Benjamin Gold
Location: New York City, Earth, United Commonwealth of Colonies
The space was bigger and more opulent than he remembered. A space that was supposed to be used to keep the cold air out was in fact a display of wealth and power thrown in the face of the visitor. Anyone who stepped into a space meant for taking off shoes and removing coats to hang in a small closet was bound to be awestruck at the sight of the Mona Lisa staring them right in the face. Even though it was a simple antechamber, Ben knew there must be security up the wazoo, especially with all the new alien tech flying around. Gold’s got nothing but the best, so he was a little surprised when Curtis simply waved them through without passing a wand over them or even checking their GIC.
Ben’s hand wasn’t even halfway to the scanner when the door swished open in front of them. “Ben!” Miranda Gold stood in front of her son looking so much smaller than he remembered her.
He’d been over sixty centimeters taller than his mother since he finished high school, but his recent experiences just put that much difference between him; a ship’s captain who’d seen combat multiple times, and a high-powered corporate attorney. Still, she was his mother, and he loved her.
“Hey, Mom,” he bent over and gave her a warm hug. Her perfume still brought him back to a simpler time.
“And this must be Jacobi,” for such a small woman, she easily pushed him aside.
He was only mildly irritated that everyone seemed to know he was coming and bringing someone who was more than just a date, but he knew better than to let it wear him down. There was no doubt the Gold patriarch had eyes on his son since the moment he was transferred back to the Sol system. If Ben was really honest with himself, there was also little doubt his father knew everything there was to know about Jacobi, down to the holo-shows she liked to stream to go to sleep. Ben had bought the engagement ring with money not attached to his corporate accounts, but he was sure his father had people in MWFAS keeping an eye on him. Still, he wished they were walking into the lion’s den with at least a single round in the chamber.
“Hello, Mrs. Gold, it’s a pleasure to finely meet you.” Jacobi didn’t let their failed attempt set her back. She smiled and readily accepted the hug his mother offered.
She was a solid twenty centimeters taller than his mother, with a bulkier athletic build thanks to the infantry. Her hair midnight-black hair was also a stark contrast to his mother’s gold. However, their eyes were a nearly identical green. He’d never noticed it until now, and it was a little disturbing. There was an old saying that sons married their mothers and daughters their fathers. Up until now, he’d thought his mother and future bride had nothing in common. Now that both of them were looking at him with twin sets of emerald orbs, he wasn’t so sure. He thought her eyes were her most striking feature.
“Ben?” Jacobi waved her hand in front of his face and broke his trance.
“Yeah, sorry,” he shook his head and pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and locked them securely away. “What?”
“She asked if we wanted to come in.” He could tell she was holding back an eye roll, so he waved for her to lead the way.
They stepped from a tiny slice of opulence to the whole pie. He was right, they had done some recent renovations, and if anything, the place looked even more like a royal palace than ever before.
“Ben!” He barely had time to brace himself before a golden blur raced across the room and threw herself into his arms.
Hope Gold would always be his little sister, but as she hugged him tight and then held him back to look him over, he couldn’t help but wonder how’d she’d grown up so much since he’d last seen her. Her hair was styled more, not overly in your face, but enough to say she was a business professional and not straight out of university. Her green eyes were the same as his mothers and Jacobi’s, but he was happy to realize she hadn’t lost the innocence of her youth just yet to the corporate drag.
“Look at you,” he gestured at the dress suit she was wearing.
“I know…right,” she pulled nervously at the high-collar that seemed to be the fashion of the month. “I just came from a teleconference with the board about our newest education initiative. With the IORs being rolled out faster than we can produce them, we can now leverage their interface to…” she stopped abruptly and laughed. “Forget everything I just said. We’ll have more than enough time to catch you up on the business drab,” she stuck out her tongue and suddenly she was eight years old again. “Tonight is about you,” she elbowed him lightly in the ribs and looked over his shoulder at Jacobi, who was talking animatedly with their mother.
He smiled the sight of them getting along so well. “Speaking of the business, where is…?”
“Ben,” his father announced as the door to his office slid open.
The last time Thomas Gold had made this exact same entrance he had a plethora of holo-screens dancing around him. This time, his eyes were just unfocused as he did all the management of the largest corporate organization in the history of mankind inside his head. Ben was surprised his nose didn’t bleed like a faucet from all the effort.
Even with whatever the corporate titan was doing in his mind, he still expertly navigated the layout of the room before coming to stand in front of Ben and his eyes snapping back into focus. “Welcome home.”
The warmth in his father’s voice surprised Ben, but that quickly vanished when he saw the slight hardening of his jaw when he turned his attention to Jacobi. “Ms. Wentworth, we meet again.” There was a lot of emphasis on the Ms.
“Mr. Gold, you have such a lovely home,” Jacobi laid it on thick, but that was because that’s what his father liked.
Of course, his father waved off the multi-billion-dollar apartment like it was nothing. “Please join us for cocktails,” he gestured for everyone to move toward the dining room where the rest of the family was waiting.
“What…Lillian?” Ben stopped suddenly in the doorway as he spotted the woman by the bartender droid.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Lillian’s formerly silver skin was now covered with holographic tattoos from the neck down. If Ben knew his elder half-sister, he knew those went everywhere. As she moved, the tattoos caught the light and moved in an intricately choreographed dance of colors to act out a tale across her flesh. If was one of the freakiest, and beautiful things he’d ever seen. It also probably hurt like hell to have done, but he knew she was a slave to the latest fashion trend.
“Ben, always good to see you,” she raised her glass full of a fuzzing purple liquid that matched her eyes and moved toward them.
That’s when he realized there was a lot more flesh than clothing on his half-sister, which was more than a little unsettling. It didn’t seem to bother Jacobi, who stepped past him with a smile.
“Awesome,” she muttered as her eyes traced the story being told by the tattoos. “I saw a shop that did this when my unit did a raid on Yakuza-Three. They had two options, a droid could do it, or an artist could do it by hand. Which one did you do?”
“The artist, obviously. The machines can do it flawlessly, so it is the little flaws and imperfections that let you know it’s all real,” Lillian smiled back. “A raid on Yakuza-Three. That’s Imperial Japan’s territory. I have to know how that went down.”
“It was a joint op with their defense force,” Jacobi shrugged. “Let’s grab a drink and I’ll tell you how a guy came at me with a two-meter nano-blade. The thing was bigger than he was…” Jacobi broke off from the main group and headed for the droid.
That left Ben alone with his father, and probably the only person he disliked more than the overbearing man. “Benny!” The nickname grated across Ben’s nerves as Dillion stepped out from behind his father.
“Nice to see you, Dillion,” Ben met the minimal social standard for courtesy, but wasn’t planning on doing any more.
“Looks like you brought home a stray,” his half-brother laughed and he downed his glass and turned to ogle Jacobi.
Ben had an overwhelming urge to grab him by the scruff of his neck and toss him across the room. A glare from his father told him if he did, Curtis would tie him up like a pretzel, so he settled on a different course of action.
“You’re one to talk. How is that paternity suit going?” Ben fought back a smile and tried to look innocent when Dillion rounded on him with murder in his eyes.
Ben had read about to ongoing lawsuit when he first got back to Earth. Apparently, some cocktail waitress at an upscale gentleman’s club in the middle city claims that Dillion got her pregnant. The baby boy had been born a few weeks ago and now the woman was suing Dillion for child support. The monthly amount she was asking for was obscene, which led Ben to believe the woman believed she had a solid claim, and that solid claim had to be that it was in fact Dillion’s child.
There were Blockie anti-ship mines that had more paternal instincts than Dillion Gold and the process was being drawn out in a way only the uber-rich could find loopholes to accomplish. Eventually, Ben knew there would be a settlement and the kid would go away only to come back around in twenty years when he wanted to get to know his father.
He took a step toward Jacobi, but his father’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Ms. Wentworth, might I have a word with you.” The statement caught everyone by surprise.
“Umm, sure, Mr. Gold,” she gave Ben a questioning look as she passed and followed Mr. Gold into his office…where he closed the door behind them.
“Please have a seat,” he gestured for her to take the chair in front of him. She did as she was told, but he remained standing.
He was only slightly taller than her, but she could feel the weight of his power pressing in all around her. He just stood there with his eyes on her for what felt like a short eternity before asking a simple question, “What are your intentions with my son?”
In her limited experience, which mainly involved holo-romantic comedies, this question was directed at the man.
She thought the best course of action was a direct one. “I love him,” she stated. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”
Thomas Gold’s face hardened at that. “Benjamin isn’t a complicated man,” he began to pace behind his desk. “He has ambitions, none of them high enough, and he wants love and affection from someone he can trust. I never gave him that growing up. He hates me, and everything I represent,” his eyes bore into hers, “but what I represent is his future…and yours too it seems.”
“Umm…” she wasn’t sure what to say.
“You are about to be my employee,” he continued without acknowledging her. “You would not have gotten your internship and educational bonus package if I hadn’t stepped in. Those programs are meant for our scientist with a masters, or at least a bachelor’s degree, trying for a doctorate in their discipline. They are not for infantry grunts with an associate’s degree right out of the service. You are being given a rare opportunity because my son says he loves you, but as I said before, Benjamin is not a complicated man.”
“Do you know he was dating another servicewoman less than six months before he met you?” The question caught her off guard, and he pounced on the look of surprise on her face. “He met her on Earth right before he deployed. She was his teacher, his mentor, and eventually his lover. He named the prototype semi-intelligent ship’s interface after her you know. He changed it after she broke his heart and then rebounded with you.”
Jacobi knew all of this. Ben had told her all about Sarah on their fifth date, and it had been a hurdle they’d had to get over in their relationship. However, unlike the diabolical woman who used him to get command of a cruiser and help her own career, Jacobi didn’t make some deal with the Windsor’s to capture and torture her only to endear herself to her boyfriend.
She missed the beginning of Gold’s next attack, “…so forgive me if I’m skeptical about your love and intentions for my son. If money is all you want, then I can oblige you. If you leave this penthouse right now through the side door, I will spirit you away to a planet of your choosing. I will put a hundred million dollars in a private account for you. You will never have to work a day in your life again. You can live out your days in the best money can buy, and you can avoid the heartache this will cause my son.”
“I’m good, Mr. Gold,” she replied crisply and confidently. “I love your son. I couldn’t give a shit about your money.” Thomas Gold smiled at her comment.
“I just had to be sure Ms. Wentworth,” he smiled like he hadn’t just raked her ass over the hot coals of emotional warfare. “We should get back to the party,” he smiled and waved for her to proceed him. She was halfway to the door, and a much-needed hug, when his voice cut her off. “Based on your statement, I’m sure you’re more than willing to sign any and all prenuptial agreements the corporation’s lawyers draw up. We want this union to be about love not money.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Gold. Send them right over.” She didn’t stop to see if he was surprised be her response of not. The tried not to throw open the door, and found Ben just on the other side.
“What was…?” she cut him off by planting a big kiss on his lips.
“I fucking love you, and you owe me big time for that,” she gestured with her head at his father.
“What did you have in mind? I can literally get you anything?” Ben offered.
“There is this great hover cart we visited once. Maybe after dinner we can head back down there and get a real bite to eat. I’ve heard rich-person food kind of sucks,” she referenced the vendor cart Ben had proposed to her at.
“Sure thing,” he smiled, kissed her back, and they turned to tell everyone the happy news of their engagement even though everyone already knew and had pre-formed opinions about them and what their lives together would be.