Chapter 7

Fox

Axl and I have breakfast in the hotel. It's not the usual time we should eat, but then again, days are shorter on Earth. Of course, we keep to our Alliance times on the base and must make do when we're on the planet. Although there's a full buffet of human food, I stick to what's closest to what I would normally eat, porridge. Axl on the other hand, has to try everything he's not seen before, leaving our table looking like a starving man was here.

I watch as Axl finishes his last bite of chocolate on bread. "Satisfied?"

"Aren't you the least bit curious about these delicious dishes?"

"It's just food. I know how taste buds work."

"Fox, you've changed."

"You say the word changed as if it's a negative thing. And I disagree, it's you've who's changed, Axl. You married a human who's made you curious for things you never thought about before. Perhaps I'll be the same as you in a year's time after I've married Helga," I say. "The people we choose to marry affect us more than anything else in our lives. I've witnessed this as an outsider for many years."

"And yet you'd still just give yourself so easily to a servant in a beer tent?"

"How many times will I have to repeat to you, humans have no Alliance class. And as far as I can see, it's no different than you picking Georgiana out of a crowd. She could have easily had any occupation. You didn't know anything about her."

"I was choosing her to pretend to be my wife. Then I got to know her."

"Because I'm being more straightforward it's a problem?"

"It's because you're the Commander. We all have a stake in the woman you choose to marry. She'll be Consort and have just as much power over us as you do. In some cases, even more."

"If you trust me as your Commander, then you'll trust me now. I follow the goddesses' path, which, as you have witnessed, has led me to Helga."

"She's the first woman you saw when you entered the tent, Fox."

"Yes, and the tent was aptly called Heaven of the Bavarians. Why do you think it has to be so complicated? Can't two people just meet and be suited for one another?"

Axl doesn't answer me but instead finishes his coffee.

Back up in the room, I RVM Sem, who is in command of the base while I'm pursuing a wife. It's good to see Sem's familiar face, and he's all business as he reports nothing out of the ordinary. Then, at the end of our conversation, he asks me if Oktoberfest is everything I had hoped for.

"Everything and more," I reply, and he wishes me well without asking me anymore personal questions.

After I've finished what I can do from Earth, I meet Axl in the city of Munich and we walk through the shopping district. I want to buy a gift for Helga. We go into a lot of shops and look at a lot of jewelry. However, as a waitress, I don't think she has clothing to match anything as grand as the amount of human money I'm willing to spend on her. In the end, I buy her a simple necklace of yellow gold with small aquamarine stones and diamonds, from a family-owned jeweler. The man selling me the necklace assures me that any Bavarian woman would be happy with it. That's enough for me. I want Helga to know I understand her.

After walking around for a few hours, Axl says, "It's time for the midday meal."

"I want to go somewhere to make a sacrifice to the goddesses for meeting Helga."

"I don't think that's going to be possible. Human restaurants don't offer that kind of thing. Humans in this area of the world aren't big on religious offerings."

I point to a restaurant with live sea creatures in a tank. "That place. Those must be for sacrificing."

"I don't think…"

"It'll do. Come on," I say, ignoring Axl's protests, and begin walking toward the seafood restaurant.

A woman meets us at the door and asks if we have a reservation. Axl knows this is his cue to bring out the paper money and give a sum to the woman, who then says she'll find us a good table.

"I have no doubt we'll have to give more so you can do your sacrifice," Axl says under his breath as we're escorted to a table with a white linen tablecloth and a small bouquet of flowers.

"You can think about it as being good for the entire base," I say as our waiter appears. We've been trying to use German when we're out, but Axl made his last comment in Alliance, and I replied in Alliance out of habit.

"Where are you gentlemen from? I don't think I recognize your language," the waiter says.

I give Axl an annoyed look. "We're from up north," I reply, hoping the man will just think he misheard us. In my experience, half the human population would rather believe a lie than investigate the uncomfortable truth that there are aliens among them.

"No, you were clearly speaking a language I've never heard…"

Axl cuts in then, "We're aliens."

I can't believe he just said that. It's against our law. Even though I myself have been flaunting that with Helga, it's been at Lev's instructions, and my situation is different. We just don't go around telling humans we exist.

The waiter laughs, and Axl and I both smile.

"Welcome to Munich," he says. "Can I start you off with an aperitif? I can recommend a Venetian one served with prosecco and soda water. It's a bit lesser known than some other Italian brands like Campari and Aperol, but it's one of the best."

"Thank you. We'll both try that," I say. I know Axl wants to try anything new, so I'll join him in this. While waiting for our aperitif, I look at the tank across the dining room, filled with live crustaceans.

Axl turns around following my eyes. "You don't even have a sacred knife."

"Surely they have knives in the kitchen, and the goddesses will overlook what instrument is used just this once."

"Humans in this part of the world don't like this kind of thing. They don't think it's civilized. Most of them gave up believing in the goddesses a long time ago."

Our waiter returns with our drinks and I take a sip. "This is excellent. Thank you. Now, I have a small favor to ask of you." The waiter leans in. "I would like to order one of your live crustaceans," I motion to the tank, "but I would like to end its life myself. It's a custom of mine."

The waiter looks at me and then smiles. "This is an unusual request but one I think we can accommodate. You want to throw the lobster into the boiling pot of water yourself?"

"Not a knife to end its life?"

Horror crosses the waiter's face. "No. We normally cook the lobsters by putting them into a pot of boiling water. We aren't savages."

"That'll have to do, I guess. Show me to the kitchen so I may sacrifice the crustacean."

"First you must choose the lobster, and does your friend want to throw one in as well?"

Axl is about to say no, but I speak for him. "Yes, he would like to as well."

We follow the waiter to the large tank filled with live brown lobsters. "Which ones would you like?"

I choose one and Axl chooses one.

The waiter tells another member of staff, a young man, and he retrieves the lobsters we've chosen. We follow the young man and the waiter into the kitchen. There, the entire kitchen staff stops to look at us. I double check my holo is still on. It is. I still look human. The waiter takes us to a large pot of boiling water, and the young man is standing expectantly with a plastic bucket, our lobsters in it.

I grab one of the lobsters, its shell is slimy against my fingers, and make a silent prayer to the goddess of home. I pray for Helga to accept me as her husband. Then I throw the lobster into the boiling water, silently apologizing to the goddess that there can be no blood. The lobster makes a screaming sound as it enters the boiling water and it's cooked alive. I watch and wonder if this was worse than a sacrificial animal in the temple as the lobster turns from brown to red.

"Your turn," I say to Axl and move to the side. He takes his lobster and closes his eyes. Under his breath in Alliance, I hear the words of his prayer. He prays that I'll find a good wife and in enough time to remain Commander. I'm annoyed he doesn't mention Helga's name. But it's not up to him to pick my wife. It's up to me, and I must trust my instincts and trust in the goddesses. He then throws in his chosen lobster with a hard look on his face and bristles against the shrieking of the small creature dies in the water.

"Now I'll return you to your table and your lobsters will be served shortly with garlic and melted butter."

We follow the waiter back to our table and waiting drinks. They're still cold. I raise my glass, "To sacrifices the human way. May the goddess of home forgive us."

Axl says nothing but raises his glass. After a sip he says, "I can still hear that lobster's screeching. Death by boiling must be the worst way to die."

"One of the worst I can imagine," I say and we discuss ancient punishments in the Empire, which used to include boiling.

"We were savages at one point too," Axl reflects.

When our lobsters arrive all cut up and with sides of vegetables, I feel very little remorse for the creatures and the way they ended their lives before we eat. Instead, with each bite, I think about the Helga, Empire, the High Priestess, the High Council, and the goddess of home. In an ideal scenario, I'll marry Helga in the next few weeks, and then the High Priestess can give her blessing and the High Council can shift its gaze to another, more important, problem in the Empire.

After returning to the hotel to change our clothing into Oktoberfest attire, we return to the fairgrounds, and, of course, to the Heaven of the Bavarians tent. The woman at the entrance recognizes us and says, as she takes the money from Axl, "You must really be in love to keep coming here every day to see her."

I smile, but Axl answers, "He's definitely smitten. What about her?"

"Oh, she doesn't mind," the woman at the door answers as another shows us to a table. Again they have to make room for us in Helga's section. But no one seems to care too much as we're seated at a busy long table of people eating, drinking, and singing. Everyone is enjoying themselves and I find their happiness contagious.

I look around the crowded tent for Helga. It takes a few minutes, but when I see her, something inside me changes. My heart begins to beat faster and my stomach feels light. I'm inexplicably happy at the sight of her. Nothing else matters but being close to her.

When she spots us from a distance, she smiles, and comes over to our end of the table. She's beaming as I look into her blue eyes. "I wondered if you were coming today."

"I told you I'd be here every day you're working. We just had to do some shopping beforehand."

"I'm glad you're here," she says to me, completely ignoring Axl. Then she looks around as if she's done something wrong. No doubt she feels like she's been talking to us for too long when she's supposed to be working. "Can I bring you beer? Pretzels?"

"Yes, anything," I say in a daze to her smiling face.

Then she slowly turns and walks away.

"See," I say to Axl. "Don't let the woman at the door confuse you. Helga definitely wants to marry me too."

"You don't know human women like I do. You can't be sure until you talk to her about it seriously. Not when she's at work or over the human communication device."

I wave away his concerns. "I know what I feel. This is real and I understand what I see in her own behavior. Helga and I are matched in our feelings for each other."

"Just because you feel that way about her doesn't mean she feels the same about you," Axl reminds me.

When Helga returns with our beers, I pull out the jewelry I bought for her. "I hate to bother you now. But if you have a minute, I have something I'd like to give you."

Her blue eyes catch on the box.

"You know the jewelers?" I ask.

"Everyone knows those jewelers. They're famous in Munich. You shouldn't have gotten me anything from their shop."

I freeze momentarily. "Are they cursed?"

"No. Their jewelry is too expensive for regular people like us."

I hand her the box, and she takes it. I let my fingers linger on hers longer than I should. Her skin feels so soft and warm. I look deeply into her blue eyes, and it's as if we're the only people here. "I wanted to buy you something worthy of you. There are no strings attached. It's yours. It's a gift. I hope you like it."

Helga purses her pink lips together as she opens the box. "Meine Güte! It's stunning."

"I'm glad you like it. I spent a lot of time thinking about what you might like. It would be my pleasure to put it on you. May I?" I ask. I know she's not Alliance, but I assume it's the same. A woman would never allow a man to put a piece of jewelry on her if she weren't romantically interested in a long-term commitment. My hands are beginning to sweat as I wait for her answer.