Page 53 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

The admiral and his first officer leave me to speak to others. I return to my original seat and begin looking through the files on my IC. I’m only somewhat shocked at what he’s asking me to do. Most of these missions directly involve sabotaging women’s power in the Empire. And one of them only I or the first officer of the imperial guards could accomplish. Did the admiral know I would come looking for him? Is this why he’s on the Capital Planet now? Being in love with Georgiana has made me sloppy.

I look over the admiral’s tasks again and weigh out my allegiances. What do I want more; to remain steady in my work and society and give up Georgiana or to fight for men’s equality and, at the very least, give Georgiana the opportunity to reject me herself. What if I choose to do this for the admiral and Georgiana decides she doesn’t want me? What if I help the admiral and am executed by the Empress if I’m found out? I decide the latter doesn’t matter. The Empress grows more corrupt with every decade and she still has fifty more years left to rule. She might kill me for an imagined slight in ten years. I have no guarantees in the Imperial Palace. I have no guarantees anywhere.

It was probably only a matter of time before I joined the men’s cause. It’s no secret that I’ve not married because I have a reputation for being difficult among Alliance women. That I want more equality than most and don’t want a woman having the final say over the choices I make in my life. No doubt when the admiral saw me with Georgiana he could foresee what would happen.

Before I lose my resolve, I accept the admiral’s offer by message. Then I leave the barracks. I must trust the admiral now to stick to his word. As I walk out I realize that I can do the first task right away. I return to House Zu and begin contacting my imperial male peers. I send a VM to each one of them personally using the men’s language which is always in a state of flux to keep ahead of the female translators to tell them of my newfound allegiance to the men’s movement for equality in the Empire. And I urge them to join the movement if they have not already done so.

I don’t know how many of these men are already a part of this movement. They would have been hesitant to tell me because of my position in the Empire and my closeness with the Empress, but now they would see that even a man like me is nothing to a woman. That I’m not even allowed to court a woman that I would like to marry if the Empress doesn’t want it. There’s no equality or justice in that.

After I’ve sent out a little less than twenty individual and authentic VMs, I feel emotionally exhausted. I lay down on my bed and look up at the nearby planets through my skylight. I think of Georgiana and telling her about this bed. I hope that she is safe. “Only you will be able to tell me you don’t want to be my wife. No one else’s word will do. And I will not allow anyone to decide for you or me,” I say quietly out loud to myself, hoping that I will see her again.

24

Georgiana

“Madame Georgiana,” a woman in green says my name. I open my eyes. “It’s time for you to return to Earth. Get up, use the bathroom, and put on your clothing. We don’t have much time.”

I don’t question her. It’s the same woman who took me to see Lia. I get up and put on a dress, stocking and boots then follow her out of my room. There are four guards instead of two following us. I notice one of them is carrying a bag. I assume that is extra clothing for me.

I’m guided through the quiet palace and I assume it must be the middle of the night as most of the hallways are deserted. When we exit the palace, the sky is dark purple, it looks like it’s just before dawn. The woman puts a cloak over my shoulders and a hood that covers my head. No doubt this is more to hide my appearance than for warmth. I’m guided out to a waiting transport. I recognize the man waiting for me. It’s Ren from the Hio. It’s good to see a familiar face. But he doesn’t look pleased by this arrangement though.

“Madame Georgiana,” he says.

I wonder if he knows the truth of what has happened here? Will the Hio crew hate me for having lied to them? Are they going to be punished for what Axl and I lied about?

“Good to see you, Ren,” I say and I mean it.

“Happy to be of service,” he replies as he follows me into the transport. Then he helps me strap in. “It’s just a quick trip up to Space Port One and then we are ready to depart. “You are the last passenger.”

I don’t know how to respond. Is Axl onboard too? I wonder, but I’m afraid to ask. I want to hope that he’ll be there and I don’t want my hopes crushed until the final moment when I get onboard and discover he’s not.

We reach Space Port One and Ren encourages me to keep the hood to my cloak up as we walk through the station. It’s not as busy as it was the last time I was here. Then we quickly board the Hio. Once onboard Ren shows me to a bunk in a room I’ll share with others. I no longer have an imperial status which means Axl is not here.

“Any other humans onboard?”

“You’re the only one,” he says as he puts my bag down. “Once we clear the Empire’s territory, prepare to strap in to jump. There’ll be an announcement.”

“Will you be returning me to Earth directly or Alliance Force?”

“Alliance Force. They must process you.”

“You mean erase my memory?”

“I don’t know the system.”

“Thank you.”

He nods and leaves me. Wherever the other passengers are they aren’t here. It might be breakfast time, I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m happy to be returning to Earth, but upset not see Axl here. I wonder if I’ll ever see him again.

After the initial jumps, we are free to move around. The other passengers are Alliance citizens, merchants passing through Alliance Force selling their goods. None of them are maximum class and they are all men.

Unlike Axl’s family they have met humans many times before and know a lot about Earth and the Alliance Force. I ask them as many questions as I can to try to gauge my situation and what all my options might be, no matter how limited.

“We all know about what happened,” the oldest of them says. His hair is more silver than black. “It was obvious when Commander Axl returned with you. And the health reports couldn’t be explained away.”

“What do you mean ‘health reports?’”

“The matching heart beats, the breathing patterns. That is love and you both have it for each other. All the slaves put wagers on whether or not you were really married or if the High Priestess would make you marry.”

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