I'm walking through the town nearby the hive. Well, nearby isn't really accurate on a planet this size. It's nearly ten miles away, a short walk when you live with Xenomorphs. Anyhow, I'm walking through the town nearby when I see it. Just sitting there in the window. Thoughts flow through my mind, already concocting a plan. I turn, get into the shop across the road, buy milk and speed walk to my bike. A lot of it is uphill, but thankfully, the roads leading out of the town are mostly flat. Quickly reaching it and getting on, I cycle out of the quiet, lamplit town. It doesn't take me long to get home, even though I had to abandon the bike, and as soon as I do, I make my way to wherever Sarah is. I quickly find her. She sees me and stops mid conversation to most likely ask me about the milk she wanted me to get.
"You're home quickly. Got the milk?" I nod, handing it to her. I then turn to Dauntless.
"Mind if I steal Sarah for a minute?" I ask her. She nods.
"Sure. I'll take it as a win for our argument~" I don't question it, but instead, thank her and quickly pull Sarah away from her. After we've turned a few corners, she stops me.
"What's wrong?" She asks me. I then realise how much of a rush I have been in. I take a deep breath, composing myself somewhat.
"Do you know if there's any cruises leaving here in a few days?" At that, she looks at me as if I'm well... an Alien.
"What?" I'm being impatient, I wanna get this sorted before the ideas fade from my mind.
"Yes or no?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"Well?"
"It's not exactly something I keep track of, James."
"So, no?" She shakes her head.
"Could you find out?"
"Why can't you?"
"Because you technically exist. I don't, not to the law."
"Okay. But why do you wanna know?"
"I... Wanna take Dauntless on a cruise."
"Sorry?"
"Not a long one, a week at most."
"But... why?" And so, I tell her my idea. After, she looks at me, smiles and, with a squeal, pulls me into a hug. After, she holds me at arms' length and looks me in the eyes.
"I'll try and find out." With a sigh, I reply,
"Thanks."
It takes a few days, but Sarah has managed to sort out a low level cruise on a type-3 luxury cruise ship. And so, I meet with her to plan how to get Dauntless and myself on without being caught. A little awkward since I technically don't exist. At least, I'm missing, presumed dead. But, we manage. And so, a week later, when it arrives in a port a ways away from where we are, deadly launch emissions and all. I say my goodbyes to Vii and everyone else before heading off.
'Where are you going?' She asks. I have her a big hug.
"I'm going to give Dauntless a surprise. I won't be gone long, a week and a half, tops."
'I'll miss you,' She replies, hugging me tighter.
"I know. I'll miss you too, loads!" Then, Sarah calls me.
"Come on! Dauntless won't be long if we wanna catch her while she's still hunting."
"Won't be long!" I turn back to Vii. Giving her one last squeeze.
"Be good for them, yeah?" I feel her nod on my shoulder.
'I will.'
"Good. Now, I've gotta go." With that, and a kiss, I stand up and turn for the exit. It doesn't take me long to get there and less time to find her out there. She jumps down from the tree she's in and leans against it.
'What's up?' I walk over, kissing her.
"I need you to follow me." She kisses me back.
'And why's that?' I hold her by the waist, looking her in the face.
"I have a surprise."
'Oh, you do?'
"Yep."
'And it involves Sarah? Ooohhhhhh, naughty boy~' I smile at this as she kisses me again.
"Not that kind of surprise."
'Well. In that case...' She then leans in, putting her lips right by my ear. Something I've never quite understood is why she does this. But, then again, not everything needs an explanation. 'Take me, then show me my surprise~' With that, she tries to drag me into the wood, out of sight. I hold my ground.
"Sadly, we don't have time. It leaves in a few hours."
'Leaves?'
"Yes, leaves. Now hurry up, we're already late!" And, with more questioning along the way, we get to the platform where the semi large cruise ship is currently sitting, engines humming, waiting to be fired. It's more of a concreted over field that a landing platform. This area was in no shape to afford one. Not that it needed it anyways, this place is more of a refuelling stop than a destination. Anyhow, I get on and sneak Dauntless on without much hassle, security isn't very good here, especially with this company. They had trouble in the past with allegations that they were smuggling insurrectionists from one planet to another. And so, they lost the majority of their customers. A once fine and wealthy company, reduced to having to refuel on a backwater platform on a backwater planet. Most likely, this ship will have to be recycled in a few years, fuel from places like these isn't that clean. Apparently, the emissions degrades the lining that prevents micro meteors. Now, that wouldn't be that bad if a problem if the meteors didn't have anything burnable in them. Because, that close to the engines, they turn into plasma and burn through the plating, eventually exposing the coolant. Suffice to say, that stuff isn't very good for people. Most likely, it still isn't safe for people to go near where the coolant system was installed for fear of contamination.
We get on and in a few hours, were in deep space. And, after befriending the captain with a little telepathy, I manage to convince him to give me full access to one of the anti-grav view rooms. And in there, I meet Dauntless. Here, there aren't any artificial gravity generators. And so, you can float around and, using the propulsion until they give you upon entry, fly around in zero gravity without a suit. A strange thought to me. Once she's there, I push off a wall and float towards her. We softly hit each other, bouncing off before we pull ourselves together. I hug her close as we slowly spin through the air in the very open, quite and peaceful room. WIth just eachother, no one else. Something I haven't really been able to do with Vii around. I wouldn't change that for the world, I love Vii with all my heart. But this is something I've really missed. I look at her, her beauty, her deadliness, her sweetheartedness and her love. Even now, I'm still amazed. We eventually hit a wall, snapping me out of my trance. And apparently Dauntless' too, judging by the way she's looking at me and the feelings radiating from her as if she's a radiator that's just the right temperature to be beside. Nice and hot, but still comforting, he heat washing over you like waves, calming waves that help wash the dirt of a bad day out of your mind. I let go with one hand, hooking it onto the wall and pulling myself to it, and in turn, Dauntless, who is still holding onto me. I then hook me feet in under some hoops, motioning for Dauntless to do the same.
'So,' She says.
"Do you remember the surprise I mentioned?" At this, I feel a pit form in my chest. But, this one isn't out of sadness or hate. But, of nervousness. And it immediately spreads throughout my torso. Its' tendrils reaching deep inside me.
'Yes. What about it?' At that, I take a deep breath. Why I'm so nervous, is beyond me.
'Are you okay?' She then asks. I nod.
"It's just. I'm nervous is all." I reach my hand into my back pocket.
'What about?' I firmly clutch the small box, wrapped in material with a design that quite closly resembles the structure of a hive wall. There is a section in our hive where two corridors meet and at the corner, a quite intricate formation developed. I always liked the look of it and so, to the best of my ability, recreated it on a page with a pencil and got it done out properly.
"Your surprise." With that, I pull out the box and let my hand hang by my side. Dauntless sees this and gently lifts up my hands in hers. She then looks at me,
'Is this it?' I nod. She opens my hand and is immediately intruiged by the sight. Ever so gently, she takes it from my hand, closly inspecting it. She then looks back at me.
'Did you mmake this.' I nod again.
"I drew out a part of the wall at home that I thought looked nice. Then I had it drawn out fully by a professional. But, they didn't do much refining, if that's what you're getting at."
'It's incredibly well done!'
"Realy?"
'Yeah, it's amazing!' At this, I feel the tendrils of nervousness, retreat some, my confidence growing enough to fight it back.
"Open it." She does, carefully dissecting the paper. I see a look of confusion mixed with interest at the small box inside the fragile paper. She then looks at me.
'What's inside?'
"Why don't you look and see?". She doe, opening the box to find a ring inside. It's a dark golden colour, with a small, shining emerald. Holding the emerald to the ring, it a design half resembling a xenomorph and a dragon. That, combined with the gem, is what caught my eye. It was surprisingly cheap for such a beautiful ring. I guess the owner didn't see what I do. She takes it out.
'A ring?'
"It's uhh... It's not exactly a wedding ring but they're boring and I saw this." At that, she looks at me and cups my chin. Then, she gently plants her lips on mine, ever so gently pressing them into mine.
'You didn't need to do this, you know,' She says, 'I am yours. And always will be. You don't need a ring to bind me to you. I already am. Then, she breaks the kiss, smiling at me.
'I appreciate the gesture though. It still means a lot to me.'
"Well, it was more for myself, but still." I kiss her again, "So." I get down on one knee, "Dauntless."
'Yes?' She's still smiling, playing along.
"Would you give me the honour of being your husband?"
'Hmmmm. I dunno, you're a little short.' I stand up.
"How about now?" She chuckles at this.
'Well, I guess that'll have to do.' I hold her hands in mine.
"Is that a yes." There's silence for a moment, but it feels like an eyernity to me. It's strange, I know the answer already but yet, I find myself incredibly nervous. Then, she places her li[ps in mine again and the deep hole inside me is filled.
'Would it be anything else?' With that, she unhooks her feet and gently pushing herself off the wall. She does it with enough force so that I cn get my feet out in time. I give a little more oush to get us going and then pull myself up to meet her lips head with my forehead. I look down t=at our hads as I gebtly take the ring from her, ever so slowly sliding it up onto her finger. I then look up and, while locked in eachothers' embrace, we kiss, opening out minds to one another feeling eachothers' emotions, our love for eachother, our happiness. And we simple just float, pushing off a wall when we meet it, prolonging this experience for as long as we can.
bAnd here I thought I wouldn't get this done in time. Well, it looks like quite the opposite. And I got it done early! Two days, in fact! Well, I hope you enjoyed, I know I did while writing this! And I'll see ya later! Bye./b
At least, that's how I wanted it to go. But instead, I got this...
b*To be continued. In the new year.*/b