The World Beyond [Gladis&Hideki](Private)

[-Hideki-]

Asher raised an eyebrow looking at Calum who tried to explain the remark that had been made to him and it was safe to say that it didn’t make any sense to the blue eyed male and that it was completely illogical to him. “And what good does it do to mock someone about their food and over exaggerate how bad it is? What result does come from this kind of interaction?” he wanted to know. The explanation that this was something that ‘brothers’ did was something that he found not satisfying either. “And why do brothers do something like that?” he asked and then sighed. “I really don’t get the dynamic of the relationship you two have. It’s confusing.” The platinum head said but this was not the only type of relationship he had been introduced to that he didn’t understand. The Earthlings seemed to bond with each other in many different ways for some reason.

 

While they were on their way back to Calum’s place the brunette male got back to what they had been talking about before the man’s brother had appeared or at least to a tiny bit of it and when he heard what the other said the platinum head was getting tense and he was still feeling this anger rising inside of him at the mentioning of ‘gods’. “There are no gods. You can’t borrow something from something that doesn’t even exist but is part of an ideology created by humans.” He barked and even though he didn’t scream it was clear how displeased he was with this. All the negative feelings arising within him and the sheer disgust came automatically when someone claimed religious teachings were true or that there were such things as gods.

The Xenonian also found the statement that the land belonged to no one even more absurd than private people claiming property of the nation state. If the land wasn’t owned by some institution it couldn’t be distributed nor governed and no one would have any claim over it and everyone could just come and stay and take the land however they wanted. This was insanity and meant a total loss of control. “There has to be some institution that owns this land. The nation you’re part of for instance. The land within a nation’s borders belongs to that nation and no one from another nation is allowed to illegally enter and cross the borders. That’s why it is important to defend your ground and borders at all costs. Abandoning that duty is criminal and the first step towards the downfall of the nation and humankind.” Asher said in a clear tone of voice. In Xenon this was taken incredibly seriously. The emperor who had been one of those who had lived with the consequences of a huge historic mistake, where hordes of religious fanatics had been allowed to illegally storm their countries without control, had wanted to save Xenon from that fate so he had taken radically isolationist measures and made it so that no one from any other planet could ever become Xenoian and live on their planet and derail their ways. Not even the people of the planets they had conquered were considered Xenonian and they weren’t allowed to leave their planets to Xenon either. “Anyhow, why don’t you explain me what kind of working field the nobility is and if that is actually a useful job because I have never heard about it and am rather curious.” He changed subjects.

 

His eyes nearly fell out of his face when the younger man told him they had no such government and everyone voted on different matters. The downfall was predestined again. In his eyes masses were not capable of making the right decision and there had to be a strong government leadership that shouldn’t get derailed by the destructive ideas and egotistical claims which would only cause chaos. “Democracy is the downfall of great civilisations because most people are not responsible and qualified enough to decide matters that concern the nation’s future as every single one of them will only think about what’s the best for himself but not what’s the best for the greater good. Individualism is a destructive force that divides people and destroys community and solidarity within the nation and the loyalty to the nation and the fellow citizens as well as the national identity.” He quoted ‘The Order of Things’ as if it was natural law yet another time.

 

After he had changed into his combat suit being outside didn’t seem to be a problem anymore and having J.O.S.H. connected to the combat suit again meant that he got all information about his environment what was incredibly useful. The system could even tell him what all the green stuff was and what characteristics it had but for some reason it even categorised many of those that weren’t poisonous as a danger to Asher’s health and life.

While they were walking the short way from Calum’s place to his brother’s something that looked like a huge piece of trash lying in a hole in the middle of a cornfield and that was far from their visibility range, even the range of the combat suit, automatically got activated and started to blink and send information through outer space.

 

They didn’t have to wait long before the door of Calum’s brother’s house opened and a woman looked into their faces, or rather into the brunettes face and at Ash’s mask. His eyes that were hidden behind the mask of the combat suit looked directly into the hazel one’s of a woman. Asher examined her and got her vital data from J.O.S.H. She also was dark haired and her lips were quite thick but the most notable thing was her stomach. It was good that he was wearing the combat suit and no one could see his face as he was staring at her in shock as if he had seen something horrible. There also was something wrong with her data. Was that what happened to people when they overate? Their stomach would hang over the hem of the trousers and get round and firm as if it was about to burst. As f there was a parasite in it. His mind created horror scenarios and after two month he got scared of not having his food plan again for the first time. The thought of making a mistake and ending up with such a disproportionate, gross and painful looking stomach made him feel sick. That poor woman could not be healthy. Someone should tell her that she had to change her eating habits quickly or she would die sooner. Why didn’t the people from her living group tell her that she was doing something wrong and destructive to herself! Or did she have a disease that caused her stomach to look like this? Did she have parasites?

 

The alien was caught in his thoughts that were spinning over and he was thinking about how to safe that poor lady and was just thrown out of his thoughts when the woman made an attempt to approach him and then retreated – what confused him – then she beamed at him in a warm manner and Asher smiled back at her, what couldn’t be seen due to the mask, and nodded into her direction. Just now he noted the weird kid that was hanging on the woman’s odd impractical pants without separate pant legs. Just in that second Anya, the girl, was running towards them and jumped at Calum and the platinum head looked from one kid to the other. The girl looked at him with mistrust and then called him a metal man and asked who he was. Asher found that surprising as he had seen her around Calum’s house quite often and she should know who he was. When the short male told her he saw how she struggling free from him and make a hectic attempt to jump at Asher as well what led to her falling onto the ground where she hugged his legs.

 

Those Earthling children were really weird and he still had trouble understanding their behaviour. No kid on Xenon would have ever acted like they did, jumping at adults, storming to the door, or clinging on an adults trousers to hide. This all wouldn’t even be accepted on their planet. Asher had not had much contact with children but he had once instructed a class of C-types because their usual instructor had not been available and the kids, around the age of the girl, had all raised from their chairs when he had entered immediately, stood in rows in their uniforms and had greeted him in chorus before singing their anthem. They had stood still like statues until Asher had ordered them to sit. That little girl however was completely different. Asher picked her up from the ground and patted her head with his huge hand, messing up her hair and he smiled friendly what also couldn’t be seen of course. “Hey there young lady!” He said. “It’s the best in the world? Not in the universe?” he asked but the playfulness of his tone was not transported through the suit that distorted his voice and made it sound mechanical and even deeper than it actually was.

 

When the woman introduced herself to him she seemed really friendly to him and he felt an even stronger responsibility to help her but he wasn’t sure how to address this because from his experience the Earthlings reacted strangely to some kind of things. He then learned that the kid that was clinging onto the woman was male and that it was one that she had produced. And the boy still acted weirdly and his speech was hard to understand. ‘That’s the consequence of uncontrolled breeding I suppose.’ Asher thought before the mother apologised for the child and said it was shy. Shy was a word he couldn’t quite capture as well and he wasn’t sure if shyness was something pathological or not. Seeing the boy run away after he had not been able to speak properly he was certain that it was pathological and he laid his head to the side a little saying:”I am truly sorry to hear that Ma’am!” in a way someone expressed their condolences.

 

Following the woman of the house they came into the living room where there was a low table and furs instead of chairs. It was weird and not exactly ergonomic and good for the back but the chairs in Calum’s house weren’t either so it didn’t make much of a difference. He saw an elderly couple and a woman he had never seen before so he greeted them quickly. The Xenonian man was about to take a seat when he remembered that one conference where he had been told:”Before we start I have to call upon the Colonel of the Spaceforce and the Commander of the city police to take off their helmets so that everyone can see their faces as we want to have a polite and productive conversation and it’s not possible when we can’t see the faces of two participants.”, by the woman who had led the conference and Asher and the police Commander had taken off their helmets immediately. Hence he remembered to take off the helmet before he took a seat on one of the furs, revealing his face, the intense blue eyes and the scars.

 

The platinum head overheard the conversation Calum and the woman, Liz, had and he raised his eyebrows looking into the woman’s and then the old man’s direction. And his deep voice sounded through the room. “Are you saying that there are people on this planet that have an even lower and primitive standard of life than this? That are less civilised?” he asked and cleared his throat. “If that’s the case and they are trying to invade your land you should stop them at all costs before they can even get here and ruin your land and drag it down and turn it into the same kind of shithole they have turned their own land into.”Asher stated. “I would recommend a high-wall on the borders with set guns, observation systems and cameras and to use the armed forces at the border.” The platinum head said. “Maybe you are not seeing why it is necessary now but if you don’t do that they might do to your country what had been done to the emperor’s birthplace and it’ll be the start of the end of everything.” He said very serious. If it was true that savages were trying to invade them then they had to take measures or bad things would happen to them. Asher remembered the chapter in the emperor’s book ‘The Order of Things’ that was called ‘The Start of the End of Everything’ and that had concerned itself with an even earlier period of times where the emperor had not even been born just yet but from which he and his generation had to still suffer the consequences.

 

Suddenly there was a letter in front of him that the woman he didn’t really know had pushed into his direction and his blue eyes looked at it sceptically. He didn’t know anyone on Earth nor could it be from home because they didn’t send letters on paper like in ancient times. As the woman talked and told him that it was from some witch his eyes narrowed and his face went dark. “Witches do not exist. There is no such thing as magic.” He stated but took the letter up regardless. It was their script and it was written in his native language as well. His face went sterner while he was reading the message.

 

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Greetings,

 

I am sure that you must be confused, coming to a planet so fundamentally different from what you know. The questions you have must be many. Although it has now been many years since I first came to earth, perhaps there are some I will be able to answer. Should you ever come my way, feel free to drop by.

 

Best Regards,

Zoya: Witch of The Waste

 

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Not any less sceptically he put the letter back into the envelope before his eyes turned to the woman and then to Calum. “Your ‘witch’ wants me to believe she is Xenonian. She claims she would be able to give me answers and to help me. I doubt it and I don’t know if she is trustworthy. If she is from Xenon why hasn’t she tried to contact home and get back then? She could be a spy of one of our enemies. She’s probably Zynian.” He mumbled more to himself then to everyone thinking on what to do with this information and whether he should try to figure out more about this person and why someone who was capable of writing their language was on planet Earth.

 

 

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Xenon; Capital

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The middle aged Admiral had his head leaned back into his neck, his mouth was wide open, his eyes closed and he was snoring loudly, enjoying a dreamless nap as everything they had to overview had been quiet and there had been no signal that had shown anything out of the ordinary. So he had told that greenhorn to keep an eye on the screens while he was relaxing and that overly enthusiastic dork had agreed and had had his eyes on the screens every second until then, not daring to look elsewhere, to leave the place or to go to the bathroom. But then all of the sudden and without a warning a hand was shaking the Admiral and the man was nearly jumping from his chair and falling over. “What in the name of the emperor!” he cursed his heart rate still up when he looked into the excited and at the same time nervous face of the greenhorn.

 

“Admiral there is a signal!” he said and even though he had not moved from his chair next to the Admiral he seemed nearly out of breath from the excitement. The Admiral sighed irritated. “There are always signals. You shouldn’t inform me about the existence of the normal signals that have to be on screen but about changes or something out of the ordinary.” He scolded because the other had woken him up for nothing. “No Admiral, you don’t understand. The signal belongs to number 997-361-899-976-7-XY!” he informed the older male and the man raised one eyebrow looking at the greenhorn as if he was mental. “Number 997-361-899-976-7-XY is dead. He died about two months ago. It is not possible that there is any signal coming from him.” The man said mockingly and the greenhorn just shook his head. “No, it’s definitely there. His suit is online and sends data to us. It even grants us insight into his vital data and I am telling you he is pretty much alive. But it comes even better; the signal comes from planet Earth!”

 

His reddish eyebrows narrowed and his face was twisted into a grimace. “Impossible. Earth has been destroyed; a human can’t survive in such a toxic environment.” The man stated but he stood up and shoved the young man away so that the newbie rolled through the room with his chair while the Admiral’s grey eyes locked onto the screen and he blinked his eyes unbelieving of what he saw there. The piece from Asher’s space ship was even sending the data of the Earth and the Admiral was not an expert but to his amateur eyes this looked like it was possible for human’s to survive on this planet and the living conditions weren’t that bad. “See!” the greenhorn who had walked over and now stood behind the Admiral said but the older male didn’t answer but grabbed the phone immediately.

 

 

 

 

Number 556-802-479-515—8-XY simplified identification code Emmanuel was walking through the impressive and giant entrance hall of their capital’s government building and every step he took echoed back to him. The walls were incredibly high, the floor, the walls and the ceiling made out of dark marble and once more he realised that he didn’t like those halls and the government building. It made him feel small and insignificant, it was intimidating and even though he knew that this was what it was supposed to transport he couldn’t help but dislike the feeling. The geologist was carrying a small device in his arms and he made sure to greet every member of the emperor’s House Guard who belonged to the elitist division for inner security.

 

The House Guard was dressed in all white uniforms, even their boots and their gloves were white. The man with the dirty blond hair had learned that when the House Guard had first been established the scientists had protested because white was supposed to be their colour and they suggested black for the House Guard instead. The emperor however had wanted white for his guard as he had said it was considered pure and that was what represented Xenon and if they had a problem with wearing the same colour as the guard they should dye their laboratory coats black. That had ended the discussion once and for all because the scientists and doctors had not wanted black laboratory coats.

 

After he had been interrogated on each door of the building by one member of the House Guard he had finally arrived at the door that led to the floor that led the emperor’s office. The Guardsman in front of the door looked at him grumpily and he was much more impressive than the lean scientist who was not even close to how broad the other was. “Hello good Sir, I wish to speak to the emperor. It is urgent.” He said straightening his back trying to not let show that the presence of the elite soldier intimidated him. “No. He’s busy and doesn’t see citizens now.” The man said not any more friendly than he looked at the geologist. This didn’t surprise him though as he had heard this at all the doors at first now. “It concerns the whereabouts of number 997-361-899-976-7-XY and the living conditions on Earth.” He said and he could see how it was working in the soldiers head. Wordlessly the white uniformed stood, went over to the door and opened it for Emmanuel. “You may pass number 556-802-479-515—8-XY.” And when he walked past the soldier from the House Guard he had to keep himself from making a sharp remark.

 

He took a deep breath when he knocked at the huge office door and waited for it to open. When it did open it wasn’t the emperor opening it, of course not, but a Guardsman. He saw dark brown almost black eyes looking into his own hazel ones, olive skin and dark brown wavy hair under the white hat with the platinum lions head on it. The man laid his index finger over his lips as he gesticulated Emmanuel to enter the room from which piano music was reaching to his ears. The door closed behind him and he was standing in a round room with a lot of windows which looked respectable and yet inviting and cosy. Behind the piano sat a short man with long red hair that was tied into a ponytail in the neck. His skin was as white as paper and full of freckles. One huge scar was to see on his face and his thin lips were moving as he was singing a hymn.

 

As impressive as his piano play was as terrible was his singing voice. And the scientist had troubles to not let that show on his face. “Don’t you think you should tell the emperor that he can’t sing?” he leaned over to the taller Guardsman whispering into his ear. The dark haired man shook his head immediately. “No. I like my head where it is. But suit yourself.” The other whispered back and Emmanuel’s eyes widened when he looked into the white uniformed man’s face. “No, I think it’s not that bad after all. Actually I kinda start to like it.” He quickly said and the Guardsman chuckled in silence.

 

When the play had ended the short man that looked even shorter in the presence of the other two stood from the seat gallantly. He was wearing a green frock-coat and when he had walked around the piano the Guardsman applauded him and Emmanuel followed his example. A small smile was to see on the pale man’s face as he bowed his head before gracefully moving towards the huge armchair in the office. “I am certain that you didn’t solely come to hear me play. What can I do for you?” the man’s voice spoke quietly and the difference from this and his euphoric, loud and sweeping speeches was incredibly. One wouldn’t have recognised the same person. If the geologist had not known he wouldn’t have guessed so. “My emperor I have exciting news for you...” he started and then went over to show the ginger the data on the device he had brought with him, explaining everything to the other.

 

Eugen Rochfort scratched his chin and felt the scar that those religious monsters had caused him when they had tried to kill him as a child and his green eyes blinked while he was thinking. “We are going to send a troop for investigation.” He said and Emmanuel looked at him. “You want to colonise Earth? Even though the conditions there don’t seem to kill people anymore I don’t think that it’s a good idea to waste time, soldiers and resources to conquer that place. There are much more profitable planets for us to conquer.” The scientist said. “And haven’t we send an expedition there once because one of our scientists wanted to explore the planet and do research there? He’s dead now. Never came back here.” The dirty blond remembered. Eugen asked the Guardsman for a glass of water before he turned back to the geologist again. “I’m not saying that we’ll colonise Earth, I am saying that we will send a troop for investigation that will report to us whether it would be profitable to actually conquer it. Besides that we have to safe our number one pilot and bring him back home don’t we?” the emperor said and his lips curled up into a smile.

 

He was given the glass of water and he wanted to take a sip because his throat felt dry but when he took it into his filigree hand the glass started to shake because his hand shivered and the shivering got worse and worse until his hand and arm and his body started to cramp painfully and his face twitched uncontrollable. Emmanuel’s hazel eyes stared in shock when the glass fell down onto the ground but the Guardsman went over to the red head, massaged his hand and stroked over his forehead telling him it would be over soon. After the attack was over and the face of the emperor even paler than before both the Guardsman and the emperor himself were making excuses but the scientist had none of it. The emperor was sick. He must have had some disease that affected the nervous system that much he knew even though he was a geologist.

 

“It’s settled, we will be sending a troop of investigators to Earth and I want a conference where I will announce a committee and where we will decide who we will send on this mission. You will be at the conference. I want all of those I need in the conference, today!” the ginger ordered but the white uniformed male coughed. “My emperor I don’t mean to object but today is very inconvenient and you don’t have any time left anymore. You wanted to finish your new composition for example.” He said in a soft voice. “Yes, that’s true.” The emperor acted as if it had just come back to his mind even though he knew that the actual reason for the other to come up with something like that was the attack he had just had and his bad health and his disease and he was thankful that the other had stopped him as it would not have been good if that was to happen at a conference. “Then tomorrow! Get everything ready for tomorrow.” He demanded and when the Guardsman guided the scientist in the laboratory coat to the door Eugen let his head sink against the lean of his armchair.

 

The white uniformed soldier accompanied Emmanuel out of the door but before he let the other say goodbye he pulled him over by his hand and breathed into his ear in a threatening tone of voice. “No word of this or it will be the last thing you have ever said.” He spoke and then let the visibly puzzled and intimidated scientist go before disappearing behind the door again. The tall soldier leaned himself onto the door and closed his eyes for a moment glad that he didn’t need to hide his concern anymore now. The man knew that they wouldn’t let the emperor die and that only his body ever died and he got a new one after this but seeing that man suffer and the fear of having to watch his body die was unbearable for him and it made his heart ache and overwhelmed him with sadness. “What’s the matter Julius?” Eugen asked eyes half closed as the attack had tired him out. The white uniformed man walked over to him. “Nothing. I’m just....” he stuttered. “May I hold your hand please?” the younger one asked and the ginger nodded without opening the eyes. “You may.” He said and the words had not fully left his lips behind as he was already feeling the much larger hands around his own, feeling the stroke of thumbs on his skin that made him doze off. “I don’t want to see you suffer and die! It’s crippling me. I love you.” He whispered pressing the other man’s hand against his mouth but the emperor wasn’t able to recognise any of that as he had fallen asleep in his chair, his head falling to the side onto the guardsman’s strong shoulder now. The white uniformed smiled melancholically feeling glad that the man had not heard his unprofessional confession of feelings and whiff of weakness.

[Gladis]

The very moment Asher opened his mouth to speak, the entire room fell silent, their gazes locked on the curious stranger. Even Anya, who’d settled down between Calum and Asher, instantly busing herself with stuffing her face full with honey cakes paused for a moment to stare. First their faces reflected attentive interest, yet as Asher went on, it shifted to pure bafflement. For Calum’s part, he was still preoccupied with their earlier conversation, his head spinning with the many big words and confusing arguments. So then it was no surprise perhaps, that even when Asher had finished speaking, the silence remained.

 

Until it was broken by Anya, voicing the very questions that were lingering on everyone’s minds. ”What’s absorbation systems?” She asked, gazing up at Asher with wide yet curious and bright eyes. ”And ’cameras? Are they weapons?”

 

”Honey, I think he said ’observation system’, not ’absorbation’,” Sasha corrected his daughter, though his comment did little in terms of clearing up the confusion.

 

The elderly man sighed, scratching his bearded chin. ”Your suggestions are valid,” he told Asher, although not entirely without doubt. Or perhaps it was concern? ”But we haven’t got the manpower for something like that. The Myre has a population of less than 60, and that includes our children, elderly and sick. Should the southern tribes eventually come our way, we would hardly stand a chance. I doubt a wall, even if we could build one, would keep them out.”

 

”Besides,” Sasha added in agreement, ”It ain’t like we got the weapons for it, either. Guns are hard to come by, nevermind the ammunition.”

 

The elderly man nodded his head slowly, appearing thoughtful. ”Perhaps it would be possible to negotiate…”

 

Elisabeth’s jaw set and her expression darkened as she heard the elderly man’s proposal. ”I mean no disrespect, Chief, but do you really think they’re the negotiating kind? You haven’t seen them in action like I have. They ain’t like us, that’s for sure. Rumor has it that monsters walk amongst their numbers, and after what I’ve seen, I don’t doubt it. They plunder every town and village in their path, and once they’ve taken everything of value they burn them to the ground. Take the children and murder the adults, always. They worship gods of chaos and madness and bloodshed – yet you propose we attempt to negotiate with these… beasts?” Her lips quivered, her eyes burning with the anger and pain.

 

Tommen let out a small squeal of horror, his eyes filled with fear. ”Papa, papa I’m scared.” He said, tugging at his father's shirt. ”Will they come for us? Will they take us away?” His gaze nervously flitted between the similarly disquieted expression on his sisters face, and the stern thoughtfulness that had taken over his father's. Yet in that moment Sasha’s expression split into a reassuring smile and he gently took the boys hands in his own.

 

”No, of course not. We wouldn’t let anyone take you away, right darling?” He asked, casting his wife a peculiar glance.

 

Ellie returned the smile and got up. ”Naturally. So don’t you worry, okay? Anya, Tommen, how about you two come along and help me feed the animals? You like that, don’t you?”

 

”Yes!” Anya sprang to her feet, her worried expression replaced by one of excitement. ”Mama, can I pat the horses, can I?!” Her eyes were sparkling, and to Sasha’s relief, her brothers mood seemed to have improved as well.

 

”Of course you can, sweetie.” So saying, Ellie ushered the two children out of the room.

 

The very moment they were out of his sight, Sasha’s expression faltered. He was clearly concerned by Elisabeth’s news, and like everyone else, not entirely sure of how to deal with them. Again the room settled into a grave and thoughtful silence. Then, for the first time, the elderly lady spoke. ”Perhaps Sasha is right. Perhaps we should consider leaving the Myre once and for-” She was never allowed to finish that thought, the sound of her husband’s fist slamming against the table.

 

”The Myre is our home!” He exclaimed stubbornly, ”we’re not leaving it behind! Even if we left, where would we go? What would we do? Without this land, we have nothing.”

 

It was clear to Calum that this was not the first time this topic had been discussed between these four walls. His jade green gaze wandered between his brother, who at this point was seething, and the village chief. He felt uncomfortable.

 

”You keep insisting on that,” Sasha said slowly, his eyes burning with anger, ”even after you’ve heard all Elisabeth has to say? Think of Ellie, your daughter!” His voice was rising with every word he spoke. ”Think of Anya and Tommen and our unborn child! Your grandchildren! Do you wish upon them a life in bondage? Because if the savages ever make it this far, and believe me, they will – that’s exactly what will happen.” Realizing that he was yelling, he paused briefly to regain his composure. When he spoke again, the words came out as a low, threatening growl. ”I’d sooner run to the ends of the world, than see my daughter end up as some warlord’s broodmare, or my son worked to death in captivity.”

 

”I don’t think we should leave, either.” Elisabeth surprised everyone by speaking again, her manner calm and serious. ”The chief is right. This is our home. This is our li-”

 

”Are you out of your mind?!” Sasha hissed, glaring at her, ”You just said that-”

 

Elisabeth raised a hand to silence him. ”Just as it ain’t wise to run in fear, it ain’t wise to remain without a plan. In that sense, Asher is correct. Something must be done.” She nodded in Asher’s direction, offering him a small but friendly smile. ”Thankfully, we’re not entirely out of options. The southern tribes are not just a threat to the people at the Myre, but to everyone on the northern part of the peninsula. The larger towns and cities still support us, because they need us. We are the closest village to the waste – each year hundreds of seekers seek shelter here before heading into the wild. I doubt any of the cities would be willing to give that up. The relics from the old world are worth too much.”

 

Calum, who had yet to say a word, and until then had been busy emptying the bowl of nuts and berries gazed at his friend doubtfully. ”You think they would aid us? Should things come to that, I mean.” He didn’t seem entirely convinced. Although it was true that the cities supported the Myre, he wasn’t sure they valued the lives of the people that inhabited the village enough to truly care.

 

Elisabeth seemed to be aware of this notion, as weighed her words carefully before answering his questions. ”Perhaps. Either way, it would be worth a try. We might have to give up our independence, but what’s paying taxes two times a year over getting to keep our homes? They have the manpower needed to keep the savages at bay.”

 

Again the chief sighed heavily, and suddenly he looked very tired, that stubborn glow in his eyes long gone. ”I believe now is not the right time to have this conversation. As soon as your grandmother is back,” he glanced at Sasha and Calum, ”we should arrange a village meeting. We shouldn’t make any hasty decisions.”

 

This everyone seemed to agree on, and they turned their attention to Asher and the mysterious letter.

 

”What’s it say?” Calum asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. As he listened to Asher’s musings, his expression turned into a frown. ”I… see. Who’d have thought that the witch was from the heaven’s as well?” Although, he supposed that this made sense. Just like Asher, she possessed knowledge far beyond their understanding. ”Well, what do you want to do about it?”

[-Hideki-]

As soon as Asher had finished speaking he got aware of the fact that every single person in the room was staring at him with baffled faces in complete silence. The platinum head from outer space looked back at them not understanding what the problem was. Maybe they didn’t like walls? But Ash found that this was a plausible and legit suggestion. He just wanted to ask what they had against his idea and why they stared at him as if they had never seen a person before, the young girl broke the silence and messed up the word ‘observation’. When she was corrected by her father the Xenonian smiled. “An absorbance system would not be that bad actually. If there was a machine that would just absorb all of the savages the problem would be solved.” He joked laughing.

 

The Colonel of the Xenonian space force raised an eyebrow looking at the elderly man. “I didn’t say that the villagers should face them alone, I said station a few divisions of your country’s armed forces at the borders.” The light featured male said. “This village must belong to a nation or some union and that larger community has to fight at the wall with you to keep those pigs from entering your country.” He explained further.

Asher gave the other a quick nod, his face serious and his voice sounding as if it was made of steel. “Of course the wall won’t be enough and won’t win the battle alone. However it will give you an advantage and will be of help.” He started and then did something that the instructors in the government educational facility wouldn’t have liked to see, he played with the food. The serious Xenonian cut the apple pie on his plate into stripes and piled them up to symbolise the wall. Then he grabbed a hand filled with hazelnuts which he placed at one side of the wall to symbolise the invading savages before he took some peanuts and put them onto the other side of the wall to symbolise Calum’s people. He wasn’t ready just yet though as he took different kinds of berries for different kinds of weapons which he placed onto the wall and armed the peanut people with. “A wall around the border is always an obstacle for foot soldiers that has to be overcome. If your enemies want into your land they have to face the wall first. No matter what they do to overcome it, climbing, trying to destroy it, it will force them to come close to the wall as they are less technologically advanced than your people are and you apparently don’t even have cameras but at least you currently have me. And while they try to get over the wall, the set guns and the armed men will open the fire and shoot them down. Not even half of them will make it into your land alive. If they are lucky one out of four will make it. And when they have overcome the wall they will run into the next wall of machine guns, tanks and soldiers.” Ash explained while demonstrating it with the scenery he had built on his plate by moving the “playing pieces” around, a wide smile appearing on Asher’s face as war and battles were his element. He had been bred for this very purpose!

 

The smile didn’t fade when he spoke again. “You also should remind yourself that manpower is not everything. Having superior technology and knowing how to use it, having better strategies and outsmarting the enemy plays a huge part in the art of warfare as well.” The platinum head spoke. “Are you familiar with the Battle of Rorke’s Drift?” he asked interested as to how familiar those people were with ancient human history.

“On the 22th January of 1879 139 British soldiers, many of which wounded, were facing 4000-5000 primitives. They were surrounded by the savages and even though some of the primitives had their guns they didn’t know how to use them properly. The hand full of British soldiers defeated the barbarians and the barbarians retreated.” The man said and sounded like the C-types history teacher who had taught his students about all kinds of different battles and wars in human history, well only about the wars with the focus on the strategies.

 

When Sasha Calum’s elder brother spoke and said that weapons were hard to come by he raised an eyebrow extremely high again asking himself why those people apparently had done nothing when it came to arms manufacturing and military build-up. “If the government of your country or your council has missed out on building up the military properly and your weapon industry has slept the whole time, yes that will definitely be a problem that won’t be that easy to solve now. It’s not impossible, I hope for you though.” He commented finding it reckless that those people apparently didn’t think far-sighted but from 12pm to midday and now there was a problem. And since Asher wasn’t familiar with anything from the planet aside from the brunette male’s house he couldn’t say where they could find arms manufactures, engineers and scientist.

 

A loud laugh followed by a snort that came from the Colonel right after the old man had made the suggestion to negotiate. “Negotiate with savages?” he asked in a tone of voice that emphasised the absurdity. “You can’t negotiate with scum like this.” He told the man. “Do you know what you will get for negotiating and considering them?” he asked challenging. “A bloodbath on your streets! Filled with the blood of your people!” The platinum head said. “This would be more than naive; negotiating with those kinds would be a crime already.”

 

After he had made his snorting remark the woman named Liz spoke another time and Asher nodded in agreement when she started to speak. However his expression got dark and his hands clenched into fists when he heard the description of those savages. The woman’s words let the imagery from the religious fanatics that he had seen in the emperor’s book especially in ‘The Hordes of Evil’ pop up on his mind again and he felt burning hate and the will to wipe them away from the face of this planet before such people would destroy it another time. Remembering those pictures of blown up innocent people, of beheadings and stoning, the descriptions of gang rape and what had happened to the emperor’s living group, everything he had read rose up in him again.

 

An urge to strongly object arose within in him when he heard the voice of the elderly lady making this unpatriotic statement but thankfully her husband was cutting her off right away protesting this weak suggestion. But when Calum’s brother objected the elderly man Asher thought he must be hearing things. What the other said was something despicable and pathetic on Xenon, something one would have gotten shamed for and be considered a traitor of the homeland. He felt how his anger was shifting towards this now and his carotids were clearly visible at this point. “What a disgrace!” he spat the words out before he slammed both of his huge hands onto the plate of the table, with such a force that the peanuts and hazelnuts were not only flying over the falling apple pie wall but were also lying next to his plate on the table now. Leaning over the table Asher’s bass voice rang with a great volume and he didn’t even need to yell like the other to sound twice as intimidating. “You want to sacrifice and betray your home. You want to leave your culture and your country to the savages to destroy? What kind of man are you? Are you even a man? Do you have any honour at all ?Such treason and cowardice is no role model for the younger generation of your people. It’s pathetic! “ he let it out. “And do you think that you can just run and the problem won’t come and hunt your arse? Do you think those disgusting pieces of human garbage will be satisfied with one of your places only?” he asked rhetorically. “Oh no! They want your world!” he said with a cynic laugh. “If you give them one tiny thing they will spread from there and take over everything like cancer. If you let them in and don’t fight for your nation, your people and land will be doomed. You can flee but one day there won’t be anywhere to flee left and they will get you and your family as well as they already have gotten your countrymen which you have left and sacrificed for your own egotistical reasons and then those disgusting creatures will slaughter and rape and torture your family before your disloyal eyes while they will shout that their non-existing, reprehensible god was great!” the Xenonian talked the brunette male down before he took a deep breath and settled down on his place again trying to calm himself but the anger would not leave him. He wanted to see those savages dead, he didn’t want history to repeat itself and see how Calum’s people would get destroyed like their ancestors in ancient times had because they had made all the wrong decisions by opening their borders for fanatic underdeveloped scum.

 

 

Hearing the young woman disagree with Sasha and listening to her rational response made him get more agreeable and calmed his temper down to his usually composed self again and the vein on his temple that had pulsated so dangerously that one could have thought it had been about to burst returned to a much healthier looking state. When the woman had finished Asher took another breath again before he spoke. “Listen to her. She seems to have the overview and the balls here!” he commented with an encouraging nod into her direction and with a sharp gaze into Sasha’s direction that clearly said ‘Unlike you’.

 

Only when Calum had spoken for the first time he spoke again, this time in his usual sober and serious sounding way. “If they are smart they will care enough and will come to aid their countrymen.” He stated. “If not and they will let the savages take this land and get into their territory and close to their living space they will be next on the list of the savages.” The Colonel predicted. “This does concern them and if they aren’t shit for brains they will sure see the danger for themselves and everyone and fight by your side.” The man paused for a moment and collected some of the nuts that had fallen from his plate up from the table. “When Vienna was under attack by the savage Ottomans who were one of those who held one of the most gross ideologies humans have ever invented it weren’t only the Austrians who fought to keep Vienna. The Germans, the Polish as well as Ukrainian mercenaries fought by their side because they knew that it would have been fatal to let those savages and their ideology advance even further onto their ground what would have given them access to the heart of the continent. And together they defeated the Ottomans.” He told them and sounded like his history teacher again just a little more passionate now. “Your Myre is Vienna!” the platinum blond said. “And if the people in those cities are too dumb to understand the significance you have to get that into their heads.” The soldier said with a smile.

 

After the elderly man had postponed the discussion Ash started to finally eat as he had not eaten one bit just yet. The alien took a bite of the apple pie and the taste that was filling his mouth was great. “It’s good.” He said and took the next bite. “The girl didn’t lie.” The man added with an amused smile, before the letter was pushed into his direction.

 

When he had read it and had mumbled to himself the short man wanted to know what he wanted to do and the Xenonian thought for a moment, scratching his scarred skin. “I will visit her.” He came to a decision. “We can do so on our way to the cities to get men and weapons to defend this place. I need to at least find out whether she actually does have valuable information for me. If she turns out to be an enemy though, it will be my duty as a Xenonian soldier to eliminate her.” Asher told the other what his plans were and took another bit of the delicious pie but this time there was a berry and a peanut from his demonstration on it. Not thinking about it he shoved the piece into his mouth and was actually surprised at how this tasted. “Interesting.” He commented. “Not bad at all.” He found and then took another piece with the same nut and berry and reached the fork with the pie on it over to Calum’s mouth. “Wanna try this, it’s pretty good actually.” The platinum head said his blue eyes shining in delight at the taste of this. He had never eaten something similar and was so excited about the food that he completely forgot that sharing forks or spoons on Xenon was considered unhygienic and increased the risk of becoming a health threat, hence it was prohibited on their planet.

[Gladis]

Up until the point where the argument broke out, everyone had been hanging on to every word Asher spoke, trying their best to follow along with his suggestions and explanations. It was almost as though they expected him to simply conjure up a magical solution to all their troubles. Calum found this rather amusing, considering it was unlikely that they understood any more of what he was going on about. Perhaps even less, because at least Asher had explained some of these concepts to Calum over the past two months. Yet knowing, at least to an extent what Asher was going on about did little to raise his courage. On the contrary. At length, Calum seemed to grow wearier. Yet just as he was about to explain to Asher why his ideas, though good in theory, would be next to impossible to execute in practice, they had already moved on, Sasha’s angry growl filling the sunlit room. He was clearly not happy about being put in place by Asher, and to some extent, Calum could understand his brothers aggravation. Even if he felt like he might be overreacting. Just a little.

 

”Careful, Asher,” he glared at him through narrowed eyes, ”I will not have you speak to me like that in my own home. Not after all the hospitality we have shown you.” Sasha was clearly seething, his fists clenched. ”Perhaps it is easy for a man who, before he came here, had no concepts of family, to argue that we should risk our lives fighting a war we cannot possibly win. Elisabeth’s idea may sound reasonable to you, until you realize that they have no obligations to help us. There is no nation, no state. We’re on our own. And of course, they will eventually come to realize that the southern tribes are a problem. But will that happen before or after we’re gone? Because make no mistake, to them we are perfectly expendable. We have been allowed to exist because we’re only just the right amount of convenient, but there’s nothing that says that once they have driven the barbarians away, they couldn’t set up an outpost amongst our ashes. It has been done in other places, which I’m sure you’re all aware of. So go ahead. Call me a coward all you like.” He met Asher’s gaze head on, not faltering even a little, ”but I honestly could not give less of a fuck about whatever you consider to be honorable, when the lives of my family are at stake. I love this village with all my heart, but I love my family more. I will not see them harmed.” His words once again plunged the room into a heavy silence, as everyone was left to ponder Sasha’s arguments.

 

He was right, of course. Even Elisabeth knew she was grasping at straws. There was a slim chance that the cities would agree to help them, but they also had plenty of reasons to turn them down. If these reasons ended up outweighing the benefits of saving the Myre… Calum shook his head. It didn’t bare thinking about.

 

It almost came as a relief when they changed the subject. Asher’s delight over the apple pie was enough to lift everyone’s spirits around the table, and Sasha even managed a faint smile. ”That gladdens me to hear,” he said, having calmed down considerably, ”I will be sure to pass on your praise on to Ellie.”

 

Calum nodded his head slowly in agreement as Asher explained his intended course of action. He didn’t really like the sound of killing the witch if she turned out to be his ’enemy’, but felt like that could be dealt with once they were there. Besides, if she could deal with the monsters that prowled the waste, she could probably deal with Asher. Perhaps it was him Calum should worry about instead?

 

”Good, that’s settled then.” Sasha said, ”Elisabeth, I know this is a lot to ask when you’ve only just returned, but would you be willing to accompany him? You know the area well, as well as the dangers you might end up facing.”

 

She hesitated, though only briefly, before inclining her head towards Asher in a nod. ”I’ll accompany him. Even if I don’t doubt his ability to fend for himself, it would be foolish to venture into the waste alone.”

 

”What about me?” Calum asked, unable to mask the hopeful note in his voice. He gazed at his brother expectantly.

 

Sasha raised an eyebrow. ”What about you?” Then he paused, frowning. ”You didn’t honestly think you’d be coming along, did you?”

 

Feeling his heart sink, Calum opened his mouth to speak, yet his brother beat him to it, cutting him off before he even had a chance to protest.

 

”That’s out of the question and you know it. ’Nan would never agree to letting you go.”

 

Calum pursed his lips, balling his hand into a fist beneath the table. ”I’m not a child anymore. I’m past my twenties, for heaven’s sake and I’m sick and tired of how you and ’nan keep on mollycollying me all the time! I’m old enough to make my own decisions. What ’nan thinks doesn’t matter!” Judging by Sasha’s expression he seemed to have struck a nerve, because he looked furious – although to his credit, after shutting his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, he did manage to keep his cool.

 

”You think yourself an adult but you act unreasonable, like a child. Think, little brother. You’d only end up a burden. Liz is a seeker and Asher a trained warrior. But what of you? You’re neither, nor do you know anything of the outside world.”

 

”And who’s fault do you suppose that is?” Calum retorted, his voice low with seething. ”Everyone here is risking their lives to protect the village. Everyone except for me, because you and ’nan can’t get over your fucking traumas! But sure, go on treating me like a child. I’m sure that way I’ll get a clue.” His voice was dipped in sarcasm, his eyes narrowing as he stubbornly held his brother’s gaze.

 

Sasha’s lips tightened, although he did not instantly reply. Instead it was Elizabeth who spoke. ”Calum is right, you know.” She said, turning to face his brother. ”You can’t expect to keep him out of trouble forever, and the sooner he learns how to deal with it, the better. Besides, the witch’s hut is only a day and a half’s walk from here. It’s not like we’d be heading into the heart of the waste, and that particular area is relatively safe. I would not let harm come to him, I give you my word. However, if we do decide to take him along–” Before Sasha could object she once again raised her hand to silence him, turning her stern gaze towards Calum. ”– you,” she said, ”will have to to promise me that you will listen to every word I tell you, and oblige every order I give, without fail. You will not complain when things get though, and you will not attempt anything reckless. Do I make myself clear?”

 

Calum, though he tried hard to restrain himself, could feel a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His green eyes glowed with excitement, and for the first time in years he felt a tiny bit closer to his dream of becoming a seeker. He nodded his head eagerly. ”Understood!”

 

Sasha sighed in defeat, combing his fingers through his messy brown hair. He no longer seemed furious, although he still appeared less than happy about this development. In fact, he almost appeared sad, his face lined with worry. Still, he did not protest, simply turning his head to gaze out the window. How had things come to this? He wondered. It was foolish, he thought, to head into the waste willingly. And yet that was exactly what their father had done. Over and over again. Until one day, he was swallowed by the waste – like so many that had come before, and many more that came after. It was not a life to strive for, so why was he so set on following that path? If anything it only demonstrated to Sasha that his brother was still bound by childish notions of exploration and adventure. He would have wished to spare his brother from getting disillusioned by the harsh realities of the world, yet it seemed the gods kept working against him.

 

”You would leave in about two weeks time.” Said the village chief, contemplatively, ”that should give you enough time to prepare, and Elizabeth some time to recover from her last trip.” It also ensured that they would take part in the village meeting, which was sure to take place before their departure.

 

By then Calum was theming with excitment, only barely paying attention to the elderly man, or the fork with pie hovering before his face. Instinctively he parted his lips, blinking in surprise as suddenly a pleasant combination of sweet, sour and savory exploded in his mouth. His expression split into a grin.

 

”You’re right!”

 

Perhaps it was a good thing that Calum failed to notice Sasha’s gaze, filled with words of concern he found himself unable to speak. His throat felt tight, and Sasha wondered whether he was only imagining that the previously warm light streaming into the room had become a little bit dimmer.

[-Hideki-]

Asher didn’t blink and his face didn’t get less stern or determined when out of all the people on the table it was Sasha who said that he had shown him such a large amount of hospitality. In any other situation the light haired had thought about this as hilarious as he had been the very one to show him the least hospitality. In fact the Xenoian was at his and his wife’s place for the first time and the man had been everything else but enthusiastic about having the soldier over, his wife had been the one welcoming him friendly. It also had been Calum and his grandmother who had nursed him back to health and in whose house he had stayed. If anything he owed something to them but not to Sasha at all. “Your hospitality Sasha was rather limited; if anything you tolerated me around. I owe nothing to you. It was your brother’s and your grandma’s hospitality and kindness that I have been shown over the last two months not yours.” He made clear barking into the other’s face, his body language even more aggressive and dominant than before the other had told him to be careful.

 

Letting the other finish he stared directly into the man’s eyes with his intense blue gaze largely unimpressed by what the other told him. There just was that same feelings he had had about what the other had said before and he still found it dishonourable. On Xenon deserters were shot or hung and they were always found as the inner division in their white uniforms would hunt them down. It was punishable by death to abandon the homeland in times of need and crisis and fleeing from duty to protect the own kind and nation like a coward. Such egotistical behaviour was not permitted. He snorted disdainfully shaking his head. “Ridiculous. That I don’t put too much value onto genetic relations and don’t think that this is any more valuable than any other living and working group doesn’t invalidate what I am saying.” The man hissed. “And yes what you are doing is cowardice. You are waving the white flag and giving up on your culture, your home, your people, everything without thinking of fighting for it. You are just throwing it to those subhuman’s feet surrendering and fleeing so that you won’t have to sacrifice anything to protect your land and people. Who fights can lose; who doesn’t fight has already lost! I would never surrender! I’d rather die for my planet and the emperor than crawling down to some savage’s feet like a cockroach without dignity leaving our planet to them without fighting with all I have.” The platinum head spat out and there were flames and pride burning in his blue eyes. That was true; he as well as the other soldiers were ready to fight to death in the emperor’s wars. They’d give their lives for their land and their people and die a hero’s death and that was the most honourable way to die on Xenon. One thing the platinum haired had in the back of his mind now though was new, he had never felt this when he had said that he would give everything for the good of their planet and the emperor before and it was the fear and the pain that he had felt in the battleship. How his body had rejected that fate and how terrified he had been of dying in that moment. And that had made him aware that he feared to die even though he had been taught all his life not to.

 

Asher slammed his fist onto the table. “Either you don’t understand me or you’re not listening.” He yelled at Calum’s elder brother. “The battle of Vienna was fought by people of different nationalities. Those people had fought together because it was the smart thing to do! For the greater good!” he explained. “If the people in your cities will be too stupid and too careless to understand this and they would rather scarify those people who are culturally and geographically close to them and make it more difficult for themselves to fight off the scum later as this would result from letting those shithole people come closer to their city borders by letting them defeat your Myre, that just shows the problem with this planet as a whole and makes them just as egotistical cowards as you are when you say you want to give up and abandon your land because you rather protect yourself and those who share your DNA only and don’t care about the rest then, because they put their individual needs before the greater good! That’s generally the problem here. You say I don’t understand your concept of family, but you don’t understand what it means to dedicate yourself to a higher purpose, to the greater good and greater values that are beyond your little life and wishes and what is important to you personally, you don’t understand national and cultural identity and belonging, you don’t understand to be one in a community with the people who belong to your cultural group! Everything but yourself and those genetically related to you is not of any priority to you. You think small not big!” the other said not yelling anymore but still speaking rather forcefully.

 

With a sigh he pressed some fingers onto the bridge of his nose. “As for your ‘they are way too strong we can’t possibly win this’ aria you’re singing here: Have you even tried to find a way just yet? No! Have you listened when I said that technological advancement can overpower them? One man with access to a weapon of mass destruction can easily defeat whole cities worth of foot soldiers with spears. I thought it was clear that this was a suggestion and an offer from me to help you to get more powerful, more advanced weapons. My combat suit alone has many different types of weapons installed. Not to mention the weapon that I have repaired together with the suit. This suit alone can kill hundreds with pressing onto one button alone because it contains poison that will go from the air right into the lungs of the enemies what will make them choke to death immediately. Of course this weapon integrated in the suit is not as strong as throwing a bomb containing that same poison. And I want to help you built better weapons and I want to find some scientist and engineers who might be of help as well.” The man said. He was aware that he was largely talking about a completely different dimension of war and weaponry than those people could imagine and that the Xenonian’s wars were not comparable.

They fought with completely different technology and their enemies from the other imperial planets fought with similar arms they did. The Zynians had weapons of mass destruction as well. Both Xenon and Zyan were full of this type of weapons hence, they didn’t throw them onto their home planets but just used them on the planets the enemy had concurred or on extern army standpoints of the enemies. But never onto their home planets! The Zynians knew that if they were to throw such a weapon onto Xenon, Xenon would fire three onto theirs and sooner or later both planets would have been completely destroyed. However that was not good for the more primitive planets the two enemies had conquered because they were recklessly messing those places up and when one place they had taken their resources from had been blown into ruins by the enemy they needed to conquer more and other planets again for resources.

 

If this was not enough to convince them that with him their fight would not be hopeless he had no clue what would. Granted he should have known that they didn’t know about ancient human history. If they had remembered their own history, they would have already been much further and more progressed as they were now. The Earthlings had once possessed much more technology and they had had biological, chemical and other weapons that could wipe away plenty at once.

 

 

Even though Calum nodded he could see something in his eyes when he said that he would eliminate her if she turned out to be the enemy. And he didn’t like what he saw there. He was condemning him and not taking him seriously and it was certain that he underestimated him. His blue eyes narrowed considerably and he looked displeased. This showed that the brunette still had no clue who he really was and what he was capable of. If one wasn’t a C-type or an equivalent the chances to defeat Asher in one on one combat were incredibly low. And even C-types couldn’t defeat him for the most part. He was not just a soldier, he was one of the best soldiers on Xenon and he was not an easy target like some brainless creature or even a horde of creatures. After all, he had been invited to dine with the emperor once for a reason.

 

Asher nodded into the direction of the woman who agreed to accompany him and he thought that she was a good choice judging from the way she had spoken before. He thought that if she had been Xenonian she might have been a C-type, whereas he really wasn’t seeing that in the short male’s older brother.

 

Again the Colonel couldn’t have disagreed more with Sasha who tried to keep Calum from joining him on his journey. While the older man rubbed him the wrong way again the short brunette was actually leaving a good impression on him right now, especially when he argued that everyone was contributing to save the village but he was kept from doing so. He once more didn’t understand much about that interhuman aspect of that but he liked the sense of duty and responsibility and the patriotism the other expressed by wanting to risk something for the good of his home. That he liked and he was definitely on the younger male’s side. “True! You shouldn’t keep him from playing his role and depriving him of making his own contribution for his homeland. You’re bringing dishonour onto him by keeping that man from doing what he has to do as a man of this village because of your own motives without even considering what he wants and needs to do. Not everyone wants to run from the responsibility towards the homeland and the own people and Calum is coming with me!” he decided without awaiting any decision from the other men in the room.

 

After that he heard Liz talk and he couldn’t help but think that she indeed treated the brunette as a child. “You’re indeed treating him like a child.” He said. “Don’t you think it’s clear to him that he has to follow the orders of the higher ranks when on a mission and that everything else counts as insubordination and is punishable?” Ash said. “Every toddler knows that on Xenon and I have never had to argue with a lower rank in my whole career as the Colonel of the space force.” He commented having thought the woman would approach this issue differently. He had never spoken to his soldiers like that. His orders and instructions had sounded much clearer cut and much less personal.

 

 

When he heard that they were leaving in two weeks he couldn’t help but feeling a little impatient and restless at this prospect already but he didn’t say anything or expressed this impatience through anything. He fed Calum with the piece of pie and smiled widely as the other seemed to like the combination that Asher had found out about accidently. “Right!” he said and then continued to eat the apple pie. When he was done eating, he realised that it was already time for the Xenonian anthem, which he still sang every day at the correct times. The man placed his hand onto his heart and started to sing that long song he had also sung while he had been grilled in his battleship and that had easily could have become his last words. He certainly wasn’t a great singer but he totally felt the song and that was pretty clear in the way he sung it.

 

He remained how he was a few seconds after the song had ended before he took his hand away from his heart and took his helmet instead, putting it back on. “Shouldn’t we get to work now?” he asked. “It’s working time after anthem time!” the man said enthusiastic about being able to work again, even though it wasn’t the type of work that the Colonel was used to.

[Gladis]

Elizbeth seemed neither angered or annoyed by being called for ’treating Calum like a child’. She simply gazed at him for a moment, before allowing her lips to curl into a patient smile. ”Perhaps such a thing is clear to every toddler on Xenon, but here things are different. We are not soldiers, and Calum does not stand below me in any way. Yet if I am to take him along, I must be able to trust his judgement and be sure that he will follow my instructions. His life will become my responsibility, as I am the one who knows the terrain and the dangers we will face. Trust me when I say that the waste, even the outer circles of it, are dangerous. Calum is strong from the physical labor farm work demands, but his skills in combat are limited to the mere basics, and he has no experience of actually using them in a life threatening situation. I should not and will not punish him for subordination, but the waste sure as hell will. I’m sure that’s something none of wants, so please try to understand that these are precautions I must take.” She finished her explanation, garnering nods of approval from nearly everyone in the room.

 

Only Sasha remained still and tight lipped, his gaze remaining locked on the window. Then, after a while he excused himself and left. Perhaps he needed some time to come to terms with everything that had just transpired, or perhaps he was simply afraid of turning the conversation even more toxic than it had already been. Calum couldn’t tell for sure, and he was too tired to think about it any more.

 

In fact, now that he had a full stomach and everything was decided, the initial excitement beginning to settle down, he could feel how his lack of sleep was beginning to affect him. He’d already been quieter than usual, unable to participate properly in most of the conversations simply because of how long it took for him to process everything. He wasn’t exactly sure when it happened, but at some point during Asher’s singing he simply nodded off, his slender frame falling softly against the body of the armorclad giant.

 

”Though I don’t understand a word of it, your song has a nice melody.” Said the chief's wife with a smile, though Elizabeth couldn’t be sure if she simply said it to be nice or really meant it. Asher wasn’t exactly a great singer, and for him to burst out in random song at the breakfast table seemed kind of odd for someone who hadn’t gotten used to hearing it every day for two months straight. Still, it seemed to have lifted the spirits around the table a bit, and that was a good thing. She smiled and nodded in response to Asher’s question.

 

”Of course,” she said getting up, ”since Sasha left, I’ll show you around. I hope that’s alright with you.”

[-Hideki-]

There was scepticism paired with a questioning look on his face as the woman spoke but the scepticism almost disappeared listening to her while the question mark on the male’s face was continuously growing. “If you aren’t soldiers, what are you then?” he wanted to know. “As far as I have understood it you are some kind of troop and every troop needs a system, order and a hierarchy to function efficiently! If you don’t have ranks and there is no sequence of authority, how do you coordinate your troop then?” Asher asked interestedly.

 

His brows narrowed and he gazed at the young man’s older brother dismissively as he excused himself and left. Not only retreating from the confrontation and the conversation but also from instructing Asher at his first day of work as he had promised Calum to do. This just strengthened his opinion on him and the impression he had gotten from the other during their argument and he found him irresponsible and weak.

 

While he was singing the anthem he could feel the short brunette’s body falling against his. Stoically he ended the song as there should be no interruption but after he had finished and had declared that it was working time after anthem time he looked at the younger man who was sleeping leaning against his body and there was a small smile playing around his thin lips but it was for no one to see as it was hidden under the mask.

 

He turned his gaze from sleeping Calum to the elderly lady as she complemented him and he nodded. “This is our planets glorious anthem and its melody transports our strength, glory and beauty. Our supreme leader has written it himself.” He told her. “I wish you could hear it sung by millions of our citizens on the great forum of our world capital. It’s astonishing and powerful and if you weren’t able to hear it like that than at least sung by someone who can actually sing!” Asher expressed, remembering the occasions where he had stood in a row, the forum place full of people and millions of voices passionately singing their song. But it would already unfold how amazing the anthem really was when sung by a singer who could really sing as the Colonel knew he wasn’t much of a singer.

 

After he had talked to the old woman about the anthem a little Elisabeth stood and told him that she would be the one showing him around and instructing him in Sasha’s place. “I certainly won’t complain.” He said with a small laugh as he liked the idea of working with her more than with Calum’s older brother. “But I’ll carry that sleepyhead back to bed first.” Ash let her know nodding into the brunette man’s direction who was still asleep.

 

With that said he said goodbye to the chief and his wife and thanked them for the invitation, also asked them to say his thanks to Sasha’s lady wife before he took the brunette up and carried him out of the house.

Calum was even lighter than he had thought, even though the young male was sleeping like a stone. Under his mask looking into that sleeping face of the man made him smile and giving the other a warm look as he transported the tired guy back to his grandmother’s house and into the bedroom where he was lying him down onto the bed and covered him with the blanket. A slight rosy tone was creeping onto his cheeks when he thought back to the reason the other had been wide awake in the first place as he sighed, looking at the other for a moment. Weirdly enough he felt the urge to gently stroke a strand of his hair out of the younger male’s face and even though he didn’t understand why he did this and even let his gloved hand slightly caress his cheek before he left the room.

 

Once outside he headed straight towards Elisabeth full of energy and the will to work. “Sorry for the wait but now I am to your service. So what am I going to do?” he asked full of anticipation and motivation.

[Gladis]

”We’re no troop, really,” Elisabeth explained patiently, walking alongside Asher as he carried the sleeping Calum back towards old nan’s hut. ”Just a group of people trying to survive a harsh world. There’s some kind of hierarchy, I guess you could say. The village chief and his council are in charge of making certain decisions and keeping things organized and running.” Though by the looks of it, she added in her mind, he won’t be staying chief for much longer. The man has grown old and senile – It would be a folly to have him elected again. ”Although everyone does have a certain role or task assigned to themselves, we still help out wherever it’s required. At harvest it hardly matters if you’re a doctor or seeker by trade – every able hand is needed or we’ll never make it in time. Does that make sense?”

 

Once they had reached ’nan’s cottage she stopped, waiting outside while Asher brought her friend inside. Folding her arms across her chest, she leaned back against the stone wall and gazed up at the blue sky. Not a cloud could be seen, and the sun felt pleasantly warm on her face. Far in the distance a bird circled the tree tops – most likely an eagle, judging by its cry. Then she lowered her gaze, and through the window of the neighbouring house she could see the middle aged couple that inhabited it. Lydia caught her gaze and she smiled, waving at her from the window. Elizabeth returned the gesture, just about to head over when the door opened and Asher returned. She straightened up, smiling at his enthusiasm.

 

”That’s the attitude. Well, come along then.” She said she started walking, making her way through the village and towards the fields. ”Have you ever worked a scythe before?” She asked.

[-Hideki-]

Asher didn’t hesitate a second and followed along as he couldn’t wait to work. Working hard and efficiently, contributing to the nation was considered the purpose of everyone on Xenon so not being able to work had definitely not been good for the soldier mentally as he had felt useless and chained without being able to work and contribute. The Xenonian man turned his head to the side looking at the smaller woman when she asked him if he had ever worked with a scythe before. “No. It wouldn’t make a good weapon. And even outside of my working field we don’t have or use scythes. Way too inefficient.” He explained. The man had no idea about farm work. He actually had no idea about anything but being a soldier. Everything from the day he had been born had been geared to the needs of warrior types. What he didn’t need for that he couldn’t do and had not learned. People on Xenon were all specialists, there were no all-rounders.

Additionally the man had never even seen a field or plants before. On his planet farming fell under ‘nutriment production’ and it was done in large halls and factories. The plants were artificially constructed to have the nutrients the people wanted and needed and they were bred artificially too and the whole physical labour Calum’s people were doing was completely done by machines. The people working in that industry were there for coordination and controlling the machines, for the calculation, the logistics and building and repairing the machines etc. but not one was planting or reaping anything with their hands and physical labour.

 

Though he was physically strong he had to realise after Elisabeth had shown him how it was done, that he wasn’t that good at it. He would have known a thousand ways to fight against a horde of enemies with that scythe but reaping didn’t work all too well. After he had done what Elisabeth had shown him for an hour and even he was getting routine into it he realised that it was boring and monotonous work. That it was not only repetitive but that it was not intellectually stimulating at all. There was nothing he had to consider or think about or find a solution for while he was doing that kind of work and at one point his body just did that automatically like a machine while his thoughts went everywhere else but away from the field.

 

That wouldn’t have been that bad if he had not lacked the device that was supposed to keep his sex drive under control.

Ash was thinking about sex a lot. Not constantly but a damn lot, more than in his entire thirty years before and he felt as if he was going insane. It couldn’t be normal for a person to think such thoughts that often or could it? Or would it have always been like this for him and for the other guys if they had not had that device from the start. His mind was wandering off back to that one attractive comrade of his, later he looked at another farm worker who had dropped his shirt because it was hot and he was sweating what led to Asher being able to see his strong arms and the sweat tracing down the defined abs on his bronzy body. Thinking inappropriately about that guy he was getting another hard on and he was thankful that it wasn’t visible due to his combat suit. He tried to ignore it and forced his mind to stay focussed on the boring farm work. He made it for a while though he couldn’t turn off his brain completely but he was thinking about other stuff until the dusk where he was starting to think about Calum harmlessly at first and then remembered his confession in the morning and that whole situation and when his mind was starting to imagining the younger male’s body and face in just the wrong ways he wanted to ram the scythe through his hand to not let his mind go there. His mind was about to go there though when he finally heard the voice of Elisabeth again, realising that almost everyone was already gone from the field and that he apparently should have stopped the work much earlier and had been supposed to make break in between and not to work through the whole day, telling him it was surprising that he was still standing.

 

When he followed her back down from the field he was glad that it was over. Sure he was happy that he could be productive again but he didn’t like that work and he even hated it more that his own mind was about to become a ticking time bomb and a danger when he was working there because the work was solely physical but didn’t give him anything to think about.

 

Heading inside of Calum’s house, putting off his helmet revealing his scarred face he already smelled the food from the kitchen and his stomach was growling as the man realised how hungry he was. And then he realised how sweaty he was, what came with the realisation that he was somewhat tired too. He stepped into the kitchen seeing the brunette’s grandmother cooking. “Good evening!” he greeted and let his body sink onto one of the wooden chairs glad that he sat for the first time since breakfast.

[Gladis]

While Asher was busy helping the rest of the village work the fields, Calum was sleeping soundly where the giant had left him in his bed, snuggled up amongst the furs. This was only allowed to last until noon, however, by which time ’nan had returned with an excited Hermis at her heels. The delivery had gone well and both the mother and child were at good health. Because of how late it had been when everything was over, she’d opted to stay the night in the neighbouring village. That was a wise decision, as the roads near the waste could become particularly perilous at night.

 

After throwing him out of bed and making sure he was dressed and fed, ’nan instructed Calum to go fetch Jack. Normally she would have sent the two of them to help out on the fields, but since they seemed to be making good progress down there she tasked them with heading into the forest to gather firewood. Only after he had made due on his promise to Asher of washing and switching out his bedsheets, as well as tending to his regular choir of checking in on the horses. Since they were out grazing on the grassy plains this time of the year, the most he had to do was check that everything was in working order and that the animals were healthy.

 

By the time he came stumbling over the threshold his body ached from a good day's worth of hard labour, and he reeked of sweat and horse.

 

”Good evening, Asher,” ’nan said with a warm smile, placing down a pot of steaming hot vegetable stew on the table. ”I take it you must be ravenous after a long day in the fields,” she noted, and there was something aching towards concern in her eyes. She’d been informed that he hadn’t stopped working even during the lunch break – despite some of the villagers attempts to get him to do so. Pausing, she glanced up to see Calum take off his boots by the door.

 

”Hello Calum – did you two manage to get any work done?”

 

He nodded his head as he crossed the room, pulling out a chair to take his seat at the table. ”We felled the pine tree that was threatening to fall onto the shrine. A real piece of work, I tell you.” It was almost a relief to find that Asher smelled as much as he did. Well, after working all day in the sun, it only made sense.

 

’Nan, clearly having noticed scrunched up her nose as she filled their plates to the brim. ”I don’t doubt it,” she said before adding, ”once the two of you have finished I’ll have Calum show you to the bathhouse. You’re both in dire need of a good wash.”

 

”Alright.” Calum said with a smile, only to pause as he came to a certain realization. The smile froze on his face, a small blush begging to creep across his cheeks, the memories of earlier that morning flooding back into his mind.

 

’Nan, perhaps understandably, arched an eyebrow. ”What’s the matter, dear?” She asked softly.

 

Calum quickly, and perhaps a little too violently shook his head. ”N-nothing! I’m fine!” He insisted, and before anyone could demand an explanation, shoved a spoonful of stew into his mouth.

[-Hideki-]

“Certainly.” He nodded as the old lady said that he must be ravenous. In fact he was so hungry that his mouth was even watering at the sight of stew though he had figured out that he didn’t like vegetable too much. They weren’t worse than the stuff they had on Xenon so he had no problem eating it. The man had to keep himself from starting to eat right out of that bloody pot while his stomach was roaring like a starved lion.

 

He only looked at Calum shortly when the younger one was coming back from his work. The soldier didn’t want to look at him too long considering that he was going crazy and that his brain was making him think such things about the man. It was bad enough that he had looked at that field worker in such a way and had gotten an erection from that what had led to him having to ignore that throbbing ache the whole time what had definitely been a hassle and had disturbed his focus. He didn’t want this to happen to him while looking at someone he actually knew and liked that would be much worse.

 

Listening to what the Earthling told about his work Asher couldn’t help himself as to think it would have been a lot better to let the pine tree smash that disgusting stain that was that shrine, that sign of religious lunacy and primitiveness. However he didn’t say a word. After that day, the boring but physically hard work and what was going on with him he didn’t feel like ranting about religion and getting into an argument with the shorter male about that subject again.

 

It didn’t take long and Claum’s grandmother had gotten aware of how awful both of them smelled. It wasn’t only the sweat, Asher smelled like the plants on the field and Calum like an animal in addition to that. Hence she suggested that Calum and he should go to the bathhouse after dinner because they were in need of a good wash. “True. I have already smelled better in my life.” Asher agreed. “Is bathhouse how you call your shower rooms?” the man asked but when he remembered that they had no constant water that question got obsolete. “Nevermind.” He said. “What is a bathhouse?” he asked instead.

 

It didn’t escape his vision that the younger male was suddenly acting strange and Ash didn’t understand why. At first he had seemed positive about the bathhouse too and then he had all of a sudden blushed and started to act awkward and weird and too exaggerated a little like Asher when he had been embarrassed about jerking off and had tried to cover it up. So the other was trying to cover the reason for his embarrassment up before his grandmother.

Thinking about why he might be embarrassed he figured that the other couldn’t know what the Xenonian had been thinking about him and his body out on the field but then it came back to his mind that the other had actually confessed being sexually attracted to him. He had also said that Asher’s body was distracting him, just like Asher had been distracted by the body of that hot farm worker. That meant the other was probably thinking the same things about him that he had tried to not let himself think and in the bathhouse they’d both be naked. The man shook his head not wanting to think about it further, starting to eat as soon as the old lady had filled his bowl, eating hastily as if he was a bear that had found a honey pot. He took some more after that and ate three bowls full of the stew in total covering his mouth as he was burping, looking over to Calum to see if he had finished eating.

 

After they both had finished eating Ash had grabbed his helmet, took it back on as he figured they would have to walk outside to get to that bathhouse and then looked at Calum. “Are you ready?” he asked. “I’m kinda icky.” The solider commented just wanting to wash and feel clean again so he went and got himself some clean clothing and a few towels for the both of them.

[Gladis]

Calum wolfed down his stew in no time at all, immediately going for seconds. Although he would never could have managed even half half of what Asher was capable of gobbling down, he was still ravenous after a days hard work. Besides, it was important to eat as long as the food was plenteous. The winters were long, harsh and barren. Come spring, any fat reserves the people of the Myre might have been able to build up during the summer and autumn would be gone. As such it was custom that at the end of every harvest, they would feast for three nights and three days – where they were allowed to eat and drink to their heart's content. Although veiled in religion and tradition, the summer’s end festival also served a more practical purpose. Because once the festival was over, a time of scarcity and preservation would begin. The need to stretch out their food reserves as much as possible for the sake of lasting through the entirety of winter didn’t exactly make for a full stomachs, so the festival ensured that everyone got their fill come harsher times.

 

”As ready as I’ll ever be.” Calum said as he set down his wooden spoon, having emptied his second bowl of stew. Then he turned to his grandmother, who had already begun gathering the dishes. ”Thank you for the food, ’nan.”

 

”You’re welcome, dear.” She said softly, with that warm smile that could only be his grandmother’s.

 

Calum quickly lent her a hand while Asher went to fetch fresh clothes and towels, and before long the two were on their way. The bathhouse was a wooden structure that, for the sake of practicality, had been built right next to the river that ran along the western side of the village. By then it had grown exponentially darker, and Calum used a lantern to light the way.

 

”Calling it a bathhouse might be giving it more credit than is due,” he mused as they walked, ”I mean, you can bathe in it, but that’s not really what we use it for most of the time. There’s even a steam bath, but both take a lot of time and firewood to get running so we’ll have to make do with just washing up. Besides, if anyone wants to bathe this time of year, the river will do just as well. There’s a real good spot further down the slope.”

 

”See the pile of wood over there?” He asked as they arrived at the bathhouse, pointing to the small shed at its side. ”If you could please fetch me some, I’ll start filling up the basin.”

 

The bathhouse as a whole was divided into three sections. The first room was the washing room and the only section they’d be using this time. The other two sections, both of which could be accessed from the first, contained a small pool and something like a sauna respectively.

 

As he opened the door to the washing room, he was pleased to find it empty but warm. By the looks of it someone had already used it prior to them, and the remaining embers of a fire were still glowing in the stove. Picking up the wooden basin atop the stove, he brought it over to the tap in the wall, beginning to undress as he waited for the basin to fill. There were two reasons as to why Calum had asked Asher to fetch firewood. The first was purely practical. Asher was considerably stronger than Calum and could thus carry more. The other reason was perhaps a bit silly. Asher’s absence gave him just enough time to shed his clothes and, for the sake of maintaining at least some level of modesty, tie a towel around his waist. Normally he wouldn’t have bothered, but everything considered it felt like the safer bet.

[-Hideki-]

As it had become darker his combat suit adjusted his eyesight and enabled him to see clearly in the dark and for him the lantern wasn’t needed. The Xenonian man was following Calum in a fast pace while he listened to the other describing and explaining the bathhouse to him. It didn’t help him too much though. Steam baths, needing firewood and a lot of time to get it warm and wash, that was something he couldn’t really imagine.

His people didn’t have baths. Bathing was considered inefficient and less hygienic so they only built showers. A shower didn’t take that long, there could be more showers built in one room hence more people could shower at the same time and it was more hygienic.

 

When the younger man told him to fetch the firewood Ash pressed the clothing and the towels into Calum’s arms before he went to the pile of wood. Standing before it he realised that he had no clue how much he was supposed to take. He turned around to ask but the man had already disappeared in the wooden house.

He looked at the wood again but it was not as accommodating as to tell him the answer so he shrugged and just took as much as he could carry.

 

A huge soldier in a metal suit was kicking the door to the bathhouse open because his hands were both occupied with the wood. “Where should I put it?” he asked as he was carrying so much wood that he couldn’t really watch over it anymore. Placing it next to the fireplace he looked around in the bathing house. This would not have passed the hygiene standards for sanitary installations on Xenon and it was freaking hot in there too and Asher started to sweat again.

 

The man took his helmet off and placed it onto a wooden stool as his blue eyes went to Calum who had already undressed and had wrapped a towel around his hips. It was a weird thing to do as this would come in unhandy when washing one’s body and he asked himself if Earthlings always used their bathhouse like that.

No one would have done that at his home. Xenonians were used to communal showers and they all went in there naked without a second thought. Hence the Colonel of the spaceforce who was stranded on a foreign planet just dropped his clothing and threw it next to the helmet onto the stool. His scars really had left no part of his body completely out and whenever he had forgotten about them during the day he got reminded of this when he saw himself naked.

 

He suppressed a sigh and walked naked as he was towards the basin. “And what do we do now? Sit in it? Looks uncomfortable!” he wanted to know looking towards Calum, his eyes running off and over the man’s body and the smooth skin that was so unlike his own. The man had a completely different body type than he, or that farm worker or that comrade of his but the brunette was definitely a handsome looking fellow.

[Gladis]

”Over there,” Calum said, not even bothering to glance up from the basin as he pointed a basket right next to the oven. Although mostly empty, it still contained little pieces of bark and branches, indicating that wood had been stored there previously. Once the basin had filled to his satisfaction, he heaved it – with some difficulty – back onto the flat surface metal surface of the oven. Like this it wouldn’t bring the water to a boil, but still heat it sufficiently. Of course, that would take a bit of time. Crouching down he grabbed four decently sized logs and pushed them into the oven through the upper hatch before closing it.

 

Hearing Asher’s question he laughed softly, shaking his head. ”No, it’s too small for that.” Getting up he grabbed two sponges from atop a shelf. ”Here, take thi-” the words almost seemed to catch in his throat as he turned around to face Asher, and he wanted to kick himself for it. There he stood – butt naked and gorgeous, despite the rampant scarring. It wasn’t the first time Calum seen him unclothed of course, but it was the first time he’d seen him unclothed and conscious. Heat involuntarily rose to his cheeks and he quickly averted his gaze, pushing one of the sponges into Asher’s hands. Don’t make this awkward, Calum.” He thought to himself. Please don’t make it any more awkward than it already is.

 

”You dip it in the water and use it to wash off the grime and the dirt. We gotta wait a bit until the water’s warm though.” Turning his back on Asher he grabbed a second basin and repeated the procedure of filling it up by the tap.

 

It was only then that Calum came to a sudden and horrifying realization. In all the haste to get it on, Calum had done a pretty sloppy job of tying the towel around his waist. That was coming back to bite him now, because as he leaned over the basin to turn off the tap, the fabric came loose, sliding off his slender frame. He tried grabbing it, of course, but by then it was too late and the towel had already dropped to the floor, exposing his bare bottom for all – that is to say Asher – to see.

 

”Hah….” he stood frozen, facing the wall as his face seemed to go through several color changes. From deathly pale to blazing red, his shoulders quivering as awkward laughter spilled from his mouth. ”Hah….hah….hah….” He wasn’t sure whether he felt like crying or cursing or laughing at his own stupidity. Perhaps all of them at once. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t supposed to matter. Normally it wouldn’t have mattered. So why then did it feel like his heart was being crushed under a heavy, unexplainable weight? Why couldn’t he bring himself to turn around and look at Asher – to really look at him. And why, for heaven’s sake, were tears rolling down his cheeks?

[-Hideki-]

Calum seemed to find it funny that Ash had no clue what to do with the basin and how they would be going to clean themselves when he took something from a shelf and handed it to him, starting to speak but when his eyes fell onto the solider they froze in his throat and he looked away again, just leaving the alien with the sponge. The man looked down on himself and he really couldn’t understand that reaction. The other had said he liked his body and his body didn’t look any different than before so why was he acting as if his sight was offending his eyes. Maybe he should have put that stupid unnecessary towel around his waist. Who knows if that was some of their weird folkways that were just illogical and couldn’t be explained. It was possible that the other was feeling insulted because Ash didn’t respect their traditions again or something. He couldn’t explain it to himself differently since the other had said he found him attractive and the soldier had outright stared at the farm worker he had found attractive and not looked away from him that quickly. Well, he probably should have done that as it might have prevented his erection.

 

When the younger male had finally found his words again he told him what he was supposed to do with the sponge and the basin and Ash screwed up his nose finding that this really didn’t sound like the best and most proper way to clean oneself. He would have to live with this though as there weren’t any showers. The sponge however had caught his interest. Not because it would have had fascinating abilities but due to the way the material felt, its texture and the way it responded to being squeezed or poked and touched. And as if he was not thirty-three years old but a freaking child the Colonel was playing with the sponge not paying much mind to anything else anymore at that moment. He was bending it, wringing it until he snapped it and the sponge flew out of his hand and onto the ground.

 

“Damn it!” he muffled and went to where the sponge had flown bending down to get it up again when he suddenly heard a weird kind of laughter that sounded everything but happy coming from Calum. He turned his head into the other man’s direction while he was still bended down and what greeted him there was the younger man’s naked arse on the same height as his head currently was. For a moment he stared with wide eyes not even closing the hand around the sponge. Just looking at the man’s round arse cheeks that were spread because the other was bending too granting Ash to see his tight rosy hole. His blue eyes could clearly take in the view of the brunette’s balls and his cock from behind and the soldier felt heat and a weird tingling in his lower body and it was not that kind of heat that had turned his cheeks to blush in the morning but that kind of heat he had felt back on the field. The platinum haired male wanted to curse himself for that, fearing that if he continued to look at him like this that would end in a hard on again. However he just couldn’t avert his eyes from that nice arse and that hole that was somehow so tempting for him all of a sudden. He had seen buttholes before but on Xenon he had never ever looked twice or cared. Now it was different though. Looking at it the Colonel of the spaceforce felt the urge and the longing to grab, knead and feel those arse cheeks and to put his cock inside of that hole. If it had not been that drastic he would have laughed as he apparently had lost it completely now! What the hell was he thinking about there, sticking his dick inside of that man’s arse. He knew human anatomy and he knew that an arsehole was not there for that purpose. But though he didn’t want to think this anymore he couldn’t help himself and imagined how the brunette would turn around to him with a face heated from lust seductively asking for him to ram his cock into him while licking his index finger and wiggling his butt. And while he was seeing this in front of his minds eyes he could feel his dick twitch and the blood slowly beginning its journey into the lower area of his body.

 

Asher had not understood why the other had laughed because the towel had fallen onto the ground as he didn’t find it too funny but when the laughter had stopped and he could hear tears falling onto the ground and a sobbing noise he was thrown out of his sex fantasy and finally for the first time got his eyes off of the brunette’s arse. He took the sponge and the towel up and brought himself into a standing position again before he walked around to the Earthling so that he stood next to his face. The brunette man was crying! Asher had learned what crying was during the last two months as that kid had cried a few times after it had cried the first time at the day of his arrival. And when he had asked Calum’s grandmother had said that she was crying and people cried when they were sad, in pain or scared. On Xenon people didn’t cry or rather, Asher had never seen anyone doing it. So he saw the man crying but he just couldn’t understand why he would do so. There was no reason for him to be upset from Asher’s point of view. Nothing had happened, only the towel had slid down onto the ground. “Why are you crying?” he asked with a frown, his voice expressing concern. “Is it because the towel had been on the ground? It’s not dirty but you don’t have to use it again. I have brought enough towels, you can take a new one if you consider that not good anymore. Beside that you don’t even need a towel around your waist; it will get in your way when you want to clean yourself anyway.” He said still offering him the towel that had fallen onto the ground back to examine it, smiling encouragingly.

[Gladis]

One moment, Calum had been staring at the wooden wall, paralyzed by the absurdity of his own feelings. The next he was gazing straight into vast pools of icy blue, more beautiful and unlike any eye color Calum had ever seen on another human being. He felt transfixed by the gaze, and touched by the look of concern on Asher’s face. He felt embarrassed and guilty over his own unreasonable behavior, and perhaps even a bit confused. There was a part of him that wanted to run and hide, and another that wanted nothing more than for him throw his arms around Asher and kiss him until they were forced to break apart for the sake of catching their breaths.

 

He was a liar. He’d lied this morning when he’d told Asher that just because he thought the other was hot, didn’t instantly mean he wanted to fuck. Of course he wanted to fuck. He’d been thinking about it almost every day since that one time he’d caught Asher struggling with his morning wood. Yes, of course he’d fucking noticed. His room was tiny – there was barely even a meter between their beds. Yet he’d lied about that too, pretending to know nothing. What else had be been supposed to do? Calling Asher out on it would just have made him feel bad, offering to help him out was out of the question. And that was perhaps Calum’s biggest hiccup in regards to this matter. Because if his desires had been just purely physical, he could have done something about about it already. Heck, right then and there would have been a perfect opportunity.

 

But they weren’t.

 

He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. At that point he’d already stopped sobbing – although to be perfectly honest, he hadn’t done much in ways of sobbing to begin with. He’d simply teared up, which admittedly, wasn’t much better.

 

Shaking his head, he accepted the towel before walking back to the stove where he sat down on a low stool, not even bothering to cover himself again. He simply fumbled around with it absentmindedly, gazing into the crackling flames as he allowed the silence between them to stretch out.

 

Only as he reached for the basket, grabbing another piece of wood to shove into the stove did he finally speak.

 

”Once you’ve found a way to repair your ship, or if your people come for you… you’ll be returning home, right? To Xenon. Where you belong…” he swallowed hard, not entirely sure whether the last bit of that statement was addressed at Asher or himself. His throat felt tight and uncooperative, his heart felt heavy. ”There’s no way you’d choose to stay on this primitive and filthy planet, is there? Because it’s your duty to go back, and that is not something you could just neglect. It would go against your entire being and everything you’ve been taught.” There was no sarcasm in Calum’s voice as he spoke. He was simply putting words to the reality as he saw it, his tone very matter-of-fact. ”And that’s okay...” He added at last, though there was genuine sadness in his voice, his gaze remaining fixed on the flames. ”But it also means that I need to come to terms with the fact that one day you will no longer be with us, and that no matter how strong my desire for you becomes, I can never have you. Because yes, I do desire you. In both the physical and emotional sense. Though I realize either might be concepts that are difficult for you to grasp.” He glanced up to catch Asher’s gaze, his expression solemn.

[-Hideki-]

Ash looked at the other but the man didn’t respond to him. He just wiped away the tears, shook his head took the towel and walked towards a stool to sit down on it. Though he wasn’t crying anymore, what was good, he still looked down and sad and the Xenoian just didn’t get why. It was just a towel, no need to be upset. And he also couldn’t know what Asher had been thinking about when he had stared at his arse so he couldn’t be so disappointed in him or shocked about what he had fantasised about doing to his hole that he was that sad. There just was no plausible reason why he was acting like this all of a sudden and he placed himself onto another stool looking over to Calum who was fondling the towel but didn’t attempt to cover himself again.

 

Out of the blue the brunette started to speak again though and what he said there he had not seen coming and he didn’t know how the other’s mind had gone all that way from talking about the bathhouse and losing a towel to this. “Sure.” He answered right away when the other said that if he were to repair his battleship or would get picked up by someone from Xenon that he would head homewards then. “That much the theory.” He added then as he saw plenty obstacles to get back and he let hear a deep sigh throwing his head into his back getting a little frustrated thinking about not being able to reach home anytime soon again. “No one of my people will pick me up because they think I am dead. And even if not they’d never search for me on Earth! As for my battleship, it is heavily damaged and I don’t have the parts I need to replace the damaged ones nor do I have the resources to build anything new or to get the engine going again.” The man explained. “If I will be lucky enough to be able to get back home it will take me a while. So no worries, I can still help you to win the war against the savages!” he assured the other with a smile as he figured that that would be the thing that worried the other. That he was worried about his land and his people. However Calum did not return his smile and his mood did not seem to light up again.

 

The tall soldier blinked his eyes when the other continued and said that there was no chance that he would choose to stay on his planet and at this point the confusion started to kick in and he was not getting why the other was saying such weird things all of a sudden. “I am Xenonian, I serve the empire as the Colonel of the spaceforce and the only one who could stop me from going back and taking back my place and doing my duty for my home and my people would be the emperor himself. If he told me that I am not good enough for Xenon anymore, that I have degenerated, become too primitive, I will have to accept that punishment for disappointing the emperor and leave my planet as a dishonoured man.” Ash said his face looking serious and there was concern displayed on it. Concern that went far beyond ‘What would the emperor say?’ as there was no way the man could actually realise what Asher had done and what he had been thinking and as soon as he would get the device back that would probably be history again or so he hoped. What concerned him more was if he would be still fit for a life on Xenon if he ever got the chance to get back, as he felt that he was drifting away from their ways more and more the longer he had to stay on Earth and was left without the control that he possessed on Xenon.

 

His heart was getting heavy when he thought about his home that he missed a lot at times, at the emperor, the parades in their capital, his comrades, how he and the General Major of the spaceforce had outsmarted a high member of their rivals - the inner division - how they had celebrated that at Asher’s place, the victories he had had with his comrades, the smile of his scientist who had always been that proud of him. As he was thinking about all of that he felt homesick, especially considering the work. He had not enjoyed that farm work at all. And this planet made him feel sick and sneeze and made his eyes all red on top of that. Somehow he wished that he could show the younger male his home too. Though the other had never found anything positive what he had told him he might actually see how glorious and great his home was when he saw it. “I’d really like to show you my planet if it was only possible.” He told him with a melancholic smile on his lips that made his scars strain.

 

What followed then he couldn’t grasp anymore at all though, he could tell that the other was incredibly sad but he didn’t understand why he was that devastated by the thought of Asher leaving sometime in the far future. Why this was something that he struggled to accept and to come to terms with. The man did give an explanation but that went beyond his horizon as well.

“Emotional desire? You can’t have me?” he asked as he had no idea what this was supposed to mean. Desire was described as something physical such as sex or material like wanting to own luxurious goods in the empire of Xenon always. Certainly desire itself was an emotion but what emotional desire was he couldn’t understand and what the other confessed there made his head spin and he tried to figure it out but wasn’t really capable of doing so. Well, he thought he got what physical desire was after that day but it didn’t help him to explain to himself why the other was so upset about the idea that he would one day leave their planet again. And having him? How could one have another person? Did he mean that in a sexual sense? “Do you want to have sex with me and that’s what you won’t be able to have from me?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, utter confusion meeting the younger ones sadness. And somehow it bugged him that the brunette just seemed to get sadder and sadder. He didn’t like to see him that way; he wanted him to smile and to be joyful again. “Why are you that sad? I want to do something to make you happy but I don’t know how I can get you to smile at me again!?” he wanted to know his face serious.

[Gladis]

Asher’s attempt to reassure him brought a small smile to Calum’s lips, though there was no happiness in it. He was so off the mark that it was almost funny, yet Calum couldn’t find it within himself to laugh. He’d expected it, of course. There was no way Asher could even remotely understand where he was coming from. Perhaps that was why he’d been able to confess his feelings so calmly and straight faced in the first place. And… perhaps it wasn’t entirely fair on Asher, either. Yet he’d desperately felt the need to get it off his chest. Perhaps he felt that if he verbalized his concerns, it would be easier for him to accept them. To bury his feelings and to move on with his life before he became too attached. Because if Asher left the following day, Calum would be sad, yes, but it wouldn’t be unbearable. Yet what about a year from now? Or three? Or five? Would he still be able to let go so easily – especially if he’d allowed allowed those feelings to develop and grow? He’d already experienced the excruciating pain of losing a lover once, he didn’t think he could handle that again. Even if this time, what separated them wasn’t death, but hundreds of light years instead. In the end it didn’t seem all that different. And he couldn’t very well ask Asher to stay, either.

 

Calum could tell that Asher missed his home, his planet and his people just by the look on his face and the tone of his voice as he talked about them. It was only natural. Life on earth seemed so fundamentally different to what Asher had described his home to be like. And though the man was still unable to properly grasp the concept of love, Calum was sure that he loved his planet and his people. Asking Asher not to return home whenever the opportunity presented itself – even if it was years from now, was beyond selfish.

 

”I would like to see your home, too…” Calum said softly, and though there was a part of him that meant it, he knew that was impossible. Even if against all odds help did come or Asher managed to repair his ship. Considering how Asher had reacted to them when they first met, Calum had a feeling the Xenonian’s wouldn’t think of him, or any of his kin too highly. And even if they somehow could be convinced to take him along, Calum doubted the Xenonian lifestyle was something he could ever get used to. He didn’t really think of it as less than that of his own people, or even wrong in comparison. It was just different, and he respected that. Yet he also realized that there was no place for an average earthling farm boy like him, in a world where everyone had been carefully tailored to perfection to fit a very specific role. It just wouldn’t work.

 

”If Xenon was able to bring about someone as wonderful as you, I’m sure there must be many great things about it.” The words had slipped out of him before he’d even had much of a chance to give it any thought, and he felt a strong urge to pinch himself for it. Luckily, Asher’s question gave him something else to think about. He could feel his cheeks redden slightly at his bluntness, a soft but tired chuckle rumbling in his throat. ”I suppose you could say it like that, put simply. A little too simply, perhaps. It’s an aspect of it, but beyond physical attraction, what it really boils down to is that I just really happen to like you. A lot. And it scares me.” He chewed on his bottom lip, pausing for a brief moment as he tried to figure out how to explain it to Asher. ”I’m afraid that if I start liking you more, my feelings will begin to cloud my judgement, and I’ll start wanting things I shouldn’t. I mean, I guess you could say I already do because I’d totally be up for a shag if I didn’t know how devastating that’d be to you.” He smiled a little, and this time there was even a hint of cheekiness in it. ”I was wearing this,” he raised the towel, ”to prevent myself from enticing you unnecessarily. And myself, for that matter. Like, I’m not even sure you’re into guys, or me, but I thought it better to be safe than sorry. The last thing I’d want is to get you into trouble…” he trailed off, breathing a soft sigh.

 

”As for the ’having you’ part, it’s just a figure of speech. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m sure you’ll come to understand it eventually. And even if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world.”

 

It was almost heartbreaking to see Asher so desperately want to make him happy again, and yet touching all the same. Leaning forwards, he reached out to gently flick Asher on the forehead.

 

”Don’t worry about that, either. Just because I’m a bit bummed out right now doesn’t mean my smiles are going anywhere. Though if you really wanted to make me happy…” he paused, a slightly mischievous look crossing his features, ”you could always let me push you into the river.” It was a joke, of course, but the more Calum thought about the idea the more he liked it. Running off to bathe that late in the evening was just crazy enough to distract him from all this, but also safe enough not to get them killed or seriously injured. ”Or you can turn around so I can help you wash your back. The water should be warm enough by now, so we should probably get started.”

[-Hideki-]

There was warmth mixing with the melancholy of his smile when the younger one said that he would like to see his home as well and he was glad that at least in theory the other was not opposed to the idea of giving Xenon a chance though he had called it cold and sad and all those other things during the months. His eyes widened in surprise though and he blinked when the other told him that he was certain that if Xenon brought someone as wonderful as him to light, that it must be full of greatness. Asher had not seen that coming either and he tried to understand what the other meant with him being wonderful. The only thing that came to his mind was that he was the best pilot and efficient and diligent, hardworking, someone who would give everything for the greater good but somehow he doubted that this was what the other man found that wonderful about him. “What do you find that wonderful about me?” he asked curiously. “It’s not my abilities as a solider is it?”

 

Seeing the brunette blushing and getting red faced again Ash knew that his question must have embarrassed Calum and he scratched the back of his head while he was looking at the brunette as that had not been his intention, he had just wanted to understand what this was all about. At first the Earthling seemed to confirm what he had said but he was also saying that this was too simplified what made the soldier think as he didn’t get in which way it was simplified about something like that. However when the shorter man was giving him an explanation that confused him all the more and he a) didn’t see the problem and b) couldn’t really grasp what that had to do with sex. “Why are you scared of liking me and why do you think liking me is a problem? Liking something or someone is a positive thing.” He found scratching his scarred chin. “I like you and being around you too.” Asher told the other. “I always found it positive that I liked you, if I didn’t like you the time we have spent together would have been a hassle. It’s just like with the jobs. I really enjoy being the Colonel of the spaceforce but I really dislike the farm work, hence the farm work was much more boring and exhausting to me, not necessarily physically but still.” The Xenonian said. “And what has you liking me to do with you wanting to copulate with me?” he added trying to figure out how those things correlated.

 

The alien looked concentrated when Calum continued to speak and his face was getting stern. “Every emotion and feeling is clouding our rational and analytical judgement. That’s why the ideal state is having no emotions at all but neither you nor me are that highly evolved. However it is honourable that you’re trying to control your emotions and keep them from hindering you and becoming a burden on your own though it is not something required on your planet.” Ash said sounding stoic like at the first day he had arrived, nodding supposedly appreciative because that was what Xenon deemed the correct way to do while something inside him felt as if a dark claw was crushing his heart as he didn’t like to hear the other say that he deemed liking him or getting to like him more as such a hindrance, such a negative that would derail his mind. His face was kept that stern now, the only thing moving was an eyebrow that was going up. “Shag?” he asked not understanding what that was supposed to be.

 

One thing in what the other had said he could actually understand though. Starting to want things one was not supposed to, one shouldn’t want. That had plagued Asher for a while now and it had become all too clear during that day. He had been thinking about and feeling the desire for that one thing the whole day. His mind was full of sex and he didn’t really seem to get it out of there anymore. There only needed to be one impulse and it would go there or it would just make him think about it randomly. But it wasn’t only that he was thinking and fantasising about it, he also desired to play his fantasies out, to act on them. Just a few minutes ago he had felt the urge to touch Calum at inappropriate places and to stick his dick into where it would according to every biologist and doctor on Xenon definitely not belong, to connect their bodies. It was a shocking realisation and over that he forgot to listen to the brunette when the younger one explained to him why he had hid his body from him with the towel. The Colonel just listened again when the other was almost at the end and said that he didn’t even know whether Asher was into men or him and when his blue eyes met the other’s green ones it were the Xenonian’s cheeks that blushed. Not to full red but to a rosy shade and he was feeling a little uneasy as he actually was both. He was sexually attracted to men and to the brunette too. He let his hand run over his face and he sighed deeply. “I shouldn’t be attracted to anyone at all. I should have never figured out whom I would be attracted to if I don’t have the device.” He stated looking into the green eyes before he stared at the wooden ceiling when he continued to speak. “But I.... when I touched myself inappropriately this morning it were men on my mind.” Asher said and added:” And I have found that I am sexually attracted to men and I feel the urge to .....” he couldn’t say it and just skipped that. “It’s good that I can’t ever get guilty of the crime of uncontrolled reproduction but I can still become a hygiene threat and I am not sure but I don’t think that it’s much better or less primitive.” He confessed his face twisted in a concerned and troubled grimace.

 

He frowned when the other was all of a sudden flicking his forehead after he had asked how he could bring his smile back into his face. The suggestion the other made was not only odd it also sounded rather cruel. “Why would you want to do that? Have I offended you again?” he asked not understanding why the other wanted to push him into the river or wanted him to step outside into the environment that was making him sick without any clothing on. He listened to the second option and it sounded much more appealing to him. “I can let you do that.” He agreed. He rose from the stool, took it and placed it closer to Calum’s before he was sitting down again his broad back that was covered in burning scars facing the slender and much shorter brunette.

[Gladis]

”You’re a very genuine person.” He said softly. ”That’s a quality to appreciate. You’re honest and not afraid to speak your mind. Even if I don’t always agree with what you have to say, I think that’s admirable. I don’t like conflict, so I often end up taking a very diplomatic stance to things. Usually that’s good, but sometimes it means I end up making compromises where I perhaps shouldn’t. In those situations I wish I could be as headstrong as you, without constantly second guessing or doubting myself. Do you get what I mean?” He asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. ”Of course, that’s not the only good thing about you. At first glance you appear very stoic, serious and practical but… in actuality you’re pretty sweet, huh? It shines through in those tender little moments.” He grinned, reaching over for another piece of wood to put on the fire. Then he paused, shaking his head.

 

”No, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with liking you. It’s good. I’m just worried that because I like you, I’ll be sad when you leave. To put it simply…” he trailed off, a small blush settling on his cheeks. He wasn’t quite sure how to answer Asher’s question. What did liking him have to do with wanting to fuck? Nothing, really, but the two were usually interconnected nonetheless. He didn’t really know how to relay that to the soldier, however, so he was glad when Asher followed up with another question, causing his lips to quirk into a smile. ”It’s slang for ’copulating’ as you so awkwardly put it.” For being something Asher wasn’t supposed to engage in, it was a topic that seemed to be reoccuring an awful lot. He was just about to joke about it, when Asher began to pour his heart out over his discoveries. As he went on, Calum’s expression grew more and more serious. Asher clearly seemed to be bothered by it, and perhaps understandably so. Yet there wasn’t much Calum could say or do to make him feel better about it. He sighed softly.

 

”You know, as much as I respect the Xenonian lifestyle of chastity, I also think it’s kind stupid. These kinds of urges are completely natural. To seek the embrace of someone, to feel desire… It is part of the human nature – and though I know your people reject that sort of thing…” was he talking himself into a corner now? He wasn’t quite sure, but he kept going anyway. ”What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t feel bad about it. There are risks involved, of course, but risks are involved in every aspect of life. You could head into the forest to gather food one day and run into a bear that kills you. Or perhaps you meant to bathe, but slip on a wet rock and drown in the river. Or you could go on a mission like every other, but your ship breaks and suddenly you are stranded in a primitive village full of idiots who don’t get you, and where everything is kind of backwards.” He smiled reassuringly, reaching out to gently touch Asher’s hand. ”Please don’t worry too much about it. The sooner you come to accept it as a part of yourself, I think… the happier you’ll be for it. That doesn’t mean you should go around chatting up every hot dude you see, but as long as you don’t have that device you keep talking about, I think the ocasional wank won’t kill you. It might even do you some good, as long as you don’t let it get out of control. Great things must always come in sizeable amounts." he mused, bringing some of ’nan’s wisdom to the table.

 

Upon being asked why he wanted to push Asher in the river, Calum laughed, shaking his head. ”It was a joke. I don’t actually want to push you in the river so don’t worry. I just wanted to see what kind of face you’d make when I suggested it.” He grinned, getting up to take down the basin from atop the oven, replacing it with the other. Then he fetched a soap and a sponge before taking a seat behind Asher again. After dipping the sponge into the warm water, he gently began to wet Asher’s back, taking the opportunity to have a closer look at the scars as he worked. They had healed nicely enough, though they were still very much visible. That was to be expected, though. Most likely, they wouldn’t ever go away. Unless the Xenonian’s had some kind of magic technology to make it so.

[-Hideki-]

Asher nodded when Calum explained to him what he found that wonderful and admirable about him. Of course he understood that he liked his honesty and apparently also that he was assertive and able to stand his ground. That he didn’t fear conflict and battles and those were all traits ideal for a warrior type like him. Those were all aspects that he had deliberately been bred with and that had been strengthened and encouraged all his life. “You appreciate warrior-types because you aren’t one but would like to be sometimes.” He summarised what he had gotten from this.

He thought about what type the short male would have been on Xenon and the jobs that came closest was caretaker or teacher, he couldn’t really see him in any other sector on his planet but judging from how he had nursed a stranger back to health he would have probably been really good at this.

 

The man was thrown out of his thoughts about the brunette as a nurse on Xenon when the younger one spoke again, saying that he was actually pretty sweet. Confusion got back onto his face when he looked at the shorter one. “Sweet?” he asked. “How can a person be sweet?” he wanted to know not really able to understand what was meant with this now. In which way was he sweet or tender? Wait, tender? The other had actually said tender? That was not a good trait for a soldier. In fact that was a trait a soldier shouldn’t have. “I am not tender.” He hissed sounding like a stubborn child.

 

Hearing that Calum was not scared of liking him and didn’t find that to be negative but that he was scared of getting sad when he left because he liked him was definitely explaining it to him better but it still was difficult for him and he tried to understand it. “So you don’t want to like me because you would miss me as I currently miss Xenon if I left again?” he wanted the other to confirm, trying to come up with a solution for this but nothing to solve this issue was coming to his mind. He didn’t know how to prevent the man from getting sad when he left, if he got the opportunity, some day. It was good that the answer to his question of what ‘shag’ meant came straight away so he didn’t have to think about finding a solution to prevent this so that the other could still like him without fear. “So you use ‘slang’ but copulating is the awkward way to say it?” he found that quite illogical. “Copulating was written in my biology book whereas I have never heard ‘shag’ before.” He said not understanding what was that weird about saying copulating. He sighed though realising that the other had just not answered the more important and interesting question. “You still haven’t told me what you liking me has to do with you wanting to ‘shag’!” he said pronouncing that last word as if it was not a real word even. He had clearly had the urge to do it with that farm worker back at that moment, he had fantasised about it but he had not even known that guy. This whole thing seemed weird and complicated and just bad, it would have been much easier if he had still had his device and wouldn’t have to think about it.

 

His eyes narrowed as he didn’t think that any of their Xenonian ways were stupid and their control of reproductive and health issues was important and sexuality was treated as a medical thing anyway so that was how Asher saw it. He didn’t have ever heard the word chastity and he couldn’t really make anything out of that word but he knew that he found the logic and the reason behind their system really smart and the right thing to do and not stupid. He knew that it was a part of human nature but that was what they were fighting against on their planet as human nature was deemed as bad and self-destructive. Asher couldn’t really understand the examples given except for his own one. He had no clue what a bear was and food was coming from the industry and was delivered to the house in rations and not searched for in forests, what wouldn’t even have been possible as Xenon didn’t have a single forest. Beside that he was aware that everything contained risks and that was the reason why the Xenonian’s tried to minimise risks wherever they could to make their society as safe and great as possible, so that was not an argument for it but against it in his opinion.

 

However before he was able to say anything against all of that his hand was taken and the touch of the naked young man’s hand on his was derailing and distracting him completely as it felt like a thousand wings were beating in his stomach and his heart started to pound harder when he was looking into the brunette man’s eyes and he automatically interlocked his fingers with the shorter one’s holding his smaller hand in his scarred one. Asher felt the inappropriate urge to get closer to him again, to feel that skin of his on his body, to shove his tongue into the man’s mouth and he wanted to smack himself another time for this. It was easy for Calum to say that he would be the happiest accepting this when there was no way that he could accept this and give in to it without feeling like a failure, primitive, dirty. Then again his desires didn’t seem to cool down they seemed to start boiling and at one point they’d boil over, it was unavoidable and he wasn’t stupid he knew it, he knew that without his device he would give in to that raging urge at one point.

 

He raised an eyebrow looking at the other sceptically when he said that he had been joking and that he had not wanted to push him into the river to begin with but had just wanted to see his face when he suggested this. “This makes no sense and is kinda useless but if it made you happy, what it apparently did as you smile and laugh again, it did its deep I suppose.” He said his eyes travelling after Calum who was getting the basin and both some soap and a sponge to start cleaning him. His eyes ran over his shoulders and his back to his arse again and they remained there, quite obviously staring and he could feel that want rising in him again and he shook his head looking away before the other placed himself behind him starting to wash his back. The solider appreciated the warm water running over his tense muscles and he would have been able to relax a little if it had not been for that sting in the back of his mind that wanted to feel Calum touching him without the sponge, that wanted to turn around and pull the man over onto his lap grab him and kiss him and do what he wasn’t supposed to, what he wasn’t allowed to do and he tensed up again as his hands clenched onto his thighs.

[Gladis]

Perhaps he Asher’s reaction to being called sweet should have shocked or surprised him, but it seemed that being hissed at so stubbornly only had the opposite effect. Although, to be fair, Asher’s protest hadn’t exactly been very convincing to begin with. It kind of reminded him of Anya when she insisted on that she was stronger than she looked. Calum broke into soft laughter, though he didn’t challenge the matter further. By then, he was too busy trying to come up with a good answer to Asher’s ever so complicated questions.

 

After a moment of thinking on it, he sighed. ”To be honest I don’t know, and I don’t think I can explain it very well. They’re not exactly interconnected. You can like someone without feeling desire for them, and you can feel desire for someone you don’t necessarily like. And yet they tend to go hand in hand… because if you feel attracted to someone, there’s a good chance you’ll end up liking them, and if you like them, you might end up… no…” he trailed off, not entirely sure where he was heading with that. Perhaps he would be better off trying a different approach. ”Sexual acts can be gross and meaningless if performed carelessly, but they can also serve to strengthen bonds between people if performed with passion and mutual respect. Because when you do it with someone else, it’s not just about your own pleasure. It is about pleasing each other, and to do that you have to learn how to read and understand your partner. It takes time and sometimes a lot of trial and error, but for all that trouble, it’s also far more satisfying than anything that could ever be achieved on your own. It can also be a way of showing that your trust in someone, because never are you more physically exposed to another person, than when you willingly give yourself over to them. It can be a very tender thing, especially when you do it with a person you like.” Of course, Calum was well aware that there could be many less pleasant aspects to it as well. Rape, coercion and lust without feeling. Yet he didn’t really feel like they subtracted from the overall, in a sense almost beautiful function sex could have, either. ”I…” he blushed a little, staring at the floor. ”I don’t know. I don’t think I explained it very well, and half of it probably went over your head anyway. Lusting after someone and liking someone aren’t the same, but you’re likelier to be wanting to sleep with someone you enjoy the company of, I guess. And in doing so, you may end up growing to like each other more, because you find out things about the other you hadn’t previously known. Of course, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes sex can lead to people finding out that they weren’t really all that compatible to begin with, but that’s also okay. I… I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

 

Rising from his seet, he was very much aware of how Asher’s gaze followed his every step. It made him sorely regret that he hadn’t opted to wrap himself in the towel again, because... it was hot. He liked it, and that was a problem. Feeling heat rise to his cheeks, he hurried back to his stool, almost relieved to be out of Asher’s field of vision.

 

”For heaven’s sake, Asher...” he grumbled, shaking his head, clearly flustered. Once he was satisfied with his work with the sponge, he put it down, picking up the soap to rub between his hands. Sufficiently covered, he used them to gently rub the sub onto Asher’s scarred skin – only pausing as he felt the man tense under his touch.

 

”Asher, are you alright? Your wounds, they aren’t hurting, are they?” He asked, a clear note of concern in his voice.

[-Hideki-]

The Xenonian solider was about to get what the other was explaining when the younger man stopped at that and chose another way to explain it that was less clear cut and went above his head. What the other talked about was foreign to him and it was something he had never heard of when it came to the biological and medical topic that was sexuality for the foreigner and all that seemed to get beyond biochemistry, lust and desire. And even though he didn’t really have a clue about how interhuman relationships worked the Colonel found the sound of what was described appealing, especially the aspect where it was not about the own lust but about pleasuring each other, about the ‘we’ and not the ‘I’ as it made it seem much less egotistical. “And you want to have sex with me to bond and connect with me and to like me even more? To give yourself to me?” he asked looking into the young man’s green eyes trying to understand, his voice not sounding negative in that moment at all.

 

After he had eyed the younger man’s body with clear hunger in his blue eyes the man was sitting down behind him cursing and Ash turned around to the brunette, looking into a flustered face. “What is it?” he asked hoping that the man was not cursing because he had realised how he had looked at him. He turned around again as soon as the other started cleaning him and those nagging thoughts rose up on his mind taking over.

 

He didn’t know if he should be disappointed or relieved that he wasn’t feeling the sponge on his back anymore and it was over when he suddenly felt soap and then the warm skin of the other man’s hand on his back what made him tense up more than before as he found himself enjoying to be touched by the man’s hand and he wished he would touch other places of his body too. Was it just him who had such a lewd and inappropriate mind or was the other thinking about that as well? But when there was a reaction from Calum and the man asked him with genuine c0ncern whether his healed wounds hurt again seemingly thinking this was most likely the case he knew the answer to this. No he did not. It was his thoughts alone that were inappropriate and his cheeks got rosy again while he still had to restrain himself to not turn around and touch the younger one and ask him to touch him more and more intensely too.

 

Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to cool down his head again since his mind was racing.

“No. I am not in pain.” He answered honestly so that the other wouldn’t have to worry anymore. “Don’t stop. It feels nice when you touch me.” The Xenonian man added without thinking. The solider had not wanted to say that but he had said it and now that he realised it and couldn’t take it back anymore a lump was building in his throat and his toes rubbed onto the ground they were standing on as the platinum head was getting uneasy. “You should not like me. I am the worst. I am a danger.” He mumbled more to himself than to the brunette. “I want to... I want to touch you... inappropriately and do things ... and I want you to touch me. I’ve been thinking about this since this afternoon on the field though I am trying not to as this would be all wrong!” He pressed it out feeling like a criminal and a health risk already. Feeling like he needed to be locked away into the governments training facility to relearn and got those primitive thoughts out of his crazy mind again, his fingers digging into his thighs by now to restrain himself whilehis body was heating up and the urge to turn around and take the other was growing with each electric touch of the other male’s hand to his scared back.

[Gladis]

Calum’s bit down onto the soft flesh of his bottom lip, a look of uncertainty crossing his features. To be asked so directly… he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond. Perhaps a yes and a no would have been appropriate. Yes, there was a part of him which would have liked that, but he also had his reservations. First and foremost, he really had meant what he said before. Getting Asher in trouble really was the last thing he wanted to be responsible for. Yet their conversation, what they were doing… the entire situation was already beginning to derail. That had only become all the more apparent with how Asher had looked at him.

 

”... I don’t want to cause you trouble.” He finally said, answering neither yes nor no. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already said what he wanted earlier. He doubted Asher would need to have it spelled out to him again. ”I don’t want make you do something that might end up causing you grief in the long run. You’ve said it yourself, haven’t you? This sort of thing is illegal on Xenon, so there’s no way you wouldn’t get in trouble for it. What I want doesn’t really matter. Not when your wellbeing is so much more important to me…” he trailed off, remaining silent for a moment as he allowed his words to sink in. It also gave Calum some time to think about it. Was that really true? Because even as he said it, he was beginning to get kind of hot and bothered himself. Besides, he didn’t exactly seem to be making things easier for Asher, either. It wasn’t as though he could have known that merely touching the soldier would have this kind of effect on him, but… it was becoming more and more apparent. No less so when Asher began to pour his heart out, the turmoil evident in his voice and body language.

 

Calum withdrew his hands almost instinctively, unsure of what to do. He wanted to comfort Asher somehow, to tell him that he was wrong. He wanted to embrace him, to pull him close, to tell him that it was alright, that it was perfectly normal, that he wanted it too… but in doing so, wouldn’t he be encouraging something he shouldn’t? Wouldn’t that just make it worse? At the same time he couldn’t stand to see Asher suffer from self deprecation like this, either. Doing nothing would only allow the soldier to continue. It seemed like no matter what he ended up choosing, he just couldn’t win. It certainly didn’t help that he, at the same time, was battling his own urges. How much of wanting to comfort Asher aligned with his own selfish desires, and how much of it was genuine concern? It was beginning to become increasingly hard to tell, his mind beginning to feel as muddled as the steam that rose from the basin.

 

He swallowed hard, balling his soap smeared hands into fists as he felt his heart hammer away in his chest.

 

”You’re not the worst, and I would never stop liking you over something like this. On the contrary, it flatters me that you…” he cut himself off right there, deciding that it would only make things worse. ”You’re only human, and you shouldn’t be made to feel guilty about that. I’m…. I’m sorry. I’m not making things easier for you, am I? I wish I could actually do something to help…” never before had he felt so completely and utterly useless. He wasn’t sure of what to do – in this situation he couldn’t really tell right from wrong, and he felt awful for it.

[-Hideki-]

The immediate withdrawal of the other’s hands from his body when he had formulated that he wanted him to touch him more and not stop, that he desired to touch the other as well made his heart skip a beat and it felt like it was cramping painfully. He should feel relieve, relieve that nothing would happen and he would walk out of that bathhouse as he had walked in there but he wasn’t. It just hurt and he felt rejected and a cold shudder was running down his spine. His hands that had been buried into the flesh of his thighs now formed fists and he felt how anger started to boil in his guts and he could already see the negative affect desire and lust and wanting to be close to someone aside from a working relationship had. Asher was mostly angry about himself, angry that he had those feelings and that he had revealed them to the other who apparently had not liked to hear that or he wouldn’t have that abruptly let go of him upon that confession, almost a shocked reaction.

 

A disdainful snort came from him when the other spoke and he felt the anger boiling over and getting a hold of him. He shook his head and rose from the stool he had been sitting on as he turned around to the younger male who had been sitting behind him.

“Right, you keep saying that.” He commented his eyes narrowed down to slits. “You keep saying that it’s normal, not wrong, that it would make me happy and that it’s nothing wrong with wanting to do that but in the end you don’t even believe it yourself.” The soldier spoke his muscles constricted and his carotid sticking out like at the breakfast table. “If you believed in what you said you wouldn’t have hastily removed your hands from me as if I was poison all of a sudden and stopped touching me like that. If you really were convinced that Xenon’s stand on this was wrong, that all of this was just stupid as you said earlier, you wouldn’t say at the same time that you wouldn’t do it with me anyway because you don’t want me to get into trouble. Because news flash, if the consequences and the perception on my planet was wrong, if it wouldn’t degrade me and make me more primitive, I wouldn’t get into any kind of trouble if someday I would find a way back home because the government wouldn’t even know that I had done it then. If having sex was as morale and perfectly fine as you stress there wouldn’t be anything you’d have to protect me from.” Asher ranted and his deep voice was growling through the small bathhouse. “You contradict your own words because deep inside you know that it would indeed be wrong, that Xenon is right about all of that or otherwise you wouldn’t act that way. You wouldn’t say that you are sexually attracted to me and then hide your own body from me and not be able to even fucking look at me and my body. You wouldn’t get all flustered and embarrassed and cautious. You wouldn’t stress that accepting myself with this desires would make me happy and right after that, that you thought participating in such an act would throw me into grieving!” He yelled now not able to grasp what about this made him so damn furious when he should be glad that the other wouldn’t touch him and wouldn’t get any closer to him anyway. But it hurt. That rejection hurt. Not like his burnings had hurt, it was a different kind of hurt one that Asher had never felt before and that he would have preferred to never have to feel.

 

In that moment he wished himself back to Xenon more than ever before. He missed not having to stand before such decisions without the system telling him what was the righteous one, he missed the comfort and safety of absolute control, he missed that he couldn’t bother his scientist with that problem now so that he could make it stop and come up with a solution. Make those urges stop, those feelings stop, everything stop, reset him to when he was still a flawless man and completely functional and efficient and not stained by irrational desires and emotions. But he was here at a chaotic place, a place without control, a place without a strong government that made every larger decision for its people, a place where you had to make your own decisions and no one would prevent you from making all the wrong or self-destructive ones. That damn place made him feel lost, it was terrible.

 

The Colonel turned away from Calum and took the basin and he threw half of the water inside over his complete body, the water wetting his hair and tracing his muscles and running down from his naked pale skin. He grabbed the soap, made sure to smear it everywhere onto his body before he took the basin again and threw the other half of the water over his body again, leaving Calum’s basin untouched of course. With a frowning expression and not a single word he took one of the fresh towels and rubbed his face and his hair dry before he dried his body too roughly and brutally as the skin was getting all red as he couldn’t really tame his anger at this moment and the worst about all of this was that he still felt that nagging urge, that nothing apparently could kill it and that it only grew the more he tried to ignore it or fight it since quite a while now.