The Worker Prince Read Free

her by the arm, zigzagging through the chaotic hangar toward the test pads. They almost couldn’t hear Davi crying above the din.
    “I’m sorry …” Lura’s hand shook as she clung to his arm.
    “Let’s hope Aron’s got the courier ready.” Sol tapped three numbers into a security door and it rose into a ceiling cavity with a loud, whooshing sound. He ushered her down a dimly lit corridor.
    “I don’t know if I can let him go,” Lura said, as she had over and over since the decree’s release.
    “If we want our son to grow old, we have no choice, love.” Sol’s practiced emotional burying failed him and his voice cracked as they moved past numbered doors toward Test Pad Seventeen-A.
    The dark walls and floor of the narrow corridor absorbed what little light the reflector pads overhead provided. If Sol hadn’t known the way, they would have progressed more slowly. But in moments, they stopped before a gray door marked Seventeen-A as Sol entered another key code into the security pad.
    The door swung up and Sol rushed Lura and Davi onto the test pad, where Aron was busy double-checking the courier’s navigation system. Mounted on the launcher, the courier appeared bigger and taller than it actually was.
    Upon seeing it, Lura clutched Davi tightly to her chest and let out a gasp.
    Sol squeezed her hand as his eyes met hers with as much comfort as he could manage. “Lura, we must hurry!” Tiny daggers danced and sliced at the surface of Sol’s pounding heart.
    “I’ve got the coordinates programmed. And I borrowed fuel for the sub-light drive from Station Thirty-Four,” Aron said and Sol winced. “It should take them a while before they miss it.”
    Sol climbed a small ladder and examined the courier one final time. “Tran’s already been alerted. Why’d you do that?”
    “There was no time to go anywhere else,” Aron said, his face registering alarm.
    Sol motioned to the courier. “Let’s get the engines prepped. They don’t know where we’ve gone.”
    Aron and Sol hurried about the final launch preparations as Lura held Davi and softly sobbed. After a few moments, Sol stepped down off the ladder to join her. “He’s going to Regallis, Lura. Aron checked it out himself. He’ll be in the capital. Someone will give him a life we never could.” Tears flowed as his hands caressed the feathery down atop his son’s head.
    “How can this be happening?” Lura said through her sobs. “We’ve waited so long for a child!”
    Sol’s arms wrapped around her, holding his family for the last time. “We have to have faith, Lura. God will protect him. It’s time for him to go.” He reached for Davi. Lura resisted a moment, then kissed Davi’s forehead and surrendered.
    His infant son lay so light in his arms—soft and warm. The eyes looked into his with total trust, but instead of cuddling with him as he wanted, Sol hugged the tiny boy to his chest and hurried up the ladder to the courier.
    Placing Davi in the molded cushion, he wrapped the safety straps around him, put the life support pad in place, and turned it on. Its LEDs lit up bright green as it began to hum. The note Sol had written for whoever found Davi rested secure in the info pouch on the side wall. Everything was good to go.
    Lura rushed up the ladder beside him. She removed the treasured necklace his mother had given her before their joining ceremony and set it beside their son. Since the ceremony, Sol had never seen her without it. Tucking the family crest emblem inside the blanket where it couldn’t float free and scratch their son, he reached for the hatch, bending down as he did to kiss Davi’s head.
    “Always remember we love you,” he said, the last words his baby son heard before the hatch closed over him.
    Sol clasped Lura’s hand and led her down the steps. He nodded as Aron entered the launch code in the computer, and they all moved out of range to watch.
    The courier’s engines ignited, whining as they rose to full