Illion
Oh no she’s really pretty - this is bad!!
I wasn’t expecting this.
Sure, her hair isn’t red, and her skin isn’t pale as milk, but wow. She looks like a model.
What in the world was Lolli-N thinking? She swore my wife wasn’t attractive!
“Stop holding my hand so tight!” Aurelia tries to pull out of my grip, but we’re twenty feet in the air; I can’t let her. My anti-gravity boots are keeping us both afloat, but without us holding on to each other, she’d be a pancake on the ground.
“Grab onto my shoulders then.” I mutter under my breath. I hope to the universe my voice doesn’t carry to the audience watching us, “but don’t rip the buttons off the suit. It’s designer.”
“Why would I want to rip the stupid buttons?”
“Just be careful, please!”
“My gods.” Aurelia whispers: I can’t tell if she’s upset or not, because she sounds annoyed, but she’s wrapped her arms around my waist, and her head is on my shoulder. So, it’s not really giving ‘annoyed’.
And it’s not exactly what I asked her to do, but no complaints.
“I swear to the gods if you let me fall, I’m going to haunt you as a poltergeist.” She hisses.
“At least I’ll have company.”
“Don’t you have your crew?”
“They’re as mad as I am, sadly.”
The crowd below us has started to test out the anti-gravity field themselves, and everyone is too distracted to realize that we’ve stopped dancing – and are drifting up to the hatch in the ceiling.
The silver band on my wrist is flashing; “apologies, this wasn’t much of a social introduction, but I am supposed to be taking you to Lolli-N now.” I sigh, “preparations for the wedding and all.”
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She groans, “the wedding. Do we actually have to share a room?”
My skin goes cold. “Oh. Yes.”
“But Lolli-N said we have a sleep schedule, right? So, I’m not allowed to go into the room between like 6pm and midnight?”
“Well…I….” A nervous tremor is creeping into my hands; but we’ve reached the hatch, and I release her onto the observation deck before she can feel it. “There’s been a slight alteration to that.”
Momentary horror crosses her face, “a what now?”
“Change in schedule.” I can’t conceal the nervousness from my voice and hide my trembling hands in my pockets - and thank the universe for my glasses; or my eyes would give it away. “We will be sharing the room at night.”
Aurelia gapes at me, her soft indigo eyes digging into my soul.
“Anyway, I have to go now and… do stuff. See you soon!” I give her a winning smile and sprint to the door.
“Captain?”
Her voice stops me just as I’m about to run for my life. I’m halfway out the door, but I lean back to see her waving at me.
“Thanks for the dance.” She purses her lips, and then I’m gone; racing down the hall because one more moment in there and I fear I would have been a mess.
***
“Such a gentleman, you are.” Dust and Lolli-N are both shaking their heads at me. Well, Dust is shaking his massive eye at me. Which technically counts as a head, but that’s beside the point.
I’m too furious to be debating the details. I have been utterly betrayed. Betrayed!
“I thought you said she wasn’t pretty?!” I’m curled up in my captain’s chair on the bridge. My two so-called ‘loyal’ companions linger about the control panels, watching me with disapproval.
“Aurelia Anique has an attractiveness score of 8/10 in comparison to the available database sets, according to beauty standards of the past century.” Dust cuts in. “The captain is correct in his analysis.”
“Shut up.” Lolli-N rolls her eyes and tosses her white braids over her shoulder. “Our captain is just in need of a nice lady companion. Aurelia is very nice. Perfect match.”
“This was supposed to be political only.” I slump further down into my seat, covering my face with my sleeves so they can’t see the redness on my cheeks.
Since when do I need a wife?
Since when has Lolli-N been thinking about my romance life?
What else has she been thinking about?
“Relax.” Lolli-N is standing in front of me, arms crossed, looking very smug. “Dust and I ran a compatibility test between you and your beautiful bride. 92% fit. You’ll be fine.”
“I don’t even know her, and the wedding is tonight. And she gets to see me sleeping first thing. What a nice impression that’s going to make.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t mind a little droo-“
“I swear to the universe, Lolli. I swear….” I point a warning finger at her and march out of the bridge.
As I hurry down the hall, speakers crackle to life at every corner. “All guests please report to the central hall for the wedding reception.”
9pm.
It’s time.