Princess An sat in the great hall, waiting for her mother Queen Nammu to arrive. Despite the oppressive heat that gripped the planet, the hall was refreshingly cool, its ventilation system drawing in the natural breeze from the ocean beneath the island. Without the vast oceans' cooling influence, the heat of the sun would have been unbearable. She poured herself a cup of anise tea, the aroma soothing as she sipped, and let her thoughts drift to the history of Earth, history she had been learning from the Ars Pherian Princess.

  The tales of Earth’s wars, migrations, and the rise of new religions were difficult to digest. Compared to their ancient Sumerian civilization on their new planet, Earth’s development seemed crude, disjointed, almost chaotic. They had no way of knowing how humanity’s story had unfolded beyond the year 1453. What if Earth had not even survived beyond that time? It was a sobering thought, but she wouldn’t be shocked. After all, it seemed all too plausible that humanity, especially under the leadership of men, had destroyed itself long ago.

  Princess An felt a strange sense of disbelief that men had ever been allowed to lead. The history she had read painted a picture of power struggles, violence, and endless conflict, hardly qualities that inspired confidence in male governance. In their Sumerian civilization, women had held authority, and their leadership was revered. Despite the shadow of the Ziggurat priestesses over society, they had managed to thrive economically, culturally, and technologically.

  How, she wondered, had the women of Earth ever allowed men to take control in the first place? Were their ancestors on Earth male-dominated as well? When and how did this change in Sumer? Was it the spirits who had wished for a society led by women?

  She was deep in thought when Queen Nammu arrived. The Queen removed her mask and gave her daughter a gleeful hug. She ordered the guards out of the room and took off her cape as well.

  “What a beautiful day! Did you hear the news?”

  “Yes, Mother,” An replied. “The High Priestess was found dead. But to be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to greet the news with such delight.”

  “I admit I’m encouraged by the possibility of a new, more open-minded High Priestess. Diorite, the poor woman, was old, and she never really understood me,” the Queen responded. “But that’s not the real reason for my delight today. I received some pleasing news from General Urla this morning.”

  “What news would those be?” asked An.

  “How was your meeting with the Ars Pherian Princess?” the Queen asked before answering her daughter. “Did she tell you anything about their planet and resources?”

  “Unfortunately, our meeting with Princess Perla was cut short today. We could only exchange information about the history of Earth and Ars Pheria. They possess a great deal of knowledge, particularly about the three thousand five hundred years following the abduction of the Sumerians. I wonder if you will be as disappointed as I am when you learn about Earth’s history,” said An. “But please, first tell me about the good news from General Urla.”

  Queen Nammu could no longer resist the joy of sharing her exciting news with her daughter.

  “You know we still have spy drones on Ars Pheria,” she said with a smile. “Our scientists have analyzed a new kind of substance, a vast underground resource on Ars Pheria. It’s a gold-colored liquid, and it’s an efficient fuel we can use in our nuclear-powered spaceships.”

  “Why haven’t the Ars Pherians used it yet?” An asked.

  “Ars Pherians are fascinating,” Queen Nammu exclaimed with a brief laugh. “They deny certain technologies, considering them almost like a religious sin. They seem unaware of the full potential of the substance. Their research on it is focused on a completely different purpose.”

  “Yes, I find them quite intriguing as well,” said An. “What would your strategy be to secure the substance, trade or conquer?”

  “My beautiful and intelligent daughter,” said Queen Nammu gazing her daughter’s bright eyes. “Although Sumer has the advantage and could easily conquer Ars Pheria, I intend to pursue a peaceful trade. But first, we need to understand what they would be willing to trade for.”

  “The flagship will soon be ready to travel to Ars Pheria. I want you to go and be their guest for a while,” the Queen continued. “I trust no one more than you for such a mission.”

  An looked at her mother, the Queen, with a confused expression. Although she had complete trust in her, she hadn’t expected space travel to be part of her role as "queen-in-waiting." The Queen had raised her daughter to one day take the throne, always with the understanding that An would inherit the responsibilities and power of the crown.

  The spark of revolution in the Queen’s mind had ignited with the birth of her daughter. She wanted a better future for An, one where she could have more opportunities than the Queen had ever had.

  An could feel the protection and love in her mother's eyes. The upcoming visit to Ars Pheria would be her first diplomatic space mission. The Queen hoped it would be just the beginning, preparing An for an even greater role in the future. Ars Pheria would be an easy, peaceful start to what would, the Queen hoped, be a much bigger journey ahead.

  Queen Nammu walked toward An and took her hand. Before either of them could speak, they heard a sharp clash followed by the shouting voices of the palace guards. Queen Nammu quickly hid her daughter behind her, drawing her weapon from her belt, shaped like a small circular blade with a handle in the center ready to send a tiny arrow of deadly poison in the millisecond of the user’s full press, and aiming it at the door of the great hall. Within moments, they were face-to-face with the Ziggurat defenders, their weapons drawn and pointed at Queen Nammu.

  The palace guards were taken hostage behind the door. Priestess Kubaba, the late High Priestess Diorite's apprentice, strode in, wearing Diorite's cape and carrying her staff.

  “Drop your weapon Queen Nammu!” she ordered. “You are charged with treason for murdering High Priestess Diorite. You will be arrested and executed.”

  Queen Nammu, shocked and immensely angry with herself, thought, how did I not see this coming? How did I let myself get carried away with my future dreams? She dropped her weapon and whispered to her daughter, "You know what you must do."

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  An picked up the weapon which her mother dropped and turned against her mother.

  Before sundown, Queen Nammu found herself in the heavily guarded dungeon room. She was grateful that her hands and eyes were not tied. She wore a prisoner’s mask and cape, symbols of her fall from grace. She lay down for a moment, trying to regulate her blood pressure. When she finally calmed, her thoughts turned, but all she could focus on was whether An would survive this coup.

  If An could act against her own mother and watch her execution with cold-blooded resolve, she might earn the Ziggurat’s acceptance as the new Queen. But she would have to be very careful. Queen Nammu feared that if An tried to prove her mother’s innocence, the Ziggurat might take her down with her.

  Tears of regret welled in her eyes as she realized the truth. She had waited too long to begin the revolution against the Ziggurat. She should have risked more. She shouldn’t have hesitated. Now, it was too late. An would have to succeed where she had failed.

  The Ziggurat priestesses were probably planning her execution for the early morning. She closed her eyes again, forcing herself to think of what more she could do before she died to help An survive as the new queen. The best option would be to admit her guilt. She wished she had rid herself of all the priestesses to make her execution a just cause.

  She listened to the silence of the dungeon. It was as if no one was there. Focusing on her hearing, she strained to listen. She caught the faint sound of whispering outside her door. She hoped An wasn’t doing anything to worsen her situation. Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a Ziggurat defender stepped inside.

  “Queen Nammu, please follow me,” he said. He was armed with a heavy laser weapon, slightly larger than those used by the palace guards, with a sharp blade along the outer edge of its circular shape. His cape was shorter and armless, covering only his torso, like all the other defenders. His arms were armored with scale-like plating, designed to protect him from the blade of his own weapon. A Ziggurat defender, mere slaves to the priestesses, was alone in a tiny dungeon room with the Queen herself.

  “Where is Queen An?” Queen Nammu asked, maintaining her strong composure despite her mind in panic for her daughter.

  “Follow me,” the masked defender repeated sternly, gesturing with his weapon.

  Queen Nammu had little choice but to follow him. They walked quickly through the empty corridors of the dungeons and exited through the vendors' door of the building. A tiny helicopter-like vehicle, more resembling a hovering sphere, waited silently in the shadow of a giant leafy tree. The pilot opened the door as soon as she saw the Queen emerge.

  The sphere-copter, designed for just two passengers and a pilot, accelerated into the darkness of the night with no lights on. The pilot relied on the radar and her night-vision goggles to navigate through the narrow passages between the branches of lush greenery. They never ascended above the trees. The pilot’s remarkable ability to fly through the tiny openings saved their lives. One touch on one of the leaves would trigger the attention of Ziggurat defenders on night watch hoovering above the trees. It seemed that the security in the dungeons was somehow eliminated, but the air surveillance was fully on duty.

  Queen Nammu held her questions in check and complied with the pilot’s instructions. She anticipated that the pilot would soon transfer the passengers to a larger vehicle, especially if An and the palace guards were behind this abduction. It was possible that some of the defenders were secretly aligned with the palace as well. If the tiny sphere-copter could navigate its way out of the wooded terrain to the south of the Palace Island, another larger vehicle might be positioned to intercept them beneath one of the agricultural islands.

  Nammu was intimately familiar with every suspended island of Sumeria, knowing their every curve and altitude. If she had orchestrated this abduction herself, she would plan to hide the hostages within the subterranean caves of an agricultural island, where ocean water was meticulously distilled into potable water. Though the inhabitants of the islands adhered strongly to their religious customs, discontent had been quietly festering among them ever since the Ziggurat Priestesses insisted on increasing the intake of girls into the Ziggurat school. No family was willing to offer a second daughter to the priestesses, one was already more than they could bear.

  Soon, the bumpy ride carried them out of the woods. As soon as the open space beyond the trees came into view, the pilot warned the passengers to brace for rapid acceleration. Queen Nammu was caught off guard, but she quickly managed to turn her head toward the sharp, ninety-degree turn the sphere-copter made as it veered north. The g-force from the sudden acceleration, combined with the sharp turn, made her dizzy; her head spun as if caught in a whirlwind. She couldn’t tell exactly where they were heading, but one thing was certain, it was not toward the south.

  When Queen Nammu could open her eyes again, after a marathon of deep breaths, she saw the lights of the Sumerian Space Station twinkling in the distance. She denied her thought process calculating the possible scenario involving the Flag Ship. No no no no…not a good idea, not a good idea…

  The sphere-copter landed silently in one of the space station's rarely used, dimly lit hangars, like a moth gently alighting on a dark surface. General Urla and a few of his space personnel stood waiting in the hangar, all suited up in their tight-fitting inner lining of their space suits, an incongruous sight given the seriousness of the situation. General Urla hurried over to the sphere-copter.

  "My Queen, the flagship crew is ready to take off, awaiting your orders," he said quickly and sternly. He didn't have a second to lose in his race against time. Yet, knowing the risk of losing the most precious asset of the Sumerian space fleet, the Queen had one last chance to refuse her only chance of survival.

  What would my mother do? What would Queen Nana do? Queen Nammu wished she could answer this question. She had been only sixteen when her mother passed away, not from an unfortunate accident or illness, but from old age. Queen Nana had been the mother of nine children, and Nammu was her only daughter. Nammu’s father had been blessed with vast lands and unimaginable riches when the Queen discovered, to her joy, that she could finally conceive a female child, thanks to him.

  Her first eight sons were still living on different Sumer islands, some as high ranked slave instructors and some as Ziggurat defenders. If there was one humane principle in the Ziggurat's spiritual religion, which was otherwise steeped in fear of the spirits, it was this: the Ziggurat valued all forms of life and would never allow a male child to be sacrificed or wasted. All male children were protected, often raised to serve as slaves, their lives devoted to serving the Ziggurat and its priestesses.

  Queen Nammu knew that she had no better choice than to flee in the largest spaceship Sumer had ever built. Unable to make a sound through her dry throat, she nodded silently and followed General Urla. Within minutes, they were aboard the flagship.

  “Hide the Queen,” General Urla ordered. “Prepare for takeoff.”

  The destination was already coordinated to Ars Pheria for a twenty-day one-way journey. The countdown for takeoff began.

  Ten, nine, eight,

  “Flagship Sumer One Eight Seven, come in!” The voice of An echoed inside the ship.

  Seven, six, five,

  “I repeat, Flagship Sumer One Eight Seven, you are unauthorized for takeoff!”

  Four, three,

  “As your Queen, I command you to cancel takeoff!”

  Two, one!

  Takeoff initiated.

  Queen Nammu took a deep breath. An was playing her role as the new queen. She closed her eyes, bracing for the takeoff.

  They will try to take down the ship once we reach outer space. But we can get through this. We have a chance, she thought.