Somebody Else's Space Program
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Chapter Sixty Seven
" 'Cause your heart is pure, and your dreams are mine..."
"I am your best bodyguard. Until the saboteurs are caught, you are going to have security breathing down your neck. You're lucky that I'm acceptable to Josgoroth to watch you."
Ross nodded curtly. "Suits me. If you were somewhere else, I'd be worried about an assassin targeting you. I'm not used to being on a list like that."
"You don't get used to it. You don't want to get used to it -- that's when you start thinking that your bodyguards are enough to protect you. They aren't."
---
Gallagher and Cisihlte were not pleased by the mission experiment shuffling, but saw the logic. "We need the data for later flights."
Cisihlte's eyes flicked over toward Envyss. "Is he still going up?"
"Ask him." Ross backed away, and Cisihlte motioned Envyss over to talk. Low words, then a nod. Cisihlte moved over next to where Gallagher was standing, spoke to him. He looked up, over at Envyss, and smiled.
Envyss looked over a few of the experiments laid out on the benches, then found his way to Ross's side. "You haven't changed my schedule, have you?"
"No. Dual Flight Five, right after Gallagher and Cisihlte. How much training time are you missing bodyguarding me?"
"Very little. The delay covered the difference. It gave me an extra month."
"Physical conditioning?"
Was that a smirk? "Meds is happy with my exercise program."
Oh. That. "Do you know, I might actually get _more_ sleep than usual when you're up?"
Definitely a smirk, "I don't think so. I'm making some tapes to keep you company. Lock the guards out of your office before you play them."
Ross turned and looked at Envyss. "Fascinating. You shouldn't have told me ahead of time -- I'll be imagining more than you could possibly put on a tape."
"You're probably right. Should I destroy them, then? I have four of them made already."
"_No_."
Envyss laughed. "I need to tease you more often -- you've gotten used to getting what you want right away, like a two year old." His hand came up and touched the side of Ross's neck.
Ross held up his hand. "I appreciate what you're trying to do... well, what I _think_ you're trying to do... but not now. Not until after your launch. If I'm distracted and miss something vital, and something happens to you..."
Envyss dropped his hand, backed up just two inches. "Yes. You're right. Let's get back to work."
---
Late hours that night, and falling into bed exhausted, barely enough energy for a cuddle. "What you _think_ I'm trying to do?"
Ross brushed a strand of hair away from Envyss's face. "I can never tell. I've been here all of your life, and I still miss clues."
"Ah. We need a month alone together some time. Then I'll go native, and you can try to figure me out."
"I take it by that that you baffle some of your countrymen, too."
"Constantly. A stavelheth often does. By definition, we're xenophiles. We aren't always partner to the rose, but we are almost always close friends. And that means that I understand your people better than most of my countrymen do."
---
"Did you ever add to your journal? After the one entry guaranteed to scare the next kid completely off?"
Envyss grinned, "Yes. I told him how wonderful you are, and how it is worth finding you."
"There's an assumption there."
"Oh?"
"That the stavelheth going to be the one finding the rose."
"It happens, half the time. If not this time, then the time after. That journal will be read for a thousand years."
---
"Any luck tracing back that assassin?"
"No. The cover identity was seamless, even when we knew it had to be bogus. So we're working on the other end -- people with a motive."
"Who else has a program? I'd look at them, first."
"Callamer. Maceyka. And Trafford. I don't actually suspect Dr. Drummond, but his government..."
"We've been trading technology. It's not to their advantage to sabotage us. Callamer... I've been negotiating with Captain Villatuya to train some of her fliers. So... concentrate on Maceyka."
"They were high on our list anyway."
---
Two days to launch. "Cisihlte has a request to make of you."
It was well after hours, and most of Mission Control was deserted, except for the silent guardians. "Something to do with the mission?"
"She said it was personal. I can step outside, if you like."
"Would I sound too paranoid if I said I want you to stay here?"
"Not at all. Should I search her for weapons?"
"I don't think that will be necessary. Envyss..."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what a wedding ring is? Do your people use anything like that?"
A smile, "Do you see her as that much of a threat?"
"Not exactly. I don't want to be bothered by offers. I'm going to start wearing a ring, and whatever your people wear. Someone should get a hint." Then Ross hesitated. "You're allowed to object. You don't necessarily want to acknowledge me."
Envyss laughed. "There might be three people in the kingdom who don't know we're attached."
"Is there something other than a ring? Within your customs?"
"An earring, not a finger-ring. And it's a piercing, not a clip-on. The style... Once it's in, you can't just remove it. The metal has to be cut. Or the earlobe."
"When can it be done?"
"Right now, if you wish."
"Do it."
---
A short post, with a sphere on each end. "You've done this before?"
"Yes. Hold still."
Something cool touching his ear, then numbness. Envyss did _something_, then stood back. "It's done."
When Ross moved his head, he could feel a weight tugging, just a tiny bit. "Mirror?"
Envyss handed his partner a small mirror. As Ross moved his head, sometimes his hair hid the earring, sometimes it glinted plain in sight. "What about you?"
"Yes." Envyss guided Ross's hands, one behind his ear and one in front. The two halves of the earring met and locked. Ross could hear Envyss murmuring under his breath, prayers, probably.
"Is that it? No ceremony?"
"You asked and I consented. It's not a public thing. Now, as for finger rings... I was uncertain as to the style. Are there supposed to be stones?"
"Not usually. Plain bands."
"I see." Envyss cleaned and put away the piercing kit, rooted around in the top drawer of his desk. "Ah. Here we go. The size might be off..."
The rings were a white metal instead of yellow. "Silver?" Then Ross picked one of them up. It was heavier than he thought it would be. "That's heavier than gold."
"Platinum-iridium, I think. Gold was too useful as an engineering metal."
Ross laughed. "Expense wasn't a question?"
"Two rings, no precious stones? Now, are there specific words you want said?"
Ross thought, "The ones I know are... rather unsuitable for two men together."
"I understand." Envyss took a ring and slid it onto Ross's finger. "You are my partner and my love, forever."
Ross echoed Envyss's words. Then a long kiss.
---
A light tap at the door. It was one of the guards. "Cisihlte is here. She says she asked to speak to you?"
"Yes. Let her in."
Ross was in a dress shirt, no tie. Envyss wore an embroidered tunic, dark blue with silver and gold. Cisihlte walked in, studied the two for a moment, saw the earrings and the finger rings... "I've made a mistake."
"No one's angry," Envyss said. "It's just easy to miss subtle clues sometimes."
"No. The two of you have not been subtle. Forgive me for intruding." She turned to leave.
Ross, "Wait. I'm curious. What did you think you could get?"
Her back was still turned. "I want a child."
"From Ross," Envyss asked.
"Yes. It's not that you're unacceptable, Envyss, but I know you aren't going to want to muddy the succession. Ross is outside that reckoning."
Envyss looked over at his partner, who was sitting frozen-faced. "Ross, there doesn't have to be contact. Our doctors have been arranging pregnancies this way for years."
That startled the older man. "What? That's..."
"It's an extension of some veterinary techniques, that's all. And the child has no claim on you."
Ross said, softly, "No. I will grant it is possible. But I will not let a child of mine into the world unless I am prepared to be a full father to him or her. And that is not here and now, and not with you."
"Yes. I thought you would say that, when I saw the ..." she motioned at her ear. "But it didn't hurt to ask." She turned around just a bit to peer at Ross, blushing ever so slightly.
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