‘I kind of think my gen-mod is kicking in Ethan said to Leita, as they lay in bed lounging.

‘Really? One day you’re going to take over the world, the next you’re, what did you call us? Whipped?

‘Yeah, well, It was those fucking aliens that got me all riled up. That and the fact I just learned I had an implant in me. I decided to call off the revolution by the way. You can tell your people’.

‘My people submitted your proposal to the Judicial Commission and it was rejected’.

‘Alrighty then.’

‘Hmph!’ he grunted.

‘What?’

‘What do you think took me so long to figure out I have a microchip in me? Millions of people knew this about themself before I did, including Darryl. I’d like to think I have a little more going on than Darryl.

‘I don’t know. I’ve always considered you a dumbass. This doesn’t surprise me.’ Leita joked.

Ethan gave her a sarcastic grin. ‘Dually, why did it take me so long to realize I have this chip in my head?’

‘The cause of delayed recognition is attributed to one’s soul, as it were. It’s much like a gene. It can be deeply recessed within the individual. It simply takes longer to become active for some’. Dually responded through Leita’s UPI that sat neglected in a corner of the room.

‘There you go. I was a psychopath’, Ethan replied nonchalantly. Nothing surprised him anymore.

‘I see you and Dually are friends again.’

‘We’re speaking. I wouldn’t say we’re friends’.

‘I’m going to lose you Ethan’, Leita said sadly. ‘You’re losing your spectrum.’

‘Oh bullshit! I’m still badass. Just approaching things from a different perspective that’s all.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘What do you think a spectrum is?’

Ethan never noticed the fear Leita carried in her eyes. He knew it was there, he just hadn’t noticed it. ‘You know, I’m not going to leave you Leita. There’s something about you I can’t walk away from. I never could since the moment I met you. Whatever happens from here on, happens together’.

Leita looked at Ethan to check him. To find the depth of sincerity. He greeted her look with a big goofy but truthful smile. Then he hugged her and gave her enough kisses to convince her and make her smile.

Leita pushed him away. Sometimes he acted like a big dumb dog, but she was happy.

‘Wait,’ he said pulling her back. We need to fuck. I have to get going.’

‘Going where?

‘I’m going to build a world where you and I can live.’

‘Like what? One of those world, worlds?’ She was referring to a VRAID world.

‘Yeah.’

‘You just said you’re not leaving me. Now you’re talking about jumping into those chambers and taking off somewhere. Then what? I’m supposed to live my life locked in one chamber and you in another? That’s not my idea of being together.’

“I’m not building it for us to live in. I’m building it for us to get away to. Just you and me. Our own little place. Like a summer home. Think about it Leita. Wouldn’t you like to have the dick once in awhile? You can do that in there. Would you like that Leita?’

Ahh, she knew Ethan was going to come up with some weird shit thing to do. That was his way. He always had to be doing something. ‘Would you?’ she said, smacking him with a pillow.

‘So how long is this going to take?’ Leita asked, after a particularly passionate lovemaking. It was heightened by a new commitment they felt towards each other, and the fact that they wouldn’t be together for awhile. Leita did take the opportunity to stick one of her fingers up Ethan’s ass so he had an idea of what to expect when she had a dick. ‘Well, he asked for it’.

‘I have no idea Leita. This is the hero’s journey. I’ll walk in a boy, I’ll come back a man.’

‘So we’re talking years. Possibly decades?’

‘Leita,’ Ethan looked at Leita seriously. ‘This is no time for your deadpan humor. This is a life changing quest I’m about to embark on. Please give the journey, and me, the hero, the respect we deserve’. Only part of him was joking.

‘Seriously, how long?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve never built one of those things before. I’ll be back when I get some answers. That’s all I can tell you.’

Leita sighed and resigned herself to her life with Ethan. She knew she could count on him, no matter how long it took.