Beep beep! The shrill horn of a space cab echoed off the smooth stone wall surrounding Rhealo’s royal palace. Several single-alien transports replied with beeps and honks of their own. Two spaceports nearly knocked into each other before spiraling off to opposite sides of the narrow space-traffic lane.
“Watch it, pal,” Princess Rhealetta Hemmings said, gracefully sidestepping the slow-moving traffic. She pounded the door of a space cab that nearly knocked into her and shot the two-headed driver a look that could kill. The driver made a rude gesture, obviously unaware that he had almost wounded royalty. “What’s your rush?” she snapped, her blue eyes flashing. “The spaceway is totally jammed!”
Geela’s Android army had really messed up traffic in the center of Rhealo’s capitol. When the evil empress and her crew of awful henchmen arrived on the planet to take the king and queen prisoner, the aftermath of their visit had left SR-8 at a standstill. The only option for getting out of town was public transportation—the space bus and transit shuttle lanes were the only things moving.
When an old butler named Chamberlin had appeared in the princess’s chambers less than an hour earlier to tell her she had to get out of town—and off her planet for a while—she hadn’t believed him at first. She thought the servants in the palace were playing some sort of prank on her, sending this strange and stiff guy to freak her out. But after a few minutes of banter, she’d realized the old man was totally serious.
She’d listened intently as Chamberlin told her that the king and queen—who weren’t her parents, but related by ancient blood—had already been captured, and she was next on Geela’s hit list. The princess had to scoot, he said, and fast. Cloaked in a ratty old blue cape that was almost the exact color of her smooth skin, the princess had barely managed to hide her pet Springle and slip out a side door of the palace unnoticed just five minutes earlier. Now, she, Springle, and Chamberlin had to get off the planet before Geela caught up to them.
Since Chamberlin clearly didn’t know his way around Rhealo, Princess Rhealetta had come up with the only escape plan she could think of. She was going to hijack a space bus, disguise herself as the driver, and blast out of town. It wasn’t brilliant, but it was something.
“What about that one over there?” Rhealetta asked Chamberlin, pointing to a rusted space bus that had stalled in the public transport lane. The driver was fiddling with some wiring on the side of the vehicle, so the captain’s pod was empty and open.
“I don’t know that I approve of this plan,” Chamberlin said, stalling. “I would prefer we take one of the palace’s approved vehicles. It is paramount that I keep you safe, Princess.”
“I don’t know that we have a choice at the moment,” Rhealetta said, smiling. “We need to get off the planet, right? Traffic is at a standstill in the single-vehicle lanes. So we can either sit here waiting for things to clear up—which would make it pretty easy for Geela to swoop in and grab us—or we can nab a bus, have some fun, and get out of here.” Springle shivered and chirped to express her agreement.
“When you put it that way…” Chamberlin said, nervously.
“When I put it that way, you feel great about stealing a bus, yes?” Rhealetta tilted her head under the heavy blue cloak and grinned. Springle bounced along beside them, her pink and blue body bouncing through the traffic. “This is gonna be fun!”
Chamberlin shook his head. After spending the morning with Princesses Lunaria, Junoia, and now Rhealetta, he was fairly certain he had made a big mistake when he agreed to take on this mission. Ushering the princesses to safety was of great importance to their galaxy, of course, but he had expected the mission to be much more straightforward than it was proving to be.
Rhealetta dashed across four lanes of crawling traffic, hopping and skipping toward the stalled bus. Chamberlin stumbled along after her, muttering hasty apologies and yelping every time he came too close to floating cars or space pods.
Without pausing, the princess leaped into the cab of the space bus and pressed the start button. The rambling motor roared to life, and outside the bus the driver shouted a surprised, “Oy!”
Rhealetta stuck her arm out the transport’s front window and waved. She called, “Looks like she’s fixed. If you don’t mind me taking her for a joy ride, I’d be grateful for the lift. The people of our planet—and I—will thank you for your service someday.” Without waiting for an answer, Princess Rhealetta revved the engine.
Chamberlin leaped into the bus and fumbled around in his pocket for the right fare. “Chamberlin, my man,” Rhealetta said as she put the bus in gear and blasted away from the palace, “put your money away. This ride is on me.”
Chamberlin sunk into a plastic bus seat and closed his eyes. “Would you like me to drive, Your Highness?” he offered, already knowing what the answer would be.
“Not a chance,” Rhealetta said, swerving to miss a shuttle that had slowed to collect passengers. “This beats gaming—big time.” She raced the stolen bus down the public transport lane. But after they’d gone only a few blocks, the bus wheezed and slowed to a crawl. Rhealetta slammed her hand against the wheel, frowning. “It’s broken.”
Springle wildly punched at the control panel, knocking off buttons and knobs with each swipe of her paws. Rhealetta’s pet loved to try to help—but usually just caused trouble when she got involved in the princess’s projects.
“Not broken,” Chamberlin said, peering over her shoulder at the control panel. “It looks like this bus is programmed to pick up passengers at regular intervals along the route. We have no choice but to stop and collect a few fares.”
The bus slowed, then stopped. The door of the transit sighed open, and a line of impatient passengers flooded into the bus. One by one, they dropped tokens, cards, and credits into the payment console. None of the passengers looked at their driver closely enough to realize it was the princess in the captain’s pod. Rhealetta held her hand over her mouth, hiding a laugh. She hadn’t left the palace without being recognized for years! Hiding among the people of her planet was so exciting.
Behind her, Chamberlin drummed his fingers together, muttering, “Hurry up, hurry up.”
Princess Rhealetta turned around and whispered, “Chill, Chamberlin. We’ll get out of here eventually—safe and sound. You can trust me.” She winked at him. “What’s your rush, anyway? You got a free ride, so quit your moaning! If we have to escape, let’s at least have some fun.”