I shake my head a little. This conversation feels so… familiar.
“Don’t knock it until you try it, Crux. Those sex bots know exactly what to do with two cocks.”
But the feeling fades as his words sink in. “Sick. Freak. How do you even get down there? My father would fucking blow if he caught me with a sex bot.”
“I have my ways.”
“Seriously,” I say. “How?”
He leans in, all secretive like, and whispers, “Tray. He hacked into the AI.”
“He did not.”
“Shhh,” Jimmy says. “He did so. They leveled him up when they took him into cryogenetics. And I’ve got a good thing going with that little weirdo, so don’t ruin it for me by blabbing your mouth off to your father.”
“Like I even talk to my father.” I huff, pouring myself another drink from the decanter the bartender left for us. “And what the fuck does that mean, anyway? Leveled him up?”
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I know I’ve had this conversation before. And I know what leveling up is now. Tray. And Brigit. And…
The double doors leading into the dining room burst open and three Cygnian guards come through, looking around, subvocalizing security details.
Oh. Fuck.
“What the fuck?” Jimmy says. “Does the king need a midnight snack?”
But it’s not the king who enters. Of course, it’s not. I know this because I did have this conversation before. This is how the whole ALCOR Station Corla spin-node shit show started!
Princess Corla enters my father’s dining room, silver hair shining in the overhead lights and wearing a pink dressing gown that looks too pretty to sleep in.
My God. I’m even having the exact same thoughts!
Her eyes dart straight to mine.
I squint at her. No. No, no, no. Universe, you cannot fuck with me this way. It’s just not fair. Do not make me do this again. Please…
“What’s she doing here?” Jimmy asks.
“No clue,” I say. “But I think this is our cue to leave.”
And this time, I really fucking mean it. I start walking to the back exit that leads to the autokitchen.
But then there’s a loud slam of the doors and I stop. When I look over my shoulder, Princess Corla is gone. “Huh.”
“What the hell was that about?” Jimmy asks.
“I dunno,” I say, walking back to my drink sitting on the bar. Because that’s not how it went down last time.
“I think you scared her off. Fuckin’ dick. I really wanted to touch her hair again.”
I take a deep breath and stare down into my glass. What does this mean?
Jimmy claps me on the back. “You OK?”
“Fine. Just…” I turn around and look at him. “Do you and your father have a meeting with them tomorrow?” I jut my chin towards the door to indicate the Cygnians.
Jimmy squints his eyes. And it’s in this moment I realize how much I’ve missed my friend. He was my best friend until we arrived on ALCOR Station. My only friend, really. Then he and Xyla were attached at the hip. He belonged to her then. Not me. I was the outsider. From the moment we stepped into that place with its dark, shining obsidian floors and eerie hum of cleaning servos, I was the one who didn’t matter anymore.
My job was done. I got them all there. Alive, as requested. And then everyone seemed to be busy planning for a future that didn’t include me.
I want to stay here for a while and hang out with Jimmy. I want to be a sixteen-year-old kid again. I want to go to school, and be lazy, and sneak drinks in the governor’s dining room in the middle of the night, every night for years to come. I want to make fun of Tray with Jimmy, and laugh at Serpint and Draden as they play war with pretend weapons, and ignore Valor and Luck like they have no place in my future.
But most of all I do not want to have sex with Corla tomorrow. I do not want to make twin babies, and I do not want to shoot her into a spin node and steal a ship. I do not want to go to ALCOR Station and get trapped there for the rest of my life. Perpetually in the dark about everything until it’s too late to fix it.
I want to forget the last twenty-one years ever happened.
I want a do-over.
“What kind of meeting?” Jimmy asks.
“I don’t know. Like…” I don’t know what to call it if I can’t call it a breeding ceremony.