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“Really?” Layla said. “I know what came over me…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Or, rather, what cameinme.”
She was a whole lot better at this double-entendre game than I was, that was for sure!
She pursed her lips and blew on the boiled peas — I had specifically asked the staff to cook human food.
Although it tasted bland to me, it appeared to be flavorsome enough to Layla.
“So, tell me about your upbringing,” Layla said. “I don’t think I’ve heard much about that before. I always only hear about your work and duties. Where did you grow up? And what made you become Governor?”
“Well, I was born in the Chi Empire, obviously. On a small planet called Glel. My parents were farmers and I used to help them in the field every day.”
“That’s alongway from the palace!”
“It’s a long way fromanywhere.My upbringing was pretty standard but I always felt like I needed to leave. No one on Glel could ever hope to do much more than be a farmer. If you wanted to do more, youhadto leave. The problem was, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.”
Layla nodded. “The story of my life.”
I chuckled. “So, as soon as I saved up enough, I bought a one-way ticket to Central Hub. I didn’t know where I wanted to go and in the end, it didn’t matterwhereI went as there were only a few places I could afford to go. I hopped on thecheapest journey which, to my surprise,wasn’tmy home planet. When I ran out of money, I learned about the Chi Space Marines and how they got to travel a lot. So, I joined up and went through their training and became a member of the Special Forces.”
Layla’s mouth flopped open. “I never knew you were in the Special Forces!”
I shrugged. “Few people do. In fact, I would prefer it if you kept it to yourself. I doubt there’s anyone here who would try to use it against me but you never know. Anyway, I was fully trained, traveled the cosmos, and helped in various battles and wars. I never really liked it. I never liked killing people I didn’t know. You’re trained to think of people as inanimate objects. It’s easier to kill them that way. It became a process, one you just repeated over and over again. Sure, each mission was unique, but really, it was similar to a regular job. And it wasn’t particularly well-paid either. So, after seven years, I decided to leave. With my skills, I knew I would never be in danger and those skills came in very handy on my travels.
“I’ve been traveling ever since. At least, until six years ago. On my adventures through the cosmos, I met my wife and found a kindred spirit. I met a lot of intriguing people but she was by far the most interesting. Her background was completely different to mine. She was born right here on Enchor’s Heart.”
Layla’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? But that would mean…”
I nodded. “The colony was new then and had only just been established. Her parents were from a middle-class merchant family and wanted to set up shop in a new market. They invested their funds here but my ex-wife had the same claustrophobic feelings I did. She left and began travelingtoo. Only, she worked for the family business and traveled wherever they sent her. She helped open new branches, and as she did so, took time off to explore. That was how we met.
“When she saw how I was living, that I didn’t need to have a full-time income and could travel anywhere and at any time, she did the same. She quit her job — despite her family attempting to force her not to — and joined me on our travels. We traveled for five years together, seeing such a variety of things that I doubt any other living creature can say they had the same experience. We always had each other…
“Until that day.”
Just the thought of it now made me feel sick with loss.
The sight of my ex-wife’s face, her warm but terrified smile on her lips, the blaster pistol pressed to her head…
The shimmer in her eyes of sadness at losing the time we could have spent together but at the same time thankful we got to spend as much time together as we did.
I shook my head, knocking the images free.
Layla placed her hand on mine and smiled comfortingly. “It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.”
“I want to,” I said. “It’s just… very difficult sometimes.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
Did she? I wondered. Did she really understand what it was like to lose something so precious to you?
Theone thingyou cared about most in the entire galaxy?
The servants took our plates away and replaced them with the dessert course.
“Ice cream?” Layla squealed. “And you have my favorite flavor too! Chocolate!”
She was as happy as a schoolgirl and excitedly dug in.
As she scooped it into her mouth, her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
