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Jupiter couldn't remember how long she had been wandering the empty corridors of the abandoned space station. She had climbed up rusty ladders and squeezed herself through half-closed doors, looking for an exit, a rescue capsule or even just a window in the cold, metallic walls. When had she last seen the stars? As far as she knew she might have been buried on the ocean floor or miles underground. Her memories were a blur and she had no recollection of how she had ended up in this rotten place.
Higher and higher she went – she had stopped counting all the different floors she had left behind long ago. Going up felt right and gave her at least a slight sense of direction.
MAYBE IT'S THE WRONG WAY.
Half reaching for the next rung, her hands began to shake. This voice had spoken deep from within her own mind, but it wasn't her usual nagging self-doubt or another part of the annoying little chorus that followed her every day of her life. It had been the voice of a stranger. Instinctively she turned away from the ladder and kept walking down the nearest corridor. She wouldn't let them see her run ... but who were they? Without another look back she made her way through the darkness and debris.
"Jupiter."
A familiar voice, after all. Jupiter slowly turned towards a door to her left. There she was. "Mom!"
"My sweet little daughter!" Her mother stormed towards her, hugged her, covered her in kisses. "Where have you been? Dinner is ready. Come in, everybody's waiting!" She took Jupiter by the hand and led her straight through a metal door into … their living room. Her whole family was there, sitting around the dinner table, smiling, laughing, talking in Russian. "I made Borscht! Sit down, before it gets cold!"
When had Jupiter last seen her family so peaceful, so happy together? She couldn't remember. She only knew that she had been wandering a desolate space station two minutes ago, but even that single truth seemed to slip away from her, already feeling light years away, and why should she care about that when her family was right here –
It was a trap. Of course it was. There was nothing wrong with the scenery in front of her eyes and all that Jupiter wanted was to sit down with her family and eat a big bowl of her mother's beetroot soup that she despised so much – but she knew that someone was watching her with hungry, greedy eyes. She turned away from her happy family and the mouth-watering dinner and tried to focus on her surroundings. The place that had looked exactly like her home back on Earth just a few moments ago slowly began to crumble apart. Everything – from the paintings on the wall to the cushions on the sofa – suddenly felt blurry and unreal. From the corner of her eye she could finally make him out. A tall shadow standing in the doorway behind her, covered in an eerie blue glow, his gaze fixated on her.
She quickly turned around and he was gone. Without a second thought Jupiter ran towards the door, ignoring her family's disappointed calls – reminding herself that whatever she had left behind hadn’t been her real, actual family.
WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY?
... so there he was again, the stranger in her head, apparently dissatisfied that she hadn't settled down for a bowl of Borscht.
THAT WAS EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED.
"If you really think that, you don't know me at all", Jupiter whispered through gritted teeth. She kept running, away from the mocked-up home this place had conjured up for her. Up, down, it didn't matter to her anymore, just far away, just left behind, just gone.
She passed a corner and ran straight into Stinger's arms. "Come with me, Jupiter. You can live at my farm, the bees will take care of you."
"No, thank you." She shoved him away and kept running. Katherine stepped out of a door in front of her – sweet, superficial, wonderful Katherine.
"Jupiter, I don't know what to wear." She held up two dresses, purple and red. "You can keep the other one if you help me decide."
Jupiter didn't even slow down and breezed right past her. "Sorry, Kate!"
A sudden shock ran through the corridor and Jupiter almost fell over. With a loud bang, a hole in the wall burst open and out stepped Diomika Tsing. "Jupiter Jones, we know you're held here against your will. We're here to save you. Please come with us."
"You're not even trying anymore", Jupiter growled and kept running. On and on, as fast as she could, as long as she kept those phantoms behind ... but she couldn’t take all of this much longer. Her survival instinct had kept her going up, up and up ... her panic and fear would only get her so far.
She collapsed on the edge of a dark, beautiful room, with giant panorama windows that finally gave view to the stars again. Right at the center stood a beautiful, old, golden telescope.
"No." Jupiter got back on her feet. "No. Get out of my head." She turned around and faced Titus Abrasax. He towered over her, smirking.
Taking a step back, Jupiter knew that something was different. He didn't feel blurred, he didn't start babbling like a brainwashed parrot. "You." What else was she supposed to say – even if she had millions of questions, she didn't want to hear his answers.
"Why are you fighting back so hard, dear Jupiter?" He took a step towards her. "I don't want to hurt you. I want you to feel" – he tried to caress her cheek, but she jerked her head out of his reach – "comfortable." His fingers returned to the necklace around his neck – two serpents with blue glowing eyes wrapped around each other. For the length of two heartbeats he kept staring at Jupiter, as if she was a challenging puzzle that he just hadn't come up with a solution for yet, before he turned on the spot and walked away.
Jupiter's mind raced. Days of isolation, an hour of illusions – and now the first, living, breathing human being she met after all she had went through – especially the person who probably put her into this living hell in the first place – dared to walk away from her? With an odd sense of relief she realized how absolutely furious she was in this very moment. She took a deep breath and took up the chase. Straight through the door, down the corridor – she could see Titus' disappearing around the next corner –
"Hail Queen Jupiter!" She had walked straight into a gigantic marble throne room, filled with hundreds of people who joyfully proclaimed her reign over every single galaxy known to mankind. It had been easy to get past the single phantoms from before, but now she was being pushed from every side towards the big stone chair at the other end of the velvet carpet.
IS THIS MORE TO YOUR TASTE?
... so there he was again, back inside her head. Jupiter started looking around the hall frantically, but she couldn't make out Titus or even just his shadowy shape in the multitude of ecstatic faces.
Once she stood in front of the throne, the crowd fell silent. This would make it easier. Still standing upright, Jupiter held on tight to the marble armrest and closed her eyes. "You don't know anything about me, Titus. Do you know what I want? I want all of this ... gone!"
She didn't dare to open her eyes yet, but she knew that all of the phantoms had finally left. Her legs started to shake and she let herself sink onto the throne with a big sigh. She was alone – alone with Titus. Now all she needed to do was –
"Your Majesty."
Jupiter jumped up, her eyes wide open again. Someone else was standing just a few feet in front of her. He was wearing an ill-fitting white tunic that would have felt more appropriate in a high school drama club. This whole subconscious-desire-routine was slowly getting out of hand. "Caine?"
He bowed his head. "At your service, your Majesty."
Jupiter hesitated. She could still feel Titus' presence, watching closely how she would handle this new challenge. It was time to play along. "Caine, what on Earth are you wearing?" She gave a little laugh that didn't even feel forced – that Greek costume just looked way too ridiculous.
"Don't you like it, your Majesty?" Caine looked slightly hurt. Then he grabbed his tunic with both hands and ripped it apart, letting the shreds fall to the floor. He wasn't wearing anything beneath it. "I'm here to serve."
"Okay." Jupiter couldn't help blushing a little. She couldn't keep her eyes off whatever was going on right in front of her – but more importantly, she began to feel a shadowy presence right behind her back. "So what if I'd like to drink a glass of wine?"
Caine nodded his head again, stepped over the white scraps of fabric lying before his feet and made his way over to a small wooden table that hadn't been there just a minute ago. He returned with a jug of wine in one hand and a full cup in the other.
"Good. Now hand over the jug." Confused, Caine did as he was told, still holding onto the silver goblet. "Drink", Jupiter ordered. He downed the cup in a matter of seconds and let it fall onto the floor. "... and now: Kneel." As Caine complied, Jupiter got up from her throne. Even down on his knees, his height was still impressive. She could feel Titus' eyes upon her, but she hadn't heard his poisonous voice for a while now. She sincerely hoped he was enjoying the show.
Jupiter looked straight into Caine's watchful and loyal eyes – and poured the jug of wine right over his head. The red fluid soaked his hair, trickled down his neck and his broad shoulders. Tossing the jug aside, Jupiter grabbed his chin, tilted his head upwards and licked the wine from his jawline, his mouth, his forehead – and finally she kissed him, his stoic composure crumbling, his hands resting on her hips, hugging her into a tight embrace.
From the corner of her eye Jupiter could see Titus – not hidden in shadows, but in plain view, still standing behind the throne, clutching the marble with one hand and the snake necklace with the other, mesmerized by the spectacle in front of him, a satisfied look of triumph on his face.
Jupiter let herself fall into Caine's arms. She buried her hands in his hair, kissed his neck, bit into the pointed tip of his left ear. "Now listen to me very carefully, Caine", she whispered. "Do you see that guy right behind me?"
An affirmative growl.
"Good." She smiled. "Now tear out his throat."
Caine jumped up and Jupiter was right behind him. Titus threw up his hands in shock, took cover behind the throne and fell down hard on the marble floor. Seconds passed, his breathing steadied – and he started laughing. There was no trace left of Caine – as if he hadn't been there in the first place.
"Oh, dear Jupiter ... do you really think the figments of your imagination can actually hurt me?"
"No", Jupiter agreed, while putting on the glowing Snake necklace she had ripped from Titus' neck just a few moments ago. "... but I'm sure they can distract you."
Titus frowned and reached for his neck. He started looking around the throne room with a vague look of panic. "You don't even know what you've taken there. You don't even know how it works. Just give it back to me and we'll find a solution that works for both of us."
Jupiter stepped behind one of the marble pillars. "Doesn't seem that difficult to me, to be honest. I don't know what this place is, but I'm pretty sure this ugly necklace makes me immune to its visions and invisible to you – as long as you don't distract me with a burlesque show or something like that." The smirk on Titus' face slowly turned into a grimace of rage. "I just wonder", Jupiter continued, "what will happen to you now?"
The doors to the throne room opened with a loud creak. A man entered the room – but not just any man. It was a second Titus. The two men stared at each other across the hall. As he kept walking, Titus’ mirror image began to talk. “It’s all right, Titus. We both know how tired you are of this charade. It has gone on long enough.”
“We can’t just let her go!” The original Titus was talking to his doppelgänger like he was an old friend. He walked slowly towards him and they met each other at the center of the hall. “We can’t let her win!”
“We can. We can.” Lost in each other’s eyes, they started to kiss. Gravity seemed to lose its effect as the two identical men started floating between the marble pillars in a tight embrace, weightless, without a care in the world.
Jupiter turned away, looked for the nearest ladder and kept climbing up.
Up.