“Most people’s stories are long, boring and all the same, and now when I really want to know, I find the only human in the universe not into babbling about himself for hours. Figures.”
She squeezed his fingers a little as she joked and he found himself smiling. There would be no getting out of it; he’d have to talk about himself.
Once he started, he was surprised to find it easier than he thought it would be.
“I’m not four thousand, only around forty.”
Forty had seemed so old just a couple of days earlier, but in this company he was way out of his league. What would it be like to see so many centuries? How many people had she loved and lost? How much had the world changed during her lifetime?
“I’m basically human, nothing as fancy as you. My parents were fans of genetic engineering, so they constructed me to be stronger, faster, and smarter than people who are born.”
“I’ve never met an engineered man before. And you say you’re not interesting…”
He shrugged.
“I grew up on Palorma III. It wasn’t too bad; it’s a nice planet. When I was 20, I married the girl next door, Tracey Maddox.”
Saying the name stirred up old emotions in him, and he fell silent for a moment, cherishing the memories. Their parents had constructed them for each other, and it was a good fit. Tracey had been beautiful both in heart and appearance, and at the time, he found her perfect. Even after all these years he hadn’t seen many women with a face and a body like hers, maybe none until this very morning. Comparing a mortal with a deity wasn’t fair.
Why am I telling her this? She doesn’t care.
Maria squeezed his fingers, as if sensing his thought. He started telling the story, so he might as well keep going.
“We had two daughters and a third on the way when the war broke out. Natural born even. It’s a shame I don’t have a picture to show you, they were beautiful.”
It was a stupid war, but I guess most of them are. There were no winners, only devastation.
“The people on Palorma IV weren’t genetically enhanced. I guess they thought us a threat. There would have been plenty of room for everyone, but instead of settling things in good order, we had a war with few survivors on both sides.”
Her unwavering gaze gave him the courage to continue. It was the first time he told anyone. Would putting words to his nightmares make things better or worse?
“The war raged on for years. I was called out to battle one day, but it turned out to be a diversion. When we got back, the enemy had been in my village and gathered up everyone who remained behind. Women, children, a few old people... They locked everyone in the city hall, barred the windows and doors, and set it on fire.”
He glanced over at his hand, still entwined with the Goddess’s, and found the will to go on, even though his voice sounded dead and hollow in his own ears.
“The ruins were still smoking when I got there, and the smell… I can’t describe it. I searched for a long time and finally found my family in a corner. Tracey tried to protect the small ones with her body, but they were all so charred, I only recognized them from the jewellery that hadn’t melted.”
These images haunted him every day since and he normally felt the stench everywhere, so thick it was almost tangible. He tried to escape it through drugs, alcohol, and women, but nothing helped tune it out for more than a few hours, at best. He was created with a powerful memory and hadn’t been able to turn it off.
The after-effects of drugs didn’t appeal to him, even if he didn’t get addicted easily, and that left him with booze and sex. He thought about ending his miserable life many times, but never got around to it, and now he could even talk about it without having to see it.
It had to have something to do with Maria. Maybe just being close to someone like her could do a thing like this, and he was grateful. She’d disappear eventually and the much too vivid memories might return when she did, but for now, he experienced his first peace for years.
“I carried them outside, buried them, took this ship, and left. It’s almost seven years ago now, and my little girl was just three years old.”
He could remember feeling so helpless, useless, but right now, it was mercifully just a memory of the emotion and not the feeling itself.
She let go of his hand and pressed her palm against his cheek instead.
“You don’t have to see that anymore.”
*****
Hours later, they still sat in the kitchen. Stephan seemed to have forgotten she was an alien, and that suited Maria just fine.
He frowned.
“Are you hungry? You don’t really need to eat, do you?”
“I don’t need to, but I like to…”
He got up and peeked into the large refrigerator.
“I stocked up before I left port yesterday. We have all sorts of things.”
“Eggs? I haven’t had eggs for a decade.”
“Omelette?”
She hid the eggs in the pantry and hollered, “You’ll never catch me!”
Stephan chased her, waving a spatula in the air, until she collapsed on a chair, laughing. Cooking never seemed like this much fun before.
They stayed in the kitchen the rest of the day, and when it was time for dinner, he admonished her not to help because she made such a mess earlier. He wasn’t quite able to keep a straight face and she smirked.
“Really? I make a mess?”
“Yep.”
“Just you wait until I try to actually cook something.”
He laughed. “You don’t have to. Having you watch is about all the help I can take.”
She stuck her tongue out, and he dropped a piece of chocolate on it.
“That ought to shut you up for a second or two.”
Unexpected. Clever.
After dinner, Maria lingered in the kitchen, and Stephan didn’t seem in a hurry to leave it either. It was the friendliest room on the ship, and staying was safe. It was late though, every surface shone, and she couldn’t think of anything to talk about.
Eventually, he leaned against a counter, but kept his eyes averted.
“I’ll go make up a room for you. I don’t suppose you need to sleep either, but at least you’ll have somewhere to go.”
Why am I so nervous? Must be my human side betraying me.
A part of her stated that nurturing this much desire for someone almost human was beneath her. Her human half was louder than the cool and calculated side; it wanted him so much it made her physical body shiver with expectation. His eyes held an almost hypnotic grip on her, and she felt a peculiar tug towards him every time he came close.
What if he doesn’t want me? No, I can’t think like that. I’m too old to be afraid, and if one never takes an initiative, one never gets anywhere.
She walked up to him and rested the palms of her hands against his chest.
“I’d like to stay with you, if you don’t mind.”
His eyes lit up and he brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek.
“I’m trying to give you space.”
I’ve had four thousand years of space. Being alone is overrated.
Stephan’s arms around her were heavenly, and when he ran a hand down her back, she pressed herself against him and kissed him hungrily.
~ 6 ~
The next morning, Stephan woke up early, worrying the previous day might have been a dream.
Maria was still there, sleeping in his arms. He didn’t need much rest, at least not when he was good to his body, and he felt rejuvenated. Better than rejuvenated, actually: ready to take on the world. Even his normally keen senses ran on overdrive, making every dab of colour brighter than normal, the low hum of the air recycling perfectly distinguishable, and the sweet smell of the woman in his arms irresistible.
Her long dark hair flowed out over both the bed and him, and her shoulder sticking out from the comforter was so white, soft, and perfect it astounded him.
There had been ma
ny opportunities for him to hook up more permanently with some of the girls he met in different ports around the galaxy. Many of them would gladly have followed him, and some even tried.
One girl declared it wasn’t good for him to travel around all alone in space. She tried to hide in the cargo bay, and he set record time for a planet where he could dump her. The very thought of having someone around all the time, every day, was appalling, and he always found ways to get rid of them. They had all been unsuccessful attempts to escape the demons that haunted him.
This was different. He lifted a lock of her hair to his face and smelled it with a smile playing on his face. Then, he caressed her arm gently, not wanting to wake her up, but unable to keep his hands away from her.
Her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled. “Hi.”
She leaned on an arm and glanced around the room before meeting his eyes.
“I slept. Longer than you. So weird…”
“Yes you did. Good morning.”
Hers was a smile to live and die for. Not to mention the feeling of her lips against his and a slender hand running over his chest.
It took another couple of hours for Stephan to persuade himself to leave the comforts of sheets and magically created bread and coffee. He needed a workout to at least try to clear his head.
Maybe she put a spell on me. Oh well, if she did, it doesn’t matter.
No reason not to beef those old muscles up, especially since she seemed to enjoy them.
After that, he remembered a repair he’d been putting off and decided to get to it. Maybe she would stay for a while if he could show the best side of both him and the ship. Once he returned to the bedroom, he was well aware of being both sweaty and dirty.
Maria sat in bed with a pile of pillows behind her back and a cup of coffee balancing on her knee.
If anyone else did that, we’d have a lot of cleaning to do.
In front of her, a large hologram of a planet hovered in mid air, but it couldn’t be a hologram; there weren’t any holo-projectors in the room. He walked around the sphere and crouched next to her to get a better look.
“I’ve decided I owe the universe some creation. I’m making a planet. The first step is the most difficult. One must be careful not to disturb the gravitational constant of the universe, or it will have terrible consequences in the long run. The next step is to design the continents and then populate them and the oceans. I don’t know yet if it should have moons. They also affect the balance, you know…”
She paused with a small frown.
“Back in the day, we used to go to the planets we were working on, but I think this is easier. It gives a better overview.”
Stephan pretended this was a perfectly normal morning discussion.
“I see.”
She pulled a hand through the air and the image disappeared.
“It’ll still be there. I’ll show you later.”
Her eyes burned on his skin and he flexed his muscles a little extra.
“Care to join me in the shower, babe?”
She looked offended, but the laughter in her voice revealed it wasn’t sincere.
“I’m a Goddess. I’m always clean, and I always smell good.”
“Yeah, but I don’t. Come on, humour me.”
Maybe I could toss her over my shoulder and just bring her along. Tempting…
The ship was built for a crew much larger than just one or two people. It had plenty of water and over-dimensioned recycling tanks. He rebuilt the sonic shower to use real water years earlier, and with a treasure like her… Well, he could think of all sorts of fun things to do in there.
Maria rolled her eyes and pretended to be exasperated. She got out of bed, stark naked, covered only by long, dark hair cascading down her back. When trotting off towards the restroom, she wiggled her butt a little extra, clearly just to torment him.
Seeing first those round breasts, so perky and unaffected by gravity, and then those little buttocks right in front of him made it quite difficult to think coherently. Temptation.
She dashed for the door, and when he caught up she sprayed him with the shower, giggling wildly.
*****
During the next few days, Stephan worried she’d disappear as quickly as she came. As much as he appreciated every day, she would probably get bored, and going back to life alone held no appeal. For the moment, she seemed preoccupied with her planet, but that wouldn’t last forever.
He tried to take an interest in it, leaned his shoulder against the wall, and watched.
That’s pretty amazing.
“Maybe we can go there after I drop off the cargo.”
That sounds too presumptuous, like I’m assuming she’ll still be here. Dammit.
She seemed oblivious of his inner torment, patting the seat next to her, urging him to come over.
“I’d like that. Look here, we have to determine how the coastlines should be designed to work with the oceans, so the waves flow right, and how high and where the mountains should be.”
He took a seat next to her and folded his hands in his lap to keep them away from her.
“It all affects the eco system, doesn’t it?”
“Very good.”
“So with this mountain ridge here, that side will be protected, and this side, towards the ocean, will get a lot of rain, right?”
“Yes. The climate there will be mild, but rainy.”
He didn’t really want to go to the space station anymore. Once there, she might find something or someone more entertaining. It was a pointless line of thought; she could leave whenever she wanted to and she was still there, but he was obsessed and couldn’t stop worrying. Every part of the ship already echoed with memories of her; her scent, her face, and the feeling of her skin. He could look at a light and see her eyes instead.
Funny how a pair of green eyes can contain the answer to everything I ever wanted.
He told himself there were many women, an abundance of them even, and if he wanted company after she left he could always find another. Great plan, but it wasn’t true. No one else could ever do.
His worries increased as the station came closer, and finally, he wasn’t able to hide the restlessness anymore. He wandered around the ship, or sat in the kitchen with his head in his hands, telling himself to snap out of it.
Maybe I should stop stalling, pick up some speed and get it over with. We could be there tomorrow.
Maria’s hand on his shoulder made him jump.
“Don’t sneak up on me.”
“I wasn’t sneaking, I teleported. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes, something.”
She came around the table and took his hand.
“Do you want me to leave?”
What? No, no, no…
He wanted to shake his head, but his gaze was caught in hers. Could she see the anguish on his face? Say something.
The truth fell out of his mouth.
“Please don’t go.”
“Why would I go?”
“How would I know? I don’t even know why you’re here.”
Way to make sense.
She sighed and climbed up on a stool.
“Would you make me a cup of coffee?”
What? Coffee? What’s that got to do with anything?
He obeyed anyway, of course. There was no way not to, and going through the motions made him feel a little better. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her frown and chew her lip. When he put the steaming cup in front of her, the frown turned into a smile.
“Thank you, lover.”
“You don’t really want that, do you? You just wanted to give me something to do.”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You make excellent coffee.”
He lifted an eyebrow and she sighed.
“You got me. Look… I stay here because I want to, because you’re here. I know I can reassure you until you grow old and you still w
on’t believe it until you figure it out for yourself, but unless you want me to leave, you’re stuck with me.”
But why? Me loving you is not a mystery, but what do you want with me?
She patted his hand.
“You’ll figure it out.”
~ 7 ~
A large space station loomed outside their little ship, and Stephan docked effortlessly. It was a well-known procedure he must have done hundreds, or maybe thousands times before.
Strange that Maria didn’t come to see, I’m sure she knows we’re here. Should I go look for her?
He waited until he couldn’t stand waiting anymore, and found her sitting cross-legged on their bed, scrutinizing an entire solar system.
“Babe?”
She didn’t move, and he ducked under a miniature sun, zigzagged between planets, and slowly made his way through the room, careful not to disturb anything. His bumping into something might not change things in real life, but he didn’t want to risk it.
When he came closer, she lifted a hand without looking away from her work, and motioned for him to wait, so he froze in place, watching her adjust a planet into orbit a millimetre outside of its old one.
That little nudge would make an enormous distance in the real scale.
“I made this when I was very young. I must have miscalculated the size of the moon; it has slipped out of orbit. I’m making it a little smaller and putting it back where it belongs.”
“Okay…”
She finally ripped her eyes away from the model.
“You docked, right? Why don’t you go on ahead and I’ll catch up in a few.”
I guess. I’m not all that interesting anymore, am I?
He was used to her ogling him when he changed clothes, but now she seemed so preoccupied with her four-thousand-year-old error she didn’t even remember he was in the room. He sighed and pressed his lips against her cheek.
“I’ll go wait for you in the bar. It’s to the right in the corridor from this docking bay. Okay?”
She nodded without looking at him.
The environment was well known to him and usually seemed cheery, but this time, the bright billboards lining the corridors made him grimace. His Goddess would see them, and their messages of sex and shopping seemed vulgar.
Goddess's Saga 1: Touch of the Goddess Page 4
