Evening had fallen on the king’s city on Hejmo when the Don Quixote made planetfall. When the adventurers climbed out of the ship on the landing pad, a crowd of people ran toward them. A line of police was there to keep order, but they could not keep back the officials and the reporters.

  A portly man with a heavy white mustache and a beribboned uniform was the first to reach them. “General Stanza,” said Crystal, saluting.

  “Captain Aris, congratulations,” said the general. “You have done the impossible. His Majesty is waiting in the residence to welcome you.” He turned to Long John. “We don’t know how to thank you, both of you.” He shook both Long John’s and Dr. Perthonogis’ hands with fervor.

  “Thanks, but it was a team effort,” Long John said. “Couldn’t have done it without my crew as well.” The spiders all jumped out of the airlock behind him. The general’s mouth fell open and he took a step back.

  “Don’t worry,” Dr. Perthonogis assured him. “They’re quite tame—or civilized, at any rate. We’re all rather tired, shall we adjourn to the palace?”

  His Majesty King Leoniv met them in the reception room. He took Crystal’s hand and kissed her on both cheeks. “Amazing work,” he said.

  “Just . . . doing my duty,” she said.

  Long John thought she looked on the edge of exhaustion, she was so pale. Before he could speak, the king turned to him. “Alejandro Zanora,” he said.

  “Who is that?” asked Long John.

  “That’s your name,” said Leoniv. “We researched the Esperanza while you were gone, something your pirate friends evidently didn’t bother to do. Your father was Rafael Zanora, captain of the colony ship. His wife was Jacinda Iveth Zanora, and their son, Alejandro, was four years old at the time of the ship’s explosion. It was believed that he was lost too, but apparently that was not the case.”

  Long John felt stunned. He didn’t know what to say.

  “By the way,” said Leoniv, “Alejandro means defender of mankind, which I think highly appropriate. Don’t you?”

  Long John finally found his voice. “Well, thank you, Your Majesty.”

  “It appears that there’s an estate back on earth that you’re heir to, and your parents were wise enough to make some investments, so you won’t need to resort to piracy anymore.” Leoniv grinned with enjoyment.

  “Congratulations,” said Dr. Perthonogis, slapping Long John on the back. “Now, Yor Majesty, can you intercede to get those ridiculous charges against him dismissed?’

  “Oh, yes.” Leoniv looked closely at Long John. “I’m assuming most of those charges are unfounded?”

  “Well . . .” Long John coughed. “That is, there was a bit of piracy . . .”

  “Nonsense,” Crystal said. “His Majesty will deal with all that tomorrow, I’m certain. After all, none of us would be alive if not for you and your crew. And the good doctor’s device, of course.”

  “Yes. I will communicate with Attike,” said Leoniv. “But I think you may need to rest, for now. We plan a grand banquet in celebration tomorrow, but that’s another day. But I also have to thank your co-pilot. I think your name is Limpet?”

  The king bent to touch hands with the spider, who stood next to Crystal. “Thank you, sir, and thank your compatriots for me also.”

  Limpet was overwhelmed. He could only chirp out a few words.

  “Excuse us, Your Majesty,” said the doctor, looking at Crystal, “but I think we all need to get some rest.”

  They were escorted to a suite of rooms on the second floor. “I’m going to shower,” said Crystal. “And get out of this armor at last. See you later, Alex.”

  “That will take some getting used to.” Long John shook his head.

  The banquet began the next day in the afternoon. Long tables set with fine linen, silver and crystal ran the length of the grand banquet hall. Flowers and candles were placed at intervals in the tables’ centers. Soft strains of music drifted from the balcony. The seats filled with court officials and the people of Hejmo.

  When everyone was seated, King Leoniv came out with Crystal on his arm. She had finally changed her silver armor in favor of a pale blue gown trimmed with white lace, and she looked captivating. Long John had trouble keeping his eyes from her.

  Everyone rose. He was seated near the head of the table, and Crystal came to sit beside him. Limpet sat on his other side, on a high seat that allowed him to reach the table. The rest of the spiders had a low table beside the main one. Limpet had tried beer before, but discovered a new taste for wine. He had a little demitasse cup rimmed with gold, and kept the servitors busy refilling it.

  The servitors brought out platters piled high with exotic food, fruits, strange vegetables, and rich desserts. The food was excellent, the wine was superb, but Long John did not eat much, distracted by Crystal. He could not speak to her much, since there was so much conversational noise around them, but he was acutely aware of her presence.

  “You should try this,” she said, pointing out an edible flower that he had never seen before. He did try it, and the flavor was delightful, redolent of spices.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  He glanced at Limpet; Long John had lost count of how many times the spider had asked for his wine cup to be refilled. “Hey, maybe you should slow down,” he said.

  Limpet blinked up at him. “I fine. Wine good.” He was also enjoying a plate of something Long John did not look at too closely, although he noticed that it wiggled. With a sigh, he left the spider to his own devices.

  Dr. Perthonogis, on the other side of the table, was deep in conversation with a learned looking courtier. He seemed to be explaining their encounter with the creature from the black hole, which was fine with Long John. He was content to let others explain what they had all gone through.

  When they had nearly finished, King Leoniv rose. The noise instantly stilled. “I would like to introduce you to the people we owe our lives to. If not for their bravery and persistence, our planet would certainly have been destroyed by the creature birthed from a black hole. Allow me to congratulate Captain Alejandro Zanora . . .”

  Lulled by the soporific music and his own thoughts, Long John did not respond, until Crystal gave him a gentle nudge. “That’s you,” she whispered. “Stand up.”

  He started, looked around to see people staring at him, and stumbled to his feet. He was greeted by a storm of applause. It gave him a warm feeling, as for the first time he realized that without their efforts, none of these people would still be alive.

  His Majesty went on, introducing Captain Crystal Aris, Dr. Perthonogis, and even Limpet, who wobbled as he rose, and waved his wineglass in salute. Each of them was met with thunderous applause.

  The banquet ended at last. Afterwards, Colonel Dandridge came up to Long John. “I was wrong about you,” he said, offering his hand. “I could never have done what you did.”

  “You could’ve, if you had the help I had.”

  Dandridge shook his head. “By the way, what would you like me to do with the treasure left from Grimshaw’s ship?”

  “Whatever you like. It’s stolen property, after all. Maybe give it to the king to distribute.”

  “That’s a good idea,” said Dandridge. “I’m going to make a report to Attike. If you’d like, you could probably come work in the Space Force.”

  “Thanks. I’ll give it some thought.”

  He turned and saw a gray-haired man coming toward him between knots of people in the banquet hall. Long John stopped and stared. “Peter!” he exclaimed.

  Peter Brickner, his foster father, broke into a huge grin. He looked the same as the last time they had seen each other, six years earlier when Long John had taken off on his own journey of piracy: broad-shouldered, a little pudgy around the waist, with the ebullient grin that had always managed to lift Long John’s spirits. He held out his arms and Long John met him in a warm hug.

  “You sonuva gun,” said Long John. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been hunting all over the cosmos for you.”

  “I’ve got a sweet little bakery on Galatia, the planet under the space station.”

  “Figures. The one place I haven’t looked.”

  “Kid,” Peter said, holding him off at arm’s length. “You’re looking good. Not that gangly kid anymore. It’s all over the spaceweb, how you took down a serious menace. Had to come and see for myself.”

  Long John shivered. “Gotta admit, it was pretty horrific. But I had help.”

  “I’m proud of you, son,” said Peter. “Always knew you were more than pirate material. Say, I saw you looking at that girl in the blue dress. Got your eye on her, have you?”

  Long John stammered. “Well, I, uh , , ,”

  “Listen. Don’t let her get away. She’s a gem, if I’m any judge.”

  “She’s more than that. Let me buy you a drink; there’s a bar over here. Tell me about that bakery of yours.”

  * * *

  Hands in his pockets, Long John strolled in the rose gardens as dusk began to fall over the king’s city. Sunset painted the sky with misty pearl and amber clouds. The air was full of the earthy scents of green grass and rushing water. He had spent an enjoyable couple of hours catching up with his foster father, but now he was trying to think of how to ask Crystal the question that was uppermost in his mind.

  He heard rustling among the trees, and she came toward him, still wearing the blue dress with white lace at neckline and wrists. Her long dark hair lifted in a passing breeze.

  He went to meet her. “You look absolutely enchanting.”

  “Thank you, kind sir.” She smiled at him. “Did you enjoy the banquet?”

  “Yes, it was amazing. I’ve never been to anything like it.”

  “They do know how to put on a party.”

  “Limpet loved it. He drank so much wine he could hardly walk.”

  “It could be confusing, with eight legs.”

  Long John chuckled. “He kept getting them tangled up. By the way, Dandridge apologized to me. Maybe he’s not so bad.”

  “I’m glad.”

  They walked in silence for a moment. “King Leoniv offered me a job here. He wants to build up his space force. He seems like a decent fellow.”

  “He is.” She grinned mischievously.

  He raised an eyebrow. “What are you not telling me?”

  “He’s my father.”

  He stopped walking. “Really! That means . . .you’re royalty. But why are you in the Guard?””

  “It’s not unprecedented. What do you expect me to do? Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam?”

  “But does that mean . . .you have to marry someone who’s royal?”

  “Perhaps. Or someone from an ancient Spanish lineage, such as Alejandro Zanora.”

  “Should I be jealous?”

  “Maybe you should.”

  He pulled her close to him. “Will you marry me?”

  She laughed up at him. “What do you recommend?”

  He leaned down and kissed her. Her lips were warm and soft; he didn’t want to stop.

  At last he said, “Will you?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  He kissed her again.

  When he finally let her go, she glanced down. “Did you know we have company?”

  He followed her gaze and saw Limpet crawling out from under a bush, still looking a little wobbly. Several other spiders followed him. Limpet squinted up at him. “We have wedding? We can come?”

  Long John laughed. “Okay with you?” he asked Crystal.

  She nodded. “Yes, and Dr. Perthonogis too, of course.”

  “Yes, you can come,” Long John told them. “You can wear your fancy clothes.”

  “Hurrah!” they all yelled. “We all be happy!”

  The End