Chapter 21

Ellax

" W hat if your promise isn't enough?" the human female challenged. "I want more assurance than that."

She couldn't know the sting her words inflicted. I hid the pain from my face. If my brief visit on Earth with Caide had shown me one thing, it was that I had been a terrible husband. Druea had not been a good wife either, but might she have been better if I had been better? Now, I would never know. Caide had given up everything for his human wife. I was not prepared to do that. I had not sunk to that degree of folly. In my heart, I was beginning to wonder if it were possible for me to at least attempt to reinvent myself into a better male, one more in my son's image.

I had never tried to be better. Had never believed I needed to be better. My bastard son had proved me wrong. Now, I must prove this human female wrong. I supposed I could start by giving her what she wished.

"Assurance in the form of a contract?" I asked.

"If you don't mind."

I didn't mind. I simply wished, in a forgotten part of my heart, that there was no need for it.

"I will write out the contract," I promised. "You'll have your pact. We'll sign it. A mecha can witness it. Better a mecha witness than a living one, anyway."

"A mecha?" Confusion scrunched her face. "What is that?"

"I forgot," I smirked, "that you have not been off Earth yet."

"No." She shook her head. "My visit to Drixus was the first time I've been off my home planet."

"You would have seen them there," I acknowledged, walking away from her and to the desk folded into my wall. "They are built to look as any desired species, but they are robots with some degree of sentient intelligence."

"Oh. I've heard of those, I think. We thought they were fictional, though. Or at least greatly exaggerated."

I shook my head, even as I pressed a button on the wall. My desk, which had been folded away, slid out into the open space, unfolding itself into a handy spot for writing, a bench attached. I opened a drawer to retrieve a screenpad and stylus. "To answer your question about mechas," I went on, "they have internalized computers. A mecha can be used legally on my planet as a witness. In fact, there are witness mechas, created especially for that purpose. They can witness the signing of a contract, and the information is stored away on their hard drives. The entire matter is kept safe and private."

"Wish we'd had one of them marry us, instead of the ship's captain," Lorelai grumbled, moving to seat herself on the edge of my bed. I needed to have an extra chair brought into room. I'd not planned on sharing my cabin when I'd originally boarded this space ship. "Then we could have just let the mecha keep our secret and move on with our lives."

"That would have been wise indeed," I admitted, my stylus already moving in swoops and swirls across the screenpad. "Alas, after imbibing lyven, few of us are capable of making wise decisions."

"It wasn't merely an unwise decision," she objected. "It was literally the biggest mistake of both our lives."

I could not disagree.