13. Axl

Every day on the Hio is just like the last. There are three meals a day and in between those there’s not much else to do but pray at the small shrine, spar with swords, sleep or make sure Georgiana is satisfied.

For better or worse, we are over halfway to the Empire now. Only two more days until we reach the Capital Planet and then as far as I can understand, Georgiana imagines she and I will have won this competition then she can go collect the money waiting for her at the cabin on Earth. I have tried to convince her otherwise, but it’s impossible. She has her mind made up.

At the evening meal, we are just finishing when Captain Ace says, “Madame Georgiana? Are you all right? You suddenly look very pale.”

I look at her more closely and notice a redness around her neck that shouldn’t be there. “Maybe she ate something she’s allergic to.”

“You should know, you’re her husband.”

Without another thought I pick up Georgiana and rush her to the medical center. Ren is already running ahead of us.

When we arrive Ren is there waiting with a medical palmer in his hand. I step back and he begins to assess her situation. “I’m only a medic. I have only a little training or telepathic abilities.”

“Just find out what’s wrong with her.”

After a few minutes, Ren says, “She’s allergic to lunat.” He looks at me accusatorially. “How did you not know that?”

I can’t say it was never served in House Zu. It’s a common ingredient. “Can you do a scan to find out what else she’s allergic to?”

Ren gives me a distasteful look and then asks Georgiana, “Was there anything else you were allergic to while on the Empire?” He begins naming off vegetation, “Liplow, coonak, brujan?”

“I don’t know,” she says.

“I need to run some tests. I don’t have the kind of equipment to be completely thorough. But I still want to do them to be sure you’re fine now, so I want you to stay here.”

Georgiana looks over at me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know,” I say.

“This is real, isn’t it?”

I nod.

Horror crosses her face. Then she makes a hand gesture I’ve never seen before, her hand crossing her chest and she begins praying, but not to any goddess I know.

“What are you doing?”

“Praying that I didn’t make a deal with the Devil at Walpurgisnacht. Haven’t you read Faust?”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Wife.” I tear my gaze away from her to look at Ren. Thankfully, he’s paying attention.

Georgiana is unperturbed. “Are you the Devil incarnate?”

“No, but you’re certainly making me feel like it right now.”

“My family always said I was possessed as a child. Is this my punishment for stealing candy from my aunt’s purse?”

“Ren,” I say, ignoring Georgiana. “Could the medicine you gave my wife cause her to become slightly delusional?”

“It shouldn’t have that effect,” he says checking her stats. “Perhaps it’s everything that’s happened in the last few days.” When I look at him blankly, he reminds me, “Your coming to Earth and taking her back to the Empire without any prior notice.” Ren looks at Georgiana. “Would you like me to use influence to calm you?”

“Ye..”

“No,” I say, interrupting. “Madame Georgiana doesn’t like having doctors in her mind.”

Ren looks at me with shock as it’s an odd thing to say, but still waits for Georgiana to answer.

“Yes, I need help. I feel like I can’t breathe. It’s not the allergic reaction, it’s the shock.”

I take Georgiana’s hand. I’m responsible for all of this. “If you want to let Ren ease your pain by looking in your mind, then that’s your decision.” I try to stress that he’ll be able to read her thoughts and know memories. I know that for most civilizations in the galaxy their doctors are not telepathic. I don’t know about Earth, but I can’t imagine she’d want to reveal the truth of our plan. But then again, if she’s finally realized all of this is genuine, maybe she doesn’t care what happens to either of us now. I can’t begin to imagine how she must feel. She must loathe me, and if she doesn’t now, she will soon as the reality of her being out in deep space sets in. But in my defense, I did try and tell her this was real.

“Please, do what you have to do to make me feel better,” she says to Ren, but never breaks eye contact with me.

The minutes drag on while I watch the first mate with Georgiana. Is he going to look into her past? If he does, he’ll know we are lying.

When Georgiana is asleep, Ren looks over at me. I hope I’m hiding my emotions well because I’m afraid of what he’s going to tell me.

“I’m not as skilled at telepathy as a doctor, but I have managed to relax her. She’s very confused about being here. Were her memories of her time in the Empire erased when she returned to Earth?”

“Yes,” I answer automatically. This would make sense for many reasons. “However, there are some uncomfortable memories she’d rather not remember, but they were too interconnected with the rest, so it was deemed necessary to erase them all, with the exception of who I am to her, of course.”

“Decided by whom?”

“An imperial doctor on the Capital Planet.”

“I see.” Ren will not question a female doctor’s word. “She will sleep awhile and I will run these tests. There’s probably a lot of things in the Empire she’s allergic to given her reaction to lunat. These things are rarely singular.”

“Can you cure her?”

“She can be cured on the Capital Planet. It’s better you seek care there. As for now, I want to do a full scan to make sure there’s nothing else onboard that might harm her.”

The first mate walks away to look at a computer and I hold Georgiana’s hand. I look at her sleeping face. She looks peaceful now. I feel guilty for what I’ve done. Am I really going to continue with this? I should make an excuse and put her on the next passing ship back to Earth. But I can’t. I’m selfish. I love her. I feel like I’m breathing for the first time in my life because of her. Her breath is my breath.

And because of that I want to protect her. She said herself she has no one on Earth. Now she has me and it may not be convenient that I’m not human or that she has to live in the Empire, but I will do what is right for her and keep her with me. My mother always said that it felt like she and my father were connected by an invisible string that pulled them together. I feel that with Georgiana.

I run a finger lightly down the side of her face and remember what it felt like to kiss her lips, her breasts, her sex. I become aroused just thinking about what’s to come. Half my problems are over, she finally understands that this is not a game. The next step is, of course, to convince her to actually want to be married to me. Although, it didn’t bode well she asked if I were the Devil again.

Ren brings Georgiana back to consciousness. When she opens her eyes and sees us staring down at her she asks, “So it wasn’t a dream?”

“No,” I reply. “You’re here on the Hio. We are on our way back to the Empire, remember?”

“I remember, but I don’t know…”

“Ren, is she free to leave now?”

“Yes. Madame Georgiana, please refrain from eating for the next day. You may have water. I’ve alleviated your allergic symptoms. But I can’t be entirely sure I’ve identified them all. I’m adding this to your record and you’ll be evaluated again when you reach the Empire.”

I help Georgiana up and don’t let go of her hand as we start walking. She gives me a questioning look.

“Can a man not help his wife?”

Georgiana tries to let go of my hand, but I won’t let her.

“I can walk on my own, Husband.”

I stop. All kinds of emotions course through my body, guilt, fear, possessiveness, and lust. I let go of her hand, only to take her wrists and gently push her body against the corridor wall, my large body looming over hers. I gaze into her surprised brown eyes and kiss her. My tongue enters her mouth and my fingers hold her hands in place. I’m simultaneously asking for forgiveness, for allowing this to happen to her, and I want forgiveness. To know that I’m still worthy of the title ‘husband.’ She’s not resisting me. I whisper in her ear, “I almost lost you.”

She says nothing but urges me to kiss her again by bringing her lips closer to mine.

As I close in on her mouth, my IC begins chiming with notifications for fines for public display of affection from the High Council, but I don’t care. I need to prove to myself that she’s still alive after my carelessness. She’s a human among aliens and she almost died from a food allergy on this substandard ship I brought her on. I am responsible for her wellbeing and must be more attentive.

“What’s that sound?”

“Nothing.”

“It’s something.”

“We should go back to our quarters,” I say and I lift her into my arms and carry her.

Her cheeks are red, but not from exercise. “I can walk.”

“Let me have this, Georgiana. You scared me,” I admit. My IC has stopped emitting notices of fines from the High Council and I suspect Captain Ace has turned off the feed to the Empire to give us some privacy. A kindness he will undoubtedly expect a tip for.

“The look on everyone’s face when I had an allergic reaction, and the way you all were naming off foods that I’d never heard of made me wonder if you all have been stuck in this game for years. Is that why you told the hotel a year? Have you been stuck here for a year or more?”

My mood suddenly drops. She still thinks this is a game. “No.”

We reach our quarters. I don’t want to let go of her. So I sit down in the small chair, while still holding Georgiana. She doesn’t try to squirm away. I have the irrational thought that if I hold her long enough, she’ll realize this is not a game.

“Am I stuck here too?” she asks breaking the silence. “Why did you choose me?”

“You are with me until I can put you on another ship back to Earth if that’s what you want. As for the choosing… I had been on Earth for a few weeks. I had been looking for a woman to help me get past the Alliance Force. I prayed to the goddess of home every day. I heard about the Walpurgisnacht festival and went looking for a bride. And the goddess of home presented you, dressed in her own color, hair braided in the traditional way, and music signifying you were the one.”

“What music?”

“The women singing around the fire were singing, ‘the Earth, the wind, the fire, the water, return, return return…’”

“You really believe that?”

I touch her chest where her heart would be and imagine the invisible string that connects us and trace it back to my heart. “When I first met you, I only felt a tingling, a faint movement. But every minute we are together, this sensation of connection intensifies. You are my destiny, Georgiana. And, as I have always told you, this is real. I’m an alien in your eyes. Please will you accept that.”

I search her brown eyes for any sign of clarity.

She cups a hand to my face. “You need mental help, Axl. They’ve had you all stuck in the game for so long, you believe it’s real. We must escape together.”

“Georgiana, this is real.” I’m concerned she’s going to try and jump out of an airlock now. I don’t want to have to restrain her to the bed but I will if I must. “You need to stay onboard this ship. I promise you we will reach the Empire in two days. Then you will see.”

She looks away and stares at the blank wall.

I put a finger under her chin and direct her gaze back towards me. “Promise me, you won’t try to leave this ship until we reach the Empire.”

“And if we don’t reach the Empire in two days?”

“Then you can walk out the airlock and know as you freeze to death that I have always been telling you the truth. This isn’t a game created by rich humans for their entertainment.”

Just then I receive a message from my mother. “I’m sorry I need to answer this,” I tell Georgiana and then sit on the small chair. Subconsciously, I don’t want to subject Georgiana to my mother’s wrath. No doubt we’ve been reported. I’m actually surprised it took this long.

Mother,

Don’t be alarmed. This will all be explained. Trust in the Empress and the goddesses. Please have House Zu transport meet us at Space Port One. The less anyone knows the better. We walk in the goddesses’ light.

Axl

“Was that your real girlfriend?”

“What?” I look over at Georgiana, surprised. “I don’t have any girls in my life. It was my mother messaging me.”

“She must be worried.”

“Yes, but not for the reason you think. And I’ve only just now remembered something important when you said ‘girl.’”

“What’s that?”

“If we were married before, it was criminal.”

“You already said it was illegal.”

“No I mean you were underage as well as being human. It’s only now you are legal on both counts.”

“Which is worse do you think?” she asks with a hint of a smile.

I kiss her. I should be worried about all of this. Especially, how the Empress is going to react. I should be planning everyone’s angle. But I’m not. I only have room in my thoughts for Georgiana and I want this easy and simple moment. When we reach the Empire I will sort everything else out then.