by Alma Nilsson
In addition to Captain Kara not following orders all the time, her female crew were also a disruption. No one knew how to behave around them. Already Captain Kara was handing out punishments for misconduct. However, the only rules they had about the crew being intimate with each other was for men, and then it was at the Captain’s discretion. Apparently, Captain Kara was not hosting, ‘a love boat’ as she was reported saying and punishing both Alliance and human women equally for intimacy. Which Mir thought was a bit hypocritical given she was married to Admiral Tir. But then Mir thought, Who am I to judge? I’m illegally married to a human myself.
Mir opened the message from Babette and felt so much warmth at seeing her smiling face, he touched the screen and thought, Wife.
He wished things were different and that this did not have to be a secret, but he couldn’t change his position, however, at the same time, he couldn’t risk not having Babette. He had prayed a long time before he had made the decision to ask her to marry him in the Underworld. He felt this was the right thing to do. That the gods wanted this. He didn’t always know their minds, but he usually did their bidding. When he didn’t, he was typically visited by the messenger goddess Raga. Since yesterday, around every corner, he had expected to see her, just in case he misinterpreted the message. But thankfully, she had not appeared.
Mir looked at Babette’s picture for a few minutes longer, and then he opened his computer and sent a VM to his mother. “Gods be great,” he offered maximum class salutations followed by the slave one, “The gods are with us.” Then he purposely exposed his neck to show her the necklace. She would know what it meant, especially with his next words, “I promise I won’t be attending any more Assemblies and kissing women. I learned my lesson at the last round of punishment from the High Priestess.” Then he looked into the camera, wondering how much more he should say and decided he should be as honest as he could. “Interestingly, there was a human woman there with me. Her name is Babette. She works at the library. I must go now. Let the gods continue to walk with you.”
Mir went to the shrine to pray. Quite often, when he was there, some of the other men would want to talk to him, so he spent time with them there. Afterward, he returned to his quarters and went to bed, thinking of Babette and dreaming of how wonderful it would be when they would not have to live in secret.
Babette was happy she worked in the library for the first time ever as she could access all the files on the god of peace. She was astounded though at all the information, so she began organizing it from the simplest to the most ancient and detailed. She didn’t know if she would ever get to the most ancient or complicated. She just wanted to know who Mir was really and what he was supposed to do as the reincarnated god of peace. Babette opened the first document,
Conception and Birth
The reincarnate god of peace was first mentioned in the early writings of Kan in year 4821, but it is likely that he appeared many times before that. His name will always be Mir.
Legend has it that on the night the god of peace is conceived, the mother dreams she is riding an ancient Ritti beast. However, no woman has ever confirmed or denied this.
The god of peace’s first birth is widely celebrated throughout the Empire as The Day of Relief on the day that all five planets are the closest to each other.
Early Life and Marriage
The god of peace is born to slaves so that he may relearn his godly ways in mortal form from birth to adulthood. When he reaches adulthood, he will take a wife, her name changes, but she is always the god’s true other half. From their union, twins will be born, two females. In good times, both will be exemplary children and strive to bring a new wave of calm and peace to the Empire. In bad times, the twins will be tricksters and untrustworthy, bringing more chaos to the Empire.
Life goals
The god of peace never rests for long and seems to be almost continuously reincarnated in physical form. In his early life, he will figure out the part that he needs to play for the Empire and see it through. Although he is a god, he rarely uses his godly powers. See below for the marked exceptions. And he should be treated as much as possible as a mortal and has to abide by mortal laws.
Death
The god of peace always dies on his 307 birthday unless he sacrifices himself before that date. See below for the list of years he has killed himself or allowed himself to be killed.
Below Babette saw countless images of her Mir, some from thousands and thousands of years ago and some with his true half by his side. She suddenly became dizzy, and then everything went black.
Babette opened her eyes, and Chief Librarian Zola was holding her, “Are you feeling alright? Should I call Doctor James?”
Babette sat up and rubbed her eyes. She was still shaken by what she had seen. She knew what she had heard in the Underworld and what she had seen. She still had the daisy he had created out of nothing but seeing all those pictures through thousands of years made her feel sick. It was too overwhelming. She looked into Zola’s eyes, “Do you mind if I go home. I’m not feeling well, but I don’t need to see Doctor James. I just need to rest.”
“Too much fun over the weekend with your friends?” Zola asked accusatorily.
Usually, Babette would take offense, but she couldn’t explain, so she said, “Exactly. May I go?”
Zola helped her up, “Yes, go home and rest. Let me know if you are better or worse by tomorrow.”
Babette nodded and then left, barely able to hear Zola telling her to take a transport back to House Human. She thought about it when she was on the street and decided that she would actually walk. The fresh air felt good, and she needed to digest what she had just read.
Babette walked along, thinking how strange it must be for Mir to have all of these responsibilities. Then she wondered what his mission in this life was and what her part to play would be. She wished she had had time to look more at some of his wives. They had all had their own biographies, and she had not looked at any of them. Then she wondered, Do I want to look at his past wives? She had a flash of jealously rush through her. She reminded herself though, That was a different lifetime. Not now, although he looks the same.
As she entered House Human, Madame Bai happened to be in the drawing-room and saw her, “Babette, why aren’t you at work? Are you ill? You look pale even for you.”
“I just need to rest.”
Madame Bai followed her up the stone stairway, “Let me help you. Really you look so pale.”
Babette was not going to draw more attention to herself, so she just nodded and let Madame Bai help her into her room and take off her clothes. “I’ll have some water brought to you.”
“Thank you,” Babette replied and wondered why Madame Bai was being so kind to her as it was so uncharacteristic of her.
Madame Bai looked at Babette and wondered if she was really the god of peace’s other half as rumors had it. It would be unprecedented and cause a stir at the very least in the Empire. A human and a god. But time would tell. The gossip columns reckoned he had two years before he would be invited back into House Rog. Only then he would be able to court her if he really wanted and then marry her. However, Madame Bai doubted Babette of all people could wait that long. “Of course,” she said and left the room.
Babette closed her shades to the city outside and was reminded of her wedding in the pitch black and fell asleep thinking of Mir. Wondering if she was really meant to be married to him or if some evil would befall her because he was supposed to marry some Alliance woman, but then she showed up. However, when she thought of the way he looked at her when they had made love, she couldn’t doubt his devotion to her.
One hour later Madame Bai entered her room and was surprised to find that Babette was in such a deep sleep that she could not wake her. Being concerned, she asked one of the doctors for House Human to come and check Babette.
Doctor Jin arrived at House Human and decided instead of waking Babette, she would search her thoughts for an illne
ss or anything traumatic that could be causing her sudden exhaustion. Doctor Jin had not been prepared to see what she saw in the young woman’s mind. As soon as she left the room, she told Madame Bai only as much as she needed to know, “Babette had married Mir, who is without a House. They married in the Underworld.”
“We must keep this to ourselves. Maybe it is a mistake that you saw this? No need to put it in a report.”
Doctor Jin shook her head, “I will keep it a secret.” And then left.
Madame Bai watched the doctor go and knew it was only a matter of time before the entire Empire knew what Babette and Mir had done together. One thing was for certain though, Madame Bai was going to wait until it was common knowledge before, she mentioned it. She wasn’t overly religious, but she still strongly believed in the non-interference of the reincarnated gods.
Babette awoke to the sound of her alarm. She had slept for 18 hours. She got up. Next to her bed was a ceramic cup of water and a little box. She took a sip of water and then opened the box. Inside was a silver hair clip. It was simple but beautiful. There was a little note inside,
In order for you to have one for Jade to borrow.
Babette smiled and got up with the hair clip in hand. She took it into the bathroom and put it in her hair. She touched it and thought of Mir as she looked at her reflection, I must not think of him as the god of peace, or I’ll not be able to handle it. I must think of him, as much as possible, as my Mir. My lover, my husband.
Two weeks passed, and during that time, Babette and Mir VM and messaged each other every day. It was the kind of thing new lovers did. Sweet nothings that only made their hearts beat faster for each other.
But being married now to Mir, even if she had to keep it a secret, offered her a kind of peace Babette had never had in her life. She didn’t even realize that this was what she was looking for until she had it, and now that she had it, she never was going to give it up. And because of this peace, everything in her life made sense now. She was a better person in everything. She still found her work dead boring, but she was more patient with herself and Librarian Zola. She could laugh a bit easier with some of the other women she always found too judgmental, and most importantly, she could go to bed knowing that he loved her as much as she loved him and that they would still have each other in this enormous galaxy.
One day after work, a woman stopped in front of Babette. She was a slave by her clothing and by her short haircut. She said nothing but was blocking her way. Babette moved to one side to pass, but the slave prevented her again.
“Good evening. May the gods guide your way,” Babette said, hoping to pass.
“The gods are great, indeed, human.”
Babette gave the woman a quizzical look, “Do I know you?”
“No.”
“Then, let me pass.”
“Tell me, do you know the god of peace?”
Babette lost all color in her face, and she touched the necklace under her clothing. But she said nothing.
The woman nodded, “I thought it was you. This time you must leave together.”
“Excuse me?”
But before Babette could question her more, the woman was gone. Babette just stared stupidly at where she had been and then, after a few minutes, began walking back to House Human again. When she got there, she went up to Jade’s room and told her about the encounter.
“Are you sure you weren’t imagining it?”
“No, don’t be ridiculous. I saw this woman. I couldn’t have made her up. She was a middle-aged slave.”
“Maybe she was a goddess?”
Babette dismissed that with her hand.
“What did she say again?”
“She said, ‘This time you must leave together.’ I have no idea what that could be about.”
“Ask Mir,” Jade suggested.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to discuss this part of him,” Babette admitted.
“Really?” asked Jade. “Because if I were you, I would be all over my god of a husband. I would ask him to do magic tricks all the time.”
“That’s only because you don’t know what he’s done before if he really is the reincarnate god of peace. He’s done a lot of bad things in the name of peace.”
Jade looked at her friend seriously, “Babbs, lots of good people do bad things to make the galaxy a better place. I am sure this time, though, it won’t be bad. We are living modern lives now.”
“I’m sure that’s what the people back then thought too.”
“You know what I mean,” said Jade. “Ask him the next time you see him. I am sure it was nothing. I mean, it could even be just someone trying to find out if you are married illegally. You were seen together kissing.”
“Well, I didn’t answer, so there was nothing to indicate anything really,” she realized she had touched her necklace then but didn’t think that was worth mentioning. “Now, have you heard from Ko again? I have a difficult time believing he just forgot about his night with the human in the Underworld.”
Jade blushed, “You know it’s forbidden for us to even speak to each other.”
“I know, so have you spoken to him?”
Jade said nothing but opened a drawer and pulled out some paper with writing on it and handed them to Babette, “He sends me these, so there’s no electronic trace.”
Babette looked through the letters quickly and saw lots of romantic words appearing, “Well, I never,” commented Babette. “He doesn’t look like the romantic type.”
“No, but looks can be deceiving,” she held out her hand to take the notes back, “But this is all we will ever have. He’s due to get married soon.”
“I’m sorry, Jade,” Babette said, putting her hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, it was never meant to be more than a night in the Underworld anyway. I’ve,” she indicated to the letters, “Let this go on much longer than I should have.”
Found Out
Babette was just beginning to run through her morning duties at the library when she received a message from Dru.
Leave work and come and see me now. Tell Chief Librarian Zola I demand it.
Babette had to look at the message twice. She couldn’t believe what Dru had written and figured it must be a real emergency. She had no idea what Dru would need her for, though. Except maybe a friend to listen to.
Babette went to explain to Chief Librarian Zola and then hurried over to the hospital. She was admitted to the Imperial Floor as Dru had let them know that she was coming.
As soon as Babette entered her office with a smile for her friend, Dru frowned and said coldly, “Come into my examination room.”
Babette didn’t like her tone, “What’s the matter?”
Dru didn’t say anything until the door was shut, locked, and mentally secure. What Dru did now, no one would know. “Please set down your things and lay down on the medical bed.”
“Why? I’m fine.”
“I’m sure you are,” Dru replied cryptically. “Please, Babbs, we don’t have much time.”
“I don’t understand,” Babette said, climbing onto the bed.
Dru came over and put her hand on her abdomen and closed her eyes.
Babette watched her friend and said, “Not using any medical equipment today, Doctor?”
“Shhh,” she said calmly, not opening her eyes. Dru was focusing. As she thought, twins, too young to have thoughts or know they would be girls, but Dru knew. Then she moved her hands up to Babette’s forehead. “I must search your thoughts.” She wasn’t asking. “Relax.”
“I would rather just tell you.”
“Hush, Babbs.”
Dru then entered Babette’s thoughts. They were so easy to find. She had no real terrible memories hidden away, all of her memories were neatly organized as they came, as her life had never been exceptionally good or terrible. Until recently, of course, she quickly found the secret marriage, which she kne
w about and then the image of Mir really being the god of peace, not just some made-up Alliance myth. And Dru was just about to draw back when she noticed something else. Like a rip in Babbs's memory. She immediately recognized it as Alliance memory shading, to obscure memories from patients, and Babbs’s was fading. Dru took the opportunity to rip it off. To discover what Doctor Anu had really done to these women. When she discovered the truth, she didn’t want Babbs to know for fear, it may disturb her relationship with Mir. And Dru needed Mir on her side. She adequately replaced the memory with dreary days in an Alliance hospital bed.
Babette felt so strange when Dru left her mind, “What were you doing?”
“Healing you,” Dru said, it wasn’t a complete lie. “Now, what are we going to do about your pregnancy?”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“You are. I received a notification from your urine this morning. Unfortunately, so did Madame Bai and Jane.”
“No, it must be a mistake.”
“Babbs, the sooner you accept this truth, the better. Do you and Mir have any plans?”
“No, we. I didn’t think this would happen. We never talked about it. He still doesn’t have a House.”
“That’s a problem.”
“What should I do?” Babette felt lost entirely then.
“Let me call Ket’s mother. She will know better than I do what your options are. The Alliance always has loopholes for these kinds of things. I hope,” she said the last sentence under her breath.
