a jumbo sized tumbler for himself and gave me and Gary a few ounces in crystal tumblers.

The prince settled back in his chair. "This is better Kal. But there is an elephant in the room between us isn't there. There is a little something I imagine you want to raise? Or a little two somethings or ha, big two somethings." He tipped his head back and gulped down the scotch in two swift gulps.

He is talking about my two extra years of service.

"Ahh," he wiped his mouth. "You must be a teeny bit curious about that no? But you are wondering, 'Oh it is forbidden to ask details! The big bad prince might hurt me!' – and yes – for our world's security of course we can't have people trying to track down where they went and what they did in service. But – let me alleviate that from you Kal and your little fat boyfriend here. Both of you! Come on– loosen up. Engage!

I want us to speak as soldiers as veterans, let go of all the titles. I am just a near-immortal man. You are just a human. Let's say for the next few moments we just are two equal beings of this universe. I'll answer two questions each. Anything you want, to the best of my ability. No repercussions, I promise you. Ask me! I beg of you ask me.

"You. Fat boy. Kal looks like he is about to piss his panties, so you go first."

"Do you really have unbreakable skin?" Gary said.

The prince stood up and walked to the roaring fire. He slowly rolled up a shirt sleeve and shoved his hand inside the fire, picking up a log that was burning. He held the burning log out to his side as the flames crackled and spat.

His hand and arm remained unharmed.

He threw the log back into the blaze and wiped the charcoal off his hands. An Amy was at his side in moments, who cleaned his hands off with a towel.

The prince ignored her. "One of my very favorite things is the look of horror from you people after I've survived yet another pathetic assassination attempt. I've had pistols pressed to my ribs, I've suffered the concussive shot of a sniper and had my gravcopter blown up twice. Yet I crawl out from the wreckage and take joy in tracking the culprits down. Finding their lair, their family, their friends and wiping them from the pages of our history. To be honest, it actually gives me something interesting to do.

"Next question, fat boy."

Gary glanced at me and swallowed then tipped his chin upright.

"The war with the Scynthians... is it real?"

"My, my Larry. What dirty suspicions you have. Well there is a war alright." The prince replied. Dark eyes flashing. "There is a war waging in this galaxy and it is one we are going to win. That I can promise you. The Scynthians are involved of course– the details of which are murkier and more complex than humans can really grasp. So to keep it simple, let's say you stay concerned with the Scynthians. Keep it tangible.

"Kal. Your go. Speak up," the prince said to me.

400–Ana. I thought of that name I had woken up screaming. The name I had scorched into my own mind. Is that what he wanted me to ask? But no, I couldn't, I couldn't put her in danger, if I was to discover anything about 400–Ana, it needed to be on my own.

And that would be hard.

The prince gave me an arrogant look, and before I could stop myself, I spoke.

"What gives you the right to take over our planet?"

"Gosh! This is like the grand inquisition!" The prince looked behind him theatrically. "I am almost expecting people to rush in with pitchforks. That is a rather leading question you know Kal. But let us perhaps switch it around... and I will explain it to you in a way that you can understand and perhaps we may part as friends after all.

"The real question is... why shouldn't we rule? It is what we were born for. We live forever, we are stronger than you, more intelligent than you– it is our right Kal."

"But you just killed that woman," I said.

"Was that your second question? Or a clarification of your first? I jest, relax. Yes. I killed her. As is my right. Let me explain. When we first landed here, I had a fascinating conversation with an oceanologist. We had surveyed your seas and found them almost devoid of life... yet your people were still fishing, pulling as much life out the ocean as you could. I thought it insane. But he explained to me, that as you 'cared' for your dwindling marine life– the fishing was what he called 'your interest', taking a bit off the top for caring for them. A kind of commission for riding this resource to its destruction.

It really struck me. I thought it a wonderful idea and we have applied it heartily. Everywhere. I am merely using your own planet's logic– as the most powerful creature on this planet. I have now filled the oceans with life... although admittedly the species I introduced were perhaps more invasive than we first considered. But still, a vast improvement."

"Why did you take two extra years from me?" I managed in a croak.

"Ah! Finally!" The prince said. He held out his empty scotch tumbler and an Amy filled it up again. He took another gulp. "Well Kal, we had instigated the four-year rule right off the bat, but six! If we could just get to six years, that would be so much better for all of us. You had some... mission complications, that led to you being in the field longer than expected and guess what. You still worked admirably. Still put you back together perfectly. Your mind is still your own. You don't seem to have gone insane, yet, and you passed all the tests we needed you to before we removed your rig.

You were the first Kal. With our latest updates to the bio-rigging we will soon implement six years as our standard. Will ten years be next? Twenty? Perhaps! Perhaps. Do you know how strong our position in the galaxy can be with twenty years of service?"

The prince finished his second half-pint of his scotch and set it down to be re-filled. "Take our population, a healthy few billion. Though, I will say before we arrived you were doing a good job of destroying your lovely little planet. Your average life is also short; just 80 years, and you give us a measly four years which has given my Mother a security force of 100 million people. But! For just two short years extra, it increases my Mother's hand by half. Takes us from 100 million people to 150 million.

My mind was reeling. It was what he wasn't saying that was hitting me as much as his crazy matter-of-factness.

The price licked his lips which had been stripped dry from all the scotch. "I see your face. You are wondering why am I so obsessed with this, somewhat dirty, smelly hoard of humans and growing our population so responsibly while the rest of the galaxy is busy investing in space-faring technology, with the numbers of intelligent life forms in the universe dwindling by the day? Well Kal. Let me answer you with a demonstration.

"Amy?" The girl whose sister had been murdered and was swaying from side to side stood stock still. The prince turned to me. His cold blue eyes fixed on me and his lips twisted into a sneer.

"Kill Kal."