Lexx: Twisted Interludes

 

Happy Xev and 790 fly over to Gametown to pick him up. Xev is surely happy to see Kai, cause her face lights up. So, they land on the city and Kai climbs into the moth. Ecstatic 790 is pleased to see Kai, so he recites a poem.

 

790: On a branch there is a fruit, plump and ripe for sucking. On a moth, there is a Kai, dead but ripe for…

 

Xev: Give him a break 790! 

 

Interrupts Xev.

 

790: I can’t! 

 

Adds 790 helplessly. He asks for a kiss and Kai obediently responds. He kisses his fingers and delicately slaps the robots head. Kai asks Xev if she was able to rescue Stanley. 

 

Kai: Did you ever find Stan’s body?

 

Xev: It was floating face down. I tried to use the protein regenerator on it, but it didn’t it.

 

790: So the dead stayed dead. But, one of the dead can pump some life, into me, anytime.

 

Xev explains what happened and a rather dispassionate Kai asks if the Lexx can now fly. 

Kai: Can the Lexx fly now?

 

Xev: A little way. The Lexx still needs to eat a lot more. 

 

Then Xev raises her hand to show Kai that she has the key to the Lexx.

 

Xev: I have the key, now.

 

She shows Kai the key that Stanley passed over to her and then asks if anything can be done for Stanley. Kai thinks for a while then explains, to Xev, about what happened while he sank into the ocean.

 

Kai: While I was sinking, I saw many shapes underwater. I believe that they are the essences of people who have died. I fell into a light and woke up on Gametown. You will remember that the people here do not speak of being born, only 'waking up'.

 

Xev: So does that mean that you're alive now?

 

Xev asks, hopefully.

 

Kai: No, I am still dead, but I saw the living ‘me’ inside the planet, waiting for his turn to wake up.

 

Xev suggests that they rescue him, but Kai explains that he probably wouldn’t have any understanding of his circumstances or memories of his past life. Then, Xev changes the subject.

 

Xev: What about Stanley?

 

Kai: What about him?

 

Xev: Is there anything we can do?

 

Kai: Well, he is dead.

 

Xev: So are you, but it hasn’t been the end for you. Does it have to be the end for Stanley too?

 

Then, Kai ponders before answering.

 

Kai: Water appears to be where the virtuous go after they die. Stanley made many bad choices. I suspect that he is on Fire.

 

Xev: Then we are going to Fire to get Stanley. 

 

She says determinedly, but feels a cramp in her abdomen. Enough for Xev to feel it.

 

Xev: That’s weird. I’m hurting.

 

Kai: That’s a contraction. That means that you’ll have the baby sooner than I expected.

 

Xev: How long, do you think, before I actually go into labor?

 

Kai: I don’t know. Labor can take hours. I think it will be safe, for you, if we went back to the Lexx and have the baby there.

 

Xev, a very determined and stubborn woman, decides to refuse.

 

Xev: You said it could be hours. We have time to go get Stanley.

 

Kai: It is your choice.

 

She continues to steer the moth for the planet Fire. As they make it to Prince’s city. they could see Prince, in open arms, waiting for them as they land. Kai points out that she may loose her life if they land, but Prince will probably be her best hope of finding out what happened to Stanley. Prince greets them as they climb out of the moth. Prince is surprised to see Xev look more pregnant than ever, as if she could have the baby at any moment. The three of them head inside his quarters.

 

Prince: Come for another kiss, Xev?

 

Xev: From which of your lives? Before you died or after you died or when you were Kai?

 

Xev answers Prince with a sneer. 

 

Prince: It's all the same.

 

Prince laughs.

 

Kai: We have come to find Stanley Tweedle.

 

Prince: He’s dead.

 

Xev: We already know that.

 

Kai: We have recovered his body. It is fully functional, but is not alive.

 

Prince: He’s not alive, cause he’s dead.

 

Kai, then, approaches Prince.

 

Kai: We have learned that these two planets are the repository of the life essences, who died, outside of the physical body.

 

Prince: Very good. Stanley’s essence is here, but you can’t have it.

 

Xev: Then, give it to us.

 

Prince: I can’t. He is waiting for his turn to suffer.

 

Prince says as he waves his hand downward toward the fire well.

 

Prince: Your visit here intrigues me. Clearly, your ship cannot fly, or you would have left. I suspect that you’re here to make a deal.

 

That’s when Kai gets the idea to jump down into the fire pit to rescue Stanley. Xev is shocked by this.

 

Prince: The heat, there, is enough to incinerate human flesh.

 

Xev: That won’t stop Kai.

 

Prince changes the subject.

 

Prince: This has never happened before. You're the first.

    

Xev: The first what?

    

Prince: The first people to come here still living their original lives. This has been a most interesting time. A most unsettling time. A time of great possibility. Now that we are rid of the dead man, it is time for us to make a deal.

 

That’s when Xev started to feel another contraction. This time, more painful. Prince takes notice in this.

 

Prince: I take it that the baby is coming.

 

Xev: You’re right. But, I won’t have the baby here. Once I get to the Lexx, I will have the baby there.

 

Prince: You’re about to go into labor. How can you get yourself to the Lexx in your condition?

 

Xev: I’ll find a way. I’m strong, so I can handle it.

 

Then Prince changes the subject.

 

Prince: I also take it that you’re the only one alive, so that means you have the key to the Lexx.

 

Xev: So, what’s the deal?

 

Prince: I will be king, you will be queen or, perhaps, you will be my slave. Which is the same thing, really.

 

That’s when Prince summons a soldier. 

 

Prince: I advise you to surrender.

 

Xev accepts, but she points out that she is part cluster-lizard and cluster-lizards don't have human concerns or values. She approaches Prince and starts stroking his jawline, while also looking Prince straight in the eyes.

 

Xev: I will accept your deal, under the right conditions.

 

Xev pleases him, with a short kiss on the lips and looks back at him.

 

Xev: You bring out something in me that doesn't always find proper expression.

    

Prince: I think that there is the possibility that you will be a very good queen.

 

Just as Prince was about to kiss her, she has another contraction. She leans into Prince and takes slow breaths to relax til the pain dissipated.

 

Xev: I will make a very good queen, but not your slave.

 

Then, she became able enough to walk away from Prince. But, then she shows Prince that she has the key, by raising her hand and making it glow. Prince become more fascinated by the gush of water that landed between Xev’s feet and onto the concrete floor below. There’s no stopping, this baby, from coming now.

 

Prince: I don’t think you’ll make it to the Lexx after all.

 

Xev: My water may have broken, but you don’t know me very well. Labor can take hours. I can make it to the Lexx.

 

Prince: I doubt it. Let’s see, how long, I can keep you here. 

 

Then, Xev has another contraction. Now, that her water broke, the contractions have become more unbearable and close together. Xev is gladly able to talk about something else. Something that happens to be on her mind. If she is gonna have her baby, on Prince’s city, she might as well get to know him.

 

Xev: If Stanley is an essence meant to suffer forever, then what are you?

    

Prince: I do not know.

    

Xev: How is it that you do not know?

    

Prince: Because no one has ever asked me that question before, and so I've never thought about the answer. My existence is simple, I make sure that those who make bad choices suffer, nothing more.

 

Then, she also wants to know about his ordeal with Water.

 

Xev: Why do you want to destroy Water?

 

Prince: Because it is full of good, and I am full of bad. I think that's all there is to it. I'm not very complicated really. 

 

Then, after another contraction, she changes the subject.

 

Xev: Do you think our arrival on this planets has been a good thing?

 

Prince: A good thing, for me, and a bad thing for others.

 

Xev: Then, what could happen now to resolve this matter?

 

Xev asks. Prince replies, since he already knows the answer.

 

Prince: Xev, our child holds the future of Fire and Water. If it wasn’t for you, everything would go on as before.

 

Then, Prince is circling around her. One of the soldiers, that he summons, Prince approaches. The soldier ends up giving Prince his dagger. But Xev’s acceptance of Prince’s terms, for marriage, is being put to the test. Prince asks her to strangle his soldiers who obediently kneels before Xev. 

 

Prince: I want you to strangle him.

 

Xev: Why?

 

Prince: I want to see if you have, what it takes to be my queen. It would just turn me on, if you could eat his brain, like a cluster-lizard.

 

Prince walks up behind her and kisses down her neck. Prince speaks in a demanding tone.

 

Prince: I’m waiting.

 

Xev walks up to the kneeled soldier and places her arms around his neck. Just as she attempts to strangle him, she has another contraction. This time, more painful than ever. So painful, she’s growling at the same time she’s putting pressure around the guy’s neck as counter pressure. It’s not just a contraction, she is actually pushing the baby out.

 

Prince: You will be mine!

 

Xev: Shut up, Prince! The baby is coming.

 

After she strangles the soldier dead, she squats down, on her knees, and starts pushing. Prince rushes over to her and helps her lay back onto the concrete floor. He removes his long coat, folds it up and places it under Xev’s head, as a pillow.

 

Xev: I really hate you, Prince!

 

Xev moans in agony. Prince lets out a light laugh.

 

Prince: I told you, you were gonna have our baby here.

 

Xev: But, I wanted to have the baby on the Lexx.

 

Prince: It’s too late, for that, now.

 

Prince says as he looks between Xev’s parted legs. Apparently, he could see a piece of skin with hair on it, poking between her entrance.

 

Prince: Our baby is coming. I think, I see it’s head.

 

Prince changes the subject.

 

Prince: How ‘bout that. The first child to be born, between these two planets.

 

Xev, then, starts pushing with all her might, screaming in agony in the process. Watching a woman give birth, for the first time in his existence, has become fascinating. Not just giving birth to any baby, but giving birth to his baby. Who knew that Prince can be cut out to be a father and Xev a mother.

 

Just as Xev continues pushing in screaming, at the same time, the Lexx’s orbit finally decays and crashes into the Water planet. As the Lexx slams against the body of water, it not only causes a giant tidal wave, but a whirlpool suction as the Lexx drowns into the endless ocean. The whirlpool suction is so great, it swallows and collapses nearby floating cities, causing the inhabitants to drown as well.

 

After so much pushing, the baby comes out into Prince’s hands. Xev feels a trembled relief as she hears her baby cry for the first time. Prince uses the dagger, he had moments ago, to sever the baby’s umbilical cord. Since Prince never held a baby before, he holds the baby in his arms, almost crying with joy.

 

Prince: Oh Xev, we have a son. He’s so beautiful.

 

As Xev sits up, Prince brings the baby over to Xev, for her to hold. She uses his coat, to wrap up her naked child and hold him close to her. Xev, immediately, pulls out her left breast, out from her top, and starts instinctively breastfeeding her helpless newborn.

 

Prince: It’s hard to believe that I’m a father.

 

Xev: I had no idea that you are capable of being a good person.

 

Prince: Well, I’m not and neither is our son. At the moment of his birth, his birth caused the Lexx to crash into the Water planet.

 

Xev: How do you know this?

 

Prince: As I looked into your brain, while we were in the gondola over the Water planet, I saw it happen. You did too, as I recall.

 

Xev is saddened, by the thought of being stranded on the planet Fire, for good. Prince makes a statement.

 

Prince: Now, that you’re stuck here with me, you might as well be my queen and raise our son.

 

Prince steps over by the door and opens it to let the sunshine in. He also gets a good view of the Water planet, where Xev and Prince shared their first kiss.

 

Xev: Now, that the Lexx is gone, how will you ever destroy Water?

 

Prince: I did say that our son holds the future of Fire and Water. Once he becomes a man, that is. I guess we’ll wait until then to see what happens.

 

That’s when Xev thinks about Kai and Stan, so she brings it up.

 

Xev: So, what about Kai and Stanley? Do you know what happened or happens to them?

 

Prince: Well, Stan is dead. I suppose I can have him reawakened here, for his punishment, so you can at least have familiar company. Problem with that, is that he won’t know who you are. As for Kai, all I know that wherever he is, inside this planet, he’s stuck there forever.

 

Xev: He did mention that his life essence is on Water. What do you know about that?

 

Prince: I can have him brought over here too, if you like. But, he won’t know, who you are, either.

 

Xev: That’s better than nothing.

 

Then Xev changes the subject. This time, she approaches Prince and stands next to him to overlook the horizon.

 

Xev: We should think of a name for our son.

 

Prince: I was thinking of a name that means “Fire”. How ‘bout “Ayden”, as in A-y-d-e-n.

 

Xev: Sounds okay with me.

 

As they overlook the horizon, they look at the Water planet in the sky. Now, that Xev is stranded on the Fire planet, with Prince, what will she do now? As for 790, he’s still waiting in the moth, reciting poems for Kai.

 

Since Xev had no choice, she ends up marrying Prince, in a white version of his cloak and ruffled shirt, and becoming his queen. She’s not happy about it, but what else could she do? She, now, puts hope into the only person who now controls her fate...her son, Ayden.

 

~The End