A Summer Of Missing Princesses

“Two more princesses, you say?” Wisdom asks as we walk up to the castle.

Unlike the king who knocked before entering his own castle, the queen opens the door for herself and walks in first, holding the door open for us to follow.

“You may come in,” Queen Vanessa teases.

The king, who just happens to be near the door, whirls around in surprise.

“Oh! Vanessa!” King Zesty says, chuckling, “You allowed yourself in again. That’s good. I would have told you to come in.”

“How are the girls fairing?” Queen Vanessa asks.

“Perfectly fine. Say! Why is that girl bleeding?!” King Zesty exclaims.

I cover my wrist with my other hand.

“It’s nothing... I’m perfectly fine,” I say.

A look of concern passes over his face and he bites his lip. Queen Vanessa flits over and takes his arm, holding it firmly.

“Oh dear, you don’t think she’s infected, do you...?” Queen Vanessa whispers.

“I said I’m fine...” I say.

At that moment, the other princesses from my group make their appearance.

“Selima! You’re back!” Aleena cries out.

“How did you all get here anyhow? Are one of you a pilot?” Wisdom asks.

“I flew the ship!” Korallee cries out, waving her hand frantically.

“It’s too dark here! I don’t like it!” Sìneag complains.

The king, queen, and Wisdom all stare at Sìneag like she is insane.

“Uh, I mean... If it were a little brighter, it probably would be a pretty nice place...” Sìneag says.

“Ah, well...” Zesty says, grinning.

“Where to next?” Aleena asks.

“I don’t know...” I say.

“There might be trouble on Jebbron, we could go check,” Mór suggests.

“Jebbron?” I ask.

“Some planet with nearly human creatures,” Mór explains, “That’s where the slaves say they came from.”

“Slaves?” Wisdom asks, narrowing her eyes.

“Yeah, there’s kind of a slavery thing going on back at my home kingdom. I assure you, I am not part of it!” Mór says, “I’ve been trying to convince my father to let them go...but he never does...”

“If there is a princess in trouble there, that’s probably the 6th princess out of 7...” I say.

“Can I fly the ship?” Wisdom asks.

“You can fly?” Korallee asks.

“Yeah, like I said to...err... What’s your name...?” Wisdom asks.

“Selima,” I respond.

“Like I said to Selima, they teach space ship flying the first year of school,” Wisdom says.

“I’ve only flown once in my life,” Korallee says, grinning.

“Wow,” Wisdom says.

“Here, we can show you the ship right now,” I say.

Together, we all up and leave the castle much to the surprise of the king and queen.

“Wait! Where are all of you going?!” Queen Vanessa asked.

“Planet hoping, mom! We’ll be back!” Wisdom says.

“Oh dear...” King Zesty says, but he does nothing to stop us.

We all pile on back to where the spaceship is parked and as soon as we get close enough to see it, Wisdom lets out a loud gasp.

“No way! You’re kidding, right?!” Wisdom asks, breaking away from the group.

She reaches the ship first and starts examining every little detail of it.

“Do you like it?” Korallee asks, smiling innocently.

“It’s trash! How can it even fly?!” Wisdom asks, touching the seams where we reconnected the pieces.

“Uhhhhh... I don’t know...” I say.

“Because. Princess Power!” Korallee says, laughing.

“This goes against all the flying protocols!” Wisdom says, tugging at her hair a bit.

“Well... Maybe you can help us out?” I suggest.

“I think it’s trash too, by the way,” Sìneag adds.

“...let me guess... You don’t even have a high pressure forcefield...?” Wisdom asks, popping the spaceship open.

“What? Why would we need that?” I ask.

“Oh come on! Have you never heard of black holes?!” Wisdom asks, panicking some more.

“I honestly know nothing about space,” I say.

“Okay! That’s it! I’m taking charge of this mission!” Wisdom says, rewiring the circuits, “This piece of trash very well could have exploded the moment you left Earth!”

“Well... I... I’m glad it didn’t... That would be scary...” Aleena comments.

“I agree with Aleena,” I say.

Wisdom sighs and jumps back out of the ship.

“Well! We are not going to Jebbron until I install a high pressure force field!” Wisdom says.

With that, she turns into a little green bat and flitters away.

“Trash... Well, that is true, but the trash has become treasure,” Mór says.

After sitting in the dark for a bit, Wisdom returns with a strange looking box in her claws.

“You guys are in luck! I found a spare forcefield and it is fully functional!” Wisdom says.

She places the box on the ground, turns back into a humanoid, and picks it up.

“This will prevent us all from becoming crushed up into an infinitely tiny ball should we cross paths with a black hole!” Wisdom says.

“Wha...” I say.

“All matter sucked into a black hole is crushed up so tiny that it is as though it never existed. Time itself starts to forget it existed and the burnt up matter feeds the hungry black hole. The black hole then gains mass and its suction becomes slightly stronger. Ah, but a black hole poses no significant threat as long as you keep a safe enough distance, we just need the forcefield for just in case...” Wisdom says, “Oh, but there is a theory... Black holes could be portals to other parts of the universe. It’s a pocket in the space time continuum! So what is lost in one world, could, possibly, be found in another world! Oh, yes... I learned all of this in the second grade!”

“Wow,” I say.

“Now, I just need to connect the box to the main circuitry...” Wisdom says, prying things apart again.

“And then we can continue the quest?” I ask.

“Yep!” Wisdom says.

A buzzing noise occurs and a blue blob forms around the ship.

“There it is! It will automatically activate if it feels danger is imminent, but can be manually deployed!” Wisdom says.

“Wow! Thank you so much! Let’s get going, then!” I say.

With that, all the princesses and I climb into the spaceship. Wisdom remains in the driver’s seat, but Korallee doesn’t complain. The doors shut and seal tightly.

“Seat belts!” Wisdom says.

We buckle up quickly.

“Should we tell her...?” I whisper.

“Nah... Let her figure it out,” Korallee says.

Wisdom turns her head nearly all the way around.

“What was that?” Wisdom asks.

“Nothing!” I say, sweating nervously.

Her head slowly turns back the direction it is supposed to be facing.

“Okay, then...” Wisdom says, “Do any of you happen to know how to get to Jebbron?”

“Actually, yes, I do know where it is,” Mór says, “My mother told me where Jebbron is.”

Wow, that sure is lucky! Can you imagine if we just tried flying around in space without really knowing which way to go? Oh, but then, Mór starts singing!

“A long ways out,

Yet, not so far away,

Passed the blue star,

Don’t go the other way,

There, you will find our home!

Just a little further than you think,

Yet a bit closer as well,

Where you once thought nothing could be,

That’s where we’ll be!

It’s a long way out,

Yet, not long at all,

Go, and go, and go some more,

Then, take a right turn,

That, will take you to the door!

It’s awfully paradoxical,

And yet it all makes sense!

We’re just out of reach,

But still within reach,

Home, our hearts will guide us,

Home!”

Everyone aside from Wisdom, who is trying to pilot the spaceship back into outer space, turns and looks at Mór with confused looks. Honestly? I have no idea why she broke out into song or what the song meant.

“That’s what my mother told me!” Mór says.

“But what does it mean?!” Sìneag asks.

“I was wondering the same thing,” I say.

Mór sighs and shakes her head.

“Head towards Rigel in the constellation of Orion, pass it and take a right,” Mór says.

“Oh!” Wisdom says, “Why didn’t you just say that?!”

“So you can get there?” Mór asks.

“Sure can!” Wisdom says.

Wisdom hits the switches and we zip into hyper speed.

“Heeeeeeere we gooooooooo!” Wisdom cries out.

“Be careful not to go too far!” Mór cries out.

“I’ll be careful! See, we’re probably already almost there!” Wisdom says.

She switches the ship back to regular flight. A heavy blue glow fills the craft, burning our eyes.

“Hey, that’s not good!” Wisdom says, “Someone take the wheel...”

With that, Wisdom passes out.

“Oh, shoot!” Korallee cries out.

She unbuckles herself and floats over to the driver’s seat. Quickly, she moves Wisdom to the floor and takes the wheel.

“We’re going to fall into the star!” Aleena cries out, freaking out.

“No! No we are not!” Korallee says.

She presses some buttons and steers the ship away from the blue star.

“Is Wisdom alright...?” I ask.

It’s very concerning that she passed out just now.

“She’s smoking, so I’m going to guess that she’s not alright...” Korallee says.

“Dang it!” I cry out.

Sìneag and Aleena are hugging each other and shaking in fear.

“A-are we going to burn up too?” Aleena asks.

“Take a right!” Mór reminds Korallee.

“Got it!” Korallee calls back, turning the spaceship.

After the brilliant hot glow of the star fades, we find ourselves floating into darkness.

“A...Are you sure this is the right way...?” Aleena asks, still shaking.

“Just a little further than you think,

Yet a bit closer as well,

Where you once thought nothing could be,

That’s where we’ll be!” Mór sings out again.

Korallee takes a deep breath.

“Okay...” Korallee says after a moment.

As the ship delves deeper into the darkness, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a planet appears!

“Whoaaaaa!” all of us aside from Wisdom cry out.

Wisdom has stopped smoking and appears to be regaining consciousness.

“A-are we... There...?” Wisdom asks, still not getting off the ground.

“Almost, we’ll be descending soon,” Mór reports.

“Oh! You better get ready to take out the landing gear!” Wisdom says, popping up.

“What happened to you?” I ask.

“Sunlight! Sunlight is deadly!” Wisdom says, smoothening down her hair.

“Okay... Well, what are we going to do when we get to Jebbron?” I ask.

“Uh... I... I don’t know...” Wisdom says and sighs.

“I’ve never been here before...” Mór says, “I was born in Snyvolon...”

“Of course, aren’t you the king’s daughter?” I ask.

“I sure am,” Mór says.

Wisdom approaches the front of the ship again.

“Landing gear... Which button is the landing gear?” Wisdom asks.

We are just now entering the atmosphere of Jebbron. The land masses appear to grow larger the closer we get. Wisdom continues looking over the control panel anxiously.

“Well? Which one is it?!” Wisdom asks.

“To be honest...” I begin.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! A ship with no landing gear?! If you had told me earlier I could have installed some!” Wisdom yells.

The ship grows closer and closer to the ground.

“Buckle up,” Wisdom says with a groan.

She pops the door open and turns into a bat.

“Wait! Where are you going?!” I ask.

“I’m going to land the ship!” Wisdom says.

There is a little “plunk” noise and the ship starts descending slower than before.

“How are you doing that?!” Sìneag asks, “That’s ridiculous!”

“I’m a vampire, I can do abnormal things,” Wisdom says.

Very gently, we lower down to the surface of the planet. The ship touches the ground and stops without skidding this time. After that, Wisdom plops onto the ground, breathing heavily.

“Wow, thanks!” I say.

“N-n... No problem!” Wisdom says, still panting.

“We made it to the planet of half-humans!” Mór exclaims.

She’s the first one out of the ship aside from Wisdom. She takes a deep breath and sighs.

“It smells sooooo good here!” Mór exclaims