MinKey and Dubitam were standing outside of the makeshift laboratory in the basement of the temple.
“What’s so important?” Dubitam asked as MinKey walked back from the door after checking to see that they were alone.
“Listen carefully, darling,” said MinKey. “I’ve done it.”
“Done what?”
“Figured out how to get to Koven’s ship. I’ve also looked up the model and found out how to get inside. And I think I can use the onboard systems to make it take us anywhere we want. Many systems are automated.”
“No. Impossible. I tried for hours. I could never target it.”
“You looked at it too hard because you are too smart. It was a simple answer.”
“What?”
“Geostationary orbit. That’s all it was. All we had to do was calibrate it to look directly overhead. It found the ship all by itself.”
“You’re kidding,” replied Dubitam.
“No, my love,” replied MinKey.
“This is wonderful,” said a smiling Dubitam.
“Then let’s go,” she replied.
“I’ll go get Allor and Ova,” said Dubitam.
“No, darling. We go alone.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to go out into space with two people that expect me to worship them or think they are my king and queen. I want it to just be you and me, together.”
“But I can’t leave them behind. I’ve worked for him since I first had to shave.”
“It’s time for you to do a different job.”
“But he is my friend,” replied Dubitam.
“No he isn’t. It’s a hierarchal relationship. Master and slave. You’ve just become institutionalized into thinking it’s your natural place. Well, it’s not. Your natural place is beside me, out there in the stars. The Crystal Falls of Delerium. Don’t you want to go see them? Go sing in front of them?”
“Yes, I do. But I can’t just leave Allor. It would be wrong. It would be a betrayal.”
“Listen to you. Do you hear yourself? Ask yourself if he would make the same sacrifice for you. Well? Would he? NO. No way. Not in a million revs.”
“I can’t,” said Dubitam. “He is my friend. I won’t leave him behind. I just can’t.”
“Why? Why not. I’m offering you the stars and obviously myself as part of the bargain too. And you’re turning it down for what? A man that uses you. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were in love with him.”
What happened next was a long, eerie silence. In the moments of quiet, MinKey began to arrange facts in her head. Dubitam had never really shown her physical affection. He had never tried to kiss her. He had never held her hand. And they had never had sex. For all she knew, Dubitam was asexual. The light was now on.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked him angrily.
“I didn’t want to lose you,” he said.
“As a lab assistant? That’s all you cared about?”
“And as a friend.”
“Asshole.”
“I love him. I can’t help it. I tried not to.”
“You’re such a jerk. You knew how I felt about you and you didn’t tell me. I am so angry with you right now.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. And it’s not that I don’t like you. I really do. I’ve imagined what it would be like to have children with you.”
“Wait a minute, you like men,” MinKey said.
“I like both men and women. But I’m in love with only one.”
“Yeah, OK,” she said very sarcastically, “if they are going to wipe everyone’s memory, then have a nice time with that. Give me your arm,” she said.
Dubitam put his arm out.
“Not that one, the one with the comms,” MinKey said.
Dubitam put out his other arm. She pressed the comms bracelet a few times then said “copy,” “destination,” “voice identity,” “run away with MinKey.”
“That should do it,” she said.
“Do what?”
“All you have to do is say ‘run away with MinKey’ and your PTD will take you to the ship up there,” she said, and pointed up.
“I can’t leave him. I’m sorry.”
“Just in case you change your mind. I’ll wait as long as I can.”
She stepped forward and then kissed his cheek. When she stepped away from him, the golden bubble formed around her and she slowly floated away from him to the door, then she was gone. The tears in her eyes were the last thing he saw before she left.