“Oh for fuck’s sake, he’s a wreck.”

“Just be glad we found him. Come on, sit him up.”

I felt myself being pulled up into a sitting position, back placed against the tree, then felt someone take a seat on either side of me. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted the decision. They hurt so much. Why did they hurt so much?

“Jesus Christ, look at his eyes. He must have been crying for a good long while.”

I felt a hand brush through my hair. I looked in the owner of that hands direction and saw Shu smiling at me.

“Good morning, John.”

Looking to my other side, I saw Linda, who looked considerably less patient.

“Morning, asshole.”

“Why do my eyes hurt so much?” I managed to ask.

“Cause they’re swollen. I find it considerably unlikely that you’re allergic to anything out here, so my bet is that you’ve been crying like a baby all night,” answered Linda.

“Baby?” my mind instantly latched on to that word. “Persia!” I started to rise but was instantly pulled back down by both women.

“Slow down, cowboy. We’re gonna talk first.”

“About what?”

“About what happened last night,” said Shu.

“Last night?” I was still coming out of the fog of sleeping too heavily. I looked around. I was still sitting under the tree I’d posted under after my walk. The lake spread out in front of me, dazzling my eyes as the morning sun reflected off of it. “Damn. It’s morning already?”

“Already? John, you’ve been gone for almost a day. It was about this time yesterday that you left. We’ve been worried sick. Rhia is a wreck. Persia seems to be the only one keeping her head on straight. She’s the one who told us where to find you.” Shu continued brushing out my hair and clothes as she spoke.

“Rhia,” I whispered.

“Yes, Rhia,” confirmed Linda. “She tried ripping her wings off again this morning when she discovered you hadn’t returned. Fortunately, because Drake showed up to get Aura he was able to restrain her. John, I completely understand what you’re going through, but I’m afraid of what will happen if you two don’t work things out.”

“No good,” I mumbled.

“What’s no good, dear?” asked Shu.

“I’m no good. I’m a mess. I’m a psychopath. There’s something wrong with me…” and I proceeded to dump everything I’d been worrying about last night on their laps. I went on and on. Neither interrupted me as it all just spilled out. Shu listened impassively, but Linda seemed to get angrier and angrier as I spoke. Finally, when my words ran out, Linda stood up and slugged me.

“You selfish son of a bitch!” she yelled. I stared at her in shock, hand cupping my jaw, more out of surprise than pain. Shu continued to just stare at me.

“Your goddamn wife is an emotional wreck right now! She’s tried mutilate her own body TWICE, convinced you’re done with her, and you’re out here losing your shit because your ex was a bitch and you didn’t fucking cry seven years ago?!”

I had no response to the outburst.

“Do you have so little faith in us?” Shu asked.

“What? No! Where did that come from?”

“Do really believe that we’re all women who would choose to love this portrait of a man that you’ve painted yourself to be? That we’d all agree to share him amongst ourselves? That the miserable man you just described is someone we wish to build a large and loving family around? Do you have that little faith in our judgement?”

I couldn’t answer Shu. These six women, eight if you counted Lily and Aura, all saw something in me that I didn’t. At first it was just fun for me. Su and Hannah were playmates and they didn’t care how much I flirted or fooled around with the staff. They actively encouraged it, in fact. Rhia saw all of this, and still fell in love with me. She’s been with me from the beginning. She was really the first one that taught me that it was okay to love again. The first woman I’d professed my love to since I was kicked aside. And because she’d wanted to have my child, she took a sudden opportunity to make that happen, because the future wasn’t certain. I got angry with her for loving me. The sting of betrayal was still there, but compared to what I’ve been through before, I was sure this was something we could work through eventually. I banged my head back against the tree as I realized my worry about them trying to spare my feelings was a stupid one. They’d tell me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted, no matter what effect it had on my feelings.

“I’m a damn fool.”

Shu nodded. “Yes, you are. But you’re our damn fool, and our sister is in pain, so we’re taking responsibility for getting you back to her.”

Linda reached down to grab my hand. “Come on, you big lug. Home is just over the hill.”

“What? I was walking for hours.”

“Yep. In circles. Around the house. A lot,” said Linda. “It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t for all the fucking drama. We only needed Persia’s help to find you because you disappeared after your last lap.”

She pulled me to my feet, and I looked down to see I was covered in mud from where I lay down on the rain soaked ground last night. My eyes still felt sore, and my jaw tingled from where Linda’s right hook connected. I lifted my hand to snap myself presentable, but Linda placed her hand over mine.

“Don’t. You need to look like shit when you get back.”

“Huh?”

“Trust us,” said Shu.

Shrugging, not bothering to attempt to unravel the logic of women, I followed as they set off towards the house. There was no lie in their words about our home being right over the hill. Cresting the rise, I immediately spotted the large window leading to the ballroom. Standing around outside of it was everyone. Su looked relieved at seeing me and had firmly hooked a hand into Hannah’s collar before she could take off towards me. Drake, Aura, and Lily were clustered around Persia as she pushed to stand up from the chair someone had brought out for her. I saw everyone simply to acknowledge in my head that they were there. My eyes, however, were locked solely on the golden streak racing my way.

“John!” she wailed as she rocketed into me, knocking us both into the ground, the low gravity carrying us a considerable distance. “John, I’m so sorry! I’ll never do anything like that again! We can wait to have kids! I’m so sorry I betrayed your trust! Don’t leave me! I can’t live without you! You’re my everything! Oh my god you’re a mess!” She started to fret over my puffy eyes and muddy clothes.

I held her tightly until she calmed down a little, then cupped her face in my hands to get her attention as she continued to lay on top of me.

“I’m sorry.”

A look of confusion crossed her face before she started up again.

“What? No! You have nothing to apologize for! It was me! It was all my fault. I did this! I broke your trust, John! You should hate me!”

“Never!” I said a bit more forcefully than I’d meant to, if the look on her face was any indication. Composing myself, I tried again. “I could never hate you, Rhia. You are my rock. You have always been the dependable one in my life. These last seven years have only gone so well because you’ve kept me grounded. Seeing you like this is tearing me up inside. I was shocked yesterday. The pregnancy announcement, then your confession, then Persia telling me how you two planned to soften the blow… I couldn’t wrap my head around it all and I took it out on you guys. If anyone should be asking for forgiveness, it should be me. The only thing you’re guilty of is falling in love with a fool like me, although I’m still not exactly thrilled with what you did.”

Rhia nodded in understanding as footsteps approached us, and I looked over to see a barefooted Persia approaching. Rolling Rhia to the side, I sat us up as Persia settled down next to us. I reached out to take her hand.

“I am so sorry,” I said, but Persia shook her head.

“This is a situation where everyone was at fault, and yet no one was, that’s how I see it. It was too much to dump on you all at once. Yes, Sister should have told you what she did. No, I shouldn’t have helped her try to lessen the blow like I did. And even though you were understandably upset, you shouldn’t have stormed off like you did. But, and I’m sure you realized this yourself, we all acted the way we did because we love each other fiercely. Love got us in this mess, love will get us out.”

I smiled. “When did you become the stable one of the group?”

“About 24 hours ago,” she replied with a sad smile. “I feel it’s time for everyone here to sit down have a nice long talk.”

Rhia sniffed, then nodded as she wiped tears away with her sleeve.

“I agree,” I said, “and if everyone’s okay with it, I think we should start right now, right here. It’s a beautiful day, and I see all the major players are gathered. What say I whip up some lawn furniture and snacks and we call everyone over?”

“What about Drake? Is he really part of this too?” asked Rhia.

“Well, it seems Persia’s been doing some work while I was ‘away,’ and I get the feeling he’s going to become something like a brother-in-law sooner or later, so it’s probably a good idea to let him know what he’s in for.” I stood and waved everyone over while whipping up some furniture, including a backless couch for Persia that rose up from underneath her so she wouldn’t have to stand, although the lower gravity outside our home didn’t make that terribly difficult for her. Then, taking Rhia’s hand, I sandwiched her between Persia and myself. As everyone gathered around and took their seats, I explained what it was that I wanted to do with this meeting. Then I started it off by unloading everything I’d worried about last night.

*

Later that evening I was in the darkened media room, attempting to catch up on everything that I’d missed during my eight month project. We’d spoken for hours out in the field, everyone getting a better sense of what everyone else was feeling, fearing, their wants and desires. Our goal was to ensure what happened the day before never happened again. Persia and Rhia were asleep in my room, while Linda and Shu were discussing some underwater city they were going to spearhead in the East China Sea. Su and Hannah had also retired for the night, but I figured sleep would be a long time coming for them. I was watching some documentary about the observed changes to the moon when a shadow appeared in the doorway. I looked from the screen to see the tall form of Aura peeking in at me, and I waved her in as I paused the screen.

“My Lord Zekken,” she said as she gracefully made her way over to the couch I was relaxing on.

“Please, just John. Zekken is just who I present to the world. Here, I’m just John, or Johnny.”

“John… Johnny…” she rolled the names around her tongue a bit. “I like Johnny.”

I laughed. “Johnny it is then. What can I do for you?”

“I was wondering when might be good time to start moving my people down? There isn’t much time left until the ship’s power runs out.”

“As soon as you’re ready. Can that thing land?”

“Once,” she said with a sheepish grin.

I laughed again. “Alright, I’ll figure some god type stuff to make it work. We can start tomorrow if you like.”

Her shocked expression surprised me. “So soon, My Go- Johnny?”

Raising an eyebrow, I asked “is that too soon?”

“No, not at all,” she said, shaking her head. “I just assumed you’d need more time to recover. I’ve heard acts as large as the one you just pulled off can drain a god for a considerable amount of time.”

“I’m sorry, what? How long are we talking about?”

“I do not know for sure, but I know Kamiki once ripped an entire system apart in anger and she went silent for almost a hundred cycles while she recovered. We Oracles knew about this but were forbidden from telling anyone.”

“Um… shit,” I said. “I didn’t know that was possible. I just assumed god equaled unlimited power.”

“I understand that you’re still new to this, Johnny. If you wish for my help in understanding anything, please don’t hesitate to use me.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. Then a thought occurred to me. “Say, when a god runs low on power, what normally happens?”

“The less power a god has, the closer they are to mortality. They can be injured. They can be killed.”

I felt the floor drop out of my stomach. Could that be why my eyes hurt so much this morning? Could that explain my fuzzy memory? How close had I come to draining myself completely creating this world?

“How come you didn’t bring this up when I mentioned my plan eight months ago?”

“I assumed you knew your own limits. It wasn’t until you were already at work that I learned of your history, and by then it was too late. If we had stopped you midway, the moon could’ve torn itself apart for all we knew.”

“Have you told everyone else about this?”

“Yes. They are all aware of it now. Goddess Rhia and Goddess Persia know not to push their limits as you have.”

I sighed in relief. I didn’t need the girls pulling any idiotic stunts like I did and draining themselves.

“You will also need to teach your child about her limits when she is born,” Aura tossed in.

“Huh?”

“Johnny, you are a god. Persia is a lesser goddess. One must assume that your children will have great power.”

Lesser goddess, I thought. Every time she opened her mouth, it just increased the number of questions I had. We were going to have to sit down and have a nice long discussion one day, but not today. I was starting to get tired. I thanked Aura for the talk and promised we’d find a way to get her people down while leaving the ship intact. Then I made my way to my room, where I found Persia and Rhia laying face to face. Persia was snoring softly as Rhia watched her, but then she looked up at me gave me a shy smile. I smiled, disrobed and climbed in between them as Rhia scooted back to give me room. Sliding under the blankets carefully so I wouldn’t wake Persia, I lay on my side facing Rhia. Her eyes glistened in the dark.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to me.

“Stop apologizing,” I whispered back, placing a finger on her lips. “What’s done is done. We both said and did things we regret. It’ll take some time, but we’ll figure things out again.”

A tear fell to her pillow, but she nodded. I pulled her naked form to mine and just held her. She reached around my back and held me tightly. I buried my face in her gold hair and inhaled her scent.

“So, you want a baby, too?” I whispered.

“More than anything,” she murmured, looking up to meet my eyes as she pressed herself against me. Smiling, I let my hand wander down her back to caress her ass before I moved it to the base of her tail. If her tail was similar to Persia’s, then rubbing it right about… here, should do the trick.

A sharp intake of breath, then a shuddering moan escaped her lips.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Looks like you two are more alike than I thought,” I said. Just listening to her soft moan was enough for me, and I was quickly poking her thigh. She looked down and gave me a wicked smile.

“You better get that thing under control, mister,” she said.

“I think you’d better subdue it this time,” I replied. She responded by lifting her leg and wrapping it around my waist, sliding her hips forward, leaving my little god resting at her heavenly gate. A hand on my lower back pushed me forward as Rhia pulled with her leg and I slid in easily. Looking back over my shoulder I saw Persia smiling at me with sleepy eyes, her arm stretched out in front of her. Rhia reached out and took Persia’s hand, holding it tightly as we slowly rocked into each other, beginning a serious attempt to give our expected little girl a baby brother or sister.

*

Aura’s words proved to be true. In the coming days I noticed a considerable loss of power as I attempted to help the Junaians settle on their new home. Before, moving all the personnel and supplies they needed would’ve been taken care of with a snap. Now Rhia was left with the mass movement. I was relegated to showing them prime areas that were ready for settlement. Drake had chosen a location about a day’s travel from our humble abode, both to give us privacy and to force his people to take charge of their own lives without relying on assistance from us deities. About a week and a half after they had officially left the ship, Drake and Aura turned up at our doorstep, with Drake asking that we take Aura in to our home. Naturally Persia agreed instantly, and the rest of us smiled between ourselves, knowing the choice had already been made months ago.

Rhia and I continued our efforts to conceive, but to no avail after two weeks of intensive effort. Aura theorized that it may be my diminished power that was affecting our efforts. Interbreeding between species was rarely successful, and it may have been my divinity that had tipped the scales in Persia’s favor. I thought it sounded like a plausible theory, but Rhia insisted on continuing our efforts and let’s face it, I wasn’t going to tell the beautiful woman no anyway.

We saw less of Linda and Shu these days. Rhia had taken them back to Earth so they could focus on their new joint project and didn’t expect to be back for months. I missed their company but understood that they had lives and businesses back on Earth that they needed to be involved with. I promised to visit them just as soon as I had the energy to make the trip. Yes, my power had been depleted enough that even popping down to Earth was taxing.

Aura, Rhia, and I sat down one day to discuss this performance issue of mine. I remembered Rhia telling me once that churches in my name would have to be established in order to expand my influence. I just assumed that meant that I’d be able to affect quicker change on Earth and further out in the solar system. According to Aura, we’d gotten that wrong. Worshippers didn’t just increase the distance of my influence, but also my level of power. Aura did not believe the same could be said for Rhia and Persia, however. I’d opened a window to that divine essence, and for as long as I lived, they’d have access to it, which was a moot point anyway, since thanks to the Life Mate Bond we established, their deaths were tied to mine. They could run out as I had and recharge over time, but their strength would never grow beyond what they currently had access to. Hence Aura calling them lesser goddesses. Of course she was quick to remind us that this was all just her theory, since she’d never actually heard of something like this happening before. I wasn’t thrilled with idea of establishing a church in my name, having been an atheist since my mid-teens, but I also recognized that I wouldn’t be able to help anyone without my godly superpowers. Aura volunteered to help with that, and was frequently seen consulting with Lily, Rhia, and Persia.

Life continued on the moon at a relaxed pace now that the threat of the asteroid ship was averted and we’d made friends with the crew. The plans for my church were moving along nicely, and I was slowly getting to know Aura and Lily better before we moved our relationships to a more intimate level.

Then, on the 16th day of June 2025, Lunar Year 1, Persia gave birth.