Since we were living on space stations everything was recorded in standard Imperial time—32 hours for a day, 10 days for a cycle, 30 cycles for a year. We received a couple messages from our team leaders asking if we needed the full day or if we wanted to meet up halfway through to get a jump on things. Eve and I were insistent we needed to take the full day to…prepare for our roles on the investigation team. Naturally, we spent it all in bed. With some help from her wonder drugs, I was able to go all night before I collapsed in her arms, both of us absolutely drenched in each other’s juices, both quite exhausted and happy to snuggle the night away.

  Eve hadn’t dominated me much that first night, we were still feeling out switching the roles back and forth, ended up mostly on mutual ground—less aggression, more affection after a while, slower and calmer, acting like the newlyweds we were pretending to be.

  We woke up to an alarm blaring, nearly late for the first morning briefing. Eve and I rushed to get ready together—a quick fuck in the shower, and then we were actually late. We dressed up in classic vacation clothes, me wearing a low-tech black and white floral button shirt with white silk shorts, while Eve wore a semi see-through dark purple cover-up skirt over black short-shorts, and a black crop top with a flowing purple button shirt to match her skirt. We ran giggling and holding hands all the while, rushing to get onto one of the moving walkways, missing our first transfer to the meeting while we were making out, then looped around to make it to some breakfast diner the team was meeting at.

  The rest of the team was in place in some far booth, already with food on the table and everything—clearly they’d been waiting a while. I tried to turn serious while Eve pulled me along, giggling, then pushed me into the booth and promptly sat in my lap and draped her arms around my neck—hair tentacles too. I didn’t even care anymore, I put my arms around her and kissed her—knowing how annoying we probably were with the PDA, but we were just so addicted to each other, we couldn’t help it.

  Plus, we were trying to act like newlyweds after all.

  “I see the two of you are taking your roles…seriously…” Agent Roote said mildly.

  Eve and I split apart, and I nodded with a serious expression, “Just trying to fit in, you know how it is.” I said earnestly, and Eve just giggled into my neck.

  Kianna cleared her throat and leaned forward, “Eve, dear, you have a little…” She started gesturing to her neck, then she realized what she was pointing to—blushed deeply, then dropped it. Eve was covered in dozens of love-bites and hickeys, and with her outfit they were all very obvious. Even mine were plain to see up on my neck and chin. Kianna noticed those too, blushed again, then looked back down at her breakfast plate.

  I just rolled my eyes, “Come on guys, are you telling me we’re the only ones taking our roles seriously? God forbid someone discover we’re not actually couples on vacation.”

  Vinnago held up his hand like he was going to protest, then seemed to concede I made a good point and dropped it.

  I couldn’t believe that actually worked.

  Doctor Gorgam let out a heavy sigh, “Regardless what roles we’re pretending to play, now’s the time to discuss our actual roles.” He turned to Even, “Now, Eve, what all can you sense of Gamma-12?”

  Eve leaned back into me as she cocked her head to the side, “Honestly? Nothing at all; my senses don’t span an entire system after all, and considering how far the stations are from each other, it’s doubtless I’ll sense anything until we get much closer.”

  All around the table disappointed faces turned to each other.

  “Nothing to go on at all, eh?” Gorgam shook his head.

  A waitress android came over to scan Eve and I, and once the menu was unlocked we decided to order what appeared to be some kind of green alien French toast meal.

  Roote let out a heavy sigh, “We’ll need to start putting sensors in every station we visit, leave a trail for us to maybe follow back on in the event Eve does sense Gamma-12 at some point.”

  Zyno’s eyes grew wide as though he suddenly had a great idea, “Wait a minute, don’t you see this actually works perfectly?”

  Everyone turned to Zyno, disappointment turned to confusion, “How do you figure?” Agent Uinda asked.

  Zyno held his hands out to help illustrate his point, “If Eve can’t sense Gamma-12 at all, that means she’s obviously not around here, right? So what happens if or when she suddenly senses another Predazoan nearby?”

  I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, “It means Gamma-12 will be on the next station.”

  Zyno’s face lit up, “Exactly. All the sensors in the universe didn’t help us on Entana, but Eve’s senses led us straight to our target Predazoan when the camouflage dropped.”

  “But wait, Eve couldn’t pinpoint Gamma-17’s location until she dropped her camouflage; if Gamma-12 remains in disguise, isn’t it possible we’ll miss her when changing stations?” Doctor Yun pressed.

  Eve shook her head, “No, I can still sense any nearby Predazoan, I just can’t pinpoint them if they’re camouflaged, and considering the range of my senses with how far apart the stations are across the system, the moment I sense a nearby Predazoan we’ll know they’re on the new station.” She explained.

  Kianna nodded along, “So we wait for you to sense the Predazoan, then we start the investigation in the new station?”

  Gorgam held up a hand to halt the conversation, “Wait a moment, that means we’re just going to be sitting around waiting for Eve to sense the Predazoan, hoping we cross into the right station sometime during the tour?”

  Doctor Sorra—his fake wife, shrugged, “What other choice do we have? I suppose we could spend time placing sensors in any station we pass through, but will it honestly do anything?”

  Vinnago shook his head, “According to all the data on the Entana mission, it won’t do anything unless Gamma-12 drops her camouflage.”

  The server android brought our meal of green mystery breakfast, and right away Eve started cutting up it up and began feeding me, giggling and licking up a little syrup she spilled on my chin. It was surprisingly delicious—even more so with Eve feeding me.

  Roote crossed his arms, looking frustrated—ignoring our rampant PDA, “I think we should still place down the sensors just in case; there’s always a chance Gamma-12 could end up on a trail behind us, going through a station we already visited.” He reasoned.

  Vinnago shrugged, “If you think that’s the best use of our resources.”

  Lobae sighed, “Problem is we don’t know the best way to use our limited resources.” She nodded to Eve (right as I kissed the syrup from her lips), “The only guaranteed way we have to discover Gamma-12 is Eve, and it’s only if we’re close enough to another station for her to sense our target, which could just be completely random.”

  Yun looked between Gorgam and Roote—the mission leaders, “There’s nothing we can actively do to move the timeline forward?”

  Goram shook his head while Roote shrugged, “There’s no way we can fly through Holistia space freely to pass by any other stations—we can’t jump stations prematurely; we have to follow along with the tour plan. That’s the only way we can move through the system.”

  I pretended like I was going to feed Eve a bite, but then I pulled the food away and ate it myself. She giggled and swatted my shoulder, acting like she was upset.

  Densdor let out a weary sigh, “Settle-in folks, we might be stuck on these stations for a long time.”

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  I looked up from Eve trying to nibble my cheek, “What’s our timeline for this mission? Two years like Entana?”

  Roote shook his head, “Projected mission is only one year since that’s how long the tour lasts, but considering how many more stations we won’t be visiting on this tour, we’ll need to reassess the mission if we can’t discover Gamma-12 by the time the tour ends.” He reasoned.

  “Will we just have to take another tour, visiting different stations next go around?” Zyno asked, looking nervous over the idea—Eve and I, however, would love for that to be the case.

  Roote shrugged, “Like I said, we’ll need to reassess the mission—who knows what command will decide.”

  “In the meantime, what should our daily tasks be?” Densdor asked—ever the stickler.

  Roote and Gorgam exchanged a look, but appeared at a loss for how to proceed, “Honestly there really isn’t anything we can do.” Gorgam admitted, then sighed, “We’ll coordinate with mission command back on The Radiance, but other than that it seems like we need to get set to play the waiting game.”

  “We’ll put down a few sensors in each of the stations, but other than that I guess we just…enjoy ourselves?” Roote confirmed, not really sounding sure himself.

  Vinnago chuckled, “We’ll just need to act as tourists, play the role of the couples on vacation.” He nodded to Eve and me, “They certainly have the role perfected.”

  I barely even heard him as Eve was whispering all kinds of dirty talk in my ear, telling me what she wanted to do to me—what she wanted me to do to her.

  From there the mission brief dismissed and everyone left to go enjoy themselves on the vacation. Eve and I stuck around, finishing up our breakfast while we indulged in ridiculous PDA. A waitress android came over and told us how cute we were and how great young love was—which I found hilarious, probably some automatic response.

  “You wanna fuck me in front of the android girls?” Eve asked, pulling me closer with my shirt lapel.

  “What the fuck, is that a thing—android exhibition?”

  Eve shrugged, her eyes glowing with amusement and passion, “Probably—if not we can make it a thing. I told you I wanted to get weird with you.”

  Before we could get too into it, my communicator blared a little alarm. I looked down briefly wanting to just silence the thing, but saw it was Zyno and he said it was an emergency.

  I sighed and gently removed Eve from my lap, “Let’s put a pause on this for now, Zyno wants to meet up.”

  Eve made a cute pouty face, “Aw, you don’t wanna get weird with me?”

  I rolled my eyes, “Oh we can get weird alright, but I wanna make sure Zyno’s doing okay. He seems all messed up over rooming with Yun—nervous like I’ve never seen him before.”

  Eve relaxed her flirting and nodded, “Right, you should make sure he’s doing okay, I imagine his first night might’ve been rather stressful.”

  As part of the tour package, all food and beverages were completely included, so there was no need to pay for any meals—didn’t even need to tip since the waitstaff was all androids. We left the cute little diner and headed out to meet up with Zyno. Travelling along the moving walkway, we nearly missed our exit as Eve was trying to get started up with me again, hands and tentacles all over me. We stepped off just in time to see Zyno waiting around on some bench beneath one of the many beautiful alien trees that filled the paradise core of the space station.

  Before I could even say anything, he stood abruptly and gestured at us, “Guys, what the fuck?”

  Eve and I looked at each other, then back to Zyno, “What?” I asked, confused.

  Zyno looked around like he was seeking help, then gestured again to me and Eve—at our hands held together, Eve leaning into me, her tentacles wrapped around my arms, shoulders and neck, “I thought you said you were going to hide your relationship!”

  I shrugged, “We are, this is just us pretending to be newlyweds.”

  Eve nodded proudly, “We’re very good at it.”

  Zyno fixed us with a flat stare of his big black eyes, “Come on, you think anyone is buying that? The way you were acting back at the diner I was surprised you didn’t just start fucking right there!”

  Eve nudged into me, “We almost did.” She whispered, and I stifled a laugh.

  “You know that behavior is going in like eight reports, right? And there’s no way people are going to think you gave each other hickeys just for the sake of the mission.” He insisted.

  I shook my head slowly, “What would you have us do? This is the first time we’ve been able to just be together openly like this—it’s exciting and exhilarating, we want to take advantage of it.”

  Zyno’s harsh stare didn’t relent, “I understand you’re excited, but you don’t have to be so gross with it.” He looked back and forth between us, “I mean really, you guys have an entire honeymoon suite to yourselves, do you really need to be all over each other during breakfast.”

  I let out a long sigh; he did have a point.

  Sensing my thoughts, Eve turned to face me with a pouty expression, “Darling, no!”

  I gave Eve a sad smile as I cupped her cheek, and she nuzzled into my hand, “He’s right Evie; I wasn’t even much of a PDA guy back on Earth. It’s all just so new and exciting with you—so addicting, but we don’t need to make other people uncomfortable.”

  Eve’s expression turned twice as pouty, like a belligerent kid, “I want the newlywed treatment!” She stomped her foot in frustration.

  I rolled my eyes and pulled her towards me and kissed her forehead, “And you’ll get it, obviously, but let’s not be ridiculous.”

  Zyno nodded along, “Yes, what you two did was definitely ridiculous—you were licking syrup off each other for fuck’s sake.”

  I turned to glare at Zyno, “Yeah, I get it, you made your point.”

  Zyno held his hands up in surrender, conceding we understood him.

  Eve reached up to draw little circles on my chest with her nail, “But I like the PDA…” She said, looking down.

  I tilted her chin up to look at me, “So do I—I enjoy all your affections actually, but we should be careful around the mission team specifically.”

  Eve refused to meet my gaze still, “You said we wouldn’t have to act like our relationship is a secret now.”

  I sighed, “And we won’t—we’ll still act like newlyweds, just be more reasonable about it.”

  Finally, Eve looked up at me, “Promise?”

  I smiled too and leaned down to give her a tender kiss—a reasonable one since Zyno was present, but it was still very loving. “I promise.”

  Finally, Eve seemed to relent. She sighed and melted into my embrace, fine to stay there for quite a while now. I looked over at Zyno who did still look a little uncomfortable being witness to Eve and my affections, “So, how are things with you and Doctor Yun?”

  Zyno let out a long, weary sigh, then sat down on the bench and gestured for me to take a seat too. I sat down next to him, and Eve promptly draped her legs over my lap without fully getting into my lap—being reasonable.

  “We had a talk about boundaries last night and how we want to play the whole thing, it’s honestly all so weird.” He admitted.

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “Boundaries, what like needing privacy and changing in the room and all that shit?”

  He nodded, “It was so awkward, felt like she was just shy of accusing me of sexual harassment. Said she wouldn’t tolerate any kind of inappropriate behavior; our room was to be our base for the mission, not a home to get comfortable in.” He looked over at me, “Obviously we don’t have a honeymoon suite like you two, so it’s much more like a regular apartment, and we basically sectioned it out so we each get private and communal areas.” He began ticking off fingers, “All changing is done privately in the bathroom, we obviously sleep in different beds—I got the cot, not exactly luxurious, but it’ll suffice. Volume for any music or media is to be kept low, or headphones must be used. We’re supposed to be on a strict shower schedule to not lead to any misunderstandings or whatever.” He sighed and shook his head, “I feel like this vacation tour is going to be anything but relaxing for me.”

  “What about how you two are supposed to play it—your cover?”

  Zyno chuckled, “Yeah, Doctor Yun thinks that’s all ridiculous, says there’s no way anyone is going to care what a couple of random people do on a tour this size.” He rolled his eyes, “Insists she’s a research doctor, not an agent or even an actress.”

  My eyebrows shot up, “So she’s not even going to pretend to be your girlfriend, like, at all?”

  Zyno shrugged, “She said if people ask she’ll say we’re together, but other than that she’s not going to be putting any effort into the role—won’t be treating this like a vacation, that’s for sure.”

  “What’s she doing now?” Eve asked curiously.

  Zyno shrugged again, “Probably already back at the room—says she wants to limit her trips out to the rest of the vessel so she doesn’t need to put on the act of being a couple.”

  Eve scoffed, “How wildly boring.”

  I shrugged, “Let her play it how she wants I guess.” I gestured to Zyno, “You on the other hand should be having fun with it—enjoy the tour, treat it like a vacation.”

  Zyno chuckled and shook his head, “It basically is a vacation, isn’t it? I mean really, there’s nothing for us to do but sit around and wait for Eve to sense Gamma-12. Until then we might as well enjoy everything the tour has to offer.”

  Eve cocked her head to the side, “Perhaps when she sees how much fun you’re having, Yun will want to join you?”

  Zyno waved it off, “I don’t care what she does while—”

  “You still want to mate with her, yes?” Eve pressed.

  Zyno looked horrified once again, “Will you quit saying that?”

  I shrugged, “We’re not saying you need to fall in love or anything, but it sure would be nice to be able to fuck around with your partner while on this long vacation tour. We’ve got up to a year all these pairs are stuck together pretending to be couples, I wonder how many are going to hook up?”

  Zyno eyed me flatly once again, “Aside from you and Eve, I would be surprised if anyone else on the team hooks up; we’re all professionals after all.”

  I offered him a wide grin, “Professionals or not—aliens or otherwise, you’re all just people, and there’s only so much temptation you can withstand until you’ll eventually break.” I looked down at Eve who stared up at me with that wide-eyed innocent gaze of hers.

  “Why darling, are you talking about me?” She said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at me.

  Zyno shook his head, “Yuck, if you two are going to keep flirting, I think I’d be better off on my own.”

  In response, Eve and I got up from the bench together, “Then we’ll leave you to it.”

  Zyno cocked his head to the side, “And where are you two going?”

  I pulled Eve around into another embrace, and she giggled and wrapped her arms around me, “Where else? Off to enjoy our vacation!”