The next couple days were more of the same, everyone else kind of doing their own thing and wanting some space while they got over the awkwardness of our degenerate adventures on Hedonism-36. Although some people weren’t so skittish; we ended up grabbing dinner with Vinnago and Lobae—and it wasn’t the prelude to any propositions this time, thank God. Turns out I was right and the two decided to continue their relationship, not really defining it at this point, but they felt there was something real between them. Eve the romantic wanted all the details and grew surprisingly animated over the whole deal. It was a more human side than I’d ever seen from Eve, and it made me realize that was the most human part of her, the part that loved—the side of her that loved love and all aspects of romance. It was absolutely adorable and made me love her all the more. Lobae and Vinnago also knew there was something real between Eve and I (not like we hid it very well) beyond hooking up during our Hedonism-36 cycle. They weren’t too inquisitive about our details, instead they offered some kind warnings and advice over how we needed to protect our relationship since everything we did would be over-scrutinized by mission command; they said we should be allowed to be with each other, so long as we didn’t compromise the mission in any way. And while I appreciated their concern, I wasn’t going to just run off and believe the words of spies at face value; above all else, Eve and I needed to remain cautious.

  It was the middle of the night when our station finally drifted into DGK-33’s orbit, when suddenly Eve sat bolt upright, waking us both.

  “Evie, are you okay? What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes.

  Without saying anything, Eve got up from the bed and drifted off towards the pool to look out the large viewing window, staring off at the massive blue planet with dozens of swirling hurricanes on its surface. Ever since Hedonism-36 Eve and I had gotten used to sleeping completely naked, a new and welcome change in my life as a pajama pants wearer previously. I got up to join her to stand before the window, both naked and staring off into space.

  “Evie?”

  Eve looked around the planet as though searching for something.

  “I can sense her…” She said quietly.

  That woke me up as my eyes grew wide, “Gamma-12?”

  Eve nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “Is she on the planet you think?”

  Eve was silent for several seconds, then shook her head slowly, “No, no I don’t think so. She’s still really far away…” She turned to me, “I think she’s probably orbiting the planet—on some station around DGK-22 like us.”

  I crossed my arms as I thought that over; there was no telling how many dozen or even hundreds of stations were orbiting the planet now, and we’d only pass through 10 of them before continuing onto the next planet.

  “What do you want to do?” Eve asked.

  I scratched at my beard as I thought over my answer, and Eve melded into my arms while she waited for my response. The question was did we want to tell mission command what Eve sensed yet? It wouldn’t do much good now since there was still so much to narrow down, however there could be something The Radiance could do to assist, or maybe they would just need the alert to prepare to jump into the system as needed. Regardless what all might happen, it would probably look good for us if we confirmed we made some headway in the search—might earn us some productivity points in whatever upcoming review might be waiting for us once we returned and had to confront whatever decision would be made once Eve and I were outed as being in a relationship.

  On the other hand, if we were so concerned with them trying to separate us, why risk accelerating that timeline in case there wasn’t much we could do on our own anyway? More than that, what if we followed along with Eve’s original plan to just keep Gamma-12’s presence completely hidden to give us more time together in the Holistia Nebula?

  I shook my head away from that line of thinking; weighing the risks versus rewards was too skewed against us. I knew for a fact Agent Roote was leaving sensors behind, and if it was discovered somehow we passed by a station and Gamma-12 was pinged, I wouldn’t think a simple ‘oops, we missed it’ would suffice. It would seem obvious we either kept it hidden on purpose or missed it due to incompetence—neither of which would make it seem like we were still being productive while being in a relationship.

  No, we needed to play ball.

  “Tomorrow at the mission briefing, we’ll tell the team what you sense.”

  Eve gazed into my eyes, a look of concern and consideration deep within hers, “You’re sure?”

  I looked down at her, “What are you thinking?”

  Eve shrugged, “Same as you; damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”

  I nodded, “Seems like it could lead to a bigger damn if we don’t though.”

  Eve sighed, but nodded too, “Yes, and I can agree with your reasoning.” She stared back out into space, “Still, I don’t like it—I don’t like this hold they have over us.”

  I turned Eve back to look at me as I brushed some hair out of her face, “Maybe they’ll loosen their grip if we show ourselves properly helpful though?”

  Eve half-smiled, then leaned into my chest, “Oh Adam, my wonderful, darling, na?ve boy.”

  I chuckled, “That bad, huh?”

  Eve sighed, “These are the people who dissected me in a lab over and over again; mercy doesn’t seem to be one of their strong suits.”

  “And yet you don’t want to get revenge on them.”

  She shook her head against me, “For whatever evil they inflicted upon me it led me to finding you eventually.” Eve looked back at my face, “Any anger or resentment I harbor now is strictly for how they bind you to their wishes.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “Just me? Aren’t you worried about the failsafe acid-bomb in your chest?”

  Eve shrugged, “I can take care of myself. It’s you, my darling human without any powers or training, who I worry over.”

  I glared at her, “Way to make me feel useless.”

  Eve smiled, “I told you before not all our battles will be some great world-ending affair. I will be our strength in those instances, but here when we need to deal with people and build bonds and alliances, I would agree to follow your lead.”

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  I sighed and wrapped my arms around her, gently stoking the silky skin of her back, “And we’ll probably need it; they have us so trapped I don’t even see a way we could use your power to free us.” Eve looked at me, but I shook my head before she could speak, “Except that way; we’re not blowing up the entire ship and killing all those people.”

  Eve nodded, “Unfortunately it’s all-or-nothing for my abilities, so if you don’t want me to use all my power against them, it means I can do next to nothing.”

  “Which brings us back to playing along and trying to look like the good, productive agent and asset pair.”

  Eve smirked at me, “Still having fun adventures in space?”

  I rolled my eyes, “We’re on an all expenses paid vacation mission where we just spent a full cycle openly indulging in the most degenerate sex I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’d say things are still looking up.”

  Eve trilled a little giggle at that, “Well when you put it that way maybe things aren’t so bad after all.” Her smile fell, “But still…”

  I nodded, “But still. We’ll see how things shake out once we return to The Radiance.” I shrugged, “Who knows, maybe we’re just borrowing a bunch of trouble.”

  Eve didn’t call me na?ve this time, instead she put her hand in mine and led me back to bed, getting all snuggled up against me and wrapped in blankets, “Will you say sweet things to me until I fall asleep?”

  I kissed her forehead and pulled her tighter against me, “Like what?”

  She shrugged, “Anything to alleviate my fears the Empire will take you away from me.”

  It was a switch to soothe Eve for once; normally my head was in her lap and she would stroke my hair and sing her lullabies while doting on me, telling me how much she loved me, how special I was, what all she wanted to do and experience with me in the future. I found I rather enjoyed the switch though; I’d never considered myself a romantic before, but in that moment I felt it full-force. I always knew I was a big softie the way I’d rescued and took care of injured animals—took Eve back home when it was the dumbest way to handle that situation too for heaven’s sake. But right then it was okay to be soft with Eve, to be romantic. I was open to her about all my feelings for her, my hopes and dreams. I admitted what all scared me and how she made me feel better—even if sometimes she was the cause of that fear. I got mushy with her even, babying her, offering every compliment I could think of, and I realized that in itself was its own kind of vulnerability; I was allowed to be soft with Eve, romantic, there was no judgment—no need to act tough or manly, I could just be myself with Eve. And so I told her that, how important it was I could finally be myself with her and how special our bond was and how I would do everything in my power to protect it and her. And then finally Eve fell asleep with the most content smile I think I’ve ever seen on her face, and I wasn’t far behind her.

  ***

  We met up at another breakfast joint for mission briefing, but for the first time in over 11 cycles, we had some news.

  “I can’t tell exactly where, but I definitely sense Gamma-12.” Eve confirmed.

  “Does that mean she’s on this station with us?” Gorgam pressed.

  I shook my head, “No, Eve thinks she’s far away, probably on one of the other stations orbiting DGK-22.”

  Roote crossed his arms in thought, “That doesn’t narrow it down much. How many stations are orbiting DGK-22 right now?”

  Zyno pulled up his tablet to show the system and zoomed in on the gas giant, “Looks like 82 presently.”

  “What is that, like a 12% chance we might end up on the right one if we transfer through 10 different stations around the planet?” Uinda reasoned.

  Yun shook her head, “That’s not taking into consideration Gamma-12 might be transferring stations or what all tours lead to which transfers, it isn’t an easy probability we can establish with all those shifting factors.”

  Vinnago sighed, “Basically we’re on a tour that will lead us to Gamma-12’s station, or we aren’t.”

  Lobae shrugged, “50/50?”

  Zyno smirked, “Well that’s far too broad a probability; you could say you have a 50/50 chance of being alive or dead since those are the only possibilities, doesn’t mean there’s a 50% chance you’ll end up dead.”

  Yun looked like she was about to hit Zyno, “Don’t be pedantic about it.” She scolded, but it almost seemed playful.

  Gorgam held his hands up to settle the kids down, “It seems we’re mostly in the same position we were before, needing to wait for confirmation from Eve’s senses if Gamma-12 is on our station of not.”

  Roote wasn’t so easily dissuaded, “Do you think you’ll be able to sense her as we get closer, maybe we can somewhat narrow down which station it is from here.”

  Eve shrugged, “Nothing I can guarantee, but I’ll keep my senses open. Right now, it feels very much like there’s a planet between us. If that changes, I’ll let everyone know.”

  Roote nodded, “Good, and we’ll bring this update to The Radiance’s attention, maybe they can risk sending a stealth probe into the system now that we’re getting closer to our target.”

  “They have ones that can beat Glorva Corp’s tight security?” I asked.

  Uinda shrugged, “Probably not for long, so we might need to wait for the right window, maybe if Eve senses we’re getting closer, or if we’re about to leave DGK-22’s orbit without any further developments.”

  Roote turned to Eve and me, “Good work you two; it’s nothing definitive, but it’s more progress than we’ve made in almost 11 cycles, so I’ll take it.”

  We dismissed from there and planned out a relaxing day together with our normal group; it seemed like having a couple days to decompress got everything back to normal and we were able to move past the whole everyone saw each other naked thing. Even Yun seemed to chill out more, and I swear I thought I saw her almost flirt with Zyno at one point, but who knows, maybe they were just on better terms now.

  Before I could get out and join the rest, Eve pulled me back by the door of the diner.

  “What’s going on sweet-thing?” I asked her.

  Eyes shimmering with amusement, Eve flashed me a bright, cheesy grin, “I would like my reward kiss now, please.”

  I looked back at the diner, then to Eve, “What are you talking about?”

  Eve rolled her eyes, “Duh, I was promised a reward kiss back on Entana any time I was productive or helpful on the mission.”

  I smiled at how cute she was being, “Oh that motivation tactic is still in effect? I thought we were past that since we have full access to kisses basically whenever.”

  Eve shook her head, “That’s different. See, I can do this.” She leaned up to give me a gentle kiss, “But that doesn’t count as my reward kiss.”

  I nodded along, “Right, and if I do this.” I leaned down to give her a tender kiss, “Does that satisfy your quota?”

  Eve shook her head, “No, because we haven’t bartered properly yet; the terms remain unclear.”

  “Good point.” I smiled, “And what are your terms, you adorable sweet-thing?”

  Eve held up one finger, “Well, love of my life, object of my soul’s desire, I believe I should be rewarded with a 20 second, open-mouth kiss with excessive tongue.”

  I shook my head, “No no, reward kisses can’t be so risqué; 5 seconds, no tongue.”

  Eve stomped her foot and gave me a cute pout, “Adam! That’s too harsh.”

  I shrugged, “Make me an offer.”

  Eve tapped at her chin as she considered her next move, “10 seconds, open-mouth, minimal tongue—but!” She held up a hand to stop my interruption, “You can squeeze my ass during the kiss.”

  I opened my mouth to counter, then closed it, then just shook my head, “Wait, who’s reward is this now?”

  Eve’s eyes danced with amusement, “Mine of course.”

  “So the ass squeeze, is that to sweeten the deal for you or me?”

  Eve’s smile grew, “Yes.”

  I was taken aback by that answer, “Yes what?”

  “It sweetens both sides of the deal.”

  I rolled my eyes and realized how much I loved this silly little alien, how perfect she was and how much I enjoyed our banter; she really was everything I’d ever want in a partner. I wrapped my arms around her, and she pressed herself against me right away, “Tell you what Evie, since you did such a good job, you can kiss me for as long as you want, how about that?”

  She flashed me a cute grin, “Ah, excellent counteroffer. I accept.”

  And so we kissed there in front of that alien diner, and despite all we’d done together, despite how many times we had sex and despite all the degeneracy we got up to back on Hedonism-36, that kiss was just like the first—same as all our kisses; I felt it in my spine, my mind got all mushy, my body felt warm, I felt so safe and loved and adored. I was a 32-year-old man; I shouldn’t react to a simple kiss so strongly. And yet I did—I always did. And best of all, Eve seemed to react that strongly to me too. Despite our power differences, despite the situation we’d been forced into, despite every reason we probably shouldn’t be together, the one area that was always perfect and equal was our kisses. Right then, right there, I knew what heaven was, and even though sometimes I worried being with Eve was like dancing beside the fires of hell, I just didn’t care.

  I kissed that little alien I found in the woods all those months ago, and she kissed back the idiot human who defied everything to take her home, and above all else that transpired between us, the kiss was perfect.