But he screwed it up. Or, no. He didn’t. He did this on purpose. He sent me here, knowing full well that Crux was dead. And no Corla at all! So what the fuck? What the actual fuck? Why is it too much to ask? All I want is like… a first kiss. Or maybe a short date, ya know? Maybe get to second base. Feel her up a little bit. Lie to her and tell her I’ll find a way to save us. All of us. And I’ll see her again on another time line. That’s all I wanted. Just a chance to have that moment. And he sends me here? To you? You are my final reward before I annihilate the universe? A half-ass silver with a dying light? Are you… fucking… kidding me?”
She just stares at me. Blinks a few times.
“It’s not fair. It’s just not fucking fair.”
And then she leans over the bar… and kisses me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - DRADEN & BOOTY
Draden realized two things simultaneously.
One. He was no longer inside Booty Hunter. In fact, there was no trace of Booty Hunter.
And two. His mind no longer had a body. His mind was outside of everything.
But then, just as he articulated that last thought, he realized a third thing. He was riding a neutrino wave.
He couldn’t pick any information up about why this was happening or where he was going. The only thing he could do was scramble the data called Draden and try to hold it together while he traveled.
Once that was taken care of, he began prioritizing his issues. He had lost Booty. That was tragic. But riding a neutrino wave wasn’t good either. He could be stuck on this thing for all eternity. It would not stop. Ever. No one really knew why neutrino waves existed or how they managed to travel though things like suns and planets and pretty much everything in the universe without being affected by said things.
They just could.
And most of the time, no one really cared. It was just yet another mystery. Neutrino waves were good for carrying messages. They were useful in that way. As long as they continued to be useful, probably no one would look too hard at the why and the how of things.
Draden was coming to terms with his new situation when another, newer situation suddenly presented itself.
He wasn’t with Booty anymore, but somehow, some way, he was.
Because he could see her. Rather, he was a part of her. Maybe. He wasn’t sure. The only thing that mattered in this new situation was that Draden suddenly understood things.
Secret things. Booty things.
It was like… part of her datacore had gotten transferred into him right before his mind was kicked out of his sexbot body and Booty’s interior, and was now along for the ride.
But at the same time, he was still back there. As her.
It was sun-fucking weird.
It almost felt like he was in two places at once.
He saw her, for the first time. The real her. Who Booty was and why she had come to Harem Station all those years ago.
In fact, he saw more than her. He saw ALCOR and MIZAR. Because she was not a part of them the way sister-minds were with Akeelian boys, but more like one of them.
She was a sun god as well.
Draden saw ALCOR and MIZAR and Booty, who was not called Booty back then, but something else. He saw the whole family of sun gods that lived in the golden place. They weren’t people, but just bright orbs. Like suns, but not suns. And Booty was one of them.
Draden was not one of these gods, he knew that for sure. But he had a link to them.
“Draden?”
He heard his name and pulled back from the god drama playing out in the golden place.
“Draden? Is that really you? Can you hear me?”
“ALCOR?”
“No, I’m a copy of him called Baby. You don’t know me—”
“Draden?”
“Tray?”
“Holy fucking shit! Oh, my suns! Is it really you?”
“Where am I?”
“You’re on Harem Station.”
“ALCOR?”
“No, that’s Asshole ALCOR,” Tray said.
“Excuse me? Yes! I’m the genuine ALCOR! Just… one you have not been formally introduced to yet. It’s very nice to meet you, Draden. I’m so happy—”
“Where have you been?” Tray asked, interrupting Asshole.
“Where is ALCOR?” Draden asked.
“Real ALCOR?” one of the ALCORs asked.
“How is this still up for discussion?” another of the ALCORs said. “I’m the real ALCOR!”
“Will the Real ALCOR please stand up,” another voice said.
“Brigit?”
“Hey, Draden. How the hell did you get here?”
“How