Over the next few days, they pulled us in and out of interviews with various lawyers, officers, and random specialists whose positions I couldn’t even guess. They mostly kept us separate, but after the days’ proceedings were concluded, they returned us to the brig (Eve always in her mobile containment unit), where we renewed our vows and determination. Despair was forgotten now as we held onto the hope we would always be together, that we would eventually outlive all these pathetic politicians and bureaucrats. We might have to suffer through some indignities over the next few centuries, but they would all be worth it, so long as I remained with my Evie.

  We were always compliant now, telling our interviewers anything they wanted to hear; we admitted our faults, confirmed how we could improve, but always we defended each other, making sure they would all know we were that much stronger together.

  They went over every little detail of our lives together, starting all the way back on Earth and how I raised Eve; over and over they asked the same questions, trying to chisel away to find out what all my intentions were. They questioned me over putting her in a terrarium at first, then when I released her. They questioned me about hiding her from my grandparents, then about how I roped them up in Eve’s care after they discovered her. They even questioned me giving her chocolate, wondering how I came to the decision to give her such a treat.

  The questions were as redundant as they were moronic, but I played along and answered them all; I was no longer angered by any of their questions, instead seeing these people as obstacles to overcome—mere NPCs in the quest that would lead to Eve and my forever.

  Next they moved onto my time on Entana again, getting invasive over the start of our cohabitation, wanting to know how much access Eve had to me physically. They said they performed scans on me and cleared me of all contaminants, but the way they were asking questions it was like they expected some zombie fungus to sprout out of my skull at any moment; the fact they always performed their questioning while I was locked within the mobile containment unit made me wonder if it was for my containment or for their protection. It was also clear they were trying to ascertain whether I was psychologically sound; even if I’d been medically clear, they wanted to find out if I’d been compromised through manipulation.

  But the great thing about Eve was how honest she was; she never lied to me, even when the truths were somewhat frightening, but I revealed them all when asked. They said before they thought Eve was in charge, but with the way I answered their questions I made it clear I saw us as equals—the agent and the asset a dynamic duo, with better teamwork and results than anything else they could ever hope for on this mission.

  After a few days hashing out the beginning of our journey together, they finally moved onto the crux of their issues: the start of our relationship. They asked every kind of invasive question possible; who initiated it, what we did physically together, how often we engaged physically, what our plans were together. Honestly it was rather dehumanizing the way they treated us—always referring to my lover as the asset or Alpha-03. I was told before the Empire was very open and free when it came to sexuality, but I didn’t feel free at all here. But I refused to be humiliated, refused to feel any shame for expressing my love for Eve, and every night back in the brig we reconfirmed our love and did all we could to restore our spirits, to promise we would be together again soon once all this nonsense was over.

  Then came the point when they needed to question us about our time on Hedonism-36, and just as I guessed it, they tried to blame us for some of the researcher’s grievances; they said we seduced and enticed them—took advantage of them while they were drugged on the atmospheric aphrodisiac. I was insistent the other members of our mission team always sought us out, but they tried to use the fact Eve wasn’t affected by the aphrodisiac as an argument that she should’ve made the clear-headed decision for everyone, to keep the team from acting up. Of course, then was the perfect time to remind them we all had our specific roles to play, and Eve wouldn’t be authorized to make those kinds of commanding decisions, which left them without a leg to stand on without retracting some of their other, more serious complaints, so thankfully that issue was dropped rather easily.

  And yet it didn’t matter what answers we gave, it all came back to the destruction of Leisure-53; over 3,000 civilians dead, 200 trillion credits worth of damage, leaked videos and livestreams all over the Imperial extranet, and there was no arguing with them at that point. From then on I went into robot-mode, answered my questions diligently without any further indulgence, offered my apologies and assured them it wouldn’t happen again, that we learned from our mistake. It was all bullshit of course, but we just had to get through all this and show ourselves cooperative so we could be placed back on the team together.

  A full cycle passed of those inane interviews, being questioned by every kind of slimy lawyer-like alien you could ever imagine, but finally they got through everything we’d done so far, all our interactions, and even detailed personal psych evaluations. They put us back in the brig together, telling us they would be spending the rest of the day deliberating over their findings and then have a final verdict for us tomorrow morning.

  I was leaning against Eve’s mobile containment unit, our backs pressed against the repulser field, keeping as close as we could without touching, breathing together once again, trying to feel whatever closeness we could.

  “You know in all the random conversations we’ve had, everything we’ve ever talked about, you’ve never told me about your ex-fiancée.” Eve said quietly.

  I chuckled and shook my head slowly, “You don’t want to hear about it.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I do, that’s why I’m asking about it now.” She insisted.

  I turned around to face Eve, seeing her with a wide-eyed, curious expression, “Are you sure, sweet-thing? You just about lose it anytime someone brings up my past with Tillia.”

  Eve shook her head, “That’s because I was there—you chose her over me. Sometimes it still hurts to think about, but in the end you did choose me, and I find great solace in that fact. But the fact you were almost married, that’s a huge life event I know nothing about; I think it would be important for you to share it with me.”

  I shrugged and put my back against the repulser field, “There’s really not much to tell; we met early on in high school, friends for years but we didn’t start dating until senior year. Once we graduated we got engaged almost right away with a plan to go through college together and get married afterwards. Of course, I didn’t actually have the grades or the money for college, so trying to support her dreams I got my fire certifications and paramedic license while she was a full-time student working part-time as a barista.”

  “What was her name?” Eve asked.

  “Oh, Abigail Dixon.” I said offhandedly.

  “And what did she look like?”

  I sighed, “Really?”

  Eve chuckled, “I’m curious.”

  I rolled my eyes, “She was short—even shorter than you. She was a petite little punk girl, always dying her hair outrageous colors, could never pick a style she liked. She was pale too, with bright blue eyes, and she either dressed like she was just coming back from a concert, or in really pretty flowery dresses—vintage shit she loved picking up.” I shrugged, “I dunno, she was kinda shy but always had a little sass in her back pocket.”

  “She was fun?”

  I tilted my head back and forth, “I mean yeah, we were really good friends and everything before we even started dating, and that carried on into the relationship.”

  “Alright, so then what happened?” Eve inquired, sounding like she was invested in some romcom.

  “Then we got an apartment together and seemed like the fun little married couple to all our friends, but we were living in totally different worlds that seemed to clash all the time.” I explained.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, like at first Abby wanted to be a social worker, but I would come home from working Detroit Rescue and tell her about my patients, like assault or rape victims and kids suffering all kinds of terrible abuse, and she just could not handle it and ended up switching her major. She switched her major around like a dozen times, all the while I’m working in this human cesspool and she’s living it up working part-time at a suburban coffee shop and having an exciting college life.”

  “Sounds like you were living in the real world, and she was in some fantasy.” Eve reasoned.

  “Nah, it’s not fair to blame people for what they’re exposed to—the different lives they live. Eventually we just grew into different people and split apart rather amicably. We kept in contact through the years, still friends I would say. She ended up becoming a middle school teacher in those same fancy suburbs, about as different from all the shit I dealt with in Detroit as you can get.” I told her.

  “Do you think you could’ve married this girl?” Eve asked mildly.

  I turned back to look at her then and quirked up an eyebrow, “Is this a classic human girlfriend trap you’re trying to pull right now?”

  Eve rolled her eyes, “Darling, I’m not trying to trick you, I really do want to know about your past life before you met me.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “Yeah, in a different life sure, if I never went to Detroit and never got all cynical and jaded, I’m sure there’s some future we could’ve had together, but I would’ve been like a caged animal aways trying to break out and get free.”

  Eve cocked her head to the side, “This Abby kept you contained?”

  I shrugged, “Not exactly, but for my entire life on Earth I never really felt like I properly fit in—always bouncing around projects and passions. Even back with Abby she would complain I was temperamental with my focus, shifting around projects and plans all the time. One moment I wanted us to move to the inner-city in one of those cheap Detroit mansions you could renovate yourself, the next I wanted to move back out in the country. Abby used to say it was exhausting trying to keep up with me and my desires.”

  Eve smiled at that, “I think I see where this is going.”

  I smiled too, “I never felt like I belonged until I met you, Evie. I finally feel free—as crazy as that sounds sitting here in fucking space jail. We can do whatever we want with our random fleeting focus, we can change around our dreams and desires, we can live a thousand lifetimes together, so I never have to choose just one. I honestly have no idea how I got so lucky to end up with you, but for whatever magic is involved, I absolutely believe we were destined to be together—that we really are truly soulmates.”

  Eve put her hand up on the repulser field and I put mine against it, “I love you with all my heart and soul, Adam Samson, and even though our fate will be decided tomorrow, I promise you that fate isn’t sealed.”

  “Even if they try to wipe my mind and send me back to Earth?” I pressed.

  Eve shook her head slowly, “I would fight them every step of the way, but if they somehow succeeded, you still have the immortality enzyme inside you; even if it took me several centuries, I would come back to Earth to reclaim you.”

  My eyebrows rose up, “Centuries? You would be okay with being away from me that long?”

  Eve rolled her eyes, “Obviously not, silly. But if—if they can somehow pry you away from me, I wouldn’t come back to find you until I was sure it would be safe for us to be together.”

  I knew exactly what she was saying there, “You would destroy everyone involved with the Predazoan containment mission, make sure there was no way for anyone to come after us.”

  Eve shook her head slowly, “Not just them Adam; I would destroy the entire Tritentarian Empire for you.”

  I was sure I was supposed to tell Eve not to go that far, that killing trillions of people for me would be beyond evil and would destroy her humanity, but I just couldn’t bring myself to protest right then. I knew I still needed to keep us human—to keep our relationship human, but in that moment I just didn’t care. There were innocents uninvolved in this mess, people who would have no connection to the Empire’s cruelty, and yet my only concern then was Eve and our future together.

  It was then I realized a little of my humanity died in that containment cell; in the Empire’s desire to turn us into scapegoats, instead they might have turned me into my own kind of monster.

  Well, that would be a problem I would have to confront eventually. For now, tonight, Eve and I were fine to whisper comforting words to each other, offer up outrageous promises, tell stories about what all our thousand lifetimes might look like. We comforted each other as the dread was finally settling in, and no matter how much we tried to fight against it, the doomsday clock on our future finally struck midnight.