I heard a little buzzsaw noise, and hands pulled the net-thing away and helped me stand up.

They looked like us. Like humans. No pointed ears or strange hair. By the time I was on my feet and understanding what I was seeing, a group of people had taken Willie Joe away. It was the third-to-last time I would see him. 

Another strange man bowed to me and moved his hand like one of those fancy waiters you see in movies at expensive restaurants. I shrugged my shoulders and picked up my skirt so I wouldn't trip. As we walked, I noticed that we had landed in what might be a cargo hold. Kind of small. Not as small as a passenger plane might have, but smaller than the star destroyers in the sci-fi movies, you know? I guess you could put a couple of delivery trucks in there.

The man and a few others took me to a room with a couch and some artwork. It wasn't weird art, just different. Like when you go to another country, and the art is nice but not what you're used to seeing, you know? A woman was already in the room, and she pointed at the couch. I sat, and she gave me a cup of something hot to drink. It didn’t taste too bad.

Most of the strangers left, leaving just the maybe-waiter guy, one other man, and the woman in the room. They talked to each other in their language, so I looked around. There were ceiling lights like we had at home. Plain brown walls. There was the couch and one more chair, a coffee table, and a side table. There was art on the walls and modern-art-looking sculptures in the corners. 

The smell was so strange. I'd never been to another country, but I remember going to an Indian restaurant once, and everything in there smelled different. This waiting room smelled different. It was air, but not the same. I don't know how else to describe it. That's when I started getting very nervous. I was in space, on a spaceship, and everything was different.

The door opened, swooshing like in the TV series. Another man stepped in and nodded to the others. He turned to me and bowed.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," he said. His accent was strange, but I could understand him.

"What's going on?" I asked. 

He walked over to the chair and sat down. "We are trying to prevent a war, and you are, unfortunately, caught up in the effort."

"Um, ok. So ... what now?"

"That depends on many, many things, too many to give you a good answer. For right now, you will be treated as a guest. We have no time to return you to your home, so you must travel with us."

I looked him over. He wore a suit, or what looked like a suit. He would have fit in on Earth. It was the same for the others, even the woman. This was not like the movies.

"Where are we going?" 

He nodded again. "Until you learn our language, many of these things will be difficult for you to understand. Let me say that we are going to the planet of origin for the person you traveled with."

Willie Joe was an alien? That was interesting. He looked human, and so did these people. Did they have extra fangs or tentacles under those suits?

"He is the center of a dangerous political debate. We hope that his presence will remove some of the problems."

"Is he a prince? Sent away to grow up like a normal person?" That was a common story idea in movies and comic books.

He nodded. "Before now, an unknown prince, yes. We all thought his mother was murdered, and none of us knew she was pregnant when she disappeared. We recently learned that he was born and is alive, but how he came to your planet is still a mystery. His father, the emperor, did not remarry and doesn’t have an heir. Until now, of course."

I nodded. "Bring back the long-lost prince and save the dynasty. My best friend reads all those books. But, how do you know he's the real prince?"

"Genetic testing, of course. And he has the royal pheromones."

I had to think for a moment about that. "You mean his BO? His body odor?" 

"If that term helps you to understand, then yes. His ... BO marks him as a member of the royal line. The strength of it is powerful proof of direct ancestry."

And all this time, we all thought Willie Joe just didn't know how to use soap.

The man shifted on his seat and looked more serious. "You should know that, while you are our guest, you will not see much of our prince. He has many things to learn about his heritage and the situation."

"It's ok. He was just a prom date. We weren't going out or anything." I barely knew Willie Joe, so how could I miss him?

He nodded again. "Excellent. I must go to the prince now, but I will return later. These three people are here to serve you." He stood, bowed again, and left. He never told me their names.

So that's how it all started. I was kidnapped into space, my prom date was an alien prince, and I hadn't finished writing the research paper that was due the next week. I sipped my drink and stared at the aliens for a while.