Page 157 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“He and William are really worried about John. They just want to head to Celestia, and the delay is killing them minute by minute.” My heart aches at the thought of my grandpas in pain, and one of them is barely holding onto life. This whole situation is fucked up.

“Do the Celestians know we’re coming?” I ask, and he nods as we make our way through the ship to the elevator and then my rooms. We pass people, and we get a few polite nods and greetings, but everyone seems preoccupied. I guess the announcement changed things for a lot of beings.

“Yes, I sent a message to them before the staff meeting. They are expecting us in three days, which is how long it should take us to get there once the pod has returned to the ship.”

We walk hand in hand, and I decide I need to do a mental health check on Link. I can’t help but wonder how he feelsabout me bonding with Saxon. “So, um, I was wondering if you are okay with this,” I ask, not really wanting to look at him in case he isn’t, and the awkwardness coming from me isn’t really something I’m used to.

“With what?” He pauses for a moment, sounding a little confused, and I kind of don’t blame him, since I am all over the place.

“With me and Saxon and what just happened, and I guess everything. I guess what I’m asking is, do you still want to be my boyfriend?” How fucking teenager of me to make it sound so blasé when it’s not, like it wouldn’t break me in two if he decides this is not for him.

He chuckles and squeezes my hand. “Is that what I am?” he asks, and I feel my stomach sink. Shit, maybe that’s not what he wants. Maybe I am a bit much for him. Me and all my shit…

“Ah… Um…” I try to pull my hand out of his, completely embarrassed now, but he holds on tight and pushes me up against the corridor wall, blocking me in. I could probably get away with my new strength, but I really don’t want to hurt him.

“Lila, look at me,” he demands, putting a finger under my chin and lifting it so I have no choice.

I feel my cheeks flush with shame. How high school am I? Shit, this is why I never did the boyfriend thing in the past. I’m so freaking awkward, and I don’t do awkward.

“Lila, I like you.Reallylike you. What I feel for you… I’ve never experienced it before, and I hope you will seal the Skarrian mating bond with me one day. As a cyborg, I don’t have a fated mate like Caspian and Saxon, and I can’t form any kind of bond with you myself. The only thing I can do is extract some nanobots from my body and inject them into yours. That’s what cyborg marriages are. It’s symbolic of a couple joining together to do that. But it won’t do anything to you, it’s purely a romanticgesture.” His silver eyes shine with emotions, and I relax, hearing him say the words I needed to hear.

“Well, we have half an hour, and I’m pretty sure we can knock out a mutual orgasm in that time.”Yeah, way to go, Lila. He gets all sweet and romantic, and how do you respond? By suggesting a quickie. High. School. And so emotionally stunted.

Link doesn’t seem to mind, though, and the love in his eyes quickly turns heated as the corner of his lips tips up in a wicked grin.

Yes. Please.

“I could give you five in that time,” he tells me and steps back, freeing me from the wall and grabbing my hand. Our journey to my rooms is quick, and by the time the door slides open and allows us entrance, Link and I are already stripping off each other’s clothes. Link doesn’t have much to do because I’m only wearing sweats and a shirt, so I’m naked as soon as they come off. It takes me a little longer to extract the delicious doctor from his uniform, but soon enough, we land on the couch. His naked body is cooler than my flesh, but it seems to warm from contact with mine, and by the time I’m finished with him, he’ll be smoking hot.

Forty-five minutes have gone by since Eric demanded I meet him at the transporter. That’s actually fifteen more than I was supposed to take, and I can tell he’s pissed when I finally get there.

“Sorry, sorry!” I apologize profusely as I hurry onto the transport platform, waving at Officer Kirk who is operating it today.

“I knew I should have insisted you return to your roomswithoutone of those blasted men,” Eric grumbles, and I raise a surprised eyebrow.

“What’s crawled up your ass? Usually you’re all Team Lila and getting her some men.”

He has the grace to look embarrassed, and he sighs. “Sorry. It’s this thing with John, and I loathe dealing with Agent Smith. There’s something that is untrustworthy and creepy about him. He just rubs me the wrong way. It’s almost like he doesn’t like aliens. I’m not sure why he has the liaison position if that’s the case, and he’s being extra mysterious about this new detainee. We have almost no information about him except for his designation, Alien A. I’m not sure what he’s done to warrant deportation. Most of the time it’s some trumped-up charge or an accidental reveal to a human, something that could be easily overlooked, but he is a hard-ass. We never had as many aliens being deported with his predecessor. Though I must admit this has been the least amount for years. Usually he has a whole heap of them he’s decided to ban from Earth.”

I wait to see if my grandpa takes a breath after the verbal diarrhea spewing out of his mouth. He seems to have a lot on his mind when it comes to Agent Smith.

“So what do I need to know?” I ask, and he loses the lost in thought look and straightens up.

“Just follow my lead. You’re here to observe. It’s fairly straightforward. We sign some paperwork, and then they will bring the detainee out and hand him over to us. Whether he returns to the ship in cuffs and gets put in the brig until we can return him to his home planet or he gets assigned a room until they decide where they want to go next depends on thecrime. Usually they return to their home planet and answer to their own authorities. Most charges get thrown out because they are pretty bogus. Earth is never understanding.” He brushes his hand down his clothing, and for the first time, I realize he’s wearing the Galaxy Circus jumpsuit like mine. Normally he’s just in jeans and T-shirts, unless he’s wearing his ringmaster costume.

“Okay, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I will be your faithful apprentice.”

He just cocks an eyebrow and looks unimpressed. Yes, they have Earth classics available to watch on their streaming service, and it’s obvious he knows whom I’m referring to.

“Oh, and here.” He holds out his hand, and when I look down, I recognize a gun similar to the one Saxon had been trying to teach me to use before he got a whiff of my blood. “That’s the one calibrated to your blood so no one else can use it if you happen to have it taken away.”

“Oh no, no way. I have no idea how to use that thing.” I shake my head, stumbling back like the fucking thing is going to bite me.

“Just aim and shoot, and don’t fire it unless you intend to kill. To be honest, you shouldn’t need it. It’s more of a show of force than anything, though I bet Agent Smith would like to get his hands on this technology. Up until now, we’ve resisted giving them weapons that kill aliens. They only have the ones that can incapacitate.”

I reach out and take the blasted thing, tuck it into a pocket of my pants, and promptly pretend it’s not there.

“Send us, Kirk,” he commands, and our bodies dissolve into tiny little particles, only to reform on a platform in a galaxy far, far away. Well, actually, we’re still in the same galaxy and not all that far away if you think about it reasonably.