“Empress, we need to talk about your wife,” are the first words Naomi says to me several days after I last talked to my wife.
“While I do want to hear what you have to say, remember that I care deeply for this person.”
“Which is why I want to talk to you now, instead of next week when you’ll be back on Astoria. Mrs. O’Connell has been having more visitors as of late, enough that there are rumors that she’s luring young people to the Mansion.”
What the fuck, Katie? Penny, calm down. Talk to her first, something might be wrong besides the alleged predatory behavior. “I understand the optics would be bad, but why is this an emergency?”
“I just told you that the person taking care of the Empire’s finances hasn’t been doing the job for two weeks, and you ask what the emergency is?” My exasperated assistant waves her hands in frustration.
“Right, you actually skipped that part. Has anything actually gone by the wayside or is this a cry for help to hire someone to pick up the slack?”
“The second one. Despite that existing business is being maintained by Atropos and the Matrix interface, we really do need someone to interface with clients and new business that is popping up.”
“So what it seems we need is an HR specialist or a head hunter. We definitely don’t want you to have to do all of that work. In the meantime, is there anything else that needs my attention?”
“If I didn’t know you’re about to spend two days digging through our finances, I’d say you’re being too casual about this. But yes, there are several trade firms that are requesting an audience, the Governors are up in arms about supplies and transport lanes and immigration rates. They want to get some things on your agenda before the Forum next week. There are some other odds and ends that you can’t put off for too much longer, but it’s not going to bring the Empire down.”
She seems to be focusing more than panicking now, which is a plus. I need her to keep her head on straight so she can keep my shit in line. “Can’t say I’m thrilled about meetings, but yeah, set those meetings up for me, but make sure I get those two days to look thinks over. Thanks for being so calm about this.”
“It’s funny to hear you say that. My job in the US Navy was much more of a hassle than this job, but it’s hard to handle the scope of what happens if things fall apart here.”
“I get what you mean, it’s hard to believe that I put myself in this situation on purpose. With as rushed as all this was, I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s slip shod. Hell even with these problems, the Empire runs better than some Earth Governments.” I breath in deep and push away the mounting anxiety.
She smirks at that. “You do a lot of things for your people, which reminds me that you also need a PR consultant. Your public image is barely more than rumor.”
“Yeah, and the rumors aren’t great. Or at least one of my instructors being a misguided social justice warrior who thinks I’m a tyrant. He may still try to kill me.” At least his emotions and intent are straightforward. “Side note, if this is getting to be a lot, feel free to send me a proposal for more staff.”
“Oh, thank God. I was going to work up to that, but with some of the rumors going around, it might be hard to get some people to work at the Manor.”
Andromeda save me from these petty insults. “Yeah. That’s not getting fixed overnight. Do we still have ‘liason’ spaces in the Capitol complex?”
“Yes, in both the House of Governors and the Consul Conclave. Should I dedicate some space there?”
“Take over the Consul spaces. I don’t have a ton of those yet, and I don’t want the Governors complaining that I’m taking back what was intended for ‘the people’. Also, I apologize if these rumors are part of the reason you were reluctant to move into the guest house. I didn’t hear about them until this week. And yes, I live under a rock. In fact, I’m a rock.” I have a giggle at that because my bones are gems. That’s a weird thing to just realize after being a golem for nearly a year.
“My husband is oblivious, so there’s some good news. He’s very invested in your project.”
“OH! I have a prototype to send him. Thanks for the reminder.”
She smiles at that before shuffling her papers, “Unless you have anything else for me, Empress, your due for a reminder to check your alerts and messages at least twice a day.”
I roll my eyes for the umpteenth time at that reminder. Without fail, she closes every meeting like that. She’s not wrong, I have abysmal attention to non-flashy indicators so my system messages and mundane correspondence usually gets ignored unless I’m looking for something. She ends the call while I’m making a silly face at her.
It is a solid reminder to do so before I get involved in anything else.
/There are Empire Interface options ready for your approval/
/There are 2 Priority Messages awaiting your attention/
/There are 120 Messages awaiting your attention/
Oof. I really do have a problem, but at least it’s not something ridiculous like 1200 messages.
It would be much closer if I hadn’t started sorting your mail. Many Governors send messages straight to you when it should be sent to your Consuls or your assistant.
Have I told you I love you lately? That and I kind of miss you. We haven’t been chatting as much lately and I know a large part of it is my fault.
I miss you too. Your distracted nature aside, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Alaris interacting with people and tinkering with some of your side projects. Did you know that I can use some of your skills? Found that out when I walked by a workbench in the machine shop and felt like fixing something. First time that’s happened.
Hmm. Think that’s just a part of having a body? Or body plus hanging out permanently in a parallel mind? Either way, that’s pretty fun. You’ve got most of my permissions, so if you want to pursue your own projects, go nuts.
I’m certain my efforts don’t help us advance or influence your progression, but it is nice to have a literal hand in one of your projects for once. Maybe we can work together on one?
Oooh! Since you have much more experience in a mechanical body, maybe you can help with my construct project! Or whatever you want. We could work on one of your ideas too. But! I’ve gotten side-tracked. No surprise. Did you hear the last call I was on?
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
She chirps in acknowledgement.
I’m worried about Katie and if her work is slipping, it’s a bigger problem than I thought. When we’re in person there’s so much emotion there, and she was worried that someone might be influencing emotions with aether in her grotto. Maybe that’s been scaled up.
I wouldn’t normally approve of using us as a short-cut to addressing marital issues, but Katie is suffering. I already asked while you were talking with Naomi, and Atropos has some suggestions but it depends on what result you want.
Sorry, Tessa, and thank you. What I want from this? I want to love and be loved, and for her to be happy. We went through so much change so fast, I have to re-learn what makes her happy. And I haven’t made any efforts to find out, have I? I just assumed this harem thing was it and I’m having a hard time with that.
Atropos does not appreciate how oblivious you have been, going so far as to swear at you. So, instead of relaying the whole tirade, I will ask you a few questions. Do you remember what Katie said to you after your tier 2 ascension?
My mind wasn’t very well tethered at the time, but I remember her crying, her telling me that I can’t die again, because the feeling of losing me knocked some feelings loose? I’m obviously paraphrasing, so bear with it. There was something there about her saying that because I made her feel, that I should take some responsibility for those feels? Yeah, that’s the thrust of what she said.
Not near as poignant, but the same ideas. Knowing that watching you die fundamentally changed her perception of your relationship, did that change anything about your behavior? And have you talked with her about it since?
I mean, we got married, we built together and spent a lot more time together, but a lot of that got interrupted by the constant stress of immigration and expansion. Ahh, the timing would fit too. No, I haven’t brought it up, and we don’t really talk much anymore unless one of us needs something. Blarg. And now she sees me spending time with Jenna because our schedule aligns and is getting jealous, even admitted to it a few days ago.
>P] Hey Katie, I heard that there’s been some talk about the Manor lately. Are you okay? [<
It takes a minute or so for her to answer.
>K] Hello wife. I miss you. Can you come pick me up? I think I forgot that I can call you like this, isn’t that weird? [< a worrying giggle followed her thoughts and has me in my shuttle on my way to her.
***
“Katie! Where are you hon!?”
“Pen penny pen pen.” I hear a mumble from the far side of the bed in our loft. “My wife is so tasty.”
The smell coming from our bed is not pleasant. Wine and food stains litter the comforter, their day-old smells not mixing well with the sweat and old sex lying beneath it. The smell of old sex in our bed hits me like a cannonball and makes me want to vomit. Dizziness hits me and I stagger against the wall to brace myself.
The only promise we made in this arrangement, shattered.
Anger hits me immediately and I spin up half a dozen scenarios of cutting this cancer out of my life, only to be interrupted.
“Hi pretty Penny! Did you know that I talked to you in my brain earlier? Pretty neat huh?” she slurs from the ground, failing in her attempts to sit up.
Well, shit. That’s not right. I take a second to massage some courage into my legs and walk myself to kneel next to my sloppily deposited wife. She is cold, sweaty and surprisingly does not smell of alcohol.
“Yes, Katie, it is very neat. Do you know how you got on the floor baby?” Talking to her gets her to focus on my momentarily, she smiles beautifully.
“Can I only feed from you for a while? You taste the best.” She clumsily climbs up me. “And Sasha’s friends taste tingly and tinny.”
Who the fuck is Sasha and why are people bringing their friends to the Grotto? This would definitely cause some rumors if Katie ended up having sex parties instead of intimate engagements. While I run various scenarios through my head, Katie is swaying with a purpose and drops her face fangs first into my shoulder.
For the first time ever, her feeding from me hurts. It apparently hurts her too, because within moments, she pulls back hissing, grabbing her head as if trying to keep her skull together.
“Katie? Katie talk to me baby, tell me how to help you.”
“It hurts. You hurt me. Everything feels so full, I might pop. I feel hot too.”
Too hot? I know how to fix that. I blip us both to lusty falls and wade into the pool with Katie in my arms. It takes a few minutes, but the clench in her body gradually eases enough to where I can pull her filth clothes off and send them to the suns.
I spend the next hour cradling her and bathing my delirious and pale paramore until she’s well into dreamland. I briefly wonder where I should take her, knowing I want to burn the Mansion to the ground, and end up deciding on our apartment on Asphodel. Close by my work on Elysium, but far enough away from Aelean influence that she can have a break from whatever shitshow this was.
In my head, I know I should stay and be understanding, but she had sex in our bed with another partner and I can’t bring myself to stew in that until she wakes up. Instead, I write her a note of what I saw, what my fears are and that I love her and want to talk through what she remembers. As a parting gift, I inject her with some cleansing nanites and put a big detox patch slash bandage on her back to help keep her sedated with non-harmful pharma while the nanites work on removing the other drugs from her system.
I leave a few ink bottles full of my blood in her fridge before I head back to Elysium.
***
I hear a knock at my office door as I’m looking at a wall of numbers and contracts.
“Come in!” I shout, not taking my eyes off the many screens.
“You forgot to stop for lunch.” Jenna comes in with an arm-full of food.
I look at the time in the corner of my HUD and it is slightly more than an hour past mid day. “Thanks hon. I’m trying to get a handle on all these contracts and trade deals before I review any of the new business. There’s a lot for me to catch up on.”
I see a question in her eyes, she looks at me a second time and decides not to ask it. Assuming it was about Katie, probably for the best we don’t bring that up. She still looks like she wants to talk about something so I put down the tablet I’m holding and turn to her.
“What’s on your mind Nini?”
She chuckles sadly, avoiding looking at me. “Nope, no hiding honey. If you’re having trouble looking in my eyes, come over and hold me. It’ll comfort the both of us.”
She nods and walks over to me. I stand up and sit on my desk so I can hug her with my arms and legs. She sighs into my hair and starts rubbing circles into my back.
“I worry about you, about the Empire, about us. Pretty much everything right now.”
Andromeda does it hurt to hear her feeling sad. “Lets see if we can quantify some of those things to make the worry seem more manageable.
“First, I’m hanging in. Naomi is working on finding me more help, specifically a financial advisor to help get things back in working order. I’ve been embroiled in relationship drama for most of the last five years and it’s getting old, but I’ll likely try to deal and manage until I get abandoned by one of you—at least that’s what the pessimistic ass inside my head tells me. And I’m low-key terrified of my tier 3 ascension and the fomenting rebellion. I mostly just want to tinker and invent stuff, but the way I do that seems to be more trouble than it’s worth.
“Second, the Empire’s doing great, honestly. Our biggest problem is not having enough ships to maintain inter-system trade and immigration desires. We absolutely have the infrastructure to expand and the industry to feed that growth until the artisans of the city can keep up. I just need to focus on getting more people, nay, the right people to come and help manage the issues that larger populations begin to have. We don’t seem to have any enemies, and all together as a people our goods and services have excellent ratings on the Exchange.
“Next on your list is us. I don’t see anything wrong with what we have between us. In fact, what we have is pretty ideal for me. You’re strong, dependable, loving, doting, loyal, and a genuine good person. I feel like my casual touching quota is being met, but I worry that you don’t express what you need because of our work roles. Outside of that very close view. Katie is hurting right now and possibly very jealous. I don’t know what helping her heal is going to look like, which scares me. There’s not a lot of things I can promise right now, but know that I love you and I have no intention of living my life without you.”
We hold each other for a while. I don’t look for the time, but enough has passed that when Jenna pulls away, the tears I heard her cry have long dried.
“I don’t like that I can only help with one of those issues, it doesn’t seem like enough. It still feels like I worship you from a distance with the occasional lucky moment of intimacy. Most of the time I don’t think I deserve more. Some times I feel so spoiled, and others feel alone. I never feel abandoned, but I desperately want more but I’m so terrified of messing this once in a lifetime thing up you know?”
“I was honestly worried about the hero worship I saw in your eyes when we first started flirting, believe it or not. It still worries me when you’re totally subservient in private, but I never got the nerve up to ask you about it. As for the intimacy, we never got back to the topic of what you wanted ‘US’ to look like, so we should probably make time to do that this time.”
“I’d like that.” Jenna replied.
So we talked for hours while I should have been working on business. Turns out I had been misinterpreting her signals. The little frowns I was seeing were not dissatisfaction with what we had been doing, but that it was ending. The smiles during situations where I thought we were having quality time was because I was happy, not because she was.
It wasn’t the ideal moment for a heart-to-heart with my girlfriend, with worrying business with Katie still hanging in the air, but scheduling emotions is a surprisingly difficult task.