Here there was the threat of the Spacebinder who with his diamond eyes could destroy anything, but a woman with blue eyes and interesting stories might live a lot longer than anyone else around him.
For Zada life got strange as she found that there was life beyond Earth. But what kind of life was it? It was dangerous since she had blue eyes, not unusual on Earth, but rare elsewhere in the Universe. Still, there was a set of eyes that were more unusual than her blue ones. Those eyes belonged to the Spacebinder. His eyes were a weapon that others wanted to use, but those same eyes also wanted her.
Could Zada find a way to survive being close to such a male that was so dangerous? Lying next to him each night, seeing the strange eyes, she thought of another woman whose life was in danger each night. Scheherazade. Zada began to tell him one of Scheherazade’s stories, putting off the ending until the next night.
Her hopes were to keep him interested and keep herself alive. Of course she forgot that Scheherazade and the Pasha made love each night before the story continued.
She woke to find him staring down at her as he leaned against the back wall. “Do you ever sleep?” She asked quietly.
After his usual silence his deep voice spoke. “You went swimming.”
Zada sighed, but kept calm and spoke softly. “Yes, it was great. But you didn’t answer my question. Do you sleep?”
She saw the glint from his eyes. “I don’t need the deep sleep as much as you do, but I have some exercises that I do to clean my mind that is like sleep. Now talk to me. Tell me one of your stories. I missed them last night.” She thought his voice did sound tired. Strange because she thought of the Spacebinder as being invincible.
“Oh no, I have become Scheherazade.” Zada added a slight giggle.
She felt his finger on her lips. “What is a Scheherazade?”
She actually lowered the covers so that her arms were free to add movement to her story. “Well, this is a very famous old story on my world. There once was a very rich king that in his land he was called a Pasha. He was allowed many wives and concubines but he fell deeply in love with only one so he was loyal to his one wife. Unfortunately, she took a lover on the side and he discovered this, and it broke his heart. According to the laws of his land, he had her head chopped off.”
Zada kept her voice low and soft, but looked over at him with her eyes to make sure he was listening. She had her arms up to add to herwords. “The Pasha felt there was only one way that he could be sure that his wives were being faithful to him, so every so often he would marry a virgin and sleep with her for one night. The next morning he would have her head chopped off.” Zada made a chopping move against her own throat.
“One day a nearby merchant brought to him a favorite daughter to become his wife. The lovely girl was called Scheherazade and she was aware of what awaited her after her marriage night with the Pasha. The Pasha made love to the beautiful girl, but before they went to sleep she asked if she could tell him a story to help him relax.”
Zada laid her hands on her chest and waited to see what Prot would do. There wasn’t a very long silence as usual with him.
“Continue.”
Oh, wonderful, she had reached the God man. “Well, she began to tell him an interesting story. She painted a picture so complete and so fascinating that they lost track of time and before they were aware of it the guards came with the morning to remove the wife from her head. But the story was just getting to a really exciting part so the Pasha waved the guards away. He decided to give the lovely woman another night to come back and finish the story before he had her beheaded the next morning. With this Scheherazade lived another day. The following night she finished the story to the Pasha’s delight, but after they made love, she suggested she tell him another story. Again, when the guards came she had not finished so the Pasha let her live one more day.”
Again Zada quit talking and laid her hands down. She waited to see if he would put her to sleep.
“What happened?” He surprised her as he had leaned forward when he spoke.
Ah he was interested just like the Pasha. “Well, she lived a thousand and one nights with a different story each night. By the end of those nights the Pasha was so in love with her and her stories that he could not have her head separated. She turned out to be faithful and full of more stories and they lived to be very old.”
He was actually leaning in closer. “So Scheherazade, tell me one of the stories.”
