The hysterical laughter has died down but the occasional chuckle still escapes from time to time. Vahlen has recovered from her fainting cession, but is still bright red. “We are sorry dear,’ Alais says, ‘but you just looked so much different from your stoical self we had to tease you.” Eugen adds his two cents as well, “it’s a parent’s right to embarrass their child. Especially in front of someone they like.”

Vahlen startles a bit at his comment and a hint of fear, at their possible condemnation, can be seen in her eyes. Alais notices this and stomps it down before it can fully blossom.

“Honey this is the happiest we’ve seen you in a long time. All parents want to see their child succeed and be happy. You’ve already done the first and Scott here makes you happy. What kind of parents would we be to condemn you for finding your happiness?”

Finishing her speech Alais sits down next to Vahlen and gives her a hug. “Besides someone who knows just what buttons to push to embarrass you so much must care enough to get to know you that well.”

Vahlen turns towards me the question plain for anyone to see written across her face. I don’t say anything as I look into her sapphire blue eyes. I merely take hold of her hand and bring it to my lips, giving it a small kiss.

Alais holds Vahlen tighter whilst tears of joy are forming and a radiant smile is plastered on her face. She is beautiful beyond description to me in that moment. Only 5 seconds pass for them but I’ve gazed upon the woman I love for nearly 8 weeks, every moment a joy to me.

The moment is broken by Eugen saying, “That’s great that you’ve found your love and all honey boo, but when can we expect the grandkids?” ‘Ah, there’s the blush.’

~ 1 ½ months later ~

Vahlen and I have spent the last month and a half intermittently staying with her parents or hiking in the wilderness. Right now we’re just about to summit one of the higher mountains near her house. “Come on honey just a few hundred more meters to the top.” I’m pulling her forward by her hand. “*huff* Not everyone *huff* has limitless stamina you know.”

I just smile as I turn towards her, “and what should I do to remedy the situation milady.” “Carry me,” she throws her arms out like a child. I move towards her, sweeping her off her feet and into a princess carry. “Like this?”

Her only response is to blush, so I kiss her forehead and run the rest of the way to the summit. Once we reach the summit I look for a flatter piece of rock that we could sit down on. Spotting it I carefully sit down with Vahlen on my lap. She leans against me as we watch the first rays of sunlight come over the horizon.

We stayed there, content to enjoy the view and each other’s company, until the sun rose fully over the horizon. When it did we slowly stood and ambled down the mountain, hand in hand, back to Vahlen’s place.

When we neared Vahlen’s place the sound of people chanting and shouting got louder and louder. Coming into view we could see a crowd of people, held back by police barricades, shouting and holding signs that read, “A Woman with a Robot is an Abomination” with similar signs elsewhere. Vahlen momentarily faltered when she read saw the signs, but I gave her hand a squeeze and smiled down at her.

It was enough for her to recover and outwardly appear indifferent, but I could tell she was shaken by how venomous the crowd was. We had to pass near the crowd to get to the house and as we drew near the crowd began to shout obscenities at us, but mainly at Vahlen.

They seemed to like variations on the words ‘Slut’ and ‘Whore’ but that may have been because they lacked the intellect to say anything else. It was fine, okay it was not fine I wanted to massacre them, until one of the dumber ones threw a stone at us.

Letting go of Vahlen’s hand I raced towards the stone and plucked it from the air before it had travelled half the distance between us. Raising my hand, with the stone, above my head so the entire crowd could see I proceeded to crush it, using only one hand, to pebbles and dust before them.

I then slowly turned and walked back to Vahlen to lead her into the house. ‘It may not have been a good idea to do that, but Fuck Them. They were lucky I wasn’t creating a pyramid of heads to warn others like them away.’

Alais, Eugen and I spent the rest of the day trying to cheer Vahlen up. I even looked up how people felt about us. In a recent poll 60% was positive, 30% was undecided and the other 10% was against. It wasn’t too bad, but my stunt with the rock was making those 30% choose a side. If it was for better or worse it was too soon to tell.

Laying in bed later that night, as I was slowly stroking her head, Vahlen turned so we were facing each other. “Thank you for today. I thought I was prepared for something like this, but it still took me aback when I saw them. I made this declaration in my head, but I’ll say it to you now. I love you no matter what other people think about it.”

There’s only one response to that. I pull her close and whisper in her ear, “I love you too.”

~ 1 ½ months later ~

It took a while but the general public lost interest in our love life and moved on to which celebrities were screwing each other or some similar nonsense. Of course there was still a small group, both good and bad, that kept their attention on us. Unfortunately, the bad were more vocal in their dislike, as they always are, than the good.

Earl had invited both myself and Vahlen to join him and his wife over at a marine friendly bar in the space station. It would be a double date, with the added benefit of Earl fulfilling his promise to show me how the marines partied. Both of us were up for it after being hounded by reporters or shouted at if we left the house.

We took a transport up to the space station where Earl and his wife Ming met us at the gates. After we exchanged greetings, I found out Ming was also a marine, rank Staff Sergeant. The walk to the bar didn’t take all that long and the interior was what you expect a bar to have.

We found an open booth and entered our order onto the table screen. Looking around I saw a rowdy crowd of marines and ship crew living it up. I would have loved to have gone her back when I was a human, but the music wasn’t to my taste. The preferred genre had changed significantly since 500 years ago and it just sounded like loud noises to me.

Besides that though the evening was nice, the company good and I assume the drinks were stellar. It would have been perfect if not for a man and several of his buddies working their way over to our table. I made a slight gesture to Earl and as he turned to look his eyes narrowed slightly.

The slightly overweight man walked over to our table and slammed his hands down, whilst slurring out, “Wellll if it isn’t the slut and her sex doll.” It was a very convincing act of being drunk but my proto brain was able to determine he was not.

‘The only reasons I can think of why he is here is if he wants to either hurt Vahlen or he was sent by Agent White to fake being hurt by me, thus labeling me a threat to others.’

“You sir are drunk. My friends and I were having a pleasant evening before you arrived and my friends here get angry very fast, so it would behoove you to leave quickly and quietly.”

“Fucking piece of trash trying to order me around. Fuck you!” He reaches behind him and pulls out a knife, lunging forward to stab me as he orients it. My hand flashes out and grabs his wrist, slowing it to a stop without hurting him. The man screams like I’ve just broken his leg and a ping from my ship brain tells me Agent White has just come on board.

‘Well that solves that mystery.’ I receive another ping telling me my presence is required aboard New Horizon ASAP. I shove the overweight man back into his friends waiting arms as Earl calls out, “Marines these men tried to knife us. Let’s make sure they trip before the police get here.”

The combination of Earl, with his sergeant hardened voice, and the presence of the knife in the man’s hand is all it takes for the surrounding marines. The men and his buddies are quickly disarmed and as we’re walking out we can see them being held down and beaten.

I quickly explain what I think Agent White’s plan is to the surrounding group as we walk towards the ship. Cursing comes from Earl and Ming while Vahlen just looks at me worriedly. Ming decides to come along with us as a witness if need be.

Most of the crew is already aboard New Horizon and as we walk through the corridors we can see them going about their business.

We arrive at the conference room to see Agent White, looking smug, along with Cpt Johnson. Agent White speaks out before any of us with a tone of glee evident in his voice. “Well, Scott, you’ve been a naughty boy the last few months. Leaving the ship without authorization, making the headlines and finally hurting a man. It’s almost like you’re asking me to shut you down.”

‘Authorization what’s that bullshit? Oh, I get it, I bet everything bad that happened this summer was your doing.’ Plans come flying in from my ship brain and are immediately rejected, but then a communication comes through that smashes all my plans to pieces.

“Agent White, you and your petty little bullshit will have to wait we have a much bigger problem.”

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Boom, cliffhanger right before I have a lot on my plate. I'll probably have a chapter up in 2-3 days maybe? Evil right? [th_059_.gif]

I see you shiver in antici---------------------------------------------------------pation.