There was only one day left to hang around Adventure-7 before it was time for the next transfer, so we decided to have a relaxing day hiking through some easy trails around the paradise-core with some of the friends we made along the way. We brought Kianna who was tired of just watching the action all cycle, as well as Burze and Crystilla with Rush and Dreve. It was a rather odd collection, but we ended up getting along surprisingly well with some playful teasing banter over every little thing—the tournament, our jobs, being newlyweds, and even Kianna’s size. It was a nice end to our time on the station, and after exchanging contact info with everyone, I told them all we’d definitely be back sometime for an Adventure tour next time around.

  “Adventure-Indulgence.” Eve corrected in my ear before giving me a playful bite.

  The next station we transferred to was Dream-13, one of those stations you can fly around in, and while I was sad to say goodbye to the Adventure station, this was definitely the next best thing. During our morning briefing Eve said she felt like Gamma-12 was a little closer, but it was still hard to pinpoint anything. Other than that, the briefings were all back to normal, and I was grateful Roote hadn’t said anything more about me not taking my position seriously—not like I thought he forgot or anything, but it was easier to ignore our tomorrow-troubles when I wasn’t constantly reminded of them.

  We spent the next cycle same as on the other Dream stations, goofing around in the sky, having all kinds of silly playfights, pretending to be Superman, fooling around with Eve up in the clouds. I was worried at first I would be bored of the relaxing stations after having so much fun on the Adventure station, but it turns out I adapted rather quickly and once more fell in love with the lazy lifestyle the relaxing stations offered; no worries, no stress, amazing food, unlimited massages and spas and whatever else the station offered, and of course unlimited sex with my amazing Predazoan girlfriend. Things with Eve were definitely back on the up-tick, and thankfully there hadn’t been any more scary episodes; we kept things mostly equal between us, and it seemed like the longer it went on the more human Eve seemed. Sure, she still had all her awesome powers, but as a person she seemed as emotional and human as any, well, human.

  There was a concern in the back of my mind that wondered how much of herself she was holding back from me—the Predazoan part. I loved the human side of Eve, but that didn’t mean I only loved that side of her; I surely loved the fact she was Predazoan, however it didn’t stop me from being afraid of that side too, and that was why I think Eve kept a lot of that side hidden, which somehow made me feel bad—guilty maybe. Of course I didn’t want to go around borrowing trouble; same as how our lives would surely change when we returned to The Radiance, I didn’t want to think about what troubles might appear once Eve started opening up her Predazoan side to me once again. For now we were happy, and that was all that mattered.

  The cycle passed in the blink of an eye as we freely flew around the station every day, transferring to the next station, Relaxation-45. Now if there was a physical embodiment to laziness, it was this station right here. You literally never had to get up to move around; everything was a system of hoverbeds that moved through the station along these highways and streams, floating red rivers in the sky with sparkling purple starlight all around them. Eve and I vegged out more than ever before to the point I was wondering if my fast metabolism would finally meet its match and I’d end up gaining some real weight for the first time in my life. There was more entertainment to watch than on any other station, with shows and events, drive-in movies (where the car was just your hover bed). Eve said before she wanted to spend an entire vacation with me in bed, although I didn’t think this was what she had in mind. Every night our hover-bed that was driven around by an android attendant dropped us off at our door so we could get into our other bed, and then when we woke up the next day the droid was right there waiting to pick us up for another day of lazy fun.

  During the next few morning briefings, a new anxiety was beginning to make its way through our ranks; at cycle 20 we’d be heading to the next Hedonism station. This time Roote confirmed we could just wait it out if we wanted, so long as Eve kept her senses focused on trying to locate Gamma-12. However, after that station it meant we’d be leaving DGK-22’s orbit, which meant we’d probably be going away from Gamma-12, which would mean we’d probably need to cut the tour short, which would then mean we’d probably have to return to The Radiance to reevaluate the mission.

  Just a few short cycles until everything changed; it seemed like it was all starting to tick down—like a doomsday clock looming just above our heads, with everyone on the team getting anxious for different reasons.

  The cycle seemed to rush right by us in a mix of lazy relaxation and newly budding anxieties, and before we knew it was time to move to the next station. Eve and I were busy fooling around while we were transferring to Leisure-53, and while Eve had her mouth completely enveloping my cock with that magical way she worked me she suddenly sat bolt upright and looked out to our room’s viewport that was just released from the transfer shielding.

  “Evie, what’s wrong?” I asked. Normally she had razor focus when giving me a blowjob, so this was rather unsettling to see her shift like that.

  She continued looking out towards the celestial view for a few more moments, then just shook her head and resumed her work pleasuring me. But I wasn’t about to let it go just like that, “Eve, seriously, talk to me.” I said, trying to pull her head back up.

  Eve turned to glare at me, but it wasn’t a playful glare, it seemed like she was actually upset, “Will you let me finish first, please? Then we can talk.”

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  I hadn’t seen Eve so upset since we started dating—I’d made her plenty upset before we were together, back when I was so convinced I needed to resist her. But this upset wasn’t anger, not really, it seemed like she was concerned, but why? Of course, it was rather hard to concentrate on those thoughts while Eve worked her magic, and in no time at all I was a mess of jelly legs spread out on the bed. Eve got up and walked away, staring back off into space.

  It took me a little effort to reorient myself, but I was finally able to walk again, and I joined her in looking out towards the blue gas giant. “Is it Gamma-12? Did she leave your senses?” I guessed.

  Eve didn’t say anything for a few moments, so I just pulled her into a hug, “It’s okay Evie, it was a long shot anyways, we’ll just have to hope when we return—”

  “I can sense her; she’s on this station.” Eve confirmed.

  I pulled away and held Eve by the shoulders, a victorious smile on my face, “Evie that’s amazing, that means we just—” I stopped when I saw Eve looking away from me, refusing to meet my gaze. “Evie?”

  Eve shook her head slowly, “No, I don’t like this…”

  “Evie, look at me, talk to me, please.” I pulled her face to look at me, and I could see in that moment there was such turbulent emotion in her eyes—so deep it nearly overwhelmed me, “Please, Eve, what’s wrong?”

  Eve stepped away from me and held her hands up to cover her ears with her hands, “I don’t…”

  “What? Evie—”

  Eve took a step forward and pointed to my chest, “You shouldn’t be here, Adam, don’t you get it? One false move and you could end up in the vacuum of space! I told you before my immortality enzyme can heal you, but it can’t bring you back from the dead!” She said, her eyes blazing with fear and concern.

  I let out a deep sigh of relief, “Oh, that’s all?”

  Concern turned to anger now, “That’s all? That’s everything!” Eve nearly shrieked.

  I chuckled and shook my head, pulling Eve back into another hug, “I was worried you wanted to protect your Predazoan sister or something—like suddenly you wanted to change sides. Boy that would be a whole mess I’d be totally unprepared to handle.”

  Eve tried to push me away, but I held tight, and she wouldn’t use force against me, so she stayed locked in my embrace, “It’s not fucking funny, Adam! Don’t you get it? It’s exactly as Commander Durgo said; Gamma-12 could destroy this station whenever she wants, and there’s almost nothing we could do to stop it! Even just her sensing me now, who’s to say she won’t try to break away and flee from me?”

  “We’re still here now, right? She hasn’t destroyed the station yet.” I countered.

  Eve shook her head, “But that could change whenever—especially when I confront her.” She looked up at me, and I could see tears shimmering in her eyes, “Why can’t you understand? I don’t want you here at risk while I do this; I don’t care about anyone else—the other passengers, the members of our team, you’re the only person I can’t lose.”

  I sighed and pulled her back with me towards the bed, and she followed along almost like a zombie. I got into bed and pulled her down with me and wrapped us both up in blankets, and she snuggled against me so tight I had to tap her to let her know she was about to hurt me. Once we were all cuddled and comfortable, I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, “Evie, my sweet-thing, I trust you. Everything will be okay.” I insisted.

  She groaned, “You can’t just say that, you don’t know what all—”

  “I don’t need to know what Gamma-12 will do, I just need to know what you can do; you’re the smartest, strongest Predazoan there is, and last time you went up against one they were so outmatched you looked like a feral barn-cat tearing into a mouse.” I interrupted.

  Eve shook her head, “Last time we weren’t on a space station that could be destroyed before you can even blink.”

  “Okay, so what options do we have? We could either A, ignore the Predazoan, which would put us in worse standings with mission command and end up with a worse result when we return to The Radiance. Or B, we complete the mission so flawlessly they’ll have no choice but to give us their blessing and allow us to be in a relationship together openly while keeping our positions.”

  Eve sighed, “Or option C, Gamma-12 blows up the whole station, and you die and then I die and that’s the end of our story, all for the sake of some stupid mission neither of us even care about.”

  “How are you going to locate Gamma-12?” I asked suddenly.

  Eve looked up at me, “What?”

  “How are you going to find her?”

  Eve narrowed her eyes at me, knowing I was just trying to distract her, but she was curious enough to play along, “I figure I could spread spores throughout the station, see what all I can turn up. My spores won’t be able to see past Predazoan camouflage, not unless I get lucky.”

  I nodded, “Right, meanwhile we could walk around searching the old-fashioned way, even have the agents put down their sensors to see if it’ll help.” I continued.

  Eve huffed out a quick sigh, “Adam, I’m not going to be so easily—”

  “So, the hope is we’ll discover Gamma-12 in her camouflaged form without her knowledge, and from there we can coordinate with The Radiance to see how best to proceed. They talked about doing some quick sweep or scoop or something, not sure what all they can do, but the point is we want to find her before she finds us.” I explained, talking as though Eve hadn’t said anything.

  Eve glared at me, “This isn’t going to work, you know—”

  “I’m hoping we can end this all peacefully, maybe even have a conversation with Gamma-12. There’s a good chance if she’s been living here all this time without killing anyone, we might’ve found a somewhat peaceful Predazoan.” I nodded along.

  Eve tried fighting back a smile, “Adam, don’t do this—”

  “Thankfully we have Kianna, the Predazoan behavior specialist; with her here she can properly assess what kind of threat Gamma-12 poses.”

  Eve was fully smiling now, “Adam!”

  “If Gamma-12 isn’t a threat at all, well then hey, maybe we can just talk to her, wouldn’t that be nice?” I looked down at Eve, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could just have a conversation with the dangerous Predazoan? Don’t need to worry about doom and gloom, just talk with the poor girl.”

  Eve rolled her eyes, then leaned up to finally silence me by giving me a long, deep kiss. She pulled back, and her eyes no longer showed anger or fear, now that wonderful adoration was back in place, “You’re insufferable, you know that?”

  I leaned up to give her another quick kiss, “And yet suffer me you do.”

  Eve rolled her eyes again and let out a heavy sigh, then leaned her head back on my chest, “I adore you, I need you, I love you. Don’t ever leave me, always stay by my side where I can protect you.”

  “I’ll stay right beside you Evie, always, and I’ll trust that you’ll protect me, forever.” I assured her.

  Eve took in a deep breath and then let it out twice as slow, as though letting go of all her fears and worries, “Alright, my dumb, wonderful, stubborn, beautiful silly boy, how do you want to handle this?”