10. Georgiana

Officer Sem gets a message from someone and then looks at me. “Do you and Commander Axl have an imperial-style relationship?”

“What do you mean, ‘imperial-style relationship?’”

“Do you have sex with other people? Does he have sex with slave artists and you the same when you are apart?”

“I hope not. But we were separated. I didn’t sleep with anyone else…” I trail off not knowing the answer to this. I can’t read Officer Sem’s expression, but he types something back in his phone that doesn’t look reassuring.

After he receives another message, he then asks me, “Do you know what binding tattoos are?”

“No, I’ve never heard of them.”

“They are tattoos that make it so the two people having the tattoos can never have sex with another person or they will die from anaphylactic shock.”

“What?”

“We have a policy here at Alliance Force that every married couple returning to the Empire must take binding tattoos. Are you prepared to do that?”

“Sure,” I say. This isn’t real.

“The tattoos are permanent and you will die if you try to have sex with someone other than Commander Axl. Do you understand?”

I weigh out having a tattoo over the money waiting for me under the floor boards in the cabin. “How big is the tattoo?”

“It’s small, half the size of your finger.”

“And does it have to be in a certain place?”

“You can choose for it to be placed anywhere on your body. You and Commander Axl don’t have to make it public that you have taken the tattoos, although people will guess because you’re human and you’ve passed through Alliance Force.”

“What’s it look like?”

Officer Sem shows me a picture on the 3D projection between us. “It’s simple. But everyone will know what it means if they see it.”

The tattoo is two circles crossing not unlike a Venn diagram. It’s simple enough. “Okay. I agree.”

Officer Sem types something.

“Thank you Madame Georgiana. We are finished here. I’ll show you to your quarters. Tomorrow the Hio departs for the Empire.”

I can’t believe it was this simple. I smile as Officer Sem leads me to what he says are our quarters and I’m surprised to be left in such a luxurious set of rooms alone. I investigate it and can’t believe how everything modern it is. Whoever is putting on this game has really spared no expense to make it look and feel as real as possible.

A few minutes later, Axl enters.

“We did it,” I say.

“We need to talk,” he replies. I’m surprised he doesn’t look happier. “But not like this. Everyone can hear us.” Then he takes my hand and leads me into the bathroom. “Take off your clothes.”

“Excuse me? You said this wasn’t a porn.”

“It’s not. We are only going to take a shower together, not have sex.” When I make no move to remove my clothing he whispers in my ear, “I promise, I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to. But we need running water to muffle our voices. There are sensors everywhere. And it will look ridiculous and suspicious if we aren’t undressed in the shower.”

His deep voice in my ear sends shivers down my entire body and somewhere inside of me I wish he were saying he would touch me everywhere and make love to me while we are in the shower. But still I have enough sense not to just strip.

“Think of the money. I told you I would not do anything that is a lie and that still holds true.”

I meet his sharp green eyes. He looks sincere. For better or worse, I believe him. He takes a step back and begins removing his own black tunic and trousers. I watch out of curiosity. Will the grey paint be everywhere? First his shirt goes over his head revealing a strong grey body. He’s still wearing some silver necklaces that catch the light and makes no move to remove them. I had noticed all the other men were wearing similar necklaces. One of his necklaces reads, ‘Imperial Fleet Reserve Commander Axl Imperial House Zu’ and the other one has a symbol on it I don’t recognize. The game makers really went all out with every detail. Axl removes his trousers. If he feels my hungry gaze on him, he doesn’t acknowledge it. His muscular legs, his thighs, his groin and his penis, everything is grey. He has no body hair, but no doubt costume design must have removed his hair to apply the paint.

His eyes meet mine and I blush.

“Would you like me to disrobe you?”

“No, I can do it,” I say and begin removing my clothing. “I didn’t expect to be naked today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t shaved or anything.”

“I don’t understand…” he begins, but then decides to abandon whatever he was going to say.

I turn from him as I unfasten my bra and take off my underwear. I try to cover my nipples and my vulva for modesty. “I don’t know how to start the water.”

He simply tells the shower to turn on to its highest temperature and it does.

I feel like a fool it was so simple but then I reflect, When have I ever encountered such rich-people technology that it’s all operated by voice control? “Won’t that be too hot?”

“Not for you,” he replies with a hand on my naked back urging me into the large shower that could fit at least five people.

He’s right the water isn’t that warm. “How did you know the water wouldn’t be warm? Have you played this game before?”

Axl puts his hands on my shoulders in a way that takes my breath away for a second. Then he says in my ear, “This isn’t a game, Georgiana.”

With the sound of water rushing over us I’m not sure I heard him correctly. “What?”

“This isn’t a game. This is all real. I am really an alien. This is really a space station. It all really exists.”

I can’t see anything but the water blurring my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

He turns me to look at him. I’m clutching my breasts trying to keep some modesty.

“This is all very real. If we marry and take those binding tattoos it will be permanent. We will die if we ever have sex with anyone else.”

“But the money? The cabin? I’m so confused. You look human but grey.” I reach up and touch the side of his face. It’s so smooth. No sign of a beard there or any grey paint washing off.

“The money is real. And you can still have it, but the problem is you’ll be legally married and sexually tied to me. There’s no reversal for the binding tattoos unless one of us dies.”

Water is running down our faces. I hear his words but it’s difficult to take in. “Everything you made me memorize. All those people.”

“Real.”

“All of this?”

“Real.”

“Why?”

“The Alliance Force guards humanity from other species who would want to steal humans for less than ideal purposes.”

“No, I meant why me? Why this? If you know the guy running this place, why did you need me at all? Why not just let me go now?”

“I can’t tell you everything.”

“Don’t be passive aggressive. You owe me an explanation, Axl. This is all getting really confusing.”

“I was near Earth on a classified mission. My ship was damaged and I barely survived. If I were to tell Alliance Force what I was doing out here then I risk exposing others who are more important than myself, risking my career, my family, and my House.”

“Okay,” I say thinking about this. “But if what you say is true, then why don’t we just say we don’t want the tattoos and we’re ready to divorce?”

“There’s no divorce in the Empire, only death.”

“What?”

“There’s no divorce in the Empire, only death.”

“I heard you the first time.” I put my hand on the wet stone wall to steady myself. I don’t even care about being naked now. “So if I were to leave…”

He shakes his head. “It’s not possible to back out now.”

“How can this be real? You look so human. All of you look so human.” Has he given me a drug and is now trying to confuse me? Is he part of the game too? I knew it was too easy.

“Georgiana, listen to me,” he says in my ear, taking the back of my head in one of his hands, running his fingers through the back of my hair. “I’m not human, but I am the same species. And if you do this for me, I’ll be your devoted husband.” He leans back to look me in the eyes, but doesn’t let go of my hair. It’s so wrong but my eyes focus on his lips. Then his eyes.

“I don’t even know you. You don’t know me. You may grow to resent me.”

Axl leans in again, his breath against my ear making me tremble with sexual excitement. “You have no husband. You have no family that cares for your future. I am your destiny. Let me care for you. You will want for nothing. I can provide every material wealth in the galaxy for you. But you need to do this one thing for me.”

“I don’t think my destiny is for me to leave the planet with an alien,” I say, but I must admit, even to me my words don’t sound convincing. And it’s no wonder with the sexy way he is looking at me with the water running down his body and the way he’s still holding me. If it were up to my physical body, I would just agree to all of this, but somewhere in my brain, logic is prevailing over hormones. “Look, you seem like a reasonable and kind man, but I don’t know you,” I say, but already my mind is racing with the possibility of being married to this stranger, this alien, in this billionaires’ game. There’s no question that I find Axl attractive. And maybe this is what he wants, maybe I’m correct in thinking it’s his game and he’s a billionaire who wants a continuous sci-fi cosplay wife forever. “What kind of man are you, that you lie to your own people?” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction if I push him a bit. Is he a psychopath?

“I faithfully serve the Empire and the Empress herself.” He shows me his second necklace which must be the Empress’s seal. “Nothing I do is illegal,” he answers me evenly. I can find no trace of anger in his voice or body language, only earnestness.

“Even marrying me?”

“If we marry here with the binding tattoos, it’ll be completely legal, that’s why we’re talking in the shower. I can’t let you go through all of this without telling you the truth. I could’ve let you continue to believe this is all a game until we got to the Empire, and only then, let it be known that you could never leave an alien world and never have sex with anyone but me for the rest of your life on pain of death.”

“You must have considered that?”

“Not for an instant, Georgiana” he looks insulted. “I’m not that kind of man that needs to lie to keep a woman.”

I can’t help but stare at his dark grey lips as he continues talking about everything he can offer me as an alien husband. All I can say is, “But you were trying to do something illegal with me, regardless of how this has turned out now. We don’t know each other, we were never marrie…” I can’t finish the word. His mouth is on mine. His lips are caressing mine. It’s such a surprise, but such a good and erotic surprise.

I should pull back, but I don’t. Forgetting all my worries, I kiss him back. His tongue enters my mouth and I let him. Opening my mouth, allowing him in. None of this makes any sense, but my body doesn’t care. My body desires to be close to his. To touch him and explore him. My hands go to his muscular chest and then his shoulders. He’s so tall, I run my fingers up and down his strong neck. I feel one of his necklaces, I open my eyes and pull away from the kiss. I pick up the necklace’s medallion and read it again. “This is real?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what to believe. What are we going to do?”

“What we discussed. You can work as an accountant in my House all of that can be true.”

“But what kind of life is that going to be for me? Are there other humans there?” I ask, trying to figure out if this is real or a permanent role-playing science fiction game.

“I know of a few other humans in the Capital City. I don’t know how many.”

“In your House?”

“None. You would be the only human in House Zu.”

“I have a difficult time believing this,” I say. My body is incredibly hot now despite the lukewarm water. “Have you given me some kind of drug to make me more susceptible to believing this? Or is this part of the game to get me naked for views and mess with my mind? Do you get extra points for this?”

“Georgiana, I would never share the image of your naked body with other human males to degrade you or make money. I have more money than the combined population of Earth a million times over. Listen and believe me when I tell you, this is not a game. This is all very real. And you need to make a decision. Will you marry me and take the binding tattoos?”

Axl sounds genuinely annoyed with me, but maybe this is part of the game, to see if I’ll break. That would make sense. All of that money, they aren’t just going to give it to me without really testing me. But the real question is how far will I go? Will I get a tattoo for that kind of money? Will I have sex with him that will probably be filmed, especially since I admitted I was a virgin? Is that worth the money to pay off my debts? I could always deny it was me if someone saw it online and if they did I could always say it was a deep fake. No one who knows me would actually believe I’d agree to a sex tape. No, I don’t think I could go that far. A tattoo though. I can do that.

“I’ll get the tattoo. But as my husband you better adore me and tell me you love me every day. I don’t want to be with a man who I love more than he loves me.”

Axl hesitates before replying, “Let me tell you today then, I love you.” Then, without warning he kisses me on the lips, then my neck, my décolletage, and then kisses my arms covering my breasts. He kisses my hands. “May I?”

My attraction for him outweighs my embarrassment and I allow him to put hands at my side. We make eye contact and the way he looks at me makes all my concerns in the world fade away. No man has ever looked at me like this. After holding eye contact for a few seconds with the water flowing over us, he puts his mouth on my right breast. I let out a little moan as his tongue gently circles my nipple. No man has ever had his mouth there. I don’t know what to do with my hands while he’s bringing me so much pleasure, so I keep them at my sides. And then a thought occurs to me, Is this being filmed?

Axl must have felt me tense because he stops and looks up at me, “Your privacy is safe with me. Now, do I have your permission to kiss the rest of your body?”

Do you need my permission?“You’re sure this isn’t being filmed?”

“I give you my word. No one would record or watch this without severe legal repercussions.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I would kill them myself.”

“Kiss away then.”

His hot mouth returns to my left nipple and I feel like I would do anything for Axl as long as he keeps his mouth there. I almost put my hands on his head to keep him at the level of my breasts. But I’m curious to see where he will go without any direction from me. Kissing my stomach and then between my legs. I jump and almost lose my balance on the wet stones with his touch in places I have never been touched before. But Axl quickly stabilizes me with his hands on my backside urging vulva against his mouth. His tongue gently strokes me and my body and mind are in a state of flux.

But Axl knows what to do. He’s using his tongue to bring about as exquisite tingling that’s spreading quickly throughout my body. I feel a deep erotic need now; one I never knew was possible. I push myself against him. I don’t know if this is right, but instinctually it’s what I want to do, rub myself against his hungry mouth.

He holds me tighter against his face and urges me to move my hips even more, “That’s it, back and forth, do what feels good,” he says in a deep voice. I obey him and it’s not long before I don’t care about anything anymore except this. I don’t care if this is a game, if someone is filming me, or if he really is an alien. I only want one thing. I want his mouth to never stop licking me. I move my hips against his face like that’s the only thing in the world that will keep it spinning. And then finally I feel a great and overwhelming sensation flood my senses followed by muscle contractions. I want to pull away from Axl. “It’s too much,” I barely can make out the words. But it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t pull away. He continues to hold me to him as I shake with pleasure. Wave after wave of it.

“Let it course through you. Let it take you away, that’s how it’s supposed to be,” he says, holding me and caressing me through the orgasmic aftershocks.

When I’m myself again. I feel embarrassed. I don’t know what to say. Axl is kissing his way back up to my lips and I don’t know what I should do. I think I should reciprocate. So I move closer and tentatively touch his penis. It’s large and floppy in my hands. I know enough about sex to know this shouldn’t be the case if he likes me. It’s never that way in any of the romance novels I’ve read.

I begin to get on my knees, but he stops me.

“No. We don’t do that in the Empire.”

“But,” I protest.

“You’re my wife. I’ll always make sure you are satisfied sexually, emotionally, and physically.”

“But..” He silences me with a kiss. I taste myself on his tongue and wonder if I’m going to have sex now with this man, who may or may not be an alien with grey paint, and I may or may not be being filmed.