Page 48 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Chapter 17

Kear

He made the drone read his speech out loud one more time. It needed some work. A few charts were missing, along with some points he wished to expand on once he had more data. But overall, it was good. Almost ready for the next assembly that was taking place in a week.

Stepping away from the drone, he plopped onto a couch in his living room. His back ached from hovering over the screens all day. His shoulders felt stiff. He rolled his head, stretching his neck.

These long work hours of late weren’t good on his body. His mind didn’t get much rest either, as work cut more and more into his sleep.

He skipped the visit to the spa this week again since the latest visit brought him no physical release anyway. Maybe that was where some of his muscle tension stemmed from? He needed a massage and a good night's sleep.

Instead of heading either to the spa or the bed, however, he ordered the AI drone to move closer.

“Notifications on.”

He’d had them muted while trying to catch up on work. A wave of sounds came rushing in now, with an ever-increasing number of new messages displayed on the screen—more work.

One name stood out from the long list of people vying for his time and attention—Maya Gupta. That was the only name he was glad to see at any hour of day or night.

Something inside his stomach fluttered with anticipation when he ordered the drone, “Open and read.”

“Hi Sunshine,” the drone translated. “I miss you more than ever. I wish you were here. But since you’re not, I thought I’d send you something to remember me by until we’re together again.

I’m a little nervous. A lot, actually. But I think it’s important for us to remember what we are for each other. Just promise me if you don’t totally love what you see in the first few frames, close it and delete the entire thing right away.”

Weird. What did she mean by all of this?

A black square of a video attachment sat at the bottom of the message.

“Private,” the text read right above it. “For Kear’s eyes only.”

His?

Maya sent it for him? Not that Walter guy from Earth?

Did she know Kear was the one writing her letters for over three months now?

Come to think of it, she hadn’t mentioned Walter’s name in any of her latest letters. She’d referred to him as “darling or “sunshine.” Most of what she wrote was about Kear and their time together. And she’d said so many nice things about him.

Relief flooded through him. Lying to her all this time hadn’t sat well with him. He didn’t regret their correspondence and the obvious positive effect it’d had on her. But he wished he could do it under his own name, not under that stupid moniker, Walter.

But how did she know? And why had she never confronted him about it? Never even mentioned anything about his deception?

Maybe the video had some answers? Maybe it was her way of confronting him now.

“Play,” he ordered.

“This video will play just once,” Maya’s voice sounded as the video square grew, filling the screen. “It will then auto-delete. So, please make sure you’re comfortable, darling.” Her voice dropped with a sultry note. “And alone.”

Alone?

He glanced around, knowing perfectly well that there was no one else but him and the drone in his entire suite.

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