The Radiance made another trip through void space, but this one was surprisingly short at only 18 hours. Eve and I spent the entire time in bed, wondering if void space sex would feel much different. While the sensations were pretty much the same, thanks to the weird time dilation and paused cellular degeneration, I seemed to last a lot longer than usual and my stamina recovered twice as quickly—or Eve shot me with another dose of that wonder drug while I wasn’t looking. Once we exited void space just outside the Holistia Nebula, it was time to prepare for our departure.

  Unlike the Entana mission, we packed like we were going on vacation with plenty of extra clothes, supplies, comforts, and even my Earth entertainment. Despite being able to make her own clothes out of biomass, Eve was packing tons of outfits, wanting to be able to change depending on the space station or environment—wanting to have fun with it. She also liked changing clothes frequently to see what all I was in the mood for; she liked trying to guess what I’d like to see her in most, which was kind of funny because what I really wanted to see her in most was always just nothing at all.

  We had one last mission briefing with the command council going over the last-minute details of the mission, more for redundancies’ sake. Afterwards, the mission team went to the shuttle bay together to prepare to leave The Radiance.

  Eve and I met up with Zyno while the handler bots were getting our gear all loaded up into a normal transport shuttle (not some crazy stealth vessel), and he still looked like a nervous wreck over the whole thing.

  “Dude. Relax. Everything will be fine.” I offered, trying to calm him down.

  It didn’t appear to work, “Man, I am the worst choice for a mission like this; I don’t know how to act like a boyfriend—I’ve never been a real boyfriend.” Zyno fretted.

  “They must’ve chosen you for a reason, right?” I cocked my head to the side, “Actually, you’re going two-for-two now, why do you keep getting chosen?”

  Zyno fixed me with a flat glare, “As I’ve told you time and again, I’m the head researcher on Predazoan cellular division.”

  I shrugged, “And I’ve told you that means nothing to me.”

  Eve holding my arm and standing beside me leaned her head into my shoulder, “It means he’s the authority on Predazoan camouflage—or at least the most knowledgeable on the cellular process. He’ll probably be assigned to most infiltration teams, at least assuming our target Predazoans remain camouflaged.”

  My eyebrows shot up, “See? That’s awesome—really impressive. You’re an impressive guy, Zyno, and anyone would be lucky to have the head of cellular camouflage or whatever as their boyfriend.”

  His glare remained icy, “Yeah, you can imagine how popular that makes me with the ladies.”

  I sighed and shook my head, “Worst case scenario just treat this as work—don’t even think about being a fake boyfriend or whatever, just treat Yun as a colleague you’re fond of or something.”

  “Most jobs don’t have you rooming with a beautiful woman for cycles on end.”

  To Zyno’s credit, I definitely understood it would be uncomfortable for any inexperienced guy who was forced to room with a random woman for an extended period, but it would be doubly difficult when the woman was really attractive. Doctor Yun was probably one of the most alien beauties, but she was definitely beautiful; her skin was all lavender and almost translucent, with those cute aquatic frills and veils, with smooth, symmetrical features and a slender body. Her head was a mix of that squid-veil and purple tentacles, big pure blue eyes, full purple lips and no nose, it was exotic and attractive. Of course, Eve had her beat by miles, but I could still see why Zyno was so nervous.

  Eve lifted her head off my shoulder and cocked her head to the side, “Do you desire to mate with her?” She asked Zyno bluntly.

  Zyno’s eyes just about bugged out of his skull, “What? No, no—I mean I, well obviously…” He looked around frantically, hoping Yun wouldn’t overhear despite being on the opposite side of the shuttle bay.

  Eve shrugged, “I could inject her with a powerful aphrodisiac if you want—maybe infect her with some brain spores so she’ll desire to breed with you.”

  “What the fu—”

  I rolled my eyes, “She’s just kidding, Zyno.” I gave Eve’s hair tentacle a playful tug, “Stop scaring my friends.”

  In response Eve just stuck her dark tongue out at me.

  Zyno looked like he just recovered from a heart attack, “Right, a joke…fucking brain spores…” He walked away, muttering to himself all the while.

  Eve and I made our way over to the transport shuttle; it looked much more basic compared to the sleek bullet appearance of the stealth shuttles, almost like a mix of a rocket and a rounded red and grey minivan. Inside the dark blue seats were arranged more like a luxurious bus with comfortable booths, rather than minimalistic military benches on the side.

  Eve and I took a seat in the back behind Doctor Kianna and Doctor Densdor who were going over the details of Densdor’s career as a professor once again; turned out Densdor was quite the stickler for details, he seemed like a rather odd man for more than just his yellow and red wizard appearance, he actually seemed quite excentric—a perfect person to play the role of some dedicated college professor. Also, it was hilarious Densdor who was over a foot taller than me and even skinner was paired up with the incredibly short and curvy Kianna; no idea if it was done on purpose, but I certainly enjoyed the pairing.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Eve draped a leg over my lap, and I instinctively started rubbing her thigh with long, slow movements. “Can I tell you how excited I am for this trip?”

  I smiled at her, “Haven’t you told me like a hundred times now?”

  Eve smiled brilliantly, “I’ll make it a hundred and one.” She grabbed my hand on her thigh and interlocked our fingers.

  I leaned closer to whisper in her ear, “I hope we never find Gamma-12.”

  Eve’s smile turned mischievous, “You want to stay on a perpetual vacation with me?”

  “Duh.” I tilted my head to the side, “What do you think happens if we go through the whole year and don’t locate Gamma-12?”

  Eve shrugged, “Start over on another tour visiting different stations? The Entana mission had a timeline of up to two years; I should hope we get as long for the Holistia Nebula.”

  “I wonder if we take too long if mission command will have to pull us out.”

  Eve made a cute little trill, “I hate when you pull out.”

  I scoffed, “When do I ever pull out?”

  Eve’s eyes seemed to glow a little brighter, “Good point.”

  The rest of our team made it into the shuttle and started pairing off; everyone was already dressed in vacation gear, but it was all incredibly basic—mostly just comfortable jumpsuits that somehow looked fancy and futuristic rather than some blue-collar work uniform. I was in a regular blue jumpsuit that seemed almost like silk armor—made my slender muscles look better. Eve of course wore a black jumpsuit that fit her curves so outrageously I had to fight to keep my hands to myself—she could even make a jumpsuit look sexy.

  Once our team was all seated, I was surprised to see almost everyone was going over their tablets with their partners, double-checking their back stories one last time like they were cramming for a final exam. I wondered why they were being so serious when the assignment seemed so easy, but then I remembered Eve and I were the only real couple on the team, so the play acting was going to be wildly different for us—it wouldn’t be acting at all. As for the cover and backstory and all, honestly, I wasn’t too worried about it; people could be nosey, sure, but no one on vacation was going to care so much they’d need to know every detail of our fake lives. Plus, the longer we play the roles the more natural it will all feel.

  Eve leaned her head on my shoulder again, “What are you thinking darling?”

  “How much I love you.” I whispered.

  She chuckled and shook her head, “Liar.”

  I looked down at her, “How can you tell?”

  Eve looked up at me with that playful glint in her eyes, “When you’re thinking of me, I feel it like a magnetic pull—or your thoughts shine bright with passion and love. Hard to describe, but it’s obvious when you’re actively thinking about me—and I enjoy it immensely.”

  “And now?”

  Eve shrugged, “I can tell you’re in your own head with a buzzing of whispers, your busy mind reasoning something out. It’s nice in its own way—how your mind processes things; I find it calming to be around. But it does make me curious what holds your attention.” She smirked, “Does that make me too possessive I’m curious even for your private thoughts?”

  I shook my head, “No, I want to know what you’re thinking too, problem is I can’t really comprehend it with all that hivemind consciousness going on.” I shrugged, “Just thinking how everyone is studying last minute, trying to get the act right, like it’s going to be difficult acting as if they’re a couple.”

  Eve nodded along as she followed my train of thought, “And it won’t be difficult for us because we won’t be acting.”

  I smiled, “Exactly.”

  Eve looked up at me with that adoring look in her eyes; she wasn’t smiling, not exactly, it was like she didn’t want to look away from me for fear she would miss something, “I love you so much Adam.”

  “I love you too, Evie.”

  Eve shook her head, “No, Adam, I don’t think you understand how much I really love you. Like, these past couple cycles have been so wonderful, I was worried I would simply explode.” She gave me a small, almost apologetic smile, “I love you so much I worry I might scare you away.”

  “Scare me with love?”

  Eve shrugged, “Maybe. What if I love you too intensely—too obsessively?”

  “You told me you can feel my thoughts when they’re about you—how much brighter they are. Don’t you feel how intense my love is for you too?”

  Eve nodded, “Yes, but you know I’m still holding back; all this time I’ve given you control over our relationship, allowed you to dominate me. I worry once we’re free to be who we want to be, I might lose control—I might overwhelm you.”

  I leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead, “Then do it—overwhelm me.”

  “You say that now, but I’m sure I’ll frighten you.”

  I shrugged, “Only one way to find out.”

  Eve looked up in my eyes for a few silent moments, searching for something, and I believe she eventually found it as she smiled brilliantly at me, “I really do love you, Adam.”

  “And I will always love you Evie, and I trust you and feel safe with you—no matter what.”

  With all the luggage secure and everyone buckled in their seats, the pilot ran his final safety checks. As always, there was a gentle hum and subtle floaty feeling that went away almost immediately as the shuttle lifted off and flew out of The Radiance. Eve leaned over me so we could both stare out the viewport, watching our home slowly turn invisible in space once we were far enough away.

  “Four hours to Luxury-1, prepare for G-drive.” The pilot announced, and suddenly it felt like we were all being pressed forward, and then it relaxed to normal again. I peered out the viewport to see it looked like we were in a wild tunnel of white, purple, blue and red swirling lights—like we were passing by millions of light-streams all around us. When we were travelling through void space, our vessel moved through that extra dimension of diluted time to cut through multiple points in physical space, and it all looked rather spooky like we were flying through oppressive, living shadows. While in void space additional shielding was activated that mostly prevented people from looking outside, but if one was determined to have a look (which wasn’t recommended since it could make some people violently ill) a curious mind could find a rare available viewport. My look outside hadn’t made me feel ill, but it did give me a strange sense of existential dread, like I was completely out of place and needed to return to reality. G-drive was a more traditional way to travel from one point to another, so obviously we were bound to mostly regular physics, having to travel through space to our destination. I wasn’t sure the specifics, but I knew the engine created some gravity well tunnel that allowed us to accelerate around light speed. Since The Radiance couldn’t enter the Holistia Nebula for fear of being discovered, we’d have to travel there the old-fashioned way.

  “Four hours to kill, anything you wanna do?” I asked Eve.

  She cocked her head to the side, “Blowjob?”

  I looked at the obvious company around us, then rolled my eyes, “As much as I would love it, pretty sure that would be frowned upon.”

  Eve sighed and concession, “Very well.” She shrugged, “Why don’t you get out your laptop and show me that spooky Dark Souls game again?” She asked, always eager to spend endless amounts of time lounging around with me, indulging in gentle affections—and I was more than happy to comply.

  Is it wrong to kill to survive in this accursed world?

  Follow Xavier's journey. Discover what it means to survive… or to live.

  ?? Join the Community!

  I’ve created a (somewhat decent) Discord channel for the novels! Come hang out, discuss, and get updates:

  https://discord.gg/yJ9PJ7XSYn