The downtown area of Wesseran reminded me of any small town from middle America, albeit much more futuristic—although it had that weird 1950s flair the cars shared for some strange reason. Despite the fact the planet was ravaged by a brutal civil war orchestrated by an evil alien Outsider god with a totalitarian Empire guarding the planet from orbit, the city was surprisingly peaceful.

  Once we were in the heart of downtown, Eve and I decided to abandon the car and walk around, taking a little tour as we looked for someplace to eat. It really did seem like an idyllic little town, although the city was actually quite large; somehow, the vyranes had been able to take the idea of a small town and spread it over the size of a large metropolitan area. I think it was maybe because there were no skyscrapers, all the domes were shorter than the buildings in major cities like I would’ve seen back on Earth. The roads and sidewalks were similar to what was on Earth, except with some of the double layered roads at larger intersections. There was plenty of vegetation too, with plush crimson grass and black bushes or grey and red trees, it certainly added to the tranquil atmosphere.

  Everyone around us was vyrane, no other Imperial races I could see, and from here without those confining military fatigues I could see more details about the native people. The women were quite curvy, and while they weren’t exactly short stacks like Kianna, they were closer to that body type than any human woman back on earth, and I could see it was definitely attractive—another beautiful, mammalian alien race. The men all seemed rather stocky in comparison, reminded me of classic fantasy dwarves really; dense, but not wildly built up with muscle or anything.

  The clothes the civilians wore were also interesting, strange mixes of robes and regular streetwear. It seemed like something fantasy elves would wear in the modern age, hoodies, t-shirts and jeans all connected as one outfit made of fine fabrics that looked regal, but also casual. It was less futuristic than what we saw on Entana, but more sophisticated than what people wore on Earth.

  No surprise of course, but everywhere Eve and I walked the vyranes turned and stared, pointing us out to their neighbors as we passed. It was a mix of curiosity and apprehension I could see; the locals saw Imperial soldiers in amor and were obviously concerned if the war had reached their city yet, while also being intrigued at the sight of some aliens. I wondered how often the vyranes saw aliens at all; in our briefings about the planet, we learned they were still quite homogenous—only a few generations into living as citizens of the Empire now.

  Made me curious how those changes occurred over time—made me think how it would be for Earth. I was sure there would be drastic changes right away as the new world would be given some Imperial technology—probably not all of it at once to not overwhelm the world; people mentioned how new frontier worlds wouldn’t have core technology for a while. So then what of the people? Their lives would change with every generation, after every big leap in Imperial technology shared; eventually, the leaps in technology would reach a point where it would be much more similar to core worlds, and from there I would assume it would start to attract other Imperials. But what about before then? Were there some Imperials who would enjoy visiting the early years of a newly enlightened planet? Zyno told me he always found planets and cultures the most fascinating right before they joined in with the Empire, so I figured there might be more like him. But the logistics of traveling through the Empire—through the universe to come visit a new planet, that was still something I didn’t fully understand.

  Of course, living aboard The Radiance, bound to wherever they traveled, how was I supposed to ever learn anything else?

  “Seems like a cute town, a rather nice planet actually.” Eve said mildly, walking beside me, holding my arm as we walked along the sidewalk.

  I nodded, “I was thinking that too, seems like a nice mix between Earth and Entana—like its own world with some of the comforts of the Empire.”

  “Makes you wonder how comfortable it was before the Empire.” Eve added.

  “Yeah, I really am curious how the Empire handles bringing new civilizations into their ranks; they told us before how it was always a peaceful transition, but now we’ve seen the true nature of the Empire, I have my doubts.” I reasoned.

  Eve shook her head, “I don’t think the Empire needs to take over new planets, no need to get hostile when they’re already expanded so far—so rich with resources. Instead, they hold their amazing technological advances over everyone’s heads, saying join us or we cut you off from living with all these incredible comforts.”

  “Join us or you’re totally alone out there in this massive universe.” I said.

  Eve huffed out a quick sigh and squeezed my arm tighter against her, “Ugh, enough of all this Empire talk, let’s take this time to forget them completely; we’ll be in our own little world down here on Vyrane, so let’s try and enjoy it.”

  I smiled then, more than eager to forget all our troubles, at least for the day, “Of course sweet-thing, let’s just enjoy our time together, see what Vyrane has to offer.”

  After all the marching, I really was hungry now, but finding someplace to eat wasn’t so simple. Turns out, most places only had food available for vyranes; no scanners to see what all humans could safely ingest. Our leisurely stroll in trying to find a nice local restaurant turned into a rather serious research session in finding a place that could host other Imperial races. After Eve looked it up on her tablet, we ended up having to order another car service to transport us to the other side of the city for one of the few places we could eat at.

  Taking the hover-cars around the city, it definitely reminded me of Earth here—scrambling for an Uber with your friends, not flying around in ships through the sky. Made me realize I kind of did miss the simple life; I was still interested in having my adventures, but for now with everything else we had to deal with, it felt like I could’ve enjoyed another full lifetime back on Earth with Eve first.

  The restaurant was rather fancy, a large golden dome, clearly meant for high-society types since it catered to other Imperial races and everything. The hostess at the front was cute, with pale grey skin and bright red hair done up in fancy tails around her black horns, she wore a sleek black dress that really showed off her figure. She seemed quite surprised to see us when we walked in—doubly so when she looked at our battle armor. But she recovered quickly, and despite how busy the place was, she got us seated right away.

  Looking around, I saw the rest of the clientele was vyrane, so I figured they’d probably be pulling out all the stops for their rare, alien guests. The interior also seemed to use lots of domes or sphere shapes, with the table and chairs all using rounded edges for everything. The chairs were all gold while the tables were white, and the floor and walls were darker colors of silver and black, all rather muted and minimalistic, but still quite fancy.

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  As the hostess sat us at our table, the way she tittered and blushed made it seem like she was impressed with us—like we were celebrities or something. But we were just foreign, so all the attention was rather strange, even if it was somewhat understandable.

  “Thank you so much for dining with us tonight; please, enjoy yourselves.” The hostess said, bowing her head three times in a row before turning away and nearly tripping on her way back to her station.

  Eve chuckled to herself, “My, aren’t they an excitable bunch.”

  I shrugged, “I dunno, I like it—not the star treatment, that’s weird. But I’m honestly sick of dealing with Imperial races and their rampant fanaticism of the Empire. I’m sure that’s unfair generalizing, but considering what all we’ve had to deal with, I feel like it’s more than reasonable.”

  Eve nodded once, “Of course, and how so many Imperials would look down at others—like back in the Holisita Nebula, how the wealthy so often considered themselves superior. I agree a break from those kinds of people is long overdue.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “But Evie, aren’t you always saying how you’re superior to, like, everyone?”

  Eve gestured to herself, “Because I am, darling. It has nothing to do with wealth or status, nothing I’ve acquired through connections with anyone else. I’m a Predazoan; biologically, we’re vastly superior to everyone else. I am a god, not some silly little rich girl who thinks others should bow down before my monetary value.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “I dunno, sounds like you’re splitting hairs there…” I teased.

  Eve trilled in annoyance, “Don’t you dare compare me to those same arrogant fools who looked down at you, I am nothing like them.”

  “Right, you look down at everyone else but me.” I conceded.

  Eve stuck her tongue out at me, “And don’t you forget it.”

  Our waitress made her first appearance then, another attractive vyrane whose hairstyle wove around her horns—seemed like I was noticing a trend. This one’s hair was much darker, and her skin was also a flatter grey like sheet metal. Her horns were twice the size of the hostess up front though, made me wonder how they viewed their horns, like if large ones would be desirable, or if shape was more important.

  “Hello folks, welcome to the Trimaine Bistro.” She inclined her head to us as she pulled out the menu tablet, “We’re one of only six restaurants in Wesseran who cater to other Imperial races.” She placed the tablet on our table, “My name is Jenith, and if you’ll just confirm your biological compatibility, we can see what all we have available for you.”

  Eve went first, and right away the tablet indicated she was celicapoz, then the menu unlocked with a handful of options for her.

  “Oh, a celicapoz, we’ve had quite a few of them visit the restaurant before. We boast numerous seafood platters similar to delicacies you’d find on your home world.” The waitress offered, nearly dancing with excitement.

  Once Eve made her decision, she passed the tablet off to me, and when I tried to confirm who I was it just said unknown mammalian biology.

  Jenith grimaced, “Oh I’m terribly sorry, perhaps our scanners are out of date?”

  I waved it off quickly, “Probably not, I’m a probationary citizen of the Empire; the only human to leave my home planet, Earth. I doubt there’re any systems out there that have human DNA on file.”

  The waitress bowed her head in apology, “Sorry anyways.” Then she straightened back up, “But while we can’t offer you any specials for humans, we’ll at least have some meals available safe for mammalian consumption.”

  I nodded along as I looked through the generic options that would be safe for me. It wasn’t like I was expecting anything special, even back in the Holisita Nebula, all those delicacies were things any number of mammalian races could consume. I was the only human out in the Empire, so while I couldn’t get anything specially for a human, there was enough available for me to the point I was never found wanting.

  I chose some meaty meal that looked like a raw steak and runny eggs, always willing to gamble with strange alien food, and most often found the gamble paid out in my favor.

  The waitress retrieved her tablet, bowed her head again, then trotted away.

  I turned to Eve, “So, the menu-scanner considers you a full celicapoz, not an augmented sapient or cloned celicapoz or any kind of hybrid.”

  Eve nodded, “Right, my camouflage is advanced enough to even fool Predazoan senses; there’s no scanner in the Empire that could break through the fa?ade.”

  I steepled my hands together and rested my chin on my hands as I grew curious, “And how deep does that camouflage go? You said before you’d need to dissect cells to learn if someone was actually a Predazoan in disguise back in the Holisita Nebula.”

  Eve tapped at her chin as she thought over her answer, “The easiest way to describe it would be to say I’ve completely wrapped myself in a cloak of celicapoz cells, covering my Predazoan biomass.” She held up a hand to stop me, “Now, before you go and think that just means I’m wearing the outer skin of a celicapoz, it encompasses much more than that.” She held her hand out to me, “Every cell in my entire body has been wrapped in a camouflaging layer of celicapoz cells. That’s my skin, my blood, my bones, my internal organs. Every single individual cell now has an outer layer of camouflage, while some cells are just completely celicapoz to help authenticate the system—to make this body work almost exactly like a natural celicapoz.”

  I nodded, understanding her explanation, “So that’s why you’d have to totally dissect some cells in order to see the Predazoan underneath, you’d need to peel back the celicapoz layering completely so you could see the real Predazoan biomass.”

  “Exactly, and you can imagine how tedious and painful that would be if we went around during our investigation ripping apart a person’s cells. Wouldn’t really be a clandestine mission then, right?” She reasoned.

  I shrugged, “Doesn’t matter now anyways; we’re not part of the investigation side of the mission anymore.”

  There was a lull between us then, and it felt strange; it was like all we ever had to talk about was the Empire or the mission, it wasn’t like us. Before, I could talk to Eve about anything and everything, I could joke with her about things that should only make sense if the person was from Earth, but Eve got all my references anyways.

  Now, it felt like there was a strange distance between us, and I knew it was more than just the inhibitor field barrier, although that might have been the start of it.

  Eve saw it too, and she shook her head slowly as she put a hand to her temple, as though pained by this new revelation, “Why does it feel like we’re in a rut now? All we have to talk about is the Empire—everything about the stupid Empire and what they’ve done to ruin our lives.”

  I sighed and took Eve’s hands in mine, but still all I could feel was the strange staticky barrier, “I don’t know, it feels like we’re suddenly living a totally different life; I have these new superhuman abilities that don’t really matter in fighting the Predazoans, but they’re enough to disconnect me with how normal humans feel. You’ve taken the form of a celicapoz now, and while I know it’s still you, the fact that it’s for the mission kind of takes the fun out of it. We’re on a date, and yet we’re sitting here in fucking battle armor.” I held her hands up, “And of course…” I let the rest drop.

  Eve’s frustrated sigh turned into a low growl, “No, I refuse to let others dictate how we should feel or live. So what we’re bound and enslaved; we’re here together, we’re in love, and it’s high-time we start acting like it.” She looked at me with her new blue eyes, determination blazing in them, “Adam Samson, I love you dearly, more than you could ever understand. And starting right here, right now, I say we forget all our burdens—to live unbound like we used to. Forget everything else in the universe, let’s just be a boy and a girl on a date.” Eve pulled one hand away and gestured to herself, “Let’s take advantage of the fact I’m in a different form now, let’s pretend it’s the start of a new life.” She smiled mischievously, “Let’s pretend you’re on your very first date with an exotic alien woman.”

  It really wouldn’t do us any good to constantly wallow in self-pity, moaning over all our issues. Eve was right, it was time to start living again.

  I pulled my hands away from Eve and sat up straight in my chair, acting like I was on my best behavior, “Hey there, my name is Adam Samson, it’s great to finally meet you.” I gestured to the restaurant around us, “Did you find the place alright?”

  Eve smiled a playful little smile, eyes dancing with amusement, “That’s much better, Adam Samson. Play your cards right, and you might get this girl to put out on her first date.”